1. Ancient Greece

2. Ancient Greece
 Learning Points
 The Greek views of government, law, and reason
 The development of the Greek political ideas

3. Ancient Greece
 The Greeks were an
ancient farming and
fishing culture whose
development gave rise to
modern day politics,
literature, warfare, and
art.
 Founders of Western
civilization
 Classical Era – 500 BC

4. Ancient Greece
 Geography forced
Greeks to form city-
states – small “nations”
the size of a city.
 Desire for more land led
Greeks to emigrate to
other lands.
 This spread Greek
civilization to the known
world.

5. Ancient Greece
 Which culture is considered the founders of
Western civilization?

6. Ancient Greece
 Life in a city-state:
 Honored Greek Gods
(Zeus, Hermes, Poseidon)
 Ruled by kings, later
democracy
 Built bronze weapons
 Held slaves, mainly
captured in war

7. Ancient Greece
 When iron-making is
discovered, warfare
changes too.
 The Phalanx is the
Greeks prime weapon.
 Rows of men, armed with
spears trying to push the
other side off the field
 All citizens required to
train in the Phalanx

8. Ancient Greece

9. Ancient Greece

10. Ancient Greece
 Sparta: The Warrior State
 Practiced fighting from
the time of children.
 Ignored farming in order
to train, so their diet was
bland.
 Only males over 30 who
had proved themselves in
battle could be citizens

11. Ancient Greece
 What was the main weapon used by the Greeks?

12. Ancient Greece
 Athens: The Political State
 First democracy
 Outlawed slavery, gave more
people citizenship
 “Tyrants” took advantage of
the new democracy,
favoring only the merchants
and poor (because of
numbers)
 Created a legislature

13. Ancient Greece
 The ultimate enemy of all
Greeks was the Persian
Empire
 Athens stopped an invasion
at Marathon, 490 BC
 480 BC - The Persians
returned and burned
Athens, but a combined
force of Spartans and
Athenians sunk the Persian
Navy

14. Ancient Greece
 479 BC – The Persians
return by land and are
defeated at Thermopylae
 300 Spartans stood
against 300,000 Persians.
 Athens’ navy again
defeated the Persian
navy.
 Now, Greece was safe
from Persians

15. Ancient Greece
 What were the two most important city-states?

16. Ancient Greece
 Athens came out on top
– money is power
 Led by Pericles
 All citizens directly
participated in
government
 Established juries
 Pericles said citizens in a
democracy have rights,
but also responsibility

17. Ancient Greece
 Athens spent lots of money
on temples and works of
art.
 Some Greeks turned away
from the gods and began to
think that the universe was
regulated by natural laws.
 These “philosophers”
believed in the reason of
the human mind to
understand human
existence.

18. Ancient Greece
 Peloponnesian War 431
BC – 404 BC
 With Persia gone, the
two Greek giants squared
off – Athens and Sparta.
 Sparta won and Athens’
power was diminished.

19. Ancient Greece
 A group of philosophers,
called “Sophists” said
that goodness and truth
were just opinions not
something that needed to
be followed.
 They trained politicians
to use their ideas to
become powerful.
 But one man disagreed…

20. Ancient Greece
 Socrates:
 “Use self-examination to
determine what can a
person do that will work
for the greatest good.”
 Rejected the Sophists and
said that their teachings
were destructive
 Socrates arrested and
refused to escape.
Executed by poison.

21. Ancient Greece
 Plato:
 Socrates’ brightest student.
 Hated democracy for what
it did to his teacher.
 Said the government
should control everyone's
life.
 Said all were born equal,
but by their actions showed
their true level.
 Workers, soldiers, thinkers

22. Ancient Greece
 Plato’s brightest student
was Aristotle
 Argued for a constitutional
government ruled by the
middle class.
 Rulers should be subject to
their own laws.
 Aristotle’s most famous
student was a young boy
named Alexander.

23. Ancient Greece
 Who was Socrates’ best student?