1. Greece is a peninsula located in southeastern Europe with many mountains and islands. Ancient Greeks established colonies around the Mediterranean and Black Seas to facilitate trade. 2. The basic political unit of ancient Greece was the polis or city-state, such as Athens and Sparta. Athens developed a direct democracy while Sparta was a militaristic oligarchy. 3. In the 5th century BC, the Persian Empire invaded Greece twice, but the Greeks repelled them during the Persian Wars, helping establish Greek independence. This allowed city-states like Athens to enter a period of cultural achievement.

1. UNIT 7
GREECE

2. UNIT 7 KEY TERMS
• 1. peninsula 8. fable 15.
Hellenistic Era
• 2. bard 9. drama
• 3. polis 10. tragedy
• 4. agora 11. comedy
• 5. phalanx 12. rhetoric
• 6. helots 13. Socratic method
• 7. oracle 14. Hippocratic Oath

3. MOUNTAINS AND SEAS
• Greece is a peninsula and there are many islands that are part
of Greece.
• Ancient people traded among the islands and along the
coastline.
• The land on the Greek peninsula has many mountains.

4. COLONIES AND TRADE
• By 700 B.C. Greek communities started to send people outside
the area to form colonies.
• Greek people started colonies along the coasts of the
Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea.
• The colonies shipped grains, metals, timber, and enslaved
people to Greece. In return, the cities shipped wine, olive oil,
and pottery to the colonies.

5. THE GREEK CITY-STATE
• The polis, or city-state, was the basic political unit in early
Greece. At the center of each polis was a for built on a hilltop.
• This fort was called an acropolis. The open area outside the
acropolis was called the agora. This space was used as a
marketplace. People gathered in the agora and debated issues,
passed laws, and chose officials.
• Each polis was governed by its own citizens.

6. • In early Greece, only males who had been born in the polis and
owned land were citizens. They had the right to vote, hold public
office, and defend themselves in court.
• Women and children, however, had no political rights.
• Citizens fought to defend their city-state. These citizen soldiers were
called hoplites.
• When fighting, the hoplites would march shoulder to shoulder into
battle. This formation was called a phalanx.

7. • The polis gave Greek citizens a sense of belonging. However,
strong loyalty to their individual city-states also divided
Greece.
• This lack of unity weakened Greece and made it easier for
outsiders to conquer Greece.

8. POLITICAL CHANGES
• The common people and the hoplites, or citizen soldiers,
supported the tyrants overthrowing the nobles.
• Tyrants became more popular by building new marketplaces,
temples, and fortresses.
• Most people in the Greek city-states objected to rule by one
person. They wanted a government in which all citizens had a
say.

9. • Tyrants ruled many Greek city-states until about 500 B.C. Then
most Greek city-states changed to either an oligarchy or a
democracy.
• Sparta and Athens, two important Greek city-states, had
different types of government.

10. SPARTA: A MILITARY SOCIETY
• Sparta was located on the Peloponnesus Peninsula in southern
Greece.
• Sparta invaded nearby city-states and enslaved the people who
lived there.
• The Spartans called these enslaved people helots.

11. LIFE FOR MEN IN SPARTA
• Age 7: Left home for military camps
• Age 20: Joined the regular army
• Age 30: Could live at home while serving in the military
• Age 60: Finally left military service

12. • Sparta’s government was an oligarchy.
• Sparta’s leaders believed education could lead to unrest. For
this reason, the government discouraged people from studying
literature and the arts.
• Foreign visitors were not welcome.
• People could leave Sparta only form military purposes.
• Trade was limited and Sparta became isolated.

13. ATHENS: A YOUNG DEMOCRACY
• Located northeast of Sparta.
• Boys studied arithmetic, geometry, drawing, music, and public
speaking. Finished school at age 18. At that age, they were
expected to be active in public affairs.

14. PERSIA’S EMPIRE
• While Greek city-states were going through changes in their
governments, the Persians were building a large empire in
southwest Asia. Persia was located in what is today called Iran.
• The Persian Empire was constantly expanding.

15. THE PERSIAN WARS
• In the 400s B.C., the Persians wanted to expand their empire
into Europe.
• They soon clashed with the Greeks who had a very different
civilization.
• The Persians believed in an all-powerful king. Many Greeks
believed that citizens should choose their own rulers.

16. • The Persians already controlled Greek city-states in Anatolia. In
499 B.C. these city-states revolted.
• The Persians crushed the revolt and the Persian king was upset
at Athens for interfering.
• In 490 B.C. the Persians landed in Athens.
• The Athenians knew they were outnumbered and would lose if
they attacked.

17. • The Persians attacked Athens by sea.
• When the strongest Persian fighting units were on the ships,
the Athenians attacked.
• The Persians suffered a terrible defeat.
• According to Greek legend, a young runner raced to Athens
with the news. He reached Athens and cried out “Victory”. Then
he fell and died from exhaustion. Today, marathon races are
named for that famous run.

18. • The Persians vowed revenge against the Athenians.
• In 480 B.C. a new Persian king named Xerxes invaded Greece with a
large army and thousands of warships.
• The Greek city-states joined together to fight the Persians.
• For three days Spartan soldiers fought the Persians at Thermopylae.
• The Spartans fought bravely but could not stop the Persians.
• Many troops abandoned the battle. Only 300 Spartan soldiers
remained and fought to the death.

19. • The Spartans’ heroic fight gave Themistocles and the Athenians time
to carry out the plan.
• The Athenian fleet lured the Persians fleet into the strait of Salamis
near Athens.
• The Greek navy destroyed most of the Persian fleet.
• The Persian Empire now faced many challenges.
• Persia weakened and became open to outside attack. In the 300s
B.C., Persia was invaded by a young and powerful Greek ruler named
Alexander.

20. THE RULE OF PERICLES
• When the Persian wars ended, Athens became a powerful city-
state.
• The government of Athens was a direct democracy.
• This worked due to the small number of citizens.
• The most important general in Athens was Pericles who: led for
30 years, gave jobs based on abilities, did not care about social
classes, rebuilt Athens, supported the arts.

21. ATHENIAN LIFE
• At its height, about 285,000 people lived in Athens. Only about
43,000 males had political rights.
• Women, foreign-born men, and enslaved people could not be
citizens. They had no political rights.

22. WAR BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA
• The Greek city-states learned over time that their survival
depended on cooperation. Even after the Persian Wars, Persia
remained a threat.
• In 478 B.C. the Greek city-states joined together to form a
defensive league. Sparta did not join this league.
• It was called the Delian League because its headquarters was
on the island of Delos.
• The league drove the Persians out of Greek territories and
increased trade.

23. • Athens began to control the other member city-states.
• In 433 B.C. Athens interfered with some of Sparta’s allies.
• These allies pressured Sparta to attack Athens.
• After about two years, a deadly disease broke out in Athens.
One-third of the people died, including Pericles.
• During the next 25 years, each side won some victories. Neither
side was able to defeat its opponent.

24. • Finally, Sparta made a deal with the Persians.
• While the city-states fought each other, a kingdom grew to the
north. The kingdom was Macedonia. Eventually the strength of
Macedonia cost the Greek city-states their independence.

25. GREEK BELIEFS
• The Greeks believed in many gods and goddesses, and they
told myths about them.
• The Greeks believed that the gods made prophecies, or
predictions, to help people plan for the future.

26. EPICS AND FABLES
• The earliest Greek stories were called epics.
• Epics are long poems about heroes and their brave deeds.
• Fables are short tales that teach a lesson.
• They always have a point, or moral.

27. GREEK ART AND ARCHITECTURE
• Greek artists created art that expressed the ideals of order,
balance, and harmony.

28. GREEK THINKERS
• A group of Philosophers called the Sophists were teachers who
traveled throughout ancient Greece.
• Socrates was trained as a sculptor but became a teacher of
philosophy.
• Socrates would ask his students questions. He wanted them to
think for themselves.

29. • Plato was one of Socrates’ students.
• He did not like Athenian democracy. His ideal government
divided people into three groups: Philosopher kings, warriors,
and everyone else.

30. PHILIP II OF MACEDONIA
• Macedonia was a kingdom north of Greece.
• In 359 B.C., Philip II became king of Macedonia. He wanted to
defeat the Persian Empire.
• First he had to unite the Greek city-states and put them under
his rule.
• He took control of the city-states one-by-one.

31. • Before Philip could conquer the Persian Empire, he was killed.
• His son Alexander took over.
• He took over Asia Minor and then went south. In 331 B.C., he
conquered Egypt.
• Later that year, he would take the Persian Empire.

32. • Alexander went to India in 327 B.C. and fought a number of
tough battles.
• His soldiers grew tired of way, so Alexander agreed to lead
them home.
• On the way there, the army crosses a desert in what is modern
Iran. They almost thirst to death.

33. ALEXANDER’S LEGACY
• Alexander was a great and brave military leader.
• When he died, Alexander was the most powerful ruler in the
ancient world.
• After he died, his generals began to fight one another and four
separate kingdoms were formed.
• They often fought against one another.

34. • Rome was a city-state in central Italy.
• In the late 200s B.C., Rome conquered all of Italy.
• The Greeks tried to stop Rome.
• They supported Rome’s enemies in wars.
• The Romans won all those wars, though.
• Soon, Rome gained control of the Greek mainland.