THE GREEK WORLDWAR AND ADVANCEMENTS

THE GREEK WORLD

Persia• Cyrus

• Conquered much of Southwest Asia• Made Persia the world’s largest empire

• Was able to do this because of his loyal, organized military

• Had brave and skilled warriors called the Immortals, and a cavalry

THE GREEK WORLD• Cambyses

• Conquered Egypt, but Persia had a revolt

• Darius• Claimed the throne and killed all of his rivals• Divided the government into provinces

• Governors collected taxes for him, served as judges, and put down rebellions

• Made sure the governors stayed loyal by sending officials to monitor their loyalty

THE GREEK WORLD• Persian Society under Darius

• Built roads and a new capital called Persepolis with carvings and statues

• Zoroastrianism became popular

• Expanded Persia• Went from India to Turkey to Arabia and the entire

Fertile Crescent• Wanted Greece

THE GREEK WORLD• Greece vs. Persia

• Greek colonies in Turkey rebelled against Persia with aid from Greece

• The Battle of Marathon• Darius invaded Greece at Marathon• Athens defeated Persia because they had better

weapons and better leaders

THE GREEK WORLD• Marathon Race

• A messenger ran 26.2 miles from Marathon to Athens to tell of the victory, fell over, and died

• Xerxes• Darius’ son tried to invade Greece again• Defeated the Spartans at Thermopylae• Attacked and burned Athens before the Greeks

eventually won destroying the Persian Navy as well

THE GREEK WORLD

Sparta vs Athens• Sparta was military dominated society

• Government was built around keep slaves (helots) in submission

• Unhealthy males were left to die• Males were raised to be tough, to steal, to fight, be

self-disciplined, and obedient

THE GREEK WORLD• Athens

• Boys learned to fight like in Sparta, not as harsh• Only had to be in the military for 2 years• Older men only had to serve in times of war• Learned to read, write, play music, sing• Studied the Iliad and the Odyssey

THE GREEK WORLD• Private teachers offered advanced education for

rich families• Philosophy, geometry, astronomy, public

speaking• Poor families did not get this

• Usually only could read or write• Girls received no education• Women had no rights

THE GREEK WORLD• Delian League

• An alliance between Greek city-states after the Persians to protect against invaders

• Athens used their leadership in the League to make Athens an empire

• Peloponnesian League• Another alliance in Greece headed by Sparta

worried that Athens was becoming too powerful

THE GREEK WORLD• Peloponnesian War

• Spartan armies surrounded in 431BC Athens and burned their fields

• Athens had built a walled passage to their port city so they imported food protected by a strong navy

• Lasted for 10 years until a truce was called

THE GREEK WORLD• Athens tried to attack the Spartan ally of Sicily in

415BC, lost, navy destroyed• Sparta invaded again cutting off their food• 404BC Athens surrendered• Different city-states traded ruling over Greece

leaving it vulnerable to outside invasion

THE GREEK WORLD

Macedonia Invades• Philip II became king of Macedonia

• Improved on Greek war tactics and had better weapons

• Easily conquered Greece

• Headed toward Persia• Was murdered before he made it there

THE GREEK WORLD

Alexandrian Greece• Thebes Rebellion

• Thebes rebelled against a Macedonian leader, Philip’s son Alexander, they thought was weak

• Within a year Thebes was destroyed and Theban people were slaves

THE GREEK WORLD• Invasion of Persia

• Alexander’s troop attacked Persia in 334BC winning battle after battle

• Gordian knot• Legend held that there was a special knot and

whoever could untie it would rule all of Asia• Alexander, according to legend, went and cut the

knot with his sword• The army marched on to take over Egypt 332BC

and the Persian Empire

THE GREEK WORLD• Crossed into India in 327BC then headed back to

Greece, but never made it• Died at age 33

• His empire divided between 3 generals• Hellenistic Macedonia stood until the Roman

invasion in 100s BC• Hellenistic Syria rebelled against its rulers until

Rome invaded in 60BC• Hellenistic Egypt was stable until Rome invaded

in 30BC

THE GREEK WORLD• Alexander wanted to spread Greek culture

• Built new cities, usually named Alexandria, and set up schools, theaters, temples

• Greek art, literature, and science spread into SW Asia• Did let people keep their own culture and traditions to

keep them happy• These combined Greek, Persian, Egyptian, Syrian

cultures was called Hellenistic, or Greek-like• Alexandria, Egypt had a massive library of the

ancient world; now lost

THE GREEK WORLD

Greek Achievements• The Arts

• Statue sculptors wanted to perfect the human body, looking almost alive

• Paintings were also realistic• Pots, vases, and vessels were decorated using

black glaze or painted showing scenes from Greek literature

THE GREEK WORLD• Architecture (turn to page 278-9 in your book)

• Used tall marble columns to hold up massive roofs• Parthenon

• Temple of Athena on the acropolis with a massive statue inside

THE GREEK WORLD• Writing

• Created dramas, plays, as a part of religious ceremonies

• Eventually dramatized daily life• Two Types

• Tragedies- serious, often sad and deadly plays

• Comedies- funny, often made fun of famous people or the government

THE GREEK WORLD• History

• Greeks were interested in what the past could teach us

• Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War staying neutral in his writing

• Philosophy• Explained events and things using reason, clear

and ordered thing, instead of gods and goddesses

THE GREEK WORLD• Socrates

• Greatest Greek thinker• Socratic Method

• Teach by asking questions and allowing students to think out answers using their own reasoning skills

• Then challenge those answers with other questions

• Also to challenge your own beliefs• People feared this and he was sentenced to death by drinking

poison

THE GREEK WORLD• Plato

• Socrates student• Established a school called the Academy• Wrote books, such as The Republic, on justice

and fairness and philosophy

THE GREEK WORLD• Aristotle

• Plato’s student and greatest Greek philosopher• Believed that reason was chief of all knowledge

and it should govern people’s lives• Advanced the field of logic, using what you know

to learn new things• This would inspire science for centuries,

even today

THE GREEK WORLD• Science

• Mathematics• Euclid

• Father of geometry• Eratosthenes

• Calculated the size of the earth• Hypatia

• Taught mathematics and astronomy

THE GREEK WORLD• Medicine and Engineering

• Hippocrates• First to write about what caused diseases• Also wrote about how doctors should behave

• Engineers created the water screw that brings water from a lower level to a higher level among other inventions