October 3-7

[6Sheneka]

Monday:  Talked about extra credit and did notes

• onian Revolt 499 -493 BC
  • The Ionians (Greeks) led a revolt against the Persians after Cyrus the Great died
• Persian's War
  • Fought between the Persian Empire and Greek city-states (Athens, Sparta, Thebes...)
  • Problems started when Persian leader Cyrus the Great took over Ionia in Greece in 546 B.C. 
• Ancient Greece vs. Civilization of Persia
  • Persia was the largest empire in the world at the time and consisted of millions of people
  • Ancient Greece was about 500,000 total people
  • It was truly David vs. Goliath battle 
• Athens and Sparta United
  • Athens and Sparta had been fighting for hundreds of years
  • They now fought not for Athens or for Sparta but for Greece
• Battle of Marathon-490 BC
  • 25,000 Persians
  • 10,000 Athenians
  • Who won?
    • Athenians because of better armor and tactics
    • The Phalanx
    • The Persians were lighting armored and not prepared
• Pheidippides
  • After the battle ended, he ran from Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians of the victory over Persia
  • Was 26,2 miles (term marathon nowadays)
• Battle of Thermopylae- 480 BC
  • Ten years after the Battle of Marathon, Persia once again invaded Greece
  • Darius the Great's son, Xerxes, made it a goal to destroy Athens
  • The Persians won the Battle of Thermopylae but not before the Spartan soldiers held out for days allowing many Greek troops to retreat
  • The movie 300 is based on this battle 
• Battle of Salamis 
  • At the naval Battle of Salamis, the Greeks destroyed the Persian Navy
  • The Persians were never the same after that and were eventually driven out of Greece
  • After the Persian Wars, the Delian League was established setting up an alliance between the Greek city-states
  • Starting around 470 BC, Greece, and Athens specifically, entered into a golden age

Tuesday: Notes: 

The Golden Age of Athens

• 477-431 BC

• Came about after Greece defeated the Persians

• Drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture, and science flourished

• Also known as the “Age of Pericles”

  • Led Athens in the Peloponnesian War

Pericles’ Plan for Athens

• Strengthen Athenian democracy

  • Increased number of paid government jobs which benefitted people who were not wealthy

  • Instituted direct democracy

    • Citizens rule directly and not through elected representatives

• Hold and strengthen the empire

  • Helped establish and eventually led the Delian League after the Persian Wars

    • Alliance of Greek city-states

  • Grew Athens navy

  • Started dominating other city-states which led to conflicts

• Glorify Athens

  • Used money from the Delian League to buy gold, marble, and ivory

  • Used money from the Delian League to hire artists, architects, and workers to build buildings and sculptures

  • Phidias was hired to build the Parthenon

  • Greek sculptors focused on beauty, not realism

  • Classical art focused on simplicity and being well proportioned

Greek Drama - Tragedy & Comedy

• A tragedy was a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal

  • The hero usually was an important person and often gifted with extraordinary abilities

  • A tragic flaw usually caused the hero’s downfall, usually excessive pride

• A comedy contained scenes filled with humor

  • Playwrights often made fun of politics and respected people and ideas of the time

  • ARistophanes was a famous writer of comedies

  • The fact that Athenians could listen to criticism of themselves showed the freedom that existed in democratic Athens

Recorded History

• History

• Herodotus pioneered the accurate reporting of events

• Thucydides believed that certain types of events and political situations recur over times

 

Peloponnesian War

• 431-404 BC

• Fought between Athens and Sparta

• Came as a result of Sparta not liking Athens growth of wealth and power in the area

• Athens was acting like a bully

• Sparta had a better army, Athens had a better navy

• With help of a plague that hit Athens, Sparta eventually won

King Philip II of Macedon

• Goal was to take over all of Greece and then to get revenge by taking over the persian Empire

• King of Macedon in 359 BC

Macedonians

• Lived in mountainous villages, not city-states

• Macedonians considered themselves to be Greek but were looked down upon by the big city-states

• Philip II built up his military and eventually invaded and defeated the Greek city-states

• Used the phalanx and cavalry to great effect

Alexander the III of Macedon

• Took over for his father, Philip, in 336 BC

• Philip was assassinated at his daughter’s wedding by a former bodyguard (Pausanias)

• Ruled Greece and its empire for only 13 years (336-323 BC)

• Due to his accomplishments, became known as Alexander the Great

• Died from high fever-possibly from typhoid fever or malaria

Wednesday: Watched Alexander the great video

Thursday took notes: 

Alexander the Great’s Legacy

• Greek Empire split into three sections

  • Greek city-states led by Antigonus

  • Egypt led by Ptolemy

  • Former Persian Empire ruled by Seleucus

Rise of the Philosophers

• A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the nature of life

• After losing to Sparta in the Peloponnesian war, people in Athens, turned to philosophers for answers

Socrates

• A philosopher of Ancient Greece

• Socrates taught by asking questions

• This method of questioning is still called the Socratic method

• Put on trial and found guilty for “corrupting the youth of Athens”

  • Put to death by drinking hemlock

• “There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance” ~ Socrates

Plato

• Was a student of Socrates

• Started a school called The Academy

  • Lasted 900 years

• Wrote The Republic

  • Wrote about perfect governed society

    • Not democracy

  • His ideal society had three groups

    • Farmers and Artisans

    • Warriors

    • Ruling class

  • Person with greatest intellect from ruling class was king

• Wrote about Atlantis

Aristotle

• Was a student of Plato

• Wrote about science, art, law, poetry, government, etc.

• Taught Alexander the Great

• “He who studies how things originated will achieve the clearest view of them.”

Friday - We took notes, they are continued above. Chapter 5 sections 1 & 2 test is Monday and chapter 5 sections 3, 4, & 5 is Tuesday.

The Spread of Hellenistic Culture

• Hellenistic culture became common all throughout the Greek Empire

  • Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures mixed

  • Language-Koine

  • Trade

  • Cities

  • Science and technology

  • Philosophy, art, and architecture

Mathematics

• Euclid established geometry

• Archimedes established the value of pi and the law of the lever