Sea
- allowed for great opportunity for trade and travel
- important because it allowed Greece to to get the natural resource
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
- lower 80's
- the climate allowed for many different outdoor activities
Minoan Influence
- Minoans - created an elegant civilization that had great power that started around 3000BC
- Minoans culture influenced the Mycenaeans
- writing, language
- design
- trade
- used ships to trade goods
Mycenaean Develops
- The Mycennaens were heavily influenced by the Minoans
- they came from Indo- Europeans migrants
- dominated Greece from 1600BC to 1100BC
Dorian
- spoke a kind of Greek
- Not as advanced as the others, no writing system
- focused more on storytelling
- best storyteller: Homer
Change
- during the dorian period
- dorian and the mycenaean people started to identify less with culture of their ancestors and more with the local area
- government made the transition from tribal or clan control to more formal gov. galled city-states
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 gov.
- not all city-states had the same form of gov
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 BC
- divine right - that god has put them on this earth to rule the people
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
- 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 BC
Direct Democracy
- state ruled by the citizens
- rule is based on citizenship, 4 requirements for citizenship
- majority rule decided vote
- practiced in Athens by 500 BC
Athens
- about the 600 BC, Athens was takign 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
- Darco
- developed a legal code based on teh idea that all Athenians, righ and poor , were equal under law
- he had very harsh punishments for nearly any crime
- he 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)
- 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, but there was a lot more wealthy rather than not so it would make you question how random it actually was
Limited Democracy
- the reforms allowed for a limited democracy
- however, but 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
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 that ruled over Sparta's military
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