The Ancient Greeks, Athens,

and Sparta
The Geography of Greece
Aegean Sea

Ionian Sea

Mediterranean Sea

Crete

Sparta

Troy

Athens

Mount Olympus

Delphi
The Eects of Geography

Mountains separated many Greek

se<lements.

Less than one quarter (1/4) of the land
in Greece could be used for farming.

Greek farmers could NOT grow a lot of

grain, but could grow olives and
grapes well.

The seas were used by Greeks for
shing, trade, and transportaMon.

WATCH Expedia Santorini Travel Guide

 The Rise of City-States
The rst Greek civilizaMons were on the island
of Crete.

The rst Greek civilizaMons were ruled by

monarchies, governments led by kings or
queens.

The people that lived on Crete were known as

Minoans civilizaMon, named aSer King Minos.

Greece was NOT one unied country, but
many small, independent communiMes known
as city-states.

WATCH King Minos Palace

WATCH Rick Steves at the BriMsh Museum
 The Dark Age
Agamemnon was another Greek king that
ruled the Mycenaean.

The Mycenaean traded bronze weapons
and painted po<ery for copper, gold,
ivory, and other luxury goods.

At around 1100 B.C., it became the Dark

Age when a group known as the Dorian
invaded and destroyed the Mycenaean
civilizaMon.

During the Dark Age knowledge of wriMng
disappeared and the Greeks did not have
a strong government.

WATCH Mycenae, Greece with Rick Steves

 The Trojan War

The Trojan War started when a prince

named Paris from Troy fell in love with
Queen Helen from Sparta, and both ed
back to Troy.
ACT Why did the Goddesses (Hera, Aphrodite,
Athena) make Paris fall in love with a married
woman?

The Trojan War was a 10 year war between
Sparta and Troy.
WATCH Movie trailer for Troy

A blind Greek poet named Homer wrote
stories about the Trojan War.

Homers 2 most famous poems were the

Iliad and Odyssey.
WATCH Trailer for Odyssey
Tyranny
Tyranny is a
government run
by a single strong
ruler.

Example: Crete,
Mycenae
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a
government in
which most
poliMcal power is
held by a small
secMon of
society.

Example: Sparta

Democracy
Democracy means rule
by the people, and
large number of people
parMcipate in
government.

Example: Athens

WATCH Acropolis
Athens, Greece

Trade and Expansion
PROBLEM:
There was a shortage of land, food, and other
resources in Ancient Greece

SOLUTIONS:
1) Conquest (Sparta)
As the populaMon of Sparta grew, Sparta built its
army to conquer its neighbors.

2) Trade and Commerce (Athens)
Most city-states used trade to provide for a growing
populaMon.

3) MigraMon
By 500 BCE, there were hundreds of Greek colonies
around the Mediterranean Sea
Spartan EducaDon
At 7 years, old boys in Sparta
were separated from their
parents to live in barracks and
train to ght.

Spartan boys exercised, hunted,

and trained with weapons.

At age 18, young men would train

to become part of the phalanx.

DISCUSS What do you think life was
like for Spartan boys training to
become soldiers?


Athens EducaDon

In Athens, boys and girls were

separated at the age of 6.

Girls would stay at home while

boys went to school unMl the
age of 18.

Boys would study reading,

wriMng, poetry, math, music,
and athleMcs.

DISCUSS Was the Greek educaMon
system fair? Why or why not?
The School of Athens
 The Peloponnesian Wars
In 431 B.C., Athens and Sparta started ghMng each
other in the Peloponnesian War.

Supporters of Athens were the Delian League.

Supporters of Sparta were the Peloponnesian

League.

Athens had the stronger navy, but Sparta had the

stronger army.

Sparta defeated Athens in Sicily and Hellespont.

In 405 B.C., Sparta eventually won the

Peloponnesian War.

WATCH U.S. Navy and Army Commercials

The Persian Empire
In 558 B.C., Cyrus the Great
started the Persian Empire.

The Persian Empire reached

its height when Darius the
Great was ruler.

Darius built the Grand Royal
Road to transport armies,
government ocials, and
messengers.
 The Persian Wars
In 499 B.C., Athens helped the Ionians who
rebelled against Persia.

In 490 B.C., 20,000 Persian soldiers led by Darius

began to conqueror Greek islands in the Aegean
Sea.

When Persian soldiers landed on Marathon a small

group of 10,000 Athenian soldiers forced the
Persians to retreat.

ASer Darius died his son (Xerxes) tried to

conqueror the Greeks, but also failed.

300 Spartans led by King Leonidas died ghMng

the Persians at the Ba<le of Thermopylae.

WATCH Movie trailer for 300

The Rise of Macedonia
To the north of Greece was the kingdom of
Macedonia. During the Peloponnesian War,
Macedonia was part of the Persian Empire.

In 358 B.C., King Philip built a strong army, and

gained control of Macedonia.

By 338 B.C., King Philip controlled all of Greece.

King Philip was preparing for a war against Persia,

but was assassinated.

King Philips son, Alexander (20 years old), would

take over as leader of Macedonia.

The Greek scholar, Aristotle, was Alexanders

teacher.

WATCH movie trailer Alexander
 The Empire of Alexander the Great
To discourage rebellions, Alexander burned the
city-state of Thebes.

In 334 B.C., Alexander took 30,000 soldiers and

5,500 cavalry troops across Hellespont into Asia.

By 330 B.C., Alexander captured all of the Persian

empire including the capital Persepolis.

In the summer of 325 B.C., Alexander and his

troops reached the Indus River in India.

In 323 B.C., before Alexander could conqueror

India he died of a fever in Babylon.

WATCH Alexander the Great Mini Bio
The Spread of Greek Culture
Alexander the Great controlled what is known
as the HellenisMc (Greek-like) Empire.

ASer Alexanders death, his generals divided
the empire into 3 large Greek kingdoms.
1) Ptolemaic
2) AnMgonid
3) Seleucid

Alexanders armies spread Greek culture

throughout the HellenisMc Empire.

Greek was the ocial language in the 3

kingdoms.

Alexander built new centers of Greek learning,

the most famous was the Library of
Alexandria.