Topic 6 Study Guide

Geography of the Ancient Greece - see 6/1

Large peninsula (surrounded by water on 3 sides - like Florida)

Divided by mountain ranges that make it too steep and rocky for farming

Mountains isolated the communities - gave them an independent spirit

Sea brought them in contact with other civilizations

Religion of the Early Greek Civilizations - see 6/6

Polytheism - worship of many gods or deities / gods looked and behaved like humans

Religious beliefs through mythology - collection of myths or stories that people tell

about their gods and heroes, explained natural world or human behavior

Each city-state had temple for patron deity - sacrifices for god’s favor

Many religious festivals included athletic contests - tests of skills to honor god

Olympic games - honor Zeus - all conflicts would end for games

Mount Olympus in northern Greece - home to the major gods

Achievements of the Early Greek Civilizations - see 6/6 & 6/7

Realistic style art and sculpture / architecture - inspired by human body (balance)

Lyric Poetry - shorter poems sang while playing a lyre

Drama - Greek word meaning a play or performance on stage / tragedy and comedy

Fable - story that teaches a moral lesson

Philosophy - meaning “love of wisdom” / search for wisdom by asking questions

Logic - step by step method of thinking through a problem or question

Socrates - ask questions to force his listeners to think more clearly - Socratic method

Plato - student of Socrates (Dialogues), school of philosophy called the Academy

Herodotus - “father of history” - asked why certain events happen

Scientific study of nature - natural laws - the goal was to identify and explain them

Hypothesis - a logical guess to explain their observations

Aristotle - most famous natural philosopher - studied at Plato’s Academy

Unlike Plato, distrusted the senses, knowledge through observation

Pythagoras - numbers as the key to understanding the universe - square #s

Euclid - father of geometry - basis for modern geometry

Hippocrates - best known Greek doctor, wrote medical books, ran a school / diagnose

by asking patients questions and making observations - Hippocratic Oath

Politics of the Early Greek Civilizations - see 6/1, 6/2

Polis - Greek city-state

Polis built on two levels - acropolis - “the high city” - public bldgs, temples, fortress

Lower ground - homes, shops, farms, agora (marketplace)

Politics - the art and practice of government, each with diff. Form

Strong pride and loyalty to the polis - it played a key role in Greek life

Oligarchy - political power is held by a small group of people

Tyranny - government run by a strong ruler, some helped people / others ruled harshly

Democracy - “rule by the people” - large numbers of men participated in civic affairs

Golden age of democracy in Athens - citizens ran all parts of the government

Assembly - main political body - all free adult male citizens attend & speak

Council - boule, 500 random people, decide which issues to pass to assembly

Courts - Juries made up of citizens

Direct democracy - citizens participate directly in decision making (Small pop.)

Representative democracy - citizens elect others to represent them in government

Economics of the Early Greek Civilizations - see 6/4

Some city-states obtained land and resources by conquering neighbors (Sparta) and

other city-states used trade to become wealthy (Athens)

Colonization - Ideal locations for a colony - on the coast (port), near good land for

farming (food), important resources that could be exported (trade)

Cultural borrowing - Phoenician alphabet, Egyptian gods and goddesses

Colonies became successful through trade - introduced new goods to Greeks

Society / Social Structure of the Early Greek Civilizations - see 6/2

Citizens - Males living in the polis with voting rights

The Aristocracy - wealthy from owning large plots of land,

Small farmers - a majority of the citizens, land owners

Tenant farmers (thetes) - lower on social scale, paid rent on land

Non-citizens - people living in the polis without voting rights

Women and children born of citizens

Resident aliens (metic) - from other polis, free but few rights, merchants

Slaves - lowest class of Greek society, most were prisoners of war, ⅓ of the population

HISTORY TIMELINE

Minoans - (1st), highly advanced civilization, disappeared

Mycenaeans - celebrated as the “heroic age,” famous for their victory in the Trojan War

The Dark Age - decline in Greek culture after the fall of the Mycenaeans

The Persian Wars

Persia wanted revenge on Athens for helping another city-state rebel

Persian King Darius invaded Athens but lost a surprise attack at Marathon

Xerxes (son of Darius) is again at war with Greece (Persia now even stronger)

The Spartans held the Persians at Thermopylae, bought Athens some time

Persian army marched on to Athens and right into a naval trap - Salamis

Persian retreated home and the Second Persian War was over.

The Peloponnesian War

A Greek civil war between the Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues

Delian League - Athens formed an alliance with other city-states to protect each other

Athens treated the alliance like its own empire and angered the members

Peloponnesian League - Sparta formed its own league to oppose Athens

Part 1 - Sparta surrounded Athens - put them under siege, lasted until a truce

Athens broke the truce by invading Sicily

Part 2 - Sparta (with a navy from Persian money) - put Athens under another siege

Athens surrendered - lost power and even lost their democracy for awhile

The war hurt all the city-states - the end of the Golden Age of Greece

Constantly fighting each other made them vulnerable to Macedonian invasion

Macedonia invasion of Greece

Macedonia - north of the Greek peninsula / influenced by the Greeks

King Philip and his son Alexander led cavalry and modified phalanx to conquer Greece

Alexander - took the throne (student of Aristotle), first crushed a Greek rebellion

Conquered Persia & Egypt, founded the city of Alexandria and its Great Library

After defeating Persia, his armies pushed east into Afghanistan and India

Vast empire of “Alexander the Great”

Army finally turned back for home - Alexander died in Babylon on the way back

Hellenistic period- from the Greek word for themselves -Hellenes

Represents a new form of Greek culture, created by the mixing of

Greek customs with the idea and art of the lands they conquered

Alexander spread Greek culture all the way to India