GREECE

1. GREECE • LOCATION • Balkan Peninsula • b/c of the sea, people became fishers, sailors, traders • EARLY PEOPLE • Minoan Civilization • palace had running water • frescoes- • Mycenaeans • mainland Greece • warrior culture • clans- • CITY-STATES • Polis- • developed around forts • represented the people • Characteristics • small area and population • acropolis- • agora- HOMERIC AGE • COMMUNICATION • Few people wrote • Oral communication • Traveling poets singing folk songs • epics- • Iliad and Odyssey • Homer- • Iliad- • Paris- • Helen- • Trojan Horse- • Odyssey- • Odysseus- • RELIGION • Role of Religion • explained nature and emotions • a way to get benefits now: long life, luck and good harvest • After Life- • Hades- • Myths- • Gods • Given human qualities • Mt Olympus- • Zeus- • Athena- • Apollo- • Oracles- • To please the gods they showed their bravery in athletic events. • Olympic Games- • GOVT. • Aristocracies- • Tyrants- • Democracy-

2. SPARTA AND ATHENS • SPARTA • Military society • Adult males serve in the military • At birth unhealthy children were left to die • Very little creativity • ATHENS • Birth of Democracy • Citizens at the top of the social class • Metics- • Slaves- • Govt. • Elected generals • Archons- • Draco- • Solon- • Cleisthenes- • Council of Five Hundred- representatives from each tribe • Direct democracy- • DAILY LIFE IN ATHENS • Economy • grew olives, grapes and figs • Education • valued education • stressed a sound mind in a healthy body GREEK CONFLICTS • PESAN WARS • Between Greeks in Asia Minor and Persia • Supported by Athens • Athens and Sparta joined forces to defeat the Persians • PELOPONNESIAN WARS • Between Athens and Sparta • Sparta had the strongest army • Athens had the strongest navy • Sparta united w/ Persia to block Athens’ food supply • Athens surrendered • Greece became unstable • GREEK ART • Athens was the center of learning and art • Architecture: Pride was shown through temples, gymnasiums, theaters • Acropolis- • Parthenon- • Sculpture • Myron- • Phidias- • Nature of Greek Art: • glorified human beings • symbolized Greek pride in their city-state • expressed Greek beliefs in harmony, balance, order, moderation • expressed the Greeks belief in combining beauty and usefulness

3. PHILOSOPHERS AND WRITERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE • Rise of Philosophy • Philosophy- • used to better understand themselves and the world around them. • believed that all of nature is based upon certain natural laws, or truths • believed they could discover these through reason • Socrates- most important thinker • education was the key to personal growth • didn’t use memorization as a teaching tool • students be trained to think for themselves, asking questions that force students to test their own values and ideas- Socratic Method • developed enemies b/c his questions often made public officials look foolish, criticized democracy • accused of corrupting the minds of the • youth, • but on trial but didn’t defend himself and • was executed • Plato- greatest Socrates’ students • founded the Academy- • wrote maginary discussions among several people dealing w/ govt., ed., justice and religion. Featured Socrates teaching • “Theory of Forum”- • “The Republic”- • Ideal leaders were philosophers chosen b/c of their wisdom, ability and high ideals • Aristotle- Plato’s student • every field of knowledge had to be studied logically • collected and organized facts into systems • “Ethics”- • “Poetics”- • believed in a limited democracy- • Mathematics, Medicine and Science • Pythagoras- • Pythagorean theorem- • Hippocrates- • Herodotus- Greek Theater • Drama- • first to write dramas, wrote in poetic form • two or three actors spoke or sang lines • male actors played women • chorus- • held in outside into hillside • orchestra- • little scenery • performed in connection w/ religious festivals, competition b/w playwrights • prizes awarded based on the beauty or wisdom of each play • Tragedies- • Sophocles- • Euripides- • Comedies- • Aristophanes-

4. ALEXANDER THE GREAT • Philip II of Macedon • Recruited and organized best disciplined army • infantry was organized into phalanxes- • Goal was to restore order in Macedon and then turn south • Philip united Greece his rule • Assassinate • Alexander- his son succeeded him • Alexander the Great • Educated by Aristotle • His military campaign are among the most admired in history • His courage in battle won the loyalty of his troops • Set out to conquer the world and bring the known world into a single empire • Persia, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia • The soldiers tired to fighting refused to go on and he was forced back to Persia • Became seriously ill and died in Babylon. Hellenistic World • Spread of Greek culture: • Alexander and his men married Persian women to bring them together in a single culture • Alexander’s empire breakup: • Three generals divided the • empire into Macedon, Egypt, • and Syria • HELLENISTIC CULTURE • Alexandria, Egypt- library holding much of the Hellenistic world’s knowledge and literature • Religion and Philosophy • Ruler worship to increase loyalty • Philosophy searched for understanding, • concerned w/ ethics • 4 schools of philosophy existed: • Cynicism- • Skeptics- • Stoic- • Epicurean- • Science • Math • Euclid- • Archimedes- • Medicine • Alexandria- center of medical • science • learned from Egypt • catalog the parts of the human • body by studying the bodies of • executed criminals • discovered that the brain is the center of the nervous system • Astronomy • used geometry tracked the movement of stars and • planets • Aristarchus- • Hipparchus- • Eratosthenes-