Summer 2020

HIS 102: Introduction to World Civilization

Department of History and Philosophy
North South University
LECTURE 8:
ANCIENT GREEK CIVILIZATION
3000 BCE – 323 BCE

DR. KAZI MARUFUL ISLAM

kazi.islam07@northsouth.edu
25 July 2020
 TALKING POINTS
§ Geography
§ Minoan Civilization
§ Mycenaeans Civilization
§ City states and their Features
§ Sparta
§ Athens
§ Troy
§ Greek Democracy
§ Greek Philosophy
ANCIENT GREEK: TIMELINE
ANCIENT GREEK TIMELINE
GREECE’S GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
vGreece appears as though the sea has smashed it to
pieces. Some pieces drifted away forming rocky
islands. Others barely cling to the mainland.
vBecause of these shapes, Greece is a country made up
of peninsulas – area of land surrounded by water on
three sides.
ANCIENT GREECE MAP
GREECE’S GEOGRAPHIC SETTING
vOnly about 1/5th of Greece is suitable for farming because
most of the country is covered with mountains. The islands
are mountain peaks.
vIt’s very close to Egypt, the Persian empire (includes
Turkey) and Rome.
vTwo Effects of Greek Geography
1. The Greeks became excellent traders and sailors.
2. The Greeks thought of themselves as separate countries
because it was hard to get together.
 GREEK GEOGRAPHY
vGreece is mountainous
vGreek communities often
times developed
independently because of
the mountains, thus they
were diverse
vAs a result, they fought each
other a lot.
MINOAN CIVILIZATION

vThe Minoans lived on the island of Crete from about 3000

to 1100 BC.
vBecause of their location, they were excellent traders who
controlled the Aegean Sea.
THE MYCENAEANS
vAfter the Mycenaeans defeated the Minoans, the culture of
the islands blended with mainland Greek culture.
vAt their height in 1400 BC, the Mycenaeans controlled
trade, spoke an early form of Greek, and used writing.
GREEK CITY-STATES
vBecause Greece is made up of many islands, and has
many tall mountains, the Greeks began to build city-
states instead of one country.
vA city-state is a city with its own laws, rulers, and money.
vCity-states were cities that acted like countries.
vHistorians believe that sometime around 750 BC, villages
joined with cities and began to develop their own
traditions, laws, and governments.
SPARTA
vSparta was a Greek city-state.
vSparta was very powerful and had its own army.
vSparta conquered other city-states to gain wealth and
power.
vThere were three classes of people in Sparta: Citizens,
non-citizens, and slaves.
SPARTA’S CLASSES
ØOnly men born in Sparta were citizens.
ØWomen were not allowed to become citizens, however,
women were allowed to own land and businesses, which
gave them more freedom than other Greek city-states.
ØThe second class in Sparta was people who came from
other city-states or other countries. They could own
businesses but not become citizens.
ØThe third class was slaves.
SPARTA WARRIORS
vLearning to read and write in Sparta was not very
important.
vTraining to become a good soldiers was important.
vYoung boys were taken from their parents and trained to
be soldiers as well as good in sports such as running.
vGirls were also trained to be good in sports.
ATHENS
vAthens was another important Greek city-state.
vThe people of Athens wanted to rule themselves and not
have a king or queen.
vAthens became the world’s first democracy around 508
B.C.
vA democracy is a government in which all citizens can vote
and have equal say in what happens.
TROJAN WAR
vGreek myth tells the story of the Trojan War
between Greece and the city of Troy in present day
Turkey.
vThe Greeks conquered the Trojans by using a fake
wooden horse filled with Greek soldiers.
vThe horse was rolled to the Trojan city gates.
Thinking it was a gift, the Trojans rolled it inside.
After nightfall, the Greeks destroyed Troy and
burned the city to the ground.
TROJAN WAR IN LITERATURE
vEpics – long story-telling poems.
vTwo epics exist today telling of the Trojan War, the Odyssey
and the Illiad, written by Homer. Some historians believe
that Homer exaggerated the story to make it sound better.
TROJAN WAR
THE DARK AGES OF GREECE
vSoon after the Trojan War, civilization in Greece collapsed.
People no longer traded for food and other goods beyond
Greece and poverty was everywhere. The Dark Ages took
place from 1100 – 750 BC.
vAcropolis – a high, rocky hill where early people built
cities.
ARISTOCRACY: NOBLES RULE
vThe earliest rulers of city-states were probably chieftains
or kings who were military leaders.
vBy the end of the Dark Ages, most city-states were ruled by
aristocrats – members of rich and powerful families.
vBecause they were wealthy, aristocrats could afford land,
chariots, and the best weapons that helped make
themselves stronger.
A NEW TYPE OF RULER
vAs the Greeks sailed to ports to trade various goods, the
city-states became wealthy. A middle class of merchants
and sailors developed.
vThe middle class wanted representation in government
and began to equip themselves with armor, swords, and
spears.
vGradually power shifted from the aristocrats to tyrants –
rulers who seize power by force.
DEMOCRACY IN GREECE
vEventually the people in city-states overthrew the
tyrants. Some city-states developed a style of
government called democracy – citizens govern
themselves.
vThe most successful democratic city-state was Athens.
vAthenian democracy became the leading government of
the ancient world.
DEMOCRACY IN ATHENS
vAthens was a democracy because all citizens could vote,
but only half the people in Athens were citizens.
vWomen, people born outside of Athens, and slaves could
not vote.
 PERICLES
vPericles was the leader of creating
democracy in Athens.
vHe had many buildings constructed.
vPericles had the Parthenon and the
Acropolis built.
 POLITICAL TERMS
§ All of Greece wasn’t a democracy.
§ Most of Greece was a monarchy a
type of government ruled by a king
or queen.
§ At right is Pericles, a good king of
Athens.
ANCIENT CITIES: 1000 B.C. TO A.D. 300
§ Despite their many differences, stemming from their
various histories, cultures, locations, ancient imperial
centers shared several important structural characteristics:
repository of knowledge, power, wealth, and control in
ancient world. Euripedes “may all “first requisite to
happiness is birth in a great city” notions of government,
religion, civilization, family, and country closely intertwined
for the ancients with the concept of the “city”
PHYSICAL FEATURES ANCIENT CITY
vPhysical features of the ancient cities – constructed with an eye
toward public life: temples for worship, markets for commerce,
theaters for entertainment, and for a (plural of the Latin for him)
for debate/discussion.
vBuilt environment a reflection of nature of government: highly
centralized/militaristic.
vAncient Greece partially planned, main roads converging on
marketplace /temple.
vEvery city fortified, surrounded by walls, contain one or more
forts located in a high place (Acropolis) Like Athens center of
Rome contained plazas, markets, public buildings such as the
Forum and Coliseum;
SOCIAL PATTERNS IN ANCIENT CITIES
vSocial patterns – substantial wealth available only to elite,
gain access to benefits that society would have to be a
member, which in most cases meant being a citizen, but
access to membership was restricted.
vThere was limited by gender; men had full access to legal
rights, women badly limited or no access to citizenship and
few property rights. Second, membership limited by
descent.
SOCIAL PATTERNS
vAncient civilization used patrilineal descent systems, male
children inherit father’s positions, including property and
social obligations.
vPrecapitalist economy no wage labor so no working class;
small artisan class produce necessary items for household
consumption.
vReal engine of the economy production of public goods and
services/slave labor. Slaves by definition were excluded
from participation in political and economic system despite
constituting three- fourths of population in Athens at its
peak in fifth century BC.
PARTHENON AND ACROPOLIS
EDUCATION IN ATHENS
vEducation was very important in Athens.
vBoys went to school to learn to read and write. They also
learned many sports.
vGirls were not allowed to go to school or learn to play
sports.
THE GREEK ALPHABET
vThe Greeks borrowed their alphabet from the Phoenicians.
vMost European languages, including English borrowed
ideas from the Greek alphabet.
SOME QUESTIONS
1. How did geography influence Greece’s economy and
military technology?
2. How did Hellenistic ideas spread throughout Asia?
3. Describe an example of how necessity brings about
technological change.
4. Define monarchy
5. Define oligarchy
THANKS