Ancient Greece

1. Ancient Greece

2. Where does the words Europe and Nike come from? • Answer: Greek Mythology

3. Origin of “Europe” • In Greek mythology, Europa was a Phoenician princess who was abducted by Zeus in bull form and taken to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to Minos. • For Homer, Europa (Greek: Ευρώπη) was a mythological queen of Crete, not a geographical designation. Later Europa stood for mainland Greece and by 500 BC its meaning was extended to lands to the north.

4. Origin of “Nike” • In Greek mythology, Nike (Greek: Νίκη, "Victory", was a goddess who personified victory, also known as the Winged Goddess of Victory.

5. Minoan Civilization • Archaeologists unearthed a site in Crete. They called the people Minoans, after Minos, a legendary king of Crete. • These Minoans lived in the Palace at Knossos (NAHS uhs) • Circa 1400 B.C., this civilization had vanished. • There could have been a volcanic eruption or tidal wave, but we know that invaders played a role. • These invaders were the Mycenaeans.

7. The Palace at Knossos • Included religious shrines, areas dedicated to the honor of gods and goddesses. • Included frescoes, watercolor paintings done on wet plaster.

8. The Mycenaeans • They are the first Greek-speaking people of whom we have written record. • They were an Indo-European people who conquered the Greek mainland before overrunning Crete.

9. The Trojan War 1250 B.C. • There was a conflict between Mycenae and Troy, a rich trading city in present-day Turkey. • The war could have been economic in root. • Troy controlled the vital straits, or narrow water passages, that connect the Mediterranean and Black seas. • The root of war could also have been romantic. • After the Trojan prince Paris kidnapped Helen, the wife of the Greek king Menalaus, the Mycenaeans sailed to Troy to rescue her. • For the next 10 years, the two sides battled until the Greeks finally seized Troy and burned the city to the ground.

11. The Trojan Horse • Menelaus' brother, Odysseus, planned a way to win the war. Odysseus planned to make a great horse. He knew that Greek soldiers gave up their horse when they surrendered, so the horse would show to Paris of Troy that Greece had surrendered the war. However, in reality this horse was a vehicle, which carried soldiers. If the Trojans took the horse inside their walls as a trophy, the Greek soldiers could easily destroy the interior of Troy without losing men when taking down the exterior walls. The night the Trojan Horse was inside Troy, the soldiers came out and fought; by dawn, the Greek had annihilated the Trojans and Helen was safely back with Menelaus.

14. The Age of Homer • Mycanaean civilization crumbled under the attack of sea raiders. • Greek civilization seemed to take a step backward after this where people forgot many skills, including the art of writing. • Homer gives us hints about life during this period from two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. • Many people probably wrote them, but they are credited to him, who lived about 750 B.C. • Homer was a blind poet who wandered from village to village, singing of heroic deeds.

15. Iliad Odyssey • The Iliad is our chief source of information from the Trojan War, although the story involves gods, goddesses, and even a talking horse. • Achilles, the mightiest Greek warrior, is sulking in his tent. He stubbornly refuses to join the fight when the Greeks begin to lose. Only after his best friend is killed does Achilles return to battle. • The Odyssey tells of the struggles of the Greek hero Odysseus to return home to his faithful wife, Penelope, after the fall of Troy. • On his voyage Odysseus encounters a sea monster, a race of one-eyed giants, and a beautiful sorceress who turns men into swine.

16. Geography of the Greeks • Greece is part of the Balkan peninsula. • Mountains divide the peninsula into valleys. • They built many city-states, cut off from one another by mountains or water. • Endless rivalry led to frequent wars. • The seas linked the Greeks to the outside world. • They became skilled sailors and returned with many ideas. • They expanded the Phoenician alphabet. • The first two Greek letters are alpha and beta.

18. U of M Greek chapters Frats • Alpha Delta Phi • Omega Nu Alpha • Alpha Gamma Rho • Phi Gamma Delta • Alpha Tau Omega • Phi Kappa Psi • Beta Theta Pi • Phi Sigma Kappa • Delta Upsilon • Sigma Nu • Delta Tau Delta • Sigma Chi Sororities • Alpha Chi Omega • Gamma Phi Beta • Alpha Gamma Delta • Kappa Alpha Theta • Alpha Omicron Pi • Kappa Kappa Gamma • Alpha Phi • Lambda Delta Phi • Alpha Sigma Kappa • Pi Beta Phi • Delta Gamma • Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pi

19. Organization of the City-State • After 750 B.C. the Greeks evolved the city-state into the polis. Our word “politics” is derived from this. • Two levels: • Acropolis was on a hilltop with marble temples dedicated to different gods and goddesses. • Walled main city was on flatter ground with marketplace, theater, public buildings, and homes. • The agora was below the acropolis and served as a place where people could assemble and as a market.

20. Acropolis

21. The Parthenon

22. Community of the Polis • Citizens with political rights (adult males) • Citizens w/o political rights (women and children) • Noncitizens (agricultural laborers, slaves, resident aliens).

23. New military system • Based on hoplites, or heavily armed foot soldiers who carried a shield, short sword, and 9 foot spear. • Marched shoulder to shoulder in a rectangular formation known as a phalanx. • Created a wall of shields.

26. Changes in Warfare • Nobles were the only ones with weapons because they were bronze. • (650 B.C.) Iron replaced bronze and was cheaper, so ordinary citizens could afford helmets, shields, and swords. • Reduced class differences.

27. Tyranny in the City-States • (750-550 B.C.) Greek colonies, such as Byzantium, were established as many settled distant lands and gained wealth through trade. • Exported pottery, wine, and olive oil • Some of the rich men became tyrants, or rulers who seized power by force from the aristocrats. • Tyrant support: • Rich- wanted prestige and political influence that aristocracy denied them • Peasants- were in debt for land to aristocrats

28. Tyranny in the City-States • Achievements: • Built new marketplaces, temples, walls • Helped poor • Eventually tyrants fell out of favor • Greeks believed in the rule of law, and tyranny was an insult to that ideal • Impacts: • Ended aristocratic rule in many city-states • Led to democracy in some city states • Rule by the people • Led to oligarchy in some city-states • Rule by the few

29. Sparta • This region lies in the Peloponnesus, the southern part of Greece. • The Spartans conquered the Laconians and Messenians. • The invaders turned the conquered people into state-owned slaves, called helots, and made a military state. • Lives of Spartans were rigid and tightly controlled. • Spartan means “highly self-disciplined” • Citizens were male, native-born Spartans over the age of 30.

30. Sparta • Children were trained to be part of a military state. • Sickly children were abandoned to die. • At age 7, boys moved into barracks to become soldiers. • Military service from age 20-60. • Ate black broth consisting of pork boiled in animal blood, salt, and vinegar. • Women were expected to produce healthy sons for the army. • Had to exercise and strengthen their bodies. • They had to obey their father or husband. • They did however have the right to inherit property and run a family’s estate while the men were off at war.

31. Spartan Government • Oligarchy headed by two kings, who led army. • Isolated themselves • Looked down on trade and wealth • Forbade their own citizens to travel • Discouraged study of philosophy, literature, and arts. • While other Greeks admired their military skills, no other city-state imitated their rigorous way of life.

32. Athens • Located in Attica, just north of the Peloponnesus. • Athenian govt. evolved from a monarchy to a oligarchy ruled by aristocrats • Economic turmoil spread as peasants were unable to pay their debts.

33. Cleisthenes • (510 B.C.) another reformer, Cleisthenes gained power. • Created a council of 500 that supervised foreign affairs, oversaw the treasury, and proposed laws. • Gave Athenian assembly power to pass laws after free and open debate. • He created the foundations for Athenian democracy

34. Limited Rights • Athenian democracy was quite limited as citizenship was tough to acquire. • Tens of thousands of Athenians were slaves. • Slave labor gave citizens the time to participate in govt.

35. Women • They had no share in public life and lived in seclusion, managing the entire household. • Aristotle: “The man is by nature fitter for command than the female.”

36. Education for Democracy • Boys attended school if their family could afford it. • Studied to become skilled speakers because they would have to voice their views. • Studied reading, writing, music, poetry. • Received military training.

37. Religious beliefs • Greeks were polytheistic. • Believed that the gods lived on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. • Most powerful Olympian was Zeus, who presided over the affairs of gods and humans. His children: • Aphrodite, goddess of love • Ares, god of war • Athena, goddess of wisdom, gave her name to Athens

38. Olympic Games • Every four years, in the city-state of Olympia, the Greeks held athletic contests to honor Zeus. • These games unified the Greek world, even in times of war.

39. Views of Non-Greeks • As trade and colonies expanded, the Greeks came in contact with people with different languages and customs. • Greeks felt superior and called them barbaroi. • The English word barbarian comes from this Greek root. • Phoenicians and Egyptians were considered barbaroi.

40. The Persian Wars • Athens had sent ships to help rebel city-states of Persia. • Darius I, leader of Persia never forgot this and wanted revenge. • He sent a huge force across the Aegean to punish Athens. • The army landed near Marathon. • The Persians greatly outnumbered Athenian forces. • Athenians broke through then enemy lines despite a rain of arrows and engaged the Persians in hand-to-hand combat. • Persians hastily retreated to their ships.

42. The First Marathon • After the battle of Marathon, the Greeks sent Pheidippides, their fastest runner, to carry home news of the stunning victory. • He sprinted 26.2 miles to Athens. • “Rejoice, we conquer,” he gasped—then dropped dead.

43. Renewed Attacks • Darius died before he could mass his troops for another attack. • His son Xerxes sent a much larger force to conquer Greece. • This time Athens had persuaded Sparta and other city-states to join in the fight. • A small Spartan force guarded the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae. • Led by the great warrior King Leonidas, 300 Spartans held out heroically against the enormous Persian force.

45. “here they defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords using them, and the others resisting with their hands an teeth; till the barbarians who…now encircled them upon every side, overwhelmed and buried the remnant that was left beneath showers of missile weapons.” • Herodotus, The Persian Wars

46. Renewed Attacks • After defeating the Spartans, the Persians marched south and burned Athens. • However, the Athenians had withdrawn to safety. • The Greeks now put their faith in their fleet of ships that they had been building since the first attack. • They lured the Persian navy into the strait of Salamis. • Powered by rowers, the Athenian warships drove into the Persian boats with underwater battering rams and sunk their fleet. • The following year, the Greeks defeated them in Asia Minor. • Athenians then set up the Delian League, a defensive alliance to protect Athens from Persia. • Later, the Delian League attacked Persia and eventually liberated all the Greek states.

47. The Age of Pericles • The years after the Persian wars were a golden age for Athens. • Under Pericles, Athens had a direct democracy. • 6,000 members of the Athenian assembly had to be present to decide important issues. • We have a representative democracy. • Greece is known as the civilization with the first democracy.

48. The Age of Pericles • Athenians also served on juries. • This panel of citizens who have the authority to make the final judgment in trial were to serve for one year and receive a stipend. • Their jury may have included hundreds or thousands of jurors. • Citizens could banish or send away or ostracize a public figure if they wished. • They wrote that person’s name on a pot and if enough votes were cast into it, they would have to live outside the city for ten years.

49. The Peloponnesian War • Many Greeks outside of Athens resented Athenian domination. • Warfare broke out between Athens and Sparta, then engulfed all of Greece. • When Sparta invaded Athens, Pericles allowed his people from the countryside to move inside the city walls. • A terrible plague broke out, killing 1/3 of Athenians including Pericles. • Sparta allied itself with the Persian navy and with their help, they captured Athens. • Athenian Empire was destroyed as Athens surrendered. • This war weakened the Greek states and ruined any possibility of alliances between.

50. Later on • Thebes was the next new Greek power. • Alexander the Great and the Macedonians took over Greece. • (146 B.C.) Romans rule over Greece