Ancient Greece

1. Ancient Greece

2. Ancient Greek Time Periods • “Ancient Times" is a period of about 1000 years (from the catastrophe of Mycenaeuntil the conquest of the country by the Romans) • Divided in to four time periods • The Greek Dark Ages (1200­800 BC). In this period artists use geometrical schemes such as squares, circles, lines to decorate amphoras and other pottery. • The Archaic period (800­500 BC) represents those years when the artists made larger free-standing sculptures in stiff, hieratic poses with the dreamlike "archaic smile". • The Classical years (500­323 BC) artists perfected the style that since has been taken as exemplary: "classical", such as the (Parthenon). • The Hellenistic yearsthat followed the conquests of Alexander (323­146 BC), also known as Alexandrian, aspects of Hellenic civilization expanded to Egypt and Bactria.

3. History of Mycenaean Greece The Bronze Age (3500 – 1100 B.C.E.) • The Greeks are believed to have migrated southward into the Greek peninsula in several waves beginning in the late 3rd millennium BC • Known for the reign of King Agamemnon and the wars against Troy as narrated in the epics of Homer (Iliad and the Odyssey). • At some point in the fifteenth century BC, Mycenaean Greeks from the Mainland appear to have conquered Crete. • It was generally a prosperous period, dominated by powerful kingdoms and empires— Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Hittites.

4. The Trojan War • Historical event that had taken place in the 13th or 12th century BCE. • In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city ofTroy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy stole Helen from her husband Menelaus, the King of Sparta. • Agamemnon, King of Mycenae and the brother of Helen's husband Menelaus, led an expedition of Achaean troops to Troy and besieged the city for ten years. • The Greeks laid siege to Troy for some ten years without success. • After the deaths of many heroes, including the Achaeans Achilles and Ajax, and the Trojans Hector and Paris, the city fell to the ruse of the Trojan Horse. • The Iliad relates a part of the last year of the siege of Troy, while the Odyssey describes the journey home of Odysseus, one of the Achaean leaders.

5. History of Mycenaean Greece The Dark Ages (1100 – 800 B.C.E.) • No primary texts survive, and only scant archaeological evidence remains. • Some secondary sources: Herodotus' Histories , Pausanias' Description of Greece. However, both were mostly either Athenian or pro-Athenian. As a result we know far more about Athens than any other Greek city. • Shift in lifestyle, centered around a moderately sedentary agricultural lifestyle. • Mycenaen Greece challenged by vital and energetic "Dorian" invaders from the north. • Dorians use iron weapons, in contrast to bronze of the Mycenaens. 

6. The “Archaic Period" Ancient Greece(800-500 B.C.E.) • Rise of city states of which "Mycenaen" Athens and "Dorian" Sparta were amongst the more prominent. • First "Olympic" Games were held in 776 B.C. between contestants drawn from different city states. • City states of were initially ruled by rich landowners known as Aristocrats (best people). • Resentment of Aristocratic rule, and political disputations, allows for city states to be ruled by so called Tyrants. • Modern English usage of this word implies well, "Tyranny", but the original usage of the word meant "Ruler". • Democracy - rule by the people - appeared in Athens around 508 B.C. following a two year period of civil war.

7. The “Classical Years” Ancient Greece (500­323 B.C.E.) • Features an intense rivalry with the mighty Empire of the Persians. • Athenian politician Themistocles urged that Athens should undertake the heavy expense of building a large number of warships. • Athenians built Triremes, a newly developed ship, that featured rowers being arrayed in three banks on each side of the ship.  • Athens grew in trade and influence and entered upon what is known to history as its Golden Age (479-431 B.C.). • Pericles ruled in Athens 460-430 B.C. and encouraged an ambitious rebuilding of the city. • Program included the construction of the Parthenon, an  temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, on the elevated site known as the Acropolis.  • Athens became a centre for the arts where the ancient Greeks, and humanity, made great strides in, amongst other things Philosophy • Socrates, Plato and Aristotle

8. The “Classical Years” Ancient Greece (500­323 B.C.E.) • Pericles “Father of Democracy • 405 B.C. Spartan navy inflicted a critical defeat of Athens navy. Without its fleet Athens could be starved into submission and fell to Sparta. • Spartan abolish democracy and create an oligarchy known as the Thirty Tyrants. • 386 B.C. Persian King Artaxerxes again asserted Persian control over the several colonies established by the states of Ancient Greece in Asia Minor. • Philip II was murdered and his twenty one year old son Alexander was recognized as king. • Alexanders accession is considered to mark the beginning of the Hellenistic Age

9. The “Hellenistic Years” Ancient Greece(323­146 B.C.E.) • Alexander the Great expands Greece’s borders as far east as India and as far south as Egypt. • In 323 B.C. Alexander "the Great" became severely sick and died. • The defeat of the Greek cities by King Phillip and Alexander taught the Greeks that their city-states could never again be powers in their own right, and that the hegemony of Macedon and its successor states could not be challenged unless the city states united, or at least federated. • In these times a new power , centered on Rome, was emerging and encroaching upon the Greek colonies in the Italian peninsula. • By 146 B.C. Greece was brought within Rome's system of provinces.