UNIT 2ANCIENT GREECE

Mr. HardyRandolph IB Middle

2012-2013

Geography Located in Southern

Europe North of the Mediterranean

Sea 80% of Greece is

mountainous Mount Olympus is the

highest point in Greece Greece has a large number

of islands while the mainland is a peninsula.

The Economy of Ancient Greece

Extreme importance of importing goods because of the poor soil

Beginning in the 6th century BC, craftsmanship and commerce developed and became increasingly more important

Capitalistic and Free-Enterprise economy

Religion Religion was important to the ancient

Greeks because they believed that it would make their lives better while they were living. They also believed the gods would take care of them when they died.

The Ancient Greeks believed in many different gods and goddesses.

The Greeks built temples in every town for one god or goddess.

Mount Olympus The Greeks believed that twelve most important

gods and goddesses lived at the top of Mount Olympus.

They were a family and, just like a human family, they argued as well as looking after each other.

Government and City-States

Because Greece is made up of many islands, and has many tall mountains, the Greeks began to build city-states instead of one country.

A city-state is a city with its own laws, rulers, and money.

City-states were cities that acted like countries.

THIS IS SPARTA! Sparta was a Greek city-state. Sparta was very powerful and had its own

army. Sparta conquered other city-states to

gain wealth and power. There were three classes of people in

Sparta. Citizens, non-citizens, and slaves.

Sparta’s Classes Only men born in Sparta were citizens. Women were not allowed to become

citizens; however, women were allowed to own land and businesses, which gave them more freedom than other Greek city-states.

The second class in Sparta was people who came from other city-states or other countries. They could own businesses but not become citizens.

The third class was slaves.

Athens Athens was another important Greek city-state. The people of Athens wanted to rule themselves

and not have a king or queen. Athens became the world’s first democracy

around 508 B.C. A democracy is a government in which all citizens

can vote and have equal say in what happens. Women, people born outside of Athens, and

slaves could not vote. Education was important in Athens. However,

boys were the only ones to attend school or play sports.

Parthenon and Acropolis

Great Greeks Socrates: philosopher who taught by

asking questions. This method of questioning is still called the Socratic Method. He carried out his own execution by drinking hemlock.

Plato: Plato was a student of Socrates. He started a school called The Academy and a great mathematician.

Aristotle: Student of Plato. He introduced the scientific method. Set up classification of species.

Alexander the Great Alexander the

Great was the son of King Phillip II of Macedonia.

Alexander conquered Persia, Egypt, the Middle East and Northern India.

He died at age 33 from malaria.

Alexander’s Empire

The Olympics The Greeks invented athletic contests and held

them in honor of their gods. The most famous games held at Olympia, South-

West of Greece, took place every four years. The ancient Olympics seem to have begun in the

early 700 BC, in honor of Zeus. No women were allowed to watch the games and

only Greek nationals could participate. These games featured mainly athletic but also

combat and chariot racing events. During the games, all conflicts among the

participating city-states were postponed until the games were finished

The Olympic Rings The symbol was originally designed in

1912 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games.

According to de Coubertin, the ring colors with the white background stand for those colors that appeared on all the national flags that competed in the Olympic games at that time.

Summer 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcwiG

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