2.1 Ancient Greece: the start of European Civilisation -T-

• History
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1

AGE 2. The Time of Greeks and Romans

2.1 Ancient Greece: the start of European Civilisation

- T -

What you can explain /  do after this lesson

• What a polis is
• Why trade was important for the Greeks
• Why the Greeks created colonies

Word Duty

Social layers: groups of people who differ from each other in wealth, power and prestige.

Colony: a new city that was started overseas

Polis (plural: poleis): Greek city-state

Agora: the main marketplace in a polis

Acropolis: the inner keep of the city where most of the temples were

Dark ages: time historians cannot “see”, because there is no information about it

Oral Tradition: stories are not written down, but passed on from person to person by telling

Metoiks: people that were born in a different polis

Social pyramid: graph to show the differences in power, wealth and/or influence in a country

Slave: person owned by someone else, slaves were at the bottom of the social pyramid

Middle class: social layer of merchants and such individuals

Lower class: (poor) working people with little power

Upper class: ruling class of people

KEY WORDS

Assignment for the upcoming lessons:

Write down every word that you find difficult:

1. You don't know what the word means in dutch
2. You don't know what the word means/have never seen the word

Make your own personal dictionary, filled with the words you find difficult. 

It contains:

1. The difficult word
2. The dutch translation
3. The meaning of the word

Introduction

None of the societies that you read about in the previous chapter were in Europe. Most historians say that European civilisation starts with the Greeks. The people lived divided over independent city-states. Athens and Sparta were the most powerful. The city-states were filled with many people, all of them in different social layers. Slavery was normal to them and fighting in the army was only for the rich.

Geography of Greece

• Greece is a country that borders the Mediterranean Sea. It has many high mountains, rocky ground and islands.
• No fertile ground close together > mainly herding sheeps and goats
• Few patches of fertile ground > grains, olives and figs

Sometimes they needed to do something more drastic. 

• Start a new city, or colony with strong links to the old city
• The colony could trade food with the 'mainland'
• Greece has difficult terrain (high mountains) > the sea as their highways
• What is important if you travel a lot via sea? 

source 2.1.1

Map of Ancient Greece, around 500 BC, modern illustration

source 2.1.2

Today, Greece still has high mountains and rocky grounds.

source 2.1.3

Greece and its colonies. Modern map.

The Greek city states

• Greek cities were so powerful that they also controlled surrounding lands. > these cities became independent states, with their own government, coins and army. 
• Such a city is called a city-state. The Greek word for this is polis (plural: poleis). 
• These poleis would act as small countries.
• Not all poleis were exactly the same 

In China the priests wrote on turtle shells.

source 2.1.4

The Acropolis of Athens, painted by Leo von Klenze (1846)

source 2.1.5

Athens, 2018

Write down the different districts you see in the video

What could've been the purpose of these districts?

Write it down in your notebook like this:

District 

Port

Watch the video about Athens

Use

Shipping and receiving goods like ceramics, food, weapons, etc. (trade)

What do you remember about the previous lesson?

Can we say that ancient Greece was: 

A: one country (a unified state, like the Netherlands today) ? Or, 

B: a collection of different countries (city states) ?

There are arguments for both. For example:

A: One country, because: The people in the different poleis all shared the same:

              - language

              - gods

              - culture

B: Different countries, because the city states had different:

              - governments

              - coins

                And they often fought wars against each other.

Greece: One country or several countries?

Trading across the Mediterranean

• Merchants > people that sailed from harbour to harbour to buy goods cheap and sell these goods elsewhere for a lot of money. 

• Most money could be made by trading olives.
• Fresh olives were not that valuable, but olive oil was. It was sold all over the Mediterranean Sea, as was Greek wine

source 2.1.6

A trireme: a warship with three rows of rowers (present-day replica).

Classes in ancient Greece

In history we call groups of merchants the middle class. People who only work and do not have a lot of wealth are called the lower class. People with the most property, the rich and powerful, are called the upper class. This class owned land and made money by selling woods and crops from the land, or renting out land. Of course they did work with traders, but they said the land was their source of income.

source 2.1.7

Greek trading routes across the Mediterranean Sea

source 2.1.8

Terracotta neck-amphora (jar) 

ca. 540 B.C.

Free men and foreigners

Assignment:

Draw your own social layer in the form of a pyramid with the following people: Woman and children, foreigners, aristocracy, farmers, tentant farmers, slaves.

Place them in order of who has the most power/influence. The most at the top, the least at the bottom.

Explain your answer!

source 2.1.9

Men discuss politics in the Athenian Agora (colour lithograph), Herget, Herbert M. (1885-1950), National Geographic Creative

source 2.1.10

Drinking cup (490-480 BC)

Women in the ancient Greek world had few rights in comparison to male citizens. Unable to vote, own land, or inherit, a woman's place was in the home and her purpose in life was the rearing of children. 

Free men and foreigners

• Not everyone is equal > social layers
• In Athens you have: citizens, foreigners (metoiks), free man and slaves
• Metoiks were the people born in a different polis > not allowed to own land or have a say in politics.
• Free man > allowed to own land or run a business, but not rich enough so no say in politics.
• The rights that women had depended on the polis where they lived: in Sparta they were allowed to own land and run a business, but in most city-states they were not.

source 2.1.9

Men discuss politics in the Athenian Agora (colour lithograph), Herget, Herbert M. (1885-1950), National Geographic Creative

source 2.1.10

Drinking cup (490-480 BC)

Women in the ancient Greek world had few rights in comparison to male citizens. Unable to vote, own land, or inherit, a woman's place was in the home and her purpose in life was the rearing of children. 

Slaves

• Bottom of the social pyramid
• Rights depended on the polis > some more important than others
• Teachers, advisors > well educated and expensive.
• Work hard in fields or mines 
• Both scenarios no freedom!

• How do you become a slave?
• Too much debt,
• Birth,
• War prisoners.

Slaves could always be sold again. Sometimes slaves could even buy their own freedom: in this case they became free men.

2.1.11

A painting of slaves working in a silver mine (5th century BC).

Why do we study Ancient Greece? Because of its legacy!  More info: go to this website.

LEGACY: anything that is handed down from the past and that leaves a mark on the world today.

What was the legacy of ancient Greece?

The ancient Greeks left a long standing mark on the modern world by developing new government systems called democracy, architecture, sports, art, theater, philosophy, science, mathematics, and by inventing new technologies.

What is ancient Greece remembered for?

Ancient Greece is remembered for developing democracy, inventing Western philosophy, realistic art, developing theater like comedy and tragedy, the Olympic Games, inventing pi, and the Pythagoras theorem.

Why is ancient Greece important to Western civilization?

Ancient Greece helped explain the world through the laws of nature by inventing Western philosophy, democracy, the arts, and through several scientific inventions.

What did the ancient Greeks invent?

The ancient Greeks invented many things still used today. For instance, they invented Western philosophy, pi, the Pythagoras theorem, geometry, and the most important item they invented was a form of government called democracy.

Western philosophy

Philosophy = “the love of wisdom” 

Greek philosophers tried to explain the world, not by using gods and myths, but by rational thinking. 

congratulations