Greek city-states developed at the same time that Assyrians were reaching power at Mesopotamia.
-Tribal communities of the Dark Ages turned into city-states
-Greek city-states were small, usually of no more than a town and a few square miles surrounding it
-Usually each town or city-state consisted of a couple thousand, while Athens may have reached as many as 250,000
-Both fortresses and temples were vitally important to the Greek city-states
-Fiercely competitive communities that often fought
-Each community would worship a god or goddess (Athens- Athena)
City-States
-Greece was not controlled by a universal empire, allowing the city-states to fight among themselves
-Couldn’t afford professional soldiers so they relied on infantry armies from their own males
-For the males who could afford it, they would equip themselves with bronze helmets and armor, long spears with iron blades and short iron swords
-Poorer citizens fought as light-armed infantry, annoying the enemy before the stronger part of the army would attack
-Each city-state was thought to be developed by families or clans descended by a divine or semidivine founder (Athens- King Theseus- Son of Poseidon)
-Most of citizens claimed to be offspring of common forefathers
-Status of father determined that of his children
-There was no reason to fight in an individual state because they were all related somehow
Sparta
-Spartans were descendants of Greeks who conquered the southern mainland
-They would push west for rich soil
-Spartan citizens were outnumbered ten to one with noncitizens
-To hold the helots, Spartans would have to have a government that allowed domination from their own kind
-Main executive authority were five officials elected annually, and they were usually elder
-Their way of life dedicated male citizens to the state
-The males were made as warriors
-At age of seven boys were taken from their families and would go on an extreme life of physical and military training
-They were allowed to marry after 20, and bachelors were punished
-Even married men were required to live in barracks until the age of thirty
-Women would also have to go into physical drills to become healthy and child-bearing women
-But they were given more freedom from the state
-Women were praised if they gave great military ideas
-After the Spartans were starting to lose battles, Aristotle said that women were useless for war, so trying to protect the Spartans tough life, they tried to seal off their state due to the fact that there best trait, war, was losing out
-Most Spartans would pay to have their system stay as is
-With this system, Spartans were the dominant city-state of mainland Greece
Athens
-According to the Athenians the Spartan way of life was pointless
-A joke made was the fact that Spartan life would lead to death
-Athens was not agricultural and landlocked like Sparta but rather carried on prosperous commerce and access to the sea
-Sparta- army and Athens- navy
-Sparta- closed and controlled: Athens- open and free
-But even though Athens was peace and freedom like they were also warlike
-Over a few centuries Athens was one of the most wealthy and powerful states
-Citizens, immigrants, and slaves worked together to make weapons, pottery, and articles of silver, lead, and marble
-These products would be shipped to various places
-Athenian aristocrats were proud to be excellent humans
-Their families would marry mostly among themselves
-The boys were physically fit in anything and at age of 18 assigned to two years of military and civic training
-They were outstanding in body and mind
-Even some aristocrat girls would get an education
-Athens went through many stages of government
-After democracy was made there were two turning points in life of Athens and Greece
-First was Persian wars which Athens lead Greece to victory, and then it came to the Golden Age (460 B.C. - 430 B.C.)
-This time was when Athens were confident, strong, powerful and most successful in all Greece but it was cut short cause of the Peloponnesian wars
-This war was between Athens and Sparta in which Athens was defeated and never grew back the same confidence
-In the Sixth Century B.C. the Persians were the first universal empire to attack Greece
-They conquered Greece until revolutions were made by the Athenians causing Darius I to conquer mainland Greece
-Son of Darius, Xerxes, sent two expeditions by land and sea to conquer Greece
-The first was stopped by Athens at Marathon in 490 B.C.
-Second was stopped ten years later in Salamis near Athens in which Athenian ships destroyed the Persian ships
-On land a small Spartan force would hold Xerxes and his army in their suicidal stand at Thermopylae in 480 B.C. but the main portion of Spartan armies would defeat the Persians at Plataea
-Athens would liberate the Greeks of Anatolia in 445 B.C. forcing Persia to make peace
-Democracy was their only way to survive and thrive at the same time
-In Athenian Democracy power would rest in adult male citizens
-Any decision made was made through the Assembly
-Meetings were held once a week and less than five thousand would attend
-Meeting place was first at agora but later at a hill called the Pynx
-Voting was by show of hands
-Debates were very spirited and this way of government lead to many governments present today
-To keep balance the people of the government (Council of five-hundred and one thousand public officials that it supervised) were chosen by lot
-Ten generals were voted each year to command the armies and navies
-Cause of the amount of general’s, military takeover of power was a very small chance
-For a court each trial was made up of a draw of five-hundred men from a list
-This would guarantee a broad judgment of the crime
-There were no lawyers and every citizen would argue their own case
-Women power was the same as most other places
-If the woman was to leave the house she would be escorted by a close male relative
-They were protected more though by close male companions
-They were important when it came to worshipping gods and goddesses
-The fifty thousand or so resident aliens were a varied group
-They could be wealthy men to slaves, independent women to owner of stores
-The hundred thousand group of slaves were also diverse
-Some could get and education and were likely freed in the owners will
-While some slaves were treated fairly there were many others who were not
-Athenian laws concerning aliens, slaves, and women were not a part of democracy
Ancient Greek Words
-Polis- Greek City- State
-Politēs- Citizen
-Dēmos- Common People
-Ephors- Overseers
-Agora- Marketplace
-Stratēgoi- Force Commanders
-Hataerae- Female Companions
Vocabulary
-Colony-a new city-state settled in an oversea territory by a group sponsored by a city-state elsewhere
-Oracle-a priest or a priestess who was believed to give answers that were inspired by a god or goddess to questions from worshipers at a temple
-Acropolis-the high fortified citadel and religious center of an ancient Greek town
-Hoplite-a heavily armed and armored citizen-soldier of ancient Greece
-Phalanx-a unit of several hundred hoplites, who closed ranks by joining shields when approaching the enemy
-Monarchy-a state in which supreme power is held by a single, usually heredity ruler
-Oligarchy-a state in which supreme power is held by a small group
-Triremes-massive fighting vessels with three banks of oars, used to ram or board enemy ships
-Tyranny-rule by a self-proclaimed dictator
-Democracy-a form of government in which all adult male citizens were entitled to take part in decision making
-Helots-noncitizens forced to work for landholders in the ancient city-state of Sparta
-Aristocrats-members of prominent and long-established Athenian families
-Ostracism-banishment for ten years by majority vote of the Athenian Assembly
