Chapter 4, Notes Part 2

Greek City-States
Sparta & Athens
Sparta – Military State
 In Search
of…
“The Perfect
Cheer!”
 My name is
Craig
I give good
hugs
You're not my EASTLAKE
HIGH
friend SCHOOL…
If you do drugs Go Spartans!
• Like many Greek city-
states, Sparta needed
more land
• It gained land through
conquest of the
neighboring Laconians and
Messenians.
• These peoples became
serfs who worked for the
Spartans.
• They were called helots,
helots
from the Greek for
“capture.”
• Military system based on
hoplites = Infantry who
carried shield, sword &
spear
• The fought shoulder to
shoulder in a phalanx
formation
Spartan
Hoplite

Phalanx
“The Spartan Lifestyle”
 Spartan Women
Only in Sparta
did girls
receive public
education
in other city-
states most
women were
completely
Only in Sparta were girls allowed
to engage in sport.
sport

Only in Sparta did women possess

economic power and influence.

Scandalized observers from other

Greek cities commented that not
only did Spartan women have
opinions they were not afraid to
voice in public, AND their
husbands actually listened to
 Spartan Lifestyle: Military State
• Stayed in the army until 60
• Women & men lived apart
• Women expected to remain
fit to bear & raise healthy
children
• Men expected to be brave
in battle, to win or be killed
 Spartan Government: Oligarchy
• Two kings who led the Spartan army
• Five men known as ephors were
responsible for the youths’ education
and the citizens’ conduct.
• A council of two kings and 28 men
over 60 years of age decided on the
issues the assembly would vote on.
• The assembly did not debate, but only
voted.
 DISCUSSION ?
Sparta kept its strict discipline
in part by closing itself off
from outside influences and
new ideas.

Why was doing so important to

maintaining their authoritarian
society?
 Possible Answer:
Being open to new and
foreign ideas and
influences could be a
basis for criticizing
society and the
government.
Athenian
Democracy
 ATHENS
Pericles giving his
famous
Funeral Oration
• Athenian revolt ends the
tyranny in 510 B.C.
• The Athenians appointed
the reformer:
Cleisthenes (KLYS-thuh-neez)
leader in 508 B.C.
Athens: Birthplace of Democracy
 Cleisthenes (KLYS-thuh-neez)
“Father of
Democracy”

• He created a new council of 500

• proposed laws and supervised
treasury and foreign affairs.
• Assembly had final
authority to pass laws
after free & open debate
• Reforms of Cleisthenes
created the foundation
for Athenian democracy
 Age Of Pericles
• Peak of
Athenian
Culture
• Athens
becomes the
center of
Greek society
 Role of Athenian Women
• Could take part in most religious festivals,
but otherwise excluded from public life
• Could not own property
• Always accompanied by a male guardian
• Chief obligation to bear male children
• Supervised the slaves that did housework
• Married at 14 or 15
• No formal education
 Wars & Strife in Greece
• Persian Wars – Greece defeats Persia
The world becomes spilt between Athens
and Sparta
• Peloponnesian War – lasted about 25
years
It splintered and weakened the Greeks as
a whole. Macedonia to the north would
take advantage of this