March 24

Today in class, more groups presented, but not all of them have. My group went and I think we did pretty well. Here are some notes that I took:

Athens, Sparta, and the Peloponnesian War

• Capital of Greece: Athens
• Top class: aristocrats, Middle: farmers, Lowest: slaves 
• 2 meals a day
• education for males started at age 5 to 14 
• women did house work and husbands were chosen for them
• Sparta Top class: women, Middle: farmers, Lowest: helots - slaves
• had to be in the military for 40 or 60 years
• Sparta males would "borrow" wives
• fought in a phalanx position 
• Peloponnesian War- April 4th 431 BCE ended April 25th 404 BCE 
• Divided into three wars: Archidamian War, Sicilian War, and Decelean War 
• Athenians hid behind a huge wall which isn't a bad idea until a plague came and killed tons of solders

Homer

• born 800 BC in Smyrna, Turkey 
• told stories about the Trojan War
• brought Greeks out of the "Dark Age"
• brought Greeks back into writing 
• his existence is a mystery because not many details on his life was written down
• Iliad and Odyssey 
• iliad is about the Trojan War - ended when Zeus and Hector made a peace treaty
• Odyssey is about Odysseus and how Poseidon got in his way (storms/ cyclopes) 
• Homer's death is unknown but he died in Ios, Greece

Pericles 

• comes from wealthy family 
• born in 495 BC 
• brought democracy to Athens 
• passed laws that allowed the poor to attend plays
• cared about his solders healthy and safety 
• died in 429 BC from the plague 
• was a military leader in Athens

Golden Age

• the Parthenon was built 
• tragedies and comedies plays 
• ended when the Peloponnesian War started 

War

• hoplite: most common type of heavily armed foot- solder 
• 1/2 of men in ancient Greece are thought to have fought 
• received military training 
• all men over the age of 60 were called to fight 
• two common weapons:  doru- long wooden spear and xiphos- short sword 
•  Phalanx formation- eight people in a row and then numerous rows thick 
• triremes- a large boat used for war
•  tri- because it has three rows of oars
• Thucydides, an Athenian General, was into science not gods 
• the crew could carry these triremes onto land even though it was a large ship 
• it was really fast because it was made from pine and fur
• used in the Persian War

Architecture

• Doric: simplest, formal; used in mainland Greece and Italy 
• Ionic:  more decorative and slender (looks like a scroll at the top)
• Corinthian: most decorative; flower design (Most modern people like it); used for really fancy and important buildings 
• the different orders could be mixed together 
• sculptures were made form bronze and marble 
• they were inspired by Egyptians 
• Classical period - skill went up and became more realistic 
• Hellenistic period- more emotion and details; best skill period in sculpting