Chapter 3 Classical Greek Civilization

City-State

• A city & the immediate rural area

• Less than a few hundred square

miles

• Ancient Greece was made up of

many city-states

TO BE A CITIZEN OF A

CITY-STATE:

• The ancient Greeks referred to

themselves as citizens of their individual city-states.

• Each city-state (polis) had its own personality, goals, laws and customs. Ancient Greeks were very loyal to their city-state.

• The city-states had many things in common. – All believed in the same gods. – Spoke the same language.

TO BE A CITIZEN OF A

CITY-STATE:

• Ancient Greeks were extremely loyal

to their city-state – Greeks would not say, "I live in

Greece." – They would say, "I am a Spartan.”

or "I am Athenian." • The city-states might band together

to fight a common foe. But they also went to war with each other.

• Ancient Greece was a collection of Greek city-states.

CITY-STATES

• Because Greece was not yet one

country, there was no central

government in ancient Greece.

• Each city-state had its own form of

government.

• Some city-states, like Corinth, were

ruled by kings. Some, like Sparta,

were ruled by a small group of men.

Others, like Athens, experimented

with new forms of government.

Types of Government

Four Forms of Government

• Monarchy: Rule by a king

• Oligarchy: Rule by a small group

• Tyranny: Rule by a dictator

• Democracy: Rule by the citizens,

voting in an assembly

Democracies

• Direct-the citizens make all of the

decisions

• Representative-the citizens elect

representatives to make decisions

for them

Athens

• Athenians thought of themselves as the

shining star of the Greek city-states. They

were famed for their literature, poetry, drama,

theatre, schools, buildings, and government.

• Athens started as a small village, home to a

tribe of Ionian people. It grew rapidly until

Athens was one of the two most powerful city-

states in the ancient Greek world. Athenians

were famed for their commitment to the arts

and sciences.

• The Greeks believed that each city-state in ancient

Greece had a god or a goddess in charge of it,

their special patron.

– For Athens, the patron was Athena, goddess of

wisdom.

– Therefore, Athenians put a great deal of

emphasis on education.

• Most Greek city-states were ruled by kings. The

men of Athens experimented with government.

For about 100 years, Athens was a direct

democracy!

Athenian Education

• Boys were educated quite differently.

– Until age 6 or 7, boys were taught at home by their mothers.

– From 7-14, boys attended a day school outside the home, memorizing Homeric poetry, learning to play the lyre, drama, public speaking, reading, writing, and math.

– After, they went to a four year high school and learned more about math, science, and government.

– At 18, they attended two years of military school.

• Girls learned at home from their mothers.

– Learned how to run a home, and how to be good wives and mothers.

Sparta

• Sparta began as a small village of Dorian people. The Dorians were warriors. So were the Spartans. Spartans endured unbelievable pain and hardship to become a superior Spartan soldier and citizen!

• Sparta's government was an oligarchy. The people were ruled by a small group of warriors. The Spartans spoke Greek, wrote Greek, thought of themselves as Greeks, but they were very different from the other Greek city-states, and proud of it.

– Sparta’s patron was Aries – god of war

• As adults, men did not live with their families. They visited their families, but men lived in soldiers barracks.

• Women, unlike women in the rest of Greek world, had a great deal of freedom.

– Women were educated to be fighters. Some women became warriors. Many ran businesses. They were free to move about.

• Life was very different in ancient Sparta than it was in the rest of ancient Greek city-states. The Spartans were proud, fierce, capable warriors. No great works of art came out of Sparta. But the Spartans, both men and women, were tough, and the Greeks admired strength.

Spartan Education • Sparta’s educational system was certainly very different.

– The goal of Spartan education was to create a strong warrior.

• Boys were taken away from their parents at age 7.

• They lived a harsh and often brutal life in the soldiers barracks.

• Younger children were beaten by older children to help make the younger boys tough and strong.

• Children were often were whipped in front of groups of other Spartans, including their parents, but they were not allowed to cry out in pain.

• Children, during their training process, were given very

little food. They were encouraged to steal food, instead. If

caught stealing, they were beaten. To avoid severe pain,

children learned to be cunning, to lie, to cheat, to steal,

and how to get away with it!

• Children who did not become soldiers became members

of the Spartan secret police.

– They were to spy on people, especially slaves. If they

found a slave who showed any signs of leadership,

their job was to kill that slave immediately.

Acropolis

• Means ‘high city’ in Greek

• Most of the city-states had their city

center built on a rocky mound or hill

• This is where they built their

temples and could retreat if they

were under attack

• The most famous one is in Athens

Greek Columns

PERSIAN & PELOPONNESIAN

WARS

The Greeks at War!

•Between 500 and 400 B.C. the

Greeks fought several wars.

•Two were against the powerful

Persian Empire to the east of Greece.

•Then a civil war broke out among the

city-states of Greece.

The Persian

Wars

490 B.C.E. – 479

B.C.E. Greek City-States vs.

Persians (Ionia, Athens, etc.)

Why did the Persians invade Greece?

In 519 B.C. the Persians

conquered a group of

people who lived in Asia

Minor called the Ionian

Greeks.

In 499 B.C. the Ionian

Greeks asked the

mainland Greeks to help

them rebel against the

Persians.

Help!

Athens sent warships

to help them, but they

were not strong enough

to defeat the Persian

army.

We’re on the way

The made the Persian King, Darius, very angry with

Greece.

AGH! Those Greeks will pay for this

In 490 B.C. Darius sent 600 ships and thousands of soldiers to invade Greece. He wanted to punish the Athenians for helping the rebels.

The Persian army landed

at Marathon, north of

Athens, in 490 B.C.

The Persians greatly

outnumbered the Greeks.

Marathon

The Persians were

amazed at the strong

will of the small

Athenian force.

They had no horses

or archers, only

fierce foot soldiers.

Persian Empire

Athens

Sparta

After a few days, the

Persians decided to

attack Athens by sea. While they were loading their ships, the

Athenians attacked and defeated them.

The Persians Retreated.

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Highlights of Persian Wars Battle of Marathon (490

B.C)

• Persians crossed the Aegean Sea and attacked the Athenians on a plain called Marathon outside of Athens

• Greeks outnumbered, but WON!

• Sent Pheidippides their fastest runner to carry home the news of victory!

• He sprinted 26.2 miles to Athens — “Rejoice, we conquer,” he gasped and then died!

• In honor of Pheidippides’ run, marathon runners still run 26.2 miles!

The Athenians used clever war tactics to win the Battle of Marathon including the use of hoplites manning phalanxes.

Battle of Thermopylae (480

B.C) • King Darius I died, but his son Xerxes took up the fight against Greece

• 300 Spartans and allies vs. 150,000 - 1 million Persians

• Spartans held their ground for 2 days guarding the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae but were defeated by the Persians

• Persians marched south and burned down Athens but the city was empty

Statue of

Spartan King Leonidas

at Thermopylae

Battle of Salamis 480 B.C. • Turning point in Persian War

• Greeks defeated Persians by sea under the guidance of General Themistocles

• Athenian warships drove into Persian boats with underwater battering rams

• After win at Salamis, the Greeks went on to defeat the Persians on land—End of War!

Effects of Persian Wars

• Athens emerged as most powerful and

prosperous city-state in Greece

• Athens organized the Delian League =

alliances with other city-states

• Athens used its influence over other city-

states to build an Athenian Empire!

• Many other Greek city-states resented

Athens and split from the Delian League

• Sparta created the Peloponnesian

League

• Athenians great at sea, Sparta great

on land!

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Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.)

• Delian League v. Peloponnesian League

• Democracy (Athens) v. Oligarchy (Sparta)

• Athenians provided most of the ships and

sailors and asked the other city-states to

contribute money. Sparta feared this

increase in Athenian power.

• Fought for 27 years to determine which

city-state would control southern Greece.

Highlights of War

• Athens faced a serious geographic disadvantage!

• Sparta was located inland, so it could not be attacked by sea.

• Yet Sparta only had to march north to attack Athens by land.

• In 404 B.C. with the help of the Persian navy (longtime enemy), Spartans captured Athens.

Good Thought, Bad Result!

• When Sparta invaded

Athens, the Athenian leader

Pericles allowed people from

the surrounding countryside

to move inside the city walls

for protection.

• The overcrowded conditions

soon led to disaster: a terrible

plague broke out!

• 1/3 of the Athenian

population (including Pericles)

were killed.

• The Spartan victors stripped

Athenians of their naval fleet and

empire.

• However, Sparta rejected calls

from its allies to destroy Athens

(perhaps out of respect for

Athen’s role in the Persian Wars).

Effects of Peloponnesian War

• An end to Athenian domination of the Greek world.

• More in-fighting occurred amongst Greek city-states, weakening them.

• Weakened Greek city states were easier to conquer later on by the Macedonians and Alexander the Great!

The Aftermath of War •The Peloponnesian war ended Athenian greatness.

•In Athens Democratic government suffered: Corruption and selfish

interests replaced order.

•Fighting continued to disrupt the Greek world.

•Sparta itself suffered defeat at the hands of Thebes, another Greek

city-state.

•Greece was left vulnerable to invasion.

•Cultural development was arrested.

Macedonia and

Alexander the Great

•In 338 B.C. King Phillip II of

Macedonia led his army from the

north and conquered Greece.

•After his death his son, Alexander the

Great, went on to conquer the entire

Greek world.

Why did the Greeks have these

contests?

Held the contests to honor the gods.

To show their gods how strong, fit and graceful their bodies were.

They also tried to get on the good side of the gods by: exercising, eating right, oiling their skin and create a beautiful body.

The Greek tendency was to turn everything into an agon (competition) , they had a lot of athletic competitions in Greece.

The most famous competition is called the Olympic Games.

Athlete Expectations • Each participant had to follow a set of

strict rules and regulations.

• The young men in most Greek cities spent ten months training for the competition under strict supervision.

• The best of the young men were chosen to compete against the other best young men from other cities.

• They were put under strict tests to see if the athletes were worthy of the games.

Athlete Expectations • The last month of this training had to be spent

at Elis, in one of their extremely well kept gymnasiums.

• The greatest care of personal hygiene as well as keeping in top performance shape were enforced.

• After the ten months of training and testing, those who were left, were allowed to compete in the Olympics.

• Athletes would be considered professionals today.

• Athletes were showered with riches and gifts as well as women when they were winning.

The Competition

• The young men would meet at the Olympics

and compete for prizes and for the favor of

the gods.

• These games were also used to train the

men for when they join the army and become

soldiers.

• The events they preformed were similar to

the ones we perform today: running,

jumping, throwing a javelin, and throwing a

discus.

• Only men could compete.

• The Olympics were named after the location

they took place in Olympia.

•

Time Line of the 5-day event

1st Day 2nd Day 3rd Day 4th Day 5th Day

Used for

sacrifice and

religious

ceremonies

Used for

sacrifice and

religious

ceremonies

Marked the

beginning of

the actual

sporting

events.

Competed

Competed

Arena at Olympia

• The great arena at Olympia was the site

for most of the events in the games.

• After years of training and working, an

athlete would finally enter his first Olympic

games through an entrance at the arena.

Events Boxing: resembled the present day sport but

was fought without rounds until one man was

either knocked out. Instead of gloves, leather

thongs called himantes were wrapped around

their fists.

Equestrian: events consisted of chariot

races and various riding events.

Wrestling: very similar to today; A contestant

had to successfully throw his opponent 3

times making him land on a hip, shoulder, or

back to be counted as a throw. An athlete

was allowed to break fingers but of course no

biting.

Events • Pankration: event combined the power of

boxing with the finesse of wrestling. Very

dangerous in nature, these fighters wore no

protection on their hands and were only

outlawed in biting or gouging ones eyes, nose, or

mouth.

• Running: events involved four different races

in two types of events.

• Pentathlon: remained pretty much the same

since its ancient Greek origins. Participants

compete in a combination of five events; discus,

javelin, jumping, running, and wrestling. This was

one of the most highly touted events of it's time

because it showed the overall athleticism of an

individual.

Pictures Colonnade surrounding the

wrestling arena in Olympia.

Olympia, site of the original

Olympic Games, located in the

west-central part of the

Peloponnesus (hundreds of

kilometers from Mt. Olympus in

the far north of the country).

Entrance to the stadium of Olympia.

Women were prohibited on pain

of death.