The geography of Greece, with its mountainous terrain and many islands, made transportation and unified government difficult. However, it also fostered Greek maritime skills and the establishment of independent city-states. Two major city-states, Athens and Sparta, developed different forms of government - Athens gradually developed a limited democracy while Sparta was a strict military state. These differences came to a head during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, when the Greek city-states united to defeat the invading Persian forces in key battles.

1. Ancient Greece

2. The Geography of Greece

3. Geography Shapes Ancient Greek
Life
 Mainland extends into Mediterranean Sea
 Is a peninsula: a body of land that is nearly surrounded
by water
 Greece also includes thousands of islands
 Gulf of water nearly divides Greek peninsula in two
 Southern tip forms a 2nd peninsula called the
Peloponnesus, it is linked to the rest of Greece by an
isthmus (a narrow strip of land)

4. Landscape and Climate
 Mts. Cover most of Greece & divides land into many
regions
 No large rivers
 Transportation was difficult in ancient times &
difficult to unite under one gov’t
 Mild, rainy winters & hot, dry summers
 Warm climate encourages outdoor life

5. Agriculture
 Only a small part of region was good for farming
 Even though ½ of Greek were farmers or herders
 Farming took place in valleys between mts.
 Landowners were part of upper class
 Usually only men owned property & could support
himself
 Could pay for equipment (helmets, shields, & swords)
 Could serve in the army and defend his homeland
 To get more farmland, Greeks founded colonies in
other regions
 Like in Anatolia

6. Resources
 Greece also lacked natural resources like precious
metals
 Had to find resources in other places
 Had two important resources
 Plentiful stone for building
 Coastline with good sites for harbors

7. A Seafaring People
 Sea influenced ancient Greece
 Mediterranean Sea, Ionian Sea, & Aegean Sea
 Linked most parts of Greece with one another
 Used as transportation routes
 Became skilled sailors and shipbuilders
 Built rowing ships for fighting & sailing ships for trading
 Some warships had 2 or 3 levels oars
 Sea was a source of fish

8. Trade & Commerce
 Greeks did not produce much grain
 Surplus of olive oil, wine, wool, & fine pottery
 Bought & sold surplus goods from each other
 Also traded w/ other regions
 Main items bought was grain, timber, animal hides, &
slaves
 As well as nuts, figs, cheese, & flax

9. Mycenaean Civilization
 Mycenae was 1st Greek civilization
 Built on Peloponnesus
 Was surrounded by a protective wall
 A king rules each city of Mycenaean Greece as well as the
surrounding villages & farms
 Nobles lived in luxury
 Had great feasts, drank from gold cups, & had bronze
weapons
 Mycenaeans were traders
 Culture featured writing, gold jewelry, bronze weapons, & fine
pottery
 Civilization collapsed about 1200 B.C.
 Maybe invaders

10. New Advances in Greek Culture
 Phoenicians
 Trading people who lived on eastern coast of Mediterranean
 Developed a recording system to track trade transactions
 Used 22 symbols to stand for sounds
 Spread their writing system as the traded w/ other people
 Greeks began using Phoenician writing system between
900 and 800 B.C.
 Changed some letters to suit their language
 Later evolved into our alphabet of 26 letters
 Greeks also learned about coins from trading w/ others
 Also developed new forms of literature & gov’t

11. Life in Ancient Greece

12. Greek Gods and Myths
 Gods were important part of daily lives
 Told vivid stories about them
 Had divine & human qualities
 Constantly competed against one another
 Zeus
 Ruler of the gods
 Lived on Mount Olympus w/ 11 other major gods &
goddesses
 Each city had a special god/goddess

13. Greek Mythology
 Myths: stories that people tell to explain beliefs about
their world
 Often begin as oral stories
 Myths developed to explain creation of the world &
human beings
 Other myths described the gods/goddesses & how
they related to one another & to humans
 Others portrayed Greek heroes & heroines

14. Honoring the Gods
 Important to honor gods
 Angry gods = trouble
 Created statues & built temples
 Held special events

15. Holy Festivals
 Certain days of each month were holy to different
gods/goddesses or to an aspect of nature
 Held sacrifices & ceremonies
 Most important honored 12 Olympian gods

16. The Olympics
 Largest & most elaborate games
 Held every 4 years as part of festival to honor Zeus
 Only men competed
 Started with just a foot race, but later included much
more

17. Early Greek Literature
 Stories also told about ancient heroes
 Stories passed down through generations and from long
poems that told stories
 Epics: long poems that tell a story
 Epics of Homer
 Iliad & the Odyssey
 Backdrop: Trojan War

18. Aesop’s Fables
 Fable: a short story usually involving animals, that
teaches a moral lesson
 Aesop
 A slave who lived in Greece & wrote fables ?
 The Hare & the Tortoise

19. The City-State and Democracy

20. The Rise of City-States
 City-State (polis in Greek)
 A state formed by a city and its surrounding lands
 Colonies founded were also city-states

21. Greek City-States
 Most were small
 Limited by geographic features
 Athens & Sparta were largest
 50-500 square miles
 Most had fewer than 20,000 people
 Small size & number of people created close
community

22. Layout of the City
 Agora
 Open space where people came for business and gatherings
 Males meet to discuss politics
 Festivals & athletic contests were also held here
 Statues, temples, & public buildings located in and around
agora
 Acropolis
 Fortified hilltop
 1st used for military purposes, later a place to build temples

23. Forms of Government
 Each city-state was independent
 Citizens determined what form of gov’t worked for them

24. Monarchs & Aristocrats
 Monarchy
 Early form of gov’t
 King or queen has supreme power and rules
 Aristocracy
 Gov’t ruled by the upper class or nobles
 Upper class: descended from high-born ancestors (mythical
heroes)

25. Oligarchy
 Oligarchy
 Ruled by the few
 Minority group controls gov’t
 People rule based on wealth or land ownership

26. Tyrants
 Poor not part of gov’t in monarchies, aristocrats, or
oligarchies
 Resented being shut out of power & often rebelled
 Sometimes a wealthy person would ask the poor to
support him in becoming a leader
 Tyrant: someone who took power in an illegal way
 Achieved king rule without being of royal birth
 Some worked to help the poor
 Played important rule in development of rule by the people;
showed common people united behind a leader could gain
power & make changes

27. Athens Builds a Limited Democracy
 Lower class began demanding more political power
 Citizenship
 A person who is loyal to a country & entitled to protection by
the gov’t of that country
 In Greece only adult males
 In most places upper & lower classes were citizens, but only
upper class held power
 By demanding more political power lower class were asking
for a major change to society
 Gradually happened over time
 Two leaders (Solon & Cleisthenes) gradually reformed to give people
more power

28. Solon
 500s B.C.
 Poor farmers owed lots of money & had to work land or
become slaves, this angered lower class
 594 B.C.
 Solon elected leader of Athens
 Made reforms that prevented revolt of poor
 Freed enslaved people of debts & made law that no citizen could be
enslaved
 Organized citizens into 4 classes based on wealth not birth
 Richest had most power
 Changes allowed all citizens to serve in the assembly
(lawmaking body) & help elect leaders
 Solon also reformed laws making them less harsh

29. Cleisthenes
 500 B.C.
 Cleisthenes increased citizens power
 Reorganized assemble to take power from nobles
 Organized citizens into 10 groups (called tribes)
 Tribes based on place of residence, not wealth
 10 commanders lead the military
 Commanders elected for 1 year
 Reformed the council, which helped the assembly
govern
 Became known as Council of 5 Hundred

30. Direct Democracy
 Council of 500
 500 men, 50 from each of the 10 tribes
 Any citizen over 30 was qualified
 Chosen by lot (random) to serve for 1 year & could be
reelected only once
 Cleisthenes’ plan
 Allowed Council members to suggest laws to assembly for
debate & possible passage
 Laws were passed by a majority vote
 Changes moved Athens towards early form of Democracy
 A gov’t in which the citizens make political decisions either
directly or through elected representatives

31. Limited Democracy & Ostracism
 Direct democracy benefits limited
 Gov’t did not include all people who lived in city-state
 Only free adult males were citizens (women, slaves, &
foreigners were not citizens and could not become
citizens)
 Democracy system included a system called ostracism
 Any member of assembly who though someone was a
danger to the city-state could submit the name of the
person for a vote by the assembly. If enough votes were
received that person could be sent away for 10 years.

32. Citizens’ Responsibilities
 Citizens had to
 Serve in the army whenever needed
 Serve on juries
 All citizens were equal & argued cases directly before the jury
who then voted if person was guilty

33. Sparta & Athens

34. Sparta’s Military State
 715 B.C.
 Sparta conquered neighboring land
 Defeated people became slaves (called helots)
 Had to work farms & give ½ of crops to Spartans
 Revolted several times, but failed
 Lead Sparta to focus attention on building a strong army

35. Government & Society
 Gov’t was part monarchy & part oligarchy & part
democracy
 2 kings(ruled), 5 elected supervisors(ran gov’t), Council of
Elders (made up of 30 citizens) proposed laws
 All citizens were part of the Assembly
 Elected officials and voted on laws proposed
 Social Groups
 Citizens: descendants from original inhabitants
 Lived in city & spent all their time training to be soldiers
 Free noncitizens: no political rights & lived in nearby villages
 Helots: laborers; allowed Spartans to train to be soldiers

36. Education
 Goal was to have strong army
 Boys at age 7 move to military houses (called barracks)
 Education stressed discipline, duty, strength, & military
skill (learned to read a little)
 Entered army at 20 & served until 60

37. Women’s Roles
 Had to be tough (emotional & physical)
 Education focused on physical toughness ( athletic
training & learned to defend themselves)
 Family life was less important
 Husbands & wives spent lots of time apart
 Women could own property

38. Athens’ Democratic
 Gradually developed direct democracy
 All citizens met to vote on laws
 Only free men were citizens

39. Athenian Society
 4 Classes
 Citizens
 Women
 Noncitizen free persons
 Enslaves: 1/3 of population; captured during war;
children of enslaved were also slaves
 Worked in homes, agriculture, industry, & mines
 Some earned wages & bought their freedom
 Each class had smaller classes within
 Example: level of citizen based on wealth

40. Education
 Designed to prepare boys to become good citizens
 Wealthy families started boys at age 6 or 7
 Studied logic & public speaking
 Reading, writing, poetry, arithmetic, & music
 Athletic activities

41. Women’s Roles
 Not part of gov’t
 Had to be good wives & mothers
 Help keep families & society strong
 Religious roles
 Priestesses in temples
 Not much freedom
 Could inherit property only if no sons
 Girls did not attend school, learned from mothers

42. Persian Wars
 500’s B.C.
 Persia conquered Anatolia (region w/ Greek colonies)
 499 B.C.
 Greeks revolted
 Athens sent ships & soldiers to help
 Revolt failed
 Persia decided to punish Athens for helping
 490 B.C.
 Persians arrived to Athens on the plain of Marathon
 Athenians sent a runner to ask Sparta for help (Sparta came to
late)

43.  Athenians were greatly outnumbered, so they had to
use a clever plan
 Drew Persians toward the center of the Greek line
 Greeks then surrounded them & attacked
 Greek spears better than Persian arrows
 Persians lost 6,400 men to Greeks 192
 Marathon runner ran about 25 miles from Marathon to
Athens to tell of the victory
 He reached Athens w/ the news then collapsed & died

44. Greek Victory
 480 B.C.
 Persia again invaded Greece
 Several Greek city-states united
 300 Spartans guarded narrow pass at Thermopylae
 To stop Persians from reaching Athens
 Held pass for 2 days before all being killed
 Gave Athenians time to prepare for battle
 Athenians left the city to fight naval battle against Persians
 Persian fleet could not maneuver
 300 Persian ships were sunk