ancient greece

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The ancient Greek civilization began to develop about 4,000 years ago. Their culture still impacts our culture today.

We talk about "gifts from the Greeks". They truly did give the world some fabulous inventions. It was the Greeks who fine-tuned trial by jury.

They created the most wonderful stories - the ancient Greek myths. They invented tragedy and comedy and produced plays in their open-air theatres. Thousands of Greeks would attend each performance.

They loved art, and the theatre, and literature, and music. They experimented with a new form of government - democracy. Their architects created the famous Greek column design, still used in many buildings being constructed today.

Perhaps their most famous gift was the ancient Greek Olympics. The Olympics have changed quite a bit over the years, but we still hold the Olympic games today.

MINOANS

The Minoans lived on the island of Crete. They were a very advanced people. They were ruled by a king, so they had a central government. They had a really strong navy, being an island culture.

They had beautiful art and statues. They had running water for drinking and bathing.

They even had toilets that flushed! The Greeks never conquered the Minoans. But they knew each other. The Greeks traded with the Minoans.

The Minoan capital city was the city of Knossos. That's where the king lived. His palace was amazing.

It supposedly had 1500 rooms. But even the poor people on the island of Crete had beautiful homes, decorated with drawings of the sea. Most had 4 bedrooms.

The Minoans had a written language. Scholars and archaeologists have discovered a great deal about their daily life from the records they left behind. They also learned about them from the pictures they found painted on the ruins of the walls of their homes.

Scholars believe that the ancient Minoans enjoyed a rather odd sporting event. There are paintings of both boys and girls jumping over the horns of snorting bulls. It would appear that this was a most popular sport.

About 2,500 years ago, much of the island was destroyed by an earthquake, but the Minoans rebuilt. About 200 years later, much of the island was destroyed by tidal waves, triggered by an erupting volcano.

After the volcano, there is no record of the Minoan civilization. Perhaps they moved to some other place. No one knows.

The ancient Greek storytellers had a lot of fun with stories about the Minoans. One of our favorites is about the Minotaur, the horrible beast, half man, half bull, who made his home at the heart of a maze near the king's splendid (1500 room!) palace.

The Heroic Age The Mycenaeans

A tribe rose to power in very early ancient Greece - the Mycenaeans.

The Mycenaeans thought they were the best warriors in the world. They fought with everybody.

They used stone weapons. They nearly always won. They did write things down, mostly boasting about their wonderful victories in battle.

And they did have art, mostly art that showed warriors fighting with each other and with animals (with the Mycenaeans winning, of course.)

So scholars do know something about these early people. Scholars learned from their writings and paintings that the Mycenaeans worshiped a great many gods, and built their homes on top of hills, to better defend them.

The Mycenaean age, or the time period in Greek history when the Mycenaeans were in charge, is sometimes called The Heroic Age.

The Mycenaeans were very proud of their military heroes. They had that in common with all the early people who lived on the Greek peninsula.

DARK AGES

There is a period in ancient Greek history called the Grecian Dark Ages. A dark age is a time period we know little about. Although we know very little about this time, what we do know is very important!

The Greek Dark Ages was a time period when the Dorians ruled the people who lived scattered across the Greek peninsula.

One reasons we know so little about this period in history is that the Dorians did not have a written language. The Dorians were not into art or music or literature. The Dorians were into war. Their life was spent fighting. The Dorians did not build cities. They destroyed them.

It was easy for the Dorians to conquer the people living on the Greek peninsula. Before Dorian rule, tribes of early people might vaguely know there was a village downstream.

They might even trade with them. But they did not work together. They did not speak the same language.

They did not have a common history. They had not yet formed city-states so that villages could work together for the betterment of all.

These early people used stone tools. They had stone weapons. The Dorians had metal weapons. When the Dorians swooped down on the Greek peninsula, they had no trouble taking over. Their rule lasted for about 400 years.

During the Greek dark ages, some people earned a living with their storytelling skills. The storytellers went from town to town.

We do know a few interesting things that happened during the Grecian Dark Ages thanks to the storytellers.

Because the townspeople did not like the Dorians, the idea of using the Greek language to tell their stories caught on among the storytellers. It made it easier for them.

The storytellers did not need to speak every language spoken on the Greek peninsula. They only had to speak Greek. The people in the towns and villages quickly learned the Greek language so they could better understand the stories. The Greeks always loved a good story. Soon, the ancient Greeks had a common language.

Storytellers told fables, myths and legends. Different storytellers might give a new twist to a story, but the basic story was told over and over.

Thanks to the storytellers, the people now had a common language. They had a common history. They had common heroes, presented to them in the stories told by the storytellers. They had a common religion.

These early people learned one important thing from the Dorian invaders. They learned to make metal tools and metal weapons. This came in quite handy when the Greeks began to organize themselves into city-states, and work together. City-states could be defended. The Greeks used their new knowledge of metal weapons to defeat the hated Dorians

City - State

After the Greek dark ages, villages started to band together, in part for protection and in part for more organized trade. They wanted strong trading centers.

Groups of villages that banded together were called city-states. There were hundreds of city-states in ancient Greece, some really small ones and some really big ones with large populations.

Although each city-state had its own form of government and its own army, and even sometimes its own navy, and each city-state certainly its own way of doing things, the city-states of ancient Greece had many things in common.

They all spoke the same language; they all believed in the same gods; they all worshiped in the same way; they all thought of themselves as Greeks.

But they were loyal to their city-state. If you asked someone in ancient Greece where they were from, they would not say they were from Greece, because Greece at that time was not a country.

It was a collection of city-states, each with its own personality and way of doing things. They would say they were from Athens, or Sparta, or Corinth, or Argos. The Greeks were very proud of their own city-state.

The city-states banded together to fight outsiders. They also banded together to fight each other

ATHENS

Athenians thought of themselves as the best city-state in all of ancient Greece. They recognized that other city-states had value and were Greek, but they were the best. Ask any ancient Athenian and they would tell you that Athens had the best literature, the best poetry, the best drama, the best schools - and truly, they were a leading city-state.

Athens was the measuring stick. There was one exception - the city-state of Sparta.

No other city-state in ancient Greece was like Sparta. Whereas Athens was famous for their arts and sciences, Sparta was famous for their military strength.

The ancient Greeks believed that each city-state had one or two gods keeping a special eye on that city-state. The god in charge of Athens was Athena, goddess of wisdom.

Education was very important in Athens. From their mothers, girls learned how to cook and sew and run a home, and how to be a good wife and mother.

SPARTA

Sparta was a powerful city-state in ancient Greece.

Sparta was ruled by a small group of retired warriors. This type of government is called an oligarchy. The Spartans spoke Greek. They thought of themselves as Greeks. But Sparta was very different from the other Greek city-states.

All citizens in ancient Greece were warriors. But the Spartans were the best warriors in all of Greece.

There was no argument about that. The city-state of Sparta was basically a well-trained army. In other city-states, children entered military school at age 18.

Sparta, they entered at age 6. The girls were taught how to fight as well. Their school was separate from the boys' school. It was not as brutal, perhaps. But still, the girls learned how to fight and steal and lie and kill - skills that could save their lives in times of war.

Men and male children, from the age of 6, lived in the soldiers' barracks until they retired from military service.

The men were often off fighting. The women were left behind to guard their homes. Perhaps because of this, women in ancient Sparta had a great deal of freedom.

They ran businesses. They were free to move around and visit neighbors without asking their husbands permission.

But not everyone who lived in Sparta was a citizen of Sparta. To be a citizen with full rights of fair trial, the men had to pay to prove they were the ancestors of the original people who lived in Sparta.

If they couldn't prove it, or couldn't afford to pay for the search, they were not citizens. Citizens had many rights like the right to a fair trial and the right to be educated to be a good warrior and to live in the barracks. Non-citizens could be killed for no reason at all.

The other Greek city-states had no desire to be Spartans. Many thought they were military fanatics, but they admired their strength. Most wanted Sparta on their side. No incredible works of art were created in Sparta as they were in other Greek city-states. But Spartans were good friends to have in times of war

GREEK OLYMPICS

The first Olympics games are usually given the start year of 776 BCE, but they probably began even sooner. The ancient Greeks loved competitions of all sorts, especially sporting competitions. The Olympics were not the only competition games held in ancient Greece, but they were the most popular.

Once the Olympics began, the Olympic competition was held once every four years for the next 1000 years! The games were held in honor of the mighty god, Zeus, king of all the gods. The games were held in the city-state of Olympia. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

If two or more Greek city-states happen to be at war with each other when the game date arrived, war was halted for the duration of the games.

The Greeks took the Olympic games quite seriously. Nearly all the ancient Greek cities sent teams to participate in the ancient Greek Olympics.

Women were not allowed to attend the games because men did not wear clothes when they competed in the events.

Everyone wanted their city-state to win! There was a winner of each competition at the games.

All the winner won at the games was a crown made of leaves to wear on his head. When the winning athletics returned home to their city-state, they were treated like superstars!

Greek Ships

Greek ships were about 115 feet long. That's about the same size as three school buses lined up in a row.

Some ships were designed to carry cargo. Others were designed as weapons. The Greeks added a layer of brass to the tip of their warships to make their ships work effectively as a battering ram when needed.

Greek ships, whatever their purpose, were powered by sails and oarsmen. They were built to turn briskly and move rapidly through the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Before ships left harbor, Greek sailors prayed to the sea god Poseidon to keep them safe.

The Greeks used their ships to trade with other Greek city-states, as well as other civilizations around the Mediterranean.

In times of war, their specially designed ships, along with well trained oarsmen and strong sails, helped them to defeat their enemies in sea battles.

Athens, by far, had the best navy of all of the ancient Greek city-states. Their ability to fight well at sea was critical to their victory in their war with Persian.

Peloponnesian war

The Peloponnesian War was a war fought between Sparta and Athens. It lasted 27 years. Sparta and Athens were always in disagreement. They did not get along. But 27 years! It was a terrible war.

When war broke out, everyone who lived in the countryside around Athens fled to the city to escape the Spartan attacks. The city was not ready for that many people to move in.

They did not have enough food or water or shelter, or a way to handle that much waste and garbage. By the third year of fighting, more than half the population of Athens had died of illness.

More died in battle. It was a horrible time. The war dragged on. Other city-states got involved. Finally, Athens surrendered.

Sparta was generous in victory. Corinth wanted Athens leveled. They never wanted to put up with this bickering and warring again. But Sparta said no.

The Spartan's admired bravery and Athens had shown true bravery. Instead, for the next ten years, Athens was an outpost of Sparta, under Spartan rule. After ten years, Sparta gave Athens her independence.

Athens began to regain her former glory. But Athens was never again the shining star of the ancient Greek world.

If Athens had had more time, perhaps, the city might have fully recovered. But time was running out for all the Greek city-states.

Macedonia, a country to the north of Greece, had eyed Greece's splendor for some time.

The king of Macedonia knew the Greek city-states were weakened by the Peloponnesian War, the war between Athens and Sparta. Macedonia would soon move to conquer all the Greek city-states.

Alexander the Great

Alexander, known as the Great Greek, was not Greek. He was a Macedonian prince. Macedonia was an empire located to the north of Greece.

Alexander had many teachers, one of which was Aristotle. Aristotle was also born in Macedonia. However, Aristotle lived in Greece for a really long time.

He loved the Greeks. He believed in the Greek gods. He knew Greek history and the Greek language and Greek theatre.

Aristotle thought the Greeks were clever and interesting and talented, and he spoke of his admiration for the Greeks many times to his student, the young prince, Alexander.

Alexander grew up dreaming of the day he would be king. When he was king, he too would teach everyone about the Greek culture he had come to know and love so well. Obviously, Aristotle had a great effect on Alexander and what he believed.

But Alexander had other teachers, teachers that taught him how to wage war and how to conquer other people. His teachers tried to teach him that a Macedonian king was not merciful. But Alexander disagreed.

When his father died, and Alexander became king, he allowed every culture he conquered the opportunity to rule themselves. All he asked was that they be loyal to Alexander.

He taught all the people he conquered about the ancient Greeks - he shared their stories, their myths, their gods, their language - just as he had been taught.

Alexander never lost a battle, never, not even one. By the time he was 32, he had conquered the entire Mediterranean region, and even reached into the Indus River region.

He probably would have kept going, but one day, he became ill and died. He was only 32 years old.

We owe Alexander a great deal. It was Alexander who spread the Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean.

Without Alexander, that culture might not have survived. The Macedonians conquered the Greek city-states.

The ancient Romans conquered the Greek city-states. Who knows what might have been lost without the teachings of Alexander the Great.