Ancient Greece
3000 B.C – 700 B.C.
I. Geography of Greece
A. Ancient Greece was a land surrounded by water
and mountains
B. Mainland Greece was located on a peninsula
which stuck out into the Mediterranean Sea
C. Hundreds of islands also made
up Ancient Greece as well as land in present day Turkey
II. Early Greek Settlements
A. Minoans
1. 1st civilization in the region (2000-1450 BC)
2. Lived on Crete
3. Wealth from trade
4. Collapsed suddenly
B. Mycenaens (1900-1100 B.C)
1. Lived on Mainland
2. Great cities - grew powerful from trade and war
3. Learned about bronze, stars and religion from the Minoans
III. Dark Ages (1100
– 750 B.C.)
A. Farming only for family =
poverty!
B. No surplus = no trade!
C. No trade = no need to write!
D. No writing = no thinking or
spread of ideas to or from other cultures!
E. Dark ages = no new ideas!
F. Positives – Spread of
Greek Culture due to people moving
IV. Out of the Dark!
– 700 B.C
A. Surpluses are grown on farms
= trade
B. Trade = spread of ideas
C. Phoenicians introduce writing
due to trading
D. Population grows again people
move to colonies
Ancient Greece
700-338 B.C.
I. Creation of City-States
A. City-states emerge across
Greece after the Dark Ages. Each city-state is called a polis
B. Each polis
differs in size and organization due to the geography of Greece
C. Some similarities –
most have an agora and acropolis as well as the notion of citizenship and armies of ordinary citizens
II. Citizenship
A. Greeks were the first to develop
the idea of citizenship for people
B. Right to partake in government
+ be treated as equals
C. Could meet to choose officials,
pass laws, vote, hold office and defend themselves in court
D. In return, citizens felt a
duty to serve their governments by joining the military
Athens and Sparta
“Two very different Greek city-states!”
I. Different
Types of Government in Greek City-States
A. Tyranny was the most common form of government in early Greece. Most early tyrants were wise and fair
B. Direct Democracy (Athens) – All citizens voted on
all laws
C. Oligarchy (Sparta) – A select group created and voted
on laws. Usually consisted of kings or elders
II.
Athens – A Direct Democracy
A. All male citizens could vote
on laws and own property.
B.
Women had limited freedom. They could not vote or own property.
C. Rich boys learned about reading,
writing, math + music.
D.
Girls stayed at home + learned household duties
E. Culture of free speech and
debate
F. Boys served 2 yrs in small
army
III.
Sparta – An Oligarchy
A. Boys sent to military school
at age 7 - treated harshly to prepare for war
B. Men lived with soldiers until
age 30 and stayed in the army until age 60
C. Girls trained in sports to
stay fit. Women could own property and enjoyed lots of personal freedom
D. Government prevented trade,
travel and foreigners = little knowledge about science or new ideas
E. No ability to question the
government = lack of free speech!
Persian Empire and the Persian Wars
559 B.C. – 330 B.C.
I. Cyrus the Great (559 –
530 B.C.)
A. United the Persians into the largest empire
of the world at that time through force.
B. Began the Persian tradition of treating
conquered people honorablly and with mercy
C. Darius organized their lands into satrapies
or provinces with a Satrap in charge of each region. Built huge ciites
II. Darius (521 B.C. – 486 B.C.)
A. Unites Persia once again after massive fighting after Cyrus dies
B. Builds huge cities and The Royal Road which
is used for transportation of goods and messages to unite the empire
C. Reorganizes his empire into provinces to
better govern the massive amount of land. We borrow this concept today (States!)
III. The Persian Wars
A. King Darius invaded Greece due to bad relations between the two lands
B. Greeks defeated the Persians at the battle
of Marathon
C. After Darius died, his son Xerxes invaded
again in 480 B.C. to avenge his father’s defeat 10 years before
D. Athens and Sparta join forces and in 479 B.C.,
to once again defeat Xerxes the Persians. This makes Greece the region’s dominant power
IV. Fall of the Persian
Empire
A. Defeated Persians are no longer the dominant
power in the region
B. High taxes angered subjects and led to
rebellions against the throne
C. Fights broke out over succession of the
throne. Six of nine kings after Darius were murdered!
D. Alexander the
Great took advantage of their weakened state + conquered a different King Darius and the Persian Empire
in 334 B.C.
