Chapter 4 Section 3

Wars Brought About Change To Ancient Greece Objectives How did the Greeks end the threat of conquest by Persia? Why did the city-states fight among themselves? Whose military conquests helped to spread Greek culture through Asia?

I. Wars with Persia Threatened the Greek City-States First challenge came from the Persian Empire The Persians conquered the Greek colonies of Asia Minor in 500’s BC Darius I was the emperor of the Persian Empire, he wanted to go after Greece itself 492 BC Darius forms a huge army and navy and headed toward Greece

By 490 BC the Persian army had defeated many city states and was 25 miles outside the city of Athens Miltiades (mil TY uh deez) head of the Athenian army led a charge against the Persians, thought greatly outnumbered they led a fierce attack which surprised the Persians Over 6000 Persians died, and only 192 Greeks

The defeat caused Darius to retreat back to Persia After the victory at Marathon the Greeks sent a soldier back to Athens with news that they had won When he got to Athens he cried out Nike – which means victory. Then he tumbled to the ground dead of exhaustion – today the 26 mile race is called a marathon in memory of the Greek runner.

10 years later the Persians tried another attack this time with Darius’ son King Xerxes (ZERK seez) led the way B/C of a Greek traitor, the Persians defeated the Greeks, they burned Athens and looted the city The Greeks did get some revenge – they destroyed the Persian navy and once again the Persians retreated to Asia, this time never to return

II. Athens Entered A Golden Age Greek victory over the Persians was largely due to Athens In years after the Persian Wars, Athens entered a period known as the Golden Age of Athens. It became the leader of the city-states Under Pericles, the Athenians rebuilt their city

The Parthenon was built at this time Fearing another Persian invasion the Athenians built a strong wall around the city Pericles wanted to unite wanted to united the Greek city-states into an organization for defense – this was called the Delian League Members of the league contributed money ships and soldiers to protect Greece

Athens provided the most money and soldiers As time went on the city-states began to argue about the goals of the league Athens which paid the most share wanted the most power Soon wars broke out And cities like Sparta who were not members of the league feared Athens power.

They formed their own league and attack Athens This started a series of wars known as the Peloponnesian Wars In the end Sparta defeated Athens but badly weakened both city states Sparta tried to unify and rule Greece like Athens had done City-states fought back and attempts to unify failed as did the Golden Age.

III. Macedonia Conquered Greece and Lands Beyond To the north of the Greeks was the Macedonians. Distantly related to the Greeks, but didn’t have the advanced culture of the Greeks After Peloponnesian Wars, they had a more united government Led by King Phillip II, they became a dangerous neighbor

Phillip II believed he could united all the Greek city-states Learned the importance of a strong army when he was a hostage in the Greek city- state of Thebes He made his infantry and cavalry into strong fighting forces He began to slowly defeat the Greek city- states Demosthenes – Athenian orator feared Phillip II

He felt the Greek city –states should unite against Phillip II His attempts failed. Phillips’s armies overran Greece All city-states except Sparta were under his control He planned on putting together a plan to conquest Persian, but he was assassinated before he could do so. Alexander the Great – Phillip’s son

Alexander the Great was taught by the Greek teacher Aristotle to love culture and learning. Alexander was also a master of military skills as well At 21. He became the ruler of Macedonia and Greece. In 334BC he led 35,000 soldiers to Persia and won victory after victory By 331BC he controlled all the Persian Empire

His victories united both the eastern and western worlds The mixing of these cultures created what is called a Hellenistic culture After he died, in 323BC the empire divided into 3 parts each led by one of Alexander’s generals

Greeks Tried A New Experiment in Government Greeks city-states began to fight against their new ruler and among themselves By 100’s BC a new power the Roman Empire, had defeated and absorbed the city-states Several of the city-states joined the Achaean League which was a Federation

Federation – form of government in which smaller parts agree to give up some of their powers to stronger central government Which means while each city-state in the Achaean League kept control of its own affairs, a central government had the power to tax and raise an army Achaean League did not last long, however it was the basis of how the United States was formed and its style of government U.S is a Federation

They could not make contracts or buy or sell anything, borrow money or sue They could not even inherit her husbands property after he died They wore veils at religious services Spent most of their time in the women’s quarters of the home In 450 BC, a woman names Aspasia opened a school for young women and it was well attended

Gradually, over time the women of Greece started to play a more active part in the culture and the communities