Ancient Greece

6-2.2

Day 1

Early Greeks

What is Greece’s geography like?

Mountainous rocky soil Peninsula (surrounded by water on three

sides) Hundreds of islands off shore Mild climate Little farming, raise sheep and goats

Who are the Minoans?

First civilization on the island of Crete Traders and ship builders Collapsed 1450 BC (earthquakes or

Mycenaean)

Who are the Mycenaean?

First Greek kings Built their palaces on a hill Learned form the Minoans Collapsed 1100 BC (earthquakes or war) Went into a Dark Age (period of little

growth and poverty)

How did colonization help the Greeks?

Culture spread Growth of trade Trade for money began

What does a Greek city look like?

Independent country (city-state) Acropolis (gathering place on a hill) Agora ( market place and a place of

great debate)

What is Greek citizenship?

Citizens are treated equally Males that are native born and land

owning Women and children have no rights Vote, pass laws, hold office, own

property, defend themselves in court

What are hoplites?

Armies of ordinary citizens Fought on foot with short swords and

shields Walked in tight rows that would not allow

others through

Day 2

Spartans and Athenians

Why did tyrants begin?

Nobles seized large farms from kings Farmers borrowed money from nobles

and lost their farms Tyrants are people who take things by

force and rules with total authority. Overthrew nobles, built new market,

places and temples

Who are the Spartans?

Oligarchy government (assembly and elders) Spartans are warriors Created strong military of boys and men Boys entered military at 7 At 20, entered regular army for 10 years Home at 30 and army until 60 Women were trained in sports to become

healthy mothers Discourage trade and travel with others

Who are the Athenians?

Boys attended school to learn to read, write, and do math

Girls learned household duties, wealthy learned reading, writing, and to play the lyre

Government from oligarchy to direct democracy (all citizens gather at meetings to decide gov’t matters) US has a representative democracy

What was daily life like in Athens?

Most households had slaves Farmers and traders Men worked in the morning, exercised or

attended meetings in the afternoon, and at night they went to all male gatherings

Women were in charge of the family and girls married age 14-15, poor worked in the fields with there spouse, not allowed to go out in public without a male relative

What is the Delian League?

Promised to defend its members against the Persians

Athens and other city-states except Sparta

Day3

Wars in Greece

Who are the Persians?

Warriors and nomads in Persia (Iran today) Cyrus the Great united, conquered the Middle

East area, and wrote the Charter of Human Rights

Paid full time soldiers, Immortals Believe in Zoroastrianism, one god, freedom of

humans, triumph of good Darius divided the empire into satrapies

(provinces)

What were the Persian Wars?

490 BC Greeks and Persians in Marathon (Greeks)

480 BC Greeks (Athens and Sparta) and Persians in Thermopylae (Persians)

Greeks and Persians in Salamis (Greeks)

479 BC Greeks and Persians in Plataea (Greeks)

Why did the Persian Empire fall?

Weakened by war Taxed the people and spent the money

lavishly Sons of kings had little power so they

killed others to get power

What is the Peloponnesian war?

War between Spartan and Athenians Athenians hid behind the walls, but

disease killed a third if them Spartans made a deal with Persians to

help with their navy Spartans finally won All city-states lost, many died, farms

destroyed, people without jobs

Day 4

Greek culture

What is Greek religion?

Mythology- traditional stories about gods and heroes

Gods and goddesses control nature 12 most important ones live on Mount

Olympus Human characteristics Believed in life after death in the

underworld with Hades

What was Greek literature?

Epics- long poems told about heroic deeds

Homer wrote the Iliad and Odyssey based on the war between Greece and the city of Troy

Aesop wrote fables (short tales that teach lessons) The Tortoise and the Hare

What is Greek drama?

A story told by actors in outdoor theatres Tragedies- a person struggles to

overcome difficulties but fails, author Aristophanes, began with one actor

Comedies- ends happily, authors Sophocles and Euripides, made fun of politicians and scholars

What did the Greeks add to art and architecture?

Pottery had pictures with black on red or red on black

3 columns used by Greeks were Doric, Ionic, Corinthian

Parthenon built in Athens Greek sculptures- followed human

bodies beauty and perfection

DAY 5

Greek Philosophers

What is a philosopher?

Believes that a human mind could understand everything

Teachers

Who is Pythagoras?

Taught his pupils that the universe followed the same laws that govern music and numbers

Invented the Pythagorean theorem used to measure the sides of a triangle

What is a sophist?

Professional teachers Travel from city to city teaching Believed what is right for one may not be

right for another

Who is Socrates?

An Athenian sculptor Absolute truth existed and that all real

knowledge was within each person Invented by the Socratic method (asking

questions and making people think)

Who is Plato?

One of Socrates students Wrote the Republic Believed that we should have a just and

reasonable government

Who was Aristotle?

One of Plato’s students Believed that people should not do

things in excess Used observations and generalizations Wrote Politics

Who were Greek historians?

Herodotus wrote about the Persian Wars Known as the father of history Thucydides wrote about the

Peloponnesian War