1. Classical Greece
500 BCE – 338 BCE

2. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor (green on
this map) were overrun by the Persian army
in the 6th century BCE.
In 499 BCE, the Ionian Greek cities in Asia
Minor led an unsuccessful revolt against the
Persian. This revolt caused Darius, the Persian
ruler, to seek revenge.
In 490 BCE, Darius’ army landed on the plain
of Marathon, 26 miles from Athens. The
Athenian army, outnumbered, defeated the
Persians. According to legend, the news was
brought to Athens by Pheidippides, who raced
the 26 miles to Athens and then dropped
dead. The modern marathon is based on this
story.
Persian Wars 499-479 BCE

3. After Darius died in 486 BCE, Xerxes
assumed the throne and vowed revenge
on the Greeks.
The Athenians prepared for Xerxes’
attack by rebuilding their navy. By the
time Xerxes invaded, the Athenians had
a fleet with around 200 vessels.
Xerxes invaded with about 180,000
troops and thousands of warships. The
Greeks tried to delay the Persians at
Thermopylae, a mountain pass on the
main road to central Greece.
The Greeks held off the Persians for two
days, when they were betrayed and the In 479 BCE, the Greeks united to form the
Persians found a path to defeat them. largest army up to that point and defeated
The Athenians abandoned the city. the Persian army at Plataea, north of
Athens.
Persian Wars 499-479 BCE

4. After the Persian War, the Athenians led
the Greek world. In 478 BCE, the
Athenians formed an alliance called the
Delian League, to defend the Greeks
against the Persians.
The main headquarters of the Delian
League were on the island of Delos, but
its commanders were all from Athens.
The Delian League attacked Persian in
order to free the Greek States that had
been under Persian control. (The areas
in green on the map). In 454 BCE, the
Athenians moved the treasury of the
Delian League to Athens. Through the
Delian League, the Athenians controlled
a Greek empire.
Athenian Empire 478 BCE 0 405 BCE

5. Age of Pericles 461 – 429 BCE

6.  Pericles was a dominant figure in Athenian
politics from 461 to 429 BCE.
 Under Pericles, Athens expanded its
empire.
 Pericles led the Athenian’s direct
democracy, a political system in which all
eligible citizens participated in the
government.
 Pericles introduced reforms that allowed
more Athenians to participate in their
government.
Pericles

7.  The Athenian direct democracy was
really a democracy of Athenian male
citizens. No women or slaves participated.
 The Athenian assembly had about 43,000
eligible males, but usually no more than
6,000 voted in the assembly.
 The assembly met every 10 days on the
hillside east of the Acropolis.
Periclean System
Acropolis

8.  The Athenian assembly passed all laws,
elected public officials, and made
decisions on foreign policy and war.
 Pericles made lower-class male citizens
eligible for public office, and he paid
officeholders a stipend. This made it
possible for poor citizens to participate in
public affairs.
 To participate, one must be a male citizen
over the age of 18.
Athenian Democracy

9.  Ten officials known as generals ran the
government on a daily basis. The generals
could be reelected, making it possible for the
same person to hold office for long periods of
time (which is how Pericles stayed in charge
for so long!)
 To rid themselves of too-powerful politicians,
the Greeks devised the practice of
ostracism. If at least 6000 citizens in the
assembly wrote a politician’s name on
pottery fragments, that person was banned
from the city for ten years!
Athenian Government

10. Pericles
Generals (Pericles Magistrates Assembly
was a General)
Council (smaller
group of Assembly
representatives)
Periclean System

11.  The Persian Wars had destroyed much of
Athens.
 Pericles’ started a rebuilding program and
rebuilt temples and statues.
 Athens became the center of Greek
culture.
 Art, architecture, and philosophy
flourished under Pericles.
 Athens became known as “the School of
Greece”
Athens under Pericles

12. Peloponnesian War

13. Peloponnesian
 After the Persians were War
defeated, the Greek The Peloponnesian War was a
world was split into two war between the Athenians
and the Spartans
spheres of influence:
Sparta and the Athenian
empire
 Sparta did not like the
Athenians expanding
influence, and a series
of disputes and conflict
led to the outbreak of
war in 431 BCE

14. Athens Strategy
Athens believed they had a
winning strategy. They
planned on staying behind the
city walls and get supplies
from their allies delivered by
their navy. They built walls
around the city and the port
to keep the Spartans out.
Pericles knew the Spartans
had the better military – the
Spartans trained their soldiers
from a very young age – so
he wanted to avoid open
battles.

15. Spartan
Strategy
The Spartans tried to draw the Athenians out of their walls for open battle, where they
knew they could beat the Athenians.
The Athenians had strong allies, however, who helped them with supplies and the
navy.

16.  During the second year PLAGUE
of the war, a plague
broke out in Athens,
killing more than a third
of its population.
 Pericles died the
following year.
 The Athenians and their
allies kept fighting
despite their losses.

17.  The Peloponnesian war lasted 27 years.
 In 405 BCE, the Athenian naval fleet was destroyed
on the Hellespont.
 Within a year, the Athenians surrendered.
 The Spartans tore down the walls surrounding
Athens, disbanded the navy, and destroyed the
Athenian Empire.
 Even though the Spartans won, the major Greek
states were weakened by 25 years of fighting.
 The Greek states of Sparta, Athens, and Thebes
competed for 66 years to dominate Greek affairs.
 While the Greeks were fighting for dominance over
Greece, they ignored Macedonia, which was
becoming a powerful country to their north.
End of the Peloponnesian War