World History Notes:
Geography:
- Sea:
- Allowed for great opportunity for trade and travel
- Important because it allowed Greece to get the natural resources that it lacked
- Land:
- Rugged Mountains Covered about ¾ of ancient Greece
- Mountains were often the divider for different regions
- Played a big role in wars
- Climate:
- Upper 40’s in the winter
- Lower 80’s in the summer
- The climate allowed for many different outdoor activities
Minoan Influence:
- Minoans created an elegant civilization that had great power that started around 3000 BC
- Minoans culture influenced the Mycenaeans
- Used ships to trade goods
Mycenaean Develops:
- The Mycenaens were 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 story telling
- Best Storyteller – Homer
Change:
- During the Dorian period
- Dorian and the Mycenaean people started to identify less with culture of their ancestors
Government:
- 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 to discuss their city government
- 5. Monarchy
- State ruled by a king
- Rule is hereditary
- Some rulers claim that they have a divine right to rule
- Practiced in Mycenae by 2000 B.C.
- 6. Aristocracy
- 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 B.C.
- 7. Oligarchy
- State 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 B.C
- Direct Democracy
- State ruled by the citizens
- Rule is based on citizenship
- Majority rule decides vote
- Practiced in Athens by 500 B.C.
Athens
- About the 600 B.C., 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 B.C.
Key Players
- Draco
- Developed a legal code based on the idea that all Athenian, rich and poor, were equal under law
- Had very harsh punishments for nearly every crime
- Believed in debt slavery
- The word “draconian” has come to mean “extreme cruelty or severity”
- 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)
- Increased the power of the assembly by allowing all citizens to submit laws for debate and passage
- Created the Council of 500
I. Proposed laws
II. Counseled the assembly
III. Members were chosen at random
Limited Democracy:
- The reforms allowed for a limited democracy
- All people were citizens
- Requirements
I. Free
II. Adult
III. Property owner
IV. Born in Athens
Sparta
- Located in the Southern Part of Greece
- Was cut off from the rest of Greece by the Gulf of Corinth
- Government
- Several Branches
I. Assembly, all citizens, elected officials and voted on major issues
II. Council of elders, 30 older citizens, proposed laws on the assembly to vote on
III. 5 elected officials that carried out the laws that were passed by the assembly
IV. Two kings that ruled over Sparta’s military
New Technology:
- During the Dorian age, only the rich could really afford to buy thr bronze weaponry and armor
- Iron later replaced bronze and allowed the common man to be able to arm himself and fight battles
- a new formation was formed in batttle called the phalanx (spear in one hand, sheild in the other)
Start of the Persian War
- war between greece and persian empire
- first began in Ionia in the coast of Anatolia
- Greeks were settled there but persians conquered it around 546 B.C.
- The Ionian Greeks Revolted
-Athens sent soldiers to help in the revolt
-Darius The Great defeated the revold and then vowed to destroy Athens
War Continues:
- in 490 B.C. the persian fleet of 25,000 men landed in an area called Marathon
- 10,000 Athenians meet them there
- after several hours of fighting
-persians fled the battlefeild
-6,000 persian lives were lost
-200 or less Athenians lives were lost
Why such a victory?
- the Athenians were using theis 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 would fight on their homelands
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 the runner
- ran 26 miles from Marathon to Ahens
- Persian tried to quickly attack Athens after their defeat at Marathon but the Athenians had already returned, so they fled once again
10 Years Later:
- Xerxes darius the great's son, had become the successor of the persian army
- brought an enourmous army with him to comoplete 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
Battle of Theropylae
- a narrow mountain pass was the setting of this battle
- 7,000 greeks and 300 spartains 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 spartains fought the persians so that the greeks could flee to fight another day
- all 300 were killed including Leonidas
Lasting Effects of Spartan sacrifice
- made a great imptession 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 wathed as 1/3 of his fleet was sunk truly diminishing his army
Lasting effects of the 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 the headquarters to Athens
- this gave the athenians a lot of power and helped push them into their golden age
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