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FROM CAVES TOC O L O S S E U M S

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___ WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS.m

C H A P T E R S E V E NT H E C H I N E S E D Y N A S T I E S

The Myth of CreationT H E D Y N A S T I E S

The Shang DynastyThe Chou DynastyThe Ch’in DynastyThe Han and Tang Dynasties

The Invaders

The Mings and ManchusT H E C H I N E S E C U L T U R E

The FamilyReligionOther Religions, Philosophy and Contributions

6 2 - 7 2

C H A P T E R E I G H TT H E G R E E K S

The CretansA N E W T Y P E O F G O V E R N M E N T

The Pol is

The SpartansGovernment Reforms in A thens

The Greek and Persian WarsThe Peloponnesian WarsPhilip of MacedoniaAlexander the GreatT H E G R E E K C U L T U R E

ReligionThe OlympicsArchitecture and the Arts

The Scientists, Historians, and PhilosophersT H E T H R E E G R E A T P H I L O S O P H E R S

Socra tesP l a t oA r i s t o t l e

T H E B E L I E F S D U R I N G T H E D E C L I N E

7 3 - 9 1

C H A P T E R N I N ET H E Y E A R S O F T H E R E P U B L I C

The Latins and Their MythologyThe EtrascansThe Roman RepublicThe Twe lve Tab lesThe Roman Military MachineThe Punic Wars

H a n n i b a l

ASummary of the Romans

9 2 - 1 2 0

(iii)

THE LAST YEARS OF THE REPUBLICACity of Millionaires and RabbleThe Re fo rmersThe Tr i umv i ra te

Julius Caesar Comes to PowerCaesar in EgyptThe Ides of March

Antony and CleopatraT H E R O M A N E M P I R E

Caesar AugustusThe Four SuccessorsT H E E M P I R E B E G I N S I T S D E C L I N E

The Good EmperorsThe Decline of Rome is PostponedConstantine and the Byzantine EmpireThe Roman Empire Collapses

ASummary of the Causes for the Collapse of the RomansR O M A N C I V I L I Z AT I O N A N D C U LT U R E

R o m a n L a w

The Roman Conquerors and Road BuildersThe Rich and the PoorSpartacusThe Fami l iesLiterature, Architecture, Science and MedicineRoman Religion and Christianity

FROM CAVES TO COLOSSEU*MS

(iv)

C H A P T E R S E V E NTHE CHINESE DYNASTIES

The Myth of CreationAs with other early civilizations, mythology was an important part of

China searly history. According to myth, man simply appeared on Earth.There was no order to the world into which this man came, only alargepiece of granite floating in space. Working with this mass of granite, theman created the sun, the moon, and the stars. From the man's head,mountains were formed. Wind and clouds were his breath, and the veinsthat ran through his body became rivers. The fields of the Earth were madefrom his flesh, and the trees and plants were made from his hair. The rainthat fell to Earth was his sweat. Every part of his body was used to formeverything on Earth from rocks to flowers. When he died, insects weredrawn to his body. The hordes of insects became the Chinese people. Andso the myth went as to where the largest population on Earth had come.

China is on the continent of Asia, and is north of India. What is knownof the Chinese civilization goes back to 1500 B.C. It's earliest history hasunfolded through the artifacts that have been found on the continent of Asia.China's recorded history begins after both the Old Stone Age and the NewStone Age. The world had passed into the Age of Metals before much isk n o w n o f C h i n a .

Like every civilization, the Chinese were to have periods of greatness andperiods when they were invaded and conquered. They had good leaders andbad leaders. And like all civilizations, the Chinese handed downthings from their culture that are still part of the world in which you live.

m a n y

T H E D Y N A S T I E ST h e S h a n g D v n a s f v

The Shang people lived in northern China. The Shang family grew insize and formed clans. The clans formed tribes. The Shang family becamepowerful enough to conquer other tribes. Their leader became likeemperor who was thought of as the "son of heaven,controlled the army, and of course, was the one who was in the best positionto talk and work with the gods.

a n

He made laws,

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It is known that during the time of the Shang Dynasty the people believedin ancestor worship, which became the oldest form of religion in China.Ancestor worship is the worshipping of those relatives who have died.From the moment of the relative's death, the living did all they could to keepon the good side of the spirit of the deceased. The living depended on thespirits to answer questions as to when itwas agood time to go to war,w h a t t o m o r r o w ' s w e a t h e r

would be Uke, and whetheror not asick person wouldr e c o v e r. W h a t e v e r t h e

Chinese wanted to know,

they turned to their ancestorsfor answers. Even the poorestpeople had altars where theliving worshipped their deada n c e s t o r s .

A6ouHE WEATHEj?JHAtJ MVME>

Like other civilizations, theChinese settled along rivers. The Yellow River, an important Chinese river,provided the needed water and rich, fertile soil for growing crops. Life washard, but simple because most of the people earned their living as farmers oragriculturalists. The people who lived under the Shang Dynasty had learnedhow to domesticate animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and horses.Though they raised milk-giving animals, the Chinese, like several otherAsian civilizations, never drank milk or ate dairy products.

No one is sure if the Shangs were the first to discover how to make silk,but it is known that very early in the history of the Chinese civilization theydiscovered how to make silk from the silkworm that ate only mulberryleaves. The making of silk was one of the mostly closely guarded of allChinese secrets. Some believe this secret was carried to other parts of theworld when aChinese princess hid eggs of the silk moth and mulberry seedsin her headdress and escaped from China.

Though not much is known about the Shang Dynasty, this dynasty is thethat began what was to become Chinese civilization.o n e

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T h e C h o u D y n a s t y

No other dynasty in the history of China lasted longer than the Chou (jO)Dynasty. It lasted four times longer than the United States has existed, orfor over 800 years. About 1028 B.C. the Chou Dynasty, which had itsbeginnings in western China, conquered the Shangs. What happened is avery good example of cultural assimilation. The Shang culture was muchmore advanced than the war-like Chou civilization. Though the Chouconquerors were much more powerful, they learned from the Shang peoplehow to be c iv i l ized.

As with every civilization, the mler has to have powerful nobles who willhelp to defend what has been conquered. China set up what is called afeudal (few-duD system. In afeudal system the mler lets powerful nobleshave large areas of land. In return for the land and the power to mle over thepeople on the land, the nobles pledge to protect the mler. When the mlerwent to war or was attacked by other civilizations, the nobles fought for them l e r .

Feudal systems work as long as the mler is powerful and can control thenobles. When aweak mler takes over, the nobles can become quitepow'erful. Strong mlers would play one noble against the other. If onenoble would not do as the mler asked, the mler could get the support ofother nobles by promising them the land of the disobedient noble.

Though the Chou Dynasty lasted longer than any other dynasty, once themlers became weak, there were others who were ready to invade theemperor sland. Those who lay in wait were the ones who were to giveChina its name.

T h e C h ' i n D v n a s t v

It was the Ch'in people who took power away from the Chou Dynasty.The leader of the Ch’ins became The First Emperor, and it is believed thatthe name China came from this dynasty. Some of China's mlers had lived inhouses built of earth that was stacked and shaped on wooden pillars. TheFirst Emperor rose to such greatness that his house had 10,000 rooms! Hewas so worried that someone might murder him in his sleep in the hope ofbecoming the next emperor, that every night he slept in adifferent room.The emperor needed abig house because he had 13,000 wives and 2800c h i l d r e n !

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The emperor enjoyed his life somuch he didn't want to give it up.He sent many of his subjects out tosearch for the magic that wouldmake him live forever. Theysearched the Earth looking forthe magic that would keep theemperor always young.Naturally, no one found anysuch magic and the emperor died.He was buried in ahuge walledmausoleum along with all living members of his family, and ah his relatives,and all the workmen who knew where his coffm was located.

The emperor of the Ch in Dynasty was really the first true emperor ofChina. The title of emperor was to be handed down for 2000China the longest lasting empire that has ever existed. Despite the fact thatthe First Emperor had 10,000 rooms to wander around in, he still had timeto plan the building of the Great Wall. The Great Wall was built to protectChina from invasion. It stretched for 1500 miles, was fifteen feet thick, andbetween forty to fifty feet high. People from aU over the world still travel toChina to see one of the greatest structures ever built. Thousands of peopledied in this project that took ten years. Not only were slaves used, but theFirst Emperor put to work anyone whom he didn't like, and theremany whom he didn't like.

years , g iv ing

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The First Emperor truly did turn China into an empire. He united Chinaand conquered neighboring lands. He put an end to the feudal system. Hesaw no sense in giving power to nobles when he could control them withoutgiving them land.

The power of the dynasty passed to the Second Emperor, whomurdered three years after taking over the dynasty. Constant warring wenton between army generals, one of whom broke into the First Emperor'stomb and sacked it by stealing whatever he could. The Ch’in Dynasty,without astrong leader, simply came to an end when the First Emperor died.

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T h e J H f a n a n d Ta n g D y n a s t i e s

From among the warring army generals came the founder of the HanDynasty. This dynasty was to last for four hundred years. This dynastystarted out very well because it had agood emperor who didn’t persecutepeople. He let the educated people, called scholars, write and speak abouttheir ideas. This emperor did not call for the burning of books, as did theFirst Emperor.

The Han Dynasty set up something that was to become an important partof the Chinese government: civil servant tests. Important governmentjobs always had been given to tliose in the noble class. More often than not,the nobles did what was best for themselves rather than what was best forthe people. Under the Han Dynasty well-educated scholars were allowed totake government or civil tests. If the scholars did well on the tests, theywere appointed to positions in the government.

The purpose of the Chinese civil servant tests was to see that only thebest and most capable people were selected to be "government servantsthose who worked for the people.

o r

During the Han DynastyChina began trading more andmore vHth other parts of theworld. Chinese silks and

spices were carried to all partsof the known world. For

the first time in history otherparts of the world were learn¬ing about the Chinese culmreand the products that the tradershad to sell.

^ T H E S E S C H O L A R S I T M A D E .ITH\HV; l ' t\ C-QIH6- TO LOOK INtTO

THOSE CIVIL SERVANT TESTS. ^

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After the fall of the Han Dynasty, China was to have many otherdynasties, some of which were good, and some of which were bad. Underthe Tang Dynasty, for example, China allowed philosophers, scholars, andpeople of aU religious faiths to come and go freely in China.

It was the Chinese who invented paper sometime around 105 A.D., but6 6

the first printed book did not come out until many years later. Not onlythe Chinese the first to have printed books, but they also had the first printedm o n e y .

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Under aTang emperor China reached its Golden Age. People from aUover the world were coming to China to see its greatness. Emperor Mingencouraged music and literature to be written. He was fair and just, taking agreat interest in reforms, or changes that would improve the lives of thepeople.

China could not have asked for abetter emperor. Then suddenly hisinterest in China came to an end. At the age of 60 he met the most beautifulChinese woman he had ever seen. He loved her so much that he gave up aUhis interest in government and mling. Control of China was turned over tohis sweetheart's brother who did one horrible thing after another. First, heled arebellion against the emperor and tried to make himself emperor. Thenthe old emperor's army turned against the younger man. The army took theemperor’s sweetheart prisoner and murdered her before the emperor. Theold man was so broken hearted, that he abdicated, or gave up the throne.Civil war broke out in China over who would be the next emperor.

It is strange that the greatest empire China ever had came to an end notbecause of apoor mler or because of invaders, but because of abeautifulyoung girl.

C O M P L E T E W O R K S H E E T 1 5T h e I n v a d e r s

Other dynasties came and went,and aU feared that one day the dreadedMongols on China's border wouldinvade China. These fearless

fighters from central Asia spreadout all over Asia, eastern Europe,and into India. Every Mongolmale from age 15 to 70 was givenfour horses and taken into the army.The Mongol army was one of the mostfeared calvary the world has ever seen. They rode their horses nonstop.When hungry or thirsty, they pimctured the skin of their horses, drew blood

THAT tSMlLE OFF YOORiFAcE. WE /AOH

drank it, and kept on riding.

When the Chinese learned that the Mongols, or Tartars, as they alsowere called, were approaching, over ahundred thousand Chinese drownedthemselves in the sea rather than be the victims of the Mongol hordes ridingtowa rd t hem.

The leader of the Mongols was Genghis Khan (jeng-gis-kon), whobecame one of the world’s greatest, but cruelest conquerors. He sackedcities, taking everything of value. Then he burned the cities so that all thatremained were ashes. He tortured and massacred thousands of people. Oneof the most dreaded bits of news any city could hear was that the Mongolswere on their way.

Strangely enough, the descendants of Genghis Khan were good rulers.Genghis Khan's descendant, Akbar, was to become one of India's kindestand greatest rulers. Genghis Khan's descendant in China was KublaiKhan (koo-bU kon.)

Kublai Khan had roads and canals built. He set up p^ .offices thatemployed thousands of riders who traveled from one part of the empire tothe other with mail. He had the government store food to give to the peoplein time of famine and floods. He mled wisely and fairly.

It was during Kublai Khan's reign that Europeans became interested intrading with the Chinese. Much of Europe's interest in China, which theEuropeans called Cathay, came from the 20-year visit of Marco Polo, aEuropean from Italy. Marco Polo wrote about the beauty of Chinese cities,the silk and other wonders of China. Marco Polo probably was responsiblefor one of the greatest of all cultural assimilations. He introduced the thin,Chinese noodle to Europeans. The Italians put ared sauce on this thinnoodle and the world has had spaghetti ever since.

Kublai Kdian began aMongol Dynasty that lasted less than 90 years. Thestrength of any dynasty always depends on the leader. The Mongol dynastywent from strong to weak leaders, and from good times to bad times. Whenthe bad times came, and the dynasty grew weak, others were waiting to takeo v e r .

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Thg Mings_ and Manchus

Following the collapse of the Mongol Dynasty, China lost contact withThe West” at that time was Europe. Trade and cultural

assunilation almost came to an end. The Chinese became isolated or shut offfrom the rest of the world. During this isolation Europestronger and more powerful.

t h e W e s t .

w a s g r o w i n g

In China the Ming Dynasty had come into power. Toward the end of theMing Dynasty the Age of Exploration had already begun. Explorers from aUover Europe were finding out about distant lands. America had beendiscovered, and the whole world was changing very quickly.

European traders, businessmen, and missionaries made their w a y t oChina. The Chinese thought of these people from the western worldb a r b a r i a n s .

a s

In some ways the Chinese were right. While the Europeancities were filthy and the people were dying from plagues and other horriblediseases, the Chinese culmre flourished. But it was the "barbarians" fromEurope who were to win out.

Strangely enough, it was the Chinese who had invented apowder for thefireworks they shot off at their celebrations. The Europeans traded thingsfor this powder and turned it into gunpowder. The Chinese inventionlater used against them when the Europeans came to China with weaponsthat could be used to shoot Chinese.

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As the Europeans grew stronger, the Ming Dynasty gave way to theManchus, descendants of the once powerful Mongol or Tartars who ruledChina about three hundred years earlier. The Manchus tried to keepEuropeans out of China, but they were doomed to failure. The Europeanswanted to sell their products in China, they wanted China’s naturalresources, and they wanted to trade with China. The Europeans, and thenfinally the young American nation, were to get what they wanted.

Control of China was divided up not by emperors, but by Europeans andAmericans. The Manchus remained as emperors, but aU their powergone. Finally in 1912 the last dynasty of China came to an end. No othercivilization in the history of the world had such long lasting dynasties.

COMPLETE WORKSHEET 16

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T H E C H I N E S E C U L T U R E

The Chinese civilization was one that clung to traditions. Alook at Chinain the 1800s shows that China was not much different than the China of the300s. Between the 1400s and the 1800s both Europe and North Americagrew and developed by leaps and bounds. The Americans had gone fromliving in log cabins in the wilderness lands to living in large cities and ridingelevators up buildings that were called skyscrapers. Life in China, though,remained very much as it had been for thousands of years.

About 80 percent of the Chinese earned their living in agriculture.Despite ail the farming that was carried on, millions died of hunger everyyear. Flooding rivers and insects destroyed the few crops that the Chinesegrew. Most Chinese ate nothing more than millet, acereal grass, fish, andrice. Most woke up hungry and went to bed hungry. If their doctors keptthem well, the doctors were paid. When anyone became sick, the doctorreceived no money for treating the patients. The wealthy had vegetables andfmits, as well as some of their other favorites like grasshoppers, silkworms,and seaweed. The wealthier Chinese began their meals with dessert, andserved soup as the last course. Whether they were rich or poor, they aildrank tea.

T h e F a m i l y

The Chinese had what is called apatriarchal (pA-tree-R-kuD family, orone which was ruled by the father or male. Families had agreat deal ofloyalty to one another. When sons married they brought their wives home,and the wives learned from the mother of the sons. Women were thought ofas weak and quiet, and the men were thought of as warm, active, and rightabout everything.

When famines hit, and there were many that brought starvation to themasses, it was the females who suffered most from the food shortage.Infanticide, or the killing of infants, was aimed at the female infant. Thefemales were left outside to die of hunger. If afamily had produced toomany girls, the newborn female was killed, and the family went on trying tohave male children.

The Chinese bound the feet of young girls because small feet were greatlyadmired. One of the Chinese emperors was greatly attracted to women with

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tiny feet. From that time until well into modem times the females had theirfeet bound and wrapped when they were seven years old so that their feetwould remain tiny. It was avery painful practice that led to many of thewomen becoming nearly crippled.

OK i4or Another o»ae_ O F M V E h i E M l E ^ f - rMarriages were arranged by the

parents. Sometimes the weddingof ayet unborn child was plannedby the family. Infants wereconsidered ayear old whenthey were bom. Everyonewas expected to get manied,and when the husband died,

the widows did not marry again. ̂Like the women of India, someChinese women committed suicide

when their husbands died. During the time of mourning those who grievedwore white rather than black. When feuds took place between families ormembers of aneighborhood, the best way to get revenge against an enemywas to go to his home and commit suicide.

r :

L

R e l i g i o nThough ancestor worship can be found in the earliest history of China,

another belief was to have avery strong affect on the Chinese people. Thebelief was Confucianism (kun-fU-she-un-ism). Confucius (kun-fU-sh-us) was abrilliant scholar and teacher. People all over the world still quotethis Chinese philosopher. Confucius made no claim that he had talked withany gods or that he had any more knowledge about life after death than anyother person had.

Confucius was amoral man who worried about the morality of theChinese people. Confucius had thousands of sayings that helped to guidethe lives of the people. One such saying was the "golden mle," which said;"What you do not like when done to yourself, do not do to others."Confucius was an honest, sincere, good man who wanted the Chinesepeople to be moral and good. This included the emperors and nobles. Someof the emperors, like the First Emperor, for example, had the writings ofConfucius burned. Other emperors praised Confucius and saw that his be-

7 1

liefs and ideas were taught in the schools and memorized by scholars. Thosewho took the civil servant tests to become mandarins, or governmentofficials, had to know all the things that Confucius taught.

Other Re l ig ions . Ph i losophy and Cont r ibu t ions

Buddhism also spread to China when this Asian empire began tradingwith other parts of the world. Though some emperors persecuted any whoturned to Buddhism, the Chinese people found it to be avery hopefulreligion. It was comforting to believe that if they led agood life, they couldimprove their lives through reincarnation.

Though the Legalists were not religious people, they strongly disagreedwith Confucius. The Legalists did not think that people were ever going tobe morally good on their own, and the only way to make people be goodwas to have laws that they must obey. They also believed that peoplenot intelligent enough to rule themselves; therefore, ail the decisions forsociety should be made by the aristocracy or ruling class who were educatedand who knew what was good for the people.

Though the Chinese culture was not the oldest in the world, it lastedlonger than any other civilization. The greatest Chinese thinkers thoughtphilosophers might think. For example, they saw nature as athing of beautyrather than as athing that needed to be understood. Basically, Chinesescholars had no interest in finding scientific answers to questions about theuniverse. They more or less simply wanted to look in wonder at the beautythat was part of the universe.

The Chinese, though, made many cultural contributions. They inventedsuch things as the wheelbarrow, upholstered furniture, painted fingernails,paper, paper money, wallpaper, and the technique for landscape painting.The Chinese had learned how to use cold storage to preserve food, and howto use heat to warm their homes. The hand grenades and gunpowder thatthey used for special occasions were taken by the West and used in warfare.

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And, Confucius must have known that there would be many who wouldwant to study history when he advised, "Learn the past, and you will

know the fumre."n o t

COMPLETE WORKSHEET 17. COMPLETE TEST PAGES 17-19.THEN COMPLETE REVIEW TEST PAGES 20-23

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C H A P T E R E I G H TT H E G R E E K S

There have only been times afew times in history when, foror another, many great people seemed to be gathered together at one time inone place. That was certainly tme during the time when the Americancolonies formed into the United States, and it certainly was tme of the Greekcivilization. '

o n e r e a s o n

The Greek civilization was the earliest, and certainly most important,civilLzation to form on the continent of Europe. The Greeks, thereforethought of as aWestern civilization rather than as Eastern or MiddleEastern civilizations such as the Chinese, Egyptian, or Mesopotamian. It ismainly from the Greek civilization that many of the ideas for yourculture have come.

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o w n

T h e C r e t a n s

About 3000 years ago agroup of people called the Hellenes (h-L-Enz)moved to southern Europe in search of better living conditions and abetterfood supply. They migrated to the large island of Crete (krEt) which islocated in the Aegean (u-G-un) Sea, abranch of the Mediterranean Sea.This civilization is called the Aegean or the Cretan civilization. Thiscivilization developed at the same time that the Mesopotamians and theEgyptian civilizations were growing in importance. The Cretans had amonarch, or king, as their mler, but he was not an absolute monarch as thearistocracy, or wealthy land-owning nobles, also had power.

The Cretans lived on an island; therefore, they became maritimetraders. Maritime means seagoing. The Cretans traded with cultures in theMiddle East and with other places in Europe,

After the Cretans grew more powerful they invaded apeninsula to thenorth of Crete. Apeninsula is land surrounded on three sides by water. Thepeninsula which the Cretans invaded was Greece. They conquered thepeople. The marriages that took place between these two groups eventuallyproduced the people who were to do such outstanding things and who wereto make their civilization what is called aclassical civilization. Anythingthat is classical never dies. It goes on generation after generation, lastingthrough time.

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A N E W T Y P E O F G O V E R N M E N T

In order for anation to form, certain things are needed. First, there has tobe an area of land or territory that the people share. The people within theterritory have to have acommon language, common customs, and commonbeliefs that will unite them. They also can be united by apowerful tribalchief who can force agroup of people to form anation. Though the Greeksshared acommon language and common customs, they never formed anat ion unt i l modem t imes.

One of the main reasons the Greeks did not form anation was the

geography of the land kept them separated. Greece is avery mountainousarea, and the Greek peninsula is surrounded by large bays and gulfs ofwater. The mountains and the water, then, prevented the people fromuniting into one nation.

Th^ PqH§Instead of having anational government, or the type of government a

nation forms, the Greeks had city-states. Acity-state was called apolls.From this Greek word came the English words of police, politics, andpol icy.

At the center of the polis was an acropolis. An acropolis was ahiU thatoverlooked the city. The temples, and the fortresses that protected the city-state were located on the acropolis. Houses, shops, and markets were at thebottom of the acropolis. Outside the city were the farms or "state."

The government of Athens, one of the most important of all city-states,was mled by an oligarchy (0-li-g-R-k^.) In an oligarchy asmall groupof wealthy, powerful people hold the power.

A 5The Greek form of governmentw a s d i f f e r e n t t h a n w h a t o t h e r

c i v i l i z a t i o n s h a d f o r m e d b e c a u s e

warfare had changed. Over thecenturies it had always been the richnobles who fought the battlesbecause they were the only ones whocould afford horses, chariots, and theequipment needed for battle. Battles

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had been fought with afew soldiers on each side. Then warfare changedbecause new and more deadly weapons had been invented. The moremodem warfare called for huge numbers of foot soldiers. The rich noblescouldn't provide the mlers with all the soldiers who were needed.

The large number of soldiers had to come from the middle and the p o o r e rclasses. There was acatch, though. The middle and poorer classes refusedto fight if they didn't get some rights. One right they demanded was theright to vote, or suffrage. The mlers had to give up some of their power inorder to raise an army. Greek leaders, then, were more or less forced to setup atype of government in which the common people had rights. Giving thepeople rights was the beginning of democracy. The idea for ademocracy,which means the people have asay-so in choosing the leaders, came fromthe Greeks.

COMPLETE WORKSHEET 18

T h ^ g p a r t a n s

One of the most important of aU Greek cities was Athens. The other cityof great importance was Sparta. The two cities were quite different, and thetwo cities fought each other throughout much of Greek history.

The Spartans lived in southern Greece and were mostly farmers. Theyeventually conquered many of the people who lived in nearby areas. TheSpartans annexed or added the conquered lands to their own kingdom,which was mled by two kings. If the conquered people obeyed theSpartans, they were allowed to go on with their lives and do what they hadalways done, although they had no rights. If the conquered people didn’tobey the Spartans, they became helots, or slaves who worked as laborersa s s e r v a n t s .

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The Spartans had one purpose:to keep astrong army. Every maleSpartan was raised to be asoldier.As soon as amale child was bom,the infant was inspected. If thechild was sickly or had anythingwrong with it, the infant was placedoutside and left to die.

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When male children turned seven, they were taken from their parents andsent to live in military schools. In the schools they were taught to obey, putup with pain, and be obedient. They were not given one single thing tomake their lives the least comfortable. They slept on boards or they sleptoutside no matter how cold it was.

At the age of 20 the males were taken into the army. At age 30 asoldiercould retire and marry. But even after retirement the Spartans were watched.If they gained too much weight, for example, they could be sent away fromSparta. ASpartan always was supposed to be healthy and fit.

Spartans also had to marry or they were punished. Bachelors wereattacked on the street and beaten. Since the conquered people outnumberedthe Spartans, it was important to produce more Spartans who devoted theirlives to the military. Though the Spartans had the finest army in Greece,they did not have artists, writers, scientists, or philosophers because theirtime, money, and efforts were spent on armies and training for the military.

G o v e r n m e n t R e f o r m s i n A t h e n s

Even though many Athenians (u-thm-E-unz) had been given the right totake part in their government, Athens still had many periods of socialunrest. Society, of course, is the people. The word social also has to dowith the people. When there is social unrest, the people are rioting ormarching or refusing to work because they are unhappy with the way thingsa r e .

At one time in the history of Athens the rulers called upon Draco, (drA-kO) awealthy nobleman, to write acode that the people would have to obeyso that social unrest would end. The Draconian (drA-cOn-E-un) Codewas so harsh that people were put to death for stealing an apple. Throughouthistory when agovernment treated its citizens very unfairly and veryharshly, it often has been said the Draconian Code was used.

The Draconian Code only made matters worse. The mobsviolent All of Athens was threatened because of the violent revolts thattaking place. Then history brought along the right man at the right time. Hisname was Solon (sO-lun). Solon was astatesman, or one who usedreason, wisdom, and ability to solve government problems. Solon was the

g r e w m o r ew e r e

7 6

Greek statesman who started the Greeks on aroad that was to carry themtoward democracy, or agovernment in which all the people had the right toelect the leaders. Solon is thought of as the "father of democracy."

Athens had been governed by an oligarchy that foraied acouncil. Theymade all the decisions for the government. The Athenians also had whatcalled apopular assembly. An assembly is ameeting. Apopularassembly means ameeting of the people. All free Athenians over the age of20 were allowed to take part in this assembly. They could vote on whetheror not to remove government officers. If you can remember how all-powerful the kings, shahs, and pharaohs were, you can see that givingordinary people rights was agiant step forward for mankind.

Everything certainly was not perfect in Athens. There were those whofelt Solon had gone too far. Civil strife, which is very much like socialunrest, continued to take place in Athens. The civil strife occurred betweenthose who believed Solon was right, and those who wanted to keep thepower in the hands of an oligarchy.

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About 500 B.C. the Athenians were given aconstitution, which is aArtisans, traders, farmers,

“businessmen, the rich and the poor all were given suffrage, or the right tovote. The popular assembly passed laws and talked about whetherthey should go to war, and what should be done in each polis. To keepanyone from becoming atyrant (tl-runt), or aperson who holds agreat dealof power and who misuses the power, the assembly ostracized (os-tm-sized) anyone who tried to become too powerful or who tried to take awaythe rights of the people. When aperson was ostracized, he had to leaveAthens for ten years. The Greeks had learned from other civilizations thedanger of one person having too much power.

guide as to how agovernment wiU be run.

o r n o t

One of the great Greek orators, or speakers, was Pericles (pair-i-klEzl.Pericles wanted Athens to become an example of democracy. Athens hadpure democracy, which allowed each person to vote for or against aleader

government decision. Representative democracy was to come muchlater in history. In arepresentative democracy the people vote forgovernment leaders to represent them, or to speak and vote for them onlaws and other things that affect the lives of the people.

o r a

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Not all the people who lived in Athens were allowed to vote. Foreigners,women, and slaves, for example, could not vote. Most laborers and farmerswere too busy trying to earn aliving to take part in the pure democracy thatwas offered to them. Nevertheless, the idea of ademocracy even existingwas one of the most unusual ideas to come along since the beginning ofc i v i l i z a t i o n s .

C O M P L E T E W O R K S H E E T 1 9

T h e G r e e k a n d P e r s i a n W a r s

The Greeks had set up coloniesin an area of the world called Asia

Minor, which is where thecountry of Turkey is nowlocated. The Persians, whowere the greatest of aUconquerors, took over theG r e e k c o l o n i e s . I n 4 9 9 B . C .the Greek colonis ts revol ted

against the Persians. Thecolonists asked both Spartaand Athens for help. Spartasent no help because the moon wasn't full, which shows that the Greeks,despite all their advances, still believed momens or signs.

NEAR 1CAN tell,ATHE ATHENIAMS won ̂

the battle of marathon.

In 490 B.C. the Athenians defeated avery large Persian army. It amazedthe world that the Athenians could defeat the Persians. This battle betweenthe Persians and Athenians was the Battle of Marathon. An Athenianmnner was sent to race the 24 miles from Marathon to Athens to tell the

Athenians the great news of the Greek victory. The Marathon runnerdelivered the news. Then he collapsed and died. To this day long distancerunners take part in marathons, aname that came from the battle in which theGreeks defeated the Persians.

Several more battles between the Persians and Greeks took place over theyears. The Greeks, though, were to win out and force the Persians back tothe i r home land .

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Th.e_ Pe loponnes ian Wars

For defense, for trade, and for business reasons the Greek city-statesneeded to unite. Athens formed alliances with many other Greek city-states.Alliances are agreements between governments to help each other in time ofneed. Athens and her allies formed an alliance called the Delian (D-lE-yun)League.

The Spartans worried that Athens was becoming too powerful. Todefend itself against Athens and her allies, the Spartans also set up aleague.The city-state that joined with Sparta formed the Peloponnesian (p-L-0-pu-nE-zun) League. Pericles believed that it was just amatter of time beforethe Spartans tried to take control of aU the Greek cities. Rather than wait forthis to happen, the Athenians began aquarrel with one of the cities in thePeloponnesian League. The Spartans went to the defense of the city-state intheir league. And so began astmggle for power between the Athenians andSpartans that lasted for nearly thirty years. These wars are called thePeloponnesian Wars.

Athens took in many people who were fleeing from the Spartans. Athensbecame so crowded that plague and other diseases broke out. Athird of thepeople in Athens died from diseases. One who lost his life in the plague wasPericles. The Spartans, with aid from the Persians, finally conquered theAthenians.

The Spartans were good fighters, but they knew nothing of governing.Social unrest and civil strife continued. There simply was no peacethroughout Greece. What the Greeks needed was another strong leader totake command and to unite the Greeks. No such man came forth from

among the Greeks. To the north of Greece, though, was aleader whomoved down upon the Greeks and ended the warring.

Pb-lUp. 9f M^q^dPhlaMacedonia (ma-s-dO-nE-u) was north of Greece. Philip, King of the

Macedonians, was avery clever man. He also was avery good militaryleader. Above all, Philip greatly admired the Greek culture. As ayoungman he lived in Greece in the home of agreat Greek general. It was fromthis general that Philip learned how to organize an army.

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Because the Greeks couldn't put an end to civil strife and bring unity toGreece, Philip decided to do it for them. Using his well-disciplined soldiers,he sent one of the best-equipped armies the world has ever seen to invadeGreece. Philip was not like most conquerors. He didn't come to wipe outthe Greek culture: he came to preserve it. To end the Greek's fear of Persia,Philip decided he would conquer the Persians. Philip did not live longenough to accomplish what he set out to do.

Philip's plan to conquer Persia and unite Greece never came aboutbecause of the poor choice he made when he married. Philip had severalwives, and he quarreled constantly with all the families that he createdthrough his marriages. One of his ex-wives was not tlie least happy with theway she had been treated by Philip. She hired an agent to assassinate Philip.History, then, was changed by the anger of an unhappy ex-wife.

A l e x a n d e r t h eWhat Philip was unable to do—conquer the Persians and unite the Greeks-

-was done by his son Alexander. This was the same Alexander who carriedGreek culture to India. Alexander was only 22 when his father was killed.After Philip's death some of the Greek cities tried to overthrow theMacedonians. Those who turned against Alexander had not yet learned whatapowerful man he could be. He simply crushed his enemies. When onecity rose up against him, Alexander burned the city to the ground,slaughtered the men, and sold the women and children into slavery.

Once Alexander had the Greek city-states under control, he marchedagainst and defeated the Persians. After freeing all the Greek colonies fromPersian rule, the Greeks turned Alexander into ahero.

Though Alexander could be cmel, he respected learning. His teacher hadbeen Aristotle, (^-u-stot-ul) one of the greatest thinkers of all time.Aristotle taught Alexander that science, literature, and philosophyimportant. Learning flourished, or increased and spread, when Alexanderruled over his empire, which included Asia Minor, the Middle East and partso f I n d i a .

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Alexander married aPersian princess and he encouraged his officers tomarry Persian women. Alexander believed that the Greek customs and Greek

8 0

culture could be spread through the marriages of his soldiers and thosewhom they conquered. It was Alexander's hope that all the known worldcould be united and ruled by justice and reason.

Alexander sent Greeks to set up colonies in aU parts of the known world.The city of Alexandria was set up in Egypt. For hundreds of years thiscity was important because scholars from all over the worldAlexandria to study and to exchange ideas.

c a m e t o

The death of this young, powerful conqueror came when he was in India.His army had grown sick from the hot climate. The Indian people rebelledagainst their conquerors, using armies of elephants to fight against theMacedonians. Alexander’s soldiers refused to travel any farther or to go onfighting against the Indians. Dying of thirst, suffering from heat and sickwith fevers, the army retreated to the city of Babylon.

Alexander grew weak from old battle wounds and came down with afever. As he lay dying he was asked who should take over his empire. Hisanswer was, "Whoever is the strongest,powerful and organized as Alexander had been. In only 13 years heconquered all there was to conquer.

But there never was to be one so

His wife, Roxane, gave birth to ason amonth after Alexander died.She, her son, and Alexander's mother and brother were all put to death bythe generals in Alexander's army so that none of them could ever claim theyhad the right to take Alexander's place.

For forty years the Macedonian generals fought over the control of theempire created by Alexander. The empire finally was divided up into threekingdoms. Though the Macedonians tried to control the Greeks, the Greekshad tasted liberty and freedom and they would not bend to absolute rule bythe Macedonian generals. The problems that Greece faced after the death ofAlexander were to go on for many years. The fate of the Greeks was to besettled by amighty power that was forming in Rome. The Romans were tobuild the strongest army the world had yet known. Greece was but onemore place the Romans were to conquer.

COMPLETE WORKSHEET 20

81

T H E G R E E K C U L T U R E

While the governments of the city-states fought among themselves, andthe Spartans and Athenians carried on their wars, and Alexander created anempire, life went on for the ordinary Greek people. From the time theircivilization formed until Alexander's death is called the Hellenic (h-L-En-ik) Period. Following Alexander's death until the Roman empire conqueredthe city of Alexandria is called the Hellenistic (h-L-u-nis-tik) Period.

The Greeks of both periods believed there should be atime for learning,relaxation and sports. Slaves and foreigners were used for hard work suchas mining because the Greeks didn't like hard work. The Greeks were nevercmel to their slaves as other civilizations were. The Greeks simply believedslaves should be used to do the work the Greeks didn't want to do.

A\F 5 U C H A H I 6 4 1 L Vf-DEVaoPEO CJMIUZATIOM, I''

were about 15 years older than their young wives. One custom that has beenhanded down from the Greeks is the carrying of the bride over the threshold.As was true of many other cultures, couples preferred to have sons. First,the males could serve in the army, and secondly, families didn't have toprovide adowry for their sons. Dowries were gifts of money or propertywhich the parents of the brides had to give to the husbands.

Compared to most civilizations, the Greeks were very well educated.They not only learned to read and write and do math, but they were taughtabout correct moral behavior. Being physically fit also was very importantto the Greeks. Students attended gym classes and took part in manydifferent types of sports.

R e l i g i Q n

Most civilizations created idols or gods that had animal or demon-likefaces and bodies. The Greek gods had human faces and bodies; however,the gods were like superhumans. The father of the gods was Zeus (zoo-s).The Greeks believed their gods lived at the top of Mount Olympus. Eachof the Greek gods had some speciality. Aphrodite(a-frO-D-T), for example,gave advice to those whowere having problemswith their love life; Zeus’speciality was the sky andmaking rain; Pan mades u r e t h e w o o d s a n d t h e

trees were protected.When the Greeks had

any type of problem, theywent to the temples to talk it overwith the god who handled that type of problem.

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The special food of the gods was nectar and ambrosia fam-brO-z-vu).The diet of the Greek gods supposedly made them live forever. The Greekswere never guided by anything such as the Bible or the Koran. They had nogods that told them what was supposedly the right or wrong thing to do.

The Greek religion taught that the people were supposed to look for signs8 3

or omens that would show them what the gods wanted them to do.Thunder, lightning, full moons, cloudy skies, watching which way birdswere flying and things of that sort were the signs or omens for which theGreeks looked. It didn't matter whether aleader wanted to know if it weretime to go to war, or if awoman wanted amale child, the Greeks went to thetemples seeking answers for the problems by looking for signs and omensfrom the gods.

The Greeks also had their share of priests who were supposed to knowabout omens and signs, and so the priests were paid to tell some lessinformed person whether their dog’s death or atree falling in athunderstormwere the signs sent by the gods.

Greek mythology was filled with stories having to do with life and death.Though the Greeks didn't worry all that much about the afterlife, they didhave ceremonies for the dead. Hades (hA-D-z) was where the spirits went tolive. When people died, acoin was placed between their teeth so that theywould have the money to pay for aride across the river to Hades. The verygood and those who were heroes went to another world and lived in perfecthappiness. Those who had led abad life and did awful things went verydeep into the earth to live forever in some t}̂ e of horrible afterlife. Ordinarypeople went to aland of dust and darkness where there was not much joy.

T h e O l y m p i c s

Olympia (O-lim-P-u), atemple built for Zeus and other gods became likeareligious center. The Olympic Games were held in Olympia. Every fouryears, beginning in 776 B.C, all fighting between Greeks was stopped forthe Olympics. Athletes who were pure Greek gathered at Olympia forboxing, baU games, wrestling, male beauty contests, chariotswimming, spear-throwing and all the sports the Greeks liked. Olympicwinners could relax for the rest of their lives as their home towns honoredthem and supported them until the day they died.

r a c e s ,

A r c h i t e c t u r e a n d t h e A r t s

The Greeks were among the world's greatest temple builders. In fact,one of the most outstanding buildings ever put up was the Parthenon (p-R-th-non). The Parthenon was built on The Acropolis which overlooked the

8 4

city of Athens. This huge white marble structure was put up for Athena,one of the most important of the goddesses. The Greeks wanted her to haveaplace to visit when she came to Athens.

The Greeks believed music greatly affected people. Music could makepeople happy or sad or thoughtful. Because they valued music so much,every educated Greek learned to sing and to play an instrument.

The Greeks became famous for what is caUed epic poetry, or very longpoems that told stories about kings, heroes, and gods. One of theirfamous poets, Homer, who lived morethan athousand years ago, wrotetwo epics that are still studiedtoday in most high schools.Homer wrote The Iliad (iH-E-ad)and The Odyssey (odd-i-seek

m o s t

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HOftSEI D 6 H ' TTRUST VA

I

■n n i

The Iliad is about the TrojanWar. According to legend, Helen,the daughter of Zeus, was carried

Im€>off by Paris, aprince in the city of

Troy. Helen is described as having"a face that launched athousand ships,so beautiful that Paris kidnapped her, which led to the Greeks sending shipsto rescue her. The battle between the Greeks and the Trojans went on for tenyears. According to the legend, the war was finally won when the Greeksbuilt agiant wooden horse that they gave as agift to the city of Troy.Hidden inside the horse were

This saying meant that Helen was

Greek fighters who captured Troy. Highschool football and baseball teams often are named the Trojans, aname thatgoes back to the Trojan War.

The Odyssey teUs of the adventures of Odysseus, aGreek king, whowandered for ten years after the Trojan War came to an end. The adventuresof this mythical king told agreat deal about the lives of the Greek people.Both The Iliad and The Odyssey are classics, in that they have lasted throughmany centuries.

The Greeks also were the first to come up with the idea of acting in8 5

plays in which people spoke dialogue. One of their greatest playwrights wasSophocles (sahf-u-klEz). He was among the first to have actors speakdialogue that told astory. Even though Sophocles was agreat playwright,he was not ahappy, good-natured man. He believed the most fortunatepeople were the ones who were never bom, and the second happiest peopledied in infancy!

Euripides (your-i-p-D-z) was the first to write plays for the purpose oftrying to make the wealthy and the government leaders see the problems ofthe common man, the poor, the slaves, and the women. Euripides was ahumanitarian, or one who cared about all humans and the injustices theysuffered. It would be more than athousand years before governments wereto concern themselves with the problems about which Euripides wrote.

Aristophanes (air-i-stah-f-nEz) wrote comedy. His plays made fun ofgovernment leaders and the wealthy. He also made fun of those who alwayswere ready to go to war. Aristophanes thought wars were unnecessary andreasonable men should find other ways than war to solve disagreements.

C O M P L E T E W O R K S H E E T 2 1

T h e S c i e p t i s t s , H i s t o r i a n s , a n d P h i l o s o p h e r s

The Greeks were the first to record history as it really happened.Herodotus thi-rod-u-tus) is called "the father of history." He wrote aboutthe Greek and Persian wars. Thucydides (thoo-si-di-D-z), wrote veryaccurate facts on the wars between Sparta and Athens. He not only wrotewhat happened, but he examined why the events happened. For the Ersttime, the world was given accurate, well-written history.

Thales (thA-lEz) was the founder of science. He said there werescientific reasons for thunder, lightning, floods, and other things thathappened in nature, and that none of these things occurred because of happyor angry gods. Thales also introduced the Greeks to geometry. Two otherfamous Greek mathematicians were Pythagoras (pi-tha-g-rus) and Euclidtvou-klid). These men worked with triangles and squares and othergeometric figures. All these discoveries in the field of math opened thedoors to future generations to invent aU sorts of things and to understand somuch more about mathemat ics.

8 6

The greatest of all mathematicians was Archimedes (R-k-mE-D-z).He not only worked in the area of geometry, but he also made discoveries inthe field of physics and algebra. The mathematical discoveries ofArchimedes led to his inventing many different types of machines such as thepulley, lever, and wedge. All these machines could have been used to makelabor easier, but because the Greeks had so many slaves, business ownersbelieved it was cheaper to use the slaves than it was to make the machinesthat Arch imedes invented.

Long before the Europeansdiscovered the Earth was round,Greek scientists had figured outthat the Earth couldn't possibly beflat. They were even putting hnesof latitude and longitude on maps.They came within afew mhes offiguring out the exact distancearound the Earth. Such dis¬

coveries seem like nothingnow, but at the time when

the Greeks were using reason to find answers about the world in which theylived, other civilizations gave almost no thought to questions about science.

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Greek scientists also were dissecting animals, describing them, andclassifying them. They were learning all sorts of things about body organsand the fact that the human brain was the center of thought.

Even though the Greeks stiU worshipped ApoUo, the sun god and god ofhealing, their physicians had learned there was no relationship betweenreligion and whether or not one became iU or was cured. Hippocrates (hi-pok-r-T-z) is thought of as the "father of medicine.” He declared that everyillness had anatural cause and that the iUness had nothing to do with demonsinside the body. He used ointments and salves and advised people to eat andsleep right, and to get fresh air. He was the first to state that with certainillnesses people became sick, their illnesses reached acrisis, and that duringthe crisis, the patient either would get better or die.

Whether it was in the field of medicine, science or philosophy, theGreeks used reason and logic to find answers. They wanted to be wise and

8 7

to leam. They wanted to know about the sun and the stars and the Earth andthe oceans. To find answers they used what is called the scientificm e t h o d .

The scientific method begins with ahypothesis (hl-pah-th-sis) or idea.Ascientist then carries out experiments and makes observations that willprove or disprove the idea or hypothesis.

The Greeks were the only early civilization to allow so much free thinkingto find answers about the world in which man lived. Their priests neverbecame powerful enough to hold back the advancement of the Greeks.

T H E T H R E E G R E A T P H I L O S O P H E R S

Though the Greeks had many philosophers, none were so great asSocrates, Aristotle, and Plato. Socrates (sah-kr-T-z) lived in Athens. Hebelieved people should leam how to think and use reason. If people couldthink, he said, then they would have open minds about learning. Peoplewho thought for themselves would not cling to tradition and myths simplybecause they were told that the traditions and myths were correct.

Socrates believed if people knew what was right, they would do whatwas right. He was agreat teacher who taught his students to ask questions.He would not let his students use words such as beauty or truth unless theycould explain what those words meant to them.

Socrates wandered the streets of Athens talking to people and holdingclasses. Many people loved and admired Socrates. His wife was not one ofthem. She was always annoyed with her husband because he spent so muchtime thinking and wondering and not enough time supporting his family.

She was not the only one who was angry with Socrates. Governmentofficials didn't like Socrates teaching the young people to expect absolutehonesty from government leaders. If any government leader tried to cheatthe people or was not trathful, Socrates spoke out against the person.

Though the Greeks allowed the people many liberties, they feared that theteachings of Socrates would spread and that the people would question or

8 8

turn against their government. Socrates was arrested, and because he wouldnot agree to stop teaching, he was forced to drink acup of poisonoushemlock. He said to the jury that judged him, "Thus we part and goseparate ways, you to live, and Ito die; which is better God only knows.

o u r

PIa.t9

The teachings of Socrates were not lost when he was put to death. Theteachings of Socrates lived on in one of his students, Plato (plA-tO). Platowas from arich, noble family. He set up the Academy whereand women could go to study mathematics and philosophy.

y o u n g m e n

Though Plato wrote many things, he is often remembered for writingThe Republic, which described aperfect government and aperfect way oflife. The perfect place that Plato described was caUed Utopia (ypu-tO-P-u).In Plato's Utopia everyone was educated. At the age of 20 all the peoplewere tested to see if they were physically and mentally fit, and if theyvery moral. Those who passed the test went on to study for another 10years. Those who didn't pass the test became farmers, laborers, andbusinessmen. Those who continued in school were tested again at the age of30. If they failed the test, they became the soldiers who protected theRepublic. Those who passed the test continued to study until the age of 40.After twenty years of learning and studying philosophy, the students becamethe rulers because they were the most intelligent and best educated.

In Plato sRepublic there were no slaves, everyone was educated,and women had the same rights, and everything was perfect; therefore,everyone was happy. The writings of Plato are stiU studied in the hopes ofbetter understanding governments and the purpose for havingA r i s t o t l e

Aristotle (air-u-stot-ul) believed that people could find happiness ifalways guided them. Aristotle also said that everything should be done inmoderation. For example, being acoward or being foolhardy is carryingsomething to one extreme or the other. Amoderate-thinking person wouldbe courageous rather than foolhardy or cowardly. Aperson would notovereat or starve himself, but rather eat moderately. The Greeks warnednever to carry anything to the extreme, and it was through the teachings ofAristotle that such ideas were handed down.

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g o v e r n m e n t s .

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Aristotle did not believe, as his teacher Plato believed, that aperfect worldwas possible. Aristotle thought that errors and evils would always be withmankind because men by nature could not be perfect. Aristotle said that thetype of government that people had would depend upon the conditions of thetime. He believed that if the masses were not intelligent and educated, ademocracy would not work. If the people were not educated, they could notpick good leaders or understand what their government was doing.

These three philosophers, along with the other great men who were partof the Greek civilization, left to mankind more things to think about than anycivilization that has ever existed. The writings and philosophy of the Greekshave been studied at grade schools, high schools, and universities in everypart of the civilized world.

T H E B E L I E F S D U R I N G T H E D E C L I N E

About 2000 years ago the Greek civilization began its decline. When acivilization begins its decline, the greatness of the civilization is coming toend. The Greeks were no longer sure of their own greatness; they no longerfelt patriotic toward their city-states; no great leaders such as Solon orPericles had come along to lead the Greeks. Everyone was searching forsomething to believe in. Some of the beliefs at this time were selfish. Otherphilosophers tried to come up with beliefs that would lead the Greeks awayfrom the decl ine of their civi l izat ion.

a n

The Skeptics more or less believed that no matter what one did, nothingwas going to work out right. They doubted almost everything, believingsince nothing could be proved, there wasn't much sense in believing inanything. The Skeptics said that no one would ever know the tmth aboutanything; therefore, it didn't make much sense to seek knowledge. Suchthinking was quite different from what many of the great thinkers of Greecehad once bel ieved.

Unlike the Skeptics, the Cynics (sin-iksl believed that people should stilltry to seek answers and to learn. The Cynics also believed that the lesspeople wanted from life, the more likely they were to get what they wanted,and that people basically were neither honest nor good.

One of the most famous of the Cynics was Diogenes (dl-ah-j-nEz). He9 0

was avery brilliant man, but he chose to roam the streets, live in atub, andchange his clothes. Diogenes is remembered as the man who always

earned alantern as he went in search of an honest man. Diogenes lived tobe 90, finally dying from eating raw meat from abull's foot. The wordcynical is still used when talking about someone who never sees the brighter,more hopefiil side of something.

The Epicureans (ep-i-cure-E-unz) believed that life should be filled withpleasure, and that people should do only what made them happy,example, if people chose to be loyal and patriotic, they should be that wayonly because their loyalty and patriotism would benefit them rather than theg o v e r n m e n t .

n e v e r

F o r

The Stoics (stO-iks) believed thateverything in life happened becauseof fate; therefore, people had no ̂control over their lives.

This type of thinkingled many Greeks to acceptthat the Greek civilizationwas declining because of

C H A P T E R N I N ET H E Y E A R S O F T H E R E P U B L I C

T h e L a t i n s a n d T h e i r M y t h o l o g y

About 3500 years ago, or about the time the Hellenes moved south to theisland of Crete, another group of Europeans, the Italici, also migrated southfrom the center of Europe. The Italic! moved to aEuropean peninsula insearch of food and better living conditions. The peninsula to which theywent is now the country of Italy, One of the most important of the tribesthat moved to the Italian peninsula were the Latins. The Latins founded thecity of Rome and called themselves Romans.

Like all early civilizations, the Romans used mythology to explain howtheir city of Rome was founded. According to mythology, Mars, the Romangod of war, and Rhea (rAy), the woman he loved, had two sons. The sons,Romulus (rom-U-lui) and Remus (rE-mus) were separated from theirmother Rhea. The boys were placed in abasket and set adrift on the Tiber(tl-ber) River. Afemale wolf found them and raised them until theyadopted by ashepherd. When the boys became men, they found out theywere the sons of agod. Romulus and Remus set out to claim their right tomle. According to mythology, they built acity where the female wolf hadfound them. That city was Rome. Romulus became the first king of Romeafter having killed his brother Remus.

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Xhg EtruscansMythology seldom matches up with history, though. The fact is that

north of Rome, where the Latins had settled, was apowerful group ofpeople called the Etruscans (i-trus-kunz). They had afar more advancedcivilization than the Latins. The Etmscans conquered the Latins. The Latins,who were simple farmers, learned many things from the Etmscans. Theylearned so weU from their conquerors that within afew hundred years theLatins had arevolt and overthrew the Etmscans,

T h e R o m a n R e p u b l i c

The rich Roman landowners who led the revolt against the Etmscan kingwanted no more kings controlling the lives or the wealth of the Latins. Thelandowners set up arepublic instead of amonarchy. Arepublic has agovernment that allows the people to elect the mlers.

9 2

The wealthy class were patricians (pa-trE-shunz). The more ordinary,average working people were plebeians (ple-B-imz). When people havewealth, they usually have power, and that was the case with the patricians.The patricians elected two consuls to head the Republic. The patricians alsoset up asenate, made up of about 300 patricians. The senate made laws andguided the government.

The patricians held aU the important government offices, were in chargeof the army, made the laws and controlled the economy. The Romans, likethe Greeks, were affected by the way warfare had changed. In order toincrease the size of the army, plebeians were needed to fight for and toprotect Rome. The plebeians agreed to fight on the condition they could takepart in the the government of Rome.

T h e T w e l v e T a b l e s

The government officials selected by the common people to speak forthem were the tribunes. The tribunes gained some powers for theplebeians. One of the greatest gains made by the tribunes was to force thegovernment to write the Twelve Tables which contained the written lawsof the Romans. The Twelve Tables were placed in the forum, agovernmentbuilding in the center of town, so that all the citizens could see the laws.

The tables contained both civil and criminal laws. With the writing of theTwelve Tables, the plebeians discovered they could force the patricians togive them rights. For example', all the senators in the senate were wealthypatricians who looked after their own interests. The tribunes, though, forcedthrough laws that made it possible for aplebeian to become asenator, oreven aconsul. The more ordinary people had finally obtained rights andthey had obtained away to become selected as government leaders.

Even though ordinary workers or plebeians had gained the right to vote,select leaders, to speak out against the government, and to take part ingovernment, they didn't have the time to become active in the government.They had protested and they had gained rights, but their day-to-day struggleto earn aliving kept them from attending senate meetings or the meetings ofthe assembly. Despite the fact the ordinary people did not take advantage ofthe rights they gained, the Twelve Tables were important because theyshowed that agovernment could be forced to pay attention to the people.

9 3

T h e R o m a n M i l i t a r y M a c h i n e

The Romans didn't start out as great warriors. In fact, they were more orless forced to become good fighters. For one thing, they had to deal with theGauls (g-ail-z). The Gauls were afierce, war-like, blond-haired peoplewho hadn't even advanced to the point of wearing clothes. These fiercepeople came riding down on the Romans to rob and kill them.

The Romans also were surrounded by other Latin tribes who threatenedRome. There also was afear that the Etmscans would again try to take overcontrol of Rome. In order to defend themselves, the Romans built an army.

At first the Romans depended on volunteer peasant farmers from theplebeian class. When Rome was threatened, the peasants became soldiers.As Rome's fears of being attacked grew, the government decided Romeneeded aregular army of paid soldiers and not just volunteer plebeians.

The Roman soldier became an obedient soldier. Those men who didn'tobey were stoned to death or beheaded. In order to make sure the soldierswere loyal and that they fought well, the soldiers were given ashare of the"plunders of war." The plunders of war were the gold, silver, land andvaluables the Romans took from their enemies. The Romans also hadvictory parades to honor the soldiers. The honor, the wages, and ashare ofthe plunder created loyal, obedient soldiers who formed aRoman army thatcould not be defeated. They became like awar machine that could not bestopped.

Dot (JET"WE FEEUhl̂out figliting to protect themselves. [SHAr7n&Once they tasted victory, theyrealized how good they wereat warfare. The soldiers

were formed into legions.The Romans wiU be

remembered in historyfor the fighting abilityof the legions.

The Romans, then, started

V4E DO Plowing the.LAND? i f m i

i t m .

i - ' i

COMPLETE WORKSHEET 23

9 4

T h e P u n i c W a r s

The Phoenicians (fO-nE-shunz) were traders who set up colonies inorthern Africa, which is separated from Italy by the Mediterranean Sea. Asthe Phoenicians grew weaker, the colonists in the Phoenician coloniesbecame expert maritime traders. These outstanding sailors and tradersbecame the Carthaginians (k-R-th-jin-E-unz) who formed the city-state ofCarthage (k-R-thu-j).

i n

The Romans did not care in the least that the Carthaginians were richtraders and that they were expanding or moving into other areas until theymoved into Spain, which was avery short distance from Roman-heldislands. It was only amatter of time before the two powers—Rome andCarthage—went to war.Carthaginians were called the Punic Wars because the Latin word forPhoenician was Punic (p-U-nik). The first Punic War lasted 23

The Carthaginians were expert sailors, but the Romans were not. TheRomans knew how to fight on land, but not on sea. The Romans werelosing the sea battles against the Carthaginians. With the help of Romanengineers, the Romans figured out how to turn sea battles into land battles.They invented ahuge hook that was thrown from their ships to theCarthaginian ships to pull the enemy close enough to drop abridge between

Pthe ships. Roman soldiers crossed the bridges and fought on board thejCarthaginian ships. The Carthaginians were no match for the legions of

Rome, and they lost to the more powerful Romans.

H a n n i b a l

In the second Punic War the Romans came up against Hannibal, aCarthaginian general. In Hannibal, the Romans met their match. Hannibalhated the Romans and was determined to get revenge for the defeat of theCarthaginians. He decided there would be no more sea battles. Hannibalwas going to wage war against the Romans in their own homeland.

The wars between the Romans and the

y e a r s .

In order to defeat the Romans, Hannibal did arather remarkable thing.He took 50,000 men, supplies, horses, and elephants to Spain. Leading hisarmy across two mountain ranges, Hannibal came at the Romans from thenorth. Most of the elephants, many of the horses, and half of his army diedon the way. By the time Hannibal reached Italy, he was blind in one eye andhis soldiers were starved and exhausted.

9 5

The Gauls, who also hated the Romans, joined in with Hannibal. Forsixteen years Hannibal lived off the land and fought the Romans in theirhomeland. He had to fight without any help from Carthage as hisgovernment ignored his many requests for more soldiers and supplies.

Scipio (sip-E-O), avery intehigent Roman general, decided upon aplanto defeat Hannibal. Scipio would take Roman legions to Carthage andHannibal would have to leave Rome to defend his own country. The planw o r k e d .

The well-trained, loyal, and obedient Romans were much better soldiersthan the Carthaginian soldiers because the Carthaginians weremercenaries, (mer-sen-air-E-z) or soldiers from other areas who were hiredand paid to fight. The mercenaries had no loyalty to Carthage. TheCarthaginian government didn't have the money to pay the mercenariesbecause the wars against the Romans were costing the Carthaginians somuch money Hannibal found himself with an army that wouldn't fight.Hannibal finally had to give in to the Romans. In exchange for peace withthe Romans, the Carthaginians had to give up land to the Romans.

Even though Hannibal had given his best years to Carthage, heforced to flee Carthage. Scipio, whom Hannibal had fought against, thoughtHannibal was an honorable man and his life should be spared. Scipio triedto persuade the Romans to let Hannibal live, but they were determined to putan end to the man who had caused them so many years of warfare. Whenthe Romans finally caught up with Hannibal in 184 B.C, he committedsuicide rather than be taken prisoner.

w a s

In 149 B.C. Carthage again became strong and rich through trade andbusiness. Rome, fearing another war with Carthage, placed aU types ofdemands on this great city. The Carthaginians were even ordered to leaveCarthage, They refused. For three years the Romans surrounded Carthage,allowing no one in or out. The Romans finally captured Carthage. Only55,000 people were still alive. The Romans had to fight these nearly starvedsurvivors for every street and every house. To make sure that there would beno more Punic Wars, the Romans sold the remaining Carthaginians intoslavery, burned every building to the ground, and covered the soil with saltso that crops would never again grow in Carthage.

9 6

A S u m m a r v o f t h e R o m a n s

By about 145 B.C. the Romans had become the most powerful people inEurope. They had started out as one of the Latin tribes that had migratedthe Italian peninsula. They were conquered by the Etmscans. Then theyoverthrew the Etruscan monarchy and set up arepublic mled by consulswho were picked by the patricians, or wealthy landowners.

t o

This Latin tribe that founded the city of Rome was threatened by theEtmscans, Gauls and other Latin tribes. In order to defend themselves, theRomans built an army of loyal, dedicated soldiers.

As the Romans fought to defend themselves, they discovered they weregood warriors who could win battles. They then turned from simplydefending themselves, to conquering others. It didn't take them long torealize how rich Rome could become by conquering other lands and bytaking over the wealth, trade, and natural resources of other people.

The Romans annexed, or added, Greece and Macedonia to their lands.They defeated the Carthaginians, they moved into Egypt, they took over thelands in Spain that had been held by the Carthaginians, and they finallybrought the Gauls under control. From their small village on ahill in Rome,the Romans had gained control of southern and western Europe, centralEurope, and parts of theMidd le Eas t . The Romans

truly had built a"war machine" that

couldn't be stopped.

YOO Mow, (rAlUS, Xl’M MOT mJ/AClMfr1Remember, whem ho comcuosioms.WE WERE ATRIBE \BUT TO 5ft')^OF PEASANT mms.) THOSE DAYS ARE |^ ^ ^ooME Forever. JTheir warring, and their

conquering, though, changedthe Roman cul ture. The

Repubhc was coming closeto its end and anew typeof mler was to take over

Rome and the empire ithad bu i l t .

T H E L A S T Y E A R S O F T H E R E P U B L I CA C i t y o f M i l l i o n a i r e s _ a n d R a b b l e

The lands that the Romans conquered became Roman provinces.Provinces were territories held by the Romans and controlled by Romangovernors. The Romans let the conquered people run their own localgovernments, practice whatever religion they wanted to practice, and carryon with their own customs. The Romans wanted three things from thosewhom they conquered: the natural resources; tribute or taxes paid to Rome;and to sell Roman products in the provinces.

Some of the conqueredlands became allies of Rome,and some of the people weregiven some of the same rightsas Roman citizens. One of the

most valuable things anyonecould have was Roman

citizenship. To be aRomancitizen or to have some of the

rights of aRoman meant beingprotected by the power andstrength of Rome.

VOUV l t T t tRomAVI

CITIZEN*

The Roman conquerors grew rich from the tribute and taxes they collectedin the provinces. The richer they became, the greedier they became. The taxcollectors were called publicans. The Roman government had set certainamounts that the publicans in the provinces were supposed to send to Rome.Whatever else tlie publicans and governors could get out of the provinces,they could keep. Such amethod of collecting tribute led to bleeding theprovinces of everything of value.

The rich grew richer from the money coming in from the provinces.They had the money to buy out the small farmers and create huge estates.They used slaves to run the farms and to manufacture goods. Slavesplentiful that they took away jobs from the Roman people.

w e r e s o

Because the wealthy were taking over the land and the things of value in9 8

the provinces, there was not much left for the Roman soldiers who had beenpromised land and ashare of the plunder taken from the conquered lands.The soldiers lost their feelings of loyalty to the Roman government becausethe government did not keep its promise to give land and ashare of theplunder to the soldiers.

The farmers who had been so important in the development of Rome, andthe plebeians who had helped Rome grow strong by their hard work, allfound themselves without land and without work. Because of the greed ofthe rich who wanted to become richer, Rome became acity filled with twotypes of people: the millionaires and the rabble or unemployed.

C O M P L E T E W O R K S H E E T 2 4

T h e R e f o r m e r s

Unable to find work, the peasant farmers began leaving the countryside tocome to Rome, which was already filled with the unemployed. In order tokeep the rabble from causing trouble, the government officials and thewealthy gave the people food and free entertainment. The common saying,when anyone raised the question about what to do with all the unemployedwandering around Rome was, "Give them bread and circuses."

Imperialism, then, had changed the entire culture of the Romans. Hardworking people were replaced by slaves. The masses lived in filthy slumsand gained nothing from the wealth coming into Rome from the lands andpeople the Romans had conquered. The patricians, the governors in theprovinces, the senators who governed Rome, and the publicans grew richwhile the average people grew poorer.

Not all of the Roman aristocracy felt the answer to the problem of what todo with the poor was to "Give them bread and circuses." There were somewho realized that something had to be done to help the poor and theimemployed. Two such aristocrats were the Gracchi (grak-I) brothers.They were the grandsons of the great Roman general, Scipio.

One of the brothers said that the only way to keep Rome strong andhealthy was to have land reform, which meant that some of the lands heldby the rich had to be given to the poor, landless Romans. The senators fear-

9 9

ing that Tiberius (tl-bear-E-us) Gracchi might be successful in bringingabout land reform, figured out away to trap Tiberius into leading arevolt.Tiberius and 300 of those who supported him were killed and thrown intothe Tiber R iver.

Gaius (gl-us), the brother of Tiberius managed to get himself elected as atribune so that he could speak for the common people. Just as his brotherhad led areform, Gaius also tried to get land reform and other aid for theunemployed farmers and laborers. The senate turned against him andthousands of his followers were killed in battle. Rather than face capture,Gaius had his slave kil l him.

What happened to the Gracchi brothers shows what was happening toRome. Law and order were breaking down and violence was being used tosolve the problems caused by unemployment. Greed became more importantthan justice and more important than solving the problems of the Romans.

T h e T r i u m v i r a t e

Because Rome had become filled with mobs of rabble who couldn't becontrolled, the government was taken over by two military leaders who weredespots. Adespot is like atyrant in that despots will not allow anyopposition to or disagreement with his decisions. Two despot-like generals,Marius and Sulla, came to power. They killed thousands of people in a"reign (rain) of terror," which is the use of fear to control the people.Eiuring a"reign of terror" no one feels safe because anyone who goes againstthe government leaders or anyone who causes any trouble can be arrested,tortured, and killed.

The "reign of terror" came to an end when Pompey (pom-pay) tookcontrol of Rome. Like many military men, Pompey knew about winningwars, but he did not know how to solve government problems or handles o c i a l u n r e s t .

Pompey turned to two men who had an understanding of some of thethings that needed to be done to bring peace to Rome. OneMarcus Crassus (kra-sus), the richest man in Rome. In fact, Crassusowned so much property, he had to have his own fire department to protectall that he owned. The other man was Julius Caesar (see-zur). Caesar is

m a n w a s

1 0 0

remembered as aclever, talented, intelligent, and fair leader.

Pompey, Crassus, and Caesar formed atriumvirate (tri-um-vi-mt) ormle by three. When they came to power, Rome was almost without law.Gangs roamed the streets murdering people and burning down buildings.Mobs screamed that they wanted food and jobs. Some politicians, orgovernment leaders, who wanted to gain power formed armies of slaveswho battled each other in the streets.

The triumvirate and their legions finally were able to bring much of Romeunder control. Then it became necessary to deal with the provinces ofRome. While Rome was trying to keep the masses from rioting, the Romanswere losing control of the provinces.

Crassus and his troops went to the eastern provinces. Crassus wascaptured in Mesopotamia and had his head cut off. His captor heard howCrassus was the richest man in Rome. As alast bit of cmelty, the easternmler had melted gold poured into Crassus' head,

lu l ius Caesar Comes to Power

While Crassus went east, Caesar went west to act as governor of Gaul,which is now the country of France,murdered Crassus. Caesar took over all of Gaul, marched into what is nowGermany, and sent troops to Britain. Caesar was amilitary genius whocould do no wrong. He was away from Rome for many years, and while hewas gone, the triumvirate came to an end when Crassus was murdered.Pompey and Caesar were about to compete for the leadership of the Romanempire.

Caesar was much luckier than the

Pompey had an edge over Caesar because he already was in Rome. Hewarned Caesar that he must give up command of his army before he returnedto Rome. The last thing Pompey wanted was the very popular Caesarmarching into Rome with alarge army.

Caesar talked with his soldiers, he treated them fairly, and they adoredhim. Caesar also knew how to talk to the ordinary masses of people. WhatCaesar had were loyal followers who would do anything for him. Caesarwas cheered on by the army and the masses.

101

With so much popularsupport, Caesar left Gaula n d c r o s s e d t h e R u b i c o n

River, which was theboundary between Gauland Italy. The crossingof the Rubicon River has

gone down in histoiy asan act that changedRoman history.W h e n C a e s a r

c rossed the Rub icon

he let it be known that he was willing to fight for control of the empire.Pompey realizing that Caesar was going to defeat him, fled to Egypt.

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THE RuBlCOMfX K E E f m U M ( rVOU, IT^ THESLUBlCoMf J

C a e s a r i n E n v p t

Caesar and his legions followed Pompey to Egypt to do battle with him.The rulers in Egypt were Ptolemy (p-towl-u-mel and his beautiful sisterCleopatra (k-lE-O-pa-tm). Ptolemy sided with Caesar and had Pompeymurdered. In the end, siding with Caesar didn't help Ptolemy becausehistory was changed by the beautiful Cleopatra, who was in astmggle withher brother to control Egypt.

Cleopatra’s servants wrapped her in bedding, and secretly brought herbefore Caesar. Her charm, lovely voice, and beauty won him over to herside. Not only was Caesar interested in Cleopatra, but he wanted the wealthof Egypt.

Caesar’s legions defeated the Egyptian army. Caesar had King Ptolemydrowned in the Nile River. Before returning to Rome, Caesar traveled toAsia Minor because one of the provinces was having arevolt against theRomans. In only five days Caesar put an end to the revolt, sending back toRome one of the shortest, but most famous messages ever written:Isaw, Iconquered."

I c a m e .

In 47 B.C. Caesar returned to Rome, taking along Cleopatra and theirson. He was welcomed as aconquering hero. There was no one left tochallenge him as the new mling power of Rome.

1 0 2

T h e I d e s o f M a r c h

The senators made Caesar adictator for one year. Adictatorship isformed when ail the governing power is given to one person. More oftenthan not, dictators bring on a’’reign of terror" in order to get rid of allpossible enemies, and dictators usually misuse their power. Caesar didneither. He was an intelligent person who knew that he had to do somethingto save Rome. After serving as an appointed dictator, Caesar finallynamed adic ta tor for l i fe .

w a s

He reduced the number of slaves so that Roman citizens were hired andpaid wages; he gave unused farm lands to former soldiers and to the poor; hebegan many building projects to put the unemployed to work, and heabolished or ended debtor prisons. The common people loved Caesar.

The rich senators were jealous of Caesar’s power and success. Theyorganized aplot to have him assassinated. Two of the plotters were Brutusand Cassius, both of whom had been Caesar's friends. To this day thenames of these two men have come to stand for betrayal.

On March 15, 44 B.C., which is called the Ides (I-d-z) of March,Caesar stood in the Roman Senate surrounded by the senators who hadplaimed Caesar’s assassination. In front of astatute of Pompey, Caesarwas stabbed to death.

Caesar’s body was taken to the Roman Forum. Antony, Caesar's mosttrusted lieutenant, spoke at the funeral of Caesar. The masses were angrywhen they found out that Caesar had been assassinated. Antony’s eulogy,or funeral speech angered the masses even more. Thousands of people werekilled as riots broke out in Rome because of the assassination of Caesar.

C O M P L E T E W O R K S H E E T 2 5

A n t o n y a n d C l e o n a t r a

Those who had plotted the death of Caesar were not the ones who gainedthe power to rule over Rome. Another triumvirate was formed. The threewho made up the second triumvirate were Antony, Ledipus, andOctavian (ok-tA-V-un). Ledipus went off to North Africa to make sure theprovinces were governed properly. Antony went east, but ended up in

103

Egypt, and Octavian, the eighteen-year-old nephew of Caesar who inheritedhis uncle's wealth, stayed in Rome. Octavian made the wisest choice.

Antony had met thebeautiful Egyptian queenwhen she was with Caesar.

When Antony visited Eg}q)t,he again came mcontactwith Cleopatra. As muchas Antony liked the gorgeousqueen, he knew he had to returnto Rome or he would lose his

power. When he returnedto Rome he married Octavia, the sister of Octavian.

ANTONI A lWA' IS deepIN TH0U(rHTA5TdHovJ V

—^HE CAN GET^jggPOVJER AvJAV ̂8̂; FROM 0CTAVm2JJ,

i\ 7/1

Antony found Octavia boring compared to Cleopatra. He could not forgetthe beautiful Egyptian queen. Antony divorced Octavia and hurried back toEgypt and the woman he loved. Not only did Cleopatra have ahold on oneof Rome's leaders, but she had ason by Caesar. The Romans feared thatshe and Antony might try to take over the mle of Rome.

By the time Antony returned to Cleopatra, Octavian had grown tomanhood and had learned agreat deal about governing. He knew he had toput an end to Antony and Cleopatra, or he would be threatened by them foras l