History Essay

John.Quality

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Chapter 3

The Civilization of the Greeks

Learning Objectives (Slide 1 of 3)

Explain how the geography of Greece affected Greek history

Summarize the contributions of Homer and why his work was used as the basis for Greek education

Identify the chief features of the polis, or city-state

Compare the major city-states of Athens and Sparta

Learning Objectives (Slide 2 of 3)

Describe the Greek ideal of democracy and the ways in which the Athenian political system was a democracy

Discuss the effect of the two great fifth century B.C.E. conflicts – the Persian wars and the Peloponnesian War –- on Greek civilization

Learning Objectives (Slide 3 of 3)

Describe the ideals upon which Greek art was based and how those ideals were expressed

Debate the questions posed by Greek philosophers, as well as their own responses to these questions

Early Greece (Slide 1 of 2)

Greek history has been shaped by its:

Mountainous terrain: Separated independent Greek communities from one another

Long seacoast: Enabled contact with outside world; later establishment of colonies

Minoan Crete

A Bronze Age civilization that used metals in making weapons

Established by 2800 B.C.E.

Not Greek in language or religion

Early Greece (Slide 2 of 2)

The first Greek state: Mycenae

Flourished between 1600 and 1100 B.C.E.

Warriors who prided themselves on their heroic deeds in battle

The most famous of all their supposed military adventures: the epic poetry of Homer

Invaded from the north by Greek-speaking people; torched around 1190 B.C.E

The Greeks in a Dark Age (ca. 1100–ca. 750 B.C.E.) (Slide 1 of 2)

Homer and Homeric Greece

Illiad

Epic poem of Trojan War

The tale of the Greek hero Achilles and how the “wrath of Achilles” led to disaster

Odyssey

Epic journey of a Greek hero

Tests Odysseus’ heroism until, by both cunning and patience, he prevails

The Greeks in a Dark Age (ca. 1100–ca. 750 B.C.E.) (Slide 2 of 2)

Homer’s enduring importance

His Iliad and the Odyssey were regarded as authentic history

Used as standard texts for the education of generations of Greek males’ striving for excellence, called arete

In the Homeric world, aristocratic women were expected to pursue excellence

The World of the Greek City-States (ca. 750–ca. 500 B.C.E.) (Slide 1 of 5)

The polis

The central institution in Greek life

The acropolis, or hill, was the central point where the citizens of the polis could assemble for political, social, and religious activities

A new military system: the Greek way of war

Hoplites, Phalanx

The World of the Greek City-States (ca. 750–ca. 500 B.C.E.) (Slide 2 of 5)

Colonization and the growth of trade

750 – 550 B.C.E.

Colonization led to the spread of Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean basin and to increased trade and industry

Tyranny in the Greek polis

Tyrants

Oligarchies

The World of the Greek City-States (ca. 750–ca. 500 B.C.E.) (Slide 3 of 5)

Sparta

Perioikoi and Helots

The new Sparta

Sparta transformed by sixth century B.C.E. to military state

The Spartan state

Led by two kings

Elected a group of five men, the ephors, to oversee the education of youth and the conduct of all citizens

The World of the Greek City-States (ca. 750–ca. 500 B.C.E.) (Slide 4 of 5)

Athens: The reforms of Solon

Canceled all current land debts

Outlawed new loans based on humans as collateral

Freed people who had fallen into slavery for debts

The World of the Greek City-States (ca. 750–ca. 500 B.C.E.) (Slide 5 of 5)

Athens: The reforms of Cleisthenes

Made the demes the basic units of political life

Laid the foundations for Athenian democracy

By 500 B.C.E., Athens was more united than it had ever been and was about to assume a more important role in Greek affairs

Chronology: Archaic Greece –Sparta

Event	Dates
Conquest of Messenia	ca. 730–710 B.C.E.
Beginning of Peloponnesian League	ca. 560–550 B.C.E.

Table description: The tables details the chronology of events in archaic Greece in Sparta.

Chronology: Archaic Greece – Athens

Event	Dates
Solon’s reforms	594–593 B.C.E.
Tyranny of Pisistratus	ca. 560–556 and 546–527 B.C.E.
End of tyranny	510 B.C.E.
Cleisthenes’s reforms	ca. 508–501 B.C.E.

Table description: The tables details the chronology of events in archaic Greece in Athens.

The High Point of Greek Civilization: Classical Greece (Slide 1 of 3)

The challenge of Persia

Darius attacks the mainland Greeks in 490

Xerxes vowed revenge; invaded Greece after the death of Darius

Leonidas at Thermopylae

The High Point of Greek Civilization: Classical Greece (Slide 2 of 3)

The growth of an Athenian empire in the Age of Pericles

Severed ties with Sparta

Expanded democracy at home and its new empire abroad

The great Peloponnesian War

Sparta and its supporters against the Athenian empire

27 year war lasting from 431 – 405 B.C.E.

The High Point of Greek Civilization: Classical Greece (Slide 3 of 3)

The decline of the Greek states (404–338 B.C.E.)

The Peloponnesian War weakened the major Greek states

Persians offered financial support to Athens and other Greek states to oppose Spartan power within Greece itself, thus beginning a new war that finally ended in 386 B.C.E.

The Culture and Society of Classical Greece (Slide 1 of 3)

The writing of history

History, the systematic analysis of past events, was a Greek creation

Herodotus: author of The Persian Wars, a work commonly regarded as the first real history in Western civilization

Greek drama

Intended to entertain and to educate citizens

Supported by the state

The Culture and Society of Classical Greece (Slide 2 of 3)

The arts: the classical ideal

The arts of the Western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period

The Greek love of wisdom

Sophists

Rhetoric

The Socratic method

The Culture and Society of Classical Greece (Slide 3 of 3)

Greek religion

Intricately connected to every aspect of daily life.

Social and practical

Life in classical Athens

Economy: largely agricultural but highly diversified

Lifestyle: simple homes and diets

Family: primary function – to produce new citizens

Discussion Questions

What important Greek ideals and Greek values are revealed in this passage from the Iliad?

According to Pericles, what are the ideals of Athenian democracy?

How did the Greek view of the world shape Greek conceptions of gender and gender roles?