LESSON 11 THE GREEK CIVILIZATION
Delian League
- First of the classical civ. [Greek and Rome] that became
renowned
- Greece: Geography
o located at the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula
in southeastern Europe
o mountainous (which is why the civ. that arose here
was founded on scattered city-states which were
independent from one another)
- Greece: Climate
o Was conducive to cultivation, although, due to the
lack of staple food, the people needed additional
food supply from other places beyond the sea
THE HELLENIC AGE (800 BCE 338)
Hellenes what Greeks called themselves; derived from
HELLAS, a place in northwestern Greece.
Initial staging of the Olympics [in honor of Zeus] - signal to the
emergence of the Greek civ. (8th century)
Polis first settlement in Greece; city-state
o Each city-state was independent and the life of the
inhabitants revolved around the city
Acropolis highest place in the city-state where the temple was
built
Agora - Center of the city = open space where people sold various
goods or where they gathered informal meetings
The residents could live outside the polis (the polis is surrounded
by a strong stone wall_
Two strong city states
1. Athens
Became the center of trade and culture in
Greece
2. Sparta
Conquered the nearby regions and forced the
people of the regions to serve as helots or
farm workers
Athens: A Democratic Polis
o Oligarchy
o Council of 400 by Solon
100 Representatives from four of the
principal tribes of Athens
o System of Ostracism banishes officials who were
dangerous to Athens
Sparta: A Military Polis
o Seven year-old boys were sent to military camps;
weak and disabled boys were killed
o 20 year-old men who received training were
considered adults and were allowed to marry but had
to live in the military campus for 10 more years
THREAT OF PERSIA
- Ambition of Persia: extend her empire to the west
- Athens sent aid for the Greek colonies that Persia fought but lost
in the naval battle in Miletus
- Darius I wanted to punish Athens for aiding the Greek colonies
and planned to attack Athens
- Athens started building war fleets
GREEK-PERSIAN WARS
- Persian fleet attempted to invade Athens
- Aid from Sparta did not arrive but Athenians still won
- Xerxes, son of Darius I, captured Athens and burned the
Acropolis
- Athens gathered its ships in Salamis and lured the Persians
which resulted to a naval battle
- Athens defeated the remaining Persian forces in Greece in the
Battle of Plataea
- Xerxes completely gave up attempts on defeating Athens
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
- Athens united city-states of Greece into a federation called
o No peace
o Members forced to pay tax for its treasury
o Tracts of land were taken from real owners
o Traders of Athens allocated for themselves the best
advantages of the trade
o Paved the way for the expansion of the commercial
empire of Athens
- Conflict bet. city-states and Athens led to war
- Athens VS Sparta
- Sparta won but lost its leadership in the Battle of Leuctra
- Greeks became weak and divided
MACEDONIAN EMPIRE
- King Philip II of Macedonia planned to unify the Greek city-
states through an army trained in warfare
- The whole of Greece, except Sparta, fell under the rule of
Macedonia through the easy defeat of Athens and Thebes
armies
- Alexander the Great, son of Philip II brave, intelligent, and a
good leader
o Defeated the Persian Empire of Darius III
o Invaded India
o Established an empire that stretched over the rest of
West Asia, Egypt, and India
o Spread Asian and Greek civilization = Hellenistic
Civilization
Hellenistic = to imitate the Greeks
o Died from illness at the age of 32
CONTRIBUTIONS OF GREEK CIVILIZATION
- Science
o Pythagorean Theorem from Pythagoras, Greek
mathematician
o Archimedes advanced a method of measuring the
circumference of a circle; principle of specific gravity
o Euclid = Father of Geometry
o Aristarchus Earth revolved around the Sun while
rotating on its own axis
o Eratosthenes Estimation of the circumference of the
world; longitude and latitude on maps
- Architecture
o Temples
E.g. Parthenon
o Doric (simplest), Ionic (slender with scrolls), and
Corinthian (most elaborate) Columns
o Theaters, baths, stadiums, and markets
- Drama
o Stage presentation by the Greeks during feasts in honor
of Dionysius, the god of Wine
o Tragedies
Most famous writers: Aeschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides
o Comedy Most famous writer: Aristophanes
- Painting
o Pottery that displayed everyday life and daily work
- Sculpture
o Made from marble or copper
o Greatest Greek sculptor: Phidias made the decorations
on the Parthenon
Praxiteles made the statue of Hermes
o Depicted subjects realistically and beautifully the human
form (most likely young nude males)
- Medicine
o Hippocrates established school for medicine
Every disease has a natural cause.
o Herophilus Father of Anatomy and Physiology
- Alphabet
o Added vowels to the consonants of the Phoenicians
o Became the basis for the languages of the Europeans
- Writing of History
o Herodotus Father of History
Wrote the History of the Persian Wars
where the word history was first used
o Thucydides
Wrote the History of the Peloponnesian
War
- Religion
o (Refer to Greek Mythology for other gods and
goddesses)
o Dionysus God of wine and plants
o Hephaestus God of fire
 o Demeter Goddess of grain and harvest
o Mount Olympus
o Most famous oracle: Delphi
- Philosophy
o Socrates Reason and not emotion should prevail
The unexamined life is not worth
living.
o Plato Student of Socrates; believed that law was for all
Wrote The Republic
o Aristotle Student of Plato; studied animal plants,
astronomy, and physics
One should accept a theory if this
conforms to observable data

LESSON 12 (P. 123 125)

THE START OF ROME

- Latins and Etruscans
- Palatine, one of the seven hills near the Tiber River
- Senate advisory council of the king
o Made up of 300 members
o Patricians important people in society; elite
o Plebeian ordinary people such as farmers and
traders

FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC

- Romans rebelled against the Etruscans
- Position of king was replaced by two consuls selected from the
patricians to head the government and army and to take care of
the finances and to stand as the court of last recourse
- Veto Institution of the Senate that controlled foreign affairs
and could nullify any law

STRUGGLE OF THE PLEBEIANS FOR EQUALITY AND RIGHTS

- Assembly represent the ordinary people
- 10 Tribunes take care of the rights of the plebeians against
abusive officials
- Twelve Tables code of laws of Rome

OTHER

1. Hadrian extended and strengthened the Roman Empire (Great

Britain was a part of the empire)
2. Law of the 12 tables type of law invented by the Romans
o Main objective: contains civil and religious rights
o Basis of all laws in Europe
o First law drafted in Europe
3. ALPS mountain separating Italy and Switzerland
4. 7 HILLS IN THE LEGENDARY STORY OF ROME WHERE
THEIR ANCESTORS LIVED IN