Greece

1. Greco-Roman Society
• Standard: Examine the political,
philosophical, and cultural interaction of
Classical Mediterranean societies from
700 BCE to 400 CE.
• Essential Question: How did Classical
Mediterranean societies interact politically,
philosophical, and culturally from 700 BCE
to 400 CE?

2. Ancient Greece
• Element: Compare the origins and
structure of the Greek polis, the Roman
Republic, and the Roman Empire.
• Vocabulary: Greek Polis

4. Greece
• made up of two
parts:
–mainland
–hundreds of
small islands

5. Geography
• important geographic influences
– mountains
– seas

6. Geography
• mountain ranges
separated the
small,
independent
Greek
communities
• caused them to
develop different
ways of life

7. ATHENIAN CITIES

8. Geography
• presence of a long
seacoast with bays,
inlets, and harbors
• encouraged sea trade

9. Geography
Why Trade?
• did not have good land for farming
• rocky soil (compare to New England in
America)

10. Aegean
Civilizations
3000 B.C. – 1000 B.C.
• Mycenaeans
• Minoans

11. Minoan Civilization
• earliest known Greek culture
• 3000-1450 BCE
• competed with Phoenicians
• Traded goods
– painted pottery they produced
– Swords
– Figurines
– vessels of precious metals

12. Minoan
Civilization
• Exported art and culture
– unique architecture
– burial customs
– religious ritual
– Known as great artisans with their pottery
• Bull Leapers
• developed a written language Linear A
– resembled Egyptian Hieroglyphics
• Conquered by Mycenaeans

13. Mycenaean Civilization
• Fierce warriors that spread there culture through
conquest around the Aegean Sea
– Set up kingdoms in those areas
– Also became wealthy from sea trade

14. Mycenaean civilization
• “Bronze Age”
• named for the fortified site at Mycenae
• flourished between 1600 and 1100 B.C.
• high point was 1400–1200 B.C.
• powerful monarchs lived in fortified
palaces built on hills and surrounded by
stone walls

15. Mycenaean Civilization
• military adventures recorded
–hundreds of years later
–Homer’s epic poems
• the Iliad and Odyssey
• Trojan War

16. Trojan War
• fought between the
Mycenaeans and the
people of Troy
• myth or reallity
• Achilles led the
Mycenaean invasion
against the Trojans
led by Prince Hector
• stalemate for 10
years

17. Trojan War
• ends with the Trojan
Horse
– Mycenaean's hide
inside
– Horse brought into
Troy
– Mycenaeans burn
Troy down
– Mycenaeans win

18. Mycenaean Civilization
• collapsed around 1100 B.C.
• conquered by the Dorian Civilization
• entered into a Dark Age

19. Dark Ages
• under the Dorians
• population declined
• less food
• economy collapsed
• few records remain from this period
• lasted from 1100 to 750 B.C.

20. Homer
• a blind poet
• began a story
telling tradition
• at the end of the
“Dark Age”

21. Homer
• major works of epic poems:
–Iliad and Odyssey
• story of the kings of Troy and
Mycenae, the Trojan War, and
several Greek heroes

22. Iliad and Odyssey
• regarded as history
• became a way to teach Greek culture to
Greek children
• Myth: traditional story that explains why
the world is the way it is

23. Homer
• established the epic
– Heroic story told in the form of a long poem
• gave the Greeks an ideal past peopled
with heroes
• Generations of Greek males used these
poems as models of heroism and honor

24. Greek Heroes
Clockwise from left:
Achilles, Jason, Hercules,
Perseus, and Odysseus

25. Development of the Polis
• Element: Compare the origins and
structure of the Greek polis, the Roman
Republic, and the Roman Empire.
• Vocabulary: Greek Polis

27. City-State evolves
Polis:
• Greek City-State
• included a city and the
surrounding land and
villages
• Usually located on a hill
Acropolis:
• fortified area on top of a
hill
• Below acropolis was
agora: an open area
where people could meet
Acropolis of Athens

28. Theocracy
Etymology
• Theos = god
• Kratos = power
Meaning
• a religious body with
political power (god is the
ruler)

29. Monarchy
Etymology
• Monos = alone
• Arkhein = to rule
Meaning
• Rule of one

30. Oligarchy
Etymology
• Oligos= few
• Arkhein = to rule
Meaning
• Rule of a few

31. Democracy
Etymology
• Demos = common people
• Kratos = power
Meaning
• Power to the People (rule
of many)

32. The Polis: Distinct City-
States…
• People felt strong
ties/loyalty to their
city-state
• bitter rivalries
between city-states
• led to continuous
fighting
• lead to Greece’s
down fall

34. Sparta
Description:
• Military Society
• the largest and most
sophisticated army in
known world

35. Sparta
Significance:
• Army governed life
– trained in military
– started at age 7
– marry at 20 but live in
barracks
– retire at 60
– 53 years of service

36. Sparta
Role of women:
• produce healthy
children
• did not perform many
domestic tasks
• were trained in
athletic events to
keep healthy
• could own property

37. Athens
Description:
• ruled by a king
• seventh century B.C. ruled by an oligarchy
• economic problems led to farmers sold into slavery
for nonpayment of their debts to aristocrats

38. Athens
Description:
• aristocrats gave power to Solon in 594
B.C.
– favored reform
– canceled debts but did not give land to the
poor
• aristocrats in power and the poor unable to
obtain land

39. Athens • Athens had the
world’s first
democracy
• Democracy: type
of government in
which all citizens
take part in the
day to day running
of the government