1. Life in Archaic Greece
Ch.3 p. 67-80

2. End of Dark Ages = Progress
 Society – Most people are farmers
 Growing class of artisans and merchants
 Aristocrats lead privileged lives
 Aristocrats
 life of leisure because can hire others to work their lands
 Life revolved around symposium = drinking party
 Symposium for men only
 Guests would play games, share songs, poetry and
philosophical disputes
 Competitive nature – each person trying to prove ones’
wit and be recognized for one’s achievements
 As seen in athletic contests

3. Religion
 Greeks = Polytheistic
 Greek pantheon consisted of 12 gods who lived on
Mount Olympus (Zeus, Hera, Ares, Aphrodite, etc.)
 Gods acted like humans
 Each polis would honor one of the Olympians as its
guardian deity
 NOTE: All gods were Panhellenic = worshipped
throughout Greece

4. The Alphabet
 Greeks adapted the alphabet
from the Phoenicians
 Greeks added vowels to the
alphabet to create the first
true alphabet
 New Greek alphabet was
easier to learn than any earlier
writing
 Helped make Greece a
widely literate society

5. Development of Sparta
 725 B.C.E, Spartans conquer their neighbor, Messenia
 Driven by need for land due to population growth
 Conquered people Herlots reduced to serfs who work
Spartan land
 To keep down the Herlots (greatly outnumber Spartans)
 = Spartans establish military academy and camp
 Emphasis not on family, but on the commitment to the
polis
 Spartan polis = Focused on producing best soldiers

6. Development of Sparta
• Boys began military training at age seven.
• They lived in army barracks until age 30.
• At age 30, men became full citizens and allowed to live on their own
• Could only retire from military service at age 60
• Both men and women were required to exercise and develop strength.
• Women could inherit property and managed the household while men were at war.
• Trade, wealth, and art were not considered to be important.

7. Development of Athens
• Initially an aristocratic polis
 No written law code
 Governed by Areopagus - council of nobles
 Council elected nine magistrates, archons
• Agrarian crisis
• Brought about by revolts of peasants
• Economic and social pressures
• Quarrels within nobility
 Many debtors pledged family as surety
 Many defaulted and enslaved
• Athenians elect reformer Solon archon, 594 B.C.E.

8. Solon Reforms
 Cancelled
current debts
 Forbade future
debts secured
by one’s person
 Freed Athenians
enslaved for
debt

9. Solon Changes Athenian Government
• Expanded citizenship
 Included immigrant artisans and merchants
 Divided citizenry into 4 classes on basis of
wealth
 Only 2 wealthiest classes could sit on council
of nobles (Areopagus)
 Third class - serve in council of 400
 Thetes - fourth class - voted in assembly

10. Pisistratus
• Seizes power in 546 B.C.E.
• Becomes Athens’s first
tyrant
 Increased power of central
government
- At expense of nobles
 Public works projects
 Supported poets and artists

11. Clisthenes (leads to Democracy)
• Vested final authority in
the assembly of all adult
male Athenian citizens
 Debate in assembly was
free and open
 Any Athenian could
submit or debate
legislation, offer
amendments or argue the
merits of any preposition

12. Similarities among Poleis
Similarities among Poleis
Despite divisions among city-states,
all Greeks did share a common culture.
• They spoke the same language.
• They prayed to the same gods, including Zeus.
• They participated in common festivals, including the Olympic
games.
• They shared a sense of superiority over foreigners.

13. Phalanx warfare put the defense of a city-state
into the hands of ordinary citizens.
At the same time, it led to two influential city-states
developing different ways of life.
Sparta
stressed military
virtues
and strong discipline.
Athens glorified
the individual
and extended
rights to more
citizens.

14. Persians conquered a huge empire in Asia,
including the Greek city-state Ionia.
The Athenian leader
Themistocles knew
they would be
attacked again.
Athens joined with
Sparta and other Greek
city-states to fight a
new Persian invasion.
Athens sent ships
to help the Ionians.
The Persians decided
to punish them.
Persia invaded Athens in
490 B.C. The Athenians,
although outnumbered,
were victorious.
Persian Wars

15. War Comes to Greece
 After Athens helps Ionia, Persian King, Darius I sends an
expedition to punish Athens
 Greeks under Miltiades won a decisive battle against
Persians
 Under Xerxes, Persians invade Athens and the Athenian navy
helps defeat the Persians
 The Repulse of the Persians marked the beginning of the
Classical period in Greece (lasted for 150 years)

17. Persians invaders under King Xerxes invaded in 480
B.C. They were met by Spartan warriors.
Athenians lured
Persian ships
to a narrow
strait and sank
them.
The Persians defeated
the Spartans and moved
on to Athens, but it was
empty. Its inhabitants
had withdrawn.

18. The Persian invasions ended when the Greeks defeated them
on land.
It organized
a formal
alliance
with other
Greek city-states
called
the Delian
League.
Athens used
its leadership
position to
create an
empire,
dominating
the other
members.
Athens
emerged
from the
war as
the most
powerful
city-state.

19. The Delian League
 An alliance of
Greek states
under the
leadership of
Athens that was
formed in 478-477
B.C.E. to resist the
Persians
 It was also formed
to clear the
Aegean of pirates

20. Other city-states resented Athenian domination of
the Delian League. Enemies of Athens, led by Sparta,
formed the Peloponnesian League.
Sparta and its
allies conquered
Athens in 404 B.C.,
and Athenian
dominion declined.
War broke out between
Athens and Sparta in 431 B.C.
All of Greece soon became
involved in the Peloponnesian
War, which lasted 27 years.

21. Athenian Empire and Democracy
 End of First Peloponnesian War = Athens agrees
to a peace of thirty years with Sparta
 Greece is then divided into two blocs:
 Sparta and its allies on the mainland
 Athens and what became its empire in the
Aegean

23. Athenians Control the League
 Athenians moved Delian League’s treasury
from Delos to Athens
 Began to keep 1/16 of the league’s annual
revenues for themselves
 Athenians tighten control over their subjects
 The league became an Athenian Empire
 It was key to Athens’s prosperity and
success

24. Athenian Direct Democracy
 Under leadership of Pericles (15 years in office)
 Athenians expand democracy at home
 No longer need to have property to run for office
 Citizenship limited to those of two citizen parents
• Establish Freest government world had ever seen
 Every decision approved by citizen assembly
 Collection of people, not their representatives
 All public officials subject to scrutiny – anyone could be removed from office
 No standing army or police force
- No way to coerce people

25. Citizenship in Athens
 To be an Athenian citizen:
 mother, father, grandfather, grandmother and sometimes even
more distant relatives had to be born in Athens
 Citizens were those who were male, sons of citizen fathers, from a
woman who was the daughter of a citizen father and mother
who had pledged loyalty to Athens
 Only adult males who completed military training could be
allowed to vote (at 18 went into service)
 Usually about 10 to 20 % of the total population of Athens
could actually vote
 If a citizen did not pay their dues or owed a debt to the city, their
rights could be suspended
 Women, children and foreigners did not have citizen rights
 Sometimes right to citizenship could be granted to a group of
people for their service to the state

26. Women of Athens
• Women excluded from
most aspects of public life
 Always under control of male
guardian
 Married very young
 Role to produce male heirs
• Divorce difficult to obtain

27. The Great Peloponnesian War
• Thirty Years’ Peace lasted ten years
• The new war was long and disastrous
• Athens and Sparta back in warfare
 Spartan strategy - invade and crush army
 Athenian strategy – retreat to their city, allow
devastation of their land and harass or raid
Sparta’s allies to put pressure on Sparta
• After 10 years of fruitless warfare, war ended
in stalemate

28. War Between Sparta and Athens Resumes
Athens invades Sicily – leads Sparta to
reopen the war with Persian aid
404 B.C.E. - After Spartans blockade
Athens and cut off its food supply,
Athens surrenders unconditionally

29. Struggle for Greek Leadership
 Collapse of Athenian Empire – opened way for Spartan dominance of the Aegean
 Sparta establishes increasingly arrogant/lawless policies
• Spartan hegemony
 Handed Ionian Greek city-states to Persia
 Lysander (led Spartans to victory over Athens) installs “Thirty
Tyrants” in Athens
 Sparta’s actions become more lawless
 Sparta breaks up all alliances except the Peloponnesian
League and put friends in power in several Greek cities
• Leads Athens to join with Thebes (who rebelled against
Spartans earlier) to defeat Spartans at Leuctra
• Winners then free Helots
• Spartan power is diminished = Sparta seizes to be a first-rank
power

30. Classical Culture “Tension”
 Two sources of tension
 Pride in accomplishments vs. fear that extreme self-confidence
would bring punishment
 Hopes of individual vs. limits of state or polis
 Many turn their backs on public life and participation in
government
 Major Achievements:
 Works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
 Athenian tragedy (dealt with politics, ethics, morality)
 Comedy (political satire)

31. Achievements of Classical Culture
• Herodotus
 “The father of history” - studied Persian War
 Attempted to explain human actions
 Draw instructions from them
• Thucydides “Great Historian”
• History of the Peloponnesian War
 Used evidence to try and discover
meaningful patterns of human behaviour
 Focused on rational thought to explain history

32. The regions Alexander conquered
were called the Hellenistic world.
He spread Greek culture, as conquered
people assimilated Greek ideas.
The new Hellenistic culture blended Greek,
Persian, Egyptian, and Indian influences.
He founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
A library in Alexandria housed the knowledge
of the ancient world.

33. Emergence of the Hellenistic World
• Hellenism – period
of spread of Greek
culture from its
homeland to Egypt
and far into Asia
• Transformation of
Greek culture to
include Greek and
Asian elements
• Period from
Alexander to Julius
Caesar

34. Philip of Macedon
• Kingdom of Macedon
• Philip of Macedon (359-336
B.C.E.)
 Admiration for Greek culture
 Undermined Athenian control
of Aegean
 Defeated Athens in 338 B.C.E.
- Role of Philip’s son Alexander
- End to Greek freedom and autonomy
- Philip assassinated in 336 B.C.E.

35. From Macedonian to Alexander’s Conquests
He dreamed
of conquering
Persia as
well but was
assassinated
at his daughter’s
wedding.
Philip II
gained the
throne in
Macedonia
in 359 B.C.
He built
a strong
army and
brought all
of Greece
under his
control.

36. Philip’s son Alexander then took the throne.
Though only 20, he was
an experienced soldier
and a brilliant military
planner.
Alexander’s ambition
was to conquer all of the
known world.

37. Alexander was able to conquer Persia because
its emperor was weak and its provinces were in rebellion.

38. In northern India,
Alexander’s soldiers
refused to go farther
east, and the army
turned back.
Alexander dreamed
of conquering the
world. He began
planning a new
campaign but died
from a sudden fever
at age 32.

39. Generals Continue the Spread of Hellenistic Culture
Alexander
was asked
to whom
he left his
empire.
But no one
could keep
the empire
together.
Generals
divided it up.
“To the
strongest,”
he replied.

40. Alexander’s Successors
• Ptolemy I –(367-283 B.C.E.)
 Ptolomies - Thirty-first dynasty in Egypt
• Seleucus I (358-280 B.C.E.)
 Seleucid dynasty in Mespotamia
• Antigonus I (382-301 B.C.E.)
 Antigonid dynasty in Asia Minor and Macedon
• Tremendous trade and prosperity in Alexander’s land
 Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia

41. Hellenistic Culture
• Significant turning point in Greek culture
 Dominant role of polis is lost
 Arrogant Greek humanism gives way to
- Resignation to fate, helplessness
• Plato’s Academy
 Becomes center of skepticism (Pyrrho of Elis)
 Skeptics thought that nothing could be known so nothing
mattered (must accept world as is and not question it)
• Aristotle’s Lyceum
 Turns away from universal investigations
 Becomes center of literary and historical studies

42. Temples and
palaces were built
much larger and
grander.
During the Hellenistic
age, there were
advances in arts and
learning.
A new philosophy, Stoicism, preached that all
people were morally equal, including women
and slaves. Stoics urged people to accept
suffering calmly.

43. Stoics
• Founder = Zeno of Citium (335-263 B.C.E.)
• Humans must live in harmony with themselves
and with nature
• One must live in accordance with the
Divine Will
• Idea is that you accept life as is (goal is
apathy)
• Advocated docile submission, not
active participation, of the governed

44. Important advances in math and astronomy
included the idea of a heliocentric solar
system. Earlier thinkers believed that the
sun and planets revolved around Earth.
Pythagoras Archimedes
Developed formula to calculate
the sides of a right triangle.
Demonstrated the
lever and pulley.

45. The Greek physician Hippocrates set
ethical standards for doctors and looked for
cures to illnesses.
“I will use my power to help the sick to
the best of my ability and judgment; I will
abstain from harming or wrongdoing any
man by it…”
―from the Hippocratic oath

46. The Greek legacy is
still vibrant.
It affected the civilizations
of Rome and Western Europe
and still influences political
thinking today.

47. The Acropolis
The Acropolis. It was both the religious and civic center of Athens. In its final form it is the work of
Pericles and his successors in the late fifth century B.C.E. This photograph shows the Parthenon and, to
its left, the Erechtheum. Meredith Pillon, Greek National Tourism Organization.