1. Classical Greece and Hellenization

2. Classical Greece (750-336 BCE)
Geographically isolated
Mountains and poor soil limited food production
Colonies for iron and food: Italy, Spain, around the Black Sea
Independent and combative city-states (polis)
Suspended conflict every four years for the Olympic games

3. Classical Greece

4. Greek Colonization
Produced and traded olive oil, wine, pottery, metalwork (silver, gold, iron, copper)

5. Athenian Government
Solon and Cleisthenes removed power from Athenian aristocracy in the 500s BCE
Strengthened democracy: rule by the people
Tyrant: ruler who seized power with lower class support
The Assembly was center of public life for citizens
Public officials chosen by lot and paid
Citizenship: all free, adult Greek males who had completed military service (10% of population)

6. Greek Women and Slaves Athens Sparta
Women had no political rights, education; restricted to the home
Slaves were 1/3 of the population, almost every household owned slaves
Sparta
Women were revered for having children
Women governed Sparta while men are at war
Helots: conquered and enslaved peoples owned by the state, outnumbered Spartans 10:1

7. Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE)
Ionian cities revolted against Persia
Supported by Greeks
Persia invaded twice
Battle of Marathon (490 BCE)
Darius was defeated
Battles of Thermopylae and Salamis (480 BCE)
Xerxes was defeated

8. Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BCE)

9. Pericles (r. 461-429 BCE) Athenian politician and general
Granted more power to the people in the Assembly
Used control of the Delian League to build an empire
Oversaw Athens during its golden age (ca BCE)
Numerous plays performed and massive building projects
Led Athens during start of the Peloponnesian War

10. Parthenon Temple to Athena on the Acropolis
Built BCE during Pericles’ rule

11. Greek Religion Polytheistic Gods had human characteristics
Represented specific aspects of life and human characteristics
Resided on Mount Olympus
Zeus, Athena, Poseidon
Rise of history, philosophy in 5th century BCE began to erode the importance of the gods

12. Greek Rational Philosophy
Emphasized argument, logic, questioning of assumptions
Confidence in human reason
Relied on observation and evidence (instead of the gods) to explain the world
Socrates (ca BCE)
Constantly questioned his students’ logic
Challenged wealth and power, favored wisdom and virtue
Charged with “corrupting” the Athenian youth

13. Greek Philosophers Plato (428-348 BCE) Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
Championed rule of society by a philosopher-king and highly-educated elites in The Republic
Founded the Academy to instruct students to question others’ ideas
Aristotle ( BCE)
Valued empirical observation and ethics
Taught the Golden Mean: avoiding either extreme in behavior
Wrote about nearly every subject

14. Greek Thinkers Herodotus Pythagoras Democritus Hippocrates
Explained history without using the gods
Pythagoras
Proponent of spherical earth and heliocentric model of the solar system
Democritus
Believed matter was formed by tiny, uncuttable particles
Hippocrates
Imbalance in the “four humors” caused sickness, diagnosed epilepsy

15. Four Humors/Temperaments
Phlegmatic
Phlegm
Water
Melancholic
Black bile
Earth
Choleric
Yellow bile
Fire
Sanguine
Blood
Air

16. Greek Drama Tragedy and comedy
Used to mock vanity of leaders, show interactions between gods and men
Attendance was seen as a civic duty
Greek playwrights: Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles

17. Greek Art

18. Classical Orders

19. Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE)

20. Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE)
Sparta fought against growing Athenian empire
Sparta and its allies defeated Athens
All of Greece was weakened

21. Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE)
Macedonian king and general
Became king of Macedon at age 20
Defeated the Persian Empire
Extended empire as far as the Indus River
Never lost a battle
Adopted Persian customs and dress
“Shahanshah” and proskynesis
Incorporated Persians into his army
Required generals to marry Persian women

22. Alexander’s Military

23. Battle of Issus (333 BCE)

24. Alexander’s Empire

25. Hellenization Spread of Greek culture and fusion with local cultures
Over 20 cities founded
Monuments, theatres, markets, assemblies, gymnasia
Alexandria in Egypt: bustling port, library, lighthouse
Greek became the language of culture and the elite
Greeks immigrated throughout the Middle East

26. Hellenistic Cultures
Greeks became the ruling class throughout the Middle and Near East
Ptolemy (r BCE): ruled Egypt as a pharaoh
Preferential laws for Greeks in Egypt
Seleucus (r BCE): ruled Mesopotamia and Persia
Menander (r BCE): later Greek ruler of Bactria who converted to Buddhism

27. Division of Alexander’s Empire

28. Noria Water wheel powered by moving water
Water was used for irrigation
Developed by Hellenistic engineers in the 3rd century BCE

29. Influence on Art Greek influence on Indian art
Buddha was first shown in human form
Clothing and face resembled Greek god Apollo
Augustus, 1st Century BCE; Gandhara Buddha, 1st-2nd Century CE