Ancient Greece

1. Ancient Greece • Greece is composed of islands and peninsulas located in the Mediterranean Sea.

2. Effects of Topography • Greece’s mountainous terrain made it difficult for people to unite. • Isolated communities developed into independent political units.

3. Cultural Diffusion • Geography and location led the Greek people to trade with other groups and borrow beneficial ideas

4. Brief History of Greece • The first great civilization in Greece and Crete was the Minoan (2000 BCE – 1400 BCE). • Around 1400 BCE, the Mycenaean civilization supplanted the Minoan, and dominated Greece until about 1100 BCE, when barbarians known as Dorians invaded.

5. The Hellenic Era • Founding of Mycenae on the Peloponnesus (2000-1250 B.C.) • Mycenae (Greeks) battledfor control of the Aegean Sea with Troy • Trojan War

6. Emergence of the Polis, or Greek City-State • Starting around 800 BCE a new civilization, the Hellenic, became dominant in Greece. • By 750 B.C. city-states began to form • The Hellenic civilization was composed of two strands, the Dorian and the Ionian. • This civilization gave rise to a new form of social/political organization: the polis.

7. The Polis • The polis was an independent, self-governing city of between 50,000 and 300,000 people. • Several dozen polises (Greek “poleis”) dotted the Greek countryside • In each polis, politics, religion, and social life were closely intertwined.

8. City States • Each city-state, or polis was different, having its own form of government, laws, and army.

9. The Polis • The polis was an independent, self-governing city of between 50,000 and 300,000 people. • Several dozen polises (Greek “poleis”) dotted the Greek countryside • In each polis, politics, religion, and social life were closely intertwined.

10. Types of Government • Two types of government were used in the Greek Polises. • The Dorians generally had an oligarchic form of government. • The Greek word oligarchy means rule by the few. • The Ionians developed the first democratic form of government. • Democracy means rule by the people.

11. Sparta and Athens • Generally speaking, the Doriansdepended upon agriculture, while the Ionians were seafarers and merchants. • The two primary poleis were Sparta and Athens. • Sparta was Dorian, oligarchic, and had an agriculture-based economy. • Athens was Ionian, democratic, and depended on seafaring and trade.

12. Athens • Athens was a pluralistic society, which encouraged free expression, new ideas, and change.

13. Athens • Direct democracy • All male citizens had the right to take part in the lawmaking in the Assembly.

14. Sparta • Sparta was a Totalitarian State. • The government controlled every part of the lives of its people.

15. Sparta • Spartan society revolved around physical training and the military. • The government demanded complete loyalty and obedience.

16. The Golden age of Greece • The Age of Pericles. (461-429 B.C.) • growth of democracy • cultural and scientific achievement.

17. A classical civilization is a civilization that has given the world important ideas and inventions that people still use today.

18. Ancient Greek civilization is considered a classical civilization.

19. Pericles’ Plan for Athens • Pericles as Leader • Skillful politician, inspiring speaker, respected general • Dominates life in Athens from 461 to 429 B.C.

20. Pericles’ Plan for Athens • Stronger Democracy • Pericles hires more paid public officials; creates direct democracy • Direct democracy—citizens rule directly, not through representatives

21. Athenian Democracy • The ancient Greek city-state of Athens developed the first democratic government. • A democracy is a system of government where citizens participate in government. • Only free men born in Athens could be citizens. Women, slaves, and foreigners could not vote.

22. The ancient Athenians were the first people to use voting as a form of participation in government.

23. The AncientOlympic Games

24. The Greeks invented athletic contests and held them in honour of their gods. • The Isthmos Games were staged every two years at the Isthmos of Corinth. • The Pythian Games took place every four years near Delphi. • The most famous games were those at Olympia, a town in south- western Greece. These took place every four years.

25. During the Olympic Games, which were were held from 776 B.C. to A.D. 393, all fighting stopped. No matter how long or how fiercely a battle had raged, every soldier in the battlefield put down his weapons and traveled to Olympia to compete in or watch athletic games designed to honor Zeus and the other Greek gods. • Zeus

26. Once in Olympia, the participants were no longer soldiers at all, but athletes. • The word athlete is from ancient Greek and means "one who competes for a prize" and was related to two other Greek words, athlos meaning contest and athlon meaning prize.

27. Ancient Olympia: reconstruction

28. The first day of the festival was devoted to sacrifices. On the second day, the foot-races, the main event of the games, took place in the stadium, a rectangular area enclosed by sloping banks of earth. • The Stadium

29. The Olympic Truce • For seven days before and seven days after the Games (and for the period of the Games, of course), no fighting was allowed. Fighting would have been considered disrespectful to the gods.

30. Soldiers were allowed to travel safely from the battlefields to the Olympic Games without fear of being attacked by anyone. • Why did this happen? • Historians have found several reasons:

31. The Olympics of ancient Greece weren't exactly the worldwide spectacle that we have today: • -only Greeks took part • -there were only nine events • Stadium entrance

32. 1. Boxing • Those who boxed wore a sort of glove made of straps of soft ox-hide. They didn't fight people of similar weight; opponents were chosen at random. Boxing matches had no time limit and ended only when one boxer held up his hand or fell to the ground.

33. 2. Discus • The throwers of the discus originally threw a circular stone and then later a disc made of iron, lead, or bronze. • The movements and techniques of ancient discus throwers were very similar to those of today's athletes.

34. 3. EquestrianEvents • Horse racing took place in a hippodrome, a large stadium that contained a racetrack very much like today's track and field ovals. The athletes would ride in war chariots that were rigged for either two or four horses.

35. A second type of horse-race involved riders rather than chariots.

36. 4. Javelin • The Ancient Olympic Games featured two kinds of javelin events: • throwing for distance • throwing at a target (for which an athlete would throw from horseback at a specific distance).

37. 5. Jumping • This was long jump only, and the main difference in ancient times was that the jumper carried a weight in each hand. He would swing these weights as he ran down the ramp, jump, then release the weights just before he landed. All of this was designed to increase the distance of the jump. • halteres

38. 7. Pentathalon • This event combined five other events: -discus -javelin -long jump -running -wrestling The pentathalon showcased the all-round athlete.

39. 8. Running • The three running races were usually very popular. The three distances were 200 m, 400 m, and a long-distance race of 1400 to 1800. Various running races took place, including one in which athletes wore armor.

40. 9. Wrestling • This, too, was similar to wrestling today. The object was to get an opponent to fall to the ground. The first man to fall three times lost. Hitting, as in boxing, was not allowed, nor was biting or gouging eyes. Tripping was allowed, however. Also, no weight classes were involved, meaning that the smallest man might have to take on the largest man.

41. It took 1503 years for the Olympics to return. • The first modern Olympics were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. The man responsible for its rebirth was a Frenchman named Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who presented the idea in 1894. • Coubertin

42. Today’s Olympics include all countries, both sexes, and too many sports to count. Not much like ancient Greece. • Unfortunately, the Olympic Peace doesn’t exist today either.

43. A Greek theater

44. The ancient Greeks were the first people to perform plays and write comedies and dramas.

45. Drama and History • Tragedy and Comedy • Greeks invent drama as an art form; includes chorus, dance, poetry • Two forms of drama: tragedy and comedy • Tragedy—tells story of heroes’ downfall; themes of love, hate, and war • Comedy—makes fun of politics and respected people; slapstick humor • Greek dramatists include Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, Sophicles • Historians Herodotus and Thucydides record and study past events

46. Literature

47. Homer’s Iliad • Homer is said to be the first teller of adventures of all times. He was not the first author because in his day stories were passed down---they were told. He was a blind man whose date of birth is unknown.

48. The Trojan War • The battle raged for 10 years • Many great heroes lost their lives • A prophet predicted that Troy could be captured only with the help of Achilles.

49. 10 Years of War • The Gods are tired of watching men kill each other, and decide to help end the war. Athena whispers an idea in the Spartan hero Odysseus’s ear.

50. The Trojan Horse • Odysseus tells them they will build a huge horse of wood. • Some would climb inside and hide. • The rest would sail around the tip of the island, where they could not be seen. • One would stay behind and tell the Trojans that he had been abandoned by the Greeks, and that the horse was an offering to Athena.