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Yoav P

Ancient Greek Government - Ancient Greece for Kids! - 5 views

  • there were many different city-states in ancient Greece,
  • Aristotle divided Greek governments into monarchies, oligarchies, tyrannies and democracies, and most historians still use these same divisions.
  • In 510 BC, the city-state of Athens created the first democratic government,
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  • Then in the 600s and 500s BC a lot of city-states were taken over by tyrants. Tyrants were usually one of the aristocrats who got power over the others by getting the support of the poor people. They ruled kind of like kings, but without any legal right to rule.
    • Lily S
       
      The government in Ancient Greece depended on the period of time
  • Archaic period
  • Late Bronze Age
  • at each period there were plenty of city-states using a different system, and there were many which never did become democracies or tyrannies at all.
  • Athenian democracy did not really give power to everyone
  • Athens at this time had an empire
  • many Greek city-states kept oligarchic government, or tyrannies, or monarchies, through this whole time
  • and they each had their own government. In addition, people's ideas about what made a good government changed over time.
    • jwoomer j
       
      They progressed in their government styles which helped them improve.
  • The Greeks had a lot of different kinds of governments
    • Eric G
       
      The Greeks had many different kinds of governments because each individual city-state had its own government
  • After the Dark Age, though, only a few Greek city-states still had kings.
    • Eric G
       
      There were not many kings in the city-states after the dark age.
  • The Greeks had a lot of different kinds of governments, because there were many different city-states in ancient Greece, and they each had their own government.
    • Arielle K
       
      Most people did not have voting rights in Athenian democracy. 
  • between about 2000 and 1200 BC, all Greek city-states seem to have been monarchies,
  • Most of the people in Athens couldn't vote - no women, no slaves, no foreigners (even Greeks from other city-states), no children.
  • The Greeks had a lot of different kinds of governments, because there were many different city-states in ancient Greece
  • Sparta is the most famous of these, though actually Sparta had two kings, usually brothers or cousins, at the same time.
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    this is a good description of ancient Greek government 
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    Good facts about Greek government. Easy to read.
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    This website talks about the government of ancient Greece.
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    This website explains about Ancient Greece's government
Marjorie Rotman

Ancient Greek History for Kids: Government - 3 views

  • The Greek City-State Ancient Greece was made up of city-states. A city-state was a major city and the surrounding areas. Each city-state had its own rule and government. Sometimes the city-states fought each other. Athens and Sparta were the two largest city-states and they had many wars and battles. Types of Government There were three main types of government: Democracy - A government ruled by the people, or assembly. Officials and leaders were elected and all citizens had a say. Monarchy - A single ruler like a king. In Athens this ruler was called a Tyrant. Oligarchy - When the government is ruled by a small group. Over time some city-states, like Athens would change governments. Sometimes they were ruled by Tyrants and, at other times, they were a democracy.
  • Ancient Greece Government History >> Ancient Greece The Ancient Greeks may be most famous for their ideas and philosophies on government and politics. It was in Greece, and particularly Athens, that democracy was first conceived and used as a primary form of government. The Greek City-State
  • Ancient Greece was made up of city-states
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  • Each city-state had its own rule and government.
  • There were three main types of government:
  • Democracy
  • Monarch
  • Oligarchy
  • What this means is that all the citizens voted on all the
  • Democracy in Ancient Greece was very direct
  • aws. Rather than vote for representatives, like we do, each citizen was expected to vote for every law.
  • In order to vote, you had to be a citizen. However, not everyone who lived in Athens was a citizen. Only men who had completed their military training were counted as citize
  • here were three main bodies of the government: the Assembly, the Council of 500, and the Courts
  • The Assembly
  • The Council
  • The Courts h
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    greek goverment 
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    ancient Greece government for kids--a great short summary of Greek government including a 10 question quiz
mrs. b.

Greek Government - 7 Points to Know About Ancient Greek Government - 2 views

  • You may have heard that ancient Greece invented democracy, but democracy was only one type of government employed by the Greeks, and when it first evolved, many Greeks thought it a bad idea. In the pre-Classical period, ancient Greece was composed of small geographic units ruled by a local king. Over time, groups of the leading aristocrats replaced the kings. Greek aristocrats were powerful, hereditary noblemen and wealthy landowners whose interests were at odds with the majority of the populace.
  • 1. Ancient Greece Had Many Governments
  • Sparta was less interested than Athens in following the will of the people. The people were supposed to be working for the good of the state. However, just as Athens experimented with a novel form of government, so also was Sparta's system unusual. Originally, monarchs ruled Sparta, but over time, Sparta hybridized its government: The kings remained, but there were 2 of them at a time so one could go to war, there were also 5 annually-elected ephors, a council of 28 elders [technical term to learn: Gerousia], and an assembly of the people
    • mrs. b.
       
      Sparta's government was different from Athens
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  • Probably one of the first things learned from history books or classes on ancient Greece is that the Greeks invented democrac
  • Probably one of the first things learned from history books or classes on ancient Greece is that the Greeks invented democracy
  • Athens originally had kings, but gradually, by the 5th century B.C., it developed a system that required active, ongoing participation of the citizens.
  • While virtually all citizens were allowed to participate in the democracy, citizens did not include: women,children,slaves, orresident aliens, including those from other Greek poleis
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    Wow i never knew that before!!
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    A couple of Greek government facts
Neha C

Greek achievements and Greek history - 0 views

  • Art (Pathenon, sculptures of Phidias, etc., source of inspiration for Roman and all sorts of sub. art)
  • The Greeks excelled in sculpture.
  • Also impressive: Greek architecture.
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  • Greek scupture inspired the Romans and (indirectly) the great sculptors of the Renaissance.
  • Elements of Greek architecture have been copied again and again from Roman times onward--and we still see many elements of Greek architecture in at least some of our public buildings today.
  • Sports (Olympic games)
  • The Greeks also are important for the contribution to sports.
  • There are lots of other echoes of the Greeks in our sports tradition of today.
  •   History (first and some of greatest historians, including HERODOTUS, Thucydides, and Xenophon)
  • The Greeks give us the first true historical works, and it was a Greek (Herodotus) that first used the term "history" for what we call history today.  Not only did the Greeks give us our first historical works, they also give us some of  our greatest.
  • The buildings on the Athenian acropolis are a great example.
  • First of all, it is impressive because it moves beyond the mere chronicling of events (something that had been done before) and attempts to explain why certain events happen and what those events means: what lesssons we can learn from history.
  •   Herodotus might be considered, not just the father of history, but the father of cultural anthropology as well.
  • And particular this is so when one looks at Herodotus' central theme: freedom.  A central theme of Herodotus' book is the value of living in a free society (even though it means sacrifice) rather than living under despotism no matter how well-organized and prosperous a society run by a despot might seem.  Herodotus book is one of the sources of the Western love of freedom.
  • Political science Not only do the Greeks give us our first history, they give us also our first political science, the systematic study of human government.  When one studies political science today, one constantly uses Greek terms (monarchy, democracy, etc.). Why?  Because the Greeks were the first to study the various forms of human government and to identify the strengths and weakness of each.
  • Aristotle's Politics and Plato's Republic are still much read in political science/political philosophy classes today, another good example of the lasting influence of the Greeks.
  • Poetry In poetery too, the Greek had a lasting influence.  When we analyze poetry today, we use Greek words (iamb, dactyl, trochee, etc.).  Why?  Because the Greeks were the first to systematically analyze poetry.  Here too Aristotle is a key figure.  His "Poetics" is as influential in literary criticism as his "Politics" is in political science.
  • Among the greatest and most influential of epic poems are the two great poems of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. 
  • The Greeks also excelled at lyric poetry. 
  • Mathematics Math is another area in which the Greeks made important contributions.  You are all familiar with the Pythagorean theorum, and the Greek reverence for numbers that starts with Pythagoras is certainly an important contribution of the Greeks.
  • Now what's important here is *not* the practical application of geometry.  What's important is the systematic, rigorous thinking process one must go through in coming up with these proofs.  The study of Euclid taught generation after generation to think clearly and logically: and it is a pity that the current geometry texts have drifted away from this.
  •   Science The Greeks also made important contributions to the sciences.  Biology, Physics, Physiology, Zoology: all Greek names, because the Greeks were the first to systematically explore these areas.  Thales, the first Greek philosopher, also is the father of physics, asking a fundamental question: what are all things made of?  The Greeks explored the question, coming up with promising answers.  Ultimately, Greeks like Aristotle believed that the world was made up of four fundamental elements. Other Greeks added the idea that these elements in their turn were made up of invisible, indivisable particles they called atoms.  Now we have a lot more elements than the Greek four, and we believe the atom can be divided into evern more fundamental particles, but note that the Greeks are certainly on the right track.
  • Perhaps most impressive of all was Archimedes
  •   But its not just in literature the Greeks excelled. They produced some of the world's greatest art, the first true science, and some of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen.  In fact, of all the ancient peoples, it was the Greeks who contributed the most to subsequent civilization in virtually every field of human endeavor.  What's all the more amazing is that the Greek were able to do all these things despite the fact that they were constantly at war--or maybe because they were constantly at war. Generalization: Greeks made more important contributions to sub. civilization than any other ancient people.  Achievements:
Jacob L

History: Ancient Rome for Kids - 3 views

  • As a result, Rome's culture still has an impact in the Western world today. The basis for much of Western culture comes from Ancient Rome, especially in areas such as government, engineering, architecture, language, and literature.
    • Garth Holman
       
      Does this sound like something we have said before?  Who do you think influenced Rome? 
    • Jack R
       
      I think greece influnced rome
    • Ariel L
       
      The reading says that Rome was the basis of Western society, but I thought Greece was the basis of Wester society?
    • Yanai HS
       
      Greece
    • aleskov
       
      Greece began it, but Rome developed it.
    • Mallory C
       
      Greece
    • Jacob L
       
      Rome got their ideas from Greece
  • This meant that Rome's leaders, such as senators, were elected officials that served for a limited amount of time, not kings who were born into leadership and ruled for life. They had a complex government with written laws, a constitution, and a balance of powers. These concepts became very important in forming future democratic governments, like the United States.
    • Garth Holman
       
      What does this sound like?  Is it a radical Departure from Monarchy? 
    • aleskov
       
      Very much like our government.
  • The Roman Forum was the center of government
    • Garth Holman
       
      Where is our Forum today?  What takes place at our forum? 
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  • split Rome into two empires. One was the Western Roman Empire and was ruled out of the city of Rome. The other was the Eastern Roman Empire and was ruled out of Constantinople (today's Istanbul in Turkey). The Eastern Roman Empire would become known as Byzantium or the Byzantine Empire.
  • The fall of Rome generally refers to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It fell in 476 AD
  • Colosseum and the Roman Forum.
  • Circus Maximus, a huge stadium built for chariot races, could seat around 150,000 people.
    • Garth Holman
       
      This you can no longer see
  • fall of Western Rome is considered the start of the "Dark Ages" in Europe.
  • The highest position in the Roman Republic was the consul. There were two consuls at the same time to make sure that one didn't become too powerful.
  • was Latin, but they often spoke Greek as well.
    • Garth Holman
       
      If they spoke Greek, what does that tell us?  
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
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    Rome Overview!
Zoe K

Ancient Greece - Ancient History - HISTORY.com - 2 views

  • Greece refers to the time three centuries before the classical age, between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C.
  • Archaic Greece saw advances in art, poetry and technology, but most of all it was the age in which the polis, or city-state, was invented.
  • They developed governments and organized their citizens according to some sort of constitution or set of laws.
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  • These people monopolized political power.
  • They all had economies that were based on agriculture, not trade
  • (For example, they refused to let ordinary people serve on councils or assemblies.
  • The colonial migrations of the Archaic period had an important effect on its art and literature
  • They also monopolized the best farmland, and some even claimed to be descended from the gods. Because “the poor with their wives and children were enslaved to the rich and had no political rights,”
  • Land was the most important source of wealth in the city-states;
  • And every one of these city-states (known as poleis) was said to be protected by a particular god or goddess, to whom the citizens of the polis owed a great deal of reverence, respect and sacrifice.
  • These leaders were known as tyrants.
  • As time passed and their populations grew, many of these agricultural city-states began to produce consumer goods such as pottery, cloth, wine and metalwork.
  • a relatively sophisticated period in world history.
  • The polis became the defining feature of Greek political life for hundreds of years.
  • During the so-called “Greek Dark Ages” before the Archaic period, people lived scattered throughout Greece in small farming villages. As they grew larger, these villages began to evolve. Some built walls.
  • Each of these poleis was an independent city-state. In this way, the colonies of the Archaic period were different from other colonies we are familiar with: The people who lived there were not ruled by or bound to the city-states from which they came. The new poleis were self-governing and self-sufficient.
  • Between 750 B.C. and 600 B.C., Greek colonies sprang up from the Mediterranean to Asia Minor, from North Africa to the coast of the Black Sea. By the end of the seventh century B.C., there were more than 1,500 colonial poleis.
    • Yang Y
       
      The oligarchs' power was greater than anyone else's.
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    facts about ancient greece
nshore n

Greek Government -- Ancient History Encyclopedia - 1 views

  • The Constitution of the Athenians, one written by Aristotle or one of his pupils and the other attributed (by some) to Xenophon. Other sources which discuss politics and government include Aristotle’s Politics and the historical works of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon.
    • mrs. b.
       
      Primary sources for what the government in ancient Greece was like!
  • Athens’ constitution is called a democracy because it respects the interests not of the minority but of the whole people.
  • Any male citizen 18 years or over could speak (at least in theory) and vote in the assembly, usually with a simple show of hands.
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  • estimated that only 3,000 or so people actively participated in politics. Of this group, perhaps as few as 100 citizens - the wealthiest, most influential, and the best speakers - dominated the political arena both in front of the assembly and behind the scenes in private conspiratorial political meetings (xynomosiai) and groups (hetaireiai).
  • the dēmos could be too easily swayed by a good orator or popular leaders (the demagogues) and get carried away with their emotions.
    • mrs. b.
       
      demos- the common people of ancient Greece
  • Issues discussed in the assembly ranged from deciding magistracies to organising and maintaining food supplies to debating military matters
  • There was also a boulē or council of 500 citizens chosen by lot and with a limited term of office, which acted as a kind of executive committee of the assembly. The decrees of the Assembly could also be challenged by the law courts.
  • An oligarchy is a system of political power controlled by a select group of individuals
  • For the Greeks (or more particularly the Athenians) any system which excluded power from the whole citizen-body and was not a tyranny or monarchy was described as an oligarchy. Oligarchies were perhaps the most common form of city-state government and they often occurred when democracy went wrong.
  • An oligarchy is a system of political power controlled by a select group of individuals, sometimes small in number but it could also include large groups. For the Greeks (or more particularly the Athenians) any system which excluded power from the whole citizen-body and was not a tyranny or monarchy was described as an oligarchy. Oligarchies were perhaps the most common form of city-state government and they often occurred when democracy went wrong.
Kalina P

Cold War - History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts - 0 views

  • “containment.”
  • President Harry Truman (1884-1972) agreed. “It must be the policy of the United States,” he declared before Congress in 1947, “to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation…by outside pressures.”
  • deadly "arms race
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  • Soviets tested an atom bomb of their own. In response, President Truman announced
  • that the United States would build an even more destructive atomic weapon: the hydrogen bomb, or "superbomb." Stalin followed suit.
  • the nuclear age could be. It created a 25-square-mile fireball that vaporized an island, blew a huge hole in the ocean floor and had the power to destroy half of Manhattan. Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed poisonous radioactive waste into the atmosphere.
  • ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation had a great impact on American domestic life as well. People built bomb shelters in their backyards
  • attack drills in schools and other public places
  • Cold War was a constant presence in Americans’ everyday lives.
  • first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit.
  • Sputnik
  • 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army
  • Space Race was underwa
  • creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration, as well as several programs seeking to exploit the military potential of space. Still, the Soviets were one step ahead, launching the first man into space in April 1961.
  • U.S. would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. His prediction came true on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission, became the first man to set food on the moon, effectively winning the Space Race for the Americans.
  • hearings designed to show that communist subversion in the United States was alive and well.
  • forced hundreds of people who worked in the movie industry to renounce left-wing political beliefs and testify against one another. More than 500 people lost their jobs. Many of these "blacklisted" writers, directors, actors and others were unable to work again for more than a decade
  • include anyone who worked in the federal government. Thousands of federal employees were investigated, fired and even prosecuted. As this anticommunist hysteria spread throughout the 1950s, liberal college professors lost their jobs, people were asked to testify against colleagues and "loyalty oaths" became commonplace.
  • military action of the Cold War began when the Soviet-backed North Korean People’s Army invaded its pro-Western neighbor to the south
  • but the war dragged to a stalemate and ended in 1953.
  • . The Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban missile crisis the following year seemed to prove that the real communist threat now lay in the unstable, postcolonial "Third World" Nowhere was this more apparent than in Vietnam, where the collapse of the French colonial regime had led to a struggle between the American-backed nationalist Ngo Dinh Diem in the south and the communist nationalist Ho Chi Minh in the north. Since the 1950s, the United States had been committed to the survival of an anticommunist government in the re
  • new approach to international relations.
  • Cold War heated up again under President Ronald Reagan (1911-2004). Like many leaders of his generation, Reagan believed that the spread of communism anywhere threatened freedom everywher
  • nstead of viewing the world as a hostile, "bi-polar" place, he suggested, why not use diplomacy instead of military action to create more poles? To that end, he encouraged the United Nations to recognize the communist Chinese government and, after a trip there in 1972, began to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. At the same time, he adopted a policy of "détente"–"relaxation"–toward the Soviet Union. In 1972, he and Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), which prohibited the manufacture of nuclear missiles by both sides and took a step toward reducing the decades-old threat of nuclear war.
  • , he worked to provide financial and military aid to anticommunist governments and insurgencies around the worl
  • redefined Russia's relationship to the rest of the world: "glasnost," or political openness, and "perestroika," or economic reform
  • the Berlin Wall–the most visible symbol of the decades-long Cold War–was finally destroyed, just over two years after Reagan had challenged the Soviet premier in a speech at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." By 1991, the Soviet Union itself had fallen apart. The Cold War was over.
mrs. b.

Ancient Greek Democracy - History.com Articles, Video, Pictures and Facts - 0 views

  • Athenian democracy was made up of three important institutions. The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the sovereign governing body of Athens.
  • any one of those 40,000 adult male citizens--was welcome to attend the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times per year in a hillside auditorium west of the Acropolis called the Pnyx.
  • The boule was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of ten Athenian tribes, who served on the Council for one year. Unlike the ekklesia, the boule met every day and did most of the hands-on work of governance. It supervised government workers and was in charge of things like navy ships (triremes) and army horses. It dealt with ambassadors and representatives from other city-states. Its main function was to decide what matters would come before the ekklesia.  In this way, the 500 members of the boule dictated how the entire democracy would work.
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  • At the meetings, the ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials. (Ostracism, in which a citizen could be expelled from the Athenian city-state for 10 years, was among the powers of the ekklesia.) The group made decisions by simple majority vote.
  • The s
  • important institution was the boule, or Council of Five Hundred.
  • third important institution was the popular courts, or dikasteria. Every day, more than 500 jurors were chosen by lot from a pool of male citizens older than 30.
  • the jury had almost unlimited power
  • Jurors were paid a wage for their work, so that the job could be accessible to everyone and not just the wealthy (but, since the wage was less than what the average worker earned in a day, the typical juror was an elderly retiree).
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    There are also videos
Nicole G

Ancient Rome - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 0 views

  • Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world.[1]
    • kaley g
       
      It's interesing that Rome had the largest empire.
    • kaley g
       
      This is intersting.
  • was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome , it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world . [1]
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  • Rome was preponderant throughout  the Mediterranean region, and was the sole superpower of Antiquity
  • government
  • A society highly developed in military and politics, Rome professionalized the military and created a system of government called res publica, the inspiration for most of modern republics like the United States and France.
  • inspiration
  • professionalized the military and created a system of government called res publica, the  inspiration for most of modern republics like the United States and France . By the end of the Republic, Rome had conquered the land
  • of
  • Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world.[1]
  • Rome was preponderant throughout the Mediterranean region, and was the sole superpower of Antiquity.
  • the Mediterranean
zflate z

Enduring Impacts: Image Gallery - What Is Roman History? - 0 views

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    Roman history, geography, government and enduring impacts
Bridgitte F

Greek History - 0 views

  • According to archaeological and historical sources the story of Greece began deep in prehistory, and has continued to our days.
  • This brief history of Greece is compiled here as an introduction to web readers and to provide the historical background that’s needed to appreciate all the subjects of Ancient Greek civilization. It was no easy task to compress the history of Ancient Greece into a concise format that would be appropriate both for Online reading and as a precise overview of the subject.
  • From the 6th and until the 2nd century BCE the Agora as the heart of the government, as a public place of debate, as a place of worship, and as marketplace, played a central role in the development of the Athenian ideals, and provided a healthy environment where the unique Democratic political system took its first wobbly steps on earth.
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  • Delphi was inhabited since Mycenaean times (14th - 11th c. B.C.) by small settlements who were dedicated to the Mother Earth deity. The worship of Apollo as the god of light, harmony, and order was established between the 11th and 9th centuries. Slowly over the next five centuries the sanctuary grew in size and importance. During the 8th c. B.C. Delphi became internationally known for the Oracular powers of Pythia.
  • Dodona is an important ancient Greek oracle, second in fame only to Delphi. It is located in a strategic pass at the eastern slopes of the imposing Mt. Tomaros, close to the modern city of Ioannina in western Epiros. It was dedicated to Zeus and Dione, and the Greeks believed it to be the most ancient of oracles.
  • Archaeological evidence testifies to the island's habitation since the 7th millennium BC After the 5th millennium BC we find the first evidence of hand-made ceramic pottery which marks the beginning of the civilization Evans, the famed archaeologist who excavated Knossos, named "Minoan" after the legendary king Minos.
  • The sanctuary at Olympia (Ολυμπία) is positioned in a serene and fertile valley between the Alpheios and the Kladeos rivers in western Peloponnese, in Elis. It was the host of the Olympic games for a thousand years in antiquity.
Meghan O

Sparta Politics and Government - 8 views

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    This website gives information about Spartan government and politics.
mrs. b.

resourcesforhistoryteachers - 7.27 - 1 views

  • Besides the obvious differences in philosophies, there is a very big difference in geography that cause these differences. Ancient Athens was situated somewhat close to the coast; it was only about five miles to the port city of Piraeus (which became part of Athens with the building of the Long Walls), thus it was no more then a few hours of travel from Athens to the coast line, thus greatly increasing the ability to be a trade center. Ancient Sparta however is located at the shortest distance 40 miles from the coast, however the terrain is somewhat rocky and there is no real straight path to the coast line. This would have greatly impeded the ability for Sparta to become a major trading port
  • Spartan Government Typically classified as an "oligarchy" ( rule by the few), but had elements of monarchy, democracy, and aristocracy Two kings were usually generals who commanded the major Spartan armies. While both were capable military leaders one was usually considered the leader of the army. This was done mainly so that in times of war Sparta would still retain a leader if the other were to die in battle. The most famous example was King Leonidas, who famously was able to hold off the enormous Persian Army at the battle of Thermoplyae.Five overseers (ephors) ran the day-to-day operations of Sparta. These overseers held one year terms and were responsible for the education and conduct of all its citizens (The Essential World History, W. Duiker & J. Spielvogel, Second Edition, 2005, p. 76)Council or Senate (apella) of 28 councilmen. These men had to be over 60 years old and served lifetime terms. They acted as judges and proposed laws to the citizens' assembly.All Spartan males over age 30 could join the Assembly where they could show their support/dissent by shouting.
  • Athens Government Typically classified as a “limited democracy.” Also considered the “birthplace of democracy.” Athens held the first democratic state, developed in 507 BC.Principally made up of elected officials:Council of 500 made most of the main administrative decisionsThe Assembly was open to all citizens. This body passed laws and made policy decisions.Although many nations throughout time have modeled their governments on the principles of Athenian Democracy, it was not perfect. Only men were able to participate in the democratic assemblies, and this was only 10-20% of the population. Women, children, slaves and foreigners were not allowed to participate
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    • mrs. b.
       
      Why did Athens become seafaring?  
jclenk

Ancient Civilizations | Ancient History for Kids - 1 views

  • This massive Arid climate makes it a strange place for a large population of people
  • It flows north through the Sahara creating a long oasis in the desert eventually dumping into the Mediterranean Sea
  • The Nile River is the world’s longest river
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  • The Nile is divided into sections by cataracts.  A cataract is a rocky area that creates a waterfall or rapids.  There are six cataracts in the Nile river.
  •  As the water level lowered, it would leave behind rich fertile soil for farmers
  • Fresh water, irrigation, fertile soil--this is why people called it the "gift" of the Nile.
  • Around 6000 BCE the climate began to change, which might explain why many humans changed from hunting and gathering to farming.  Before civilization, early humans came to the Nile River to hunt, fish, and gather food, but gradually as people learned to farm and domesticate animals (about 7000 BCE and 5500 BCE), and therefore live in permanent settlements, areas around the Nile became more crowded.
  • The change from nomadic hunter-gatherers to civilized living followed the same pattern as other places around the world: farming provided extra food, which allowed the division of labor, which allows the development of government and religion and creates social classes. 
  • Historians call them Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt
  • We know so much about the Egyptians because there are so many written resources and because their culture lasted so long with few interruptions
  • Another reason we know so much about Egypt is because they made their architecture out of stone, which has lasted for the most part. 
  • Religion was a the center of Egyptian life.  Egyptians believed in many Gods, so they were polytheistic.
  • Later Egyptians would call their kings “pharaoh”.  Egyptian people believed the pharaoh was a living God, so the Egyptians developed a theocracy, or a government ruled by religious leaders.  This is important to understanding why Egyptian people were so willing to give their grain to the Pharaoh and build him or her incredible temples—they thought the Pharaoh was a living God that would be with them forever in eternity.
  • The most well-known ritual was mummification.  Egyptians believed in life after death, and they wanted the body to look life-like.  Anyone could be mummified if they had enough money
  • Egyptians were a very advanced civilization due to their inventions and technology.  Egyptians developed a writing system called hieroglyphs that combined pictures and symbols.  Eventually, they created an alphabet from their symbols.  In 1822 CE a European explorer found what is called the Rossetta Stone (left picture)--a stone with the same message written in 3 different languages, which finally allowed historians to translate ancient hieroglyphs. Egyptians developed a 365-day calendar and used a number system based on 10. Egyptians figured out amazing ways to cut stone to use in their temples and obelisks.  An obelisk is a tall narrow monument that becomes more narrow as it goes up.  They created a writing material similar to paper called papyrus from reeds found in the Nile.  Egyptians were excellent ship builders and excelled at mathematics.  They used fractions, decimals, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and basic ideas of geometry.  Egyptian art and architecture is famous and has been reused and copied by many other civilization including Greece, Rome, and even the United States
  • Egyptian life depended on what social class you were a part of.
  • At the top of society was the Pharaoh.  Below the Pharaoh was the royal court (Pharaoh's family), high priests, government officials, and scribes and nobles (rich land owners).  Below them were doctors and engineers, craftsman, and then farmers and unskilled workers at the bottom.  Egyptians did use some slaves, but slavery is hardly mentioned in their writings.
  • Bread was the main food source, but they would have eaten meat during festivals. 
  • Egypt's history is divided into six different time periods
  • creating Egypt's first dynasty.  He defeated some enemies and united Upper and Lower Egypt into one civilization.
  • One of the first major Pharaohs of the Old Kingdom was Djoser.  His temple was one of the first pyramids Egyptians tried to build.  It was a "step pyramid" and it started the tradition of building pyramids as a burial ground for Pharaohs. Although the term "Pharaoh" wasn't used until much later, we will keep using it to refer to Egyptian kings.   
  • Hatshepsut was a women Pharaoh.  Her tomb is an amazingly long ramp leading to a temple that has been cut out of a mountain.  Pharaoh Akhenaten tried to start a new religious tradition of worshipping only one God.  Worshipping one God is called monotheism.  This did not sit well with the polytheistic population that has honored many gods for thousands of years.  After Akhenaten's death his monuments were destroyed and his name was removed from the list of kings. Years later he was often referred to as, "the enemy". Akhenaten's son would also become famous, thousands of years later when his tomb was found perfectly preserved. His name was Pharaoh Tutankhamen--he is known and King Tut. He became Pharaoh at age 9 or 10 and ruled for only 9 years.
mrs. b.

Winged Sandals: History: Athenian Politics and Government - 0 views

  • Direct Democracy
  • Athens, however, every governmental decision had to be made by a big assembly of all eligible citizens who wanted to take part – in some cases, this had to be at least 6,000 citizens. This is called a "direct democracy".
  • The Athenian assembly – which is the ancestor of a modern day parliament sitting – would meet in a large open-air area on the side of a hill in Athens called the Pnyx. Only male citizens over the age of 20 were allowed to take part. Women, children, slaves and foreigners were not permitted to participate in any part of Athenian democracy. Any member of the assembly could speak and make proposals (at least in theory), and everyone at the assembly voted on each issue by a show of hands. The assembly met at least 40 times a year. Sometimes, the authorities had trouble rounding up enough people to attend the assembly, so they would send out slaves carrying ropes dipped in red dye. Anybody that they hit would be fined, so people would run from the slaves to the Pnyx where they were safe and join the assembly.
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  • The Council of 500 The Athenians also had a council with 500 members (called the "boule"), which prepared the agenda for the assembly and carried out its decisions. This council also administered the state finances and a number of other state affairs. The members were chosen by lottery from the population of citizen men over the age of 30 and served for one year. A man was allowed to be a member only twice in his whole lifetime
  • Juries in ancient Athens were also chosen by lottery drawn from any male citizens over the age of 30 who volunteered at the start of each year. Juries were made up of different numbers depending on the type of case.
  • Witnesses were allowed, but unlike today, there was no cross-examination. Imprisonment was not used as a punishment following a conviction in ancient Athens – usually a person found guilty either had to pay a fine or was put to death.
Somin J

Greek Government - Ancient History Encyclopedia - 0 views

  • fundamental questions as who should rule and how?
  • t is possible to piece together a more complete history,
  • Surviving, though, are over 150 political speeches and 20,000 inscriptions which include 500 decrees and 10 laws.
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  • (monarchies and tyrants) or in a select few (the oligarchies) or in every male citizen: democracy
  • birth of democracy (demokratia) from around 460 BCE
  • Any male citizen 18 years or over could speak (at least in theory) and vote in the assembly, usually with a simple show of hands.
  • Perhaps the most famous bad decision from the Athenian democracy was the death sentence given to the philosopher Socrates in 399 BCE.   
  • In other Greek states then, there were also democratic assemblies, sometimes, though, with a minimum property stipulation for attendees (as in the Boiotian federation 447-386 BCE). Some city-states also mixed democratic assemblies with a monarchy (for example, Macedonia and Molossia).
  •  
    Description of Greek Democracy, Monarchy, Oligarchy and Public Officials
jdanielpour j

History: Ancient Greece for Kids - 1 views

  •  
    periods of greece
Paige W

BBC - History - Ancient History in depth: The Democratic Experiment - 1 views

  • Take politics for example: apart from the word itself (from polis, meaning city-state or community) many of the other basic political terms in our everyday vocabulary are borrowed from the ancient Greeks: monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy and - of course - democracy.
  • demokratia
  • It meant literally 'people-power'
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  • The Greek word demos could mean either
  • Was it all the people
  • Or only some of the people
  • There's a theory that the word demokratia was coined by democracy's enemies, members of the rich and aristocratic elite who did not like being outvoted by the common herd, their social and economic inferiors.
  • By the time of Aristotle (fourth century BC) there were hundreds of Greek democracies. Greece in those times was not a single political entity but rather a collection of some 1,500 separate poleis or 'cities' scattered round the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores 'like frogs around a pond', as Plato once charmingly put it.
  • cities that were not democracies
  • power was in the hands of the few richest citizens
  • monarchies, called 'tyrannies' in cases where the sole ruler had usurped power by force rather than inheritanc
  • most stable,
  • most long-lived,
  • most radical, was Athens.
  • origin of the Athenian democracy of the fifth and fourth centuries can be traced back to Solon,
  • flourished
  • 600 BC.
  • was a poet and a wise statesman
  • but not - contrary to later myth - a democrat.
  • Solon's constitutional reform package that laid the basis on which democracy could be pioneered
  • Cleisthenes was the son of an Athenian, but the grandson and namesake of a foreign Greek tyrant
  • also the brother-in-law of the Athenian tyrant, Peisistratus,
  • eized power three times
  • before finally establishing a stable and apparently benevolent dictatorship.
    • Paige W
       
      Interesting insight on the beginning of democracy.
  • nder this political system that Athens successfully resisted the Persian onslaughts of 490 and 480/79
  • victory in turn encouraged the poorest Athenians to demand a greater say in the running of their city
  • Ephialtes and Pericles presided over a radicalisation of power that shifted the balance decisively to the poorest sections of society
  • he democratic Athens that won and lost an empire,
  • built the Parthenon,
  • eschylus, Sophocles,
  • Euripides and Aristophanes
  • laid the foundations of western rational and critical thought
  • was not, of course, without internal critics
  • when Athens had been weakened by the catastrophic Peloponnesian War (431-404) these critics got their chance
  • n 411 and again in 404 Athenian oligarchs led counter-revolutions that replaced democracy with extreme oligarchy
  • oligarchs were supported by Athens's old enemy, Sparta
  • mpossible to maintain themselves in power
  • democracy was restored
  • 'blips' such as the trial of Socrates - the restored Athenian democracy flourished stably and effectively for another 80 years
  • There were no proper population censuses in ancient Athens,
  • total population of fifth-century Athens, including its home territory of Attica, at around 250,000 - men, women and children, free and unfree, enfranchised and disenfranchised. Of those
  • 250,000 some 30,000 on average were fully paid-up citizens -
  • adult males of Athenian birth and full status
  • second key difference is the level of participation.
  • representative
  • we choose politicians to rule for us
  • Athenian
  • democracy
  • was direct
  • and in-your-face.
  • most officials and all jurymen were selected by lot.
  • This was thought to be the democratic way, since election favoured the rich, famous and powerful over the ordinary citizen.
  • mid fifth century, office holders, jurymen, members of the city's main administrative Council of 500, and even Assembly attenders were paid a small sum from public funds to compensate them for time spent on political service away from field or workshop.
  • eligibility
  • adult male citizens need apply for the privileges and duties of democratic government, and a birth criterion of double descent - from an Athenian mother as well as father -
  • Athenian democracy did not happen only in the Assembly and Council. The courts were also essentially political spaces, located symbolically right at the centre of the city.
  • defined the democratic citizen as the man 'who has a share in (legal) judgment and office'.
  • Athenian drama,
  • was a fundamentally political activity as well,
  • One distinctively Athenian democratic practice that aroused the special ire of the system's critics was the practice of ostracism -
  • potsherd
  • rom the Greek word for
  • decide which leading politician should be exiled for ten years
  • on a piece of broken pottery.
  • voters scratched or painted the name of their preferred candidate
  • 6,000 citizens had to 'vote' for an ostracism to be valid,
  • biggest
  • political
  • risked being fried
  • For almost 100 years ostracism fulfilled its function of aborting serious civil unrest or even civil war
  • Power to the people, all the people, especially the poor majority, remained the guiding principle of Athenian democracy.
  •  
    About of Greek Democracy
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