The City-States of Greece

Sparta and Athens

The Persian Wars
The Delian League
The Decline of Athens
 The City-States of
Ancient Greece

Sparta and Athens

The Persian Wars
The Delian League
The Decline of Athens
 Now thats tough!
There is a story about a Spartan boy who, in order to
conceal a fox which he had stolen, hid it beneath his
cloak and allowed the fox to gnaw him rather than let
the theft be revealed. He died of the wounds. If he had
been discovered, the disgrace would not have been in
the stealing, but in allowing it to be detected. The boy's
action illustrates the main purpose of the Spartan
educational system, which was to produce men
capable of showing such bravery as soldiers. Military
strength was felt to be necessary to Sparta for their
very survival.
 Polis = City-State
Greece was divided into
city-states, each known as
a polis. The two main
city-states were Sparta
and Athens. The greatest
of these was Athens
which was a center of
intellectual and cultural
development - the
nursery of western
civilization.
Government & Education
Athenian democracy
was for free, male
Athenians only.
Education for men
was highly valued.
Only boys of wealthy
families attended
schools. The term
academy comes from
Athens.
 Structure of the Polis

Each polis was built around an

acropolis, a fortified hill with the
temple of the local god at the top.
 Structure of the Polis
At the foot of the acropolis was the
agora, an open area used as a
marketplace. By 700 B.C. this inner
part of the polis had become a city.
With the villages and farmland around
it, it made up a city-state.
 Athens
Athens was knows for its great
navy and was a rival of Sparta. Its
ships were known as triremes
because they had three levels of
rowers.
 Battle of Marathon

The Persians were defeated by the Athenians

at the Battle of Marathon. The Athenians
were so joyful in victory that they sent a
professional runner, Pheidippides, back to
Athens.
 A run extraordinaire. . .

Pheidippidies ran about 26

miles to Athens to report the
victory. When he arrived, he
cried out, Nike! and died from
exhaustion. Nike is the goddess
of victory.
 The Marathon
The 1896 Olympic marathon distance of
24.8 miles was based on the distance run
by Pheidippides. At the 1908 Olympic
Games in London, the marathon distance
was changed to 26.2 miles to cover the
ground from Windsor Castle to White City
Stadium, with the 2.2 miles added on so
the race could finish in front of royal family's
viewing box. This added two miles to the
course, and is the origin of the Marathon
tradition of shouting "God save the Queen!"
(or other words relating to the Queen) as
mile post 24 is passed. After 16 years of
sometimes angry discussion, this 26.2 mile
distance was established at the 1924
Olympics in Paris as the official marathon
distance.
 Sparta
Sparta was known for its great
army and was a rival of
Athens. Their army was
known for holding off the
Persian army of 250,000 at
Thermopylae for three days
with only 7000 soldiers. This
gave the people of Athens
time to escape before the
Persians invaded there.
Thermopylae
 Spartan Goal
Sparta tried to become the strongest
people in Greece. They also disliked
change. This would later prove to be a
weakness for them. Spartans preferred
actions to words. A Spartan lifestyle
both then and today is one that is
simple and highly disciplined with few
luxuries.
 The Delian League
The Delian League, based on the island of
Delos, was formed to unite the Greek city-
states to defend against the Persians.
Athens lead the league and gained more and
more power over the other city states.
Sparta refused to join.
The Delian League
The other city-states became resentful
of Athens power over them. A group
of city-states led by Sparta waged the
Peloponnesian War against Athens for
30 years until Athens surrendered to
Sparta. Later, under Spartan control,
the Athenians revolted and once more
set up a democracy; but they never
regained the power they once had.
Greek Decline
The Greeks began to lose their
sense of community and fought
with one another. In 338 B.C.
Philip II of Macedonia north of
Greece (Alexander the Greats
father) conquered Greece.
Geography In History
The ancient Greek
city-states never
united because the
land was very
mountainous and
hilly making travel
difficult. This is
one case where
geography
influenced history.