Greek empire

2. The ancient Greek civilization
began to develop about 4,000
years ago. Their culture still
impacts our culture today.

3. We talk about "gifts from the Greeks".
They truly did give the world some
fabulous inventions. It was the Greeks
who fine-tuned trial by jury.
They created the most wonderful stories - the ancient
Greek myths. They invented tragedy and comedy and
produced plays in their open-air theatres. Thousands of
Greeks would attend each performance.

4. They loved art, and the theatre, and
literature, and music. They experimented
with a new form of government -
democracy. Their architects created the
famous Greek column design, still used in
many buildings being constructed today.

5. Perhaps their most famous gift was the
ancient Greek Olympics. The Olympics
have changed quite a bit over the years,
but we still hold the Olympic games
today.

6. MINOANS
The Minoans lived on the island of Crete.
They were a very advanced people. They
were ruled by a king, so they had a
central government. They had a really
strong navy, being an island culture.

7. They had beautiful art and
statues. They had running
water for drinking and
bathing.
They even had toilets that flushed! The
Greeks never conquered the Minoans. But
they knew each other. The Greeks traded
with the Minoans.

8. The Minoan capital city was the city
of Knossos. That's where the king
lived. His palace was amazing.
It supposedly had 1500 rooms. But even the
poor people on the island of Crete had
beautiful homes, decorated with drawings of
the sea. Most had 4 bedrooms.

9. The Minoans had a written language. Scholars
and archaeologists have discovered a great
deal about their daily life from the records
they left behind. They also learned about
them from the pictures they found painted on
the ruins of the walls of their homes.

10. Scholars believe that the ancient Minoans
enjoyed a rather odd sporting event.
There are paintings of both boys and girls
jumping over the horns of snorting bulls.
It would appear that this was a most
popular sport.

11. About 2,500 years ago, much of the island
was destroyed by an earthquake, but the
Minoans rebuilt. About 200 years later,
much of the island was destroyed by
tidal waves, triggered by an erupting
volcano.

12. After the volcano, there is no record of the
Minoan civilization. Perhaps they moved
to some other place. No one knows.

13. The ancient Greek
storytellers had a lot of fun
with stories about the
Minoans. One of our
favorites is about the
Minotaur, the horrible
beast, half man, half bull,
who made his home at the
heart of a maze near the
king's splendid (1500 room!)
palace.

14. The Heroic Age
The Mycenaeans
A tribe rose to power in very early
ancient Greece - the Mycenaeans.

15. The Mycenaeans thought they were
the best warriors in the world. They
fought with everybody.
They used stone weapons. They
nearly always won. They did write
things down, mostly boasting about
their wonderful victories in battle.

16. And they did have art, mostly art that
showed warriors fighting with each
other and with animals (with the
Mycenaeans winning, of course.)

17. So scholars do know something about
these early people. Scholars learned from
their writings and paintings that the
Mycenaeans worshiped a great many
gods, and built their homes on top of hills,
to better defend them.

18. The Mycenaean age, or the time period
in Greek history when the Mycenaeans
were in charge, is sometimes called The
Heroic Age.
The Mycenaeans were very proud of
their military heroes. They had that in
common with all the early people who
lived on the Greek peninsula.

19. DARK AGES
There is a period in ancient Greek history called the
Grecian Dark Ages. A dark age is a time period we
know little about. Although we know very little
about this time, what we do know is very important!

20. The Greek Dark Ages was a time period
when the Dorians ruled the people who
lived scattered across the Greek
peninsula.

21. One reasons we know so little about this
period in history is that the Dorians did
not have a written language. The Dorians
were not into art or music or literature.
The Dorians were into war. Their life was
spent fighting. The Dorians did not build
cities. They destroyed them.

22. It was easy for the Dorians to conquer
the people living on the Greek
peninsula. Before Dorian rule, tribes of
early people might vaguely know
there was a village downstream.
They might even trade with
them. But they did not work
together. They did not speak
the same language.

23. They did not have a common history.
They had not yet formed city-states so
that villages could work together for
the betterment of all.
These early people used stone tools. They had
stone weapons. The Dorians had metal weapons.
When the Dorians swooped down on the Greek
peninsula, they had no trouble taking over. Their
rule lasted for about 400 years.

24. During the Greek dark ages, some people earned a
living with their storytelling skills. The storytellers
went from town to town.
We do know a few interesting things that
happened during the Grecian Dark Ages
thanks to the storytellers.

25. Because the townspeople did not like the
Dorians, the idea of using the Greek
language to tell their stories caught on
among the storytellers. It made it easier
for them.

26. The storytellers did not
need to speak every
language spoken on the
Greek peninsula. They
only had to speak
Greek. The people in the
towns and villages
quickly learned the
Greek language so they
could better understand
the stories. The Greeks
always loved a good
story. Soon, the ancient
Greeks had a common
language.

27. Storytellers told fables, myths and legends.
Different storytellers might give a new twist
to a story, but the basic story was told over
and over.
Thanks to the storytellers, the people now had a common
language. They had a common history. They had common
heroes, presented to them in the stories told by the
storytellers. They had a common religion.

28. These early people learned one
important thing from the Dorian invaders.
They learned to make metal tools and
metal weapons. This came in quite handy
when the Greeks began to organize
themselves into city-states, and work
together. City-states could be defended.
The Greeks used their new knowledge of
metal weapons to defeat the hated
Dorians

29. City - State
After the Greek dark ages, villages started to band
together, in part for protection and in part for more
organized trade. They wanted strong trading centers.

30. Groups of villages that banded together
were called city-states. There were hundreds
of city-states in ancient Greece, some really
small ones and some really big ones with
large populations.

31. Although each city-state had its own form of
government and its own army, and even
sometimes its own navy, and each city-state
certainly its own way of doing things, the city-
states of ancient Greece had many things in
common.

32. They all spoke the same language; they
all believed in the same gods; they all
worshiped in the same way; they all
thought of themselves as Greeks.
But they were loyal to their city-state. If
you asked someone in ancient Greece
where they were from, they would not
say they were from Greece, because
Greece at that time was not a country.

33. It was a collection of city-states, each with
its own personality and way of doing
things. They would say they were from
Athens, or Sparta, or Corinth, or Argos.
The Greeks were very proud of their own
city-state.
The city-states banded together to fight
outsiders. They also banded together to
fight each other

34. ATHENS
Athenians thought of themselves as the best
city-state in all of ancient Greece. They
recognized that other city-states had value
and were Greek, but they were the best. Ask
any ancient Athenian and they would tell
you that Athens had the best literature, the
best poetry, the best drama, the best schools
- and truly, they were a leading city-state.

35. Athens was the
measuring stick. There
was one exception - the
city-state of Sparta.
No other city-state in ancient Greece was like
Sparta. Whereas Athens was famous for their
arts and sciences, Sparta was famous for their
military strength.

36. The ancient Greeks believed that each
city-state had one or two gods keeping
a special eye on that city-state. The god
in charge of Athens was Athena,
goddess of wisdom.

37. Education was very important in Athens.
From their mothers, girls learned how to
cook and sew and run a home, and how
to be a good wife and mother.

38. SPARTA
Sparta was a powerful city-state in ancient
Greece.
Sparta was ruled by a small group of
retired warriors. This type of government is
called an oligarchy. The Spartans spoke
Greek. They thought of themselves as
Greeks. But Sparta was very different from
the other Greek city-states.

39. All citizens in ancient
Greece were warriors.
But the Spartans were
the best warriors in all
of Greece.
There was no argument about that. The city-
state of Sparta was basically a well-trained
army. In other city-states, children entered
military school at age 18.

40. Sparta, they entered at age 6. The girls
were taught how to fight as well. Their
school was separate from the boys'
school. It was not as brutal, perhaps. But
still, the girls learned how to fight and
steal and lie and kill - skills that could
save their lives in times of war.

41. Men and male children, from the
age of 6, lived in the soldiers'
barracks until they retired from
military service.
The men were often off fighting. The
women were left behind to guard their
homes. Perhaps because of this, women in
ancient Sparta had a great deal of
freedom.

42. They ran businesses. They were free to
move around and visit neighbors without
asking their husbands permission.
But not everyone who lived in Sparta was a
citizen of Sparta. To be a citizen with full rights
of fair trial, the men had to pay to prove they
were the ancestors of the original people who
lived in Sparta.

43. If they couldn't prove it, or couldn't afford
to pay for the search, they were not
citizens. Citizens had many rights like the
right to a fair trial and the right to be
educated to be a good warrior and to
live in the barracks. Non-citizens could be
killed for no reason at all.

44. The other Greek city-states had no desire
to be Spartans. Many thought they were
military fanatics, but they admired their
strength. Most wanted Sparta on their
side. No incredible works of art were
created in Sparta as they were in other
Greek city-states. But Spartans were
good friends to have in times of war

45. GREEK OLYMPICS
The first Olympics games are usually given
the start year of 776 BCE, but they probably
began even sooner. The ancient Greeks
loved competitions of all sorts, especially
sporting competitions. The Olympics were
not the only competition games held in
ancient Greece, but they were the most
popular.

46. Once the Olympics began, the Olympic
competition was held once every four
years for the next 1000 years! The
games were held in honor of the
mighty god, Zeus, king of all the gods.
The games were held in the city-state of
Olympia. The Statue of Zeus at
Olympia is one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world.

47. If two or more Greek city-states
happen to be at war with each
other when the game date arrived,
war was halted for the duration of
the games.
The Greeks took the Olympic
games quite seriously. Nearly all
the ancient Greek cities sent
teams to participate in the
ancient Greek Olympics.

48. Women were not allowed to attend
the games because men did not
wear clothes when they competed
in the events.
Everyone wanted their city-state
to win! There was a winner of
each competition at the games.

49. All the winner won at the games
was a crown made of leaves to
wear on his head. When the
winning athletics returned home
to their city-state, they were
treated like superstars!

50. Greek Ships
Greek ships were
about 115 feet long.
That's about the same
size as three school
buses lined up in a
row.

51. Some ships were
designed to carry cargo.
Others were designed as
weapons. The Greeks
added a layer of brass to
the tip of their warships
to make their ships work
effectively as a battering
ram when needed.

52. Greek ships, whatever their purpose,
were powered by sails and oarsmen.
They were built to turn briskly and move
rapidly through the waters of the
Mediterranean Sea.

53. Before ships left harbor, Greek sailors
prayed to the sea god Poseidon to keep
them safe.
The Greeks used their
ships to trade with other
Greek city-states, as well
as other civilizations
around the
Mediterranean.

54. In times of war, their specially designed
ships, along with well trained oarsmen
and strong sails, helped them to defeat
their enemies in sea battles.

55. Athens, by far, had the best navy of all of
the ancient Greek city-states. Their ability
to fight well at sea was critical to their
victory in their war with Persian.

56. Peloponnesian war
The Peloponnesian War
was a war fought
between Sparta and
Athens. It lasted 27 years.
Sparta and Athens were
always in disagreement.
They did not get along.
But 27 years! It was a
terrible war.

57. When war broke out, everyone who
lived in the countryside around Athens
fled to the city to escape the Spartan
attacks. The city was not ready for that
many people to move in.

58. They did not have enough food or
water or shelter, or a way to handle
that much waste and garbage. By the
third year of fighting, more than half
the population of Athens had died of
illness.

59. More died in battle. It was a horrible
time. The war dragged on. Other city-
states got involved. Finally, Athens
surrendered.
Sparta was generous
in victory. Corinth
wanted Athens
leveled. They never
wanted to put up with
this bickering and
warring again. But
Sparta said no.

60. The Spartan's admired bravery and
Athens had shown true bravery.
Instead, for the next ten years,
Athens was an outpost of Sparta,
under Spartan rule. After ten years,
Sparta gave Athens her
independence.

61. Athens began to regain
her former glory. But
Athens was never
again the shining star of
the ancient Greek
world.
If Athens had had more time,
perhaps, the city might have fully
recovered. But time was running
out for all the Greek city-states.

62. Macedonia, a country to
the north of Greece, had
eyed Greece's splendor
for some time.
The king of Macedonia knew the
Greek city-states were
weakened by the
Peloponnesian War, the war
between Athens and Sparta.
Macedonia would soon move to
conquer all the Greek city-states.

63. Alexander the Great
Alexander, known
as the Great
Greek, was not
Greek. He was a
Macedonian
prince. Macedonia
was an empire
located to the
north of Greece.

64. Alexander had
many teachers,
one of which
was Aristotle.
Aristotle was
also born in
Macedonia.
However,
Aristotle lived in
Greece for a
really long time.

65. He loved the Greeks. He
believed in the Greek gods.
He knew Greek history and
the Greek language and
Greek theatre.
Aristotle thought the Greeks
were clever and interesting
and talented, and he spoke of
his admiration for the Greeks
many times to his student, the
young prince, Alexander.

66. Alexander grew up
dreaming of the day he
would be king. When he
was king, he too would
teach everyone about the
Greek culture he had
come to know and love
so well. Obviously,
Aristotle had a great
effect on Alexander and
what he believed.

67. But Alexander had other teachers,
teachers that taught him how to wage
war and how to conquer other people.
His teachers tried to teach him that a
Macedonian king was not merciful. But
Alexander disagreed.

68. When his father died,
and Alexander
became king, he
allowed every culture
he conquered the
opportunity to rule
themselves. All he
asked was that they
be loyal to Alexander.
He taught all the people he
conquered about the ancient Greeks -
he shared their stories, their myths,
their gods, their language - just as he
had been taught.

69. Alexander never lost a
battle, never, not even one.
By the time he was 32, he
had conquered the entire
Mediterranean region, and
even reached into the Indus
River region.
He probably would have kept going, but
one day, he became ill and died. He was
only 32 years old.

70. We owe Alexander a great deal. It was
Alexander who spread the Greek
culture throughout the Mediterranean.
Without Alexander, that
culture might not have
survived. The Macedonians
conquered the Greek city-
states.

71. The ancient Romans
conquered the Greek city-
states. Who knows what
might have been lost without
the teachings of Alexander
the Great.