1. Ancient Greece Section 1 Notes

2. Ancient Greece Sections 1 and 2 Vocabulary
Polis- the Greek word for a city-state
Classical- an age marked by great achievements
Acropolis- a high hill
Democracy- a type of government in which people rule themselves

3. aristocrats- rich landowners
Oligarchy- a government in which only a few people have power
Citizens- people who had the right to participate in government
Tyrant- leader who held power through the use of force

4. Learning Objective: Today we will learn about the geography of Greece.
Ancient Greece
Learning Objective: Today we will learn about the geography of Greece.

5. Geography and the Early Greeks
The Big Idea
Greece’s geography and its nearness to the sea strongly influenced the development of trade and the growth of city-states.
Main Ideas
Geography helped shape early Greek civilizations.
Trading cultures developed in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations.
The Greeks created city-states for protection and security.

6. Geography of Greece Section 1
Greece is a peninsula (an area of land surrounded on three sides by water.)
Ionian Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Aegean Sea surround Greece.
The mountains forced people to grow food along the coast. It kept people isolated.
Because it is surrounded by water, Greeks became skilled shipbuilders and fishermen.
They even exchanged ideas with other cultures.

7. Name the 3 seas that surround Greece.
CFU
Name the 3 seas that surround Greece.
Why were the people of Greece isolated from one another?
Name 2 skills that the ancient Greeks mastered because of the geography of Greece.

8. Built a society on the island of Crete.
Minoans
Built a society on the island of Crete.
The Minoans were among the best shipbuilders of their time.
They used their ships to carry goods to trade such as wood, olive oil, and pottery.

9. Why was it important that the Minoans became skilled shipbuilders?
CFU
Why was it important that the Minoans became skilled shipbuilders?

10. The first people to speak Greek.
Mycenaeans
The first people to speak Greek.
The Mycenaeans built fortresses all over the Greek mainland. Declined by 1200s BC

11. Name 2 facts about the Mycenaeans
CFU
Name 2 facts about the Mycenaeans

12. Trading cultures developed in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations
Trading cultures developed in the Minoan and Mycenaean civilizations. (not in notes)
Minoans
They spent much of their time at sea, trading in the Mediterranean.
Ships carried goods such as wood, olive oil, and pottery all around the eastern Mediterranean.
They became the victims of a huge volcano that erupted north of Crete.
They were not considered to be Greek, since they didn’t speak Greek.
Mycenaeans
They were the first people to be considered Greek.
They lived inland and built fortresses.
They were more violent in their trade.
They took over Crete and became the major traders in the eastern Mediterranean.
They developed colonies in northern Greece and Italy, from which they shipped goods around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

13. Overtime people in Greece began to band together for protection.
Greek City-States
Overtime people in Greece began to band together for protection.
They formed the first Greek city-states.
Greece goes into its classical age.
City-states were built around a strong fortress that stood on top of an acropolis.
Greeks became wealthy by trading with other people, like the Egyptians.

18. CFU
Explain why the people of ancient Greece decided to band together and form city-states.
Why do you think the Greeks decided to build their city-states around an acropolis? How would this be beneficial to them?

19. Ancient Greece Section 2 Notes

20. Ancient Greece
Learning Objective: Today we will learn about different forms of government in Athens, Greece.

21. Government in Athens
The Big Idea
The people of Athens tried many different forms of government before creating a democracy.
Main Ideas
Aristocrats and tyrants ruled early Athens.
Athens created the world’s first democracy.
Ancient democracy was different than modern democracy.

22. Aristocrats and Tyrants
Athens was the city where democracy was born, but it started out as an oligarchy, a government in which only a few people hold power.
A group of rich landowners called aristocrats held power.
As a result of rebels trying to overthrow the aristocrats, harsh laws were created by a man named Draco.
3. A man named Solon created a set of laws allowing all free men to be citizens, people who had the right to participate in government.
Peisistratus overthrew the oligarchy, however, and became the ruler of Athens. He was called a tyrant, a leader who held power through the use of force.
Tyrants were usually good, not harsh, leaders in ancient Greece.

23. CFU
Explain how Athens went from having a government ruled by an oligarchy to a government that was ruled by a tyrant.

24. Democracy under Cleisthenes
A leader named Cleisthenes overthrew the aristocracy and established the world’s first democracy.
For this reason, he is considered the father of democracy.
Under Cleisthenes, all citizens in Athens had the right to participate in the assembly, or gathering of citizens, that created the city’s laws.

25. What type of government did Cleisthenes establish in Athens?
CFU
What type of government did Cleisthenes establish in Athens?
How was Cleisthenes’ new type of government different from the former types of governments that ruled over Athens?

26. Changes in Athenian Democracy
As time passed, citizens got more power, such as serving on juries.
Athens reached its height under Pericles, who encouraged people to take pride in their city.
He also began to pay people who served in public office or on juries.

27. CFU
How did Pericles improve the democracy in Athens created by Cleisthenes?

28. The End of Democracy in Athens
Athens was conquered by the Macedonians and fell under the rule of a king.

29. Direct vs. Representative Democracy
Direct Democracy
All citizens in Athens could participate directly in the government, which was called a direct democracy.
Each vote counted, and the majority ruled.
Representative Democracy
The United States is too large for direct democracy to work for the whole country.
Instead, we have a representative democracy.
In a representative democracy, also called a republic, citizens elect officials to represent them in the government.

30. CFU
How is the direct democracy practiced in Athens different from the representative democracy that we have today in America?