GREEK CIVILIZATION

Aegean Sea & Greek Mainland - are regarded as the Hades - god of the underworld
cradle of Western Civilization.
-the most famous athletic games were held every 4
MINOAN CIVILIZATION years at Olympia to honor Zeus.
-grew up on the island of Crete -the winners were honoured with a dignified ceremony
-named after a legendary king named Minos and given a wreath of olive leaves
-worked with bronze and gold
-developed a system of writing HOMER’S EPICS
-Knossos - a palace -Homer - a blind poet
-they were seafaring traders 2 great epics:
-declined because of earthquake or volcanic eruption A. Iliad - the Trojan War broke out when a Trojan prince
and soon invaded by Greeks from the mainland named Paris kidnapped the Greek king’s wife, Helen
who was famous for his beauty.
MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION -the war was finally won by the Greeks who captured
-believed to be the richest and important town Troy by trickery (Trojan horse)
-borrowed much from the Minoan civilization -heroes: Achilles and Hector
-Achaeans - people of the kingdoms in the Mycenaean B. Odyssey - describes the adventures of the hero
Civilization Odysseus on his way home to Greece after the Trojan
-frequent warfare caused the decline of the Mycenaean War
civilization
 To Homer, a hero was more than just a brave warrior.
DORIANS He was “a speaker of words and a doer of deeds”;
-tribe of Greeks who moved into the southern part of that is, he combined courage with intelligence.
the peninsula  Developing these characteristics became the ideal of
-illiterate Greek education

HELLENIC CIVILIZATION DEVELOPED COLONIES SPREAD HELLENIC CULTURE

-from Hellas, the Greek name for their country -Between about 800 B.C. and 750 B.C. the Greeks began
-most of them were farmers to establish colonies
-they became fisherman and traders -These colonies were independent of Greece but
-adopted the Phoenician alphabet maintained close ties with the Greek homeland through
-adopted the practice of using coins from the Lydians their trade and culture..
-gained knowledge of geometry from Egyptians
GREEK CITY-STATES DEVELOP
GREEK MYTHS TELL STORIES OF MANY GODS CITY-STATES WERE INDEPENDENT COMMUNITIES
-the Greeks turned into religion for an explanation of -The Hellenic period was a time of frequent wars and
changes in nature and as a means of gaining good the Greeks built forts on hills or mountaintops for their
fortune or a rich harvest. protection.
-for advice they consulted oracles -Polis (city-state) often grew up around such a fort.
-the Greeks believed in many gods who were said to live -center of the Greek community life
on Mount Olympus -Sparta - largest city-state
-Athens - largest in population
Greek gods and goddesses:
Zeus - the most important Greek god SPARTA
Hera - (wife of Zeus) - goddess of marriage -established a strong military government to maintain
Poseidon - god of the sea order (because of the fear of a revolt of the helots or
Ares - god of war farm labourers)
Apollo - god of music, prophecy, medicine, and rational -The Spartan aim was to produce strong-bodied,
thinking fearless people, both men and women.
Athena - goddess of wisdom and handicrafts -at the age 7, a Spartan boy moved into a military
Aphrodite - goddess of love and beauty barracks.
Demeter - goddess of farming and grain
-Spartan women were trained in gymnastics and -The terrified Athenians fled to the nearby island of
physical endurance. Salamis and watched as the Persians burned the city.
-Spartans were expected to marry, but the family was -The Athenians had built a strong navy on the advice of
regarded as less important that the polis. their leader Themistocles. He tricked the Persians into
sailing their fleet into a narrow passage between the
ATHENS island and the mainland.
-became the commercial and cultural center of Greece -In 479 B.C., the Spartans defeated the Persians at
-Athenians- teachers of all Greece Plataea.
-they believed that a man’s life was empty if he failed -The defeat of the Persians stopped their attempts to
to use his mind and develop all his talents. expand their empire into Europe.
-Athenian women were educated only in the skills
needed to run a household. THE GOLDEN AGE OF ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY
-took the lead in the creation of DEMOCRACY (rule of -The Sparta and Athens made an alliance with other
the people) city-states wherein they agreed to join forces to protect
-Draco - drew up the first written code of laws for themselves against enemies.
Athens (harsh laws) -In 478 B.C., formed an alliance with the city-states of
-Solon - made political reforms that decreased the Asia Minor and the Aegean islands called Delian League
power of the nobles; he repealed may of Draco’s laws; which turned out to be an Athenian empire.
all male citizens could become members of the -Athens now became the political and cultural center
Assembly because of Pericles.
-Pisistratus - was a tyrant (a person who rules harshly); Pericles - was a firm believer in people’s participation in
his promotion of arts laid the foundation for Athens to government.
become the cultural center of Greece. -Direct democracy
-Cleisthenes -reformed the political system; divided
Athens into 10 areas (demes); Once a year the ATHENIAN EDUCATION
Athenians were given the opportunity to point out -The Greeks cherished learning but they also valued
anyone they believed was a threat to Athens physical strength and health.
(Ostracism)
*Women received no formal education
THE PERSIAN WARS *Slaves could not be citizens.
-Only the threat of conquest by the Persian Empire
made the Greeks unite. THE CITY-STATES FELL TO CONQUERORS
-There were number of Greek settlements in Asia Minor -To resist the might of Athens and its allies, Sparta
which the Persians had occupied about 546 B.C. found allies among the other city-states in the
-In 499 B.C. some of the Greek colonists in Asia Minor Peloponnesus (27 year Peloponnesian War)
rebelled against the rule of the Persian king, Darius. -Fighting broke out in many city-states between those
-Athens sent 20 ships to help the rebels but they were who wanted democratic government and those who
defeated. To punish Athens, Darius invaded Greece. wanted aristocrats to rule.
-In 490 B.C. the Persians landed in Marathon about 25
kms from Athens and they were thoroughly defeated.
-Phidippides - the swiftest runner and became the Philip of Macedonia built a strong army and won the
messenger of the victory. support of some city-states that opposed Athens.
-Xerxes - set out a large army to conquer all Greece. Alexander the Great - taught by Aristotle
-At the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae, they Empire: Greek colonies in Asia Minor, Phoenicians,
clashed with the Greek army led by King Leonidas of Egypt, India
Sparta. 300 Spartans and about 700 other Greeks -died of fever in Babylon
refused to retreat -the empire was divided into 3 kingdoms:
-Ephialtes betrayed the Greeks by showing the Persians Ptolemy - Egypt
a path around the pass. Others ruled Asia and Macedonia
-Once the Thermopylae fell, the Persians had an open
route to Athens. Hellenistic Age - marked by the spread of Greek culture
through the lands conquered by Alexander.