•Unit 2 – The “Classical Era” in the West Greece
•Quote of the Day
•“No person was ever honored for what they received. Honor has been the reward for what they gave”
»Calvin Coolidge
•The Glory of Greece
•The Minoan civilization flourished on the island of Crete from 2000B.C. to 1400 B.C.
•The Minoans developed their own form of writing, used copper & bronze, & were skilled at shipbuilding. (Successful traders)
•The Minoan civilization mysteriously collapsed around 1400 B.C.
•The second ancient Greek civilization thrived around Mycenae & the coast of Asia Minor from 1400 B.C. to 1200 B.C.
–(Possibly when the Trojan War took place.)
–(Between Mycenae & Troy.)
•At this time the Dorians, a group of people from northern Greece, conquered the Greek mainland.
The Geography of Greece
•Ancient Greece consisted of a large mountainous peninsula, the islands of the Aegean Sea, & the coast of present-day Turkey.
•Because of Greece’s hilly terrain, farming the land was quite difficult. (20% farmland)
•Much of Greece is stony & suitable only for pasture.
The Geography of Greece
•Its people came to rely on trade. (Became skilled sailors.)
•Greeks produce wine, olive oil, & pottery, which they traded with other peoples of the Mediterranean.
•Through these contacts, the Greeks became exposed to key achievements of other ancient civilizations, such as the alphabet, a way of writing, invented by the Phoenicians.
The Rise of the Greek City-State
•Mountains & the sea caused Greek centers of population to be cut off from one another.
•As a result, separate city-states developed, each with its own form of government & system of laws.
•In Greek, the word for city-states was polis.
The Rise of the Greek City-State
•At the same time, Greeks also shared in a common culture based on:
–Their language
–Traditions
–Close economic ties
–Religious beliefs
The Rise of the Greek City-State
–Religious beliefs
•All Greeks believed in the same gods & goddesses.
–Zeus, Athena, Apollo, etc…
–Believed to live on Mount Olympus
•Citizens from all the Greek city-states participated every four years in Olympic games in honor of Zeus & the other Greek gods.
•The Greeks believed their gods were pleased by strong, graceful human bodies.
Military Sparta
•One of the most important city-states was Sparta.
•Sparta is located in the southeastern part of Greece, called the Peloponnesus.
•In 725 B.C., the Spartans conquered their neighbors.
•They forced these people known as helots, to farm for them.
•The Spartans constantly had to use force to maintain control over the helots.
•Due to this threat, life in Sparta was organized around military needs.
•Individualism & new ideas were discouraged.
•Strict obedience & self-discipline were valued.
–For example, if a newborn Spartan baby was found to be unhealthy, it was left on a hillside to die.
Democratic Athens
•The city-state of Athens developed a unique system of government.
•Every citizen could participate in government directly by voting on issues to be decided by the city-state.
•The main governing body of Athens was the Citizens Assembly.
–It was open to all citizens, but only the first 5,000 or so citizens who gathered could attend its meetings.
–It met regularly, at least ten times a year.
–The assembly directed foreign policy & made laws for Athens.
•The Glory of Greece
•Citizens who served on a council, jury, or a magistrate were paid a reimbursement for lost earnings.
–This ensured that even poor citizens could participate in government.
•This type of government, which Athens was the first to introduce, is known as a democracy.
Democratic Athens
•In a democracy, ordinary citizens participate in government, either directly or by elected representatives.
•Democracy means “rule of the people” in Greek.
•In Athens, only a minority of city residents were actually citizens.
–Women, foreigners, & slaves were not citizens & could not participate in government.
The Golden Age of Greek Culture
•In the 5th century B.C., the Persian Empire tried to conquer the Greek city-states.
–Surprisingly, the Persians failed.
•After the war, the Greeks enjoyed a “Golden Age.”
•Pericles championed democracy.
•He collected revenues from other city-states to rebuild Athens.
•Arts, literature, & philosophy all flourished.
Philosophy
•The Greek believed that human reason was powerful enough to understand the world & to solve its problem.
•A series of three philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) asked important questions & tried to find answers.
Philosophy
•Socrates questioned his students about the
use of moral terms: What is goodness? What is morality & justice?
–In 399 B.C., Socrates’ enemies persuaded the Athenian Council to condemn Socrates to death for corrupting the young.
•Plato was Socrates’ most famous student, took Socrates’ method of questioning a step further.
–He concluded that values like goodness, beauty, & justice actually exist as independent ideas that are more real than the changing “appearances” we see in daily life.
–In The Rebublic, Plato described an ideal city-state ruled by philosopher kings.
–He defined justice as the rule of reason over appetite (our desires).
•Aristotle, Plato’s most famous student, was less concerned with abstract concepts.
–Aristotle collected & classified things from animals to city-state constitutions, & studied their relationships.
Art & Architecture
•Greek sculptors & architects tried to design statues & buildings with ideal proportions.
•Greek Buildings & statues were not the white marble you see in museums today.
–They were brightly painted with bold colors
•The Parthenon, a splendid marble temple with beautiful columns, was constructed on a hill known as the Acropolis.
–Inside was a giant statue of Athena, patron goddess of the city.
Science & Mathematics
•Eratosthenes, a geographer, showed the Earth was round & calculated its circumference.
–He created a device (sieve) for discovering all prime numbers up to any limit.
Acrhimedes is considered one of the greatest mathematicians of antiquity.
–His contributions in geometry revolutionized the subject.
–He studied levers & pulleys, measured volume & density, designed catapults, & invented a large screw-like device inside a cylinder to pump water.
Peloponnesian Wars (432 B.C. – 404 B.C.)
•A rivalry soon developed between Athens & Sparta.
•The Athenians had used their power to force some other city-states to pay them taxes.
•Sparta finally declared was on Athens in the Peloponnesian Wars.
•After 30 years of fighting, Sparta emerged as the victor.
•The Peloponnesian Wars greatly weakened the Greek city-states.
–The economic costs were considerable.
–Poverty became widespread.
–Athens was completely devastated.
–Sparta emerged as the leading city-state.
Women in Ancient Greece
•In ancient Greece, men generally regarded women as inferior & excluded them from public life.
•Women managed the home, subject to their husband’s will.
•Spartan women enjoyed greater status than elsewhere in Greece.
•Many were given an education & physical training.
•Athenian women could own clothing & slaves, but they could not own land or enter contracts.
Alexander the Great
•In 338 B.C., the King of Macedonia, an area located north of Greece, brought all the Greek city-states under his control.
•His son, Alexander the Great, was taught by Aristotle.
•He went on to conquer most of the Mediterranean world, including Persia & Egypt.
•His conquests took him as far as the Indus River Valley.
•However, Alexander died at a young age, & his empire quickly fell apart.
Hellenistic Age
•Wherever Alexander went, he spread the Greek culture.
•His followers also absorbed Eastern ideas & styles.
•Hellenistic culture refers to the fusion of Greek culture with the cultures of the Middle East & India.
•The greatest Hellenistic achievements were in mathematics & science.
•Alexander’s construction of a great library at Alexandria encouraged scholarship.
•Hellenistic sculptors aimed at more emotional representations in art.
•Statues of the heads of ordinary people with their imperfections became common during this period.
•Many wealthy members of society, including women, began to study philosophy & to attend lectures of popular philosophers.
•Review
Ancient Greek Achievements
Democracy
•Athens developed the first known democratic government.
–A system in which citizens take part in government.
Art & Architecture
•The Greek ideal of beauty was based on harmony & proportion.
•In architecture, the Greeks built temples with beautiful columns, such as the Parthenon in Athens.
Science & Mathematics
•Key advances were made by Pythagoras, Euclid, & Archimedes.
Lecture & History
•The Greeks developed the first known dramas & historical writings.
Philosophy
•Greeks believed in the dignity of the individual.
•Through the use of reason, they believed humans could understand how the world worked.
•Greek Philosophers included Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle.
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