Classical Greece 4 3 Persia Ionian Greek Cities

Classical Greece 4 -3

Persia • Ionian Greek Cities in W. Asia Minor • 490 BC – Marathon • 26 Miles from Athens • Xerxes • Defensive league under Spartans • Athenians build navy • 200 vessels • Xerxes 180, 000 Troops and hundreds of warships • 7, 000 including 300 Spartans • Athenians were threatened and abandoned city • 479 Greeks formed a large army and defeated Persian army at Platea

Athenian Empire • Took over leadership of the Greek world • Delian League (in Delos) • Attack Persian Empire • Pericles created direct democracy • Any male over the age of 18 could vote • Ostracism – a name of a harmful person written by 6, 000 people on a pot was exiled for 10 years • Expansion because there was a lack of fertile soil

Peloponnesian War 431 BC • Strategies • Athenian were to remain behind the city’s walls and receive supplies from their colonies and navy • Sparta surrounded Athens and hoped they would send out their army • Plague hit Athens 428 • Pericles died 429, Athens continued fighting for another 25 years • Aegospotami • Athenian navy defeated • End of Greek Empire • Sparta, Athens, Thebes struggled to dominate Greece

Classical Greek Culture 4 -4

Architecture & Sculpture • Architecture • Temple, dedicated to a god or goddess • Acropolis • Parthenon • Sculpture • Perfect male form • Often nude • Standard of Ideal Beauty • Drama • Tragedies • Good and evil, rights of individuals, nature of divine forces, nature of human beings

Alexander & Hellenistic Era 4 -5

Macedonians Invade Greece • Philip II • Admirer of Greek culture • Battle of Chaeronea 338 BC • Crushes the Greeks • Alexander the Great 20 yo became king • Desire for glory and empire, and avenge Persian burning of Athens in 480 BC • Invade Asia Minor and free Ionian Greeks, Syria, Egypt by 332 BC • Alexander, Egypt – most important city in Mediterranean world

• 326 BC he reached India • Babylon he planed more conquest • 323 BS at age of 32 he dies, exhausted form wounds, fever and too much alcohol • Alexander spread the Greek language, architecture, literature, art and religious diversity

Hellenistic Era • Hellenistic - ‘to imitate Greeks” • Macedonia, Syria, Pergamum, Egypt • Alexandria, Egypt had largest library with 500, 000 scrolls • Baths, theaters, temples • Kings were willing to spend a lot of money • Very little literature survived but a lot was written • Astronomy and Mathematics flourished • Aristarchus – Sun was center, earth rotated around it • Eratosthenes – Earth was round 24, 675 miles (within 185 miles of the actual figure)

Hellenistic Era • • • Archimedes – Geometry of spheres and cylinders Mathematical constant pi Archimedes screw Machine used to pump water out of mines Epicureanism, founded by Epicurus • Happiness was the pursuit of pleasure, the only true good • Freedom from emotional turmoil and worry • Free yourself from public activity