Greece Notes #4

Book notes:

• Polis: fundamental political unit in Ancient Greece made up of a city and its surrounding countryside--which included numerous villages.
• Acropolis: a fortified hill top.
• Citizens gathered to discuss the city's government at the agora, the marketplace, or an acropolis.
• Monarchy: (in government) where a single person (normally a king) rules.
• Aristocracy: a government ruled by a small group of noble, landowning families.
• Families often earned political power after serving in the king's military cavalry.
• Oligarchy: a government ruled by a few people.
• New class of wealthy merchants and artisans emerged. 
• When dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, they sometimes took power or shared with nobility.
• Tyrant: ruler who seized control of the government by appealing to the common people for support.
• Unlike today, tyrants were not considered harsh or cruel; rather, they were looked upon as leaders who worked for the interests of the common people. 

• Democracy: rule by the people (first adapted by Athenians).
• Citizens participated directly in political decision making.
• When nobleman Draco took power, he developed a legal code based on the idea that all Athenians were equal under the law in 621 BC.
• His code was so cruel that the term draconian--meaning extensive cruelty or severity--was created.
• Solon started ruling at 594 BC.
• He outlawed debt slavery and organized citizens into four classes according to wealth.
• Only the three highest could hold office, although all four classes could partake in the Athenian assembly.
• Cleisthenes (r. 500 BC) divided the citizens into 10 classes based on which area they lived in.
• Greater power in the assembly (all citizens allowed to submit laws for debate and passage).
• "Council of Five Hundred": proposed laws and counseled assembly. 
• The members were chosen by lot or at random.
• As a result, the Athenians participated in a limited democracy.
• Only free, adult, male, property owners born in Athens.
• At the time, women, slaves, and foreigners were excluded from citizenship.

Athenian education 

• Differed from sons and daughters.
• Sons of wealthy families received a formal education.
• Schooling began at seven years of age and prepared boys to become good citizens.
• They studied reading, grammar, mathematics, poetry, History, and music.
• Boys also received training in logic and public speaking as they were expected to debate issues in the assembly. 
• Greeks believed it was important to train the body, so they also partook in athletic activities every day.
• When they got older, boys went to military school to help prepare them for another important thing in Athenian society--defending Athens.
• Daughters stayed at home with their mothers and other female members at the household. 
• They did not go to school.
• Learned about child-rearing, weaving cloth, preparing meals, managing the household, between other skills to prepare them for marriage and motherhood.
• Some women took their education farther and learned how to read and write.
• Among those, some even became accomplished writers.
• Most women had very little to do with Athenian life outside boundaries of family and home.

In-class notes:

Warring City-States

• Polis: fundamental political unit made up of the city and the surrounding countryside.
• Words such as politics (affairs of cities), policy, political, metropolitan, and many others are derived from polis.
• Monarchy: rule by a single person (a king, in Greece).
• Aristocracy: rule by a small group of noble, very rich, landowning families.
• Oligarchy: wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, who seized power (often with military help).
• Tyrant: powerful individual who seized control by appealing to common people for support.