The Rise of Greece City-States

1. The Rise of Greece City-States

2. Polis • Primary form of political and social organization • 3 interlocking ideas • Geographical territory • Community • Political and economic independence • Origin of many modern English words • Policy & politician

3. Independent City-States • City built around a defensible fortification called an acropolis • Average polis covered between 30 to 500 square miles. Athens covered 1,000 square miles • No professional bureaucracy, no professional army, no professional politicians • Extended community that included a family, a clan, a brotherhood, and the polis, in that order

4. Life in the Polis • Life centered around agora (marketplace) • Divided into three groups • Adult men: citizens with political rights • Free people (women, children and resident foreigners: no political rights • Slaves: prisoners of war or for debt • Girls were considered economic liabilities since they had to be provided with dowries before they could get married

5. Life in Polis continued • Aristocrats controlled every aspect of Greek society. • Acted as judges and determined the laws. • Major landowners. • Monopoly over the military • Colonization was motivated by a hunger for land and a need for new agricultural bases • An explosion in commercial activities.

6. Change is in the Air • Trade and commercial opportunities allowed commoners to acquire wealth • Bronze (expensive and materials are hard to find) gives way to Iron (plentiful and inexpensive) • Military strategy changes • Hoplites and phalanx formations

7. Law codes • Laws were enforced by aristocrats and ruled as they saw fit • Demands grew to force the aristocrats to codify, or write down, the customary laws and procedures governing the cities • As the laws were made public for all to see the rule of the aristocrats was brought to an end

8. Writing stems into Lyric Poetry • Focused on personal feelings and emotions, subjects with which everyone, not just the aristocracy could identify • Sappho • “Tenth Muse” ~ Plato • Enormous influence on the development of poetry (Sapphic meter)

9. Solon the Lawgiver • Social unrest leads to new system • Solon canceled debts and abolished enslavement for debt. • Citizenship based on wealth • Public office was open to the three upper classes • Fourth class was ineligible for public office • Problems for poor farmers continued

10. Peisistratus & Cleisthenes • Peisistratus the Tyrant • Wielding sole political power in violation of the established law, but with the support of the people • Beautified the city and increased the sense of being a Athenian by civic festivals • Cleisthenes democracy • Mixed different tribes in hope to destroy the regional power of the aristocracy • Created Council of Five Hundred • Direct democracy: all legislative and electoral power remained with the popular assembly, made up of all voting citizens

11. Sparta

12. Sparta • Covered by hills and mountains, isolation contributed to the Spartan’s desire to be left alone? • Education focused entirely on physical fitness and military training (men were full time soldiers from 20 to 30 years of age) • Women were to bear children, but were also known for their wealth and indepence • Almost no interest in the arts or philosophy