Ancient Greece - Weebly



Ancient Greece

Geography

Greece is a peninsula, which means that it is surrounded on three sides by water.

• Greece is also covered with mountains. They are not huge mountains but if you are trying to go from place to place in Greece, you'll find the mountains a bit of a hindrance. 

• Advantages

• Encouraged the development of independent cities.

• Barrier for invaders.

• Disadvantages

• Physically isolated communities?

• In the ancient world the Greeks became known as great sailors. They sailed about the Mediterranean, setting up colonies and outposts where they could.

• Hot and dry, rains in the winter

Ancient Crete 3000-1450 BC

The earliest civilization in Europe began on the island of Crete about 4500 years ago.

■ Ancient Crete was the foundation (start) of the later Greek civilization.

This civilization was known as the Minoan civilization.  

■ It was named after the legendary King Minos.

■ Stories say that he built a labyrinth, a maze, in which he kept a minotaur-creature with the head of a bull and body of a man.  

Minos was the king of Crete, and the legend possibly derives from his demands of human sacrifice from other Greek cities. It is likely the ceremony was performed by a priest wearing a bull head or mask.

■ The Minoan civilization came to an end in 1450 BC.  There had been a volcanic eruption nearby and had created disaster for Crete.  

■ The Myceneans, who admired the Minoans, invaded and took over.  They took the ideas of the Minoans back to mainland Europe.

The Mycenaean 2000-1200 BC

■ We know quite a bit about the ancient Mycenaeans because they wrote things down. We know, for example, they worshiped a great many gods.

■ The Mycenaean’s were sea traders.  They traded locally and also traded with Italy, Egypt and Mesopotamia.

■ The Mycenaean’s lived in city-states on the mainland.  In each city-state a warrior king built a thick walled fortress and ruled the surrounding villages.  These city-states had rich palaces and luxurious goods.

Greek Dark Age 1100-600 BC

■ Around 1200 BC, Mycenae fell to invading wandering raiders called the Sea Peoples and also from the Dorians (Greek-speaking peoples)- invading from the North. Many Mycenaean were forced to flee to other countries.

■ When many of the Mycenaean fled around 1100 BC, Greece entered its “Dark Age.” When Mycenaean power faded, their people fled and trade declined. People forgot many skills, including the art of writing.

■ The land of Greece passed several centuries where people lived in small isolated villages and had few contacts with the outside world.

Types of Government in Greece

■ Democracy- (Demos=people Cracy= rule)- Rule by the people. In the case of Greece- it was rule by “citizens.” Citizens were only landowning men.

■ Monarchy- Rule by a king. Rule is usually passed on within the same family. King has most or all power.

■ Aristocracy- Rule by landowning nobles (those at a higher class in society).

■ Oligarchy-Rule by a small group of wealthy upper class people.

■ Tyranny- Gaining power by force. Total power. A tyrant.

■ Each city-state chose its own government.

Periods

Historians often divide up the history of Ancient Greece into three periods:

• Archaic Period

• Classical Period

• Hellenistic Period

Greek Archaic Period (800 BC - 480 BC)

• The Archaic period saw advancements in political theory, especially the beginnings of democracy, as well as in culture and art.

• 776 BC - The first Olympic Games takes place. The games would take place every 4 years in honor of the Greek god Zeus.

• 750 BC - Homer begins to write the Iliad and Odyssey. These epic poems become two of the most famous literary works in Greek literature.

• 508 BC - Democracy is introduced in Athens by Cleisthenes. He establishes a constitution and is often called the "Father of Athenian Democracy". This is one of the great accomplishments of the Greek culture.

The first Olympic Games

• Held in Olympia

• Festival for Zeus.

• Greek citizens

• No criminals

• No girls or slaves

The Olympic Truce

There were a lot of wars in ancient Greece

During the Olympic games a truce was ordered and all wars had to stop.

Truce Rules:

❑ All war must stop

❑ Armies and men with weapons can not enter the games

❑ There is no death penalty during the games

❑ Athletes can pass safely through city-states on their way to the games

❑ Winners were announced after each event.

❑ They got their prize on the last day of the festival.

❑ The judges crowned each man with a simple olive wreath.

■ Archaic Period - This period included the start of the Olympic Games and Homer's writing of the Odyssey and the Iliad.

Greek Classical Period (480 BC - 323 BC)

■ Greece was divided into city-states, called polis, each with its own governments and customs.

■ There were many Greek city-states, but the most powerful were Athens and Sparta.

■ Athens was governed by a democracy and great philosophers like Socrates and Plato arose. Also, the wars between Sparta and Athens were during this time.

■ This period ended with the rise and then death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC.

490 BC - The Greeks fight the Persians in the Greek/Persian Wars. Two famous battles are the Battle of Marathon in 480 BC and the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. The Greeks win and the Persians retreat.

468 BC - Sophocles begins to write plays for the theatre. Soon the theater becomes a very popular form of entertainment in Greece.

432 BC - The temple to Athena, the Parthenon, is completed in Athens on the Acropolis. Today this is the most famous surviving building of Ancient Greece.

431 BC - The wars between Sparta and Athens begin. They are called the Peloponnesian Wars. The wars will last 27 years with Sparta eventually conquering Athens in 404 BC.

399 BC - The famous Greek philosopher Socrates is put to death for corrupting the youth of Athens with his teachings.

386 BC - Greek philosopher and student of Socrates, Plato, founded the first institution of higher learning in the western world. It's called the Academy.

342 BC - The great philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, Aristotle, begins to tutor Alexander (later to be called Alexander the Great)

.

336 BC - Alexander the Great becomes king when his father, Philip of Macedon is assassinated.

333 BC - Alexander begins his conquests and defeats the Persians.

332 BC - Alexander conquers Egypt. He establishes the new capital of Egypt at Alexandria. Over the next several years Alexander would greatly expand his empire, conquering much of Persia on the way to India.

Greek Hellenistic Period (323 BC - 146 BC)

■ 323 BC - The Hellenistic period begins when Alexander the Great dies. The Ancient Greek civilization begins its decline and the Ancient Romans start to gain power.

■

300 BC - Euclid, a Greek mathematician, writes Elements. This famous writing will have an impact on mathematics for years to come.

■

146 BC - Rome conquers Greece making it part of the Roman Empire.

Greece Wars

The Battle of Marathon

■ The Battle of Marathon took place during the first Persian invasion of Greece, fought between the combined forces of Athens and Plataea against King Darius’ Persian army. Darius’ attempted to invade Greece as he was angered after the Athenians had sent aid to Ionia in a revolt against the Persians.

■ Though heavily outnumbered, the Greek forces managed to defeat the lightly armed Persian army after five days of stalemate, expelling Darius and his army.

The Battle of Marathon was significant in showing the world that the Persians could be defeated.

■ More interestingly, the battle also created marathon running, which was inspired by an inaccurate story about a Greek messenger running to Athens from Marathon with news of the victory.

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Peloponnesian Wars

■ Sparta

One day, Athens and Sparta quarreled about something. Fuss fuss fuss - that was Athens and Sparta. It was an insignificant quarrel. It was not over the treasury. It was not over anything really. But this quarrel started a war between Athens and Sparta that lasted over 25 years - the Peloponnesian War.

■ Athens

It was a time of great prosperity for the people of Athens. They were loaded with wealth. They were at peace. Art, poetry, philosophy - everything flourished. They built wonderful buildings on the Acropolis, the rocky hill overlooking Athens. They were happy.

■ In the third year of the war, more than half the people in the city of Athens died – not from fighting - from illness. People from the surrounding countryside had fled inside the city gates, fleeing Spartan attacks. The city was not prepared for that many people to live in Athens. There was not enough food. They did not have a way to safely remove waste. It was a mess.

■ Finally, in April, in the year 404 BCE, Athens surrendered.

■ Despite the bitterness, the Spartans were generous. They did not level the town as Corinth and Thebes wanted them to do. Instead, they made Athens a satellite state under a Spartan oligarchy. It was the end of democracy. Ten years later, Sparta gave Athens her independence. Since her defeat, Athens had regained much of her old strength. But never again was ancient Athens the golden city she once was.

Ancient Greece

■ Religion was a big part of Greek life.

■ Greeks worshiped many different gods.

■ They imagined the gods looked and acted like humans with special powers.

■ They told stories about the gods called myths.

■ The Greeks believed there were 12 major gods.

■ The gods lived on the top of Greece’s tallest mountain, Olympus.

■ Religion:

❑ 12 major gods

❑ Lived good life on Mount Olympus

❑ Ate ambrosia (wonderful food)

• Homer's poems nectar is usually the drink and ambrosia the food of the gods.

Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses

Zeus

Zeus was the king of all the gods

Hera

Hera was married to Zeus. She was the queen of all the gods, and also the goddess of marriage. 

Aphrodite

Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty

Athena

Athena is the goddess of wisdom.

Artemis

Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and the goddess of the moon. 

Poseidon

Poseidon was the Lord of the Sea

Ares

Ares was the god of war

Hades

His job was to run the Underworld

Hestia

Hestia was the goddess of hearth and home

Greek Architecture

■ The Greeks built temples for the gods.

■ Many were very beautiful.

■ Each temple had a statue of a god inside.

■ Some temple statues were 40 foot tall.

■ The ancient Greeks made statues of perfect people. (Some of the ancient Roman statues, for example, had big noses. The Greeks would never do that.) 

■ The ancient Greeks invented three types of columns that were used all over ancient Greece. The columns were placed to support a building, but also adjusted in size and angle and in footage from each other, so that from a distance, the columns looked perfectly symmetrical.  

■ Their designs on vases of all sorts, for all purposes, reveals their love of the geometric and visually interesting.  

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The Parthenon

■ It is the most important and characteristic monument of the ancient Greek civilization and still remains its international symbol. It was dedicated to Athena Parthenos, the patron goddess of Athens.

Greek City-States – The Polis

■ Each city-state or polis grew up on the plains (flatter land), and the mountains around them provided natural barriers and defenses.  

Acropolis of Athens

■ The Greeks built high, strong walls around their cities, and an acropolis (fort) was built on a high place inside the walls.  ACROPOLIS =high city or edge of the city.

The Acropolis of is an ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and containing the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon.

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