Movie Notes for movie!!!

• ·         Greeks saw the creation of arts and architecture.
• ·          many great people in their civilization.
• ·         Clestanies realized that the people of Greece should have a chance for freedom, a chance to rule themselves.
• ·         Clestanies was born around 570 b.c.
• ·          born at Athens.
• ·         When Clestanies was a kid, Greece wasn’t an empire.
• ·         Not much reading and writting
• ·         LER was 15 years
• ·         Greece is an odd great civilization
• ·          it had no great rivers and every other civilization that was  great had some great river.
• ·         Greece was made up of city states.
• ·         The city state of Sparta was the greatest city state
• ·         that could have taken over all of Greece.
• ·         The kids in Sparta were brought up as warriors.
• ·          Spartans had conquered around 4000 miles of Greece during Clestanies
• ·         Heroes of the stories influenced Clestanies very much
• ·          images of these heroes can be found over many of Greeks art.
• ·         Wanted to be a real life hero which was able to happen
• ·         Pysistrotis was a great leader of Athens
• ·         he lowered taxes and issued loans which  allowed the Athenians to make bigger farms, which than allowed the nation to become very advanced and had a great civilization.
• ·         Greece was surrounded by many great empires.
• ·         Greece was also the great market place of the world
• ·         There was a great invention that came from Athens. 
• ·         Ahtenian pottery had become very complicated because they actually painted the vase and made many different designs on it and made great art which is still used to make vases today.
• ·         The reason of this was because the potters wanted to compete with each other and tried to make greater art than one another.
• ·         Clestanies watched his homeland go from a modest settlement into  a big economic power.
• ·         When Prysistrotis died his son Hypiot took over which the Athenians hated.
• ·         When his brother died he got really mad and killed the murderers and tortured their wives also.
• ·         He became bitter and suspicious of everyone and started executing and banishing random people.
• ·         Clestanies knew that something had to be done about Hypiot.
• ·         The first thing of his heroism was than created because he was able to over throw Hypiot whom was captured and banished forever.
• ·         Clestanies was now the greatest power in Athens. He was now a living hero.
• ·         The olympic games were invented by the Greeks to show great power over everyone else for whoever won. There was no physical prise, but the prise was fame all over Greece.
• ·         When Clestanies was in power he soon realized that people were conspiring against him so that meant that Cleastanies had to fight for his life.
• ·         One of the men that wanted him dead called the Spartans to help him take over the reigns of Athens.
• ·         he was able to over throw Clestanies and now the new rules was able to train Spartans in Athens.
• ·         When Clestanies was exiled, Athens under went an extraordinarily event, the people of Athens rose up to a revolution.
• ·         The common Athenians were able to over throw the new leader and the Spartans guarding him in only 2 days.
• ·         This was Athens first step to and Empire.
• ·         This was the first time in history when the people rose up against one of their own leaders.
• ·         Clestanies was than called back from exile and was asked to form a government.
• ·         He had to design a revolutionary government system.
• ·         A government in which the people of the society had a say in what the government did and they could also elect the leaders.
• ·         A system of government which we now know as democracy.
• ·         This system of government set up some of the greatest bases that which the world has never seen.
• SALAMIS
• Delian League
• A crucible is something that you use when you try to combine things and come up with a completely different topic.
  1776 when the United States started their own government and broke free from England they established a Roman type of government.
  Ancient Greece: Introduction
  Greece is a peninsula; it has a lot of mountains in places. Peloponnesia is a place in Greece at the end of the map that is kind of hooked on to Greece in a way.  Athens is right near Peloponnesia. Sparta is located in Peloponnesia.
  Geography of Greece                            
  ·         Mountainous peninsula
  -          Mountains conver ¾ of Greece this is why it is so hard to move around and the people of Greece are in a way separate from each other because the mountains separate each other.
  ·         Approximately 1,400 islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas.
  -          They went around in a boat most of the time.
  ·         Location shaped its culture
  ·         Skilled sailors
  ·         Poor natural resources – they didn’t have a lot of places to grow stuff. It is very rocky and mountains and because of that it was difficult to unite them.
  ·         Approximately 20% suitable for farming
  ·         Fertile valleys cover ¼ of peninsula
  ·         Because of geography the Greek diet consists of grains, grapes, olive. – If they grow this stuff their selves. Than that is the biggest part of their diet. They also were great wine makers. Grapes aren’t available everywhere in the world so they were a popular camaraderie that they could trade. Olives were an important part of their civilization. They would make soap, olive oil and other stuff out of olives. They have a small number of things that they grow in Greece that are really good for their health and their economy.
  ·         Lack of resources most likely led to Greek colonization. Colonizing means moving a colony. A colony is a group of people who leave their native country to form in a new land a settlement subject to, or connected with, the parent nation.
  ·         Temperatures range from 48 in the winter to 80 in the summer. That means that they don’t have to adjust to the temperature change that much. It is moderate and temperate. It is beautiful weather. These people invented the Olympics. They got out and were very active, they ate grapes and gains and olives and were healthy people. They had a moderate climate that they were able to go outside and play sports and exercise. People were athletic and active. They had reasons for doing this. They had to get in shape to fight battles and they felt it was a responsibility to be fit and healthy.
  Mycenaean’s
  ·         Began around 2000 B.C.; only 500 years after the pyramids were built.
  ·         Mycenae is located on a rocky ridge and protected by a 20 foot thick wall called the Lions Gate. They could see their enemies coming.
  ·         The Mycenaean kings dominated Greece from 1600 – 1200 B.C.
  -          Controlled trade in the region
  ·         1400 B.C. Mycenaean’s invaded Crete and absorbed Minoan culture and language
  ·         They protected themselves and very well fortified.
  Culture in Decline
  ·         Around 1200 B.C. sea people began to invade Mycenae and burnt palace after palace.
  ·         The Dorian’s moved in the war-torn region
  -          Far less advanced
  -          Economy collapsed
  -          Writing disappeared for 400 years.
  ·         They weren’t really good at anything but fighting. They didn’t know how to trade, read, write, and interact with other people. They just came in and kicked butt and burn palaces. Their economy just collapsed.
  ·         This was called the Dark Ages. Usually things progress in other civilizations but Greece went backwards during this time. We tend to progress but they didn’t. Recorded history is about writing things down and what happened. They didn’t do this all they did was tell stories.
  Homer and Myths
  ·         Only stories were kept and passed on by word of mouth.
  ·         Homer lived at the end of the “Greek Dark Ages”
  ·         Recorded stories of the Trojan War in The Iliad and The Odyssey
  (Written 750-700 B.C.)
  -          Trojan War was probably one of the last conquests of the Mycenaean’s.
  
  
  Pisistratus is helping people out by giving them a little bit of money and trying to help them live a better life. Hippias is now in charge. Hippias is taking all the rights away from the people. Cleisthenes is planning to over throw the tyrant. The year was 510 B.C. and Cleisthenes was now one of the most powerful men in the world and had lived up to the heroic goals he was brought up with. The Olympic Games were established in 776 B.C. They were originally supposed to be only the upper classmen but by Cleisthenes time everyone was allowed to compete. Some competitions were chariot racing, running, wrestling, boxing … etc. 
  
  
  
  
  The Olympics was the largest gathering of Greece. Almost 40,000 people would come and watch the Olympics. They would travel hundreds of miles. It was heroic to win the Olympic Games. Everyone was allowed to compete but women. Here the Greeks found a civilized to way to establish a heroic way. Here they built a democracy. A world where anyone could gain victory, it made Athens more unstable. The most ambitious of the people going again Cleisthenes was Isagoris. He apparently shared his wife with a Spartan king. The Spartans helped him to try to overcome his city. It was cleat he wanted to turn Athens into a subject state. He and his troops were going to rule on top of and around the acropolis. Isagoris was against the democracy and people having a say in anything. The Spartans and Isagoris went and took over Cleisthenes and left Greece in the hands of a dictator along with a fierce group, called the Spartans. Cleisthenes had been brought up to be an aristocrat and a ruler.
  
  
  
  
   How could Athens ever escape from Isagoris and the Spartans? The ordinary people of Athens now took their destiny into their own hands. They rose up in revolution. Isagoris and his Spartan allies put themselves on the top of the acropolis but even there they couldn’t escape the Athenians. He stated on the top of the acropolis for two days and two nights but on the third day he was forced to surrender. This was the first time in human history that regular people rose up against their leader and gained power. No one had ever done that before, there was always people in power who would fight against other people in power but never people verse someone in power. Someone had to be the first one to do it, and it was the Athenians. They knew it was their freedom and that they were not to be denied. They knew there were more of them than the Spartans and Isagoris. Another big thing was that not only did they finally have their say again but they took over the Spartans who were unbeatable. The year was 508 B.C. this would be Athens first step to empire and glory. The people gained power in 508 B.C. The ordinary people now had to wonder who would rule them. Cleisthenes returned to Athens after the Spartans were thrown out. There was no possibility for Cleisthenes for him to put back an aristocratic government. So he had to establish a government. He basically invents democracy. He realized how much of a say the Athenians should have in their city state.
  
  
  
  
  
  
   For Cleisthenes he didn’t know how to give them a say in their future that they deserved. On the Shadow of the acropolis the Athenians could now gather and discuss the future of their state. They could address their fellow citizens. Anyone could go and explain what they wanted to do next. Cleisthenes invented a vote. A black peddle for no and a white pebble for yes. Everybody besides the girls and the slaves had a right to vote. He established a democracy. The great Athenian assembly would gather every 9 days and discuss issues such as war and taxes. The Athenian democracy was all new to Athens but it worked. The people are the government. This had never happened with anyone before.
  
  
  
  
   Democracy really does unleash and make possible potential in human society’s that are unlikely to be released in any other way. These Athenians would face struggles that would of stunned their ancestors. The world’s first democracy was about to be invaded. In 419 B.C., 18 years after the establishment of democracy, Pheidippedes was a man who came and was a citizen of Athens and he was about to make one of the most astonishing things happen. He didn’t want glory, but survival. He was going to be conquered by the Persian empires. The tiny state of Athens was gaining power, which threatened Persia.
  
  
  
  
  
  
   So they felt as though they had to destroy. Darius was known to the Greece as the great king. For Pheidippedes and the Persians, they wanted to disrupt the Athenians way of life. The Persians put more emphasis on obedience rather than freedom. They invaded a river 25 miles from Athens. Every male citizen would have to come to the defense of their state. Hoplites were professional solders with their own weapons and metal. There were not enough to hold up the Persians, so everyone would have to come and defend Athens. It was probably the first time Athens had to use all their men in battle .As they face the Persians on the battle field they were outnumbered 1 to 2. Even as Pheidippedes ran he had o know the horror the Athenians were going to have to face. Pheidippedes ran 140 miles in two days. His help though he didn’t know would be refused. His fellow Athenians would have to fight alone. Pheidippedes would never have imagined that the Greeks would win a victory. The Persians had scattered in the face of their assault. The Athenian hurt 6,000 Persians. The Greeks had won their first battle as a democracy. The Athenians returned to their city to celebrate thier victory. The war with Persia had just become. Themistocles....
  
  
  
  

  • Themistocles created a weapon, a trireme. It is used to ram and enemies ship. Themistocles couldn’t win without it. It could do a lot of damage and they were very expensive, but worth it. In the year 483 B.C. the Athenian’s discovered silver. Themistocles wanted to spend the money on ships, but he knew it would be a hard proposal to sell. Themistocles convinced the Athenians to grow the greatest naval force. 
  • Themistocles was not raised up to be an aristocrat but because of the democracy government he was given the opportunity to raise himself up and become the leader of Athens. Died in 486 B.C. Xerxes was the son who then took over. The Persians couldn’t let small regional states beat them. Persians gathered everyone in their empire. They established one of the greatest forces the worlds ever seen. In 483 B.C. the Persians than set out and were confident of victory. When the Greek’s realized that the Persians were invading again they gripped in terror. They turned to their gods and sent messages to people that were oracle that could communicate with their gods and interoperate things.
  •  Delphi was the best oracle. High in the Greek mountains, Delphi can be found. Here the Greek’s would come to discover their future. People came all over the world to consult Delphi. People asked questions about their private lives and things about their future. Now they wanted to know what they could do to save their selves. Delphi’s response was not what they wanted to here. It seemed that even the gods had deserted them. 
  • Themistocles refused to not fight back he felt he was prepared. Themistocles had a different idea and insisted that the oracle had a different interpretation. He wanted to fight the Persians on sea. He ordered the evacuation of Athens for the first time in history. The Athenians shall send their cities and wives to Troy. They needed to evacuate. Salamis was an island right next to Athens. He wanted every man, woman, and child to leave their homes and go into exile. The Persians marched in and stood upon the Athenian acropolis and burnt it. 
  • They burnt the temples to the ground. This would have been a devastating and humiliating sight to the people of Athens. They wondered if they would ever be able to go home again. The Persians have four times as many ships as the Greeks do. The Greeks are outnumbered 4 to 1. Themistocles sticks to his gut; his plan is to fight in a narrow body of water in the straits of Salamis. 
  • The Greek’s are afraid and the Persians were confident. Themistocles sent a Greek sailor over to the Persian leader and told him that he had information for him. He said that the Greek’s didn’t know what to do and if he fought in the narrow body of water in the straits of Salamis that they would be able to kill them. 
  • Than the Persians rowed in and thought that they had no chance of losing. The Greeks forces smashed into the corner of the Persians. At the end of the battle the Persians had lost over 200 ships and for the Greek’s it was a stunning victory. It broke the Persian navy. 
  • They could no longer guarantee the protection of their kings nor the ability to feed their navy. In practical terms the battle was over and the Greek’s had won. The Greeks had better weapons and a better strategy and more motivation. Themistocles triumph was complete. He brought them victory at sea and his instincts were proven right. He had defeated the greatest empire in the world. After the years of conflict this was a big turning point of Athens. The Athenians are at the head of a naval conspiracy. 
  • The Athenians founded an alliance of Greek stinks that was supposed to keep the Persians in check. In 450 B.C. the Dalian League had become Athens Empire.  They also gave economic power. They became a city of a vase trading network. They made many things to help their economy and became the center of trade. Themistocles now found himself under attack. 
  • Something he couldn’t understand, he reacts in a crude way and reminds the boaters what they owed him. They ostracized at the man who led them to their greatest victory. He never recovered from his humiliation and died in exile in Persia.
  • Ostracized – you are banished from your own land.
    The Athenians were now looking for a leader, they found a man who would change their world forever, and his name was Pericles. He wanted to glorify Athens. He was born into one of Athens wealthiest families. He wanted a city fit to rule an empire. He wanted to create a city that would have people realize the greatness of the city they live in. He wanted Athens to be the best city on the planet. 20 years earlier the Persians burnt down the temples on the acropolis. Pericles propped a massive re construction plan. Parthenon was a huge, magnificent building; it was in tribute to Athena. The modern day cost of it would be a billion dollars. It was used to glorify Athens and was located on the top of the acropolis. It was there to make the Greeks feel really good about them. This new construction program was extraordinary expensive. It is still standing present day. People would gather from all over the Greek world would gather and help build this building. Some protested that it was taking up the city but when the building was completed in only 15 years, everybody was happy with it. When you first came through the doors, you would have been stunned. You would have been confronted first thing by a 40 foot, golden statue of Athena. The statue was very life like. A five hundred foot long of carved of marble design that someone has chiseled a partial statue out of called a frieze. The people who built it were regular, every day people. Here Pericles let everybody be glorified. It includes all the great people who helped defeat the first threat to the Greeks, the Persians. It is still standing today, representing Greeks victory. They put it on the top of the acropolis so that everybody could see it. Everybody who showed up in Athens basically looked at it and was blown away. It took 15 years to build it. Pericles kept the government that Themistocles had and he was successful by doing so. Pericles was remarkable by associating with the leading minds of his day. Pericles was well aware of his city’s statue. Even Pericles partner a woman named Aspasia. He divorced his wife and lived with Aspasia. She was in a way you could say a prostitute. She still was a brilliant, confined woman. She would present herself very well. Pericles fell in love with her and let her make decisions in decision making conversations. She was allowed to hold her own. Pericles had her participate in some of the most important conversations with important people. In 5^th century Athens the highest achievements of art and culture were not restricted to the elite. The world’s first theater was in the acropolis in Athens. They would show stories by acting it out here. The first tales performed on the Greek stage were called tragedies. Greek tragedies would show Greeks the destiny that should be theirs. There were many tragedies performed such as people marrying their own mother and not knowing, and having kids with his own mom or one where a woman killed her husband. Greeks invented drama. The tragedies are what their really, really known for. The Greeks wrote these plays that had to do with really good people making some bad mistake. Otherwise it was about really good people falling from the top such as married people, personal life, or something having to do with their job. Oedipus was a guy who at a very early age was taken away from his parents. He lived his life and achieved greatness. He solved the riddle of the finks.  Because he solved it he was allowed to pass the path. A fortune teller told him that he was destined to kill his own father and marry his own mother without knowing who he was killing or who he was marrying, which he did. He has someone find out who his mother and father are. They figure it out but don’t tell him. His mother finds out before him and she hangs herself. Then he finds out and is completely embarrassed. He doesn’t want to see the looks on other people’s faces so he bulges his own eyes out. This is all fiction by the way. Real poets wrote these stories. The Athenians were shocked by the plays. The Greek tragedies show people today the psychological view of Greeks from years ago. Athens was the heart of a cultural revolution that would spread around. Pericles began to plan a great new adventure. He wanted to make Athens the undisputed ruler of the Mediterranean. He would not bring Athens glory, but death. Hubris means arrogance and pride. It is something that a lot of leaders are victim to this. They get to big for their britches. They are powerful but they don’t feel as though they are powerful enough. Pericles wants war against Sparta. Athens wanted to completely rule the Mediterranean. He wanted to go to war and be determined that he would not climb down. He wanted the biggest glory. Pericles knew that it would not be an easy war to win. Sparta had a very strong navy. So he proposed a strategy, he convinced the Athenians to abandon all the lands of Athens and go to Piraeus. He used the Athenian navy to try and defeat Sparta. Pericles expectations were that he would make the Spartans realize that they had no other device available to defeat them and they would give up. He was going to cut off all ships to supply them and they would start starving and then after a year or two they would surrender. This was the start of the Peloponnesian war.