Friday, Sept. 14

[4thTara]

We continued presentations.

Architecture of the Golden Age of the Athenians

 

• Key Buildings-
• Acropolis- main group of buildings in Athens that looked over the city.
• Sacred area that’s one of the most recognizable monuments in the world.

 

• Acropolis-
• 9 years to build, completed in 438 B.C., cost 3 billion in today’s money.

 

• The Paratheon and other buildings on acropolis were all built between 460 and 430 B.C. under leadership of Pericles.
• Used for political and cultural achievements.

 

• Paratheon-
• Over 3 billion in today’s money, built between 447 B.C. and 432 B.C.
• One of biggest construction projects of the ancient world.

 

• The Porch of Caryatids-
• 6 columns holding up roof.
• All female figures were each sculpted differently and engineered so that their slender necks could take the weight of the roof and still look real and elegant.
• Started 421 B.C. completed 406 B.C.
• Cost 130 million.

 

• Greek Art-
• Most divine, complex structures of this time and the structures of the Athenian Acropolis.
• Earliest of these are the Paratheon sculptures in time soon became a church.
• Built between 442 and 432 B.C.

 

• Purpose-
• Buildings were built to show cultural and political achievements of Athens
• Others were used to honor gods and goddess- Athena.
• Goddess Nike also had buildings.
• Some buildings were used for political gatherings.

 

 

• Athens had walls that would surround the city protecting and defense.
• Used for many reasons- praise/worship, buy/sell items, drama, education, law making.

 

• The Paratheon-
• Famous buildings to worship goddess- Athena.
• Temple to honor and praise.
• Celebrate ending of Athens’ war with Persia.

 

• The Agora-
• Town’s people come to buy/sell goods.
• Market place, food and household items.

 

• Theater of Dionysus-
• Meant for dramatic plays.
• Social life- many big events, pure comedy.
• Either you were an actor or you watched.

 

• Gymnasium-
• Children would go to get education.
• 6 or 7 homes go to school.
• Boys/girls separate.
• Parents had to pay for private school.
• Big, all kids went.

 

• Pnyx-
• Athenians go to building to gather around and decide on laws and rules of town.

 

• Key Players-
• Pericles’s plan for Athens was to get the greatest Greek architects to build things like Paratheon.

 

• Socrates-

 

• Lived 470-399 B.C.
• Son of a sculpture.
• Served in army during Spartan clash.
• Short and stout- not handsome.
• Attracted to a young boy soldier.

 

• Plato-
• 437-347 B.C.
• Prized student in philosophy.
• Pirates captured him.
• Plato made a school in 386 B.C. on property friends bought him.

 

• Aristotle-
• 384-322 B.C.
• Born- Stagira- small Greek colony.
• Scientist and philosopher, loved nature.

 

Military and Delian League

• Tactics-
• Phalanx-
• Used in battle of marathon around 500 B.C.
• Major downside- used against cavalry.
• Horses in cavalry could ride around and attack weak side.
• Athenians used mountains and natural habitat to protect weak side.

 

• Naval warfare-
• Used in Peloponnesian war.
• Shipped grain and food into city.
• Used ships called trireme.
• Fought by ramming and boarding enemy ships.
• Major naval force.

 

• Pericles-

 

• Politician- democrat.
• General, Athenian.
• Ruled Athens from 461-429 B.C.
• Led victories in Peloponnesian and Persian wars.

 

• Socrates-
• Philosopher, Athenian.
• Scrutinized Athens, praised Sparta.
• Not well liked for that reason.

 

• Plato-
• Student of Socrates.
• Write dialogues that contain most of Socrates ideas.

 

• Aristotle-
• Student of Plato.
• Teacher of Alexander the Great later in life.

 

• Archimedes-
• Well known mathematician.
• First to calculate pi.

 

• Pythagoras-
• Developed Pythagorean Theorem.

 

• Delian League-
• Coalition of Greek States and Athenians.
• Founded in 478 B.C.
• Under control of Athens.
• Headquarters in Delos.

 

 

• What did it do?
• Goals- free Ionian Greeks from Persia and protect Aegean Sea.
• Use sea power.
• Athens was the leader.
• Persia was run out of the Aegean Sea.

 

• Famous Battles-
• Persian War.
• Major battles- Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis.

 

• Marathon-
• 25,000 Persians met 10,000 Athenians.
• Persians fled.
• 6,000 Persians died very few Athenians died.

 

• Thermopylae-
• 7,000 Greeks and 300 Spartans.
• Stood up to Persians for a long time.
• Persians found a way around the mountain.
• Spartans let Greeks flee and stayed to fight.
• All 300 died.

 

• Salamis-
• Greeks abandon Athens.
• Fought with naval forces.
• Destroyed most of Persian fleet.
• Formed Delian League to protect Greece.

 

• Peloponnesian War-
• 431-404 B.C.
• Battle of Pylos.
• 425 B.C.
• Athenian naval forces were attacking Zacynthus.
• Spartan troops decided to attack walled city called Pylos.

 

• Pylos-
• Over 2,000 Spartan troops.
• Tried attacking sea side wall.
• Spartans failed to capture Pylos before Athenian naval fleet could return.
• Tried blocking harbor.

 

• Weapons and Armor-
• Swords, iron knives- not bronze, arrowheads, sling bullets- steel and clay, shield- bronze, archery, spears.

 

• Who participated in the army?
• Had to meet certain requirements.
• Male, 18 or older, own land, have the mandatory 2 years military training.
• This system is much different than the old ways.
• Old ways-
• Rich, had to buy your weapons, poor man could not afford to ight in the war, resulted in rather small army sizes.

 

• Different kinds of soldiers-
• From 18-60 all physically fit men went to military.
• Most of the soldiers were the heavily armored infantry called hoplites.
• Young ephebes- adolescent males trained for 2 years in barracks then went home until there was a time for more soldiers.
• Hoplite attendants-
• Light armors men usually poor citizens or trusted slaves.
• Most of the other wealthier citizens that could raise their own horse were part of the cavalry corps.
• Scythian police

 

• If they only needed a small force they would take the people from 20-24 years old.
• If crisis, they would summon everyone even elderly.
• The hoplite attendants carried the hoplite’s shield and other supplies of theirs until they fought.
• The peltast were lightly armored.

 

Geography-

• Sea-
• Greece borders the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, the East Mediterranean Sea.
• Thought the sea was a beautiful element,
• Gained many things- a freedom, environment.
• Shipping people traveled where they could always see land.

 

• Land-
• Longest river in Greece- Aliakmon.
• Riverbeds tend to dry up.
• Grew barley- growing of barley was less demanding and more productive.
• Olive plantations.
• Grapes were very popular in Greece because of rock y soil.
• Houses on the land were made of wood as well as wagons.
• Goats and sheep were the most common animals in Greece.
• Provided fur, milk, and meat.
• Chicken and geese were raised and eaten.
• Oxen were on the land but rare.
• Donkeys and mules used for traveling.

 

• Climate-
• Mild rainy winters.
• Relatively warm and dry summers.
• Lots of sunshine all through the year.
• Mountains adjust to the climate changes,
• Winters in the mountains can be rigorous and snowy.

 

• Ancient Greek trade and colonization.
• Important role as the furthest outpost of Greek culture.
• Bronze, silver and gold vessels, olive oil, sine, textiles.
• Luxury items and exotic raw materials.

 

• Farming-
• Little soil and farmland.
• 20% of land.
• Grain crops were planted in Oct. and harvested in April or May.
• Main crop- barley.

 

• Ancient Greek Agriculture-
• Diet based on cereals.
• Home to many Olive trees- oil, fruit.
• Augmented by vegetable gardens and orchards.

 

• Farming-
• Small farming villages were set up by people who came from the North.
• Average holding size was 5.6.

 

• Mining-
• Silver production was high.
• Decline of mines came during the Peloponnesian War- 30 year civil war between Athens and Sparta.

 

• Natural Resources-
• Iron, bronze, flax, clay, timber, grain-wheat and barley, animals-hare boar, leather, wool.

 

• How land affected battles-
• Thermopylae-
• Narrow coastal pass.
• Not near sea.
• Phalanx in between the pass.

 

 

• Salamis-
• Took place on Salamis Island.
• Located in Saranac Gulf.
• Greeks fought with ships.
• 366 guarded.
• Greeks held off well with the help of the gulf.

 

• Peloponnesian War-
• Southern Europe.
• Bordering Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea and Mediterranean.
• Sea helped both.

 

 

• Different jobs-
• Farmers-
• Grew enough to support their families.
• Sometimes grew a small surplus to sell at local market.

 

• Greek Blacksmiths-
• Used iron ore to create swords, plow, axes, and other tools.
• Used billows made of animal skin to low air into their fires to produce heat needed to work with the metal.

 

• Craftsman-
• Most shops in Greece were family owned and small.
• Specialize in their work depending on the size of the city where they worked.
• Beds, plows, door frames.

 

• Doctors-
• Field of medicine combined science and religious beliefs.
• Medicine during this time was limited in its ability to cure diseases.
• Induced vomiting and sweating to get 4 humors back.

 

• Merchants-
• Traders in Greece.
• Owned boats or rented cargo space on their boats,
• Known as metrics, often foreigners, many risks.
• Good profit possibilities.

 

• Bankers-
• Changed money from other city states into local currency.
• Often loaned money for trading voyages.