The Persian Wars THE GREEKS HAD SOME COLONIES

The Persian Wars THE GREEKS HAD SOME COLONIES OF CITYSTATES IN ASIA MINOR. AROUND 546 BC, THESE CAME UNDER PERSIAN CONTROL. SOME FIFTY YEARS LATER, IN 499 BC THEY REBELLED AGAINST PERSIAN AUTHORITY, AND STARTED THE PERSIAN WARS

The Initial Rebellion In 499 BC, the city-state of Miletus had enough of their Persian overlords. When the Persians conquered the Greek city-states of Asia Minor in 546 BC, they set up harsh tyrants who governed these city-states without mercy. Miletus had enough. The people of Miletus asked the other Greek city-states for help, and some refused, including Sparta. Athens however answered the call for aid and helped the other Greeks in Asia Minor revolt. When all seemed well, the Athenians returned home. However, the Persians, under King Darius, were able to reconquer the Greeks in Asia Minor within 3 years, and Darius wanted revenge against the Athenians. 7 years later, in 490 BC, the Persians crossed the Aegean sea, seeking to destroy the Athenians.

Marathon The Battle Resumes 490 BC: The Athenians and the Persians met at the plains of Marathon. Some 26 miles from Athens. Though totally outnumbered, the Athenians decided to charge anyway. They succeeded, and the Persians ran away scared. 6000 Persians were killed, and less than 200 Greeks died. According to legend, a messenger ran straight back to Athens with the good news, and when he arrived, gasped “Rejoice, we conquer!” and then died of exhaustion. This is where the modern day marathon race comes from. Battle of Marathon

The Odds Are Against You… Imagine: You are in charge of the Greeks, and a giant force of Persians are about to invade a large section of the country that is largely undefended. You have 7, 000 troops, the enemy…has 100, 000. What do you do?

The Battle Rages The Battle of Thermopylae Left: scene from the Battle of Thermopylae The Battle of Marathon was just a setback for the Persians. 10 years later, in 480 BC, they returned again to defeat the Greeks. With an army of 100, 000, and over 600 ships, the Persian King Xerxes was determined to win. Athens and Sparta joined together, along with some other city-states to defend themselves. This army is led by the Spartan General King Leonidas. The Greeks realize that they are badly outnumbered, and will lose a direct conflict. So they attempt to even the odds by leading the Persians to attack them in Thermopylae, a narrow canyon which allowed the Greeks to fight only a small portion of the Persians at a time, giving them a fighting chance. A traitor shows the Persians a way around the pass, and so Leonidas orders everyone else to escape, and he with just 300 other Spartans perish in the defense of the pass. Strategy, Phalanx

Salamis Though the Spartans’ heroism slowed down the Persians, it did not stop them. They marched on, and burnt Athens to the ground. After that, the Persians marched south to conquer the rest of Greece. They met the Greek navy at an island called Salamis. Though outnumbered yet again, the Greeks used stratagem to defeat the Persians. They lured the Persians into shallow waters, then rammed and sank their ships, defeating the fleet. Xerxes was shocked by this loss, and returned home. The next year (479), the Spartan general Pausanias led the Greeks to victory and drove the rest of the Persians out of Greece for good. Opt. VID Salamis

10. 26 Greek Mythology WHAT WAS THE GREEK RELIGION LIKE?

Greek Pantheon The Greeks believed in many different gods, but the most powerful Greek Gods were known as the Olympians. They were called this because they (mostly) lived and ruled the world from Mt. Olympus, high above Greece. Much of what we know about the Olympians we get from Homer’s Illiad and The Odyssey, two epic poems about the adventures of Odysseus, a Greek hero.

The Nature of the Greek Gods The Greeks created gods in the image of humans; that is, their gods had many human qualities even though they were gods. The gods constantly fought among themselves, behaved irrationally and unfairly, and were often jealous of each other. Zeus, the king of the gods, was rarely faithful to his wife Hera plotted against Zeus and punished his mistresses. The Greek gods were highly emotional and behaved inconsistently and sometimes immorally. Greek religion did not have a standard set of morals, there were no Judaic Ten Commandments. The gods, heroes, and humans of Greek mythology were flawed.

The Olympians: The Most Important Deities Intro: The ancient Greek mystical world was ruled by a small group of powerful gods called the Olympians. When things had to be decided, the council of 12 gods met on Mount Olympus to discuss things. The 12 Olympian gods all kept a home on Mount Olympus. Unless they were off traveling somewhere, that's where you could find most of them. Hades preferred his home in the Underworld. Poseidon preferred his palace under the sea. But the rest of the Olympians lived on Mount Olympus year around.

Jigsaw Activity Next, you’ll learn a little bit more about some of these gods Each person at a table will get a different god / goddess to learn about: as you read quietly, fill out the worksheet, and read it quietly (7 min) Then, (on my signal), get together with others who read the same thing. Discuss what you read, and answer the questions together. (5 min) Then (on my signal), go back to your table, and take turns talking about the character you studied. Answer the group questions based on your discussion (7 min) Join a classroom discussion (5 min) Finish worksheet.

Important Myths While there are many Greek myths and stories that we could discuss, there are two that are quite influential and still known today: The Story of Pandora’s Box, and the Tale of Hercules. The Story of Pandora is a tale that tells us about how the evil in the world came to be. Anyone know the story?

Hercules, the Real Deal In addition to myths about gods, the ancient Greeks also told stories about heroes. One of the most famous Greek heroes was Hercules, aka Heracles, the world's strongest man. Hercules was the illegitimate son of a mortal woman and Zeus, who tricked the woman by disguising himself as the woman's husband. Hera, Zeus's wife, was angry about Zeus' affair and sought to punish Hercules. Hera tricked Hercules into believing that his entire family were dangerous beasts, which Hercules then proceeded to kill. When Hercules realized that he had killed his entire family, he agreed to perform 12 tasks (aka the Labors of Hercules) to atone for his terrible actions. For one of the tasks, Hercules had to slay the nine-headed monster called the Hydra. VID

HW Reminder: Your Sparta / Athens / Us Comparison is due today! Finish up your poster on a Greek Deity / Hero EC: include a connection between your person and today (for ideas, see: http: //greekmyth ologytoday. com/) I recommend using Google Drawings: LINK

10. 28 The Golden Age of Athens AFTER THE UNEXPECTED GREEK VICTORY AGAINST THE PERSIANS IN 449 BCE, THE GREEK CITY-STATES WERE ABLE TO ENJOY THEIR RENEWED INDEPENDENCE AND FREEDOM. THE WAR ALSO ESTABLISHED ATHENS AND SPARTA AS THE LEADING CITYSTATES OF GREECE.

Results of the Persian Wars Spartans and Athenians alike had worked hard to drive the Persians from their homeland. After the war, the Spartans returned home, concerned with keeping the helots subjugated, whilst the Athenians had bigger plans. As a result, many Greek citystates were concerned that the Persians might yet again regroup and attempt to attack them in the future. So two years later, in 478 BC they formed an alliance called the Delian League. Since Sparta declined to participate, Athens naturally took the leading role as the leading city-state.

The Golden Age of Athens Video Everyone was required to send gold and/or ships to help defend the other citystates in the league. Athens was in charge of how much each city-state had to send. Gradually though the relationship between Athens and the other city-states soured. Athens started to treat the other city-states less like allies and more like colonial subjects. Other city-states were required to swear an oath of allegiance, and could not leave the league. This money, or tribute, allowed Athens (from 479 BC till the end of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC, or for 75 years) to fund the Golden Age of Athens.

Pericles Cont… Pericles was not one to waste time with frivolous things. He worked hard and made good use of his time. It was said that the only time you might see him on the street was when he was walking to and from government buildings on official government business. Legend also has it that he only went to one party in his life, and even then he left it early.

Pericles A very influential man, Pericles (495 -429 BC) was one of the key figures to lead Athens during its Golden Age. He was reelected to the strategoi for nearly thirty years, and would eventually become the de facto leader of Athens. One of the main reasons for his success was his great oratory skills. One of his biographers described him as having words like “thunder and lightning. ” As he was convincing, smart, and respected, the Assembly would usually go along with whatever he suggested. Can you think of any other similar leaders? Franklin D. Roosevelt Barack Obama Winston Churchill Adolf Hitler

Pericles’ Leadership Athens grew and strengthened under Pericles’ watchful eye. He led them to victorious campaign one after another. He made sure the other city-states in the Delian League stayed in line, and even supervised the establishment of new, Athenian colonies. He also worked to develop a series of better, stronger walls to ward off invaders and attackers. They called these the long walls, which stretched from Athens to the nearby seaports of Pireaus and Phalerum. These allowed Athens to have a way to get supplies, even when under siege.

Pericles Cont… Pericles also helped make Athenian Democracy more available to more citizens. For instance, though every citizen was able to participate, the poorer ones could not afford to do so, because they were not making any money while serving on juries, or other government work. Pericles convinced the Assembly to pay citizens for government work, thus allowing more to fully participate.

Pericles’ Building Projects Pericles was also a patron of the arts; he supported sculptures, dramatists, architects, and painters. In 449 BC, he even suggested the idea that Athens ought to rebuild the temples and buildings in the Acropolis, an area that overlooked the city but had been destroyed in the Persian Wars. Although it would be expensive, Pericles offered a solution to this. He argued that they ought to use some of the tribute from the Delian League to fund the project. Most of the other city-states in the Delian League thought this was a frivolous use of the funds, and even some Athenians didn’t like the idea. However, Pericles used his oratorical skills to convince the Athenians, and the threat of the sword against the other league members. Pericles suggested that if their allies were being protected, then using some of the spare funds was no problem.

The Parthenon The most famous of all the buildings in the Acropolis was one known as the Parthenon. This was a temple built to the goddess of wisdom, Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. Built between 447 & 432 BC, even today, after thousands of years, it is considered the greatest of all Greek buildings and a treasure of human culture. Though it was badly damaged in an explosion in the late 1600 s (it was used to store gunpowder at the time), it still stands today as a testament to the greatness of Athens, and many thousands of tourists still come to visit it today.

Construction Pericles wanted a building that would both honor Athena, but also leave no doubt about the greatness and wealth of Athens. So he hired two of the time’s best architects to do the job. They designed a temple larger than any other such temple in all of Greece, being about 230 ft long, 100 ft wide and 60 ft high, using more than 20, 000 tons of marble. On each of the four sides, there was a colonnade, or row of columns.

Columns The Parthenon certainly had a lot of columns, but most Greek buildings did. The Greeks were very fond of them, so much so that 3 main variants developed over time. There were three main types: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The Doric is the oldest and simplest design, the Ionic was tall and slender with curlicues at the top, and the Corinthian was most ornate with smaller curlicues and layers of leaves on it. Doric Ionic Corinthian

Examples of different columns / colonnades

More Examples

The Parthenon, cont… Pheidias, the master architect hired by Pericles to design the building, made sure that the building was the finest piece of architecture the world had ever seen (and arguable has ever seen since). The Doric columns he chose to make were magnificent, and considered to be the best examples of the style ever. There were many other parts of the temple that required exact care. The carvings on the sides, and on top of the colonnades depicted epic battles between gods and mortals, as well as religious ceremonies. Inside the temple was perhaps the most magnificent part of all: a 40 ft tall marble statue of Athena that was covered with ivory and gold. The statue alone cost more than the rest of the building…but sadly nothing still remains of it (though a smaller copy of it has survived). Indeed, it would have been a sight to behold. The Parthenon

The Theater of Dionysus Athenian Architects also built large outdoor theatres, for meetings as well as community performances. The most important one in Athens was the Theatre of Dionysus, located just below the Acropolis, close to the Parthenon. This semicircular outdoor theatre allowed 15, 000 to watch the proceedings, and the acoustics were so nice that even up in the farthest sections you could easily hear what was happening on the stage.

Artist’s Rendition of the Original

The Amphitheatre of Dionysus, Today Video

Greek Influence Why is the Parthenon (and other Greek Architecture) seen as so influential today? Why should we care? The U. S. Supreme Court Building Courthouse Delaware County

Local Examples Utah State Capital American Fork Amphitheatre Can you think of any other examples? Please share!

End of an Age Eventually, the other Greeks had enough. The Peloponnesian War broke out, led by both Sparta and Athens. For along time, due to Athens’ navy, the Spartan-led armies could not defeat Athens and her allies. Eventually however, sickness and plague overcame the Athenians, and that was the moment their enemies were able to exploit. Athens was defeated, and the Golden Age of Athens was over.