Chapter 5 Test Greece and Macedonia
Specifically based on what we reviewed:
GOLDEN AGES:
What golden ages have in common is that they always define a period of prosperity/innovation, wealth, and progress/advancements in art and literature. These are always all positive, as golden ages represent the ideal period of time.
A renaissance is also a period of prosperity, similar to a golden age. These renaissances, especially the Italian renaissance, had a lot of cultural art made.
During these renaissances and golden ages, the main characteristics of the people were that they were very curious and questioned many things. This is what led to so many advancements and inventions during these times. This did not have anything to do with patriotism or nationalism, as that was not a characteristic of these time periods.
Democratic governments did not develop everywhere. It was really only in Greece, not in Islam or Italy or anywhere else.
Greek buildings and architecture reflected their cultural values.
Greece and Rome influenced western culture through their art and architecture, which was later imitated by many in the west.
GREECE:
The Greek people excelled in seafaring, which they used to trade for resources with people around them as Greece itself did not have many resources.
Greek art involved depictions of idealistic human (and godly) forms.
The geography of Greece included its many mountainous regions which divided it, politically and socially, into city-states (also known as polis). These different city-states often had very different ideals and values, but they all generally shared the same language and religion.
2 major city states were Athens and Sparta, who were very different. Athens valued art, literature, and had a direct democracy (rule by the people) while Sparta, which was cut off from the rest of Greece, valued military power and had discouraged individual expression.
The Greek soldier formation where the soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder was called the phalanx.
Athens’ direct democracy was strengthened by Pericles.
There was a Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta.
Greece and Japan are fairly similar- both are islands, neither tropical, neither having many resources, and neither have many rivers to sail through.
The most famous Greek philosophers at this time were Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato.
Plato, who wrote Plato’s Republic, studied under Socrates and established the academy in Athens.
The Parthenon was a temple for the Greek goddess Athena.
When Greek culture was mixed with others such as Macedonian / Persian, it was called Hellenistic culture.
PERSIAN WARS:
Pheidippides, a chosen runner, ran 26.2 miles from Sparta to Athens to deliver news of Persian defeat to make sure Athens doesn’t go down without a fight during the Persian Wars.
Xerxes was the son and successor of Darius the Great as the king of Persia, who built a great army to crush Athens during the Persian Wars.
EXTRA:
Suffrage, which means the right to vote, is never going to be the correct answer.
General Chapter 5 Notes:
5.1-
Greece used to be a collection of separate lands where people who spoke Greek lived, rather than a united country.
Geographically, Ancient Greece consisted mainly of a mountainous peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea, as well as about 2,000 islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas.
Rugged mountains covered about three-fourths of ancient Greece, with mountain chains from the northwest to southeast along the Balkan Peninsula.
Fertile valleys covered about one-fourth of ancient Greece.
Varied climate
The seas that the Greeks lived around were their main transport, and they rarely had to travel more than 85 miles to reach the coastline.
The Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and Black Sea linked most parts of Greece.
As the Greeks became skilled sailors, sea travel connected Greece with other societies.
Greece lacked natural resources, such as timber, precious metals, and usable farmland, so they had to rely on trade for these resources.
The divisions of the mountain regions significantly influenced Greek political life, forming many small independent communities.
Greece could only support a small population of just a few million people.
A desire for more living space, grassland for raising livestock, and adequate farmland may have been factors that motivated the Greeks to seek new sites for colonies.
The leading city of Greece was Mycenae, and some of the people settled there were known as Mycenaeans.
It was surrounded by a 20 foot thick wall, and could withstand almost any attack.
Made contact with Minoans around 1500 B.C., which taught them the value of seaborne trade.
Mycenaeans started trading throughout the eastern Mediterranean, such as Aegean islands, coastal towns in Anatolia, and ports in Syria, Egypt, Italy, and Crete.
Adapted the Minoan writing system to the Greek language.
Decorated vases with Minoan designs.
During the 1200s B.C. Mycenaeans fought a ten-year war against Troy, an independent trading city located in Anatolia, called the Trojan War.
People used to think the Trojan War was fictional
Mycenaean civilization collapsed not long after the Trojan War, due to it being attacked and burned by sea raiders.
After the Mycenaean civilization collapsed, Dorians moved in.
Spoke a dialect of Greek
Far less advanced, and so the economy collapsed and trade came to a standstill
Lost the art of writing during the Dorian Age
Since they couldn’t write, the Greeks during the Dorian age learned about their history through word of mouth.
The greatest storyteller was traditionally a blind man named Homer.
His works are the source of a lot of Greek mythology.
Greeks attributed human qualities, such as love, hate, and jealousy, to their gods. The gods quarreled and competed with each other constantly.
5.2-
During the Dorian period, Dorians and Mycenaeans began to identify less with the culture of their ancestors and more with the local area where they lived. They also formed more formal governments during this period, called city-states.
Most city-states controlled about 50 to 500 square miles, and often less than 10,000 people lived in each.
Some city-states had monarchies, aristocracies, or oligarchies. Many city-states had tyrants, which were rules who appealed to the common people for support.
Athenians (people living in Athens) moved towards democracy, and citizens directly participated in political decision making because of struggles between the rich and the poor.
Started when a nobleman named Draco took power in 621 B.C. and had the idea that everyone is equal under the law. He upheld the idea of debt slavery.
Solon came to power in 594 B.C. and said that no citizen should own another and outlawed debt slavery. He made more far-reaching democratic reforms.
Only free adult male property owners born in Athens were considered citizens.
Only the sons of wealthy families received formal education in Athens, learning reading, grammar, poetry, history, math, music, logic, public speaking, and athletic activities. Girls were educated at home on how to become good wives and mothers.
Sparta was nearly cut off from the rest of Greece, so it developed very differently. Sparta built a military state and conquered the neighboring region of Messenia around 725 B.C.
Messenians were forced to stay on the land and work, and the Spartans took half of their crops.
Messenians revolted around 650 B.C. and the Spartans, outnumbered 8:1 barely put down the revolt and decided to make Sparta stronger.
From 600 to 371 B.C., Sparta had the most powerful army in Greece.
Boys had to serve in the army until they reached 60 and left home when they were 7.
Girls also received some military training and had freedom as adults to do things such as run family estates while men were on active military service.
Discouraged individual expression and did not value the arts, literature, or other artistic and intellectual pursuits.
Spartan government had an assembly voting on major issues, the Council of Elders proposing laws, and 5 elected officials to carry out laws.
Spartan had 3 groups; citizens, noncitizens who were free, and helots who were little better than slaves.
When weaponry was made of bronze, only the rich could afford to serve in the army. As iron replaced bronze, ordinary citizens could afford to join the army as well. This new army with all classes of citizens stood side by side each with a spear and a shield, became the most powerful fighting force of the ancient world.
The Persian Wars began in Ionia on the coast of Anatolia, when the Persians conquered the area around 546 B.C. even tough Greeks had long been settled there.
The Greeks revolted and Athens sent aid, so the Persian king (Darius the Great) vowed to destroy Athens.
Attacked in 490 B.C. and lost more than 6,000 men in a few hours while the Athenians lost fewer than 200.
Athens was defenseless after the attack so other Greek cities sent more defenses, and when the Persians found that they retreated.
Xerxes, Darius the Great’s son and successor, built a great army to crush Athens. The Greeks were very divided and while some fought for Athens, some did not fight and some even fought against it.
7,000 Greeks blocked his way at a narrow mountain pass for 3 days.
At this time an Athenian leader, Themistocles, convinced everyone to evacuate and fight at sea.
The smaller Greek ships could maneuver better in the narrow channel and won the battle.
Later, several Greek city-states formed the Delian League, which was an alliance that continued the war against the Persians until they drove them out of the territories surrounding Greece.
Athens was the leader of this league during the 470s
5.3-
The Golden Age of Athens was from 477 to 431 B.C., when Athens experienced growth in intellectual and artistic learning.
A statesman named Pericles led Athens through a lot of it.
Skillful politician, inspiring speaker, respected general
461 to 429 B.C. (Age of Pericles)
Goals were to strengthen Athenian democracy, to hold and strengthen the empire, and to glorify Athens.
Pericles increased the number of public officials who were paid salaries (previously unpaid positions).
This allowed for less wealthy citizens to be able to afford to serve.
Pericles used the money from the Delian League’s treasury to make Athens a very strong navy.
This strengthened their safety.
Greece had already strongly depended on overseas trade to obtain supplies.
Also used some of the money to beautify Athens.
The Parthenon was constructed in the traditional style used for Greek temples, to honor Athena who was the protector of Athens.
Contained examples of Greek art.
Built by Phidias, under Pericles.
Made of precious materials and over 30 feet tall.
Set standards for classical art.
The Greeks also invented drama as an art form.
Wrote 2 kinds of drama— tragedy and comedy.
Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides wrote tragedies.
Aristophanes wrote comedies.
Herodotus, a Greek who had lived in Athens, pioneered the accurate reporting of events.
His book on the Persian Wars is considered the first work of history.
The Athenian Thucydides was the greatest historian of the classical age.
Studied past events because he believed types of events would recur.
The Peloponnesian War started when Sparta declared war on Athens because Athens was getting too wealthy and powerful.
Each city thought they had the advantage.
Athens had the stronger navy while Sparta had the stronger army, and Sparta could not easily be attacked by sea.
During the war, a plague struck Athens and killed 1/3 of the population, including Pericles.
Though Athens was weakened, they kept fighting for several years.
In 421 B.C. Athens and Sparta signed a truce.
This only lasted 6 years when in 415 B.C. Athens sent 20,000 soldiers to one of Sparta’s wealthiest allies, Sicily.
Athenians were totally destroyed.
The Peloponnesian War caused many Athenians to question democracy, and several “great thinkers” appeared, also known as philosophers.
These philosophies were based on 2 assumptions; that the universe is put together in an orderly way and is subject to unchanging laws, and that people can understand these laws through logic and reason.
Sophists questioned people’s beliefs about justice and traditional values.
Protagoras questioned the existence of traditional Greek gods. He believed that there was no universal standard of truth, and that man is the measure of all things.
Socrates was a critic of the Sophists, and he believed that there were absolute standards for truth and justice.
He encouraged people to question themselves and their moral character, and he said that the unexamined life is not worth living.
Brought to trial and died by poison for corrupting the youth of Athens and neglecting the city’s gods.
Plato was a student of Socrates and wrote down the conversations of Socrates. He also wrote a work in which he detailed an ideal society.
In his ideal society, citizens would fall into 3 groups; farmers/artisans, warriors, and the ruling class, with the person with the greatest intellect from the ruling class chosen to be the king.
Aristotle questioned the nature of the world and of human belief, thought, and knowledge.
Invented a method of arguing according to rules of logic, that provides the basis of the scientific method used today.
Came close to summarizing all the knowledge up to his time.
Alexander, son of King Philip II of Macedonia was a pupil of Aristotle.
5.4-
The Peloponnesian War had weakened several city states, and their power declined.
Macedonia had rough terrain and cold climate. Macedonians lived in mountain villages, and many nobles/higher class Macedonians though of themselves as Greeks.
The Greeks viewed Macedonians as uncivilized.
Philip II became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C. He wanted to take control of Greece and the Persian Empire.
Was a brilliant general and a ruthless politician.
Organized troops in phalanxes of 16 by 16, each with an 18-foot pike.
When Philip II was preparing an invasion of Greece, Demosthenes (the Athenian orator) tried to warn the Greeks and urged the city-states to unite against Philip.
The city-states could not agree on any single policy, and the Macedonians defeated the Greeks.
City-states retained self-government but Greece itself was under the control of Macedonia followed by several other foreign powers.
Philip was stabbed to death before he got to attempt invading Persia. His son, Alexander, proclaimed himself king of Macedonia.
Alexander began his rule at age 20. He had been taught under Aristotle, and had learned science, geography, literature, to ride a horse, use weapons, and command troops.
When the people of Thebes rebelled, he showed his cruelty in destroying the city. He killed 6,000 Thebans and sold the rest into slavery.
Alexander carried out his father’s plan to conquer Persia, leading 35,000 soldiers into Anatolia. 40,000 men came to defend Persia, but since Alexander made the first move his troops destroyed the Persian defenses.
This caused Darius III to release an army of 50-75,000 men but Alexander still broke through a weak point in their lines.
This gave Alexander control over Anatolia.
Alexander marched into Egypt (Persian territory) and was welcomes as a liberator and crowned pharaoh.
During this time Alexander founded Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile.
Alexander launched a phalanx attack followed by a cavalry charge on Darius’s army of 250,000 men at Gaugamela which caused Darius to flee.
Ended Persia’s power
Alexander’s army occupied Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis quickly.
Persepolis (Persia’s royal capital) was burned to the ground soon after it was occupied, likely intentionally by Alexander.
Alexander found Darius already dead at a deserted spot south of the Caspian sea, murdered by one of his provincial governors.
Alexander was more interested in expanding his empire than governing it. He was pushing to reach the furthest end of the continent.
Alexander’s soldiers had low morale by 326 B.C., when they had been fighting for 11 years and had marched over 11,000 miles. They decided to turn back.
Alexander had plans to organize and unify his empire by constructing new cities, roads, and harbors, as well as conquering Arabia.
This never occurred as Alexander became ill with a fever and died a few days later, at 32 years old.
3 of Alexander’s generals became: the king of Macedonia and the Greek city-states (Antigonus), the pharaoh of Egypt and established a dynasty (Ptolemy), king of the old Persian Empire (Seleucus).
Alexander adopted Persian dress and customs, as well as marrying a Persian woman. He also included people from other lands in his army.
5.5-
Alexander sought to meld the cultures of the areas he conquered to Greek culture. After his death, trade, common language, and shared culture linked together many cities in the conquered areas together.
Greek, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian cultures blended together to form something known as Hellenistic culture.
Alexander wanted to create a blend of customs and ideas, not just conquer lands.
He started new cities, like Alexandria in Egypt, which became centers of Greek culture and government.
The Egyptian city of Alexandria:
Located on the Nile Delta, it was a key trading port.
Many different people from around the world lived there.
The city was famous for its beauty:
Wide streets lined with statues of Greek gods.
Royal palaces overlooking the harbor.
The Pharos lighthouse, over 350 feet tall, with a mirror that reflected light at night.
Cultural achievements of the Egyptian city of Alexandria:
Philosophy: Scholars continued the ideas of Plato and Aristotle.
Stoicism: Founded by Zeno, taught people to live virtuously and accept what they can't change.
Epicureanism: Started by Epicurus, believed in enjoying life moderately and avoiding pain.
Art and Sculpture:
Shifted from classical beauty to more natural and realistic styles.
Famous sculptures like the Nike of Samothrace and the Colossus of Rhodes showed movement and emotion.
Artists also created sculptures of ordinary people and everyday scenes.
Science and Math:
Euclid wrote a book called "Elements" that explained geometry.
His work is still used today in math classes.
Archimedes from Syracuse made important discoveries:
Calculated the value of pi.
Explained how the lever works.
Invented the Archimedes screw for moving water, and pulleys for lifting heavy objects.
His inventions helped later scientists create tools like water pumps and steam engines.
The Library of Alexandria was famous for holding about 500,000 scrolls.
It was a center for learning, where scholars studied and shared ideas.
They wrote commentaries on old works and preserved many forms of knowledge from Greece and Egypt.
The Hellenistic era was a time of great learning, art, and inventions.
Greek culture spread widely and influenced many parts of the world.
Advances in science, philosophy, and art helped set the stage for future progress.