Mr.Fitchpatrick's Social Studies Blog: Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Chapter 8: Ancient Greece Chapter 9: The Greek World

In this unit, students will examine one of the most influential civilizations of the ancient world. Through an in-depth study of the culture of ancient Greece, students will develop an understanding of where various political, economic, social, and cultural ideas that have impacted other cultures including our own have come from. Specifically, students will examine such topics as Greek mythology, democracy, architecture, and philosophy.

Essential Questions Raised in this Unit

v Why should you study the social sciences, and how are they applicable to your daily life?

v How do social scientists construct and evaluate the stories of the past?

v How does the environment shape human activity, and how does human activity shape the environment?

v How do humans fulfill their needs for goods and services?

v What causes people to invent and express themselves creatively, and what impact do new inventions, technologies and forms of artistic expression and communication have on a society’s economy and overall culture?

v How and why are people or groups in a society treated differently based on race, gender, religion, etc.?

v How and why do civilizations change over time?

v How does religion affect the lives of people and societies?

v To what extent can an individual and/or group’s actions determine the course of a society?

v Can there be a just war? Why or why not?

Enduring Understandings

Greece has a warm climate, similar to Southern California, where farmers can raise crops all year long. Greece is made up of many islands and is ideally located for sea trade. The Ancient Greeks made extensive contacts with people from other advanced cultures and these contacts led to the spread of ideas that spurred the development of Greek civilization.

Around 750 B.C. Greece was coming out of its Dark Age as isolated villages began to develop into cities. As cities grew, trade increased and leaders arose. The isolated cities developed into city-states-independent, self-governing units.

The idea of democracy was developed over several centuries. The people in the early Greek city-states were ruled by kings in a monarchy. Over time, the kings began to rely on wealthy landowners, or nobles, to help defend their land from invaders. These nobles began to demand to share some of the king’s powers, resulting in an oligarchy. Food shortages caused unrest and discontent among the population. These problems led to the rise of tyrants who seized power by force and ruled the city-state single-handedly. Some people supported these leaders because they promised to make reforms. However, eventually, the citizens of Athens became upset with the harsh rule of a tyrant, overthrew him, and began to share decision-making power. This was the beginning of the world’s first democracy.

The Greeks were polytheistic and believed that Zeus, the king of the gods, sat on a golden throne atop Mount Olympus and ruled all other gods and all of the Greeks. The Greeks believed that all aspects of their lives were controlled by the gods and that humans had little to no free will. The gods of Greek myths formed a family, and each member had a specific role with particular duties and powers. Zeus, as head of the family, set standards of justice and made sure that humans and gods followed them.

Greek religious belief influenced all aspects of life including art, literature, drama, leisure activities, and daily decision making. The Olympic Games honored Zeus, Greek myths told the stories of the gods, drama festivals which included comic and tragic plays were held to honor the gods, and Greeks regularly visited sanctuaries and shrines to receive guidance and advice from the gods through oracles.

Sparta and Athens were the two largest city-states in Greece and each developed a unique society. Men in Sparta were required to devote a large portion of their life to military service and all of their education focused on military training. Spartan women had relative freedom as independent family caretakers. While Athens did not ignore their military, boys and men in Athens were encouraged to pursue a rich cultural education and the exercise of personal freedoms. Athenian women, on the other hand, had little political, economic, or social freedom, no decision-making power, and were only educated at home.

The Golden Age of Athens was led by Pericles, born an aristocrat to a wealthy family he sought to protect and beautify Athens while strengthening democracy and the pride for the Athenian culture and way of life. During the rule of Pericles, Greek culture flourished and many Greek male citizens became active participants in their government. However, citizenship excluded women, slaves, and foreigners. The glory of Athens came to an end as a result of war, disease, the loss of effective leadership, and the inability of the society to live up to its own ideals.

The growing power of the Persian Empire posed a threat to both Athens and Sparta who, despite their differences, banded together to fight a common enemy. Eventually, Alexander the Great created a Greek empire that defeated and overtook not only the Persians, but other empires as well. Alexander’s military genius and his aggressive spreading of Greek culture left an enduring Hellenistic influence on conquered lands.

Greek cultural expressions left a deep and lasting impression that still influences our lives today. Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle searched for the truth and the meaning of life and challenged their societies by looking beyond the gods for answers to their questions about the world. Epic poems like the Odyssey and the Iliad portrayed an appreciation for complex heroes who used their intelligence and physical strength to overcome insurmountable odds. Lyric poetry richly portrayed human emotions and feelings. Classical Greek architecture and art are still greatly admired and copied today. Many Greek scientific and mathematical ideas are still used today and ancient Greece was one of the first societies to look for the natural causes for diseases.