Section 3 Athens
Athenian Background Located NE of Sparta, on the Aegean Sea Had different philosophy than Spartans
Athenian Government First ruled by kings then by working people Oligarchy- form of government in which a few people have ruling power Upper-class Athenians made reforms to settle disputes over land ownership Draco, a noble, first to attempt to change government but his punishments were too harsh
Solon's Constitution 594 B.C., Solon prepared a constitution, a set of principles and rules for governing Broke governing power of the rich Set land ownership limit Landowners could vote in the Assembly Assembly could pass laws Freed people who were enslaved because of debt Offered citizenship to non-athenian artisans
Peisistratus 560 B.C. government taken over by Peisistratus Supported the lower classes Divided large estates among farmers who owned no land Stated a person no longer had to own land to be a citizen Encouraged sculpture and other arts
Cleisthenes 508 B.C. Spartans overthrown by a noble named Cleisthenes Cleisthenes created world s first democratic constitution Democracy- favors the equality of all people
Cleisthenes' Reforms The political reforms made by Cleisthenes lasted for over 300 years Opened Assembly to all males over 20 Chief Magistrates- judges elected to run army and navy One commander-in-chief Council of Five Hundred handled the daily business of Athens
Athenians preferred choosing members by lot rather than by voting Didn t want rich to have advantage and believed everyone was smart enough
Athenian Education Citizens required to educate sons Boys- tutored or went to private school Studied writing, math, and music Practiced sports Memorized works by Homer and other Greek poets Age 18- Athenian boys went to temple of Zeus and took an oath of citizenship
Greece vs. Persia 545 BC- Persians conquered Ionia 525 BC- Ionians revolted Ionians asked mainland Greece to help 520 BC- Persians put down Ionian Revolt Darius, Persian king, won and decided to punish mainland Greece for helping Ionians
490-479 BC- The Persian Wars
490 BC- Battle of Marathon Won by Greeks A runner ran 26 miles to Athens to tell of victory and shouted, NIKE, the Greek goddess of victory, then died
Started to build triremes, warships that had three levels of rowers on each side
480 BC- Battle of Thermopylae Darius s son, Xerxes, conquered northern Greece Started south to take over all of Greece 20 city-states banded together Sparta led army, Athens led navy Narrow pass 100 miles away from Athens
7,000 Greeks held off 250,000 Persians for three days 300 Spartans and 700 Greeks stayed to defend the pass Athenians fled city to Salamis Persians, helped by a traitor, found a way around the pass and killed every soldier Persians then continued on to Athens
480 BC- Battle of Salamis Persians burned Athens to the ground Greeks tricked Persians to sail into strait between Salamis and Athens Persian ships were too big for the narrow pass Greeks defeated the Persian fleet Xerxes left some fleet behind and retreated to Asia 479 BC-Battle of Plataea-end of The Persian Wars
The Delian League Persians still ruled Ionia Greek city-states formed a defensive league, a protective group Met on island of Delos Sparta did not join Athens gained too much power and Delian League turned into Athenian Empire
460-429 BC- Pericles: "First Citizen of Athens Wanted Athens to be the most beautiful and perfect city Rebuilt temples and palaces on Acropolis Had the Parthenon and the Long Walls built
Parthenon, temple of goddess Athena, took 11 years to build Built with Delian League money
The Long Walls- 5 miles long, connected Athens to its seaport of Piraeus
431-404 BC- Peloponnesian War Athens and Spartan-led city-states Began decline of Athens
404 B.C.-Athens surrendered to Sparta The war and a plague left Athens in ruins Thousands of young Athenians became mercenaries, hired soldiers, in Persian army Athens revolted and set up a democracy Athens would never match its power before the Peloponnesian War
Section 4: Decline of the City-States
After Peloponnesian War, Greeks lost their sense of community Bitterness between upper and lower classes Sparta ruled Greece too harshly 371 B.C.- Thebes leads group in overthrowing Spartan rule
338 B.C.- Philip II of Macedonia conquers Greece