Unit #8: Ancient Greece (2024)

​Ancient Greece
http://greece.mrdonn.org/index.html

http://www.kidspast.com/world-history/0058-ancient-greeks.php

http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_greece.php
​http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/subjects/ancientgreece.htm

In this unit students learn about the ancient Greek world, which was centered on the Aegean Sea, including both the Greek peninsula and the west coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey). An elongated coastline and numerous islands stimulated seaborne trade, as well as easy communication between one community and another. The peninsula’s interior of mountains and deep valleys, by contrast, encouraged the independence of small communities and states.
The ancient Aegean world comes into sharper focus in the second millennium BCE. On the island of Crete, the Minoans created a robust civilization, and on the Greek peninsula the Mycenaeans, whose distant ancestors may have come from Central Asia, built numerous palaces and walled cities. Students may read selections from the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two Greek epic poems of Homer, regarded as foundational works of Western literature. These texts, plus archaeological evidence, shed light on the Mycenaean world of fearless warriors who valued public competition and individual glory.
The eastern Mediterranean region experienced a long period of tumult and insecurity between about 1100 and 800 BCE in connection with the aggressive migrations of Sea People. In the eighth century, however, Greek-speaking populations achieved major expansion. They developed more productive agriculture, traded olive oil and wine to distant ports, and founded colonies around the Black Sea and in Sicily and southern Italy. Students learn that these developments contributed to an increasing sense of shared Greek identity, as well as the interchange of ideas and goods with Egyptians, Phoenicians, and other neighboring peoples.
After 800 BCE, the city-state, or polis, emerged. Central government authority, control of surrounding farmland, and the concept of citizenship characterized this form of civic organization. In most city-states, the earliest rulers were wealthy aristocrats, but they were eventually replaced by tyrants, or personal dictators, and later by oligarchies, that is, small groups of privileged males. A major exception to this pattern was Athens, where a series of reforms in the sixth century broadened the base of civic participation and paved the way for democracy in the following century.
In the mid-sixth century BCE, the Persians, a people whose state was centered in present-day Iran, conquered Mesopotamia, Syria, Egypt, and Anatolia. The rulers of the Persian Achaemenid Empire represented themselves as agents of Ahuramazda, the supreme god in the regionally important religion of Zoroastrianism. Students may compare the types of government represented by the polis and by large empires such as the Achaemenid. The Persians subjugated the Greek city-states of western Anatolia, but three attempts to invade the Greek peninsula and defeat the Greeks–including the citizens of Athens and Sparta, the most powerful city-states–failed.
In political and cultural terms, Athens in the fifth century BCE was a highly innovative city. Students may compare its system of direct democracy with modern representative democracy. In Athens, every adult male citizen could vote on legislation, and citizens were chosen for key offices by lot. These principles ensured that decision making lay mostly in the hands of average citizens. Students may analyze the advantages and limits of this system. For example, women, foreigners, and slaves were excluded from all political participation. The cultural achievements of Athens were numerous. The city produced several philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), historians (Herodotus, Thucydides), and orators (Demosthenes, Students may consider Pericles). It also nurtured drama, both tragedy (Sophocles, Euripides) and comedy examples of ways in (Aristophanes). The Greek art and architecture of the era emphasized naturalistic which Greek culture has representations of human forms and buildings of beautiful proportions. The rich had an enduring tales of Greek mythology influenced all forms of literature and art. Students may influence on modern consider examples of ways in which Greek culture has had an enduring influence society. on modern society.
Fighting between Greek city-states was chronic. The Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) involved a direct confrontation between Athens and Sparta. Students may assess the contrasting political styles of these two citystates. In contrast to democratic Athens, Sparta was nearly the equivalent of a permanent army base, its male citizens obligated to full-time military training and rigorous discipline. Athens at that time ruled large areas of the Aegean basin, but Sparta’s victory in the war brought the Athenian empire to an end. Prolonged conflict among the city-states contributed to the military success of Philip II and his son Alexander (ruled 336–323 BCE), rulers of Macedonia, a mountainous kingdom north of Greece. After subduing the peninsula, Alexander led a campaign of unprecedented scope, conquering the Persian Empire, Egypt, and even northwestern India. Following his death, his generals and their sons carved his short-lived empire into separate states. The following two centuries are known as the Hellenistic period. “Hellenistic” refers to the influence of Greek cultural forms in regions far beyond the Aegean, though in fact a lively interchange of products and ideas took place in the broad region from the Mediterranean to India. Athenian democracy did not survive, but Greek ideas, such as language, sculpture, and city planning, mingled creatively with the cultural styles of Egypt, Persia, and India. The Hellenistic era also brought innovations in science and mathematics–for example, the principles of geometry came from Euclid, who lived in the Hellenistic Egyptian city of Alexandria. Teachers may encourage students to assess why Greek ideas and art had such wide appeal. Eventually, the Hellenistic kingdoms west of Persia succumbed to the greater military power of Rome, which in turn absorbed many aspects of Greek culture.

Social Studies Content Standards for Ancient Greece6.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early civilizations of Ancient Greece.

1. Discuss the connections between geography and the development of city-states in the region of the Aegean Sea, including patterns of trade and commerce among Greek city-states and within the wider Mediterranean region.

2. Trace the transition from tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, including the significance of the invention of the idea of citizenship (e.g., from Pericles’ Funeral Oration).

3. State the key differences between Athenian, or direct, democracy and representative democracy.

4. Explain the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life of people in the region and how Greek literature continues to permeate our literature and language today, drawing from Greek mythology and epics, such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and from Aesop’s Fables.

5. Outline the founding, expansion, and political organization of the Persian Empire.

6. Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta, with emphasis on their roles in the Persian andPeloponnesian Wars.

7. Trace the rise of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture eastward and into Egypt.

8. Describe the enduring contributions of important Greek figures in the arts and sciences (e.g.,Hypatia, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Thucydides).

Stratford discusses the difficulty Greece faces in defending its core territory and in accumulating capital due to its geography

On a historical map of the ancient Mediterranean area, locate Greece and trace the boundaries of its influence to 300 BC/BCE. On a contemporary map trace the current boundaries of Greece. Compare and contrast the sphere of influence of Greece in those two different eras.

• Interactive Map of Eastern Mediterranean Sea Region
  
  

As Athenian democracy progressed, it became embroiled in the clash of new ideas with old beliefs; Athens started to tear itself apart. The story culminates in one of history's greatest paradoxes: the trial of Socrates, who was democratically judged to be executed for speaking his mind.

Trace the transition from tyranny and oligarchy to early democratic forms of government and back to dictatorship in ancient Greece, including the significance of the development of the idea of citizenship.

GUIDING QUESTION: How did democracy develop in Ancient Greece?

• Bio. Socrates Biography[c. 470 BCE-c.399 BCE]
  

Although Athens is remembered for creating the first democracy, it took many years and multiple leaders to develop the system we think of today. Learn about who took control, what reforms they made and how the people revolted against the old system.


Explain how the development of democratic political concepts in ancient Greece lead to the origins of direct Democracy and representative Democracy , including: the “polis” or city-state civic participation and voting rights legislative bodies constitution writing rule of law

• Critics and Critiques of Athenian Democracy
• Athenian Democracy: Solon and Cleisthenes
• Democracy is Born

Compare and contrast the status of women and slaves between Athens and Sparta.

• Women in Sparta
  
  
• Slavery in Ancient Greece
  
  
• Women of Greece
  
  

Describe the myths and stories of classical Greece; give examples of Greek gods, goddesses, and heroes (Zeus, Hermes, Aphrodite, Athena, Poseidon, Artemis, Hades, Athena), and events, and where and how we see their names used today.

• ​Greek Myth and Religion
• Interactive Ancient Arcade
• Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes
• Ancient Greek Religious Sanctuaries Interactive Map
• Greek Mythology Quiz

Explain why the city-states of Greece instituted a tradition of athletic competitions and describe the sports they featured.

• The Olympic Games
• HippoCampus.org: National Geographic Ancient Greek Olympics

ATHENS and Sparta were both Greek cities and their people spoke a common language. In every other respect they were different. Athens rose high from the plain. It was a city exposed to the fresh breezes from the sea, willing to look at the world with the eyes of a happy child. Sparta, on the other hand, was built at the bottom of a deep valley, and used the surrounding mountains as a barrier against foreign thought. Athens was a city of busy trade. Sparta was an armed camp where people were soldiers for the sake of being soldiers. The people of Athens loved to sit in the sun and discuss poetry or listen to the wise words of a philosopher. The Spartans, on the other hand, never wrote a single line that was considered literature, but they knew how to fight, they liked to fight, and they sacrificed all human emotions to their ideal of military preparedness.

Compare and contrast life in Athens and Sparta.

GUIDING QUESTION: What were the major differences between Athens and Sparta?

• Athens vs. Sparta
  
  
• Rise of City-States: Athens and Sparta
  
  

Analyze the causes, course, and consequences of the Persian Wars.

• Birth of History: Herodotus' Persian War
  
  

To summarize, the Peloponnesian War was fought between Athens and Sparta. Both of these city-states were the heads of large leagues of allied cities. Athens' Delian League controlled the sea with a powerful navy. Sparta's Peloponnesian League controlled the mainland of Greece with a powerful army. Athens' steady rise in power and wealth caused anger among the Spartans and even among its own allies. When war finally broke out, the Athenian leader, Pericles, suggested that Athens behave like an island. They should not try to meet the Spartans in open battle but should stay inside the city. An unforeseen result of these close quarters was a plague that killed off much of the Athenian population, including Pericles. After losing Pericles to the plague, the Athenians made a series of grave strategic errors, including a drawn-out expedition to Sicily and the condemnation of some of their greatest leaders to death. These mistakes, and Athens' general inability to stick to a course of action without a central leader to guide them, ended up costing the Athenians their empire.


Analyze the causes, course, and consequences of the Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta.

• The Peloponnesian War 431-404 B.C. Interactive Map
  
  

In which you are introduced to the life and accomplishments of Alexander the Great, his empire, his horse Bucephalus, the empires that came after him, and the idea of Greatness. Is greatness a question of accomplishment, of impact, or are people great because the rest of us decide they're great?Also discussed are Kim Kardashian and the Situation, gender bias in history, Catherine the Great's death (not via horse love), the ardent love other generals--from Pompey the Great to Napoleon--had for Alexander, a bit of Persian history.


Explain the rise of Alexander the Great and the spread of Greek culture.

GUIDING QUESTION: How did Alexander build his empire?

• Alexander the Great
  
  
• Alexander the Great Interactive Map
  
  
• Alexander the Great Quiz
  
  
• Eyewitness account ofThe Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C.
  
  

Compare and contrast the Titans with the Olympian gods and explain the surrounding Greek mythology.

• Olympians vs. Titans