The Classical Era in the West
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