ANCIENT GREECE

I. Geography Shapes Greek Life

A.LOCATION- Greece is located in Southern Europe along the Mediterranean Sea.

B. Importance of its Location Because of the seas, Sea travel, trade, and fishing were very important to the Greeks.

C. The Land Most of Greece is covered by rugged Mountains.

D. Impact of the Land The mountains divided the Greeks into separate communities. A polis or city-state is what these separate communities became known as.

II. The City-States A.Similarities- the Greek language, and their religious beliefs (Many Gods). They believed in the same gods, and believed that their gods had human characteristics.

B. Differences- Government & Way of Life Forms of Government in City-States Monarchy- Rule by a King Aristocracy- Rule by the “elite” Oligarchy- Rule by an “elite” few Democracy- Rule by the people Tyrants- Rule by a powerful individual

III. Sparta vs Athens

A. Sparta -was part Oligarchy & Monarchy -was an extremely “War-Like” Society -Spartans put Sparta before themselves -All Education was geared towards war -Boys were taken from their homes at age 7 and trained to be a soldier. -Men lived in the army barracks until age 30

Sparta Continued: -Men remained in the army until 60 years old. -Women COULDN’T participate in the Gov’t, but they had MORE rights than most in Ancient Greece. -Goal of Spartan Women: Have a lot of children! (future soldiers or “soldier makers”)

“The Spartan Way of Life” -Tough Hard Life, Taught to do without luxury! -Spartans valued duty, strength, & discipline OVER freedom, individually, and the arts. -This resulted in one of the most power armies the world has ever seen!

B. Athens -It was a society that stressed an individual should be “Well-Rounded”! -As a result: Education, the Arts, and Military strategy were ALL important. -Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle lived here. -The Theater, great architecture, and wonderful sculptures developed here.

The Parthenon

Ancient Greek Theater

Nike: The Goddess of Victory was created around 203 BC.

Athens Continued: -Government went from an aristocracy to a democracy. Thus Athens is said to have created the “World’s First Democracy”. -It was a “Direct Democracy” since the citizens made all of the decisions directly. -It was a “Limited Democracy” since not everyone in Athens was a citizen.

Athenian Power Athens had a powerful Navy!

IV. The Persian Wars A.The Persian Empire (today Iran) fought the Greek city-states twice (490 BC & 480 BC) B. Both Times the Greeks would rally and defeat the Persians. C. The power of Athens grew after these victories over the Persians.

V. The Peloponnesian War A.A tense rivalry developed between Sparta & Athens. B.Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC, Athens had the stronger navy, Sparta had the stronger army. C. Other city-states picked sides and joined in the fight.

Peloponnesian War Continued: D. By 401 BC, Athens was forced to surrender to Sparta. E. This long lasting war between the city-states would weaken ALL of them including Sparta & Athens when it was over.

GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

SOCRATES -Lived in Athens B.C. -He Encouraged People To Question Everything: “The unexamined life is not worth living” -In 399 B.C. he was charged with the corruption of the young & sentenced to Death.

PLATO -Was the top student of Socrates BC -Wrote “The Republic” which outlined his perfect society. -It would NOT have been a Democracy! -Women would be considered equal with men.

ARISTOTLE -Was the top student of Plato BC -Studied politics, physics, psychology, and biology. -Stressed the idea of “Checks & Balances” in a government, so it couldn’t gain too much power. (The U.S. Constitution has a system just like this in it)