Monday -
Greece
Small country in Europe
Mainly a peninsula
Surrounded by Mediterranean, Aegean, and Ionian Sea
Rest of Greece is made up of Islands
Sea was important to Greeks for protection, trade, transportation, food, resources
Most Greeks lived within 85 miles of the sea
Sea linked all parts of Greece to other areas for trade which was essential due to lack of resources
Mountain's make up 75% of Greece's land - Agriculture was difficult
Never had large populations
These issues led leaders to look to expand
Ancient Olympics used to be one day then expanded to five days and happened every four years
Pentathlon was largest competition - long jump, javelin, discus, stadion - 200 yards, wrestling --- competed nude
Minoans - influenced by Egyptians
- Named after Crete King Minos of Greek Mythology
- Known for its trade on the seas
- Due to its isolation, very peaceful
- Mycenaeans destroyed them
- Many think Minoan empire was the city of Atlantis
- Plato - great Greek philosopher and wrote about Atlantis
- Mycenae - many city states - taken over by Dorians
- Trojan war was between Mycenaean Greeks and Troy
Polis - City
Acropolis - high point of a city
Government Key Terms
- Monarchy - Kings and Queens - ruled by one person
- Aristocracy - government where rich people dominate
- Oligarchy - government ruled by a few powerful people
- Tyrant - powerful individuals who seize control from the government - seen as bad, could be good or bad
- Democracy - Rule by the people
- Athens had perhaps the worlds first Democracy - direct democracy - everyone votes rather than selecting representatives
- Only allowed citizens to participate
- Women, slaves, and foreigners were not citizens
- Chosen by lot - luck
Education in Athens - Only for sons of wealthy families - started at age 7 and focuses on developing good citizens - studied reading, grammar, poetry, history, math, math, logic and public speaking
Public debate and athletics were also stressed
Once older, educated by their mothers in the home to do cleaning, cooking, child-rearing, etc.
Sparta - opposite of Athens
- Very powerful military
- Unlike Athens and other city-states, it did not have democracy
- Built a military state - run by military
- Conquered other city-states to gain wealth and power
- Valued duty
- Only men in Sparta were citizens
- Women were not allowed to become citizens
- The second class were people who came from other city-states or other countries
- They could own businesses but not become citizens
- The third class were helots/slaves
- Worked the fields or were servants
- Leaning to read and write in Sparta was not very important
- Training to become a good soldier was stressed
- Young boys left home at 7 and trained to be soldiers until they were 30
- Athletics was also stressed
Women
- Service to Sparta was stressed
- Received some military training
- Athletics were stressed
- Had quite a bit of freedom in comparison to Athens
- Could run family estates when husband was off at war
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