Classical Greece
- Sea
-allow for great opportunity for trade and travel
-important because It allowed Greece to get the natural resources that it lacked timber precious metals
- Land
-rugged mountains covered about ¾ of ancient Greece.
- mountains were often the divider for different regions.
- played a big role in wars. Hard to mover through the mountains with large army
- Climate
-upper 40’s in winter
- lower 80’s in summer
-the climate allowed for many different outdoor activities
- Minoans
-created an elegant civilization that had great power that started around 3000 bc
- culture influenced the Mycenaean
- writing, language
- design
- trade
- used ships to trade goods
- Mycenaean
-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 story teller: homer
- dorian and the ycenaean people started to identify less with culture of their ancestors and more with the local area
- government made the ransition from tribal or clan control to more from al governments called vity-states
- a polis was made up a caith and its surrounding countryside, which would inlude numerous villages.
- citizens of the polis would come together to meet at an acropolis to discuss their city government
- not all city-states had the same form of government.
- 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.
- Aristocracy
- state ruled by nobility
- ruled is hereditary and based on ties, social rank, wealth
- social status and wealth suppor rulers authority
- practiced in Athens prior to 594 B.C.
- Oligarchy
- state ruled by a small group on weath 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 (everyone is not a citizen)
- mahority rule decides vote
- practiced in Athens by 500 B.C.
- Athens
- about the 600B.C., athens was taking steps towards a democracy
- there were major reforms fro 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 athenians, rich and poor, were equal under law
- had very harsh punishments for nearly any 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 for social classes based on wealth
- only top three classes could hold political office
- however, all four could participat 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 debat and passage
- created the could of five hundred
- proposed laws
- counseled the assembly
- members were chose at random
lIMITED DEMOCRACY
- the reforms allowed for a limited democracy
- however, but all people were citizens
- Requirements for citizen:
- free
- adult
-
- sparta
- located in the southern part of greece
- was cut off from the rest of greece by the gulf of corinth
government
assembly, all citizens, elected officials and voted on major issues
- council of elders, 30 or older citizens, proposed laws on the assembly to vote on
- five elected officials that carried out the laws that were passed by the assembly
- tow kings that ruled over sparta's military
Comments