Ancient Greece

The origins of Greek civilization

⊳ The Greek natural environment

Was located in a long area around the Mediterranean Sea.
Main cities were in:
 The Balkan Peninsula
 The west coast of Asia Minor
 Some islands in the eastern Mediterranean
Living in the Mediterranean, water and the sea were important elements for them.
Physical conditions of the area:
 The land was very mountainous, dry and rocky, which made agriculture very difficult.
 Communication and trade was very difficult because the live in the mountains, so the
villages were quite isolated from one another.
 Many Greek people lived on islands, they were expert shipbuilders and sailors. They
traded all over the Mediterranean.
 As they live on islands and in mountains, people from one territory can’t see people
from other territories, so each territory developed in a different way with its own laws,
army and government. They spoke the same language and shared the same culture and
religion.
 A Greek state was never created.

⊳ The Pre-Hellenic people

These people developed interesting civilizations before the Greeks did.
They are divided into:

The Minoan civilization

They were on an island in the eastern Mediterranean called Crete.
 The first civilization in Europe.
 Powerful monarchs (mythical king Minos), the main city was Knossos.
 Great traders, they sell pottery, wine and oil.
 Non-warrior people.
 The civilization ended after a volvanic eruption on an island nearby called Thira, around
1500 BC.

The Mycenae civilization

Developed mainly in the Bakans before 1500 BC
 The first to speak Greek.
 Warrior culture, the main activity was going to war and conquering new territories.
 Lived in fortified settlements, built in high places.

The Dark Age

There isn’t much information about this period, from the 11th to the 9th century BC.

Periods in the history of Ancient Greece

Three main periods

⊳ Archaic Age (8th to 6th century BC)

The Polis
Around the 8th century BC some Greek Territories developed into poleis (Polis is the Greek
name for a city state
poleis is the plural).
City state: Independent territory, includes an urban centre and some territories around it which
are used for agriculture, livestock farming or forestry.
The poleis had their own laws and government, own army and own coins.
The economy was self sufficient.
There were many poleis in the Greek territories (most important: Athens, Sparta, Thebes and
Corinth).

DATA
 Some poleis grew considerably.
 Greek territories were very mountainous and dry, so the agriculture were difficult.
 Not enough food for everyone, some people left their polis looking for a better life, or
because they wanted to trade and become richer.
 Metropolis. New town colony. The relationship between these two cities was very
close.

The Colonies
Perfect place to create a city would include:
 Fertile land and access to fresh water.
 Closeness to the coast
 Easy place to defend
 Natural resources

The colonies were very very important, because the Greek colonizers spread the Greek
language, culture and ideas around the entire Mediterranean.

⊳ Classical Age (5th to 4th century BC)

The period was the most prosperous and important for the Greek poleis, especially dor the two
most important poleis of their times: Athens and Sparta.
Those two poleis were together, fighting their common enemy, or fighting each other to be the
most important Greek city states. They were different in many ways.

Athens
Athens reached its Golden Age with the ruler Pericles. Under his government, amazing
monuments and buildings such as the Acropolis and the Parthenon were created. He promoted
science and art.
 Socrates explained the world through a new way of thinking.
 Euripides and Sophocles created wonderful tragedies.
 Herodotus composed The Histories.
 Hippocrates caused a revolution in medicine, changing the way to treat illness.

DATA
In Athenian democracy only citizens could vote.
 One of your parent were born in Athens
 You are a men (not sclave, not woman and not metics)

INTERESTING FACT
The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics that contains the good principles a doctor must
practice in medicine.

Sparta
They had a political system called oligarchy. Only a few people ruled the polis. In fact,
oligarchy means “ruled by few”. These few rulers were called aristoi, “the best”.
Sparta had 2 kings. These 2 kings were helped by a Senate composed of 30 men. Most Spartans
didn’t have time for politics because they were training for warfare.
They didn’t study theatre, art or philosophy.

DATA
 They studied war
 Whole life of a Spartan was dedicated to the army.
 Join army at 20 years old, left army at 60 years old.
 They were proud to be considered the best soldiers and the strongest army of all the
Greek poleis.
 Simple equipment (spear, short sword and shield)

INTERESTING FACT
Spartans ate and drank very little and they had minimal possessions (they didn’t have any
luxuries and wore simple clothes)

Wars during the Classical Age

The Greco Persian Wars

The Persian emperor (Darius l), conquered some poleis in Asia Minor. These Greek poleis
rebelled as they didn’t want to be part of the Persinan empire, the rest of the Greek poleis joined
them to defeat the Persians.
The Persian Empire was huge and extremely powerful. It covered land from the eastern
Medirerranean and Egypt, all the way to India.

First Greco Persian War

The Persians had control of many Greek territories, but they want Athens to surrender.
 Persian Navy arrived at the port of Marathon, a city near Athens.
 The Persians were many more in number, but they underestimated the military ability of
the Athenian Soldiers.
 The Persians were defeated at the Battle of Marathon by the Greek soldiers.

INTERESTING FACT
The famous marathon race takes its name from the fastest Athenian soldier, Pheidippides. The
legend said that he ran from Marathon to Athens to report the victory over the Persians, and that
he died the moment he reached Athens. However, the real story was probably that Pheidippides
covered the distance from Athens to Sparta in two days to ask the Spartans for help (which the
Spartans didn’t give).

Second Greco Persian War

The Persian King Xerxes (Darius’ son), wanted to avenge his father so he sent an even bigger
army and fleet than the one that was sent for the first war.
Xerxes conquered many Greek territories but he was finally defeated at the Battle of Salamis.
The Athenian navy and the Spartan army were decisive in this battle.
The consequences of the victory in the war against the Persians were:
 Athens became the most powerful polis.
  The creation of the Delian League: many smaller poleis wanted to join a league with
Athens to prevent another Persian attack.
 The Persians were no longer attacking the Greeks, so the Greeks’self confidence
Greeks, just as their poleis grew in wealth and population.
 Greek became proud of their culture and language, and the poleis felt closer than ever
before.

The Peloponnesian War

As Athens was gaining too much power, the other big polis, Sparta, decided to create another
league, the Peloponnesian League.
Their fight to be the most powerful started the Peloponnesian
War between:
- Athens and the poleis that formed the Delian League,and
- Sparta and the poleis that formed the Peloponnesian
League.
The war lasted for twenty-seven years, when finally Sparta
won and became the dominant force.
But more than twenty years of war weakened the Greek
poleis. The wars destroyed cities, killed people, and
produced famines.
Philip II, king of the northern territories called Macedonia,
took advantage of this tragic situation to subdue all the
Greek poleis except Sparta.