Week of October 2nd - October 6th - Blogs

Monday -

Plato
- Greek philosopher
- Only known source discussing location of Atlantis
- It's a myth - Atlantis has elements that people love to fantasize about
Mycenaeans
- Controlled the area around Greece from 1600 to 1100 BC
- Heavily influenced by the Minoans
  - Much more war-like than Minoans (based on art)
- Known for their trade around the Mediterranean Sea, Aegean Sea - no money exchanged - they traded their olive oil, scented oils, and wine for gold, ivory, copper and glass
- Known for their piracy on the seas surrounding Greece
- Known for their city-states: Athens, Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns
- Historians aren't sure if city-states were independent or more united
- Mycenaean's did unite to fight the Trojan War against Troy
- The Mycenaean's fell apart due to wars and the Sea People's sacking their city-states
- Eventually the Dorians came down from the north and took over Greece

Tuesday -

Dorians
- 1150 - 750 BC
- Came from the area north of Greece
- Less advanced than the Mycenaeans
- Trade and culture slowed
- Greece went into a Dark Age
Homer
- Was a Greek epic poet from 750 - 700 BC
- Narrative poems celebrated heroic deeds
- The Iliad was about the Trojan War
- The Odyssey was a sequel that was after the Trojan War
Trojan War (1194-1184 BC)
- Fought between Mycenaean Greeks and Troy
- War began after the abduction of Queen Helen of Sparta by the Trojan prince, Paris
- Helen's husband, Menelaus, convinced his brother Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, to lead an expedition to get her back
- Agamemnon was joined by the Greek heroes Achilles and Odysseus
- They crossed the Aegean Sea and laid siege to Troy
- Demanded Helen's return
Vocabulary
- Polis - city: Minneapolis, Indianapolis
- Acropolis - a settlement in a city on higher ground used for defense and a place to discuss politics
- Monarchy - government ruled by one person - king, queen
- Aristocracy - government ruled by a small group of wealthy landowning families
- Oligarchy - a government ruled by a few powerful people
- Tyrants - powerful individuals who seize control from the government; could be good or bad; today we see tyranny as a bad thing
- Democracy - rule by the people; Athens had perhaps the world's first democracy
  - only allowed citizens to participate (women, slaves, and foreigners were not citizens)
- Military state - a state that bases its economic model on the sustainment of its armed forces
- Helot - a peasant bound to the land
- Phalanx - a military formation of foot soldiers armed with spears and shields
- Persian wars - a series of wars in the fifth century BC, in which Greek city-states battled the Persian Empire
Education in Athens
- Only for sons of wealthy families
- Started at age 7 and focused on developing good citizens
- Studied reading, grammar, poetry, history, math, music, logic and public speaking
- Public debate and athletics were also stressed
- Once older, boys went to military school
- Girls were educated by their mothers at home to do cleaning, cooking, child-rearing, etc.
Sparta
- Was very powerful and had its own army
  - Defeated the Messenians in 725 BC and in 650 BC
- Unlike Athens and other city-states, it did not have democracy
- Built a military state
- Sparta conquered other city-states to gain wealth and power
- Valued duty, strength, and discipline over freedom, beauty, and learning
- Spartan Classes
  - Only men born in Sparta were citizens
  - Women were not allowed to become citizens
  - The second class in Sparta were people who came from other city-states or other countries
    - They could own businesses but not become citizens
  - The third class were helots/slaves
    - Worked the fields or were servant
- Spartan Warriors
  - Learning to read and write in Sparta was not very important
  - Training to become a good solider was stressed
  - Young boys left home at 7 and trained to be soldiers until they were 30
  - Athletics was also stressed

Wednesday -

Sparta (continued)
- Spartan Women
  - Service to Sparta was stressed
  - Received some military training
  - Athletics were stressed
  - Had quite a bit of freedom in comparison to Athens
    - could run family estates when husband was off at war
Persian Wars (Greco-Persian) 499-449 BC
- Fought between the Persian Empire and Greek city-states (Athens, Sparta, Thebes, etc.)
- Problems started when Persian leader Cyrus the Great took over Ionia in Greece in 546 BC
- Ionian Revolt 499-493 BC
  - The Ionians (Greeks) led a revolt against the Persians after Cyrus the Great died
  - The Ionian Revolt was led by Athenian General Miltiades
  - Ionia asked Athens to help them - which they did
  - Darius quickly suppresses the Ionian Revolt but is very angry at the Greeks
  - Darius the Great vowed to burn Athens to the ground before he died
  - Miltiades escapes back to Athens and tells the Athenians that the Persians are coming to burn Athens
  - This sets up the beginning of the Great Persian War
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 a David vs. Goliath battle
- Greece wins
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 (Greeks won)
- How did Athenians win?
  - The Phalanx (defense mechanism -- tightly packed lines with shields in front of them for protection)
  - The Persians were lightly armored and not prepared
- Pheidippides
  - After the battle ended, he ran from Marathon to Athens to tell the Athenians of the victory over Persia (26 miles - that is why we call the race a marathon)
Battle of Thermopylae - 480 BC
- Ten yearrs 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 ut 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 established an alliance between the Greek city-states
Greek god - any supernatural being worshiped as controlling some part of the world or some aspect of life or who is the personification of a force
Titan - any family of giants in Greek mythology born of Uranus and Gaea and ruling the earth until overthrown by the Olympian gods
Heroes - men or women of special strength, courage, or ability
Myths - a traditional or legendary story, usually with a being, hero, or event and connected to religion
Creatures - an imaginary being of myth or fable; a monster; an imaginary creature usually having various human and animal parts

Thursday - Notes above

Friday - video

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