Ancient Greece and the Development of Greek City-States

Location, location, location!

Friday Five: Answer in complete sentences.

1. How were Sparta and Athens different? Give one example.

2. What are 3 geographic features of Greece?3. Why did Persia invade Greece?4. Who was Pericles?5. What is a tyrant?

What are they? Why are they important to ancient Greeks?

What is it?

Detention

• Why are you here?• How did your behavior affect others and you?• What are you going to do to avoid being in

detention again for this reason?

• Geographic Features • Peninsulas…lots of them!• Mountains…Pindos

Mountains• Natural barriers kept

early people isolated from each other

• Narrow, rugged coastlines• Ionian Sea and Aegean

Sea…part of the Mediterranean Sea

Peninsulas of Greece

The peninsulas resemble your hand, fingers are themany peninsulas.

How did they make a living?

• Many Greeks earned their living from the sea• Expert sailors• Developed trade networks with other cultures

around the Mediterranean Sea• Set up colonies: small groups of people who

relocate to build a settlement and increase trade with mother country

How did the Greeks make a living?

• Some farmed in the plains areas between the higher plateau and mountain ranges

• Travel over land was very difficult• Some of the products raised on farms include

grapes, figs and olives. They are resilient to the harsh conditions of the lands of Greece.

Minoans

• The Minoans lived on the island of Crete from approximately 2000 to 1600 BC.

• They were expert shipbuilders and sailors.• Minoan ships carried goods such as wood, olive

oil, and pottery all around the eastern Mediterranean. They traded these goods for copper, gold, silver, and jewels.

• There were pros and cons about the location of Crete.

Minoans

• Crete gave the Minoans open access to trade all around the Mediterranean Sea

BUT…• Sometime in the 1600s BC a huge volcano erupted just

north of Crete. This eruption created a giant wave that flooded much of Crete. (tsunami)

• In addition to tsunami, ash covered everything on Crete.

• The civilization of the Minoans did not survive this eruption.

Mycenaeans

• The first people to speak Greek, and therefore the first to be considered Greek, were the Mycenaeans.

• While the Minoans were sailing the Mediterranean, the Mycenaeans were building fortresses all over the Greek mainland.

Mycenaeans

• The decline of the Minoan civilization gave the Mycenaeans a chance to gain power and control trade around the Mediterranean Sea.

• They set up colonies in northern Greece and Italy from which they shipped goods to markets around the Mediterranean and Black seas.

• The Mycenaeans didn’t think trade had to be conducted peacefully. They often attacked other kingdoms.

Fact or fiction?

• Some historians believe the Mycenaeans were the Greeks who went to war against the city of Troy, starting the long fabled Trojan War.

Guess what happened next?

• By the end of the 1200s BC, the Mycenaean civilization lost power when their leaders could not protect themselves from invaders from Europe.

• Following these invasions, Greece fell into a Dark Age of chaos and disorder, with people fighting for control and power….

Empire becomes too large to govern

and protect Economic

instability-not

supporting the people financially

due to trade

issues Internal conflict

(common people are

growing poor and hungry)

Invasion by an outside

force (leaders not watching their backs)

Rise and Fallof

Civilization

Rise and Fall of

Society

Empire becomes too large to govern

and protect

Economic instability-

not supportin

g the people

financially due to trade

issues

Internal conflict

(common people

are growing poor and hungry)

Invasion by an outside

force (leaders not

watching their backs)

Development of city-states in Greece

• Dark Ages lasted about 300 years.• People started to gather together for

protection.• As time went on, these groups built city-

states.• Although they all spoke the same language

(Greek), they considered themselves separate cultural groups.

Why did city-states develop?

• Mainly because the people were isolated due to geographic features making natural barriers.

• They were seeking protection and stability after so many years of disorder and fear of attack.

Development of City-States in Greece

• All the people did not live within the city walls.• For examples, farmers lived on the small fields

around the city.• In times of danger, the women, children and elderly

living outside the city walls were brought in for safety.• The city-state became the foundation of Greek

civilization. • Besides providing security for its people, the city gave

them an identity.

What is a polis?

• A polis is the Greek term for city-state.• The English word politics comes from the

Greek polis (fun fact )• City-states were built around a hill, or

acropolis. The important buildings such as temples and other public buildings were built on the top of the hill.

What is an agora?

• Each Greek city-state had an open area of the city that was kept free of large buildings.

• This area, called an agora, was used as a marketplace and the location of meetings by the citizens.

• Think about a football field, with people meeting in the field to trade or discuss political issues.

Greek Colonies

• Before long, groups from city-states around Greece began to set up colonies in distant lands.

• After they were set up, Greek colonies became independent. In other words, each colony became a new polis.

• In fact, some cities that began as colonies began to create colonies of their own.

Trade with the Colonies

• Once a group of people settled in a new area, they sought to continue trade with city-states on the mainland of Greece.

• The colonies sent metals such as copper and iron back to mainland Greece.

• In return, the Greek city-states sent wine, olive oil, and other products.

Trade

• Trade made the city-states much richer. Because of their locations, some city-states became great trading centers.

• By 550 BC the Greeks had become the greatest traders in the whole Aegean region.

• Greek ships sailed to Egypt and cities around the Black Sea.

City-states

• People thought of themselves as residents of a city, not as Greeks.

• Because the city-state was so central to their lives, the Greeks expected people to participate in its affairs, especially in its economy and its government.

Take 5: Minoans, Mycenaeans, Athenians, Spartans

Minoans Mycenaeans

Athenians Spartans

Athens and Sparta

Two City-StatesTwo very different ways of life…

Definition Characteristics

Examples Not an example

Democracy

• A democracy is a form of government where the citizens have a say in how it is run and the decisions that need to be made.

Oligarchy

• Government run by a few wealthy people.

Tyranny

• A tyrant is the head of a form of government called a tyranny.

• A tyrant was not always a cruel ruler. • A tyrant is one man running the government.• They are absolute rulers, meaning they have

all the political power.• Some tyrants actually improved life, reformed

society and helped the poor.

Oligarchy, tyranny and democracy in ancient Greece

• Government in Greece evolved from rule by a single man or a few wealthy people to a form of government that allows citizens to have a say in political decisions.

Government of City-states

• Not all city-states were democracies!• Athens was the first city-state to develop a

democratic form of government.• Other city-states, such as Sparta, maintained

an oligarchy. A few wealthy powerful people had absolute power, or made all the decisions.

Peloponnesian War…prelude

• The Persians built an empire on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea that extended through Mesopotamia as far east as India and southwest to include parts of Egypt.

• They wanted to take control of Greece, because that would give the Persians control of the Mediterranean World and all its trade.

• The Greeks were willing to fight to keep their city-states safe.

Persian Wars

• The Persians attacked the Greeks in a series of wars called the Persian Wars

• The Athenians and the Spartans had some serious differences of opinions and did not get along….

• However, they recognized they needed to join together to defeat the Persians and maintain control of Mediterranean Sea trade.

Persian Wars

• These wars lasted over 20 years and ended with the defeat of Xerxes by a combined force of the Spartan army and Athenian navy.

• Following the defeat of the Persians, a messenger from the battlefield ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens, announced the Greek victory, and dropped dead from exhaustion!

Peloponnesian War pages 270-71

• After the Persian defeat in 480 BC, many of the city-states decided to form an alliance, or an agreement to join together against a common enemy.

• Each city-state in the alliance gave money to a common treasury to finance an military force in the event of another war with Persia.

• The money was kept on an island called Delos in the Aegean Sea, and those city-states who joined this alliance were called the Delian League.

Peloponnesian War

• Athens had the strongest navy, which it sent to protect the treasury on Delos.

• The Athenians started to boss the other members of the alliance and misuse the funds; Athens was the strongest city-state in the Delian League.

• They used the money in the treasury for building projects and bullied other weaker city-states to join the alliance and pay the dues for protection.

Peloponnesian War

• The Delian League was not the only alliance in Greece.

• The Spartans and many of the city-states in southern Greece formed an alliance also, called the Peloponnesian League, named for the peninsula on which these city-states were located.

• Some of the weaker city-states in the Delian League went to Sparta for help in dealing with the bullying of the Athenians.

Peloponnesian War

• Sparta decided to teach Athens a lesson and declared war.

• This was the Peloponnesian War, and it lasted almost 30 years.

Persian Wars: Cornell Notes

1. Why did Darius swear to get revenge on the Greeks?

2. What was the name of the place near Athens where the Persian Wars began?

3. Why did Persia want to invade Greece?4. What two city-states joined together to

defeat the Persians?