Transcript Unit 2 _ ppt 2 _ Ancient Greece

Today’s LEQ: How does Ancient Greece compare to
the Persian Empire?
Small, disunited,
and competing citystates
 Some unity found in
common culture
(religion, language,
Olympics)
 Economies focused
on sea-based trade
and settlement
abroad

•
City-States! (look on page 143 & sketch a
diagram into your notes)
– Size restricted by geography
– Overpopulation addressed by colonization
– Built for defense and to accommodate
mountains
• Poorest lived at lower levels
• Agora (open meeting space) on higher
ground
• Acropolis (temple) on highest ground
Empire of Classical Greece – Chock Full ‘O Colonies!
Male born = “citizens” with
responsibilities and rights within the
community, rather than subjects of a king
 NOT EVERYONE WAS EQUAL! 
Women = few rights; Sparta’s conquered
people (helots) lived their lives as
agricultural slaves, only ½ of Athens's
population were considered citizens
 Most leaders = men of wealth
 BUT, the city-state of Athens did allow a
level of gov’t participation that was
unique, with all citizens voting and
eligible to serve, especially after the
reforms of Pericles during the 400s BCE
 citizens fought in the army and
pushed for rights

…see – men
have
always
been dumb.
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Greeks tried to help cities conquered by the
Persians to throw off imperial rule
Persia invades to ensure their rule
Greeks win a series of battles during two
different Persian invasions (Marathon,
Thermopylae, and Salamis are well known
examples)
Greeks celebrated their great “victory for
freedom”  in Persia, the defeat was no biggie
Delian League formed (league of Greek cities
which paid dues to Athens for further protection)
Financed Athens’s Golden Age 400s CE
 Step 1: As you read, make direct
comparisons in a t-chart or venn
diagram. Be ready to share.
1.
2.
In recent years in the United States, some
political and social leaders have suggested that
all Americans 18 and older should be required
by law to spend one year in some type of public
service. What do you think Athenians would
have thought of that idea? What would
Spartans have thought? What is your own
opinion?
How would you compare Athenian democracy
to democracy in the United States today?

Use of Reason, Logic, Questioning, and
Debate
 Look at the world around you (observation) 
advocated by ARISTOTLE
 Attempts to explain the process of power and the
natural world
 Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

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Statues = human-like but
idealized
Temples
 Columns, Open-Air
 Symmetry

Open-Air Theaters
 Usually carved into the
hillside (utilizing
environment)

Sport Arenas
 Hippodromes, gymnasiums,
stadiums
After the Peloponnesian Wars
between Athens and Sparta
(fighting over who would lead
the Delian League) there was a
POWER VACUUM
 Alexander of Macedonia (356323 BCE) stepped in and took
control
 Unified Greek city-states and
vastly expanded empire
 Didn’t last long, but the legacy
of the spread of Greek culture,
architecture, art forms, and use
of logic [Hellenization] is very
important
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Death of Alexander
leads to breakup of
empire
Rome takes
advantage of the
disunity and
conquers (146 BCE)
Rome continues the
process of
Hellenization in the
West
Continuity and Change
In the Iron Age with these new, large empires, what
seems different from the Bronze Age Civilizations?
What stays the same?
 Possible ideas:
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 Use of coercion is the same… but gov’ts are even better at
it
 Use of religion as a unifying or justifying ideology is the
same… but religions are more focused on answering big
questions, rather than rituals to appease gods
 Bronze Age civilizations had fairly homogenous cultures
and peoples… diverse Iron Age Empires must use new
methods like toleration and better bureaucracies