9-13 - Blogs - History 360

Athens

Government
- Limited democracy
  - Included rich and poor
  - People could speak their minds
Influenced our gov in different ways
- People directly voted on things
- We are different, representative gov
- Gave citizens roles
Gov before democracy
- Aristocracy
- Rule by nobility
- Rule is hereditary based on ties, wealth social rank
- Prior to 594 bc
Citizenship
- 18 , 2 years of military
- Adult men
- Wrought women were inferior
- Women foreigners and slaves couldn’t take part
- Wealthy ppl and poor clashed
- Avoided more political problems with reforms
- Reformers in Athens tried to build a democracy
- Only free adult men were citizens
Key players
Perciles
- Leader around 450
- Made sure all citizens could participate
- Any citizen could be in assembly ,jury, paid them
- Even allowed poor ppl
Socrates
- Teacher of philosophy in 400’s bc
- Angered some by questioning norms
- Tried in 399 for urging young people to revolt
- Sentence to death
- Most famous philosopher
Plado
- Discussed in his book how a society could bring out best behavior in citizens
- Different ppl have different strengths weaknesses
Three pillars of gov
- Assembly of demos
  - Male citizens listen discuss and vote on topics
  - Spoke their minds and exercise their votes
  - Most central and definitive institution of democracy
  - Citizens were paid for attending
- Council of 500
  - Full time gov of Athens
  - 50 from each of the ten tribes
  - Made agenda for assembly of demos
  - Talked about preliminary degrees
- Peoples court
  - Citizen juries would listen to cases and vote on whether or not someone was guilty
  - ½ drachma a day
  - Had to be 30 years old
- Suplimented by
  - The counclie of areopagus
  - Archons
  - Generals
  - Geography of athens
    - Land
      - In southern Europe
      - Thousands of islands
      - Cover 70 to 80% of Greece
        Limestone or marbel
        Limestone by athens
- Surrounded by mountains
  - Aigaleo west
  - Parnes north
  - Pentelikon north east
  - Hymettus east
Sea
- Surrounded by the Aegean sea east
- Ionian sea west
- Mediterranean sea and the sea of Crete
- Couther tip is called Peloponnesus
- The isthmus, which is a narrow strip of land connects the Peloponnesus to the rest of Greece
- Fish were part of the diet
- Used for trading and transportation
Climate
- Mild wet winters
- 50 degrees
- Lots of rain
- Mountains get snow
- Hot dry summers
- 80 degrees
- Climate allows for a lot of outdoor activities
Effects
- Trade was easier
- No harsh weather
- Land travel was hard due to mountains,
- Good soil, not much farmland
Natural resources
- Lignite
- Petroleum
- Iron ore
- Bauxite
- Lead
- Zinc
- Nickel
- Magnetite
- Marble
- Salt limestone
Trade
- Sea trade was common in Ionian Aegean sea and meterranean sea
- Most common ship was cargo ship
- Then war ship
- Trade made them prosperous
- Broad market, all the way to Egypt and lybia
- Traded with different people
- Economy soared
Farming
- Only 20 % of the land was farmland
- Crops
  - Barley
  - Grapes
  - Olives
- Grain crops were planted in October and harvested in may
- Olive harvest was nov/feb
- Grapes in September
- Barley was the main grain crop
- Farms were 4 to 5 acres
- Sustenance farmers
- Very large farms were run by overseers
- Average worker made 2 drachmas a day
- One farmer made 30,000 drachmas in a year
Mining
- Ore was common in Athens
- Best known mine was the silver mines of laurium
- Profits helped the growth of Athens
- Slaves worked in the mines
- They made weapons money tools and armor
Jobs
- did metal work
- druggists, female pharmacy
- manual labor preformed by slaves
- people with artisti abilities created images of deities and sold them to belivers
- farming
- only free ppl could be in the military

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