Page 1: Key Vocabulary
The Classical Era in the West
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, and mathematics.
l They city-state of Athens developed the world’s first
DEMOCRACY
l Women, Slaves, and Foreign residents could not vote
Important Ideas
l Early Romans developed a republican form of government, based on elected representatives and the “rule of law.”
l As Rome expanded it became an empire, and its
emperor was considered “godlike”
l Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine
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.-100 B.C.)
l The Persian ruler Cyrus the Great- united the Medes and Persians in 550 B.C.
l Expanded the Persian territory to the west and east by conquering territories.
l The next ruler, the son of Cyrus, Darius-conquered Egypt, unified the Persian Empire by building roads, uniformed set of weights and measurements, and capital cities.
l The empire was 3,000 miles long from the Nile River to the Indus River.
Persian Religion
l At first Persians worshipped many gods. (Polytheistic)
l 570 B.C. Zoroaster introduced a new religion, Zoroastrianism
l Two Gods
l The god of Truth, Light and Goodness (Ahura Mazda)
l The god of Darkness and Evil (Ahirman)
l Those who were good would go to heaven, those who were bad would go to hell.
Persia’s Accomplishments
l Began using coins for purchasing items instead of bartering, this begins a “money economy”
l Built roads using stone and gravel and also included stations
for fresh horses, postal service for communication.
l Like Post Office, Fed Ex, UPS
The Glory of Greece
l Geography of Greece
l Large mountainous peninsula
l Islands of the Aegean Sea
l Coast of Turkey
l Farming was difficult
l Produced wine, olive oil, and pottery for trade
l Because of trade they developed a new alphabet from the
Phoenicians
Early Greek Civilizations
l Civilizations gradually spread from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Persia towards the Mediterranean region.
l Minoan Civilization
l Flourished on the island of Crete 2000B.C. to 1400 B.C.
l Developed writing, used copper and bronze, great shipbuilders
l Mycenaean Civilization
l Mainland Greece and on Asia Minor
1400 to 1200 B.C.
Page 4: Greek City-States
l Mountains and seas cut-off cities in Greece.
l This allowed the development of city-states (polis)/each with own government and set of laws
l Greeks still had a common culture: language, religious beliefs, traditions, economic ties, Olympics
· Powerful Greek city-states include: Athens, Sparta, and Troy
ATHENS---Democracy
l Developed the form of government of Democracy
l Rule of the people
l Citizens voted for every matter.
l Women, foreigners, slaves
were not citizens
l Citizens Assembly was the main governing body, 5000 people could attend to vote.
l Met 10 times a year
l Citizens who served on a council, or jury were paid for lost earnings.
SPARTA---Military
l Located on the southern part of Greece (Peloponnesus)
l 725 B.C. conquered the Helots.
l Made helots become farmers
l Sparta’s life was organized
around military needs
l Individualism and new Ideas
were discouraged
l Strict obedience and self- discipline was highly valued.
l If a baby was unhealthy it was
left on a hill to die.
Golden Age of Greek Culture
l Pericles- championed democracy, collected taxes from city-states to rebuild Athens.
l Art, literature, and philosophy flourished.
l Philosophy---“the lover of wisdom”. Use of reason allows humans to understand how world works.
l Socrates- says to question everything! What is goodness? What is morality and justice?
l Plato- philosopher, concluded that values like goodness and beauty exist as independent ideas, author of The Republic
l Described the ideal city-state, “Justice as the rule of reason over personal desires”
l Aristotle- teacher of Alexander the Great, collected and classified things from animals to city-state constitutions and studied their relationships. (Think Biology)
Art & Architecture
l Designed statues and buildings with ideal proportions and harmony.
l Parthenon- was built at the Acropolis, inside is the Athena, patron goddess of Athens
Science & Math
l Eratosthenes- showed the earth was round and calculated its circumference
l Created the sieve- a device to discover all prime numbers
l Archimedes- revolutionized geometry, volume and density, designed catapults
l Music & Literature
l The Greeks developed musical scales
l Herodotus and Thucydides- Greek historians
l Would write stories of the past
l Sophocles- Greek playwright, author of Antigone, completed first comedies and tragedies
Page 6: The Peloponnesian Wars
l Athens used their power to tax other city-states
l Sparta declared war on Athens
l After 30 years of war, Athens won
l The war weakened all of the city-states
l Poverty was widespread
l Athens was devastated/Sparta now becomes strongest city-state
Alexander the Great
l Son of Macedonia King Philip II
l Was taught by Aristotle.
l Conquered Mediterranean world including Egypt and Persia
l Eastward to the Indus River in India
l Died at an early age, his empire
collapsed after his death
Hellenistic Culture
l Hellenistic Culture- the fusion of Greek culture with cultures of Middle East and India
l Alexander the Great would spread the Greek culture to
conquered lands
l Statues were created with more emotional representations
l Statue heads of ordinary peopled showed imperfections.
l Wealthy people began to study philosophy
Page 8: The “Grandeur” of Rome
l One of the most influential civilizations to emerge in the Ancient World.
l Romans adopted the Greek Culture, believed in same Gods,
gave them Latin names
l Romans studied and imitated Greek achievements in science, art, history, and literature.
Geography of Rome
l Located on a fertile plain in the
center of Italy close to the west
coast
l To the north the Alps protected
Rome
l To the west the sea offered protection/route for exploration and trade
The Roman Republic
l Early Rome overthrew their king and developed a Republic/ system of government by representatives
l Two social classes: Patricians-wealthy land owners, Plebeians- small farmers, craftsmen, merchants
l Patricians had an assembly known as the Senate, elected officials were called consuls
l Plebeians would choose tribunes/speakers to represent them
l The Twelve Tables
l Supported the “Rule of Law
l Government officials were not above the law
l To protect the Plebeians
l Covered civil, criminal and religious laws
l ALL CITIZENS ARE EQUAL UNDERTHE LAW!
The Roman Empire
l Rome ruled the entire Italian Peninsula
l Defeated Carthage in North Africa
l Rome became the leading power in the Mediterranean Region
l Rome then conquered: Spain, North Africa and eastern
Mediterranean.
l Julius Caesar- returned to Rome with his army and declared
himself “Dictator”
Page 10: The Roman Empire
l Roman officials feared loss of freedoms and assassinated Caesar in 44B.C. (called the Ides of March)
l Augustus Caesar- was the next ruler, kept monarch powers but
preserved republican institutions.
l He removed corrupt officials and tried to restore “Old Roman Values”
l His successors were called Emperors and were worshipped as
Gods.
l Expanded the Roman Empire to the north and east
Pax Romana (27 B.C.-395 A.D.)
l Augustus brought peace to Roman Empire/ “Pax Romana”
l Centralized political authority allowed the “rule of law” to
effective.
l Respected local customs, provided laws, promoted trade, and offered citizenship.
l However, still recognized the institution of slavery
l A large number of slaves performed much of Rome's labor
l Rome became the center of
l Communications, commerce, trade,
politics, culture, military power.
l Great engineers: concrete, large
buildings, Coliseum, 50K miles of roads/
The Appian Way
l Roman Army: professional soldiers,
obedient to its Generals
Women in Rome
l Responsible for household chores
l Not allowed to hold office
l More equality in Roman society than in Greek Society
l High value on marriage, home and the family
l Could own property and make wills
l Lower class women worked outside the home
Jewish Rebellion
l Rome allowed the practice of other religions as long as they accepted the emperor as divine.
l Jews refused
l Revolted in 66 A.D. and in 135 A.D.
l Defeated by the Romans, destroyed the Jewish temple in Jerusalem and drove Jews out of Israel (The Diaspora)
l Fled to the north and west of Europe
Page 12: Christianity
l Began 2,000 years ago
l Based on the teachings of Jesus
l Preached forgiveness, mercy and sympathy
l Crucified because he claimed he was the Messiah
l Apostles- believed Jesus had risen from the dead to redeem mankind
l Afterlife is promised to all believers
l Wanted to spread the religion to non-believers
l No strict dietary rules or other religious laws
l In the 4th Century Emperor Constantine became the 1st Christian Emperor
l By 400 A.D. Christianity became the official religion for the
Roman Empire
Fall of Rome
l Political Weakness- Emperors became corrupt and ineffective leaders
l Economic Problems- costs of defending and administering the empire led to high taxes, inflation, unemployment
l Military Decline- relied on paid soldiers, recruited from non-Roman people, not loyal to Rome
l Invasions- continually attacked from N. Europe and Central Asia (Goths and Huns) this causes the “Fall of Roman Empire”
Legacy of Rome
l Law- concepts of Justice, equality before the law, law based on reason shaped European legal systems
l Language- several Euro. languages evolved from Latin: Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian
l Engineering- built bridges and aqueducts to supply water to cities, developed concrete, the use of arches and domes
l Christianity- becomes official religion of Roman Empire under Constantine