By: Cord Roberts

 Cycladic is a group of about 200 islands located east of the Greek mainland in the Southern Aegean Sea.  Minoan culture began on the large island of Crete in about 700 B.C..  The Mycenaean Culture takes its name from the city Mycenae.  The Trojans from 2990 B.C., had thick walls surrounding the City.

 In about 300 B.C. the Cycladic culture began on the 200 islands.  Minoan, Historians named this culture in honor of Minos, the king of Crete in Greek mythology.  By the 1500’s B.C. the Mycenaean’s had become the dominant culture in the area.  The Trojans farmed, raised horses, and herded sheep.

 For hundreds of years the Greek City-States fought over land and trade.  Beginning in the 500 B.C.’s, a common enemy brought the Greek people together for a time.  During that century the Persians built a huge empire that included Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, and the Greek City-states in Asia Minor.  King Darius 1 turned his soldiers toward the Greek Mainland.

 All though the Persians had more soldiers, the well trained Athenians managed to defeat them.  Legends about the battle tell of a messenger who ran all the way from Marathon to Athens to report the amazing victory.  Athletes re-create this run in the marathon, a race that covers a distance that covers 26 miles.

 Athenians felt pride in their new leadership position after the defeat of the Persians.  Pericles was a relative of Cleisthenes, the Athenians leader who had taken governing authority away from the aristocracy and given it the City-States assembly.  In about 460 B.C. Pericles was elected as a leader in the Athenian Government.  Over the next thirty years, he made many important change to the government.

 He introduced pay for public officials.  In 457 B.C. Pericles gave male citizens of any class the right to hold nearly any government office.  He believed that every male citizen, not just wealthy citizens, had a right to take part in government.

 Pericles was a patron, or supporter, of learning and the arts.  He hired the best architects and artists to build and decorate temples- such as the Parthenon- theaters, and other public buildings.  Pericles also supported writers, such as Herodotus, an early historian.  Herodotus explained that he wrote a history of the Persian Wars to record ”the astonishing achievements of our own and of other peoples.

 Even today many people still read the works of Herodotus and of other writers of the Golden Age.  Sophocles wrote tragedies, or serious plays with unhappy endings.  Aristophanes chose to write comedies, or plays designed to make audiences laugh.  During the Golden Age, scientists studied nature and human life.

 Pericles wanted to make Athens not only “the school of Greece” but also its most powerful city-state.  To do this, soldiers were sent to conquer lands in Egypt.  Athens also forced its allies from the Delian League to tribute as the price for peace and protection.  Sparta feared the growing power of Athens and broke off friendly relations.

 In 431 B.C. Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian League went to war against Athens and its Allies.  This marked the beginning of the Peloponnesian War.  In 430 B.C. the plague, a deadly disease, broke out and spread quickly through the city. Many people died, including one-fourth of the Athenian Army and Pericles himself.

 The development of Classical Greek civilization began with the rise of city-states.  City-States were formed as people living in neighboring villages joined together to protect themselves from outside dangers.  Many of the groups built walled forts for safety during enemy attacks  Each fort was usually built on a hilltop (acropolis).

 After the Pelopponnesian war there were still many great thinkers and teachers in Athens.  They were called philosophers which means “lovers of wisdom” in Greek.  There were 3 philosophers in Greek including-Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  Socrates called himself the city’s gadfly” an insect that bites horses and makes them jump”.

 Plato the student of Socrates, believed you could become a good ruler by studying hard and by loving wisdom.  Aristotle Plato’s student, studied in Plato’s Academy For about 20 years.

 The city-state of Athens was located on Attica, a part of the Balkan Peninsula northeast of the Peloponnesus.  After the Dark Age, Athens was ruled by an aristocracy, or a small group of leaders from wealthy landowning families.  Solon the King of Athens, divided the people of Athens into classes based on wealth instead of birth.  Athens was the first democracy of the world.

 The city-state of Sparta, however, had an inland location on the Peloponnesian Peninsula.  It’s inland location caused Sparta to develop a military economy.  People in Sparta led simple lives of hard work and physical activity.  Spartan society was made up of three classes.

 Since the city-states were independent, people did not think of themselves as belonging to a country as Americans do.  The different city-states had a cultural identity, or connection, with one another.  Over time, this common cultural identity helped people begin to think of all city-states shared a common ancestor.  His name was hellen.

 For this reason they called their country Hellas and themselves Hellenes.  In English, their language and civilization are known as Greek.  The Greeks believed that their gods, led by Zeus, controlled events both in nature and in human life.  Athena, for example, was the Greek Goddess of wisdom and warfare.

 MAKING OF A EMPORER  Alexander was born in 356 B.C, in Macedonia  Both of his parents wanted to pass their son the love of Greek culture.  They hired a Greek philosopher named Aristotle.  Like his teacher, Alexander was interested in many subjects.

 BUILDING OF AN EMPIRE  With the Greek city-states under his control, Alexander turned to completing his fathers plan to attack the Persians.  Alexander led an army of 35,000 soldiers form southern Europe to Asia Minor to attack the Persian Empire.  He captured 4 Empires including : Chaeronea, most of the Greek Peninsula, Granicus, Gordium, Gaugamela, and Persepolis.

 END OF THE GOLDEN AGE  Alexander the Great ruled a wide area, but he wanted still more land.  Alexander led his army east from Persia into Bactria.  Alexander married the Bactria princess Roxanne.  Alexander and his army were on the move again.

 HIS LEGACY  Alexander the Great and his army came into contact with many different cultures.  Alexander’s rule and period of Alexander’s rule and several centuries after his death are known as the Hellenistic, or “Greek-like,” Age.  Like the Golden Age, the Hellenistic Age was a time of achievement in Greek Civilization.