Chapter 8: the Ancient Greeks

Name Key______Period______Date______

Chapter 8: The Ancient Greeks

Lesson 3: The Golden Age

Big Idea: Defeating the Persian Empire in war led to the Golden Age in Classical Greece.

Historians use the phrase Golden Age to describe a time when a civilization was at its best.

This judgment is made based on such things as the civilizations:

• Art
• Architecture
• Literature
• Science

Vocabulary

1) league – a group of allies

The Greek city-states stopped fighting each other and worked together to defeat a common enemy: Persia

The Persians had a large empire, and king Darius I turned his soldiers toward the Greek mainland.

Athenian soldiers fought the Persians on the plain of Marathon and managed to defeat the larger Persian army.

Legends about the battle describe a messenger who ran all the way from Marathon to Athens, a distance of 26 miles, 385 yards.

The Persians again invaded in 480 BCE. They were under the command Xerxes, the son of Darius I.

The Persians invaded by land and by sea, and were opposed by many Greek city-states including Athens and Sparta.

The Persians outnumbered the Greeks again, but again the Greeks won.

The Greek city-states formed leagues to protect themselves against common enemies:

• The Peloponnesian League was led by Sparta and consisted of the southern city-states.
• The Delian League was led by Athens and consisted of city-states from Attica, Asian Minor, and some of the Aegean Islands.

Pericles was a relative of Cleisthenes, the Athenian leader who instituted democratic reforms.

Pericles ruled Athens for about 30 years. He:

• Introduced pay for all government officials, which allowed people who were not wealthy to serve in government.
• Gave male citizens of any class the right to hold government office, believing that even poor citizens had a right to participate in government.

Vocabulary

1)patron – supporter of learning and the arts

2)tragedies – serious plays with unhappy endings

3)comedies – humorous plays designed to make audiences laugh

Pericles supported learning and the arts, and he hired architects to build temples and theaters.

He also supported writers such as:

• Herodotus – wrote about the Persian Wars.
• Sophocles – wrote tragic plays
• Aristophanes – wrote comedies that made fun of political leaders

During the Golden Age, scientists studied nature and human life. The scientist Hippocrates discovered that illnesses came from natural causes, and were not punishments from the gods.

Medical students still take the Hippocratic oath when they become doctors.

Vocabulary

1)plague – a deadly disease

2)demagogue – a leader who stirs up the feelings and fears of people to gain personal power

Athens wanted to be known as the most powerful city-state, so they began conquering other lands, such as Egypt.

They also forced their allies in the Delian League to pay them for protection and peace.

Sparta did not like the growing power of Athens, so they broke off friendly relations with them.

The Peloponnesian War began in 431 BCE when Sparta and its allies in the Peloponnesian League went to war with Athens and its allies.

When Sparta attacked, Pericles pulled everyone from the countryside within the walls of the city.

The city was overcrowded, and a plague spread through the city. It killed ¼ of the Athenian army, including Pericles.

After Pericles died, the Athenians followed bad leaders, and they grew weaker. Sparta conquered Athens in 404 BCE, and replaced the democracy with their own form of government: an oligarchy.

Vocabulary

1)academy – a special school

Philosophers are “lovers of wisdom” and many of these great thinkers and teachers still existed after the Peloponnesian War.

Philosophers:

• Socrates – the city’s gadfly was found guilty of teaching dangerous ideas to the city’s young people. He was ordered to drink poison, and instead of running away, he drank the poison to show the importance of following the law.
• Plato – he believed that philosophers would make the best rulers. He started an academy to teach future rulers how to govern well. He believed that democracy was dangerous because people with too much freedom would stop obeying the law.
• Aristotle – Unlike his teacher, this philosopher believed that it was important to study things the way that they actually were, not how one would like them to be. He was among the first scientists to study both animals and plants in detail.