THE CLASSICAL ERA

Chapter 6-Mastering the

TEKS in World History

Chapter 5-World History

Book

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE (2000B.C. -100B.C. )

BUILDING AN EMPIRE

The Medes and the Persians lived in the Middle

East on the Iranian Plateau between the Caspian

Sea and the Persian Gulf.• Cyrus the Great united these 2 peoples in 550

B.C.• Expanded Persia’s territory westward by

conquering Lydia and Babylonia and eastward by conquering territories as far as the Indus River

BUILDING AN EMPIRE

The son of Cyrus the Great, Darius,

unified the Persian Empire by:• Building public roads• Introducing a uniform set of

weights and measures• Establishing several capital cities

RELIGION

At first Persians were polytheistic

570 B.C. a new religion was introduced into the region

by the religious leader Zoroaster Zoroastrianism

*Only 2 Gods-God of truth, light, and goodness

and God of darkness and evil.

*The whole universe was the battleground

between these 2 forces.

PERSIA’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Learned the practice of using coins. Moved from bartering

to a “money economy”. Improved trade throughout the

empire.

Built hundreds of miles of roads using gravel and stone.

Persian Royal Road was 1,500 miles long with more than

100 stations holding fresh horses.

Darius established a postal service to make communication

easier. Couriers carried letters over the new roads.

THE “GLORY” OF GREECE

Civilizations gradually spread from

Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia to

other places in the Mediterranean

region, including Phoenicia, Israel,

and Greece.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE

Ancient Greece consisted of a large

mountainous peninsula, the islands of the Aegean

Sea, and the coast of present-day Turkey.

Hilly terrain makes farming quite difficult.

Much of Greece is stony and suitable only for

pasture. People have come to rely on trade.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF GREECE

Greeks produce:• Wine• Olive oil• Pottery

Greeks were exposed to key achievements of other ancient civilizations, such as the alphabet, invented by the Phoenicians.* Minoans were skilled at shipbuilding.

THE RISE OF GREEK CITY-STATES

Mountains and the seas caused Greek centers of population to

be cut off from one another. As a result, city-states developed,

each with its own form of government and system of laws. In

Greek, the word for city-state is polis.

Common Culture-based on their language, religious beliefs,

traditions, and close economic ties.

All Greeks believed in the same gods and goddesses, including

Zeus, Athena, and Apollo, who were believed to live on Mount

Olympus.

THE RISE OF GREEK CITY-STATES

The siege of Troy still thrill us today.

Citizens from all of Greek city-states

participated every four years in Olympic games in

honor of Zeus and the other Greek gods.

Ancient Greeks were monotheistic or

polytheistic?• Polytheistic

MILITARY SPARTA

THE most important city-state was SPARTA!!!!!!

725 B.C. they conquered their neighbors and forced

them to farm for them.

Life was organized around military needs. Individualism

and new ideas were discouraged. Strict obedience and

self-discipline were high valued. For example: if a baby

was found unhealthy, it was left on a hillside to die.

DEMOCRATIC ATHENS

Unique system of government. Every citizen can participate

in government by voting directly on issues. Main governing

body was the Citizens Assembly. First 5,000 people could

attend these meetings that assembled 10 times a year.

Democracy-ordinary citizens participate in government,

either directly or by elected representatives. Democracy

means “rule of the people” in Greek.

Women, foreigners, and slaves were not considered citizens

and could not participate in government.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK CULTURE

5th Century B.C., the Persian Empire tried to

conquer the Greek city-states. FAILED! After the

war the Greeks enjoyed a “Golden Age.”

Pericles championed democracy. He collected

revenues from other city-states and rebuilt Athens.

Art, literature, and philosophy flourished.

THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK CULTURE

PHILOSOPHY:• Greeks believed that human reasoning

was powerful enough to understand the world and to solve its problems.

• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle asked important questions on and tried to find answers.• What is goodness?• What is morality and justice?

THE GOLDEN AGE OF GREEK CULTURE

PHILOSOPHY (continued)• Socrates’ enemies persuaded the Athenian Council to

condemn Socrates to death for corrupting the young.• Plato took Socrates’ method of questioning a step

further. He concluded that values like goodness, beauty, and justice actually exist as individual ideas that are more real than the changing “appearances” we see in daily life.

• Plato describes an ideal city-state ruled by philosopher kings in his book called The Republic. His most famous student was Aristotle.

• Aristotle collected and classified things from animals to city-state constitutions, and studied their relationships.

“GOLDEN AGE”

Aristotle Socrates

Plato

“GOLDEN AGE”

Art and Achitecture• Greek Buildings and statues were brightly painted

with bold colors.• The Parthenon, a splendid marble temple with

beautiful columns:

“GOLDEN AGE”

Science and Mathematics• Geographers like Eratosthenes showed the Earth

was round and calculated its circumference. He also created a device (sieve) for discovering all prime numbers up to any limit.

• Archimedes is considered of the greatest mathematicians of antiquity. Contributions to Geometry revolutionized the subject. Practical man who studied:

*levers and pullies *measured volume & density

*designed catapults *invented large screw-like device

inside a cylinder to pump water

“GOLDEN AGE”

Music and Literature:• Greeks listened to choral music

and instruments like the stringed lyre and flute, and developed musical scales.• Greek playwriters Sophocles,

completed the first known comedies and tragedies. Greeks watched these plays in giant open-air amphitheaters.

PELOPONNESIAN WARS(432 B .C. -404 B .C. )

Sparta vs. Athens• Sparta finally declared war on Athens in

the Peloponnesian Wars.• After 30 years of fighting, Sparta

emerged as the victor.• Greatly weakened the city-states.• Economic costs were considerable• Poverty widespread• Athens was completely devestated• Sparta emerged as the leading city-

state.

WOMEN IN ANCIENT GREECE

Women were regarded as inferior and excluded

them from public life.

Managed the home, subject to their husband’s will.

Spartan women enjoyed greater status than

elsewhere in Greece.• Education and Physical Training• Could own clothing and slaves but not own land or

enter into contracts.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

338 B.C., the King of Macedonia brought all Greek

city-states under his control. His son Alexander the

Great, was taught by Aristotle.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Conquered most of the Mediterranean world,

including Egypt and Persia, and as far as the Indus

River Valley.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Hellenistic Culture: Fusion of Greek Culture

with cultures of the Middle East and India.

Wherever he went he spread Greek Culture.

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

Vocabulary:• Patricians• Pleabeians• Republic• Senate• Consuls• Tribunes

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

Most influential civilizations emerges in the

ancient world of Rome.

Romans were heirs to Greek culture:• Believed in same Gods and Goddesses as

the Greeks• Gave them Lain (Roman) names.• Studied and imitated Greek achievements

in science, art, history and literature.

THE ROMAN REPUBLIC

The Twelve Tables:• Nobody was above the law, plebeians

nor politicians.• Covered civil, criminal, and religious

law.• Contributed to the importance of a

CONTRACT-private agreement can be enforced by the government.

ROME EXPANDS TOAN EMPIRE

275 B.C., Rome already ruled the entire

Italian peninsula.

Rome defeated its main trading rival,

Carthage, located just across the

Mediterranean in North Africa.• Victory made Rome the leading power in

the Mediterranean.• Rome next acquired territories in Spain,

North Africa, and the eastern Mediterranean.

• Roman Generals like Julius Ceasar completed the conquests of Spain and Gaul (present day France).