1. Chapter 5
The Greek City-States

2. Why study Greece?
“Birthplace of Western Civilization” Trial by Jury Greek Myths Democracy Tragedy and Comedy Theatre The Olympics

3. I. Early Greeks and the Rise of City States
A. Geography – Makes for separate City-states
Balkan Peninsula
Aegean Sea - East
Ionian Sea - West
Many islands
Sea important - Fishers, traders/merchants, sailors
No sense of unity
Mountains cut up Greece mainland
Kept villages apart
Rivers didn’t help trade and/or travel (short)
Farming – not enough to sustain

4. Differences: Egypt vs. Greece
a) Egypt: desert Greece: little rainfall; few fertile areas
b) Egypt: flat Greece: mountainous
c) Egypt: one solid land Greece: peninisula; many islands
d) Egypt: Nile Greece: few rivers

6. The way the Greeks saw it:

7. I. Early Greeks and the Rise of City States
Minoan Civilization
Island of Crete - 2,000 B.C.
Arthur Evans (English Archaeologist) discovered
King of Crete – Minos
Knossos – Palace
Palace and homes of nobles had running water
Frescoes (paintings made on wet plaster walls)

8. Frescoe – The Toreador Frescoe

9. Map of Crete

10. Early Greeks Palace at Knossos – 800 rooms Catastrophic collapse
1. Tsunami
2. invasion and pillaging
from mainland Greeks –
Mycenaeans

11. Palace at Knossos: Western Monumental
Palace Entrance

12. Palace at Knossos:

13. Palace at Knossos: Excavations showing channels for running water

14. Palace at Knossos: “Throne Room”

15. Early Greeks Mycenaeans – 1400 BC – conquered Crete
Mycenaean – derived from Mycenae
first excavated by the amateur German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann

16. Early Greeks Warrior people Pride in heroic deeds
Famous military adventure
Epic by Homer – Illiad – Trojan War
Theories to collapse of Mycenaean Greece
Invaded by Dorians from North
Others believe that Conflicts among Kings and Natural disasters caused collapse

17. Early Greeks TROJAN WAR Priam – King of Troy
Paris and Hector - princes of Troy
Helen (wife of Spartan King Menelaus)
“Face that launches a 1000 ships”
King Menelaus and Agamemnon of Mycenae - ten year war
Mycenaeans win
Infamous Trojan horse
Heinrich Schliemann – uncovers ruins of Troy

18. Mask of Agamemnon
Helen of Troy

19. Greek City-State Polis (Poleis)– Greek word for city-state
Small, autonomous political unit
Political, social and religious activities
Populations fewer than 10,000 (Athens 40,000)
Acropolis, or hill, where fort was built
Refuge from attacks, temples, and other public buildings
Agora – an open space that served both as a place where citizens could assemble and as a market

20. Acropolis in Athens

21. Greek City-State Chora  land outside the city walls
Territory of Attica (peninsula) – 12 poleis
Combined to become Athens
Community – citizens w/ political rights (adult men)
- citizens w/ no political rights
(women and children)
- non-citizens (slaves and resident aliens)
Polis – give identity and believe they owe loyalty to the city-state
Hubris – sin or excessive pride in ancient Greece

22. Greek City-state Citizens possess fundamental rights,
had responsibilities
Aristotle, “we must rather regard every citizen as belonging to the state”
Distrust among city-states
New military system
7th century – Hoplite Infantry formation
the Phalanx (rectangular formation)
 Had to provide own armor, men of property (aristocrats and small farmers)

23. Macedonian Phalanx Formation

24. II. Greek City-states: Government
Monarchy - An undivided rule or absolute power by a single person.
First began as tribes with chiefs.
Poor and farmers were unhappy
Looked for new government
Aristocracy / Oligarchy
rule by (few) nobles with power who over throw the king, (originally meant rule by best)
the merchant class will demand a greater say

25. Greek City-States: Government
Tyrants – someone who illegally took power but had the people’s support
Seize power by force and promise better life
Tyrants ruled well  then unjust
Overthrow tyrants
Democracy – Some city-states, Athens – (government in which citizens take part)
Popular government
idea that people can and should
rule themselves

26. Greek Unification Same Language Common ancestors Common Religion
Factors of Unification
Factors that may have led to unification
Same Language
Common ancestors
Common Religion
Common Festivals – Olympics
Greeks considered all non-Greeks barbarians

27. Greek Unification continued…
Factors that kept them apart
(1) Geography-mountains and islands - barriers
(2) spirit of independence and pride among city states – valued freedom
(3) lacked trust in each other
(4) each had own laws, gov't, calendar, money, etc.

28. III. Greek Mythology Not concerned with the afterlife – often cremated
Not a traditional religion
No clergy
No clear doctrine, written code/sacred book
No church structure/church government
What did they have?
Jumble of myths, ideas
and superstitions

29. III. Greek Mythology Greeks wanted 3 things from Religion
1. Explanation of certain mysteries - thunder, lightning, change of season, etc.
2. Explanation of emotions - lose self-control
3. A way to gain benefits - good harvests, long life, good fortune

30. III. Greek Mythology Pantheon (group of Deities) Mt. Olympus was home
Each City had patron deity
Athens  Athena
Sparta  Artemis
Greek mythology
emphasizes weakness
of humans

32. IV. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS

33. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS Early History
1st Olympic Games – 776 BC in Greece
Olympia
Athletic contests and other types of public spectacle
Sport  training for being soldier
“Truce of Zeus”

34. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS
Ancient remains from the Olympia site in Greece, where the Olympic Games first began.

35. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS Reasons for the Games
Served at first as an element in various religious observances
Held in honor of Gods (Zeus)

36. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS Early Competition The events included…
footraces; race with full armor
wrestling
boxing
horse & chariot racing
long jump
discus
javelin throw
Pankration -a mix of wrestling and boxing with very few rules

37. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS Games every 4 years
Olympic winners = national heroes
music and poetry
olive wreath
Flame – Zeus and Prometheus
 fire kept burning
 Relay of torch introduced by
Adolf Hitler

38. THE ANCIENT OLYMPICS Women and the Olympics  No Women Participants
Married – not allowed to watch
If married and found watching  executed
Why???
Reason – all male participants were naked
Running events for women were held every four years in honor of Hera

39. V. Sparta
Sparta
1100 BC invaders from North  conquer people to work for them  Helot
Settled in Sparta
Peloponnesus isolated Sparta – located in valley – mountainous
Completely different from Athens

40. V. Sparta Militaristic state Sparta – military ideal Boastful, proud
Felt that militaristically they were superior to all
Social Groups
A. Equals – descended from the invaders – Dorians
Controlled the City-state
B. ½ Citizens – free, paid taxes, served in the army, some farmed
No political power

41. V. Sparta C. Helots – lowest class in Sparta Slaves of the city-state
Spartans decided how they should work and live
Masters could allow them freedom
Terrorized  stop rebelling

42. V. Sparta Spartan Government 2 kings (checks and balance)
Council of Elders – (28) each elected by all citizens
General Assembly of Citizens – (all males over 30)
Had 5 Ephors – “overseers”
Had unlimited power
Forbade gold and silver usage (luxuries make weak and evil)
Forbade traveling and mixing with other people
(ideas would weaken discipline)
Culturally stagnate

43. V. Sparta Sparta controlled lives of citizens (birth to death)
GOAL: make all male citizens part of military machine
Military will control the helots and expand the empire
Men and Women were equally strong
Babies were examine

44. IV. Sparta Apothetae – Place of Rejection
Maintain high physical standard
Boys were educated at home until age 7
Taught to fight – went to the barracks
Age 13 – boys sent to countryside w/ nothing – had to survive on wits and cunning
Receiving no education after age 7
Agoge

45. IV. Sparta 20yrs old – entered military  60 yrs old
Could marry but could not live at home until 30
Could not engage in trade or business – money interferes with military discipline
Spartan Women – did not go through same military training
Education of women – physical and grueling
Infant baby girls killed if weak
Strong women = strong babies
Lives dedicated to the state

46. VI. Athens Located on the Attic Peninsula – one of
least fertile areas in Greece
A. Social Structure
Citizens:
Could be rich aristocrats or poor farmers
Own land and Athenian born
Metics:
Non-Athenians; middle class
Free but could not own land
Could not take part in government

47. VI. Athens Slaves: Considered slavery as natural and necessary
Captured in war
Could be freed  became metics
More than ½ population was metic or slaves

48. VI. Athens B. Early Government Monarchy  Aristocracy
Elected 9 Archons – rulers who served 1 yr. terms
Laws not written down  600’s BC - archon Draco  codified Athens’s 1st written law code
Today called Draconian Law – very harsh

49. VI. Athens Solon – archon in 594 BC - Repealed most of the laws from
Draco
- Introduced Timokratia (Timocracy)– an oligarchy with a sliding scale of rights determined by property and productive capability
Re-wrote constitution  Solonian Constitution
- Introduced Trial by Jury
- Erased all debts; freed those who became slaves because of the debts

50. VI. Athens
Aristocrats will attempt to end Solon’s reforms  Anarchy (w/out archons) or period of no gov’t
Peisistratus / Pisistratus (Py-sis-truh-tus) 560 BC
Tyrant – came to power during anarchy
Abolished landowning requirement for being a citizen
Although improved the economy
Credited w/ development of 1st welfare state  land loan to underprivileged

51. VI. Athens Land loan was to encourage autarky – economy that does
not trade with outside world, relies entirely on own resources
Cleisthenes (Klys–thuh–neez) 507 BC
Seized power in Athens  turned into democracy  based on wealth
Divided citizens of Athens into 10 tribes
Each tribe chose 50 men (30yrs or older) formed Council of 500

52. VI. Athens Under Cleisthenes  Direct Democracy
All citizens participated directly in making decisions
The United States uses Representative Democracy
Pericles (The Age of Pericles)
“Father of Democracy”
Instituted the democratic government
 based on merit not wealth
Athens at its peak of power and wealth
Paid officeholders

53. VI. Athens Family Valued strong family life and education
Valued marriage (girls: 13/14 men: 30ish)
Main purpose – to have kids
If can’t afford child – left to die
Women had few legal rights
Bear and rear kids
Legally and socially inferior to men, couldn’t inherit property
Mother took care of child until age 6
Boys then came under care of pedagogue (male slave who taught the boy manners)
Girls learned to run household
Wealthy girls learned to read and write

54. VI. Athens Education: Valued Education
Most boys  elementary education
grammar, reading, poetry, music, and gymnastics
Sound mind (reading, writing, music) and sound body (gymnastics, boxing, discus)
Sophists – men who taught older boys (higher education)
Study govt, math, ethics, and rhetoric
Rhetoric – study of oratory, or public speaking and debating
Age 18 entered military for a yr

55. VII. Expansion of Greece
A. PERSIAN WARS
Persia and Greece clash over control of colonies in Asia Minor
Cyrus – conquer Greek city-states on shores of Asia Minor (546 BC)
Greeks revolt against ( BC)
Conflicts called Persian Wars
Darius I – wants to capture Athens (to rub in)
492 BC invasion fails due to inclement weather
490 BC lands 26 miles from Athens on coast
Set up camp on plain of Marathon (Battle of Marathon)
Greeks outnumbered 10-1
6,400 Persians died
192 Athenians

57. VII. The Expansion of Greece
480 BC – Darius’s son – Xerxes (Zerk-zees)  swore to avenge fathers defeat
Led fleet to Greece
Spartan king Leonidas sent 300 men to meet the Persians at the mountain pass of Thermopylae
Greeks held them for 3 days
Persians found way through mountains  Battle of Thermopylae
Spartans were all killed  gave other city-states time to assemble

59. VII. The Exapansion of Greece
2 other major battles
1) Sea battle – Battle of Salamis
700 to 300 ship Persian advantage
Greeks out maneuver
2) Land battle – Battle of Plataea
Another Persian loss
Xerxes withdrew from Greece

60. VII. The Expansion of Greece
B. Delian League
After Persian Wars – Greeks realize they need to unify
Sparta wanted to be in charge
Athens established the defensive league called the Delian League (an alliance of city-states with Athens as the leader)
140 city-states will join
All contributing money, ships and their alliance

62. VII. The Expansion of Greece
The Age of Pericles – ruled from BC
Democracy grew and Greece flourished
Rebuilt Acropolis at Athens after its destruction during the Persian wars
Brought stability and prosperity
Navy to keep out Persians in the Aegean
Athens will make all decisions
in Delian League
 Pericles will use the money
for the good of Athens

63. VII. The Expansion of Greece
C. Peloponnesian War
Many city-states will revolt against Athens
Tensions between Sparta and Athens  Peloponnesian War
Spartans had stronger army
Fighting started by invading Attic peninsula
Athenians took refuge behind the city walls of Athens
Athens had better navy  siege went on for yrs
Plague will break out killing many Athenians including Pericles
War goes on for 27 yrs

64. VII. The Expansion of Greece
Athenians will surrender
Spartan victory meant end to political power of Athens
Greece was politically unstable after war
tyranny, to monarchy, to aristocracy to democracy and back again
Only a foreign power could unite Greece