ANCIENT GREECE

I. Geography Shapes Greek Life

A.LOCATION-Greece is located in Southern Europealong the Mediterranean Sea.

B. Importance of its Location

Because of the seas, Sea travel, trade,

and fishing were very important to the

Greeks.

C. The Land

Most of Greece is covered

by rugged Mountains.

D. Impact of the LandThe mountains divided the

Greeks into

separate communities. A polis or city-state

is what these separate communities became

known as.

II. The City-StatesA. Similarities- the Greek language,

and theirreligious beliefs (Many Gods). They

believed inthe same gods, and believed that

their gods hadhuman characteristics.

B. Differences-

Government & Way of Life

Forms of Government in City-StatesMonarchy- Rule by a King

Aristocracy- Rule by the “elite”

Oligarchy- Rule by an “elite” few

Democracy- Rule by the people

Tyrants- Rule by a powerful individual

III. Sparta vs Athens

A. Sparta-was part Oligarchy & Monarchy-was an extremely “War-Like” Society-Spartans put Sparta before themselves-All Education was geared towards war-Boys were taken from their homes at

age 7 and trained to be a soldier.-Men lived in the army barracks until

age 30

Sparta Continued:

-Men remained in the army until 60 years old.

-Women COULDN’T participate in the Gov’t,

but they had MORE rights than most in Ancient

Greece. -Goal of Spartan Women: Have a lot of children! (future soldiers or “soldier

makers”)

“The Spartan Way of Life”-Tough Hard Life, Taught to do without

luxury!-Spartans valued duty, strength, &

discipline OVER freedom, individually, and the arts.-This resulted in one of the most power

armies the world has ever seen!

B. Athens-It was a society that stressed an individualshould be “Well-Rounded”!

-As a result: Education, the Arts, and Military strategy were ALL important.

-Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle lived here.

-The Theater, great architecture, andwonderful sculptures developed here.

The Parthenon

Ancient Greek Theater

Nike: The Goddess of Victory

was created around 203 BC.

Athens Continued:-Government went from an aristocracy toa democracy. Thus Athens is said to

havecreated the “World’s First Democracy”.

-It was a “Direct Democracy” since thecitizens made all of the decisions

directly.

-It was a “Limited Democracy” since noteveryone in Athens was a citizen.

Athenian PowerAthens had a powerful Navy!

IV. The Persian WarsA. The Persian Empire (today Iran) foughtthe Greek city-states twice (490 BC &

480 BC)

B. Both Times the Greeks would rally anddefeat the Persians.

C. The power of Athens grew after thesevictories over the Persians.

V. The Peloponnesian War

A. A tense rivalry developed between Sparta & Athens.

B. Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC, Athens had the stronger navy, Sparta

had the stronger army.

C. Other city-states picked sides and joined in

the fight.

Peloponnesian War Continued:D. By 401 BC, Athens was forced to surrender to Sparta.

E. This long lasting war between the city-states would weaken ALL of

them including Sparta & Athens when it

was over.

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

SOCRATES-Lived in Athens 470-399 B.C.

-He Encouraged People To Question Everything: “The unexamined life is

not worth living”

-In 399 B.C. he was charged with the corruption of the young & sentenced

toDeath.

PLATO-Was the top student of Socrates 427-

347BC

-Wrote “The Republic” which outlined his

perfect society.

-It would NOT have been a Democracy!

-Women would be considered equal with men.

ARISTOTLE-Was the top student of Plato 384-322 BC

-Studied politics, physics, psychology, and biology.

-Stressed the idea of “Checks & Balances” in

a government, so it couldn’t gain too much

power. (The U.S. Constitution has a system

just like this in it)