Ch. 5 Sec. 2 Greek Government & Society

Greek Culture in the Homeric Age During this time, few people could write so most communication was spoken During the 700s B.C. there were two epic poems; the Iliad & the Odyssey An epic poem is a long poem about heroes & great events

These poems were written by a blind poet named Homer.

The Iliad tells the story of the Trojan war The Odyssey tells the story of the Greek warrior, Odysseus, on his way home from the war.

The Greeks looked to religion for three things: 1. they wanted religion to explain nature 2. they wanted religion to explain the emotions that sometimes cause people to lose self-control 3. they believed religion could bring them benefits here & now, such as long life, good luck, or good harvest

Greeks didn’t expect their religion to save them from sin Afterlife-Greeks believed the spirits of people went to a gloomy underworld ruled by the god Hades, which was neither a punishment or reward

To explain their world, the Greeks created myths—traditional stories about gods, goddesses, & heroes Greeks believed that the gods spoke through priests & priestesses at special places called oracles

The Olympic Games- held every 4 yrs. In honor of Zeus, king of the gods The games were held to please the gods & showing strength & bravery in athletic contests was a good way to do this

Greek Gov’t: From Kings to Democracy City-states of Greece began as small kingdoms ruled by warrior chiefs who were supported by wealthy landowners, known as nobles, to support their army By 700B.C. the nobles overthrew their kings & city-states controlled by nobles were known as aristocracies

Aristocrats were the wealthiest landowners who held a monopoly over the military, controlled the economy, acted as judges, set the city-state’s laws & punishments, & control over religion

By the 600s B.C., nonaristocratic soldiers called hoplites emerged in many parts of Greece The leaders who brought a better life to people were the tyrants—someone who illegally took power but had the people’s support

At first tyrants worked well, but in some cases these rulers became unjust Around 500B.C. some of the city- states had the idea of popular government - this is the idea that people can & should rule themselves

Athens formed a democracy – gov’t in which citizens take part Still, full political right were allowed to only a small part of the pop.