B. Importance of its Location
Because of the seas, Sea travel, trade,
and fishing were very important to the
Greeks.
D. Impact of the LandThe mountains divided the
Greeks into
separate communities. A polis or city-state
is what these separate communities became
known as.
II. The City-StatesA. Similarities- the Greek language,
and theirreligious beliefs (Many Gods). They
believed inthe same gods, and believed that
their gods hadhuman characteristics.
B. Differences-
Government & Way of Life
Forms of Government in City-StatesMonarchy- 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
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 individualshould 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, andwonderful sculptures developed here.
Athens Continued:-Government went from an aristocracy toa democracy. Thus Athens is said to
havecreated the “World’s First Democracy”.
-It was a “Direct Democracy” since thecitizens made all of the decisions
directly.
-It was a “Limited Democracy” since noteveryone in Athens was a citizen.
IV. The Persian WarsA. The Persian Empire (today Iran) foughtthe Greek city-states twice (490 BC &
480 BC)
B. Both Times the Greeks would rally anddefeat the Persians.
C. The power of Athens grew after thesevictories 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 470-399 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
toDeath.
PLATO-Was the top student of Socrates 427-
347BC
-Wrote “The Republic” which outlined his
perfect society.
-It would NOT have been a Democracy!
-Women would be considered equal with men.
Top Related