Page 1: Key Vocabulary

The Classical Era in theWest

Chapter 6

Cover Page

Page 3: Important Ideas

*Persia grew large and powerful through military conquests, building good roads, collecting tribute, and tolerating differences.

* The city-states of Greece grew prosperous through trade.The Greeks made major contributions to: art, architecture,literature, history,drama, philosophy, andmathematics.

They city-state of Athens developed the world’sfirst

DEMOCRACY

Women, Slaves, andForeign residents could notvote

ImportantIdeas

Early Romans developed a republican form of government,based on elected representatives and the “rule oflaw.”

As Rome expanded it became an empire, andits

emperor was considered “godlike”

Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire by EmperorConstantine

Page 3 Essential Questions:(skip 4 lines between each/answer)

1)What factors caused rise of Persia, Greece, Rome? (pgs.2,4,6)

2)What were the major accomplishments of these “classical civilizations? (pg. 8)

3)How were the classical civilizations shaped by their religious and philosophical beliefs and by the “rule of law”? (pgs. 10, 12)

Page 5: How was Athenian democracy different from American democracy today? (answer in 1-2 complete paragraphs )

Page 2: The Persian Empire(2,000 B.C.-100B.C.)

The Persian ruler Cyrus the Great-united the Medes andPersiansin 550 B.C.

Expanded the Persian territory to thewest and east by conquering territories.

The next ruler, the son of Cyrus, Darius-conquered Egypt, unified the Persian Empire by building roads, uniformed set of weights and measurements, andcapital cities.

The empire was 3,000 miles long from the Nile River tothe Indus River.

PersianReligion

At first Persians worshipped many gods.(Polytheistic)

570 B.C. Zoroaster introduced a newreligion, Zoroastrianism

TwoGods

The god ofTruth, Light and Goodness (Ahura Mazda)

The god of Darkness andEvil (Ahirman)

Those who were good would go to heaven, those who were bad would go tohell.

Persia’s Accomplishments

Began using coins for purchasing items instead of bartering, this begins a “moneyeconomy”

Built roads using stone and gravel and also includedstations

for fresh horses,postal serviceforcommunication.

Like Post Office, Fed Ex,UPS

The Glory ofGreece

Geography ofGreece

Large mountainouspeninsula

Islands of the AegeanSea

Coast ofTurkey

Farming wasdifficult

Produced wine, olive oil, and pottery fortrade

Because of trade they developed a new alphabet fromthe

Phoenicians

Early GreekCivilizations

Civilizations gradually spread from Mesopotamia, Egypt,and Persia towards the Mediterraneanregion.

MinoanCivilization

Flourished on the island of Crete 2000B.C. to 1400B.C.

Developed writing, used copper and bronze, greatshipbuilders

MycenaeanCivilization

Mainland Greece and on AsiaMinor

1400 to 1200B.C.

Page 4: GreekCity-States

Mountains and seas cut-off cities inGreece.

This allowed the development of city-states(polis)/each with own government and set of laws

Greeks still had a commonculture: language, religious beliefs, traditions,economic ties, Olympics

  • Powerful Greek city-states include: Athens, Sparta, and Troy

ATHENS---Democracy

Developed the form of government ofDemocracy

Rule of thepeople

Citizens voted for every matter.

Women, foreigners,slaves

were not citizens

Citizens Assembly was the main governing body,5000 people could attend tovote.

Met 10 times ayear

Citizens who served on a council,or jurywerepaidfor lostearnings.

SPARTA---Military

Located on the southern part of Greece(Peloponnesus)

725 B.C. conqueredthe Helots.

Made helots becomefarmers

Sparta’s life wasorganized

around military needs

Individualism and newIdeas

were discouraged

Strict obedience and self- discipline was highlyvalued.

If a baby was unhealthy itwas

left on a hill to die.

Golden Age of Greek Culture

Pericles- championed democracy, collected taxes fromcity-states to rebuildAthens.

Art, literature, and philosophyflourished.

Philosophy---“the lover of wisdom”.Use of reason allows humans to understand howworldworks.

Socrates-says to questioneverything! Whatisgoodness?Whatismoralityandjustice?

Plato-philosopher, concludedthat values like goodness and beauty existasindependent ideas, author of The Republic

Described the ideal city-state, “Justice as the rule of reason over personal desires”

Aristotle-teacher of Alexander the Great, collected and classified things from animals tocity-state constitutions and studied their relationships. (ThinkBiology)

Art Architecture

Designed statues and buildings with ideal proportions andharmony.

Parthenon- was builtattheAcropolis,insideistheAthena,patron goddess of Athens

Science &Math

Eratosthenes-showed theearth was round and calculatedits circumference

Created the sieve-a device todiscover all primenumbers

Archimedes- revolutionizedgeometry, volume and density, designedcatapults

Music &Literature

The Greeks developed musicalscales

Herodotus and Thucydides-Greek historians

Would write stories of thepast

Sophocles-Greekplaywright, author of Antigone, completed first comedies andtragedies

Page 6: The Peloponnesian Wars

Athens used their power to tax othercity-states

Sparta declared war onAthens

After 30 years of war, Athenswon

The war weakened all of thecity-states

Poverty waswidespread

Athens was devastated/Sparta now becomes strongest city-state

Alexander theGreat

Son of Macedonia King Philip II

Was taught byAristotle.

Conquered MediterraneanworldincludingEgypt andPersia

Eastward to the Indus River inIndia

Died at an earlyage, his empire

collapsed after hisdeath

HellenisticCulture

Hellenistic Culture-the fusion of Greek culturewith cultures of Middle East andIndia

Alexander the Greatwould spread the Greek cultureto

conquered lands

Statueswere created withmore emotionalrepresentations

Statue heads of ordinary peopled showedimperfections.

Wealthy people began to studyphilosophy

Page 8: The “Grandeur” ofRome

One of the most influential civilizations to emerge in the AncientWorld.

Romans adopted the GreekCulture, believed insameGods,

gave themLatinnames

Romans studied and imitated Greek achievements inscience, art, history, andliterature.

GeographyofRome

Located on a fertile plain inthe

center of Italy close to the west

coast

Tothe norththe Alpsprotected

Rome

Tothe west the sea offered protection/routeforexploration and trade

TheRomanRepublic

Early Rome overthrewtheir king and developed aRepublic/ system of government byrepresentatives

Two socialclasses: Patricians-wealthy landowners,Plebeians- small farmers, craftsmen,merchants

Patricians had an assembly known as theSenate,elected officialswere calledconsuls

Plebeianswould choosetribunes/speakers to representthem

TheTwelveTables

Supported the “Rule ofLaw

Government officialswere not above thelaw

To protect thePlebeians

Covered civil, criminal and religiouslaws

ALL CITIZENS ARE EQUAL UNDERTHELAW!

TheRomanEmpire

Rome ruledthe entire ItalianPeninsula

Defeated Carthage in NorthAfrica

Rome became the leading power in the MediterraneanRegion

Rome then conquered: Spain, North Africaandeastern

Mediterranean.

Julius Caesar-returned to Rome with his army anddeclared

himself “Dictator”

Page 10: The Roman Empire

Roman officials feared loss of freedoms and assassinated Caesarin44B.C. (called the Ides of March)

Augustus Caesar- was the next ruler, kept monarch powersbut

preserved republican institutions.

He removed corrupt officials and tried to restore “OldRoman Values”

His successors were called Emperors and were worshippedas

Gods.

Expanded the Roman Empire to the north andeast

PaxRomana(27 B.C.-395 A.D.)

Augustus brought peace toRomanEmpire/ “PaxRomana”

Centralized political authority allowed the “rule of law”to

effective.

Respected local customs,provided laws, promoted trade, and offeredcitizenship.

However, still recognized the institution ofslavery

A large number of slaves performed much of Rome'slabor

Rome became the centerof

Communications, commerce,trade,

politics, culture, militarypower.

Greatengineers: concrete, large

buildings, Coliseum, 50K miles ofroads/

The Appian Way

RomanArmy: professionalsoldiers,

obedient to itsGenerals

WomeninRome

Responsible for householdchores

Not allowed to holdoffice

More equality in Roman society than in GreekSociety

High value on marriage, home and thefamily

Could own property and makewills

Lower class women worked outside thehome

JewishRebellion

Rome allowedthe practice of other religions as long as they accepted the emperor asdivine.

Jewsrefused

Revolted in 66 A.D. and in 135A.D.

Defeated by the Romans, destroyed the Jewish templein Jerusalem anddrove Jews out ofIsrael (The Diaspora)

Fled to the north and west ofEurope

Page 12: Christianity

Began 2,000 yearsago

Based on the teachings ofJesus

Preached forgiveness, mercy andsympathy

Crucified because he claimed he was theMessiah

Apostles-believed Jesus had risen from the dead to redeemmankind

Afterlife is promised to allbelievers

Wanted to spread the religion tonon-believers

No strict dietary rules or other religiouslaws

In the 4thCentury Emperor Constantine became the 1stChristian Emperor

By 400 A.D. Christianity became the official religion forthe

Roman Empire

Fall ofRome

PoliticalWeakness- Emperors became corrupt and ineffectiveleaders

EconomicProblems- costs of defending and administering the empire led to hightaxes, inflation, unemployment

Military Decline- reliedon paidsoldiers, recruited from non-Roman people,not loyal toRome

Invasions- continually attacked from N.Europe and CentralAsia (Goths andHuns) this causes the “Fall of Roman Empire”

LegacyofRome

Law- concepts of Justice, equality before the law,law based on reason shaped European legalsystems

Language- several Euro. languages evolved fromLatin: Spanish,French,Portuguese,Italian

Engineering-built bridges and aqueducts to supply water tocities, developed concrete,the use of arches anddomes

Christianity- becomes official religion of Roman Empire under Constantine