Greek History, Wars, Macedon, and Achievements

Part 1: Persian Wars

Persian Empire• Once a group of nomads who were ruled by the Medes from 700 BCEish to 550

BCE

• Cyrus II led a revolt and became independent. Eventually He leads the Persians to conquer the Medes.

• By 529 BCE Cyrus conquered to the borders of Egypt to Mesopotamia to Asia Minor (including Greek cities).

• He allowed the peoples to practice their customs and traditions.

• He becomes known as Cyrus the Great.

How were Persian conquests so successful?• Well organized and loyal

• The Immortals• An elite force of 10,000 soldiers

• Well trained and appeared immortal. Every time a soldier died, another would replace him to appear immortal.

• Cavalry used to charge enemies head on or flank them. Also they shot arrows from far.• Cavalry: Unit of soldiers who ride horses

• The cavalry weakened their enemies before the Immortals engaged.

Cambyses and Rise of Darius

• Cyrus the Great’s son Cambyses takes over and conquers Egypt

• Rebellion occurred as a Zoroastrian priest poses as his brother and attempts to rise up

• Cambyses dies from cutting his own leg and gangrene.

• His ‘lance-carrier’ Darius I goes out and kills the imposter, and restores order to the Persian Empire

Darius I’s rule: Provinces

•Divided the empire into 20 provinces ruled by satraps.• Satrap: Governor

• Satraps collected taxes, served as judges, and maintained peace within their province.

•Darius I would send officials to enforce loyalty within each province to prevent rebellion.

Darius I’s rule: Internal System

• Built many roads. The purpose of the road was for faster travel.

• Most famous is called the Royal Road• Its 1,700 miles long

• New capital called Persepolis• It’s purpose was to reflect the glory of the Persian Empire

• New religion called Zoroastrianism spread throughout the empire• It is a monotheistic religion that believe cosmic forces between good and evil are in eternal

battle.

• Priests told people to worship their god, Ahura Mazda.

So it begins…

• In 499 BCE Greek City-states in Asia Minor rebelled and received aid from other Greek-city states from the mainland

• Though the rebellions were crushed, Darius I was upset with the involvement of the Greek city-states from the mainland.

•Nine years later Darius I invaded Greece.

First Invasion: Battle of Marathon

• Darius I sent 15,000 warriors to fight against Athens and their allies.

• Athenians fought in better terrain to prevent cavalry to flank them and through better technology and weapons gained major victory.

• Legend says an Athenian messenger ran from Marathon to Athens nonstop. After the 26 miles trek, he cried out “Rejoice, We conquer!” and died from exhaustion.

Second Invasion

• 480 BCE Xerxes I (son of Darius I) launched a second invasion against Xerxes

• Sparta joins the fight as an ally with Athens

• Sparta had strongest army and Athens had strongest navy

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwitONWEgsk

Second Invasion: Battle of Thermopylae

• King Leonidas led around 1,400 Spartans and allies to Thermopylae to hold off the Persian army.

• The Spartan army thwarted the Persian army for 3 days in a narrow mountain pass.

• A Greek traitor gave way to another way around the army. The Spartan army was surrounded and fought valiantly to the death.

• Persian army attacked and burned down Athens

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvd9vxyCgCA

Second Invasion: Battle of Salamis

• Athenian Navy led the Persian navy to the narrow strait of Salamis.

• The Persian ships were too bulky and the fact they were so many made it impossible for them to maneuver around

• Athens’ smaller boats out maneuvered and destroyed the Persian navy.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fvd9vxyCgCA

Second Invasion: Battle at Plataea

• 480 BCE Xerxes I (son of Darius I) launched a second invasion against Xerxes

• Sparta joins the fight as an ally with Athens

• Sparta had strongest army and Athens had strongest navy

Part 2: Sparta & Athens

Children in Sparta and Athens

• Overall the Greeks believed everyone has a great role in society.

• Mortality rates were high, and most children were not expected to live long.

• If children had low chances of survival babies were left out to die.

• Spartans viewed them as weaklings

• Some Athenians cared to leave them to adoption.

Males in Both City-States

Sparta• Boys from a young age trained in strenuous

physical exercise• Stealing was allowed• Food and clothing scarce

• 20s -30s: Lived in barracks and rarely saw their families

• Served until they were 60 years old

• Main focus: Discipline & Obedience

Athens• Received physical exercise but not main focus.

• They only served in military for two years.

• Education was key when it came to literacy, history, and the arts.

• Few rich Athenian men involved more with tutor and learned how to be part of Assembly.

• Most of population was poor and learned more about farming and manual labor.

Women in both city-states

• Sparta

• Women were not allowed to focus on domestic chores such as weaving. Those jobs were considered slave labor.

• Jewelry was not allowed.

• They focused on training hard and being on top physical shape

• Women were to bear strong offspring.

• Athens

• They had to do manual labor.

• Women were to be cosmetically beautiful.

• Did not receive education.

• Women had no rights to participate in government, nor leave their homes or turn from their male role models

Government Types

• Sparta

• Oligarchy• Two kings

• Hereditary

• Council of Elders• Loudest in votes win support

• Formed laws Assembly voted for

• Can veto laws passed by Assembly

• Assembly• Male citizens

• Little power

• Only vote yes or no

• Athens

• Direct Democracy• (Look at previous PowerPoint for

reference)

Alliances• Sparta

• Peloponnesian League• Sparta leader of the league

• The league was located in the Peloponnesian Peninsula

• Athens

• Delian League• Money found in the Island of Delos

• Athens controlled strongest navy

• Forced city-states to stay and pay for Athenian architecture.

Peloponnesian War (Part 1)

• 431 BCE: Sparta viewed the Delian League as a threat. Therefore they declared war on Athens.

• Sparta’s army besieged Athens and burnt their crops.

• Athens’ navy raided the coast and with the help of their allies received supplies.

• Sparta had to divide forces to defend allies as Athens was plagued by disease.

• After 10 years of war both sides declared a truce.

Peloponnesian War (Part 2)

• 415 BCE Athens sent their military to conquer Sicily but uber failed. Most of their army was imprisoned and majority of their navy was destroyed.

• Sparta took advantage of this and started the war again.

• 404 BCE Spartans won the war.

Peloponnesian Aftermath

• For three decades Sparta had hegemony over all of Greece.

• Other city-states fought and challenged Sparta each other. Greece was in an age of division that gave a foreign power an opportunity to rule them all…

Part 3: Macedonia

Macedonia

• Kingdom north of Greece ruled by Phillip II in 359 BCE

• All of Greece viewed Macedonia as uncivilized peoples because their form of Greek was spoken different and they lived in small villages as opposed to the powerful polises.

• King Phillip II conquered all of Greece and planned to attack Persia but was assassinated in his daughters’ wedding

• His son Alexander became ruler of Macedon in the age of 20.

Thebes the Example

• The Greek city-state of Thebes rebelled against Macedon.

• Alexander fought, conquered, and enslaved the people of Thebes.

• He made them an example to show fear and prevent the rest of Greece to rebellion.

• In 334 BCE He sets off to conquer Persia

Total Conquest

• Alexander first conquers Asia Minor in the Battle of Granicus and Issus.

• Afterwards he marches onto Egypt without a fight. He becomes Egypt’s pharaoh and builds a city called Alexandria.

• He fights one last battle of Gaugamela and wins. Shortly after the Persian king was assassinated with no children, which made Alexander the ruler of Persia.

End of Alexander’s Empire

• 327 BCE Alexander wanted to conquer into India but his men were done fighting.

• In reluctance he goes to Babylon in 323 BCE. Suddenly he died with sickness in the age of 33.

• His body was taken and buried in the city of Alexandria, in Egypt.

• His empire was divided into multiple kingdoms under the rule of his top generals.

Macedon’s Military Dominance

• Macedonia's army was very organized.

• Their most formidable formation was the phalanx.• Phalanx: Soldiers formed a tight square with 13-16 foot spears to prevent

enemies from getting close.

• They also had strong cavalry and archers to help support them.

Hellenistic Period

• Hellenistic Period lasted from 323 BCE to 31 BCE.

• Alexander the Great allowed people to practice their traditions but at the same time Greek became the common knowledge and it infused with conquered peoples’ culture.

Part 4: Greek Achievements

Greek Philosophy• Socrates

• Socratic Method: Teaching based on answering questions with questions• He focused on qualities of life• Condemned for questioning the gods. He was sentenced to drink poison.

• Plato• Student of Socrates• Created the Academy• Famous work is Republic• Ideal Government is about justice and fairness ruled by philosophers.

• Aristotle• Student of Plato• Philosophy is about moderation, not doing any extremes.• Using reason is important to live out their lives

Mathematics & Science

• Mathematics• Euclid: Focused on Geography

• Medicine• Hippocrates: Known to figure out what caused diseases. Also known for

Hippocratic Oath. Hippocratic Oath is about