Athenian Democracy Democracy in Ancient Greece was very direct. What this means is that all the citizens voted on all the laws. Rather than vote for representatives, like we do, each citizen was expected to vote for every law. They did have officials to run the government, however. Most of these officials were chosen by a lottery. So every citizen had a chance, regardless of their popularity or wealth, to become an official. A few key positions were voted on, such as the treasurer and the 10 generals who ran the army (also called the strategoi). Who could vote? In order to vote, you had to be a citizen. However, not everyone who lived in Athens was a citizen. Only men who had completed their military training were counted as citizens. Bodies of Government There were three main bodies of the government: the Assembly, the Council of 500, and the Courts. The Assembly included all citizens who showed up to vote. Everyone who was a citizen could participate as part of the assembly. The assembly would decide on new laws and important decisions, like whether or not to go to war. The Council oversaw much of the day-to-day running of the government. The Council was determined by lottery. If your name was chosen, then you would be on the council for one year. The Courts handled lawsuits and trials. The courts had large juries to help make decisions. For private lawsuits the jury was at least 201 people, for public lawsuits the jury was at least 501 people.
Most Greek houses were small, with a walled garden or yard in the middle. At home, Greek women spent much of their time spinning thread and weaving cloth. A daughter went away when she married, and had to take a wedding gift or dowry. Boys went to school at age 7.
The End of an Era and the Beginning of Another one :(Alexander the Great)
The backbone of the Greek army was the hoplite. He was a foot-soldier, and his weapons were a long spear and a sword. He also had a round shield. Hoplites fought in lines or ranks. Eight to ten ranks made a formation called the phalanx. Each soldier held his long spear underarm. Enemy soldiers saw only a mass of spears and shields, that was hard to break through - and hard to stop once it started moving forward. Lots of phalanxes massed together became like a giant human tank. The Greeks had archers and cavalry, but it was the phalanx that won many famous battles.
Whom did the Greeks fight? The Greek states often fought each other. Sparta and Athens fought a long war, called the Peloponnesian War, from 431 to 404 BC. Sparta won. Only the threat of invasion by a foreign enemy made the Greeks forget their quarrels and fight on the same side. Their main enemy was Persia. The wars against Persia lasted on and off from 490 to 449 BC. The Persian kings tried to conquer Greece and make it part of the Persian Empire. In the end, it was Greece which defeated Persia, when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire in the 330s BC.
The Ancient Greeks were responsible for numerous advances in the world of ideas.
The Athenians were very much interested in two things :truth and beauty.In their gatherings,the Athenians had learnt to talk,argue and reason about any subject.This helped them think.
Below are sculptures of some of the most important artists, scientists and thinkers of ancient Greece. Click on the heads to find out about the achievements of these famous Greeks. Roll over the key at the bottom to see who fits into each category.
The Greeks made pots from clay. They made small pottery bowls and cups for drinking, middle-sized pots for carrying and cooking, elegant vases for decoration, and large jars for storing wine and foods. Potters in the city states of Corinth and Athens made beautiful pottery. They used a watery clay mixture to make figures or decoration on the clay before it was hard. When the pot was baked in a kiln, the areas painted with the clay mixture turned black. Unpainted areas turned red-brown. Black animal figures are typical of Corinthian pottery. Greek potters also made pottery decorated with red figures on a black background.
The Greeks believed that architecture (the art of making buildings) was based on mathematical principles. They built beautiful temples. Temple roofs were held up by stone columns and decorated with friezes with carved stone figures. In the British Museum in London, you can see some figures from the Parthenon in Athens. They are known as the "Elgin Marbles". There were three styles or "orders" of columns in Greek architecture: called Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. Because many architects copied Greek styles, you can see much later buildings (from the 18th and 19th centuries for example) which look "Greek".
Greek sculptors made figures of people and gods. Statues were set up outdoors in towns and inside temples. A statue lasts much longer than a painting, especially when made of a hard stone, such as marble. There were also statues made of wood and bronze (a kind of metal). Over time Greeks made their statues more lifelike - gods look like human beings. There are figures of people without clothes, and statues of athletes in action (a discus thrower, for example). The Romans collected Greek statues and made copies of them. Many later artists imitated the Greek styles too.
Greek philosophers were "seekers and lovers of wisdom". They studied and analyzed the world around them using logic and reason. Although we often think of philosophy as religion or "the meaning of life", the Greek philosophers were also scientists. Many studied mathematics and physics as well. Often the philosophers were teachers of wealthy children. Some of the more famous ones opened their own schools or academies.
What were Greek plays like? Greek actors wore masks, with holes for eyes and mouth. Actors also wore wigs. They wore thick-soled shoes too, to make them look taller, and padded costumes to make them look fatter or stronger. The masks showed the audience what kind of character an actor was playing (sad, angry or funny). Some masks had two sides, so the actor could turn them round to suit the mood for each scene. The best actors and play writers were awarded prizes - a bit like the Hollywood Oscars today. The most famous writers of plays were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides for tragedy and Aristophanes for comedy.
Most Greek cities had a theatre. It was in the open air, and was usually a bowl-shaped arena on a hillside. Some theatres were very big, with room for more than 15,000 people in the audience.
Athens was the largest city in Greece, and controlled a region called Attica. Between the many mountains were fertile valleys, with many farms. Athens became rich because Attica also had valuable sources of silver, lead and marble. Athens also had the biggest navy in Greece. Athens was a beautiful and busy city. People came to the city from all over Greece, and from other countries, to study and to trade. The city's most famous building was the temple called the Parthenon. It stood on a rocky hill called the Acropolis. Inside the Parthenon stood a statue of the city's protector-goddess Athena. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancient_greeks/
The ancient Greeks did not have one king or queen. They lived in city-states. Each city-state was a separate political unit. Each city-state had its own laws and government. There were over 100 city-states in Ancient Greece, and they could not get along with each other. The two most powerful city states were Athens and Sparta. They were very different. In Athens, the focus was on education and the arts. Sparta's focus was on the military.
Ancient Greeks worshipped lots of different Gods and Goddesses.Each God or Goddess was responsible for different aspects of life.Let's find out more about them.
776 BCE was the year of the 1st Olympic games. The games were held every 4 years in Olympia, in honour of the god Zeus. Some of the sports included wrestling, jumping, javelin and chariot racing. A crown of olive branches was awarded to the winner.
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