1. The Glory That Was Greece
Photo: An early Greek vase painting. At the left are shown the nymph or local goddess Nemea, and Jolaus, the brother and companion of Hercules, holding the hero’s club; at the right, the goddess Minerva and the god Mercury, watching the combat.

2. Resources for further research:

3. Time Periods
Minoan
Mycenaean
Dark Ages
Archaic
Classical
Hellenistic

4. The Geography of Greece
Mountains
Hindered communication and unification
Caused growth of independent city-states
Seas and seaports
Peninsula with irregular coastline
Seaports encouraged development of trade
Poor farmland
Few crops could be grown
Forced to trade
Became leading traders of Aegean and eastern Mediterranean
Possible anecdote: Location, location, location! That is, a focus on how the ancient Greeks created a thriving economy based on both their area’s negative (could not produce enough food) and positive (coasts allowed trading for food) geographic factors.

5. The Early Greeks
Hellenes – Indo-European nomads – Dorian, Aeolian, and Ionian tribes
Circa B.C.E. – migration from Black Sea and Danube regions → modern-day Greece and Turkey
Conquered Cretans and other natives
Circa 1000 B.C.E. – controlled Greece, some of Asia Minor, and Aegean islands
Possible anecdote: The Greeks do not call themselves Greeks, but rather Hellenes. They call their country Hellas.

6. Greece’s Colonies Circa 800-600 B.C.E.
Colonized areas around the Mediterranean – Italy’s west coast (Naples), Sicily (Syracuse), southern France (Marseilles), Egypt, Byzantium (Constantinople/Istanbul)
Spread Greek culture, language, religion
Possible anecdote: The ancient Greeks were not closely genetically related to the ancient Phoenicians, but did “take over” in the Mediterranean as the Phoenician presence declined.

7. Mycenaean and Minoan Civilization

8. Greece and the Greek Colonies
Possible anecdote: The ancient Greeks were not closely genetically related to the ancient Phoenicians, but did “take over” in the Mediterranean as the Phoenician presence declined.

9. Forces Uniting the Greeks
Ancestry
Language
Literature
Religion
Olympic Games

10. Forces Uniting the Greeks
Ancestry
Believed in a common ancestor – Hellen
Language
Spoke different Greek dialects but could understand one another
Used Phoenician alphabet and added vowels
Literature
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey
Mythological tales

11. Greek Language and Alphabet
Possible anecdote: The development of the modern Latin alphabet (used in English) from Greek, which developed from Phoenician, which developed from Egyptian. Students might note the use of Greek letters in fraternity, sorority, and other organizations.

12. Forces Uniting the Greeks
Religion
Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses living on Mount Olympus
Zeus, Athena, Hades, etc.
Olympic Games
Every four years
This four-year period was called the Olympiad
Began in 776 BCE
Physical games – boxing, broad jumps, chariot racing, dashes, discus throwing, distance running, javelin throwing
Intellectual games – art, drama, music, poetry

13. Greek Religion
Possible anecdote: Discussion of Greek gods and goddesses.

14. Olympic Games
Possible anecdote: Comparison of ancient Greek games with today’s games.

15. Forces Disuniting the Greeks
First Loyalty Was to City-State
Often fought one another
This disunity eventually allowed the Macedonians to conquer Greece
Geography
Mountains divided city-states and hindered communication
Different Types of Government
Athens – democracy
Sparta – authoritarian and militaristic nature
Also aristocracies, oligarchies, and tyrannies
Possible anecdote: Discussion of the various types of government.

16. The Age of Homer Circa 1000 B.C.E.-circa 750 B.C.E.
Greece’s “Dark Ages” – little information known
Iliad and Odyssey
People – farmers, traders, and warriors
Crops and livestock – cattle, grapes, olives, sheep, wheat
Possible anecdote: The writings of “Homer” (actually oral traditions of unknown authorship) are our primary source for information on this time period. Heinrich Schliemann discovered the ruins of Troy, but his poor archaeological methods destroyed much of the remains of Homeric Troy.
Homer

17. Legends of the Trojan War
Greeks at Ionia preserved many stories about the Mycenaeans.
Most famous legend was the Trojan War
Legends of the Trojan War were kept alive by Homer, a blind poet who lived in Ionia around 750 B.C.
He traveled from town to town, singing ancient stories

18. Trojan War cast of characters
GREEKS
Achilles, known as strongest & bravest
Odysseus
Telemachus (Odysseus’ son)
Greater Ajax
Lesser Ajax
Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, had most powerful kingdom in Greece
Menelaus, king of Sparta, husband of Helen, brother of Agamemnon (usually has red hair)
TROJANS (FROM TROY)
Hector, Troy’s greatest warrior
Paris (Hector’s brother)
Priam , king of Troy, Hector and Paris’s father

19. Trojan War

20. Trojan War
War starts with Aprodite, Hera, and Athena fighting because Eris, the goddess of discord) gave them an apple labeled “for the fairest”
A Trojan prince named Paris decides that Aprodite wins
Aprodite in turn makes Queen Helen fall in love with him
Paris kidnaps Helen from her husband (Menelaus)
Agamemnon, Menelaus’s brother, led a 10 year war against Troy

21. Trojan War
Greeks Achilles and Ajax die= considered best Greek fighters
Trojans Hector (Trojan prince, son of King Priam, honorable warrior) and Paris die
Troy falls to concept of the Trojan Horse. The Greeks construct a huge wooden horse and hide their men inside

22. Spartan shield Trojan shield

23. Trojan Horse victory by the Greeks
The Greeks pretended to sail away, and the Trojans pulled the horse into their city as a victory trophy. That night the Greek force crept out of the horse and opened the gates for the rest of the Greek army, which had sailed back under cover of night. The Greeks entered and destroyed the city of Troy, decisively ending the war.

25. Trojan Horse
“Trojan Horse" has come to mean any trick that causes a target to invite an enemy into a securely protected bastion or space.

26. King Agamemnon, king of wealthy Mycenae

27. Achilles and Hector

28. Achilles’ heel

29. Trojan Horse

30. Persian Empire Founder= Cyrus the Great, very tolerant
Persians were Ayrans, like the people who migrated to India
Now this region is called Iran, which comes from word Ayran
Cyrus’ last conquest was Babylonians, treated the conquered well, allowed Jews to returned to homeland and gave Jews money to rebuild temple, which Babylonians had destroyed
Much info. comes from writing of 1st Greek historian Herodotus

31. Cyrus the Great Cyrus and clemency (merciful)
More a liberator than conquerer; Mentioned in the Old Testament 22 times;
Freed Jews from Bablylon and allowed them to return to homeland; helped pay for rebuilding of Temple of Jerusalem when destroyed (1st time)

32. 1st Greco-Persian Battle
Starts with Cyrus conquering Ionia
Ionians used to being ruled by tyrants, not a merciful Cyrus
Set up tyrants in area but wasn’t working
Ionian Revolt
Hoplite warfare
Battle of Marathon

33. First Persian War
Cyrus the Great had conquered Greek city-states of Ionia
Ionians hated Persian rule and Persian taxes
499 B.C. they asked Athens for help
Athens burned Persian city of Sardis
Persian troops recaptured Ionian leaders and Darius was angry
Revenge was to conquer all of Greece

34. Battle of Marathon
490 B.C. 20,000 Persian soldiers set sail for Greece
Land near Marathon, 26 miles from Athens
Small force of 10,000 Athenian infantry- no archers, no cavalry, outnumbered 2 to 1.
Athenians vote to attack, & next day at dawn, Greek phalanxes attack on all sides- Persians retreat
As Greeks closed in, Persians fled to their ships
Fastest runner, Pheidippides, had just returned from carrying a message to distant Sparta. Although exhausted, he set out for Athens
On reaching the city, he gasped, “Rejoice! We have won.” and then he collapsed and died
To honor battle and Pheidippides marathon runners cover the same distance of about 26 miles Pheidippides ran nearly 2,600 years ago

36. Results of 1st Persian War
was a watershed in the Greco-Persian wars, showing the Greeks that the Persians could be beaten
highlighted superiority of Greek hoplites
famous for the inspiration of the Marathon race

38. Darius the Great tribute, roads, common currency, Persepolis, local govt.
Royal Road
Daric
satrap

39. Darius
Conquered people had local self govt. but had to send tribute to the Persian emperor
Each province would pay only what produced- much more fair tax code
With the money, Darius built Persepolis
Darius created a common currency so gold coins could be accepted across empire from Ionia (Greece) to India and Babylonia
Used wealth to build roads- the Royal Road stretched from Sardis in Lydia to Susa in Babylonia
According to Herodotus, it took 3 months to carry a message from one city to the other. Postal stations were located a day’s ride apart along the way to get new messengers and fresh horses.

40. Persian Empire
Darius the Great- under his rule, Persia became a HUGE multicultural empire
One approach, could follow example of China’s first emperor Shi Huangdi, by imposing uniform laws and standards
Persians created politics where there was local self-government
Darius divided empire into satrapies, with laws made by locals
Darius also sent each satrap (local official) a secretary who was the king’s spy and reported directly to Darius

41. Persian defeat- Darius more determined
But before he could launch another attack, he dies
Son Xerxes wants to now punish Greeks
Herodotus describes the huge invasion forces Xerxes assembles, and decides to not take huge army in ships by land
Creates a floating bridge and leads about 100,000 men into Greece to start Second Persian War

42. 2nd Greco-Persian Battle
Xerxes (Darius’s son) is Persian leader
3 Major Battles:
Thermopylae (300, Leonidas, enduring strength of Spartans)
Salamis (naval battle)
Plataea and Mycale (terrestrial battle, showed military prowess of hoplite soldiers)

43. Xerxes versus Spartans in Thermopylae- 300
Many Greeks thought Persians were unstoppable
King Leonidas, ledge a small Spartan force to stop Persians at a narrow mountain pass called Thermopylae
Spartans held off the invaders, then a traitor showed the Persians another path through mts.
300 Spartans chose death defeat
Herodotus wrote that when their weapons were gone, they fought on “with their hands and teeth” until every man was killed
(like Masada by Israelites instead of being defeated by Romans)

45. Wooden Walls of Athens- Battle of Salamis about to occur
Terrified Athenians consulted the Oracle at Delphi
It said that “wooden walls” could save the Athenians
Many Athenians thought that meant city walls
Themistocles believed that the wooden walls meant ships
When Persians reached Athens, they found the harbor empty
Athenians had fled by ship to nearby islands
Persians burn down Athens, including temples on the Acropolis

46. Battle of Salamis- by sea

47. Battle of Salamis
Xerxes had throne set on a hill near Athens; Xerxes very confident and ready to watch his fleet destroy the Greek navy
He has 1,200 warships, and Greeks 380 ships
Themistocles had set a trap
Keep his fleet hidden while Persian ships filled narrow strait
Then Greeks attacked and rammed the crowded Persian ships
Soon strait was crowded with broken ships and impossible for Persians to escape
Instead of losing rest of his fleet, Xerxes sails for home

48. “Golden Age” for Athens
Athenians celebrate their victory by introducing a “golden age” of art and learning
Pericles leads the way with a program for rebuilding the city
Athenians create marvels of art and architecture, including the Parthenon
Athens enjoys a golden age of philosophy, science, and literature.

49. Timeline