2. The Persian Wars
499 B.C.
Persian armies set out to conquer Egypt & surrounding lands
More land = more power
Captured Africa & Asia Minor (Greek colonies)
Greek colonies revolted, but failed
490 B.C.
Darius I, Persian king, sent soldiers towards Athens
Athens had helped colonies fight Persians
Athenians w/ fewer soldiers defeated the Persians at Marathon
A messenger ran to Athens from Marathon to tell of the
victory
How long distance race the marathon got its name
485 B.C. Darius died
480 B.C. Darius’s son Xerxes sent 2,000 soldiers & 800 ships to attack
Greece
Greek city states of Athens, Sparta, & other united
Defeated Persians in a sea battle near Salamis
After the wars the Greeks banded together to form leagues (groups of
allies) for protection
Peloponnesian League: led by Sparta
Delian League: led by Athens
3. The Golden Age
479 to 431 B.C.
Greek pride in victory over Persians led to a
time of achievement know as the Golden Age
Especially the Athenians
Led by aristocracy name Pericles
Advise was not to overdo anything
Ruled w/ assembly of thousands of men
Members could speak in assembly & vote
Council of 500 chose what would be discussed
at each meeting; council, government offices &
juries were chosen every year by drawing names
from a bowl
4. Pericles supported idea of democracy
Believed it could be better
Felt every citizen, not just wealthy, should
have a right to take part in gov’t
Ordered public officials & jurors be paid
Made up for money lost by not being able to go to
regular jobs
5. Achievements of the Golden Age
Gov’t of Athens made stronger
Easier to work in the arts & sciences
Gov’t supported them now
Architects & builders made Athens more beautiful
New temples, gymnasiums, theaters, & other public
buildings were built
Decorated with murals of Athens’s history
Writers like Herodotus recorded Athens past
Sophocles wrote tragedies (serious plays)
Aristophanes wrote comedies (humorous plays)
Scholars were paid to study nature & human life
Greatest scientist of time was Hippocrates
Showed illness cam from natural causes, not from gods
6. The End of the Golden Age
Athens & Sparta were unsatisfied & wanted more
land & to get rid of the influences of the other city
state
Peloponnesian League supported Sparta & Delian
League supported Athens
431 B.C. Peloponnesian War
Lasted 27 years
Sparta attacked Attica causing people to move from
the countryside into Athens, leading to overcrowding &
diseases causing ¼ of Athenian army to die from
diseases; including Pericles
7. Without Pericles, assembly began following
bad leaders called demagogues
They made promises they couldn’t keep & led
assembly into making foolish decisions
Athens surrendered to Sparta in 404 B.C.
Assembly was replaced with a Spartan oligarchy
After the war great thinkers & teachers were
not paid for their work
Socrates: taught by asking questions &
making students think rather than simply
telling them information
Used criticism to try to return Athens into its early
greatness
399 B.C. Athenian court convicted Socrates of
teaching dangerous ideas
Sentenced to end his own life by drinking poison
8. Plato
Student of Socrates’
Disappointed in leaders of Athens
Believed leaders should be a good person because good
people are just and wise
Possible to do so by studying hard & loving wisdom
385 B.C.
Plato started the Academy where philosophers could learn
the lessons they would need to govern well
Plato ideas of citizens
Should think, feel, & then take action
Right & responsibility to take part in public life
Important to be informed, to understand others viewpoints, &
responsible for own actions
Aristotle
Student of Plato
Interested in how things were instead of how he would like
them
Search for knowledge covered subjects of law, economics,
astronomy, & sports