ANCIENT
GREEK CIVILIZATION
Alona,
Beatriz, Melissa
GEOGRAPHY
Greece
is a peninsula, which means that it is surrounded on three sides by water.
Greece has a lot of smaller peninsulas sticking out from it, which means Greece
enjoys many natural harbors.
Greece
is also covered with mountains. They are not huge mountains but if you are
trying to go from place to place in Greece, you'll find the mountains a bit of
a hindrance.
Three
thousand years ago, it was very difficult to get from place to place in ancient
Greece by walking. But it was easy to get from place to place in Greece by
boat.
In
the ancient world that grew up around the Mediterranean Sea, the Greeks became
known as great sailors. They sailed about the Mediterranean, setting up
colonies and outposts where they could.
Athenians
thought of themselves as the shining star of the Greek city-states. They were
famed for their literature, poetry, drama, theatre, schools, buildings, and
government.
Before
the Greek dark
ages, Athens was a small village, home to a tribe of Ionian
people. After the Greek dark ages, Athens grew rapidly until Athens was one of
the two most powerful city-states in the ancient Greek world. (The other was
Sparta.)
The
Athenian were very different from the ancient Spartans.
- The Spartans
were famed for their military strength.
- Athenians were famed for their commitment to
the arts and sciences.
GOVERNMENT
Over
2400 years ago, the famous Greek general, Pericles, said, "It is true that
we (Athenians) are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands
of the many and not the few, with equal justice to all alike in their private
disputes."
Only
in Athens, and only for a short time, "rule by many" meant that all
citizens had to be willing to take an active part in government. That was the
law.
Each
year, 500 names were drawn from all the citizens of Athens. Those 500 citizens
had to serve for one year as the law makers of ancient Athens.
All citizens of Athens were required to vote on any
new law that this body of 500 citizens created. One man, one vote, majority
ruled. Women, children, and slaves were not citizens, and thus could not vote.
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.
The
following is a humorous look at five ancient Greek city-states. In truth, the
Greeks took the games quite seriously. Nearly all the ancient Greek cities sent
teams to participate in the ancient Greek Olympics.
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.
Everyone
wanted their city-state to win!
ART
& ARCHITECTURE
The
ancient Greeks loved beauty, music, literature, drama, philosophy, politics and
art.
There
was an ongoing competition between city-states as to which city-state had the
best statues and the most beautiful temples. Wars were not started over who had
the best art, but many a fist fight probably occurred.
The
ancient Greeks made statues of perfect people. (Some of the ancient Roman
statues, for example, had big noses. The Greeks would never do that.)
The
ancient Greeks invented three types of columns
that were used all over ancient Greece. The columns were placed to support a
building, but also adjusted in size and angle and in footage from each other,
so that from a distance, the columns looked perfectly symmetrical.
Their
designs on vases of all sorts, for all purposes, reveals their love of the
geometric and visually interesting.
"The
term acropolis means upper city and many of the city states of
ancient Greece are built around an acropolis where the inhabitants can go as a
place of refuge in times of invasion. It's for this reason that the most sacred
buildings are usually on the acropolis. It's the safest most secure place in
town."
The
Acropolis in Athens is perhaps the most famous. In Athens, as in other Greek
city-states, the ancient Athenians built temples and moments on the Acropolis
dedicated to Athena and other ancient
Greek gods.
The
Parthenon was built by Pericles
in the 5th century BCE.
LEGENDS
& MYTHS
Once
upon a time, a long time ago, there was an ancient city named Troy. Troy was
located on the coast of Asia, across the sea from the Greek city-state of
Sparta.
In
those days, people used to build walls around their city to help protect them.
Some walls were only a few feet high. Others as much as twenty feet high!
The
people built gates in the wall. The gates could be opened to let people inside
the city. In times of war, the gates could be closed and locked to stop
intruders from getting inside.
Once
up a time, a long time ago, Zeus ordered Hephaestus (Aphrodite's husband) to
make him a daughter. It was the first woman made out of clay. Hephaestus made a
beautiful woman and named her Pandora.
Zeus
sent his new daughter, Pandora, down to earth so that she could marry
Epimetheus, who was a gentle but lonely man.
Zeus
was not being kind. He was getting even. Epimetheus and Prometheus were
brothers. Zeus was mad at one of the brothers, Prometheus, for giving people
fire without asking Zeus first.
Zeus
gave Pandora a little box with a big heavy lock on it. He made her promise
never to open the box. He gave the key to Pandora’s husband and told him to
never open the box. Zeus was sure that Epimetheus' curiosity would get the
better of him, and that either Epimetheus or his brother would open the box.
Pandora
was very curious. She wanted to see what was inside the box, but Epimetheus
said no. Better not. "You know your father," Epimetheus sighed,
referring to Zeus. "He’s a tricky one."
One
day, when Epimetheus lay sleeping, Pandora stole the key and opened the box.
Out
flew every kind of disease and sickness, hate and envy, and all the bad things
that people had never experienced before. Pandora slammed the lid closed, but
it was too late. All the bad things were already out of the box. They flew
away, out into the world.
Epimetheus
woke up at the sound of her sobbing. “I opened the box and all these ugly
things flew out,” she cried. “I tried to catch them, but they all got out.”
Pandora opened the box to show him how empty it was. But the box was not quite
empty. One tiny bug flew quickly out before Pandora could slam the lid shut
again.
“Hello,
Pandora,” said the bug, hovering just out of reach. “My name is Hope.” With a
nod of thanks for being set free, Hope flew out into the world, a world that
now held Envy, Crime, Hate, and Disease – and Hope.
GREAT THINKERS
Aristotle
was born in ancient Macedonia. He was a philosopher who lived over 2000 years
ago. He spent much of his time in ancient Greece. Aristotle admired the Greeks
and the Greek way of life.
He
had a huge influence on the prince of Macedonia, Alexander
the Great. Aristotle was one of Alexander's teachers. Aristotle
taught Alexander to also love the Greek way of life.
Aristotle
is famous for his many sayings, many of which are still quoted today. Here are
just a few of them.
- "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence
then is a habit."
- "We must reduce everything to the simplest
form possible, but no simpler."
- "We think in pictures. If you wish to
change what you think, change the picture."
Socrates was a famous
teacher in ancient Athens. He wanted his students to question things. "Is
our government good? If gods exist, where do they live?"
This angered some of the
wealthy nobles in ancient Athens, not many, but a few. They accused Socrates of
mocking the gods. They demanded a trial. If found guilty, anyone who mocked the
gods would be killed. This was a severe charge.
In ancient Athens, anyone
could demand a trial. Whichever side lost the trial paid for the whole trial.
You did not bring charges unless you had lots of proof or lots of wealth. These
men had wealth.
GODS/GODDESSES
Zeus / Jupiter
Hera / Juno
Poseidon / Neptune
Hades / Pluto
Ares / Mars
Hermes / Mercury
Apollo / Apollo
Artemis / Diana
Athena / Minerva
Hestia / Vesta
Demeter / Ceres
Aphrodite / Venus
Hephaestus /
Vulcan
Heracles / Hercules
Eros / Cupid
Orpheus / Orpheus
Pandora / Pandora
Pegasus / Pegasus
Kerberos / Cerberus
