1. The Development of the
Greek City-States
•Independent city-states developed in
Greece as the Hellenic age began.
•City-states grew out of earlier village
that had been built on mountains and
scattered islands.
•The arrangement of the geography of
Greece encouraged the development of
small and separated communities.

2. Athens and Sparta
• Independent communities
Qualities of the City-States:
• Had forts on hills and
mountaintops built for
protection• City states are also called
Polis

3. Laconia & attica
Athens vs Sparta ~ Greek city-states

5. MILITARY
• The Spartan warrior
was the most feared
soldier in Greece
• The Athenian trireme
allowed the navy to
protect the Athenian
way of life

6. Social structure
ATHENS
FREEMEN
ARISTOCRATS
SMALL FARMERS
URBAN CRAFTSMEN &
TRIREME ROWERS
METICS – CAME
FROM OUTSIDE
ATHENS; NOT
ALLOWED TO OWN
LAND
SLAVES – LOWEST
CLASS, NO RIGHTS,
PROPERTY OF
MASTERS
SPARTA
SPARTIATES –
MILITARY
PROFESSIONALS/
CITIZENS
OUTSIDERS –
FREEMEN; ARTISANS,
CRAFTSMEN,
MERCHANTS
HELOTS –
CONQUERED
PEOPLES; TREATED
LIKE SLAVES; OWED
50% OF PRODUCE TO
SPARTIATES

7. Women’s roles
• Athenian:
– sequestered in the
home
– not educated
– responsible for
handicrafts and textiles
• Spartan:
– Controlled home and
land when husbands
were fighting
– “Come back with your
shield, or on it.”

8. EDUCATION
 ATHENS
– No formal education for
girls outside the home
– Boys learned rhetoric,
mathematics, reading
writing, poetry, music,
gymnastics
 SPARTA
– Military school at age 7
for boys
– Lived in barracks and
stole to survive
– Girls learned athletics

9. Athens and Sparta
Athens
Sparta

11.  The Polis is the center of Greek community life
 The ideal size of a Polis was about 5,000 male
citizens, the only gender counted in official
records
 Develops around forts
 The Greek city-states were small; the largest,
Sparta, covered about 3,200 sq. miles
 Many city-states were smaller, and a few were
larger. Athens, the largest in population, had about
35,000 male citizens in the middle of 500 BC. The
rest of the population of 350,000 consisted of
women, children, foreign residents and slaves
 The Polis is the center of Greek community life
 The ideal size of a Polis was about 5,000 male
citizens, the only gender counted in official
records
 Develops around forts
 The Greek city-states were small; the largest,
Sparta, covered about 3,200 sq. miles
 Many city-states were smaller, and a few were
larger. Athens, the largest in population, had about
35,000 male citizens in the middle of 500 BC. The
rest of the population of 350,000 consisted of
women, children, foreign residents and slaves
Polis
Back to Athens and Sparta

12. Sparta
Settled by Dorians who occupied part of
the Southern Peninsula of Greece, the
Peloponnesus.
800 BC- Spartans conquered nearby
regions and forced many of the people to
work as farm-laborers, or Helots. Helots
worked on for the Polis on the farms of
Sparta. Helots out numbered the Spartans
by 10 to 1. The Spartans lived in constant
fear of revolt so they established a strong
military government to maintain order.
Settled by Dorians who occupied part of
the Southern Peninsula of Greece, the
Peloponnesus.
800 BC- Spartans conquered nearby
regions and forced many of the people to
work as farm-laborers, or Helots. Helots
worked on for the Polis on the farms of
Sparta. Helots out numbered the Spartans
by 10 to 1. The Spartans lived in constant
fear of revolt so they established a strong
military government to maintain order.

13. Aim of the Spartans
• To produce strong-bodied, fearless people every
stage of a Spartan’s life is planned
– Sickly babies were left to die
– At the age of seven, a Spartan boy will be
moved into a military barracks
– He will stay there until he turns thirty,
toughening his body, learning discipline and
training for war
– Winter and summer he went barefoot and
wore only a short tunic
– He learned to be brave and cunning and to
endure pain. Spartan women also were
trained in gymnastics and physical endurance

14. After the War…
• Spartans were expected to marry, but the family
was regarded as less important than the polis
• The polis gave each family land and helots to
farm it
• Women had the responsibility of managing their
farms and households
• Men of Sparta spent more time fighting or
practicing military skills. They spent leisure time
at a soldier’s club. Even after retiring at age of
60, Spartan men served the government or
military schools of the polis
Back to Athens and Sparta

15. SPARTA’S LEGACY
• Military contributions
• The Phalanx (shown in
the picture)
• Training and fighting
styles
• Plato viewed Sparta as
the first attempt at
forming an “ideal”
community
• Simple lifestyle
– Laconic – of few words
– Spartan – frugal,
simple, plain

16. Athens
• The Athenians were great artists,
play-wrights, poets and thinkers.
• Athens became the commercial &
cultural center of Greece.
• Women were educated only in the
skills needed to run a household.
• Athenians believed that man’s life
was empty if he failed to use his
mind and develop all his talents.

17. • Athens took the head in the creation
of democracy, which comes from a
Greek word meaning “rule by the
people”.
• They chose a group of officials known
as archons to rule the polis.
• Archons tended to favor the upper
class.
• The merchants, artisans & farmers of
The Athenians develop new
ideas of government

18. Athenians laws were
written.
• In 621 B.C. an aristocrat named
Draco drew up the first written
code of laws for Athens.
• The laws were harsh, and Draco’s
code did not change them.
• The archons who served as judges
could interpret the laws as they
pleased.

19. Athenians Laws
• Solon makes political reforms
• During this time, nobles owned most
farmlands and most of the farmers were
in debt to them.
• The nobles were harsh people.
• Some peasants who cannot pay their debts
either lost their lands or became slaves as
a way of paying their debts.
• Even today harsh laws are called
draconian law.
• The aristocrats passed the problem to a
statesman, poet & merchant named Solon.
• He was regarded as a very wise and just
person.

20. • Given full power, Solon made many
changes.
• He cancelled the debts of the poor,
free those who were enslaved, and
made slavery for debt illegal.
• He replaced many of Draco’s law.
• Solon decreased the power of the
nobles.
• Athenian citizens were divided into
four classes and it was based on
wealth and not on noble birth.
• This gave the chance for the three
highest ranks and the four classes to
hold power.
• Also the merchants were given the
chance to have a say in the
government. Athens

21. • To improve farmers prosperity, Solon
encouraged them to grow new crops.
• Oil and wine were exported and Athens trade
grew quickly.
• The young people were taught a skill or trade
and granted Athenian citizenship to artisans
from other cities.
• Athens's prosperity grew as other handicrafts
were traded through the Mediterranean.
• The reforms didn’t satisfy the nobles or lower
class but the assembly pledged to abide by
them.
• Solon, himself, resigned his office and traveled
abroad
Athens

22. Pisistratus Promotes
Cultural Life
• A politician named Pisistratus gained
the support of the poor and was
the firm ruler of Athens
• In ancient Greece, the sole ruler of
a polis is called a tyrant
– Tyrants used opposive measures
therefore developing the meaning of
tyrant as a person who rules harshly
• Although a tyrant, he gave more
land to farmers

23. • Pisistratus also promoted
Athenian culture life
– He encouraged sculptors and
painters and sponsored drama
festivals
– He had Homer epics collected
and gave prices for public
readings of them
– His promotion of the arts laid
the foundation for Athens to
Athens

24. Cleisthenes
Credited with having established
democracy in Athens, Cleisthenes'
reforms at the end of the 6th
Century BC made possible the
Golden Age of Athenian
civilization that would follow in
the 5th Century BC. Born into one
of the city's foremost political
dynasties, he became the unlikely
champion of the people when they
BACK

25. Cleisthenes Established more
Democratic Practices
• Cleisthenes headed the political
party that opposes tyrants
• Cleisthenes reformed the political
system and divided Athens into ten
areas called demes (deemz)
– Fifty men from each deme served as in an
Advisory Council
– All male citizens could vote in the
assembly

26. • Cleisthenes started a new practice,
that required Athenians to point out
and vote anyone they believed was a
threat to Athens. If 6,000 votes were
cast against a particular person, he
was forced to leave Athens for 10
years
• They wrote the votes on a piece of
broken pottery known as ostralum,
this practice became known as
ostracism
– Few people were actually ostracized,
Athens

27. Thanks for
listening!
Athens

28. SCARY!
Fearless!
STRONG!
Crazy!
POWERFUL!
Unstoppable!
Wicked-sick!
owning!
Monster kill!God-like!
pretty!
BACK

29. S
Polis
Back to Polis

30. Athens – birthplace of
Democracy
• Adult male citizens
directly participated in
affairs of the state
• Trial by a jury selected
by lot
• Ostracism – people
could be banished
from Athens by vote
• Council of 500, the
Assembly

31. Athenian legacy – Philosophy,
architecture, drama, art

32. 1. Enumerate the qualities of a
city-state?
2. Explain what is a Polis?
3. Make a table of comparison
between Sparta and Athens in
terms of its government,
culture, and daily activities

33. • 1. It is know as the cradle of Western Civilization
• 2. The blind poet who influenced Greek Religion
and wrote the Iliad and The Odyssey.
• 3-4. Known as the two heroes of Iliad.
• 5. This civilization was named after the legendary King
Minos.
• 6. Regarded as the illiterate people who moved to
Southern Greece.
• 7. Known as the Golden Age of Greek Civilization.
• 8. Known as the most important Greek god, God of
Thunder.
• 9. Known as the god of music, prophecy, medicine, and
rational thinking.
• 10. Known as the goddess of love and beauty

34. 1. Aegean Sea
2. Homer
3. Achilles
4. Hector
5. Minoan
6. Dorians
7. Hellenic
8. Zeus
9. Apollo
10. Aphrodite
• 1. It is know as the cradle of Western Civilization
• 2. The blind poet who influenced Greek Religion
and wrote the Iliad and The Odyssey.
• 3-4. Known as the two heroes of Iliad.
• 5. This civilization was named after the legendary
King Minos.
• 6. Regarded as the illiterate people who moved to
Southern Greece.
• 7. Known as the Golden Age of Greek Civilization.
• 8. Known as the most important Greek god, God of
Thunder.
• 9. Known as the god of music, prophecy, medicine,
and rational thinking.
• 10. Known as the goddess of love and beauty