The Glory That

Was Greece

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 The Early Greeks
• Hellenes – Indo-European nomads – Dorian,
Aeolian, and Ionian tribes
• Circa 1400-1000 B.C.E. – migration from Black
Sea and Danube regions → modern-day
Greece and Turkey
• Conquered Cretans and other natives
• Circa 1000 B.C.E. – controlled Greece, some of
Asia Minor, and Aegean islands
 The Age of Homer
• Circa 1000 B.C.E.-circa 750 B.C.E.
• Greece’s “Dark Ages” – little information
known
• Iliad and Odyssey
• Troy discovered by Heinrich Schliemann
• People – farmers, traders, and warriors
• Crops and livestock – cattle, grapes, olives,
sheep, wheat
 The Age of Homer

Homer Schliemann
 The Geography of Greece
• Mountains
– Hindered communication and unification
– Caused growth of independent city-states
• Seas and seaports
– Peninsula with irregular coastline
– Seaports encouraged development of trade
• Poor farmland
– Few crops could be grown
– Forced to trade
– Became leading traders of Aegean and eastern
Mediterranean
 Greece’s Colonies
• Circa 800-600 B.C.E.

• Colonized areas around the Mediterranean –

Italy’s west coast (Naples), Sicily (Syracuse),
southern France (Marseilles), Egypt,
Byzantium (Constantinople/Istanbul)

• Spread Greek culture, language, religion

Greece and the Greek Colonies
 Forces Uniting the Greeks

Ancestry Language Literature

Olympic
Religion
Games
 Forces Uniting the Greeks
Ancestry Language Literature

• Believed in a • Spoke different • Homer’s Iliad

common Greek dialects and Odyssey
ancestor – but could • Mythological
Hellen understand tales
one another
• Used
Phoenician
alphabet and
added vowels
 Forces Uniting the Greeks
Religion Olympic Games

• Greek pantheon of gods • Every four years

and goddesses living on • This four-year period was
Mount Olympus called the Olympiad
• Zeus, Athena, Hades, etc. • Began in 776 BCE
• Physical games – boxing,
broad jumps, chariot racing,
dashes, discus throwing,
distance running, javelin
throwing
• Intellectual games – art,
drama, music, poetry
Greek Language and Alphabet
Greek Religion
Olympic Games
 Forces Disuniting the Greeks
First Loyalty Was Different Types
Geography
to City-State of Government
• Often fought • Mountains • Athens –
one another divided city- democracy
• This disunity states and • Sparta –
eventually hindered authoritarian
allowed the communication and militaristic
Macedonians nature
to conquer • Also
Greece aristocracies,
oligarchies, and
tyrannies
 WHAT WAS ANCIENT
GREECE LIKE?
• ATHENS • SPARTA
• Gov’t • Gov’t
• Soldiers • Soldiers
• Slaves • Slaves
• Women • Women
• Education • Education
• Athens • Sparta
• Government: • Government:
• Limited democracy (only male citizens • Two kings (military generals) and a
could participate), Council of 500 council of elders. Citizens were male,
which made the laws, voting native born, over 30.
Assembly. • Soldiers:
• Soldiers: • Military society, all males prepared
• Citizen soldiers – only during wartime to be soldiers from birth. Soldiers
• Slaves: from age 7 – 30.
• No political rights or freedoms. Owned • Slaves
by individuals • Owned by the State
• Women: • Women:
• Cared for the home, limited political • Prepared physically for fighting, right
rights. to inherit property, must obey men.
• Education: • Education:
• Upper class boys only. Military • Boys only. Military based training
training and preparation for from age 7. Taught to fight.
government involvement. Knowledge Prohibition against trade, travel and
was important for a democratic mixing with other city-states.
government.
 Sparta
• Spartans conquered
Peloponnesians
– Peloponnesians became
slaves, or helots
• Helots outnumbered Spartans
20 to 1
• Spartans feared that helots
would revolt
• Spartans became heavily
militaristic in response
 The Life of a Spartan
• Newborns brought to ephors (leaders) for examination
• Sickly babies left to die of exposure
• Healthy babies
Birth • Boys lived with their parents until age seven
• Girls stayed with their parents until marriage, and learning weaving, cooking, cleaning

• Boys sent to military school for strict physical training

• Weapons and endurance training
• Frequent beatings
Age 7 • Taught basic reading and to be laconic (use brief speech)

• Young men became soldiers

• Allowed to get married
Age 20 • But lived in the barracks until age 30

• These soldiers became citizens

• Could vote and could live in their own homes
Age 30 • Remained in the military until age 60
 Hellenic Culture
• “Hellenic” refers to Greek culture among
those who considered themselves to be Greek
during the centuries before Alexander the
Great

• Much of what is considered typically “Greek”

and which greatly influenced the course of
Western civilization was created and
developed during this time
 Athens and Athenian Democracy
• Democracy
– Demos (“people”) +
kratein (“to rule”)
• Democracy developed Draco Solon
through various reforms
over 200 years (circa
620s B.C.E.-420 B.C.E.)
– Draco Clisthenes Pericles
– Solon
– Clisthenes
– Pericles
 Draco
• Athenian noble
• 621 B.C.E. – credited with putting down first
written laws of Athens
– Severe (modern English term draconian meaning
“severe” or “harsh”)
– Written “in blood, not ink”
– Written laws meant that judges could not show
favoritism or make up laws
 Solon
• 594 B.C.E. – rewrote
Draco’s laws
• Helped the poor
– All citizens could
participate in the
legislature
– Ended debt enslavement
– Canceled land mortgages
– Limited amount of land a
person could own
 Clisthenes
• 508 B.C.E.
• Enlarged Athenian Assembly and increased its powers
• Created Council of 500 to represent the different classes
– Created and administered laws after they were approved by
Assembly
• Officials were elected
• Executive power
– Ten generals called strategi (singular strategus)
– Elected for one year
• Citizenship granted to some freedmen (former slaves) and
to some immigrants
• Ostracism
– Names written on ostrakon (piece of broken potsherd) once a
year
– Most votes = ten years of exile
 Pericles
• “Golden Age of Pericles” – 461-429
B.C.E.

• Repeatedly elected as a strategus

• All citizens could hold public office

• People were paid for government

service

• “Golden Age of Pericles” also saw

developments in art and architecture
 Greek Philosophy
“Love of knowledge” – Search for answers to life’s big questions

Early
Socrates
Sophists

Plato Aristotle
 Greek Philosophers
Sophists (5th Socrates (469- Plato (427-347 Aristotle (384-
century B.C.E.) 399 B.C.E.) B.C.E.) 322 B.C.E.)
• “Men of • There is • Dialogues • Macedonian
wisdom” absolute written student of
• Measured truth – record of Plato
everything by “Know Socrates’ • Tutor to
its usefulness thyself” – dialogues Alexander
• Criticized Socratic • The Republic the Great
gods, dialogue – ideal state • Opened the
government, • Convicted of administered Lyceum in
and corrupting by Athens
conventional the youth – philosophers • Created the
morality forced to • Founded the basis for
• There is no drink Academy scientific
absolute hemlock which lasted inquiry
truth 800 years
 The Greeks and History
Knowledge of the past had consisted of myths and legends.
The first true historians attempted to base their writings on facts.

Herodotus (484-425 B.C.E.) Thucydides (471-400 B.C.E.)

• Called the “father of • Called the “first scientific

history” historian”
• The Inquiries or The • History of the
Histories Peloponnesian Wars
• Traveled to learn and write • Discussed cause and effect
about the Persian Wars • Gave the people involved
• Much information about the main role in historical
foreign customs, etc. events
• Gave the gods a role in
historical events
 Greek Literature
• Hesiod (late 8th century B.C.E.)
– Theogony – poem about Greek gods
– Work and Days – poem about the life of a farmer
• Sappho (ca. 620 B.C.E.-ca. 570 B.C.E.)
– Lyric poetry (sung accompanied by a lyre)
– Hymn to Aphrodite
• Pindar (522-443 B.C.E.)
– Paeans
– Greeks considered him their greatest lyric poet
Greek Literature
 Greek Oratory
• Art of oratory introduced by the Sophists
• Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.E.)
– Warned Greeks about Philip of Macedonia’s plans
– English word philippic means “tirade against
someone”

Demosthenes
 Greek Education
• “A perfect mind in a perfect body”
• Education largely informal
• Formal education
– Not for girls (learned domestic arts at home)
– Boys sent to private schools at age seven
– Slave – pedagogue – watched over him and taught
him how to behave
– Grammar, reading, writing, math, music, oratory
– Age 12 – began gymnastics
• Only for upper classes
• Development of citizens who could participate in
government and public affairs
 Athenian Democracy: Its Flaws
• Athens’ adult population: Circa 300,000
– 150,000 foreigners and slaves (not citizens)
– 100,000 women and others
– 50,000 male citizens with voting rights
• Direct democracy – the citizen had to be there to
vote (typically 5,000-6,000 voted at a time)
• Women had few rights and opportunities
• Slavery played a major role in the economy
• Orators often used forceful and coercive
language, rather than logic, to sway voters
 Persian Wars: 500-479 B.C.E.
• Greeks lived in Asia Minor since at least 1000
B.C.E.
• Persian empire expanded in the 5th century
B.C.E. to include Asia Minor
• 500 B.C.E. – Greeks in Miletus led a revolt
• Athens and other city-states came to aid of
Miletus
• Persians won and King Darius swore revenge
against Athens for interfering
 First Persian War (490 B.C.E.)
• King Darius sent fleet to attack Athens
– Set anchor 26 miles northeast of Marathon
• Battle of Marathon
– Spartans could not help because of a religious
festival
– Athenians were outnumbered but still defeated
the Persians
 Significance of the Persian Wars
• Persian empire declined
• Greek civilization and culture flourished
• Wealth from increased trade
• Started the Greek onslaught against the
Persian empire
– Completed by Alexander the Great of Macedonia
in 331 B.C.E.
 Athens Leads Greece
• Great leadership
– Aristides and the Delian League (a.k.a.
Confederacy of Delos) to protect against possible
future Persian invasions
• Alliance became the basis for the Athenian empire
• Members paid protection money to Athens
– Cimon – expelled Persians from Black Sea shore
– Pericles and his “Golden Age”
• Increased trade brought wealth
Athens
 Peloponnesian Wars
• 431 B.C.E. – war began again
• Circa 430 B.C.E. – plague struck Athens
– 1/3 of population died, including Pericles
• Athens attacked Syracuse (ally of Sparta), located
in southern Italy, at sea
– Athens lost
• Battle of Aegospotami (404 B.C.E.)
– Spartans allied with Persians and defeated Athenians
– Spartans conquered Athens and destroyed its
defensive walls
 Sparta Leads Greece
• 404-371 B.C.E.
• Sparta’s support of oligarchic rule upset the lower
classes in other Greek city-states
• Battle of Leuctra (371 B.C.E.)
– Thebes was first to revolt
– General Epaminondas led Thebans to defeat Spartans
• Battle of Mantinea (362 B.C.E.)
– Thebes defeated by Sparta and Athens
• Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.E.)
– Philip II of Macedon defeated Athenians and Thebans
• League of Corinth (337 B.C.E.)
– Philip II of Macedon had Greek city-states pledge to
stop warring one another
 Review Questions
1. What ancient Greek city-state first developed
democracy?
2. How did Draco, Solon, Clisthenes, and Pericles
advance democracy?
3. What features of Athenian society were
undemocratic?
4. Describe the Greek wars with the Persians.
5. What were the causes and outcomes of the
Peloponnesian wars?
6. Who got the Greek city-states to pledge to stop
warring one another with the League of
Corinth?
 Greek Architecture and Art
• Architecture of the Acropolis
– Parthenon designed by Ictinus
• Gold and ivory statue of Athena
designed by Phidias
– Optical illusions and
engineering used to avoid
building appearing curved from
a distance
• Sculpture
– Lifelike and proportionate
– Attention to detail
– Emphasis on the beauty of the
human form
Hermes and Dionysos by Praxiteles
The Acropolis in Athens
 Leaders in Greek Science

Thales Pythagoras

Democritus Hippocrates
 Thales
• Lived circa 624 B.C.E.-circa 546 B.C.E.

• Called the “father of natural science”

• Believed the basic substance in the world is

water, which changes its form (ice, liquid,
steam) but not its composition
 Pythagoras
• Lived circa 580 B.C.E.-circa 490 B.C.E.

• Called the “father of numbers” –

mathematician who believed everything could
be numbered

• Pythagorean Theorem: “The square of the

hypotenuse of a right angle is equal to the
sum of the squares on the other two sides.”
 Democritus
• Lived circa 460 B.C.E.-circa 370 B.C.E.

• Everything made of atoms so small they

cannot be divided
 Hippocrates
• Lived circa 460 B.C.E.-370 B.C.E.

• Called the “father of medicine”

• Believed that diseases have natural rather

than supernatural causes

• Hippocratic Oath – still taken by medical

personnel today
 Greek Drama
• Purpose
– Educative – taught history and morality
• Presentation
– Open-air amphitheaters
– Little scenery
– Originally sung by a chorus, but later chorus members
developed into actors
• Themes
– Gods, divine laws, and fate dominate human destiny
 Greek Dramatists

Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides Aristophanes

(525-456 B.C.E.) (496-406 B.C.E.) (480-406 B.C.E.) (448-380 B.C.E.)

• Called the • Oedipus Rex • Medea • The Frogs

“father of • Antigone • The Bacchae • The Clouds
Greek
drama”
• Prometheus
Bound
• Agamemnon
 Review Questions
1. What does the term Hellenic mean?
2. Describe Greek architecture and art.
3. What did Pythagoras and Hippocrates
contribute to the sciences?
4. What questions and criticisms were raised by
ancient Greek philosophers?
5. In what ways were Herodotus and Thucydides
true historians?
6. Compare education in ancient Greece to
education in the United States today.