4.  Minoan
 Trading community on
the island of Crete
 Highly advanced for
the time
 Capital: Knossos
 Labyrinth and
Minotaur myth
 Around 1600 BC:
disappears
 May be the lost
civilization of Atlantis
(destroyed by volcanic
explosion of Thera)

5.  under the palace of
Knossos was a huge
intricate labyrinth
(maze)
 At the center lay a
minataur (1/2 man + ½
bull)
 Sacrifices were
required to satisfy the
Minataur
 In reality – young
slaves forced by
priests into the maze
and then killed
 Minataur would then
protect the people of
Knossos

7.  Mycenaean
 Powerful city-state on
the Greek mainland
 Writing System: Linear
A and Linear B
 (still being studied and is
not really understood)
 Much is still unknown
about this civilization
 Iliad and the Odyssey
◦ Story of the Trojan War
◦ Written by Homer
◦ Shows the ideal Greek hero as
being one who outsmarts his
enemies
◦ Greeks see themselves
grounded in logic and
reasoning

8.  Written by a blind
poet named Homer
 Story of the Trojan
War between
“Greeks” and Troy
 Tells story of the how
the Greek heroes use
intellect to outsmart
their enemies rather
than just fighting them
 Use of the Trojan
Horse is a great
example of Greek
intellect over an
enemy

10. No “Greece” in 400 BCE
Really a collection of city-states:
◦separate political units
◦united by a common culture
Largest city-states and rivals:
◦Athens and Sparta

11.  On the sea –
trading center
 Very wealthy
with a great navy
 Individuals
matter – freedom
rules

12.  Democracy – every
citizen votes on
every law
 Sets the ideal structure
for democracies and
republics of the present
 Problem – what if they
vote for a bad law?
 Problem – no protection
from the mob

13.  Capitalism – economy
based on individuals
and trade
 Gives people an
incentive to make
money
 Problem – capitalism
leads to inequality and
poverty for some –
wealth and success for
others

14.  Ruled by a military
dictatorship / council
 Society runs on absolute
obedience to the state –
even women have roles to
play
 Society of absolute equality
– unique in the ancient
world
 Individualism is suppressed
for the good of the state

15.  Men – serve in the army
from age 7
 Women – serve the state
by having babies for the
army
 Disobedience and waste
is forbidden
 Spartan army is the most
efficient fighting
machine in the ancient
world

17.  Foundation for Western Civilization
◦Greek Science and Mathematics
◦Humanism – man can observe and
figure out his own world based on
reasoning
◦Greek Philosophy – development of
logical reasoning

18.  Astronomy
◦ Earth is Round – based on lunar Eclipse
◦ Earth’s circumference determined (quite accurately) using math
and observation
◦ Geocentric model of the universe
 Model based on observation and reasoning
 Puts the Earth at the center of the universe
 Everything revolves around the Earth
 Greek Medicine
◦ Hippocrates – developed ideas behind the Four Humors
 Tried to observe then diagnose
 Step towards modern medicine
 Development of Geometry
◦ Mathematics of Space and volume
◦ Mathematical principles based on a logical reasoning

19.  Idea that man
can figure out the
world around him
by observation
and logical
reasoning

20.  Model based on
observation of
the sky and
logical reasoning
 Puts the Earth at
the center of the
universe
 Everything
revolves around
the Earth

21.  Observe and diagnose
based on observation
 Hippocrates– father of
medicine
 Four fluids in the body
◦ Blood
◦ Phlegm
◦ Yellow bile
◦ Black bile

22.  Geometery – “earth
measure”
 Mathematics based on
observation and logical
reasoning
 Pytharogas – classical
Greek Mathmatician
 Pythagorean theorem
◦ The area of the square
built upon the hypotenuse
of a right triangle is equal
to the sum of the areas of
the squares upon the
remaining sides.

23.  Philosophy – The search for Wisdom
 Philosopher – one who seeks wisdom
 Wisdom
◦ Different from facts and knowledge
◦ Uses facts and knowledge to understand how to question
◦ Really just the search for knowledge
◦ Best described in Plato’s Analogy of the Cave

24. Socrates at his Death
 Born in Athens -- 469 BC
 Originally a stonecutter
 Told by the Oracle at Delphi at the Temple
of Apollo that he was the wisest man in
Athens and spent the remainder of his life
trying to prove her wrong – he never did
 Went around Athens asking questions and
trying to find “wise” people
 Teacher (called “Master”)– people left
everything to follow him (similar to Jesus)
 Greatest student – Plato
 Question Everything – the answers
themselves don’t matter, as long as one
understands the need to question
 Sentenced to death by Athenian court for
corrupting the youth in 399 BC

25. Plato (from the painting
“School of Athens”
 Socrates’ greatest student
 Recorded the life and wisdom of
Socrates
 Wrote a series of dialogues – like
reading conversations between
Socrates and the citizens of Athens
 Question Everything (from
Socrates), but if one asked the right
questions, one would eventually
come up with the correct answers
(True Forms)
 Most famous book – The Republic

26.  Plato’s greatest book – done in a series of chapters
(called books by Plato)
 True form of government – The Republic (people vote
for reps – reps vote on the laws for the people)
 True form of reps – “philosopher kings”
 How does one become a philosopher? Develop wisdom
 How does one develop wisdom? Understand the “cave”
and get out of it.

30. Aristotle
 Student of Plato
 Mathematician, philosopher and
scientist
 Developed the idea behind logical
reasoning
 True forms are only true if they
can be defended by logic
 Answers to questions then, can
be different and yet both answers
can be right, depending on one’s
perspective
 Only had one student: Alexander
the Great – he would take the
ideas of Ancient Greece and
spread them around the known
world

33.  United Greece vs. Persian Empire
 Started with Greek Revolts in Asia Minor
 The Greeks turned to Athens for help
 Persia responded by trying to invade Greece
 490 BCE – Battle of Marathon
◦ Greek Army defeats Persians
◦ Greek soldier runs from the battlefield to Athens
(26.2 miles) – screams “nike!” (victory) and then
collapses and dies

35.  Xerxes – Persian “God-king” – amassed a huge army and navy
to punish the Greek City states
 Reports vary, but the Persian army was at least 200,000 strong
(ancient reports say 2 million)
 Xerxes decided to invade from the north and to sweep through
Greece
 Battle of Thermopyle (Aug 480 BCE)
◦ Leonidas of Sparta led 300 of his guards to the “hot gates” and cut off the
Persians
◦ Persians sent wave after wave against the Spartans
◦ Persian victory, but the valiant loss inspires and rallies the rest of Greek
city states
 Battle of Plataea (Jun 479 BCE)
◦ United Greek force (led by the Spartans and the Athenians) defeated a
much larger Persian army
◦ Persian army remnants retreated back to Asia Minor

38.  Athens vs. Sparta
 Athens – great navy
 Sparta – great army
 War started when Athens
imposed trade restrictions
on Sparta’s allies
 Sparta retalitated and went
to war against Athens
 Sparta eventually laid seige
to Athens and forced the
city to surrender
 War weakened all of
Greece & left it weak

40.  Son of Macedonian king
Phillip II
 Educated by Aristotle –
taught to revere Greek
ideas of humanism,
philosophy, science and
medicine
 Becomes king at age 21
when his father is killed
during the Macedonian
invasion of Greece

41.  Subdued Greece by
force, but then
incorporated Greek
fighters into his army
 Invaded Asia Minor to
go after Persia in 334
BCE
 Persian Empire (from
Egypt to Indian
subcontinent) quickly fell
to Alexander by 329
BCE

43.  Although Alexander
wanted to go after India,
his soldiers were tired and
wanted to go home
 Problem – many of the
governors appointed by
Alexander to control
territories in his new
empire were corrupt
 Alexander died under
mysterious circumstances
in 323 BCE in Babylon (he
may have been poisoned)

44.  Greek culture adn
philosophy spread
across the known world
(important for later units)
 Establishment of many
different “Alexandria”
cities
 Inspiration for military
leaders for the next 2300
years

45.  After the general was
gone, the Empire was
divided by his
subordinate officers
 Most important to
western history:
Ptolemaic Empire –
Egypt (kings take the
title of pharoahs)

46.  Greek Culture, Science, Humanism and
Philosophy becomes mixed with other
cultures. This hybrid culture will be known as
“Hellensitic” as opposed to “Hellenic” culture
(pure Greek)
 Greek world begins to decline just as we see
the rise of an even greater Mediterreanan
super power.....................Rome