Classical Greece
Geography
- Sea
- Allowed for great opportunity for trade and travel
- Important because it allowed Greece to get the natural resources that it lacked; timber, precious metals, usable farmland.
- Land
- Rugged mountains covered about 3/4 of ancient Greece
- Mountains were often the divider for different regions
- Played a big role in wars - hard to move through the mountains with large army
- Climate
- Upper 40's in winter
- Lower 80's in summer
- The clime allowed for many different outdoor activities
- Minoan Influence
- Created an elegant civilization that had great power that started around 3000 BC
- Culture influenced the Mycenaeans
- Writing, language
- Design
- Trade
- Used ships to trade goods
- Mycenaean Develops
- Heavily influenced by the Minoans
- They came from Indo-Europeans migrants
- Dominated Greece from 1600 BC to 1100 BC
- Dorian
- Spoke a kind of Greek
- Not as advanced as the others, no writing system
- Focused more on storytelling
- Best storyteller: Homer
- A polis was made up of a city and its surrounding countryside, which would include numerous villages
- Citizens of the polis would come together to meet at an acropolis
- Monarchy
- State ruled by a king
- Rule is hereditary
- Some rulers claim that they have a divine right to rule
- Practiced by Mycenae by 2000 BC
- Aristocracy
- State ruled by nobility
- Rule is hereditary and based on ties, social rank, wealth
- Social status and wealth support rulers’ authority
- Practiced in Athens prior to 594 BC
- Oligarchy
- Stated ruled by a small group of citizens
- Rule is based on wealth and/or ability
- Ruling group controls the military
- Practiced in Sparta by 500 BC
- Direct Democracy
- Stated ruled by the citizens
- Rule is based on citizenship
- Majority rule decides vote
- Practiced in Athens by 500 BC
- Athens
- About the 600 BC, Athens was taking steps towards a democracy
- There were major reforms for the next 100 years that would eventually lead to a democracy starting around 500 BC
- Key Players
- Draco
- Developed a legal coed based on the idea that all Athenians, rich and poor, were equal under law
- He had very harsh punishments for nearly any crime
- He believed in debt slavery
- The world “draconian” has come to mean “extreme cruelty or severity”
- Draco
- Solon
- Stated that no citizen should own another
- Organized Athens into four social classes based on wealth
- Only top three classes could hold political office
- However, all four could participate in the Athenian assembly
- Cleisthenes
- Broke Athens up based on region that the citizens lived instead of wealth (10 groups)
- He increased the power of the assembly by allowing all citizens to submit laws for debate and passage
- Created the Council of Five Hundred
- Proposed laws
- Counseled the assembly
- Members were chosen at random
- Limited Democracy
- The reforms allowed for a limited democracy
- However, all people were citizens
- Requirements
- Free
- Adult
- Property owner
- Born in Athens
- Sparta
- Located in the southern part of Greece
- Was cut off from the rest of Greece by the Gulf of Corinth
- Spartan Government
- Several Branches
- Assembly, all citizens, elected officials and voted on major issues
- Council of Elders, 30 older citizens, proposed laws on the assembly to vote on
- Five elected officials that carried out the laws that were passed by the assembly
- Two kings ruled over Sparta’s military
- Several Branches
Persian War
New Technology
- During the Dorian Age, only the rich could really afford to buy the bronze weaponry and armor
- Iron later replaced bronze and allowed the common man to be able to arm himself and fight battles
- Also, a new formation was formed in battle called the phalanx (spear in one hand, shield in the other)
Start of the Persian War
- War between Greece and Persian Empire
- It first began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks were settled there but Persians conquered it around 546 BC
- The Ionians Greeks revolted
- Athens sent soldiers to help in the revolt
- Darius the Great defeated the revolt and then vowed to destroy Athens
- Athens sent soldiers to help in the revolt
War Continues
- In 490 BC, the Persian fleet of 25,000 men landed in an area called Marathon
- 10,000 Athenians met them there
- After several hours of fighting
- Persians fled the battlefield
- 6,000 Persian lives were lost
- 200 or less Athenians lives were lost
- Persians fled the battlefield
Why such a victory?
- The Athenians were using this new fighting formation called the phalanx
- The Persians were not well trained in this type of land fighting
- The Persians also wore very light armor compared to that of the Athenians
- Athenians were fighting on their homeland
Marathon
- Even though Athenians had won, they left their city without much of an army
- According to tradition, army leaders would send a runner to alert Athens of the battle
- Pheidippides was that runner
- He ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens
- Persians tried to quickly attack Athens after their defeat at Marathon, but the Athenians had already returned, so they fled once again
Ten years later
- Xerxes, Darius the Great's son, had become the successor of the Persian army
- He brought an enormous army with him to complete the job that his father once vowed
Greek Issues
- The Greeks were very divided on how to handle the Persian situation
- Some city-states thought that they should fight them and defend their city of Athens
- Some city-states thought it wasn't worth it, and they should just allow them to burn it
- Some even fought with the Persians
- Some city-states thought that they should fight them and defend their city of Athens
Famous Battle of Thermopylae
- A narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
- 7,000 Greeks and 300 Spartans stood in the way of Xerxes and his huge army on this push to get to Athens
- Xerxes underestimated the Greeks and Spartans, however, they stood up for three days to them
300
- A traitor went to Xerxes and informed him of a secret path around the pass
- Fearing defeat, the Spartans fought the Persians so that the Greeks could flee to fight another day
- All 300 Spartans were killed, including Leonidas
Lasting Effects of Spartan Sacrifice
- Made a great impression on the Greeks
- Allowed the remaining Greeks to retreat and fight the Persians again
- Showed Xerxes what he was up against
Battle of Salamis
- Greeks abandoned Athens, because they thought that fighting at sea was their best chance
- They were right, Xerxes watched as 1/3 of his fleet was sunk which truly diminished his army
Lasting Effects of Persian War
- The Delian League was created (An alliance of Greek city-states to continue to push the Persians out of all Greece)
- Athenians was the head of the league and moved their headquarters to Athens
- This gave the Athenians a lot of power and helped push them into their golden age
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