The Polis
By 750 B.C. Greece was made up of more than 200 city-states. Like the city-states that grew up in Sumer 1,000 years before, the Greek city-states were independent. The Greeks called each city-states a Polis.
As in Sumer, the Greek polis was made up of a city as well as the lands around it. Each polis had its own government. All the people who lived in the polis had to obey its laws and its leaders.
Greek city-states grew up all over the "Aegan World." They were found on the coasts of Greece, Asia Minor, and on the Aegan islands. Of all the city-states were forced to become slaves called helots. Helots had to farm the land and honor the Spartan polis. Even though there were many more helots than Spartans on the Peloponnesus, the Spartans had absolute power.
Life In Sparta
Life in Sparta was harsh. From birth to death, everything was controlled by the military government. The government wanted only the "best" people in Spartan society. Thus, a group of warriors examined each baby. If the child was judged to be strong, it was allowed to live. If the child was considered weak, its parents were ordered to put the child on a mountainside to die.
Spartan boys were only seven when they began their military training. They joined a troop of boys their own age and marched off to military camp. With their troop, they learned to use spears and swords. They learned to obey orders without question. Everything was done to make the boys strong. They did not wear clothing or shoes. Their beds were piles of straw. They ate plain food.
Spartan girls also led hardly lives. Unlike girls in other Greek city-states, Spartan girls wrestled and played sports. They were trained to defend their polis. As adults, they ran family estates while their husbands served the polis. Spartan women had many rights, but were not allowed to vote.
The Spartans became famous for their bravery and harsh way of life. Even today a person who leads a simple, stern life is called "Spartan." Once a Spartan was asked why his city did not have a wall. He replied: "Every Spartan is a brick in the wall of Sparta" What do you think he meant?
Athens
O bright and violet-crowned and famed in song, bulwark of Greece, famous Athens, divine city!
It is not hard to imagine how the author of these words felt about Athens. At the time they were written in 500 B.C., life in the Athenian polis was very different from life in Sparta.
Athens is on the peninsula of Attica. It used its location near the sea to grow as a center of trade. Artisans from all over the Aegan flocked to Athens to practice their crafts. As a result of their long history of sea travel, Athenians were the most skillful sailors.
The Athenian polis became an exciting and vital place where new ideas were welcome. Rather than the strict, military ways of Sparta, freedom was cherished in Athens. The Athenians believed that life was empty unless people tried to gain new knowledge and lived freely.
Life In Athens
Imagine that you have gone back in time to the Athenian polis. You are standing in the agora, or central marketplace of the city. The agora is overflowing with activity, and it takes a moment to get your bearings. Is it possible that there is any place on the earth as busy as the Athenian agora?
Shops, temples, and government buildings surround the agora. Young men who are students stand in the shadows of these great buildings and wait for their teachers. Small children explore the fruit stands with their parents. Merchants have come from all over the "Aegan World" - and farther - to gather in the agora and sell their goods.
Tables are piled high with vegetables, bread, fish, and cheese. Beautifully painted pottery is for sale, and even toys can be bought. Merchants from Asia and North Africa sell colorful cloth, fine jewelry, and sweet perfumes. The agora is truly a lively place.
Explore the agora. Wander around the tables and along the edges of the market. Then, begin to follow some of the roads that lead away from the agora. One road climbs uphill. You wonder where it leads. . . .
The Acropolis
As you continue climbing the uphill roam from the agora, you come upon a remarkable site. The people of Athens built one of the world's most magnificent landmarks of civilization. Called the Acropolis, it was a hill-top fortress. Acropolis is a Greek word meaning "high city."
The citizens of Athens met in this "high city" to discuss the affairs of their community.
Like the pyramids and ziggurats of earlier societies, the Acropolis also had a special, religious purpose. The largest building on the Acropolis was the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a temple dedicated to Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom who was believed to be the protector of Athens. Built in the fifth century B.C., it has been called one of the world's most beautiful buildings.
The Persian Wars
Through Sparta and Athens differed greatly, an invasion caused them to unite temporarily. As you will learn, Athens would show even more strength than Sparta.
Go tell the Spartans, thou that passeth by, that here, obedient to her laws, we lie.
These sad lines mark the site at Thermopylae where hundreds of Spartan soldiers were killed. A great empire had risen that was far more powerful than Sparta. The empire tried to conquer ancient Greece - twice. Both times it was not Sparta, but peaceful Athens, that forced the conquerers back.
After 550 B.C. the Persians rose there and built a vast empire. The Persian Empire stretched from the Indus River in the east to the Greek colonies of Asia Minor in the west.
We know a lot about the Persians because of a Greek historian named Herodotus. Herodotus wrote a history for the wars fought by the Greeks with the Persians and is called the "Father of History." Herodotous wrote that in 490 B.C., 25,000 Persian soldiers landed on the plains of Marathon. Marathon is only about 25 miles (40 km) from Athens. There, only 10,000 Athenians stood waiting, shoulder to shoulder. Singing as they charged, the Athenians forced the Persians back into the Bay of Marathon.
Ten years later the Persians returned. This time, however, it was the Spartans who were waiting for them at Thermopylae. According to Herodotus, "the ground ran red with Spartan blood" at Thermopylae.
Four times the Spartans drove the enemy off . . . and withdrew into the narrow neck of the pass. . . . Here they resisted to the last, with their swords, if they had them, and if not, with their hands and teeth, until the Persians finally overwhelmed them.
The mighty Spartans, whose ways had been so warlike, were defeated.
The Athenians were amazed. Something had to be done to hold back the invading Persians. Then, the great Athenian fleet lured the Persian fleet into the narrow straits by the island of Salamis. Once again, the skillful Athenians won a stunning victory over the Persians.
The Glory Of Athens
After the Persian Wars, Athens became the leader of Greece. In addition to its success at warfare, its ideas about government and culture continued to grow. Herodotus understood Athens' mighty influence when he wrote:
In a word I claim that out city as a whole is an education to Greece.
Interesting