By: Allison Green

“Surely, knowing about excellence is not enough. We must try to possess it and use it.”

-Aristotle, The Politics, 350 B.C.

“Liberty overmasters democracy-The truth being that excessive increase of anything often causes a reaction in the opposite direction; and this is the case … above all in forms of government.”

-Plato, Greek philosopher, form The Republic, 360 B.C.

“Our administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy…. But all this ease in our private relations does not make us lawless citizens. Against this, fear is our chief safeguard, teaching us to obey the magistrates and the laws.”

-Pericles, Greek leader and general, quoted by the Greek historian Thucydides in The History of The Peloponnesian War, 431 B.C.

CulturesCycladic Culture

•The Cycladic began around 3000 B.C. and were 200 islands in the Aegean Sea.

• The artifacts found tell about their way of life

•Most Cycladic people made a living by fishing, farming, or trading.

• The highly skilled craft workers made the art and traded with other cultures.

•In about 2000 B.C. the Cycladic Culture began to weaken and the people started to follow the customs and traditions of more powerful, neighboring cultures.

Minoan Culture

•The Minoan Culture began on a large island in Crete.

• Historians named this culture after Minos or the King of Crete.

• Minoan culture started out as an agricultural society.

•The farming villages turned into Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, and Kato Zarko.

•They began to build buildings. The largest palace was in Knossos.

•The Minoans were experts at sailing.

•They learned how to create bronze and made weapons out of it.

•Their pictograph were written on clay tablets that stood for sounds in words.

•A fire destroyed many of the tablets.

•By the 1100 B.C. the Mycenaeans ruled Crete.

Cultures

Mycenaean Culture•The Mycenaean Culture was named after the city Mycenae and was located in Peloponnesus. • In the 1500s B.C. the Mycenaeans had become the dominant culture. •The Mycenaeans learned the Minoan style, writing, language, conquered less-powerful cities, and way of building. •Their palaces were in Mycenae, Athens, Thebes, Pylos, and Tiryns. •The palaces were surrounded by large gateways to protect them during times of war. • In about 1200 B.C. the Mycenaean culture came to an end by an earthquake. Some villages were rebuilt, but never regained their earlier power.

Trojan Culture•The Trojan Culture was built at Troy and thick walls surrounded the area. •They had a passage for trading and warfare. •The Trojans farmed, traded with cultures, raised horses, and herded sheep. •Troy is described as the Iliad and the Odyssey these epics were written by Homer, a Greek poet. •Mycenaeans invaded and destroyed Troy around 1250 B.C. •For ten year the Mycenaeans tried to capture Troy, but the high stone walls were impossible to break through. •The Mycenaean king ordered craft workers to build a horse and soldiers hide in it. When it was finished some soldiers hide in it. Then the Mycenaeans pretended to leave. Thinking the horse was a peace offering the Trojans pulled the horse into their city. That night the Mycenaean soldiers climbed out opened the gates and in the morning defeated and burned the city of Troy.

City-StatesRise of The City-States

People joined to make the city-states and had walls to protect them. Forts were built on an acropolis, under the acropolis was the houses, public

buildings, and an agora and below the acropolis were the farmlands and the smaller homes.

The overcrowding did not meet peoples needs, so they caused the people to live in Sicily.

The city-states fought over land and this helped them gain more power.

Athens Athens was located the Balkan Peninsula. An aristocracy ruled Athens after the Dark Age. Wealthy leaders wanted control. Athenians asked Solon to make changes to the government. Solon separated

people into three classes based on wealth. By gaining wealth people could change classes. The Athenians wanted a larger role in making decisions, so they formed a democracy. Cleisthenes let men 18 or older, no matter what class, join the government. In addition, he created a council made up of m500 male citizens. They had reforms

that allowed all citizens to run for the government.

City-StatesSparta

•Sparta was located on the Peloponnesian Peninsula. •They had three classes. First class the wealthy men, second the slaves, and third the communities around. The people feared the third class, because of how many they had.• The Spartans were descendants of the Dorian‘s. • To prepare for life in military, men started at six and seven year olds. •Sparta had the only standing army and had two king from different family's. • Sparta used an oligarchy- government system that let the ruling classes decide for everyone.•The Spartans were admired by people, because they were well-known were lasting.

To Be Greek• City-states thought they did not belong to a culture, so they were as ingle government.•They say that Hellenes people and Hellas was named after the leader Hellen. •Zeus had control over nature and human life. •Aphrodite was the god of love and beauty. •Hermes was the messenger of the gods. •The Olympics were held every four years to honor Zeus. • The people who could not speak Greek were Greek barbarians. A barbarian is a person who is uncivilized or rough mannered.

The Golden AgeThe Persian War

Persians built an Empire that included Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt, and the Greek city-states. Darius I fought with Athens and even though there were more Persians the Athens won. A messenger ran from Marathon to Athens to report the news of Athens victory. They now have a race of the run. Xerxes, Darius I son, tried conquering Athenians again, but even out numbered the Athenians won again.The Spartans were allies until the war ended.Then islands around Athens joined with them and formed the Delian League.

The Age Of PericlesPericles was in the ruling class and during his time they had great achievements. He was the cousin of Cleisthenes.He worked on changes for 30 years. They finally paid the public officials and government officials. The lower classes could now run in the government. 20,000 Athenians held jobs and Pericles let male citizens from any class take part in the government.

Achievements Of The Golden AgePericles hired the best architects and artist to build public buildings. Herodotus wrote about the history of the Persian War and the achievements of the cultures. Sophocles wrote about the tragedies and Aristophanes wrote comedies. Hippocrates found out that illness comes from nature and not the angering gods. Hippocrates is best remembered for the rules for doctors. People still take the oath, which is called the Hippocrates Oath.

The Golden AgeThe End Of The Golden Age

Pericles thought Athens could be the most powerful city. Athens broke off friendly relations because of their growing power. Sparta went to war with Athens and it sparked the Peloponnesian War. The plague broke out in Sparta and killed many people such as Pericles. The navy defended Athens for 27 years. The new rulers kept promises they could not keep and had to surrender to Sparta. Sparta changed the government to an oligarchy. Athens was then able to take control of the government and changed it to a democracy.

Greek PhilosophersSocrates called himself the city’s “gadfly”. The criticism annoyed the new leaders of Athens and the Athenian court found Socrates guilty of dangerous teaching, so he had to end his life. Plato was disappointed in the rulers. He said the rulers should be good character. Plato started an academy for teaching. Aristotle entered the academy at age 18. He was interested in how he would like things to be. Aristotle and Plato both believed the best life was one spent searching for knowledge and truth.

Alexander's Great EmpireThe Making An EmpireAlexander was born in 356 B.C. His father was Philip II and his mother was Olympias. His mother and father hired Aristotle to teach him. Alexander studied literature, philosophy, politics an was in sports, physical fitness, and warfare. Alexander was done with school at age 16 and at age 18 controlled the Calvary. His dad taught him to be a fearless warrior.Phillip II was killed by one of his bodyguards, so 20 year old Alexander took over. In 355 B.C. Alexander rebelled against Thebes and won. About 30,00 people were put into slavery. Alexander's action discouraged city-states and they never rebelled.

Building Of An EmpireAlexander set out with 35,00 men to accomplish his fathers dream to attack Persia. Alexander got more wealth and glory by defeating the Persians at the Granicus River. He went on a journey to Gordium and cut the not that King Gordius tied. He commanded the army to build a cross-way or bridge to conquer Tyre. The people of Tyre surrendered after seven months. Darius fled the city of Gaugamela, because Alexander defeated the biggest Persian Army.Alexander gained so much power he was crowned the most powerful leader and was called Alexander the Great.

End Of An EmpireAlexander controlled lots of land, but still wanted more. He lead his army to the Indus Valley and on his way there he married the Princess of Roxane. They reached the Ganges River and wanted to move on. His army refused and he ordered his army to return home. In 323 B.C. Alexander became ill and died. Alexander said the thrown would go to the strongest, unfortunately no one was strong enough. His empire split into villages and the strongest were Egypt, Macedonia, and Syria.

Alexander’s Great Empire The cultures Alexander conquered learned how to write, speak, and follow Greek customs. The Hellenistic Age is named after Alexander. The Hellenistic Age was the time of Great achievements.More than 500,000 scrolls of Papyrus are located in a library at Alexandria. In the library scholars wrote books and exchanged new ideas to one another. Euclid worked in geometry for the line and angles. Archimedes used math to build machines. Aristarchus used math to figure out that the planet revolved around the sun. The Greeks knowledge was not forgotten. The Romans borrowed art, architecture, philosophy, religion, and literature. Alexandria remained a center of learning.