Introduction

Warfare
The Olympic Games and the
Marathon
Gods
Myths and Legends

Entertainment
Countries and cities
Ancient Geeks
Buildings
Rulers
Bye Bye Greeks
Quiz

The Ancient Greek period started in 3000

BC and finished in 146 BC. BC means before
Christ was born. Sometimes history books
also use BCE this means before Christ era.

Why is it so important today? Ancient

Greece was called the birthplace of Western
civilisation. The Romans copied Greek art
and Greek gods. The Ancient Greeks tried
out democracy, started the Olympic Games
and left new ideas in science, art and
philosophy (thinking about life). We still use
many of these philosophies today.

The Greek states often fought each other. Sparta

and Athens fought a long war, called the
Peloponnesian War, from 431 to 404 BC. Sparta
won.
The main enemy of the Greeks was Persia. The
wars against Persia lasted on and off from 490 to
449 BC. The Persian kings tried to conquer Greece
and make it part of the Persian Empire. In the end,
it was Greece which defeated Persia, when
Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire
in the 330s BC. The Battle of Marathon was a
famous Greek victory against the Persians. About
10,000 Greeks, mostly from Athens, fought an
army of 20,000 Persians led by King Darius. The
Greeks surprised their enemies by charging
downhill straight at the Persians.

The Olympic games started in 776 BC in

honour of Zeus, the king of all gods. This
would be held every four years in
Olympia, southwest Greece.
Marathon is remembered for the
heroism of a Greek named Pheidippides.
Before the battle of Marathon,
he ran for 2 days and nights over
150 miles - from Athens to Sparta
to fetch help. Then he fought at Marathon.
After the battle, he ran 26 miles non-stop
to Athens, but died as he gasped out the
news of victory.
The modern Marathon race is over the same
distance.

This picture shows an Olympic winner

receiving his prize of palm branches.

Zeus

King of the Gods

Hermes

The messenger of
gods.

Hades

God of the
underworld

Poseidon

God of the
sea

Greeks wanted understand their environment and the forces of

nature they thus invented stories to explain the things that went
on in their lives. These tales are known as myths. Myths were
about the gods such the Olympic god sea god etc.
There are many famous legends
like Hercules who was the son
of Zeus and the strongest man on
earth. He did the 12 labors
or important jobs these were
called the labors of Hercules. He fought many wars
and went on many adventures. The greatest
hero of the Trojan war, Achilles was invincible
except for his heel. He died because an arrow
went into his heel. Even today a persons
weekest point is called the Achilles heel.

Greeks usually spend time in the

theater watching people wear masks. It
would normally have a happy face or a
sad face. The Greek theatre history
began with festivals honoring their
gods. A god, Dionysus, was honored
with a festival called by "City Dionysia".
In Athens, during this festival, men
used to perform songs to welcome
Dionysus. Plays were only presented at
City Dionysia festival.

Ancient Greek was divided into city states.

Athens, Sparta, Corinth,Megara,Argos were
the 5 most powerful cities of Greece.
These small city states had their own
government and their own army yet they
were all Greek, worshipped the same gods
and spoke Greek. All the city states were
important but Athens and Sparta were the
most powerful. Whereas Athens was famous
for their arts and sciences, Sparta was famous
for their military strength. Why ? In Sparta
boys and girls were given military training
boys went to live in the military barracks from
the age of six until they retired.

Greeks were seekers and lovers of wisdom

They are famous for discovering incredible
theories in math and science and philosophy
politics logic music and religion. Most famous
among them were Socrates Plato Aristotle and
Pythagoras . The Republic is the most
influential book that Plato wrote, and is still
the most widely read philosophical book of all
time. In The Republic, Plato asked the question
What is justice? and wrote hundreds of
pages about what the right type of
government should be. Pythagoras discovered
how to figure out the how to find the length of
the longest side of the triangle. You will read
all about it in secondary school.

Greek buildings were all built in a very methodical

order. This means that there were many rules that
were followed in order to make sure the buildings
were all similar. These rules also helped to make
sure that the buildings were safe and strong. We
can see many Greek buildings still standing today
after so many years!! Acropolis in Athens
is a group of temples. Perhaps
one of the most famous of them
is The Parthenon. It is
dedicated to the Goddess Athena.

There were many great rulers in Greece but the most famous was Alexander.
Alexander was born in 356 B.C. in Macedonia. His father Philip of Macedonia
was an excellent general. Alexander was tutored by the philosopher Aristotle
until the age of 16. He was called 'the Great' because he conquered more
lands than anyone before him and became the overall ruler of Greece.
He conquered all the lands that he
believed was the entire world!!!
Alexander never lost a war.
He conquered India. He would
have conquered more lands but
he died of sickness at the age of 32.
The world learnt a lot about the
Greeks from him!

Around 229 BC the romans started to interfere

in Greece. The Greek era ended in 146 BC
when the Romans invaded Greece. The Greeks
were surprised as soon as they saw Romans
charging down the hill. They quickly gathered
there belongings and ran away. There was a
war but the Romans won. Greece and
Macedonia became part of the Roman empire.

1)Why is Ancient Greece called the

birthplace of Western civilization?
2)Among which states was the
Peloponnesian war fought?
3) What did the winning athlete
receive in the Olympic games?
4) Which modern race in named after
a famous Greek battle?
5) Why did the Spartan women have
more freedom than any other Greek
Woman.
6) What did Alexander the Great do
that made him a very important
Greek in history?

1)Western civilization learnt

about Democracy Olympics
science art and philosophy.
2) Sparta and Athens.
3) A wreath.
4) The battle of Marathon.
5) Spartan men were always in
battle in their absence women
looked after the home business
and the farm.
6) Alexander captured more
lands than any other Greek
before him. He never lost any
battle.

Thank you for

watching