Ancient Greece

1. 1750 B.C. – 133 B.C. Ancient Greece

2. Early People of the Aegean • Minoans: 1750-1500 B.C.- developed on the island of Crete, named after Minos, a legendary king of Crete. • Success based on trade not conquest • Knossos: rulers lived in this palace. It housed rooms for the royal family, banquet halls, workshops for artisans. Walls covered with frescoes

3. Early People of the Aegean • Mycanea: 1400-1200 B.C.- developed on Greek mainland before taking over Crete • sea traders, lived in separate city-states on the mainland • Trojan War: 1250 B.C.- Mycanea vs. Troy Troy-(rich trading city in present day Turkey), Troy controlled straits connecting the Mediterranean and Black Seas. • Legend of the Trojan War: Trojans kidnapped the wife of a Greek king and the Greeks went to rescue her, fought for ten years to get her back. Finally Troy was seized by the Greeks and burned down

4. The Age of Homer • Homer: 750 B.C.- blind poet who wandered village to village passing on oral accounts of heroic deeds. Responsible for two great epics. • Iliad: story of Achilles, the mightiest Greek warrior. • Odyssey: story of Odysseus and his return home to his wife Penelope after the Trojan War. • Iliad and Odyssey: display the values of honor, courage, and eloquence

5. Ancient Greece • Geography has a huge influence on Greek way of life. • Mountains cover ¾ of Greece – results in city-states organization, rather than centralization • Bad conditions for growing grain, market agriculture emerges

6. The Rise of Greek City-States • Different city states developed with different ideas: • Sparta: great military, aristocracy rule, large slave population, but very little arts or culture • Athens: democracy and advancements in philosophy, education, trade, science, architecture, drama, and history

7. Athens Democracy • Athens/American Democracy: • Athens: • Citizens participate directly (direct democracy) • Only male citizens (born in Athens) could vote • America: • Citizens elect people to make laws (representative democracy) • All citizens can vote

8. The Persian Wars • By 500 B.C., Athens had emerged as the wealthiest Greek city-state • Persians: empire stretching from Asia-Minor to the border of India. • `Greek city-states: Ionia in Asia Minor • Though under Persian rule-still self governing • 499 B.C.- Ionian Greeks rebelled against Persian rule- Athens sent ships to help them

9. Persian Wars • Persians soon crushed the rebellion but Darius, ruler of the Persians, was upset with the Athenians role in the uprising. • Marathon: Darius sent troops to punish Athens, landed near Marathon • Athenians - heavily outnumbered, outmatched, overran the Persians and forced them to retreat back to their ships. • Pheidippides - Athenian, ran from Marathon to Athens proclaiming “We are victorious” died upon arrival • The Marathon Race is named after this event.

11. Persian Wars • Darius: died before another attack was made • Xerxes: (son of Darius) 480 B.C.- sent much larger force to conquer Greece • Athens- Sparta & other city-states support • Thermopylae- Spartans led by Leonidas, held out bravely but were defeated by the Persians, Persians then marched south and burned Athens (the city was empty)

12. Persian Wars, cont’d. • Greeks defeated Persians at the strait of Salamis, and later on land in Asia Minor, ending the Persian invasion of Greece • Delian League: Athens and alliance with other greek City-States

13. Athens – Age of Pericles • Pericles – 460 -429 B.C. –under his leadership, Athens thrived economically and the gov’t became more democratic. • Direct democracy (6,000 members required to decide important issues) - Stipend, Jury, Ostracism • Pericles’ Funeral Oration- one of earliest and greatest expressions of democracy • Pericles – turned Athens into cultural center of Greece

14. Peloponnesian War • Peloponnesian League: formed by Sparta and other city-states to counter the Delian League • Peloponnesian War -431 B.C.- fighting broke out between Athens and Sparta. Soon all of Greece was involved. • fighting lasted 27 years • Athens geographic disadvantage: Sparta inland • Plague in Athens – 1/3 of population lost, including Pericles

15. Peloponnesian War • War Ends: 404 B.C.- with the help of Persian navy, the Spartans captured Athens • ended Athenian domination of Greek world • Democratic government suffered • For the next century, fighting plagued the Greek world

16. Greek Philosophers • Socrates: Athenian philosopher, we most know about him from his student Plato • Socratic Method – pose a series of questions and asked students to evaluate their answers • “Know Thyself” seek truth and self-knowledge • Put on trial at age 70, jurors sentenced him to death, he drank the hemlock(deadly poison)

17. Greek Philosophers • Plato: distrust of democracy after the death of Socrates • Set up the Academy (school in Athens) • Emphasized the importance of reason • The Republic – Plato described his vision of an ideal state. Ideal society: workers to produce, military to protect, and philosophers to rule

18. Greek Philosophers • Aristotle: Plato’s most famous student • Analyzed all forms of government • Thought democracy could lead to mob rule • Favored rule by a single and strong ruler • Left writings on politics, ethics, logic, biology, literature, and many other subjects

19. Art, Architecture, and Drama • Parthenon – an example of Greek architecture (tall columns and sloping roof)

20. Art, Architecture, and Drama • Greek Sculpture: valued order, balance, and proportion. Wanted to depict the ideal human form • Poetry and Drama: Tragedies and Comedies

21. Alexander the Great • 336 B.C. – 323 B.C. • King of Macedonia upon death of his father • Great warrior who conquered Persia, Egypt, and reached India • Hellenistic – Greek like • Supported assimilation – blended Greek styles with Egyptian, Persian, and Indian • Greek traditions spread to Asia and Africa