1. ANCIENT GREECE And the HELLENISTIC world

2. ANCIENT GREEK CIVILIZATION 1900-133 BCE Located on a peninsula between the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas – Greeks were seafarers 80% of Greece is mountainous

3. EARLY GREEK CIVILIZATIONS MINOANS: Located on the island of Crete. 2700-1450 BCE – Traders, built great palace at Knossos. MYCENAEANS: Located on mainland. 1600-1100 BCE – Monarchies. Warriors. Traders. – Homer told story of Trojan War that occurred around 1250 BCE. DARK AGES: 1100-750 BCE – Many Greeks left and went to Ionia (Turkey). – Aeolians and Dorians were two groups left. They learned how to work with Iron and adopted the Phoenician alphabet (24 letters). – Homer appeared at end of Dark Age.

4. HOMER HOMER was a great epic poet. Wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey which are stories of the Trojan War – Iliad: Story of the Trojan War- Paris kidnaps Helen which leads to a battle between all Greeks and Troy. Greeks won. – Odyssey: Story of the journey of Odysseus and his long journey home to his wife Penelope. Greeks considered these stories as true history and were used to teach courage and honor.

5. GREEK CITY STATES POLIS (city-state) is a city along with the surrounding country. Each was independent. Acropolis: Place for refuge and religion. Citizens of city-states had rights and responsibilities. Greeks had organized military. Greeks had colonies around the Black Sea, Turkey, and Cyprus. Tyrants were dictators who seized power. Sometimes popular. However, Greeks preferred Democracy or Oligarchy.

6. SPARTA & ATHENS Sparta: A military focused culture. Males started childhood learning about military and were in military until 60. Oligarchy with two kings and 5 elected leaders. Focus was on Art of War. Athens: Initially ruled by kings. Great King was Solon and Cleisthenes and Pericles (during the “Golden Age”). – Athens had a direct democracy: every male citizen participated. Farming and trading and the arts.

7. TWO WARS PERSIAN WARS: Around 480 BCE. Persians were building a great empire that reached from Iran to India and was heading into Europe. Darius tried to invade Greece but the Greeks defeated them on the plain of Marathon. Led by Xerxes, they tried again. Athenians and Spartans united to fight them and held them off in Thermopylae and eventually defeated them (movie 300) PELOPONNESIAN WAR: Between Athens and Sparta in 431 BCE. Neither side won greatly and instead the 66 years of off and on fighting greatly weakened the nations which allowed the Macedonians to conquer them.

8. CLASSICAL GREECE RELIGION: Polytheistic. 12 main gods/goddesses who lived on Olympus. Festivals, rituals, games and drama held in honor of Gods (Olympics were for Zeus) ART/ARCHITECTURE: Invented columns. Architecture still influential today. Sculpture was lifelike and idealized beauty. DRAMA: Evolved out of religious festivals. Comedies and Tragedies. Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides were great dramatists. PHILOSOPHY/EDUCATION: Herodotus and Thucydides were first great Historians. Philosophy means love of wisdom. Important Philosophers: Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle.

9. MACEDONIANS INVADE Macedonia was north of Greece. Became powerful in 359 BCE under rule of Philip II. He wanted to unite Greece under Macedonia. In 338 Greece was conquered. Alexander the Great was 20 when he became king of Macedonia. He wanted to conquer the Persian empire. By 332 BC he had Syria, Palestine, Egypt as well as Greece. By 331 he also had the whole Persian empire and as far as Pakistan/India border. Alexander the Great died in 323 at age of 32 years old.

10. HELLENISTIC ERA Alexander the Great’s legacy was the spread of Greek culture. He spread Greek language, architecture, literature and art throughout SouthWest Asia, Central Asia and parts of North Africa. Those areas and Greece also absorbed some “Eastern” aspects as well into their culture. Empire fell apart after Alexander’s death however cultural accomplishments were lasting. City of Alexandria in Egypt was a center of learning with a large library. New cities were beautiful with theaters, temples and baths. Many advances were made in Astronomy and Math and education.