Ancient Greece Unit
Students will know...
-Early Greek societies were heavily influenced by the topography and available resources of the region leading to the development of city-states and colonies rather than an expansive empire based on a particular river valley. -The acropolis a fortified, or strengthened, hill of an ancient Greek city served as the religious center. -The Golden Age of Greece brought important advances in government, art, architecture, and philosophy. These advances are foundational components of Western civilization to this day. -The Greek Mythology was polytheistic and portrayed gods and goddesses with human-like emotional states such as anger, jealousy, and joy. The Greeks believed that their deities took an active and constant role in their lives. -All Greek City-States practiced polytheism (a belief in many gods). Zeus was king of the gods.Athena was Zeus' daughter and patron goddess of Athens. Poseidon is Zeus' brother and god of the ocean. Hades is Zeus' brother and god of the underworld. Greek mythology tells us that the Greeks worshipped twelve great gods. -Greek city-states developed radically independent political and cultural systems, the most obvious example being Athens and Sparta. |
-Athens was a city-state in ancient Greece and the capital of modern day Greece. During the golden age of Athens, philosophy and the arts flourished and democracy reached its highest point. Pericles, an Athenian politician, introduced reforms that strengthened the democracy. Athenians practiced direct democracy (the people decided - not representatives).
-Sparta was a very different city-state from Athens. Located in the southern portion of Greece, Sparta was a city-state devoted to war. Sparta's form of government is an oligarchy - rule by a small group of people. Some city-states practiced an aristocracy (rule by a small ruling class). -The war between Sparta and Athens weakened the city-states and opened them up to conquest by Alexander the Great and later by the Romans. -Alexander the Great conquered Persia and Egypt. He invaded India. He was king of Macedonia from 336 BC to 323 BC. When Alexander took control of lands, he hoped the local cultures would mix with Greek culture. Greek history and culture after the death of Alexander is referred to as Hellenistic. -Ancient Greek influences in today's world include democracy, art, architecture, literature, philosophy, mythology and the Olympics. |
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