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History and Geography

Ancient Greece
and Rome
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 Ancient Greece
and Rome
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 The Ancient Greek City-States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2 Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Chapter 3 Sparta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 4 The Olympic Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 5 The Persian Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Chapter 6 The Golden Age of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Chapter 7 The Peloponnesian War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 8 Greek Philosophy and Socrates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Chapter 9 Plato and Aristotle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Chapter 10 Alexander and the Hellenistic Period . . . . . . . 72
Chapter 11 The Roman Republic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Chapter 12 The Punic Wars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Chapter 13 Julius Caesar: A Great Roman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Chapter 14 The Age of Augustus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Chapter 15 Rome and Christianity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Chapter 16 The Fall of the Roman Empire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chapter 17 The Heritage of Greece and Rome . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Ancient Greece and Rome
Reader
Core Knowledge History and Geography™
Chapter 1
The Ancient Greek
City-States
A Great Civilization Many people believe
that the greatest of all the civilizations of The Big Question
the ancient world was the civilization of What different forms
Greece. However, it is a little misleading of government were
adopted by various
to speak about ancient Greece as though city-states?
it were a single civilization.

Ancient Greece was not a unified country. It was a collection of independent

city-states. The ancient Greek word for city-state was polis (/poh* lihs/). A typical
polis would have included a town or a small city and
Vocabulary
the farmlands surrounding it. Most Greek city-states
city-state, n. a
had a population of no more than twenty thousand and
city that is an
independent political covered an area of only a hundred or so square miles.
state with its own
ruling government By 500 BCE, dozens of these city-states existed, mainly
along the shores of the Aegean Sea. Most were
Asia Minor, n. a
located in the area of present-day Greece, but others
peninsula in
southwestern Asia; were scattered along the coast of Asia Minor, on
today most of this the shores of the Black Sea, in southern Italy, and in
area is the country
of Turkey northern Africa.

2
This ancient Greek fresco, known as The Toreador, was found on the Greek island of Crete.
The ancient Greeks produced beautiful art and architecture.

3
The Greek city-states had a number of things in common. First, the people
of the city-states all spoke Greek, though dialects varied from city-state to
city-state. (A dialect is a regional variety of a language.) The Greeks referred
to non-Greek speakers as “barbarians.” The word comes from another Greek
word —bárbaros—meaning to babble. When these people spoke, the Greeks
could hear only meaningless syllables that sounded to them like bar, bar, bar.

The Greek city-states were also unified by religion. The citizens of the various
city-states worshiped the same set of Greek gods. Zeus (/zooss/) was the chief
god, but he shared power with other gods, including his wife Hera (/hihr*uh/),
the sun god Apollo (/uh*pahl*oh/), the sea god Poseidon (/poh*sye*dun/), and
the love goddess Aphrodite (/af*ruh*dye*tee/). The Greeks believed that these
gods lived on Mount Olympus but came down from time to time to influence

This ancient sculpted wall decoration, called a frieze, can be found on the Parthenon in
Athens, Greece. The frieze depicts some of the Assembly of the Gods. From left to right
you can see Poseidon, Apollo, and Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.

4
human affairs. They told marvelous stories, or
Vocabulary
myths, about the adventures and misadventures of
tyranny, n. a type
their gods. They built temples to honor their gods.
of government in
Greek city-states also came together for athletic which one person
illegally seizes all
competitions like the Olympic Games, which you will power, usually ruling
read about in Chapter 4. But each Greek city-state in a harsh and brutal
was also unique. Each had its own traditions, legends, way; a dictatorship

and local heroes. Almost all city-states worshiped a aristocracy, n. the

handful of local gods along with the central gods. upper or noble class
whose members’
status is usually
Different Governments
inherited
Each city-state also had its own distinctive form of
oligarchy, n.
government. In fact, the Greeks were so innovative, a government
or groundbreaking, when it came to government and controlled by a
small group of
politics that many of the words we use to talk about
people made up
these subjects today can be traced back to ancient of aristocratic
Greek words. Our words politics and police officer are and wealthy non-
aristocratic families
both derived from the word polis. Politics is the art
of governing a polis, or state, and a police officer is a democracy, n. in
ancient Greece, a
person who helps preserve order in the state.
form of government
In the beginning, most Greek city-states were ruled in which the male
citizens held ruling
by kings. However, by 500 BCE, most city-states had power and made
adopted other forms of government, including decisions; in modern
times, a form of
tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy (/ahl*ih*gahr*kee/),
government in
and democracy. which citizens
choose the leaders
Tyranny was a system in which one man was the by vote
dictator—someone who held all the power. For
monarchy, n. a
Greeks, tyranny was different from monarchy:
government led by a
tyrants seized power illegally, whereas kings king or a queen
inherited the throne legally. Some tyrants were

5
6
Map of Ancient Greece, 500 BCE
Thedosia
Spina
Agathe Black Sea
Massalia Ad
Callatis
ria
Emporium Italy tic
N Se EUROPE
a
W Byzantium
E Epidamnus Abdera
Calchedon
S Cumae
Mt. Olympus
Tyrrhenian Tarentum Abydos

Aege
Sea Mytilene
ASIA MINOR
Phocaea

an Se
Athens
a
Rhegium Ephesus
Chalcis
Pelepon
Delphi Sicily Ionian Sea
Thebes
Al-Mina
Sparta
Syracuse
Piraeus Athens
Elis Corinth
Argos Aegina Cyprus
Olympia Tegea Crete
Troezen Mediterranean Sea
Megalopolis Delos
Pylos PELOPONNESUS
Sparta Cyrene Apollonia
Asini city-state
Barca Naukratis
Greek colony
0 100 miles Kithira AFRICA
Greek lands 0 400 miles

The Greeks established colonies throughout the Mediterranean. This map shows the extent of ancient Greece around 500 BCE.
popular because they opposed the rich and helped the poor. However, few
Greeks wanted to live under tyrants all the time.
Vocabulary
Aristocracy was a system in which a few noble,
assembly, n. a
or upper-class, families held power. The word
group of people;
aristocracy actually means rule of the best. in ancient Greece,
Sometimes these “best” families shared power with the Assembly
made laws.
an assembly made up of citizens, but not always.

An oligarchy was similar to aristocracy. Again, the power was held by only a
few people. In fact, oligarchy means rule of the few. But in this case, the few
were not only noble families but also wealthy men. (Often oligarchies were
comprised of aristocratic and wealthy nonaristocratic families.)

Finally, there was democracy. In a democracy, power was shared by a large number
of male citizens. Citizens took part in debates, decided government policy, and
elected officials. The Greeks seem to have been the first people to experiment with
this kind of government. The experiment eventually caught on, and democracy
became the pattern of government in a number of Greek city-states.

Lack of Unity
The Greeks were proud of the independence and individuality of their
city-states. They thought it was better to live under local government than
under the power of a king who lived far away. However, there were also
disadvantages to the city-state model. The Greek city-states were frequently
getting into disagreements and wars. This lack of unity made it easier for
foreign countries to invade Greece. In times of crisis, the city-states might join
together to fight a common enemy, but this was the exception, not the rule.
In general, the alliances among city-states tended to be short-lived, while the
rivalries among them tended to be long-lasting.

One of the greatest rivalries was between Athens and Sparta, two of the
largest and most powerful city-states. In the next two chapters, you will read
about these two city-states and the differences between them.

7
Chapter 2
Athens
Athenian Democracy Athens was one
of the largest of the Greek city-states The Big Question
and also one of the most democratic. In what ways was
Today, we remember it as the birthplace Athenian democracy
limited?
of democracy.

Athenian democracy developed gradually. Over many decades, monarchy gave

way to aristocracy, aristocracy to oligarchy, and then oligarchy to democracy. The
Athenians also had to get rid of a few tyrants. Over the years, more and more
people won the right to participate in government. By 500 BCE, a recognizably
democratic system was firmly established.

At the center of Athenian democracy was the Assembly. The Assembly passed
laws, imposed taxes, and voted on issues of war and peace. All Athenian male
citizens were allowed to participate in the Assembly.
Vocabulary
Before deciding an issue, the members of the
citizen, n. a person
Assembly would debate the proposal. Then they
who is legally
recognized as a would vote by holding up their hands. If a majority
member or subject of those present supported the proposal, it would
of a country or state
be accepted.

8
In Athens, the Assembly debated and voted on issues.

9
This ostrakon had the name “Themistocles” scratched on it.

The Assembly also had the power to ostracize,

Vocabulary
or banish, citizens who might pose a danger to
ostracize, v. in
the polis. Again, this was done by voting. During
ancient Athens, to
ostracism votes, each citizen was allowed to send a person away
scratch another citizen’s name on a piece of from the city; today,
ostracize means
pottery called an ostrakon. If enough people to shun or ignore
scratched the same name, the ostracized citizen a person
had to leave the city-state and stay away for ten
years. However, he was allowed to keep his property, and at the end of ten
years, he was allowed to return.

The Assembly was assisted by a smaller council, called the Boule (/boo*lee/),
which was made up of five hundred members chosen by lot. Each member
served a year-long term, and no citizen could serve more than two terms. The
Boule decided which issues needed to be brought before the Assembly and
which ones could be handled by other officials.

The Legal System

The legal system was also quite democratic. Athenian law was divided into two
sections. There were public laws, which had to do with the city-state, and private
10
laws through which people could work out their
Vocabulary
disagreements. If someone broke a public law, he
jury, n. a group of
would have to pay a fine or face the penalty that had
people who listen
been decided upon by the Assembly or by the Boule. to information
If someone had a disagreement with a neighbor, presented during a
trial in a court and
he could take his neighbor to a law court near the make decisions about
marketplace and have a jury decide his case. whether someone is
guilty or innocent
Athenian juries were larger than ours are today.
In some cases, as many as 501 citizens sat on a corruption, n.
illegal or dishonest
single jury! The idea behind these giant juries was behavior, often by
to reduce the risk of bribery and corruption: it is people in a position
easier to bribe a dozen jurors than it is to pay off of power

several hundred. Because the juries were so big,

nearly all citizens served on juries at some point in their lives. Jury members
voted by placing tokens, called hubs, in a jar. Solid hubs stood for “not guilty,”
and hollow hubs meant “guilty.”

The fourth element of Athenian democracy was a board of ten generals

known as the strategoi (/strat*uh*goi/). These generals directed the army.
They were elected each year by a tribe, or group, to the Assembly. There
were ten groups in all.

Limits of Athenian Democracy

It is important to understand that Athens was not completely democratic by
modern standards. You read earlier that all Athenian citizens were allowed to
participate in the Assembly. However, not everyone in the polis was a citizen.
To qualify as a citizen, a person had to be:

• male
• at least eighteen years of age
• not enslaved
• the son of two Athenian parents
11
Women, children, enslaved people,
and foreigners living in Athens were
not citizens. Therefore, they could
not vote in the Assembly or serve
on juries.

Although Athenian women played

an important role in religious affairs,
they had almost no political rights.
They could not own property. They
were always under the control of
a male relative, such as a husband,
father, brother, or even an adult son. This ancient Greek stone carving shows a
woman working in her home.
This male relative decided whom the
woman would marry. If her husband died, she could be remarried without
her consent. Sometimes, if a husband knew he was dying, he would decide
before his death whom his wife should marry next! Women could not
participate in debates in the Assembly. They could not attend certain public
events. Girls might receive some education at home, but they were not sent
to school. Instead of participating in polis politics, women were expected
to bear children and tend to their families. The family was very important in
ancient Athens, and Athenian women were expected to uphold it.

As a busy trading city, Athens opened its doors to many foreigners. These
foreign residents, known as metics (/met*ihks/), played an important role in
the Athenian economy. Many metics were artisans, craftsmen, or merchants.
Although some metics were presented with honorary citizenship, most
never became citizens.

Enslaved people had it even worse. They made up as much as a quarter or a

third of the population. A rich citizen might have hundreds of enslaved workers
to run his household, farm, or business. A smaller household might have
between ten and fifty. Only the poor did not depend on slave labor. Enslaved

12
workers cleaned, shopped, cooked, carried water, washed clothing, and helped
raise children. Some enslaved workers were educated, so they could help teach
the children in a family. Others were accomplished musicians who provided
entertainment. But even the most talented enslaved person lacked any political
rights. Although Athenian enslaved workers could sometimes buy their
freedom, they could not purchase Athenian citizenship.

Because of these requirements, only about forty thousand of the nearly three
hundred thousand people living in Athens and the surrounding countryside
qualified as citizens. So Athenian democracy definitely had its limits. Still, we
should not dismiss what the Athenians achieved. In 500 BCE, you could not
find another place where so many of the people were involved in political
affairs. Later societies would carry democratic ideals even further, but it was
the Athenians who took the all-important first steps.

Athenian Education
Because the Athenians believed that every citizen
Vocabulary
should play a role in the government of the city-state,
they took pains to prepare young men to become rhetoric, n. the
skill of using words
good citizens. They believed a good education would effectively in
benefit the polis as well as the individual. speaking or writing

A citizen needed to be able to take part in debates logic, n. the study

in the Assembly and law courts. He also needed of ways of thinking
and making well-
to know how to argue, how to defend his own reasoned arguments
opinions, and how to criticize the ideas of others.
“epic poem,”
This is why the Athenians taught their sons rhetoric.
(phrase) a long
Along with rhetoric, Athenian schools taught poem that tells the
story of a hero’s
logic, reading, writing, arithmetic, and music. Boys adventures
learned to play a stringed instrument called the
lyre and memorized sections from two epic poems attributed to the ancient
Greek poet Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey.

13
This painted vase depicts a classroom in ancient Greece.

In addition to academic instruction, every young man was given two years of
military instruction and many years of physical education. Athenian men were
expected to exercise in a gymnasium. This was not an enclosed building, like
a modern gym, but a parklike area outside the city where men gathered in
the cool shade of the trees to exercise their bodies and relax their minds. The
men did not wear clothes when they exercised. In fact, the word gymnasium
comes from a Greek word meaning “to exercise naked.” In addition to
exercising, they competed in athletic competitions.

When an Athenian male got a little older, he might go to a symposium.

A symposium was like a banquet. Citizens gathered to eat, drink, listen to
musicians, converse, and enjoy one another’s company. Much wine was
consumed, but many symposiums also had an educational purpose. When
the members of a symposium settled down for conversation, the men
took turns speaking on a chosen theme, such as love or happiness. The
participants were not just gossiping or wasting time. They were sharing
wisdom and reaching conclusions.

14
Athenian education sought to produce loyal Athenian citizens, but it also
sought to produce cultured, well-rounded men who appreciated art, music,
and sports. The ideal citizen would be equally comfortable on the battlefield
or in the Assembly. He would be willing to follow army discipline during
wartime but also willing to drink wine and eat a hearty dinner at a symposium
when the war was over. He would fulfill his political responsibilities but
also pursue other interests. In short, the Athenian educational system was
designed to produce solid citizens and well-rounded individuals.

15
Chapter 3
Sparta
Military Culture In the city-state of
Sparta, less than one hundred miles The Big Question
southwest of Athens, there was a very Why were Spartan
different idea about the purpose of children, especially
boys, treated
education. Spartans raised their children so harshly?
to be warriors. They had no interest in
developing “well-rounded individuals,”
or individuals of any sort.

The Spartan educational system emphasized military training, almost from the
cradle to the grave. For example, the Athenians required two years of military
training, but the Spartans required twenty-three!

When a Spartan woman gave birth to a baby boy, the child was inspected by a
government committee. If the baby was healthy and looked as if he might grow
into a strong warrior, he was allowed to live. However, if the baby seemed weak
or unhealthy, he was often left outdoors to die.

The Spartans made sure children grew up to be tough. Spartan children who cried
were not picked up or comforted. The Spartans believed that soothing children
in this way made them soft. A similar objection was raised against sandals—
wearing shoes meant that boys would have soft feet. Soldiers needed tough feet.
Therefore, Spartan boys had to go barefoot, even in the dead of winter.

16
Spartan warriors, like the one shown here, were the best-trained soldiers of their time.
The inset image is a bronze statue of a Spartan soldier from the 500s BCE.

17
At the age of seven, Spartan boys were sent away
Vocabulary
from their families to begin military training. They
barracks, n.
lived in barracks with other boys their age and
buildings where
were taught to obey without question. Even the soldiers live
slightest questioning of authority brought a severe
whipping.

In Sparta, little time was spent teaching reading, writing, and poetry. Instead,
physical fitness was king. Spartan boys were taught to endure great pain and
never accept defeat. When the boys became teenagers, their food rations
were cut so that they would have to learn to find food for themselves—this
included stealing.

Young men could marry at age twenty, but they had to continue sleeping in
the barracks until they turned thirty. They had to sneak away to be with their
wives, and they were punished if they got caught. Even after they moved in
with their wives, they had to eat with their army unit rather than with their
wives and children. Military service continued until the men turned sixty.

The entire Spartan state was

organized as a military unit, and
everyone had a role to play. Spartan
women did not fight, but they had
more political rights than Athenian
women. They could own land, and
they were encouraged to take part
in footraces and other sports so that
they would be healthy mothers.
Once they became mothers, they
were expected to help raise their
sons to be warriors.

Spartan mothers had to be This bronze statue of a Spartan woman

running is from the 500s BCE. Spartan
prepared to lose their sons in war. women were encouraged to run to keep fit.

18
On hearing that her son had died in battle, one Spartan woman refused to
weep. Instead, she announced her loss proudly: “I bore him so that he might
die for Sparta, and that is what has happened, as I wished.”

Why did the Spartans place so much emphasis on military skill and bravery?
It was partly to protect themselves against foreign enemies. When someone
suggested that Sparta build a wall around the city, the legendary Spartan
leader Lycurgus (/lie*ker*gis/) supposedly replied that a “wall of men” would
protect the city more effectively than any wall of bricks.

But there was another reason too. The Spartans ruled over large numbers of
enslaved people called helots. The first helots were captured in war. Like serfs
in feudal Europe centuries later, helots were tied to the land, forced to work
on state-owned farms. They were assigned to individual Spartans, but could
not be bought and sold by these masters. Whatever they grew or produced
on the land, they owed their masters a portion of it.

The life of a helot in Sparta, in most cases, was much worse than the life of
an enslaved person in Athens. In fact, Spartans made fun of the Athenians for
coddling their enslaved workers. The Spartans said that in Athens, you could
hardly tell the enslaved workers from the citizens. That was not a problem in
Sparta. Although the helots outnumbered Spartan citizens by perhaps twenty
to one, the Spartans had a reputation for treating them harshly. There are
many historical accounts that say the helots were beaten regularly and could
be put to death for complaining. However, there are some accounts that
describe the Spartans as being a little more reasonable at times. They may
even have allowed some helots the right to own property and fight alongside
Spartans in battle.

Despite the harsh rules, (or perhaps because of them), the helots sometimes
rose in revolt. That was another reason the Spartans forced all male citizens to
be warriors.

Spartan education was cruel and inhuman by today’s standards. But Spartans
valued the results that came from these methods. Spartan citizens were
19
patriotic, disciplined, and tough. They valued equality between Spartan
citizens. They were taught to care more about the well-being of the state
than about their own personal well-being. And they were matchless fighters,
willing to defend their polis to the death.

Spartan Government
The government of Sparta is generally called an oligarchy, but it also
contained elements of monarchy, aristocracy, and very limited democracy.
The Spartans had not one but two kings. These two men were supposed
to prevent each other from becoming corrupt tyrants. They were also in
charge of the all-important army. In addition to the kings, Sparta also had

The disciplined and well-trained Spartan soldiers were more than a match for other armies.

20
an aristocratic council of elders and an Assembly.
Vocabulary
Sparta’s Assembly, though, was far less democratic
“aristocratic
than the one in Athens. Citizens were not allowed
council,” (phrase) a
to debate an issue, only to approve or disapprove group of people from
a proposal, and they showed their approval or the upper class or
nobility who helped
disapproval not with a show of hands but by govern Sparta
shouting for or against a measure.

Spartan elections were handled in the same way. Citizens were called together
in an open field and asked to shout for the candidate they preferred. Judges
determined which candidate got the loudest shouts. (The Athenians found all
this shouting very humorous.)

Although the Spartans accepted a few democratic ideas, they were generally
doubtful about Athenian-style democracy. They believed that their way of life
was better than the Athenian way of life.

Contrasting Lifestyles
Athenians enjoyed going to symposiums, or banquets, with good food and
wine. The Spartans were less extravagant and believed in keeping life simple.
Athenian writers wrote that Spartan cooks were told not to make the food
too tasty. Apparently, they succeeded. After eating dinner in Sparta, one
visitor said, “Now I know why they aren’t afraid to die in battle!” The only
“fun” activity the Spartans allowed was dancing, and this was only tolerated
because the elders thought dancing improved a soldier’s footwork. However,
it is important to note that a lot of what we know about Sparta comes from
the Athenians, and they were more than a little biased!

The Athenians trained their citizens to be skilled in rhetoric and public

speaking. Spartans, on the other hand, were famous for avoiding long
speeches. You may know the English word laconic. This word means concise,
or of few words. What you may not know is that in ancient Greece, laconic
was a synonym for Spartan—and the word itself comes from Laconia, the

21
name of the territory where Sparta was located. The Spartans were famous
for their brief replies. Once a Greek from a hostile city-state told a Spartan, “If
we defeat you, we will destroy your city.” The Spartan spoke only one word in
reply: “If.” Now that’s laconic!

Athens was a culturally rich city that eventually produced some of the
greatest art and literature of all time. A great Athenian statesman once
explained that Athenians saw no conflict between strength and beauty: “Our
love of what is beautiful does not lead to extravagance; our love of the things
of the mind does not make us soft.” By contrast, the Spartans worried that
too much attention to the “things of the mind” might make them soft. They
chose to produce soldiers, not artists.

Athens was located only four miles from the sea, but Sparta was an inland
city. This inland location may have encouraged the Spartans to isolate
themselves from the rest of the world. Whatever the reason, that is what they
tried to do. While Athens welcomed foreigners, Sparta tried to keep them
away so that they could preserve their traditional ways and highly ordered
society. The Spartans even avoided using silver and gold coins, because these
had a tendency to attract foreign merchants. Instead, they used iron bars,
which nobody but a Spartan could possibly want.
Vocabulary
Location also helped determine the military
landlocked, adj.
differences between these two city-states. The
cut off from the
landlocked Spartans generally had a small navy, or seacoast; surrounded
none at all, but their army was the best in Greece. by land

The Spartan army often fought using a military phalanx, n. a

formation known as the phalanx. The phalanx group of soldiers
who attack in close
formation was made up of many soldiers in a
formation with their
tight, dense group, armed with spears and shields. shields overlapping
They moved together as one. The success of this and spears pointed
forward
formation in battle depended greatly on constant

22
drilling, discipline, courage, patriotism, and the idea of equality. The phalanx
in many ways defined Spartan society.

Athens tried to excel in both land and sea warfare, but the Athenian navy was
especially strong.

Sparta and Athens were so different that each city-state was suspicious of
the other, and it was hard for the two to get along. The rivalry between these
two city-states would play an important role in Greek history. In the next few
chapters, you will read about a couple of occasions when Athens and Sparta
managed to cooperate and also about a fateful war in which they confronted
one another on the battlefield.

Athens had a large, powerful fleet of ships.

23
Chapter 4
The Olympic Games
Sports Obsession Athens and Sparta
were not the only Greek city-states that The Big Question
had trouble getting along. Many city- What were the
states fought and feuded with each other. Olympic Games?
However, the Greeks did manage to lay
their quarrels aside for a few things, and one of those things
was sports.

One of the most famous athletic competitions was held in the city of Olympia,
not far from Sparta. The Olympic Games were held every fourth year. Several
months before the games began, a sacred engraved disk—the emblem of
the games—was carried to all the Greek city-states that were expected to
compete. The messenger who brought the disk
Vocabulary would inform everyone when the games would be
emblem, n. a held. The messenger would also explain the terms
symbol
of the Olympic truce. The city-states agreed to stop
truce, n. an fighting during the time it took for athletes to travel to
agreement to Olympia, attend the games, and return home again—a
stop fighting
period of one to three months.

24
This image is an artist’s impression of athletes competing in a footrace in the ancient
Greek Olympic Games. The inset image (above) shows a footrace depicted on a Greek
pot from the 400s BCE. Generally, athletes competed without clothing.

25
In the Beginning
The Olympic Games began as part of a religious festival in honor of Zeus,
the king of the Greek gods. The festival originally included processions and
religious ceremonies. In 776 BCE, a footrace was added. Contestants ran the
length of the stadium, about two hundred yards. Later, additional events
were added, and the Olympic Games became a regular occurrence.

The official prize for winning an athletic event at

Vocabulary
the Olympics was a wreath of olive leaves, which
immortalize, v. to
was placed on the head of the victor. But the
honor a person or
real prize was honor. A victorious athlete would event by creating
almost certainly become a hero in his native city- an artistic or literary
work, causing the
state. He might even be immortalized in songs person or event to be
or sculptures. remembered forever

When an athlete won an event, he received a wreath of olive leaves.

26
Competitors in the early Olympics generally dressed
Vocabulary
as the Athenians did in their gymnasiums, which is
priestess, n. a
to say they wore no clothing at all—not even shoes!
woman who has the
The Greeks did not mind a little nudity, and the training or authority
runners didn’t want to be slowed down by clothing. to carry out certain
religious ceremonies
The spectators sat on sloping hillsides near the or rituals
stadium, watching and cheering for their favorite
athletes. But only free Greek males and unmarried priestesses were allowed
to watch. Other women and enslaved people who were caught watching
could be put to death.

Greek citizens came to the games from all parts of the known world.
Like modern sports fans, they came to marvel at athletic excellence and
experience the thrill of victory. They cheered for the athletes of their own
city-state and for skillful athletes from other city-states.

Early Athletic Events

Most of the original athletic contests were based on physical skills that the
ancient Greeks needed for survival. Because there were many wars, it was
important that Greek men learn to throw the javelin (a kind of spear), run
quickly, wrestle well, and ride a horse.

At least two of the early Olympic events involved throwing the javelin. In one
competition, athletes threw the javelin for distance; in another they threw
for accuracy. In this last event, it appears that competitors had to throw the
javelin at a target while galloping past it on a horse. This required strength,
balance, and coordination.

Another event was the discus throw. The discus was shaped like a Frisbee and
was made of stone, iron, lead, or bronze. Each discus weighed about fourteen
pounds. Athletes competed to see who could throw the discus the farthest.
To throw a discus, the athlete had to hold it tucked in his hand, swing it back
and then forward, and release it at just the right time.

27
The long jump was meant to see who
could jump the farthest. Unlike today’s
long jump, the ancient Greek athletic
event involved carrying weights while
jumping. The weights were made of
stone or metal. They were shaped like
dumbbells and weighed four to eight
pounds each.

The pentathlon was an athletic

competition that consisted of five
different events: discus, javelin, long
jump, wrestling, and a two hundred-
yard footrace.
The Discobolus, or The Discus Thrower, is
a famous Greek sculpture by a sculptor
The pankration (/pahn*krah*tee*awn/)
known as Myron (480–440 BCE).
was a kind of wrestling event that had
only two rules. Biting your opponent
and sticking your fingers into your
opponent’s eyes were not allowed.
Competitors were allowed to twist
arms, throw punches, and generally
beat up on their opponents.

Many different kinds of footraces were

held. In addition to the two hundred-
Pankration was a combination of boxing
yard race, there was a four hundred- and wrestling, but with very few rules.

yard race, and another competition in which competitors had to run four
hundred yards while wearing helmets and shin guards and carrying a shield.

Down Through the Ages

The Olympic Games continued for centuries, even through much of the
time that the Roman Empire ruled Greece. Finally, in 393 CE, after more

28
than a thousand years of competition, the Roman
Vocabulary
emperor Theodosius I (/thee*oh*doh*shee*us/)
rite, n. a ritual or
canceled the games. He was a Christian and did
ceremony
not like the religious rites in honor of Zeus that
were still a part of the Olympics.

It was not until the late 1800s that the games resumed. The first of the
modern Olympic Games were held in 1896, in a new stadium built in Athens.
Ever since, the Olympics have been held every four years, except during
World War I and World War II. People from all over the world participate.
The modern games include many more events than the ancient games, and
they do not include any religious rites. But the ancient Greek love of physical
fitness, skill, and courage lives on in today’s Olympics.

Just as they did thousands of years ago, every four years athletes compete against each
other in the Olympic Games.

29
Chapter 5
The Persian Wars
The Beginning of the War In the first
chapter, you learned that there were a The Big Question
number of Greek city-states on the coast Why do you think
of Asia Minor. About 546 BCE, these city- the Spartans and
the Athenians joined
states came under the control of the together to fight
Persians, who appointed harsh tyrants to the Persians in the
rule each city-state. later battles of the
Persian Wars?
Around 499 BCE, the city-state of Miletus (/mye*leet*us/)
rebelled against Persian rule. The people of Miletus asked the Greeks in other
city-states to help them overthrow the Persians. The Spartans refused, but the
Athenians agreed to help.

In 498 BCE, the Athenians crossed the Aegean Sea to Asia Minor. They conquered
the Persian-controlled city of Sardis. When the other Greek city-states in Asia
Minor learned of Athens’s victory, they decided to join the revolt against the
Persians. The Athenians felt their point had been made, and they went home.
Within three years, the Persian king Darius had put down the revolt and regained
control of the Greek city-states in Asia Minor.

Even though they had regained control of their empire, the Persians were angry
with the Athenians. In 490 BCE, the Persians crossed the Aegean Sea to punish
the Athenians.

30
 Ancient stone carving of a trireme

The Greek trireme was a galley ship that had three layers of oars. These ships were used
against the Persians.

31
Marathon
The Athenians and met the Persians on the plain at Marathon, about twenty-
six miles from Athens. The Athenians were badly outnumbered, but they
decided to attack. The Greek charge was a success. The Persians broke ranks
and fled to their ships, and the Greeks cut them down as they ran. By the
end of the battle, more than six thousand Persians were dead, while only 192
Greeks had fallen.

According to legend, the Greeks ordered a messenger to run to Athens and

deliver news of the victory. The messenger ran the twenty-six miles to Athens,
gasped out his victory announcement, “Rejoice, we conquer!”, and died of
exhaustion. Today, we use the word marathon to refer to a 26.2-mile footrace.

Marathon was an extremely important battle. Because the Athenians won,

they were filled with self-confidence. They began to think that they were the
most powerful of all the Greeks.

The story of the messenger inspired the modern-day marathon race.

32
Thermopylae
Vocabulary
The Persians were not yet done with the Athenians, pass, n. a place in
however. In 480 BCE, another Persian army the mountains that
is lower than the
was sent to defeat the Greeks. With an army
surrounding peaks
of more than one hundred thousand men, as and that people use
well as six hundred to seven hundred ships, the as a path through
the mountains
Persian king Xerxes (/zurk*seez/) (486–465 BCE)
was determined to conquer all of Greece.

Athens and Sparta put aside their disagreements and united against the
Persians. They were joined by a few other city-states. The Greeks had
between two hundred and three
hundred ships and an army of
ten thousand men. The army
was led by King Leonidas
(/lee*ahn*uh*dus/) of Sparta.

The Greeks realized that the

longer they could put off a
major battle, the better their
chances would be. The Greeks
decided to delay the Persian
army by engaging them at a
place called Thermopylae
(/thur*mahp*uh*lee/), about
seventy-five miles northwest
of Athens. Thermopylae was
a narrow pass between high
cliffs and the sea. Because of
the narrowness of the pass, the
King Leonidas and three hundred Spartans
Greeks hoped that the Persians fought the Persian army at Thermopylae.

33
would be unable to use their entire army, and therefore the Greeks might be
able to hold the pass.

Things did not turn out exactly as planned. Leonidas and his troops showed
great courage and managed to hold the pass for two days, but a native of the
area, a man by the name of Ephialtes (/eff*ee*awl*teez/), showed the Persians
how to use a mountain path to slip around the Greeks. When Leonidas
realized what had happened, he ordered the majority of the Greeks to retreat.
He and three hundred Spartans stayed behind to hold back the Persian army.
All three hundred Spartans died defending the pass.

Salamis
The heroism of the Spartan troops slowed the
Vocabulary
Persian army but did not stop it. Xerxes marched
evacuate, v. to
south to Athens and burned the city to the
leave a place in an
ground. Fortunately, most of the citizens had been organized way, in
warned of the Persian army’s approach and had order to get away
from danger
evacuated.

After burning Athens, the Persians were set to conquer all of southern Greece.
Xerxes decided to lead with his navy. The two fleets clashed near an island
called Salamis (/sal*uh*mihs/). The Persians had big ships, but the Greeks
were more familiar with the waterways. The Athenian navy lured the Persian
fleet into shallow, narrow waters between the mainland and the island of
Salamis. There, the Greek ships rammed and sank the Persian ships. The
Greeks had also filled their boats with soldiers, who attacked the men on
board the Persian ships. These tactics enabled the Athenian navy to defeat
the huge Persian fleet.

34
Based on ancient sources, this painting from the 1900s shows the Battle of Salamis
between the Greeks and the Persians. The Greeks were victorious.

Stunned by this unexpected loss, Xerxes immediately left Greece and

sailed home. The next year, 479 BCE, the Spartan general Pausanias
(/paw*say*nee*us/) led the Greeks against the Persians in the battle of
Plataea (/pluh*tee*uh/). Pausanias won the battle and drove the Persian
army out of Greece forever.

35
Chapter 6
The Golden Age
of Athens
Rise of the Athenian Empire The
Greeks’ victory in the Persian Wars The Big Question
allowed the Greek city-states to remain What were some
free and independent. After the Persian of the cultural
achievements during
Wars, Athens and Sparta were the the Golden Age
two leading Greek city-states. of Athens?

The Spartans had fought bravely at Thermopylae.

They led the army during the final victory at Plataea. The Athenians had
triumphed against all odds at Marathon. They defeated the Persian fleet during
the naval battle of Salamis.

36
Although they were greatly outnumbered by the Persians, the Athenians were
victorious at the Battle of Marathon.

37
Athens and Sparta worked together during the
Vocabulary
war. But as soon as the war was over, they took
league, n. a group
separate paths. The Spartans went home to keep
that works together
an eye on the helots. Meanwhile, Athens began to achieve common
building a mighty empire. goals

At the end of the war, many of the Greek city- ally, n. a nation
that promises to
states feared that the Persians might try to invade
help another nation
again. They wanted to form a league to defend in wartime
themselves against such an invasion. In 478 BCE,
they set up an alliance known as the Delian (/dee*lee*un/) League. Sparta
did not participate in the Delian League, so Athens became the leader of
the alliance.

Each of the city-states in the Delian League—named after the island of

Delos in the middle of the Aegean Sea, where the league met—agreed to
send money or ships to support the league. Athens decided how much
money and how many ships each city-state had to send. Over time, Athens
began treating the other members of the league less like allies and more
like colonial subjects. Other city-states were made to swear a loyalty oath to
Athens. They were not allowed to resign from the league.

Income from the Delian League helped fund what is now known as the Golden Age
of Athens. The Golden Age lasted seventy-five years, from the end of the Persian
Wars in 479 BCE until the end of the Peloponnesian (/pell*uh*pen*ee*shun/) War
in 404 BCE. During this time, Athens produced some of the greatest artistic and
cultural achievements the world has ever known.

Pericles
One important citizen of Athens during its Golden Age was Pericles (495–429 BCE).
For nearly thirty years, Pericles (/pehr*ih*kleez/) was reelected again and
again as one of the ten strategoi, or generals. Eventually, he became the most
powerful and influential man in Athens.

38
One key to Pericles’s success was his skill as an
Vocabulary
orator, or public speaker. One biographer said that
orator, n. a skilled
his words were “like thunder and lightning.” When
public speaker
Pericles proposed a measure, the Assembly usually
went along with him. Even though Pericles was technically only one citizen
among many, he soon emerged as the leader of the Athenian city-state.

Pericles was well known for his hard work and dedication. It was said that he
was never seen walking on any road besides the ones that led to government
buildings. He did not believe in wasting time at parties and social events. He
was rumored to have attended only one party during his lifetime and then
he left early.

Under Pericles, the Athenian empire grew stronger. Pericles led armies in
victorious campaigns. He helped keep the other members of the Delian
League in line. He supervised
the establishment of a number
of Athenian colonies. He also
convinced the Assembly to
build bigger and stronger walls
to protect Athens from attack.
Walls stretched from Athens to
the nearby seaport of Piraeus
(/pye*ree*us/). Without these
walls, an attacking army could
surround the city and cut off its
food supplies. With the walls,
it would be possible for the
Athenian navy to bring in food
supplies from overseas, even
while the enemy attacked. (This
was why Athens had to have a Athens reached its greatest height of
powerful navy.) accomplishments under the leadership of Pericles.
39
Pericles also strengthened Athenian democracy. Before Pericles, poor
Athenians were often unable to participate in government. As citizens, they
had the right to do so. However, because government work (including being
part of a jury) did not pay, a poor citizen often could not afford to leave his
paying job to accept an unpaid government position. Pericles convinced the
Athenians to pay citizens for government work. This opened the Athenian
democracy to a wider range of citizens.

Pericles is also remembered as a supporter of the

Vocabulary
arts. He supported dramatists, painters, sculptors,
and architects. In 449 BCE, Pericles suggested that dramatist, n. a
person who writes
Athens rebuild the temples and public buildings plays
in the Acropolis, a complex of buildings on a bluff
architect, n. a
overlooking the city. The temples and buildings person who designs
on the Athenians’ Acropolis had been destroyed buildings
during the Persian Wars. Rebuilding it would be
expensive, but Pericles had a plan. He said the Athenians could take some of
the money they were getting from their allies in the Delian League and spend
it on this important architectural project.

This idea was controversial. Many of the members of the Delian League
complained that it was unfair to use their money to beautify Athens. Even
some Athenians questioned the strategy. Pericles used Athenian military
power to make the other Greek city-states accept his plan. He used his
oratorical skills to convince the Athenians that his plan was acceptable.
Pericles said that as long as Athens was protecting its allies, it could use the
excess money in any way it saw fit.

The Parthenon
The most famous of all the buildings built under Pericles’s leadership was
the Parthenon (/par*thuh*non/). The Parthenon is a temple to Athena
(/uh*theen*uh/), the Greek goddess of wisdom, for whom the city of Athens

40
was named. Built between 447 and 432 BCE, the Parthenon is considered the
greatest of all Greek buildings and one of the treasures of human culture.
It was badly damaged by an explosion in the late 1600s, when it was being
used to store gunpowder during a war. However, the Parthenon still stands.
It is 2,500 years old. Thousands of tourists travel to Athens each year to see it.

The image above shows the Parthenon as it is today. The structure was built on a hill so
that it could be seen from miles away. The Parthenon was the spiritual center of ancient
Greece and was built to honor the goddess Athena.

41
Believe it or not, there is a reconstruction of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee. You
can see it in this image, set against the modern buildings of downtown Nashville.

Pericles recruited two leading architects to design and build the Parthenon.
He wanted them to build a temple that would honor Athena but would also
serve as a symbol of the wealth, power, and prosperity of Athens. They did
not let him down. The two designed a rectangular building larger than any
other temple on the mainland of Greece. It was roughly 230 feet long, 100
feet wide, and 60 feet high. More than twenty thousand tons of marble were
used in the construction process.

The architects placed a colonnade, or row of columns, on each of the four sides of
the building. Many Greek architects before them had used this same technique.
Indeed, the Greeks were so fond of columns that they eventually developed three
styles of architecture, each of which was based on a distinctive kind of column.
These three styles, or orders, were called Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

The Doric (/dawr*ihk/) column was the oldest and simplest of the three.
It featured a large ridged column with a capital, or top, shaped like a saucer.
The Ionic (/eye*ahn*ihk/) style of column was tall and slender with spiral scroll-
like curlicues on either side of the capital. The Corinthian (/kuh*rihn*thee*un/)
42
 Greek Columns

Doric Ionic Corinthian

The ancient Greeks used three different styles of columns for their buildings.

column was the most ornate. The capital on top of a Corinthian column looks
like a basket with layers of leaves in it.

The architects used Doric columns for the Parthenon, which is now widely
considered to be one of the finest examples of Doric architecture ever built.
The carvings on the sides of the temple were done by an artist named
Pheidias (/fihd*ee*us/), the most famous sculptor of ancient Greece. He
worked with his students and builders from all over Greece to create them.
The carvings depicted religious ceremonies and mythological battles
between gods and mortals.

Inside the temple the ceiling was high enough to hold a forty-foot-tall statue
of Athena. This statue, also made by Pheidias, was covered with ivory and gold.
The ivory was used for the skin of the goddess and the gold for her clothing.
The statue cost even more than the building that housed it. Unfortunately, it
was destroyed in ancient times, though a small copy has survived.

Greek Drama
Athenian architects also built large outdoor theaters for dramatic performances. The
most important Athenian theater was the Theater of Dionysus (/dye*uh*nye*sus/),
43
located below the Acropolis, not far from the Parthenon. In this semicircular, open-
air theater, fifteen thousand Athenians gathered.

Like the Olympics, Greek drama began as part of a religious festival. In this
case it was a festival in honor of the Greek god of wine, Dionysus. At first
a chorus of men danced around the altar of Dionysus, singing in honor of
the god. Gradually, performances became more complex. At first a single
actor was introduced in addition to the chorus; then additional actors were
included, to allow for conversation and discussion among actors. Eventually,
Greek drama began to look a lot like what we think of as a play.

Just as Greek athletes were given prizes for athletic excellence at the
Olympics, so Athenian playwrights were given prizes for excellence in the

Greek theaters were designed so that even a whisper on stage could be heard from every
seat. Today, modern audiences still respond to the plays of ancient Greece. Here you can
see the ruins of the Theater of Dionysus.

44
Theater of Dionysus. Each year several dramatists would present plays, and a
panel of judges would give prizes for the best plays.

The performances were paid for by wealthy men like Pericles. The actors
were Athenian citizens. It seems that many Athenian citizens served their city
not only in government but also on the stage. According to one estimate, as
many as three thousand citizens performed in the festival each year.

The Athenian dramatists invented two kinds of drama that are still
important today: comedy and tragedy. Comedies were funny plays with
happy endings. They often addressed contemporary issues. The most
famous comic playwright was Aristophanes (/ar*ih*stahf*uh*neez/).
Tragedies, on the other hand, were serious plays with sad endings. They
were usually based on well-known Greek myths. The most famous tragic
playwrights were Aeschylus (/es*kih*lus/), Sophocles (/sohf*uh*kleez/), and
Euripides (/yoo*rihp*uh*deez/).

The Big Four

Aeschylus, who was born around 525 BCE, was the oldest of the four major
Athenian dramatists. He was old enough to have fought against the Persians.
When the Persian Wars were over, he became the leading dramatist of
his day. In 472 BCE, Aeschylus wrote a play about the Persian Wars. This
play was sponsored by Pericles himself. Later, Aeschylus wrote a famous
three-part play called the Oresteia (/awr*es*tye*uh/), about murders and
revenge. According to legend, one scene completely terrified the audience
in the Theater of Dionysus. Aeschylus wrote more than eighty plays in total.
Unfortunately, only seven of these plays have survived.

Sophocles was thirty years younger than Aeschylus. When Aeschylus and
the Athenian navy defeated the Persians at Salamis, Sophocles was only a
teenager. However, because of his boyish good looks and dramatic skills,
he was chosen to play a leading role in a dramatic performance celebrating
the victory. Later, Sophocles began writing plays. He and Aeschylus became

45
dramatic rivals. They competed for top honors
during the festivals of Dionysus. Sophocles also
played a role in public affairs. Sophocles’s most
famous play is called Oedipus the King.

The last of the great tragic playwrights was

Euripides. He was born around 485 BCE. Euripides
produced eighty or ninety plays. Although he won
fewer prizes than Aeschylus and Sophocles, he
was popular with Athenian audiences. He is widely Marble bust of Sophocles
admired today for his analysis of human nature.

The great master of Athenian comedy was

Vocabulary
Aristophanes, who lived from 445 to around
380 BCE. In his plays, Aristophanes made fun of statesman, n. a
political leader
statesmen like Pericles, dramatists like Euripides,
and philosophers like Socrates (/sahk*ruh*teez/), whom you will meet in
Chapter 8.

Athenian drama was an astonishing achievement. The plays are so powerful

and so well written that they are still admired and performed today.

Other Cultural Achievements

In addition to architecture and drama, many other arts also flourished during
the Golden Age of Athens.

Athenian craftsmen produced distinctive pottery, including bowls, urns, and

vases. Much of this pottery was decorated with pictures. The pictures showed
episodes from mythology, religious rites, Olympic competitions, and everyday
scenes. These decorated urns and vases were used to hold oils, foods, and
beverages. They were sold all around the Greek world and beyond. Today,
they are even more valuable than they were in the Golden Age. Museums
display them for the beautiful scenes they show, and scholars use them to
learn about everyday life in ancient Athens.

46
This age also gave the world two of its first historians. Herodotus (/huh*rod*uh*tus/)
is often called the father of history. He wrote down the history of the Persian Wars,
including the last stand at Thermopylae. Thucydides (/thoo*sihd*ih*deez/) told the
story of the Peloponnesian War, which you will read about in the next chapter.

There were also advances in science and medicine. The famous doctor,
Hippocrates (/hih*pahk*ruh*teez/), is considered the father of medicine.
Hippocrates, who was born around 460 BCE, was one of the first to recognize
that weather, drinking water, and location can influence people’s health. He
is chiefly remembered for the Hippocratic (/hihp*uh*krat*ihk/) oath, a pledge
that doctors have been taking for almost 2,500 years. When new doctors
recite the Hippocratic oath, they agree to use their medical skills only for
the good of the patient: “I do solemnly swear . . . that into whatsoever house
I shall enter, it shall be for the good of the sick.”

Pericles was very proud of Athenian

culture. He described the city as “an
education for Greece,” and not only
for Greece, but for all time. When one
considers all the achievements of this
era—beautiful temples and theaters,
raucous comedies and heartbreaking
tragedies, stylish vases and urns,
groundbreaking historical writings, and
important medical advances—it is hard
not to agree. The Golden Age of Athens
was truly one of the greatest periods in Amphoras often had lids, such as the one
here. This urn is from the 300s BCE and
the history of human culture. shows a wedding scene.

47
Chapter 7
The Peloponnesian War
Athens versus Sparta Sparta watched
with concern as Athens built its empire. The Big Question
The Spartans worried that Athens was What events brought
becoming too powerful. They also about an end to
the Golden Age
resented Athenian attempts to push of Athens?
Athenian-style democracy onto other
Greek city-states.

48
Here you can see the ruins of the ancient city of Corinth. The columns of the
Apollo Temple are still standing.

49
Sparta and several of its allies, including the city-states of Corinth and Thebes,
came together to form the Peloponnesian League. This league was named
for the Peloponnesus (/pel*uh*puh*nee*sus/), a mountainous peninsula
that forms the southern part of Greece. Sparta
and several of its allies were located on the Vocabulary
Peloponnesus. “diplomatic
relations,” (phrase)
During the 430s BCE, diplomatic relations formal contact or
between Athens and the Peloponnesian League communication
between countries,
worsened. In 431 BCE, the Peloponnesian War including an
broke out. This devastating war continued for exchange of
more than twenty-five years and eventually put an representatives
called diplomats
end to the Athenian empire.

Beginning of the War

When the war began, Pericles was still the leader of Athens. He knew that
the Spartan army was stronger than the Athenian army. He also knew that
Athens had a stronger navy and was far wealthier. Pericles believed that
if the Athenians could avoid a major land battle, they had a good chance
of winning.

Pericles developed a plan. He decided that the Spartans probably wanted a

quick victory and not a slow, lengthy war. So Athens would refuse to meet
the Spartan army in a land battle in which the Athenians would probably be
defeated. While the Spartans were trying to make them fight, the Athenians
would stay behind the walls they had built. Meanwhile, the Athenians would
use their navy to bring supplies to Athens and to attack towns along the coast
of the Peloponnesus.

Pericles convinced the citizens of Athens to follow his plan. All the farmers
who lived in the area around Athens were told to leave their farms and take
refuge in the city. The country people poured into the city, bringing with
them their wives, their children, and their most valuable belongings. The

50
historian Thucydides reported that many
of them brought not only their furniture
but also their doors and their window
shutters!

When the Spartans marched on Athens,

they found a deserted countryside.
They burned the farmhouses and the
crops in the fields. They did this to lure
the Athenians into battle. A battle the
Spartans believed they could win.

The Athenians could see the smoke from

the fires. They begged Pericles to let them
Pericles believed it was safer to stay
fight. But the cautious Pericles thought
inside the city walls than to fight the
fighting would be too dangerous. The Spartans on the battlefield.

crops would grow back, Pericles told the Athenians, but “dead men will not.”
Pericles had decided on a waiting game. He figured the longer the Spartans
had to wait for the Athenians to come out and fight, the fewer supplies they
would have.

During the first year of the war, this strategy succeeded. Because they had
burned the fields, the Spartans could not find any food. Finally, the Spartan
army gave up and left. By the time they made it home, the Athenian navy had
attacked several of the coastal cities of the Peloponnesus.

The War Continues

The second year of the war began with another
Vocabulary
Spartan land attack. Once again, the Athenian
plague, n. a highly
people retreated behind their walls. This time,
contagious, usually
however, things did not turn out so well for the fatal, disease
Athenians. A deadly plague swept through the city, that affects large
numbers of people
killing nearly a quarter of the population.

51
The plague lasted for three years. It was so terrible that the people of Athens
became deeply discouraged. They wondered whether the gods had turned
against them. Life and property became cheap. People no longer felt that
honesty, truth, and justice had any meaning since they thought they might die
the next day. Worst of all, Pericles died in the plague and was replaced by men
who were not as wise as he had been.

The war dragged on for years with no victory for either side. As long as the
Athenian army would not fight the Spartan army, the Spartans could not win.
As long as the Athenian navy only made random raids on the Peloponnesian
cities, the Athenians could not win. Something had to be done.

About 415 BCE, an Athenian named Alcibiades (/al*suh*bye*uh*deez/)

proposed that the Athenians conquer the island of Sicily, now a part of
Italy but then inhabited by Greeks. This island was on the other side of the
Peloponnesus. If it was conquered, then Athens could renew its supplies,
attack Sparta from both sides, and defeat their archrivals. Some Athenian
citizens liked the idea. It was bold and daring. A few were not so sure. They
didn’t feel they had the military strength to conquer Sicily and carry on a war
with Sparta and its allies at the same time. They also distrusted Alcibiades. He
was a very charming young man, but he drank and gambled. He also showed
a lack of respect for many of the traditions and ideals of the Athenians.

Still, enough Athenian citizens liked the idea that the decision was made
to invade Sicily and capture the main city of Syracuse. The invasion was a
disaster. The invading Athenian army met strong resistance. They held out
for as long as they could, but finally tried to escape in a panic. The army was
divided, many were killed, and still others were taken captive and enslaved
in the rock quarries in Sicily. They lived out the
rest of their lives in misery, far away from their Vocabulary
democracy in Athens. “rock quarry,”
(phrase) a place
Alcibiades was ordered to return to Athens just as where stones are
the invasion forces arrived in Sicily. But he decided taken from the earth

52
to flee to Sparta instead. There,
he told the Spartans of Athens’s
plans. He was willing to be a traitor
in order to save his own life. The
Spartans took the information but
did not trust him. Alcibiades realized
that the Spartans might kill him,
so he fled once more. This time he
went to Persia. But even there it was
clear that he was not a man who
could be trusted.

The Sicilian disaster tilted the

balance of power in favor of
This is a Greek marble sculpture of Alcibiades.
Sparta. The Athenian army and
navy had been seriously weakened by the losses in Sicily. Now, the Spartans
began to build a navy of their own. They also enlisted the Persians as allies.
In 405 BCE, the Spartans scored a major naval victory. This enabled them
to cut off grain supplies to Athens. Athens held out as long as it could, but
in 404 BCE, the city surrendered. The Spartans and their allies had won the
Peloponnesian War.

The Spartans made the Athenians tear down the walls that had protected
their city. They prohibited Athens from having a navy, and they set up the
government they wanted Athens to have. The city-state would now be ruled
by a group of thirty nobles—members of the upper class. There would be no
more democracy.

However, the nobles were so corrupt and cruel that within a year, the
Athenians rebelled against them. In 403 BCE, democracy was restored. The
kings of Sparta decided that as long as Athens was peaceful, they would let
Athenian citizens have their democracy. But the Athenian empire and the
Golden Age of Athens were over.

53
Chapter 8
Greek Philosophy
and Socrates
Philosophy and Adversity People often
grow more philosophical during times The Big Question
of difficulty. When How was Socrates
Vocabulary life is good, it is different from earlier
Greek philosophers?
philosophy, n. the easy to ignore large
study of ideas about questions about
knowledge, life, and the meaning of life. But when times are
truth; literally, love
tough, these questions seem to present
of wisdom
themselves with more urgency.

54
 The Parthenon sits on a hill above the modern city of Athens.

In these images, you can see an artist’s impression of the city of Athens as it once
was, and a photograph of what part of the city looks like today.

55
The history of Athens seems to demonstrate this point. As the Athenian
empire collapsed, Athenian philosophy burst into magnificent bloom. During
the last years of the Peloponnesian War and the decades that followed,
Athens fell on hard times militarily and politically. Yet the city-state was home
to a string of brilliant and influential philosophers, including Socrates, Plato
(/play*toh/), and Aristotle (/ar*ess*taht*ul/).

Early Greek Philosophy

Of course, some Greeks had asked philosophical questions before these three
philosophers came along. In earlier times they had asked questions such as:
How can we understand the world around us? Where did the earth come
from? How did the universe get started? Why is life so full of troubles? Like
people in other ancient cultures, the Greeks told stories that helped them
understand the world. They said that natural events were caused by the gods.
A storm at sea meant that the sea god Poseidon was angry. A thunderstorm
meant that Zeus was throwing his thunderbolt spear. The world was full
of troubles because Zeus had given the first woman, Pandora, a jar or box,
with strict instructions that she not open it. But Pandora’s curiosity got the
better of her. She opened the lid, releasing all the evils and miseries that
hurt humanity.

By the 500s BCE, however, some people were Vocabulary

no longer satisfied with the answers given by phenomena, n.
the myths. Some of them no longer believed observable events; in
nature, occurrences
that gods and goddesses were behind natural such as sun, rain,
phenomena. They wondered whether there storms, and
earthquakes
weren’t other ways to understand the world.
Eventually, some Greeks began to use reason reason, n. the ability
to try to understand the world. This was the of the mind to think
and understand
beginning of philosophy.

56
A philosopher is a person who uses reason to try to acquire wisdom about
life or the universe. Many of the early Greek philosophers tried to figure out
where the world came from, how it began, and what it was made of. Some
of their ideas have stood the test of time and are still considered important.
Other ideas seem strange to us today. But at least the early philosophers were
trying to figure things out by using their brains.

The early philosopher Heraclitus (/her*ah*klite*us/)

Vocabulary
held that everything in life is always changing.
It is impossible, Heraclitus said, to step in the soul, n. the
nonphysical part of
same river twice, because the river itself is always a person; in many
flowing and never at rest. This is an idea that still religions, the soul is
believed to live even
makes sense to us today. But Heraclitus also seems
after the body dies
to have thought that to live long, it was important
to keep one’s soul from becoming too wet. At death, a dry soul would rise
all the way to the sun and help bring about light, day, and summer. But a
wet soul would only rise as far as the moon, where it would help bring about
winter, night, and rain. These ideas make less sense to us.

Another early philosopher, Thales (/thay*leez/) taught that everything in the

universe comes from water. The philosopher Anaximenes (/an*ak*sihm*uh*neez/)
believed that everything comes from air. Air
is alive with movement, he reasoned, and so
air must be the origin of all life. Empedocles
(/em*ped*uh*kleez/) had a slightly more
complicated theory. He proposed that
everything comes from the combination
or separation of four elements: earth, air,
fire, and water.

Some of these theories or ideas came

from simple observation of the world in
which they lived. It took a long time before Heraclitus

57
philosophers began to test their ideas. Still, these early philosophers were
important because they were attempting to answer difficult questions. They
were teaching themselves and their listeners how to reason, instead of just
accepting the old myths.

Socrates
One of the most famous of all the Greek philosophers and teachers was
an Athenian named Socrates, who lived from 469 BCE to 399 BCE. Socrates
grew up during the Golden Age of Athens but lived to see that Golden Age
crumble during the Peloponnesian War, in which he fought. Most of what
we know about the philosophical ideas of Socrates comes from the writings
of one of his students, named Plato. Socrates himself wrote nothing. Yet,
because he was immortalized in the writings of Plato, when we think of Greek
philosophy, we always think of Socrates.

Socrates was different from earlier Greek philosophers

Vocabulary
in several ways. First of all, he was more interested in
questions about how human beings should behave ethics, n. rules
based on ideas
than about where the world came from or what about right
it might be made of. Socrates was one of the first and wrong
philosophers to study ethics.

Socrates also had some unusual methods

of philosophizing. Instead of just sitting in
his room and writing about philosophical
questions, he went to the Athenian
marketplace, called the agora, and talked with
other Athenians. In this way, Socrates made
philosophy personal.

During his discussions, Socrates tried to get

the Athenians to examine their lives. He
wanted them to realize that they were not Socrates

58
The agora was the heart of Athenian economy and social life. Socrates enjoyed talking to
the people of Athens there.

always living according to the ideals and values they said were important.
He tried to convince Athenians that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

He tried to get them to understand this by asking

Vocabulary
them questions, instead of giving direct answers.
Socrates would ask his listeners to explain what they hypocrite, n. a person
whose behavior does
meant by an important concept or idea, such as not match his or
justice. Then he would point out the contradictions her beliefs
between what they said and how they lived. By doing
this, he was not trying to condemn people as hypocrites. He was trying to get
people to think more deeply about their lives and about moral and ethical ideals.

The Socratic Method

We can get an idea of what Socrates might have sounded like by looking at
an excerpt from Plato’s works. In the following passage, Socrates is talking

59
with a friend named Crito, making a comparison between physical fitness and
moral or ethical fitness:

SOCRATES: Well, is life worth living with a body which is worn out and
ruined in health?

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: What about the part of us which is mutilated by wrong

actions and benefited by right ones? Is life worth living with this part
ruined? Or do we believe that this part of us, whatever it may be, in
which right and wrong operate, is of less importance than the body?

CRITO: Certainly not.

SOCRATES: Is it really more precious?

CRITO: Much more.

SOCRATES: In that case, my dear fellow, what we ought to consider is not

so much what people in general will say about us but how we stand with
the expert in right and wrong, the one authority, who represents the
actual truth.

We cannot be certain that these are Socrates’s exact words. The words were
written down later by Plato. But we do know that this was the way Socrates
worked, by asking a series of questions that were designed to lead the
listeners to realizations about how they ought to behave.

Today, this question-asking method is known as the Socratic method. It is still

widely used. Whenever your teacher asks you a series of questions, trying to
get you to realize or understand something, he or
Vocabulary
she is using the Socratic method.
sophist, n. a
Unlike other Greek teachers, called sophists, who philosopher; in
were paid for their words of wisdom, Socrates ancient Greece,
a teacher of
did not receive money for teaching. He did not philosophy
want money for his ideas. He did not care about and rhetoric

60
personal comforts. Once when he was passing through the marketplace,
he remarked, “How many things I can do without!”

Socrates also differed from the teachers of his day by claiming that he did
not have wisdom. He questioned people who claimed to be wise, in order
to find out what made them wise (or gave them the reputation for wisdom),
and constantly found that they claimed to know things—but really did
not. He said he himself was wise only in one thing: he at least knew that he
knew nothing.

Socrates insisted that he had never taught anyone anything. He simply liked
to have conversations. His conversations, however, were always based on
two principles. Socrates believed strongly that it was important never to
do any wrong, even indirectly. The second principle was that people who
really understood what was right and good could not possibly choose the
wrong thing.

Although some people liked Socrates, many others found him very annoying.
Socrates was constantly talking and expressing his ideas, even when these
ideas were unpopular. Socrates also got on people’s nerves by pointing out
their faults. Nobody likes to be reminded of their shortcomings, especially
when they are in front of others. Eventually, Socrates was arrested on the
charge of corrupting, or harming, the young men of Athens.

Some of the citizens of Athens felt that Socrates had misled the young men
of the city. They accused the philosopher of failing to teach the young proper
respect for older people and for the gods. They said he encouraged young
men to be selfish and power hungry. Alcibiades had been one of Socrates’s
favorite students, they said. Other students had been involved in the corrupt
government that ruled Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War. Some
Athenians held Socrates responsible for the way these young men had
treated the rest of the citizens of Athens.

61
The Death of Socrates
Plato wrote a series of works about the last days of Socrates. One of these
works describes the trial in which Socrates defended himself but was
eventually convicted (by a vote of 280 to 221) and sentenced to death.

Plato also wrote down conversations that Socrates had with his friends while
he was in prison awaiting death. When someone suggested that there were
important people who would help Socrates escape from prison, the philosopher
refused to save himself and rejected their help. He argued, “One must obey the
commands of one’s city and country, or persuade it as to the nature of justice.”
Socrates refused to break the law, even when it condemned him. The citizens of
Athens had condemned him to death, and he would face death because it was
the right thing to do. He would not put himself above the law.

This painting is called The Death of Socrates. It was painted by Jacques-Louis David, a
French artist, in the 1700s.

62
Socrates was executed by being made to drink hemlock, a kind of poison.
Plato described Socrates continuing to talk with his friends after he drank the
hemlock before gradually drifting into death. In reality, the death of Socrates
must have been much more gruesome. Plato chose not to focus on his death
but rather on the fact that Socrates was an example of reason and self-control
right up to the bitter end. He wanted Socrates to be remembered as Plato
himself remembered him, as “a man of whom we may say that of all whom
we met at that time he was the wisest and most just and best.”

Today, Socrates is remembered for the Socratic method and for his commitment
to seeking truth. He expanded the role of the philosopher to include the
important task of examining how people live their lives. It wasn’t enough for
Socrates to think about what goodness meant ideally. He wanted people to
choose goodness and live rightly every day. That is why his contributions to
philosophy are still important to us all these centuries later.

63
Chapter 9
Plato and Aristotle
Plato Like Socrates, Plato was born in
Athens and spent his life as a philosopher The Big Question
searching for truth. Plato was not only a What role did
brilliant thinker but also a brilliant writer. philosophers play in
ancient Greece, and
He wrote down what were their long-
Vocabulary many of his ideas, term contributions?
dialogue, n. a piece and his dialogues
of writing organized are still widely read today.
as a conversation
between two or Plato was about twenty-four when the Peloponnesian
more characters
War ended. When Socrates was executed, Plato
fled Athens with other students of Socrates. Because their teacher had been
executed, they felt that they were not welcome in Athens.

Plato traveled from place to place for a number of years. He even visited Italy and
Sicily. Eventually, he returned to Athens. In 387 BCE, he started a school called
the Academy. This school lasted more than nine hundred years, until the Roman
emperor Justinian, who reigned from 527–565 CE, closed it because it did not
teach Christianity.

64
Plato’s Academy was a center for philosophical and intellectual thought.
It lasted for hundreds of years.

65
The Dialogues
In some of his early dialogues, Plato tried to write down conversations that
Socrates had actually had with others. He wanted to let people know what
Socrates had said. In his later dialogues, Plato still used the dialogue form
but used it to treat new subjects. These dialogues were not necessarily based
on things Socrates had actually said. Rather, Plato tried to imagine what his
beloved teacher Socrates might have said about various subjects.

By writing dialogues, Plato allowed his readers to imagine that they were
part of a great philosophical conversation. He encouraged them to think
about their own opinions and ideas, and he showed them that they could
use reason to discover truth.

Although Plato wrote Socratic dialogues, his way

Vocabulary
of searching for truth and trying to understand
goodness differed from the methods used by idealistic, adj.
believing in high
Socrates. Plato was more idealistic than his standards or the
teacher. He spent more time trying to understand possibility of
perfection
what the ideal, or perfect example, of goodness
was and less time trying to help people recognize whether they were actually
living it. Plato was also more traditional in his teaching methods. He didn’t
confront people in the street or marketplace. Like many other philosophers,
he had regular students whom he taught. However, before people could
study with Plato, they had to have mastered mathematics.

Plato felt that philosophers should play the central role in society because
they alone understood the meaning of truth and justice. He did not believe
in democracy. He thought it gave power to people who did not understand
justice—people who did wicked things, such as execute Socrates.

Plato wanted society to be like a school, in which citizens spent their lives
training to be good people (just as in Sparta they trained to be good soldiers).
He imagined an ideal state, ruled by philosophers and dedicated to justice.

66
Here, citizens could develop virtue within
Vocabulary
themselves and choose goodness. Plato believed
virtue, n. a high
that the right kind of education would teach citizens
moral standard
to control themselves, to act for the good of others,
and to be less selfish. His long dialogue, The Republic, describes his ideal state.

During the lifetime of Socrates, philosophers were involved in the life of

the polis. They tried to educate citizens and get them involved. By the time

Plato encouraged people to use reason to find answers.

67
Plato was teaching and writing, things had changed. The role of the philosopher
was still to train citizens, but it was also important for a philosopher to use
his knowledge to point out how society was not always what it could be.
Philosophers taught in schools rather than conversing in the marketplace or
debating in the Assembly. They tried to identify what was wrong with society
and made suggestions for how it could be better. However, they were not
directly involved in the everyday life of the polis as earlier philosophers had
been. When the great philosopher Aristotle came along, he made even more
changes in what philosophers did and how they worked.

Aristotle
Just as Socrates found a great student in Plato, so Plato found a great student
in Aristotle. Aristotle was born around 384 BCE in Macedonia, a country
north of Greece. There, his father had been a doctor in the court of the king,
Amyntas III. When Aristotle came to Athens, he studied with Plato and stayed
at Plato’s school for twenty years before starting his own school, called the
Lyceum (/lye*see*um/).

Aristotle was greatly influenced both by his father and by Plato. His father had
influenced him because, in ancient times, knowledge and skills were passed
from father to son. Aristotle’s father was a doctor. As a doctor, he had to take
careful note of a patient’s symptoms, or signs of illness, to understand what
was making a patient sick. He taught Aristotle to observe people and the
world around him carefully.
Vocabulary
Plato taught Aristotle how important abstract
abstract, adj.
ideals and knowledge are. Aristotle and Plato
relating to ideas,
disagreed and argued with each other from time to rather than concrete
time. Aristotle admired Plato greatly, but he once objects, actions,
or people
said, “Plato is dear to me, but dearer still is truth.”

68
Plato and Aristotle are the central figures in this painting, called The School of Athens.
It was painted by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael.

A Keen Observer
Aristotle also added to the knowledge of his day by collecting and examining
insects, animals, and plants. He loved to study animals. He dissected more
than fifty different types of animals in order to learn about them.

From his years of careful observation, Aristotle realized that there is always more
than one way to explain things. For example, an animal could be understood by
what it looked like, what it was made of, how it moved, and what it could do. All
these different explanations were important and necessary.

Aristotle didn’t know it, but by collecting facts, analyzing them, and coming
up with theories about his observations, he was developing the basics of

69
scientific research. It’s true that Aristotle didn’t go as far as later philosophers
did in testing out his ideas. Some of his ideas turned out to be wrong.
However, he helped move philosophy down the path that would eventually
lead to modern science.

Like other philosophers, Aristotle also wrote

Vocabulary
about what it meant to lead a good and just
life. He believed that the purpose of life was to mean, n. a place
between two
exercise one’s abilities and virtues reasonably. In extremes; the middle
his book Nicomachean (/nihk*oh*mak*ee*un/)
Ethics, he said, “Virtue, therefore, is a kind of moderation or mean as it aims
at the mean or moderate amount.” Aristotle meant that people should avoid
extremes of all kinds. Just as they should eat neither too much nor too little,
so they should avoid both evil deeds on the one hand and self-righteousness
on the other. Aristotle believed that a truly virtuous man is neither cowardly
nor foolishly brave. Aristotle wrote, “It is possible to feel fear, confidence,
desire, anger, pity—but to feel these emotions at the right times, on the right
occasions, and toward the right people in the right ways is the best course.”
This idea of living moderately is sometimes called “the golden mean.”

Aristotle also examined politics, or the life of the state. He was interested in
determining the best kinds of governments. He wanted to identify which
types of governments care for the citizens and not just the rulers. So he
inspected dozens of city-states. In his book, The Politics, Aristotle wrote that
the purpose of the state was to make “the good life” possible for its citizens.
The state should create a society in which people could live nobly, honorably,
and well.

A Man of His Time

Aristotle was a man of his time, however, and he did not believe that
all people were equal. He valued men above women. He believed that
aristocrats were morally superior to non-aristocrats. He also believed in

70
slavery. He felt that an enslaved person was the property of the slave owner
just as a tool was his property.

Aristotle’s influence lasted for centuries. During the European Middle Ages,
he was so important that he was referred to simply as “the Philosopher.”

The great Athenian philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, taught each
other to use reason to examine their lives, society, and the world around
them. Much of what we know and think about today is based on the
principles of reason and observation that began with these philosophers
of ancient Greece.

71
Chapter 10
Alexander and the
Hellenistic Period
Brave and Daring General During
The Big Question
Aristotle’s lifetime, a king named Alexander
rose to great prominence. Some say How did the success
of Alexander the
he was the greatest general who ever
Great as a great
lived. He certainly military leader
Vocabulary accomplished a great contribute to
deal during his brief the expansion
prominence, n. and influence of
importance; fame lifetime and changed
Greek culture?
the Mediterranean
assassinate, v. to world forever.
kill someone; often
a ruler or member of
the government Alexander conquered more land than anyone else
before him had ever done. He also collected more
wealth than anyone before him. And he ruled more people than any previous
king. For these reasons, we call him Alexander the Great.

Alexander had been one of Aristotle’s students. His father was Philip II, the king
of Macedonia. When Alexander was about twenty years old, his father was
assassinated, and Alexander became king. Because he was so young, most
people thought that Alexander would be easily removed from the throne by
his father’s enemies. But Alexander surprised everyone. He crushed those who
wanted to get rid of him. Then he began to increase the size of his empire.

72
This image is of a Roman mosaic depicting Alexander the Great in battle.

73
Alexander was strong, handsome, and extremely intelligent. He was also a
fearless fighter who never hesitated to put himself in the worst part of the
battle. This made his troops very loyal to him. It also made his enemies afraid
of him because they were never sure where his daring and courage would
lead him.

As a young man, Alexander helped his father conquer Greece. (This was not
hard to do because the Greek city-states were disorganized.) After his father’s
death, Alexander decided to attack Greece’s old enemies, the Persians. In
334 BCE, the Persian Empire was still very large. It extended all the way to the
shores of the Mediterranean Sea and included present-day Iran, Afghanistan,
Turkey, the Middle East, and Egypt.

At the time, Alexander just had a small army of about thirty thousand
infantrymen and another five thousand men on horseback. He had no navy.
But Alexander didn’t care. His plan was to gain a
Vocabulary
couple of quick and easy victories so that he would
infantryman, n. a
have supplies on hand. Then, people would want
soldier who travels
to follow him because he was brave and strong. and fights on foot

Alexander and the Persian Empire

Alexander and his army attacked Asia Minor and conquered it. He faced
the Persian king Darius III in a battle and was so fierce that the king and the
Persian army broke ranks and fled. This enabled Alexander to march south,
seizing towns along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. He conquered
the Middle East, including the city of Jerusalem. He took over everything
between Asia Minor and Egypt.

The Persian king asked Alexander for peace. He promised Alexander that
he would not attack his army if Alexander let him keep the other half of
his empire. Because Alexander had never lost a battle, he saw no reason
to accept Darius III’s offer. Alexander wanted all of the Persian Empire.

74
The Battle of Alexander at Issus, painted by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer, shows
Alexander the Great’s successful victory in battle over the Persians.

This image is a detail from a mosaic found in the ancient Roman town of Pompeii. It shows
the battle between Darius and Alexander at Issus.
75
Meanwhile, the nobles of the Persian
Empire were not happy with Darius III.
They thought he was a weak king and
a coward. They decided to arrest Darius
and take on Alexander themselves. Once
they had arrested the king, however, they
found out that Alexander was coming
after them. The nobles murdered Darius III
and prepared to fight Alexander.
It took Alexander only eleven years
to establish his empire. He gave the
Alexander was brave and strong, but name “Alexandria” to several of the
so were the Persian nobles. They forced cities that he founded.

Alexander to fight them for three years. He had to fight from mountain
stronghold to mountain stronghold in the eastern part of the Persian Empire.
Every time he captured one fortress, there would be another one waiting for
him. And as he moved east, the nobles gathered their troops to attack him
from behind. In the end, however, Alexander won. He had conquered the
Persian Empire, the largest and most powerful empire of its time.

Conqueror of the World

Although Alexander had already created an immense empire, he did not
stop. He led his army farther east toward India. By 326 BCE, he and his army
were trying to conquer the western part of India. After winning one especially
difficult battle, Alexander’s army decided they had had enough. They did not
want to fight anymore. They were tired of years and years of war, and they
knew that this enemy army was far stronger than they were. They had won
one battle, but they had not yet faced the largest part of the enemy army.

In ancient times, one of the weapons used in war was the attack elephant.
Elephants were used in battle to charge against the enemy and trample
soldiers. The Indian army that Alexander and his men had successfully faced
had used two hundred of these trained elephants in the battle. But they

76
 Empire of Alexander the Great, 300 BCE
N Aral
Alexander’s empire
Sea
W

Ca
E cities
Black Sea

spi
Macedonia Alexandria

an
S Eschate

Sea
Aegean ASIA MINOR
Greece Alexandria
Sea Pergamum
Tig Margiana
Athens r

is
Sparta Alexandropolis

R
Alexandretta Eu

ive
r
ph Alexandria
Mediterranean Cyprus ra Alexandria
Crete t Areion
Sea Syria es R
iv
Jerusalem Damascus er Babylon Susa Alexandria
r

Persia
Alexandria Alexandria Alexandria
R ive

Charax Persepolis
us

Memphis

Pe
Alexandria d

r
In

sia

N il e
n
Egypt R. Alexandria
Gu
lf
Oreiton
Thebes
Arabia

Red
India

Sea
Arabian Sea

0 800 miles

This map shows the extent of Alexander the Great's empire in approximately 300 BCE. As you can see from the map, he named many cities
after himself.

77
knew that the Indian army had five thousand more elephants that they would
have to defeat. Eventually, soldiers would learn how to sidestep or take down
a charging elephant. But at this point in time, Alexander’s men simply wanted
to go home.

Having conquered what was then virtually all of the known world, Alexander
returned to Babylon, a major city in Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq) and the
center of his new empire. He was strong and capable, so the people of his
empire probably expected that he would rule them for many years to come.

In 324 BCE, Alexander began to make plans for new projects, including
establishing new cities. Unfortunately, it was not to be. In 323 BCE, Alexander
caught a fever. Not long after, he died. He was only thirty-three years old.

Alexander was among the most brilliant and bravest military leaders the
world has ever known. He never lost a battle and never gave up. Because
of Alexander, the people who lived around the Mediterranean Sea came
into contact with Greek culture. As a result, their ideas and knowledge
changed forever.

Tales About Alexander

Whenever history produces a larger-than-life character, tales about that
person spring up. Alexander the Great was no exception. Tall tales were
repeated about him throughout the centuries. It was said that once when he
wanted to cross the sea, the waves parted before him, showing the respect
that even nature had for this extraordinary man.

Another tale concerned the Gordian knot. According to legend, Gordius,

a king in Asia Minor, had tied a large complicated knot in a rope connected
to a wagon he had dedicated to the god Zeus. It was said that the knot
could only be undone by the man who was destined to rule Asia. Anyone
who attempted to untie the knot and failed would be put to death. When

78
Alexander the Great saw the knot, he took out his sword, and with a single
blow, cut it apart. Thus, Alexander the Great proved he was worthy to rule all
of Asia. Today, the phrase “cutting the Gordian knot” is used when someone
finds an unusual solution to a difficult problem.

The Hellenistic Period

Alexander the Great had a short life, but his
Vocabulary
accomplishments had a long-lasting impact. In the
Hellenistic, adj.
years after his death, Greek, or Hellenic, culture
relating to Greek
spread to many of the lands he had conquered. culture or language
Because Greek culture was so important to so
heir, n. a person
many people during these years, the period from who will legally
the death of Alexander in 323 BCE to 30 BCE is receive the property
often known as the Hellenistic Period. of someone who
dies; the person
When Alexander died so unexpectedly, he left who will become
king or queen after
neither an heir nor directions as to how his empire the current king or
was to be governed. On his deathbed, he was queen dies or steps
asked to name his successor. But the weakened down

Alexander only muttered that the kingdom should

be given “to the strongest.” He didn’t, or couldn’t, specify who this might be.

The empire was eventually divided among five of his Greek generals. These
generals fought among themselves to determine who was “the strongest.”
This led to much confusion and disorder, but the generals also spread Greek
culture wherever they went.

Alexander had believed in the Greek system of education and wanted it

established throughout his empire. He had planned to build new cities and
improve old ones. He wanted the people throughout his empire to have new
public buildings, theaters, and gymnasiums, like those in Athens and other
Greek cities. His generals agreed with and carried out as many of his plans as

79
they were able to. Soon, Greek soldiers, philosophers, artists, and poets were
in demand throughout the Mediterranean world.

During the Hellenistic Period, kings made coins that looked like Greek coins.
Educators imitated the Greek style of education. Philosophers pored over the
works of Plato and Aristotle. Artists copied Greek statues, and architects built
buildings in the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian styles. In cities throughout the
Middle East and Asia Minor, learning and science flourished.

Alexandria
One of the major cities of the Hellenistic Period was Alexandria, Egypt.
Although it was in Egypt, Alexandria was a model Greek town. Its government
was run by Greeks in the Greek style. The city was planned and built like a
Greek city, including gymnasiums where male citizens could exercise and
carry on conversations. Alexandria also contained important schools where
philosophers could work and deepen their knowledge. It was an important
center of learning and Greek culture for nearly a thousand years.

When King Ptolemy (/tahl*uh*mee/) ruled Alexandria, he began a library

there that would be envied by people throughout the Mediterranean world.

The magnificent Alexandria library was in Egypt. The library contained thousands of scrolls.

80
It is said that he collected two hundred thousand scrolls. (Because there
were no machines to print books, people wrote on sheets of papyrus, a kind
of paper, and rolled the sheets up into scrolls.) When Ptolemy’s son became
the ruler of Alexandria, he continued to collect works of knowledge. By
the 90s BCE, the main library at Alexandria had more than seven hundred
thousand scrolls and was still growing. There was no other library like it in
the ancient world.

For centuries, the library at Alexandria was a center of learning. Some very
important thinkers of the ancient world used the library for their research.
The astronomer Ptolemy worked there. His theory of how the planets, the
sun, and the stars all revolve around Earth was accepted throughout Western
civilization until the 1500s. Unfortunately, the library of Alexandria no longer
exists. It was destroyed by a series of robberies, fires, and foreign invasions.

The Hellenistic Period was a great flowering of Greek culture. But even as
Hellenistic culture flourished throughout the Mediterranean, another great
civilization was growing on the Italian peninsula.

81
Chapter 11
The Roman Republic
The Beginnings of Rome Legend says
that the city of Rome was founded by twin The Big Question
brothers, Romulus and Remus. According Why was the success
to the story, when the twins were babies, of Rome and its
lands dependent on
they were thrown into the Tiber River by the success of the
their wicked uncle. A female wolf saved Roman army?
them from drowning and raised them.
Once they grew up, they founded a city and named it Rome.

82
Rome began as a modest settlement but became a center of power.

83
The story of Romulus and Remus is a myth. The actual history behind the
founding of Rome is a bit harder to pin down. We know that during the
400s BCE, when Athens was experiencing its Golden Age, Rome consisted
of a few thousand farmers living on some hills by the Tiber River in Italy.
Eventually, several of these villages united to form one town. In time, this
town, known as Rome, would become a city and the center of a great empire.

Early Rome was ruled by kings. Very little is known about this period.
According to legend, six of the kings were good, kind, and just rulers, but the
seventh was harsh and cruel. His name was Lucius
Vocabulary
Tarquinius Superbus (/loo*shuhs/ tahr*kwin*ee*us/
“aristocratic
suh*purb*us/), and in about 509 BCE, the citizens of republic,” (phrase)
Rome rose in revolt and removed him from power. a government in
which people from
The Romans replaced their monarchy with an the upper class or
aristocratic republic. The king was replaced by nobility serve as
representatives
two elected officials called consuls. These consuls

In ancient Rome, many public buildings bore the initials SPQR. These stood for S(enatus)
P(opulusque) R(omanus)—The Senate and the People of Rome. This image shows the Arch
of Titus, built in Rome in the 80s CE. You can see the inscription at the top of the arch.

84
were elected by an assembly of three hundred Roman aristocrats. The
Senate, or lawmaking body, may have existed under the kings, but in the
new republic, it grew more powerful. It not only elected the two new consuls
every year but also advised them once they were elected.

The idea behind the republican system was that Rome should be ruled
neither by a king, as it had been in its earlier days, nor by a full-fledged
democracy in which every citizen could vote on every issue, as was the case
in Athens. Instead, republican Rome was ruled by men chosen from among
the Roman elite, including consuls and senators.

During this early period, Romans were divided into

Vocabulary
two unequal groups: patricians and plebeians.
patrician, n. a
Patricians were members of the aristocracy. These
member of ancient
noblemen held almost all the power. The best Rome’s highest
education was reserved for them, and only patricians social class; a
wealthy landowner
could be members of the Senate. Plebeians were the in ancient Rome
common people. Initially, they had few rights and
plebeian, n. a
almost no say in how they were governed. For many
common person
years, there was even a law that prevented plebeians without power in
from marrying patricians. ancient Rome

For the first two centuries of Rome’s existence, the tribune, n. in

ancient Rome, an
patricians and plebeians were locked in a struggle
elected plebeian
with each other. The plebeians wanted rights, and representative
the patricians wanted to keep their power. The
struggle between them eventually resulted in many changes that helped to
make Rome great.

To obtain rights and to secure themselves from injustice, the plebeians got
organized. When they disagreed with the patricians’ attempts to control them,
they left the city and refused to listen to the patricians. The plebeians even
elected their own leaders, called tribunes. Gradually, the plebeians forced the
patricians to treat them better and to give them a voice in government.

85
 Government under the Roman Republic

Patrician

Plebeian

Senators Tribunes
Consuls

Assemblies of Citizens

A democratic form of government developed in Rome, with both patricians and plebeians
making laws for all citizens.

Eventually, the class distinctions between patricians and plebeians faded

away. But there were other distinctions that never faded away. Slavery was
widespread in Rome, as it had been in ancient Greece, and women had
almost as few rights in Rome as they had in ancient Athens.

The Roman Republic Grows

During its early years, the city of Rome was surrounded by enemies. At first,
the Romans had to defend themselves against outsiders who wanted to
conquer their city. Over time, however, they began to push their enemies
back. Then, the Romans began to conquer other lands and other peoples.
Eventually, they would build a great empire this way.

The Roman army conquered central Italy, then northern Italy. By 275 BCE, the
city of Rome governed all of Italy. Within another hundred years, they had
conquered nearly all the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. From early
on, then, Roman society was based on the army. This determined the most
important ideals Romans had. Most of all, Romans admired valor, or bravery,
because this was the characteristic that a good soldier needed to have.
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Rome, c. 275 BCE

Ad
ria
Italy tic
Sea
Rome

Spain

Mediterranean
Sea Sicily
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
N
AFRICA W E

S
Roman territory, c. 275 BCE 0 400 miles

Romans admired other qualities as well, such as loyalty, duty, honor, and
fidelity (faithfulness). These qualities would help them build their republic
into a mighty empire.

How Romans Governed

In the beginning, the Roman army was made up of poor farmers who were
forced to fight. But once the army began to conquer other peoples, soldiers
could bring home things of value that they took
Vocabulary
from those they conquered. Soldiers were also
province, n. an area
given land as a reward for their service. So some
or region; when an
began to see the benefits they could get from area was conquered
fighting in the army. Others saw it as an honor to by Rome, it became
a province under
belong to the Roman army. Roman control
Conquered territories were organized into
governor, n.
provinces, each of which was overseen by a the leader of the
governor answerable to Rome. The Romans government in
a province
also stationed troops in each province to keep
87
order and to carry out decisions made by the
Vocabulary
government in Rome.
tribute, n. payment
When most ancient empires conquered another of money or
people, they either wiped out the defeated people goods by a people
or their ruler to
or demanded that they pay tribute. The Romans another country or
governed a little differently. From the beginning, ruler, in exchange
they made the people they conquered part of for protection

their republic. They demanded that the people

they conquered serve in their army. Like all the other soldiers in the army,
if these people fought well, they were rewarded. This was different from
what had happened before. Conquered people were not crushed
under the heel of an occupying army; they could actually benefit from
the new government.

The Romans did something else that was new. Frequently, they made these
conquered people citizens of Rome. Thus, the conquered people gained political
rights. They found themselves part of a growing republic that often gave them a
better style of life than they had enjoyed before they were conquered.

The Romans did not do these things out of kindness. They had a purpose. It
would have been impossible for a tiny group of Romans to try to control the
many different peoples that were part of their growing republic. By making
it in people’s best interest to be loyal to the Roman Republic, and by making
the city of Rome the center of everything—government, trade, and culture—
the Romans were building a strong, united society.

The Republic Faces the Future

As the republic grew, so did the power of the Senate. It evolved to include wealthy
plebeians as well as patricians, and it became the chief governing body of the
republic. The Senate had to make decisions about all sorts of things. It passed
laws, decided what the army should do, and dealt with issues at home and in the
provinces. It was also a court of law and sat in judgment in certain cases.

88
Because the army was so successful, Rome eventually became very rich. Great
amounts of stolen riches were being brought back from successful military
campaigns, so Roman citizens didn’t have to pay taxes. Generals and other
army leaders became wealthy and spent their riches building temples and
arches to celebrate their victories.

Roman men were eager to make their way in the world by being successful
soldiers. They would gain wealth if they were victorious in battle, but they
would also gain power. They would have important positions in society.

All of this meant that the Roman economy, system of government, and
society in general relied on the continued success of the army. If Rome was
to stay strong and grow, there always had to be more lands to conquer,
more riches to bring home, and more citizens to include in the republic.
The leading members of Roman society knew that this was important.

This way of doing things created problems, as the Romans soon learned.
If the army was the place an ambitious Roman could make himself a good
career, then the army was the way to power. And this way to power posed a
threat to those already in power. The army could potentially be used against
the Senate and the rest of the government. This was a major problem that the
Romans found themselves struggling with after 100 BCE.

The Roman army was organized and powerful.

89
Chapter 12
The Punic Wars
The Carthaginians During the time of
the early Roman Republic, the western The Big Question
part of the Mediterranean Sea was under What were the Punic
the control of the wealthy city-state of Wars, and what was
the end result?
Carthage. Carthage was located on the
coast of North Africa, in what is now Tunisia.

The people of Carthage, or Carthaginians, were originally Phoenicians

(/fih*neesh*unz/) who had come to North Africa from the Middle East about
800 BCE. The Carthaginians wanted to expand their control to Sicily, the large
island off the coast of Italy that the Athenians had tried to conquer during
the Peloponnesian War. Like the Athenians, the
Vocabulary Carthaginians were having problems succeeding with
Phoenicians, their plans.
n. an ancient
Mediterranean About 265 BCE, the Sicilians asked Rome to help keep
trading civilization the Carthaginians out of Sicily. The Romans were glad
Punic, adj. to help, in part because they wanted to take over Sicily
Carthaginian; the for themselves. Rome’s involvement in this matter,
Roman word punicus
however, turned out to be much more than a one-time
is Latin for Phoenician,
and the Carthaginians effort. It turned out to be the start of a series of wars
were descendants of known as the Punic (/pyoo*nihk/) Wars. These wars
the Phoenicians
lasted for more than a century. At stake was control

90
 10°W

The First Punic War

(264–241 BCE) EUROPE

Ad
Italy ria
t ic
S ea
40°N Corsica
Rome
Spain

lands
ic Is 40°N
ear
Bal
Sardinia

Mediterranean
Sea

Sicily

Carthage

AFRICA N

W E
Areas controlled by Carthage S
0 400 miles
Areas controlled by Rome

91
The western Mediterranean in 241 BCE, at the end of the First Punic War: Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica came under Roman control at this time.
0° 10°N
of the lands of the western Mediterranean, such as North Africa and Spain.
Interestingly, the word Punic comes from the Latin word for Phoenician.

The First Punic War lasted from 264 BCE to 241 BCE. The Romans won. Rome
stopped Carthage from expanding its power and control eastward. Rome also
took over Sicily and made it part of the Roman Republic.

Hannibal and Scipio

Rome may have stopped Carthage from expanding eastward, but it did not
stop Carthage from expanding in the west. Hamilcar Barca (/huh*mihl*kahr/
bahr*kuh/) was the general who
had led Carthage’s troops during
the First Punic War. He managed
to expand Carthage’s lands in the
west by taking over Spain.

Hamilcar’s son, Hannibal, born

in 247 BCE, had grown up hating
the Romans and craving revenge
for the First Punic War. In fact,
he wanted nothing less than to
conquer Rome completely. When
Hannibal became a general at the
age of twenty-six, he began to
make his plans.

The treaty that ended the First

Punic War set the boundaries of
Carthage’s empire. In 219 BCE,
Hannibal decided to conquer
Hamilcar told his young son Hannibal stories
a city near the border in Spain. about the First Punic War.

92
 Second Punic War (218–201 BCE)

Controlled by Carthage, 218 BCE Invasion routes

EUROPE Controlled by Rome, 218 BCE Hannibal
Carthaginian land added Scipio
ATLANTIC to Rome, 208 BCE Major battle
OCEAN
GAUL
(FRANCE)
Black

s
Pyr
e Sea

Alp
nee
s
Ad
ria
Spain Corsica Italy tic
Se
a
ntum Rome 40°N
Sagu nds
Isla Cannae
ric Aegean
Sardinia Greece
Sea

Balea
Sicily

Carthage

Zama N
Mediterranean
E Sea
W
AFRICA S
30°N
0 400 miles Hannibal’s army and elephants
crossed the snowy Alps.
0° 10°E 20°E 30°E

93
He knew that the city, Saguntum, was so close to the border that the Roman
army would try to protect it. As expected, the Romans objected to Hannibal’s
attack on Saguntum. The battle at Saguntum started the Second Punic War,
which lasted from 218 to 201 BCE.

Hannibal responded by attacking Rome. Instead of sailing across the

Mediterranean Sea to Italy, Hannibal decided to attack by land. This meant
leading his army through Spain, southern France, across the Alps, and into
Italy. No one had ever tried this before.

Along the way, Hannibal and his army were attacked again and again by the
people through whose territory they marched. Hannibal’s army also included
war elephants, and these had to be marched through the snowy mountain
passes of the Alps. Somehow, Hannibal did it. He got his army and a handful
of elephants across the Alps and into Italy.

Hannibal’s men suffered a great deal on their journey, and his army was
much smaller and weaker than the Roman army. But Hannibal hoped that if
he could win some victories, areas of Italy would join him and revolt against
Rome. Then he would be strong enough to conquer the city. By 217 BCE,
Hannibal was a great general and a real threat to Rome. His army won several
important battles against the Romans, but the Italians did not rise up against
Rome as he had hoped. Rome refused to surrender.

Meanwhile, the Roman army attacked Carthage’s armies in Spain. The war
went on for years. Finally, in 206 BCE, the Romans drove the Carthaginians
out of Spain completely. Then, a Roman general named Scipio Africanus
(/skip*ee*oh/af*rih*kahn*us/) turned his attention to North Africa. He wanted
to conquer the city of Carthage itself.

Hannibal had been unable to advance farther in Italy and had even begun
to lose ground. When Scipio attacked North Africa, Hannibal decided to help
defend the city of Carthage. He and his army abandoned Italy and returned
home to do whatever they could.

94
The city of Carthage was forced to surrender in the Second Punic War.

In the battle of Zama, southwest of Carthage, in 202 BCE, Hannibal lost

twenty thousand men, and Scipio was victorious. Carthage gave up and was
forced to pay Rome for its losses in the war.

Although the war was over, Hannibal refused to give up. He would not turn
himself over to the Romans. For several years, the Romans kept demanding
that Hannibal surrender. The Roman army chased him from place to place,
trying to capture him. Finally, about the year 183 BCE, they managed to
corner him. Unable to escape, Hannibal still would not turn himself over to his
hated enemy. He poisoned himself and died.

95
The Third Punic War
Carthage lost the Second Punic War. But the city had caused so much
trouble for so long that the Romans still considered Carthage their worst
enemy. Carthage had little political power left, but it still had a good deal of
influence on trade in the Mediterranean. Even though the Roman Republic
was still growing and prospering, there were Romans who wanted to see
Carthage destroyed once and for all. One person who felt this way was
the Roman senator known as Cato the Elder. Cato (/kayt*oh/) ended every
speech he made in the Roman Senate with the words “Carthage must be
destroyed.” Romans who shared his point of view waited and watched for
the right opportunity.

In 150 BCE, Carthage defended itself against an attack by a small army.

This broke the treaty that had ended the Second Punic War. Carthage had
used military force again, and Rome used this as an excuse to send its army
against Carthage.

The leaders of Carthage did not want to fight the Romans. They asked for
peace and agreed to surrender their weapons.
Vocabulary
But the Romans told them they would have
to leave the city and go far inland, away from trade route, n. a
road or waterway
the Mediterranean trade routes that were so traveled by
important to them. This was too much for the merchants or traders
to buy or sell goods
citizens of Carthage. Trade was their livelihood.

Carthage refused to listen to the Romans any longer. In 147 BCE, Scipio
Aemilianus (/ee*mih*lee*ay*nus/) attacked Carthage. He was the adopted
grandson of the famous Roman general Scipio Africanus, who had fought in
the Second Punic War. The battle for Carthage was long and bitter.

In the end, the Roman army conquered the city. Out of a population of
250,000, only fifty thousand remained alive at the end of the battle.

96
The End of the Third Punic War (146 BCE)
N EUROPE

s
Alp
GAUL (FRANCE)
W E Pyrenees Italy Adria
tic
Corsica Sea
S Rome
Spain
Sardinia Greece

Sicily
Carthage
AFRICA
Mediterranean
Sea
Area controlled by Rome
Area controlled by Carthage 0 400 miles

The survivors were sold into slavery, and the Roman army leveled the city.
It had taken three wars and a hundred years to break the power of Carthage,
but by the end of the Third Punic War it was finally broken.

Romans and Greeks

With Carthage destroyed, Rome became the dominant power in the
Mediterranean. The Romans soon conquered the Hellenistic kingdoms that
had been established after the death of Alexander the Great, including
Greece itself. But in another sense, the Greeks also conquered the Romans,
for the Romans were won over by Greek culture.

Greek literature, art, and architecture became a mighty influence on Roman

culture. Wealthy Romans had Greek sculptures brought to Italy, where
they ordered copies and imitations made. Roman authors began imitating
Greek authors, and Roman students began studying Greek literature and
philosophy. Thus, the victory over Carthage led not only to the Romanizing
of the Greeks but also to the Hellenizing of the Romans.

97
Chapter 13
Julius Caesar:
A Great Roman
Hail to the Conqueror! In the years
after the Punic Wars, Rome continued The Big Question
to look for new areas to conquer and How would you
new peoples to govern. The young men describe the
character of Julius
of Rome’s most powerful families were Caesar, and what
eager to gain fame by leading a Roman brought about his fall
army in battle. from power?

They looked forward to the wealth, honor, and power they would gain if they
succeeded. Julius Caesar, who lived from 101–44 BCE, was one of these ambitious
young men.

Caesar belonged to a patrician family, but he was not wealthy. He knew that
if he was going to get ahead in life, he would have to do it through military
advancement. Caesar lived at a time when the Roman Republic was beginning
to have problems. The consuls and the Senate still ruled, but governors in the
provinces were not always just and often forced people to pay high taxes.
People in some of the conquered territories were unhappy about how they
were governed. Rome had to rely on the strength of the army to keep the
republic together.

The Roman army had changed, too. It was no longer manned by ordinary
citizens. It had become a professional army. This meant that the men who joined
98
Julius Caesar

99
the army did so to further their careers. They were willing to fight, but mostly
they wanted to get rich and gain higher status. They felt more loyalty to
the generals who could lead them to victory, and who would give them the
rewards of war, than they did to Rome itself.

The army had always been important to the Roman Republic, but now it was
more important than ever. The generals who led the army were extremely
powerful and could do great good or great harm. It was just a matter of time
before someone tried to take over the republic completely. Julius Caesar was
that someone.

The Rise to Power

Caesar was tall and well-built. He had dark-brown eyes and cared about
how he looked. He kept his hair trimmed and his face clean-shaven. Caesar
was intelligent and had a good sense of humor. He could be charming and
courteous when he wanted to be. But because Caesar was a very ambitious
and determined man he could also be ruthless.

Caesar commanded part of the Roman army, but that was not enough for
him. He wanted as much power as he could get. Caesar knew that to get what
he wanted, he would have to be victorious in battle. Then, his soldiers would
be more loyal to him than to Rome. He would also need political allies in
Rome. If he helped others get some of the power they wanted, he could use
them to get the power that he wanted.

To become powerful at this time, it was important to be popular with the

right people in Rome. So Caesar spent money entertaining others and
making friends. Once he was popular, Caesar entered into an alliance with
two other powerful Roman men named Pompey (/pahm*pee/) and Crassus
(/kras*us/). They helped one another to pass laws they wanted and schemed
to hold onto the power that their enemies wanted to take from them. Caesar
became powerful enough to be elected consul in 59 BCE.

100
Caesar led the campaign against Gaul, which today we know as France.

Julius Caesar became one of the most successful generals the Roman army
had ever seen. He helped expand the Roman Republic in Europe. It took him
about nine years to fight the Gallic Wars, which gave Rome power in Gaul
(present-day France). He even invaded Britain in
Vocabulary
55 BCE, although Rome would not conquer the
Gallic Wars, n. wars
island until the next century. Much of northern
between Rome and
Europe was coming under the control of the the people of Gaul,
Mediterranean world and would be influenced by which today is the
country of France
the culture and laws of the Romans.

After he had conquered Gaul, Caesar decided that he wanted to be elected

consul again—his previous consulship had ended. The first time he had
been consul, however, he had been proud and arrogant. He did some things
he should not have done. Worse, his alliance with Pompey and Crassus
had broken down. Pompey, in particular, did not trust Caesar anymore and
wanted to remove him from power.

101
No one becomes powerful without making enemies, and he had made some
powerful ones. Now these enemies were determined to keep him from
becoming consul again. They told Caesar that if he wanted to be elected
consul, he had to come to Rome for the election. They also reminded him
that he was not allowed to bring his army into Rome. But Caesar knew that
if he went to Rome without his army, Pompey would have him arrested.
Caesar faced a difficult choice. He wanted to be consul again, but it seemed
impossible without breaking the law and taking at least part of his army into
the city.

Dictator for Life

Caesar was not afraid to do things the hard way. In 49 BCE, he gathered his
army and marched toward Rome. By crossing the Rubicon River, the northern
boundary of Italy, he showed the Senate that he would fight them for power.
Caesar understood that there was no turning back. Legend has it that when
he crossed the Rubicon he said, “The die is cast.” Today, we use the phrase
“the die is cast” to mean taking decisive action. Similarly, the phrase “crossing
the Rubicon” has come to mean going past the point of no return.

Caesar’s actions started a civil war. Caesar and

Vocabulary
his army now had to fight with other parts of the
Roman army. The existence of the Roman Republic civil war, n. a war
between people
itself was at stake. who live in the
same country
Caesar quickly took control of Italy, but Pompey
and his army managed to escape. Caesar chased
them down until the two armies clashed in Greece. Pompey was defeated
in Pharsalus, Greece, and fled to Egypt, where he was killed. Caesar made
his way to Egypt and continued fighting Pompeian forces loyal to the old
republic in North Africa and Spain. At last, in 44 BCE, Caesar achieved what he
had wanted all along. He became the dictator, or absolute ruler, of Rome.

102
Caesar led his army across the Rubicon toward Rome, showing that he was willing to fight
to stay in power.

103
The Romans had known dictators before.
In fact, they felt that in times of emergency, a
dictator was necessary. But dictatorship was
seen as a temporary thing, to be used only in
wartime. Legally, dictatorships could only last
six months.

Caesar had something else in mind. He

thought the idea of a temporary dictator was
foolish. Who would willingly give up ultimate This Roman coin shows Julius
Caesar wearing a wreath.
power simply because the Senate told him to?
Caesar was not going to give up the power he had gained. He made sure that
everyone knew he meant to be the ruler for a long time. He had his face put
on coins, (something only kings did at this time), and the month of Quintilis
was renamed Julius (July) in his honor.

Caesar had always loved the attention that he got from being a public figure.
Nothing pleased him more than the privilege of wearing a laurel wreath, the
symbol of conquerors and victors. But opponents said it looked like he was
wearing a royal crown.

During the five years after Caesar had crossed the Rubicon, he gained
absolute power. True, he spent a lot of his time making sure that his enemies
could not overthrow him, but he also genuinely tried to improve things
for people. Caesar had plans to make more people Roman citizens, stop
corruption, improve the court system, and help people avoid falling into debt.
He seemed to work constantly. He dictated letters while he was riding to
battle. He worked quickly and tirelessly, but there was simply more work than
one man could do.

Out of Touch
Caesar found it difficult to give other people things to do. In part, this was
because he distrusted everyone and wanted to be in complete control.

104
But it was also true that many government officials wouldn’t cooperate with
him because they were horrified by the bloody civil wars that pitted Roman
against Roman. Many blamed Caesar for the collapse of the republic.

The pressures of being dictator began to make Caesar sick. He became

exhausted, tense, and irritable. His health was affected. He felt dizzy and
suffered from convulsions and blackouts. In addition, accounts from the time
said he suffered from epilepsy. Epilepsy is a medical condition that affects the
nervous system and causes sudden convulsions and blackouts.

Although Caesar had been an excellent general, he was not an especially

good dictator. He was arrogant and offended many powerful Romans. He
even dismissed his bodyguards, saying that no one could possibly want to
murder him because his death would only bring about chaos.

Although Julius Caesar had the Senate make him dictator for life, he had made a great
many enemies.

105
This showed that Caesar was seriously out of touch. He did not recognize how
much some people hated him. Then, in February of 44 BCE, Caesar went even
further. He had the Senate vote him dictator for life.

There had long been powerful people in Rome who did not like the fact that
Caesar had become dictator. Once he became dictator for life, even more
people grew angry. To many, having a dictator for life was no different than
having a king. They blamed Caesar for destroying the republic, and now they
were prepared to do something about it.

The Betrayal
Caesar never seemed to realize how much pain he had caused the Roman
people when he forced Roman to fight against Roman in the civil wars
he started. He never seemed to realize that Romans were proud of the
republic and did not want to see the days of the kings brought back. This
shortsightedness contributed to his downfall.

About a month after he was made dictator for

Vocabulary
life, Caesar was murdered in the Senate house by
several members of the Roman Senate. There were conspirator, n. a
person who plans
about sixty conspirators, although only a handful or participates with
actually drove their weapons into Caesar. The others in a crime
leaders of the assassination plot were Brutus assassination, n.
(/broot*us/) and Cassius. Tradition has it that as the murder of a
he was being stabbed, Caesar noticed Brutus public figure, such
as a government
among the men surrounding him and said, “Et tu, official
Brute?” (/et/tu/broo*tay/) This is Latin for “You too,
Brutus?” He had considered Brutus a friend and was shocked that Brutus had
conspired against him.

106
Julius Caesar was assassinated in the Senate house.

Caesar had destroyed the republic in his quest for power, but he had not had
the time—or perhaps the ability—to put a new form of government in its
place. His assassination ended his rule and left the leaders of Rome to try to
figure out who should rule in his place.

Julius Caesar is remembered today as a great general who did much to

increase the power of Rome. Although he destroyed the Roman Republic, he
also paved the way for the Roman Empire. He is the link between the republic
that Rome had been and the empire it would become.

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Chapter 14
The Age of Augustus
New Beginning Julius Caesar’s
assassination led to another civil war. The Big Question
After thirteen years of fighting, Octavian, Why might Augustus
the great nephew of Julius Caesar, have wanted to
glorify Rome?
became sole ruler of Rome and all
its provinces.

This was no easy task. Octavian had to defeat Brutus and Cassius, the
conspirators who had killed Caesar. He also had to defeat Mark Antony, who was
romantically and militarily allied with Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt. By 27 BCE,
however, Octavian had defeated all of these rivals and established himself as the
first Roman emperor. To celebrate this achievement, the Roman Senate named
him Caesar Augustus.

Although Augustus was related to Julius Caesar, the two men were very different.
Unlike his great uncle, Augustus was not interested in what he wore or how he
looked. From the time he was young, he had suffered from bad health. Although
he was a busy man, it seems he hated getting up early. He would sleep as late
and as long as possible.

108
Caesar Augustus became the first Roman emperor.

109
Augustus was also different from Julius Caesar in
Vocabulary
another important way. Julius Caesar had been a
administrator, n. a
brave soldier but a bad administrator. Augustus
person responsible
avoided battle as much as possible and was never for carrying out the
known as a good soldier, but he turned out to be a day-to-day workings
of an organization
very good administrator. or government
Augustus realized that Romans had stopped feeling
proud of themselves and their empire. They had
experienced years of warfare, and it must have seemed like the government
didn’t care about them. Augustus knew that for the Roman Empire to be
strong, Romans had to believe in it. So he made some changes.

The Altar of Peace (Ara Pacis) was built to celebrate the return of Augustus to Rome
in 13 BCE, after a military campaign in Spain and in Gaul (France).

110
To restore Romans’ confidence, Augustus began an ambitious building
program. He brought architects, sculptors, and artists to Rome to create
beautiful buildings. He had his architects copy the majesty of Greek
architecture and art. His buildings were often made of marble, and he spared
no expense. He built great arches celebrating events in Roman history and
had statues of great Romans made. All of this helped promote the image of
Rome as the capital of an empire that stood for order, strength, honor, and
permanence. Romans could be proud. Later, Augustus would boast, “I found
Rome as bricks. I leave it to you as marble.”

Augustus rebuilt the temples and reestablished the religion of the Romans
so that people could believe in the old gods and goddesses again. By making
religion part of being a good citizen, Augustus was giving Romans a sense of
identity. He helped them figure out who they were and what they believed.
He gave them the feeling that they were part of something great. After years
of chaos, Rome had a new beginning.

Virgil
As part of his program to make Romans proud again, Augustus encouraged
the arts. Like wealthy rulers before and after him (including Pericles), he
became a patron of the arts.

Maecenas (/my*see*nus/), one of the friends of Augustus and a rich and

important politician, was also someone who supported the arts. For years,
he invited poets to write about Augustus and all he was doing for the empire.
One of the poets he talked to was a man named Publius Vergilius Maro,
known as Virgil.

Like the other Roman poets at this time, Virgil admired Greek poetry and
imitated its style. He wanted to write a great poem that would celebrate the
glory of Rome, but he disagreed with Maecenas’s suggestion that the poem
should be mainly about Augustus. Virgil had a different idea.

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Virgil wrote the epic poem, the Aeneid.

The Aeneid
The poem that Virgil wrote for Augustus and Maecenas is called the Aeneid
(/ee*nee*ihd/). It is the greatest epic poem produced in ancient Rome. The
Aeneid tells the story of Aeneas (/ee*nee*us/), a great warrior who survived
the defeat of the Trojans during the Trojan War
and who journeyed across the Mediterranean Vocabulary
to found Rome. All along the way, Aeneas ran Trojans, n. people
into obstacles and temptations. For instance, a from the ancient city
of Troy in Asia Minor
beautiful queen of Carthage named Dido fell in
112
love with him and tried to get him to stay with her. But Aeneas knew that it
was his destiny to establish a great city in Italy, so he left Dido heartbroken
and continued on. Aeneas refused to allow anything to stand between him
and his destiny.

Virgil died before he completed the Aeneid, but his Vocabulary

epic poem remains a great piece of literature and a propaganda, n.
false or exaggerated
powerful piece of Roman propaganda. The Aeneid information that is
gave the Romans an exciting past and a national spread to encourage
hero, and it taught them that Rome was worth the belief in a certain
person or idea
sacrifices that Aeneas had made.

Augustus was excited about Virgil’s poem and begged to see parts of it as the
poet worked on it. Even though it wasn’t a poem about him, Augustus knew
that the Aeneid was exactly the kind of literature he wanted. He knew that this
poem glorified Rome and would make the citizens love the Roman Empire.

Law and Order

Unlike Julius Caesar, who had shortsightedly forgotten that many Romans
would hate a king or any other absolute ruler, Augustus always remembered
how easy it would be to assassinate him. So he took care to include the
Senate in the responsibilities of ruling. He never gave up power and never
believed in democracy, but he was careful about how he ruled. Augustus
avoided Julius Caesar’s mistake of being arrogant. He modestly called himself
the princeps (/prihn*keps/), or first citizen. The Senate gave him another
title—that of Imperator, or emperor, meaning he who commands.

During his reign as emperor, Augustus accomplished several things. Among

the greatest of these was the strengthening of Roman law. Augustus made
it clear that, while he was a powerful ruler, the law limited his power. The
Senate and other Roman leaders knew that he had some responsibilities and
they had other responsibilities. This helped to establish confidence in the
emperor and in Roman rule.

113
Augustus also changed the way the military was run. He divided the army
into two parts. The first part was made up of twenty-seven legions of Roman
citizens. This amounted to about 165,000 troops
Vocabulary
in total. Each legion was commanded by a senator
legion, n. a group
who had to report to more powerful senators,
or unit of about
who in turn reported to Augustus. This system was three thousand to
meant to ensure that no individual senator would six thousand soldiers
in the Roman army
control an army strong enough to attack Rome.

Each Roman legion contained thousands of men.

114
The second part of the army was made up of men who were not Roman
citizens. They were commanded by noblemen and divided into sections
that were smaller than the legions. These men could gain citizenship after
they served in the army. So even those who were not from wealthy or
powerful families could serve in this part of the army and make good careers
for themselves.

In the past, the Roman army had been supported Vocabulary

by the riches it gathered after victories. Augustus spoils, n. property
changed this as well. Generals and soldiers could or valuables taken
by the winner in
still get rich from the spoils they took, but the a conflict
army would be supported and supplied by Rome.
treasury, n. a place
Augustus established a special treasury just for
where the money
the army. This meant that generals had to depend and other riches of a
on Rome for supplies. They would be less likely government are kept
to want to turn on Rome because if they did, the Pax Romana, n.
Senate would cut off their supplies. By making literally, Roman
peace; a period of
these changes, Augustus was trying to ensure
about two hundred
that there would never be another Julius Caesar years without major
to threaten Rome—or any other rivals to threaten conflicts in the
Roman Empire
Augustus himself.

By this time, the empire had become about as large as it could be. Despite
good Roman roads, it could take more than a year to cross it. So now the
army was mainly used to keep order.

Law and order brought peace to the Roman Empire. Called the Pax Romana, or
Roman peace, this was a time of calm and law throughout the Mediterranean
world. It would last nearly two hundred years.

Such a long time of peace had never been experienced within an empire before.
Centuries later, people from many different parts of the world would admire the
Pax Romana and try to achieve something similar in their own countries.

115
 The Roman Empire

116
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At its height, the Roman Empire stretched over two million square miles.
Caesar Augustus was the first emperor of the Roman Empire. He established
the empire and ruled it well. He understood how to work with the Senate,
how to help citizens feel proud of Rome, and how to use the army to
keep a peace that lasted for centuries. For all of these reasons, Augustus is
remembered as one of Rome’s greatest leaders.

117
Chapter 15
Rome and Christianity
New Religion The Roman Empire must
have been an interesting place to live. Its The Big Question
population came from a wide range of Why was the growth
backgrounds and spoke many different of Christianity
originally considered
languages. They practiced different a threat to the
religions and believed in all kinds of gods Roman Empire?
and goddesses. In addition, between
27 BCE and 180 CE, the Pax Romana made it possible for people
to travel around the empire peacefully and easily.

118
People of all kinds moved across the Roman Empire. Some traded or
visited Roman cities; others moved to these cities to work in them.

119
In the marketplace of one of the cities in the
Vocabulary
empire, such as Antioch or Damascus, one might
miracle, n. an
find goods from faraway places, see Roman
extraordinary event
soldiers, and meet people from all over. Not only or action that is
traders and merchants could be found in the considered an act
of God
marketplace but also teachers and philosophers,
would-be healers and miracle workers, and preachers of new religions.

About the year 40 CE, people in the larger cities of the empire began to hear
stories about a new religion in which the followers believed in a man called
Jesus Christ. They heard that he had been a Jew from Palestine. His followers
said he had died and been raised to life again. He was going to come back
to Earth and bring the Kingdom of God. His followers believed all this so
strongly that many of them had changed their lives completely. A few of his
followers, including a man named Paul, traveled around the empire, trying to
convince people to believe in this Christ.

Most Romans ignored the new religion. In the cities of the empire, especially,
there was always someone with a new religion, a new report of a miracle, or a
prophecy about the future. These Christians, or followers of Christ, were just
one tiny part of a large complicated empire. But others paid more attention
to these Christians, and that attention was not always favorable.

Rome Feels Threatened

Jesus had lived in Palestine and had preached first to the Jewish community.
His first followers continued to spread his teachings among the Jews of
the Middle East. Very quickly, however, there were disagreements within
the Jewish community about these new Christian ideas. Some of these
disagreements caused conflict.

Gradually, Judaism and Christianity became two different religions with very
different beliefs. Christians continued to preach around the empire and start
new communities.

120
The painter Raphael depicted Saint Paul preaching in Athens, Greece.

Sometimes there were problems between Christians and people who had an
interest in preserving other religions. The early Christian preacher Paul was
once arrested in the city of Ephesus (/ef*ih*sus/) because silversmiths who
made statues of a Greek goddess felt that he was hurting their business. In
other places, Christians were beaten or arrested because their attempts at
preaching started arguments in public. Christians were also blamed for other
problems that developed. Because Christians were a new group that people
didn’t know much about, they were easy to blame.

During the 100s and 200s CE, the Roman Empire faced serious troubles.
The empire had grown so large that it took a long time for communications
to travel between Rome and other cities. The army and governors of
provinces were often cruel or corrupt. Worse, people outside the empire,
especially in Europe, began to try to conquer parts of it.

121
The Romans knew their empire would be strong
Vocabulary
and united if people were loyal. To the Romans,
ritual, n. an act or
loyalty meant several things. It meant paying taxes
series of actions
to Rome, and it meant taking part in rituals and done in the same
ceremonies that were part of the Roman process of way in a certain
situation, such as a
government. Many of these rituals and ceremonies religious ceremony
were religious and required making offerings to
the gods, who were believed to protect Rome. The Romans had many gods
and goddesses. Some emperors, such as Julius Caesar and Augustus, had
even been declared gods after they died. The Romans were also clear about
what happened to people who were not loyal. They held public executions to
make their point. People who were not loyal risked horrible deaths.

As the numbers of Christians grew, they were often seen as troublemakers.

But were they actually disloyal to Rome?

Christians claimed that they were loyal to Rome. They pointed to one of
Jesus’s teachings: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and
unto God the things that are God’s” (Matthew 22:21). For Christians, this
was clear proof that there was no conflict between Christian faith and
Roman citizenship. A Christian could pay the taxes that the emperors
required and remain loyal to the Roman government while worshiping
and obeying God.

But the Romans weren’t so sure. They began requiring Christians to make
offerings to Roman gods and goddesses to prove that they were good
citizens, and to ensure that the traditional gods and goddesses continued
to protect Rome. Christians refused to do this because they felt the Roman
gods and goddesses were false. They only offered worship to their own God.
When they refused to obey the Romans, they were arrested and sometimes
executed. Some were thrown to wild beasts to be torn apart and eaten, and
others were forced to participate in gladiator battles.

122
Colosseums were circular, stone structures that were centers for entertainment, including
hand-to-hand combat. Christians were also forced to fight for their lives in colosseums, as
this painting from the 1800s shows.

Gladiators were enslaved men, prisoners of war, or condemned criminals

whose lives the Romans already considered worthless. These people were
sometimes forced to fight to the death against wild animals or one another in
Roman colosseums.

Until 310 CE, Christians faced persecution

Vocabulary
throughout the Roman Empire, at times just
persecution, n.
because they were Christians. Although the
cruel and unfair
persecution did not take place everywhere and treatment of a group
was not continual, this was a difficult time for the of people
growing Christian Church.

At first, Roman leaders seemed to think that persecuting Christians would

make citizens more loyal and the empire more united. Instead, the opposite
happened. Many people eventually came to sympathize with those who
were killed for being disloyal. The persecuted Christians were admired for

123
their calm, courage, and willingness to stand up for their beliefs. These same
characteristics were also important to the Romans.

Christians were also well organized, another characteristic that the Romans
admired. They belonged to communities and had leaders. They could
efficiently gather donations and resources to help when people—including
non-Christians—faced disaster from fires, floods, or famines. Moreover, it
meant something to be a Christian during a time when people were beginning
to wonder whether being Roman meant anything. To become a Christian,
a person had to go through a period of training and study. Christians were
expected to live their lives according to their beliefs. Not every Christian did, of
course, especially as the Church grew larger. But the expectation was there.

A Christian Roman Empire

By the beginning of the 300s CE, the Roman Empire seemed to be falling
apart. Christianity was the strongest, fastest growing religion in the empire.
Then something happened to change things. On the eve of a battle, the
Battle of Milvian Bridge on October 2, 312 CE, Emperor Constantine had a
vision in which he believed the Christian God promised him victory. In that
moment, Constantine became a Christian. His conversion was also the glue
needed to hold the empire together.

In 313 CE, Constantine signed the Edict of Milan.

Vocabulary
This document made Christianity a legal religion.
conversion, n. a
Christians no longer had to prove their loyalty to
change in one’s
the Roman Empire. They had the right to be part religious beliefs
of the empire. From this point on, Christianity
edict, n. an official
prospered in the Roman Empire. More and more order given by a ruler
people became Christians, and Constantine actively
baptize, v. to
promoted the religion as a way to strengthen the
perform a ceremony
empire. Some say that he was baptized on his that brings a person
deathbed. His mother had been a Christian, but into the Christian
Church
throughout a large part of his life, he was not. Still,
124
because the Roman Empire eventually became a
Vocabulary
Christian empire, Constantine is remembered as a
pagan, adj. related
Christian emperor. Almost all his successors were
to the worship
devoted Christians, and by the end of the 300s, of many gods
they were persecuting followers of Rome’s old or goddesses
pagan religions.

The image shows an ancient Roman mosaic of Emperor Constantine.

125
Chapter 16
The Fall of the
Roman Empire
Strengths and Weaknesses The Roman
Empire accomplished a lot for the The Big Question
people who lived within its boundaries. What caused the
The Romans brought their own brand of decline and fall
of the western
law and order to the lands around the Roman Empire?
Mediterranean Sea. They built roads.
Originally used to move the army from
one area to the next, these roads were also used for trade
and travel.

The Romans built cities throughout their empire, and they improved the
quality of food and water available in most places. Good government and laws
protected the rights of Roman citizens and gave people the opportunity to seek
justice for wrongs. The Roman Empire brought peace and prosperity that lasted
for centuries.

By the 200s CE, however, the empire was struggling with serious problems.
For a long time, Romans were prosperous because the empire was continually
growing. New people, lands, and trade possibilities were always being added to
the empire. The army brought back riches and added new sources of tax money.
But by the 200s CE, the empire had stopped growing.

126
Romans built roads across their empire. Roads were needed for soldiers, but
they were also needed to more easily transport goods from place to place.

127
Money Troubles
Vocabulary
The empire began to show signs of weakness. economic, adj.
Some of these were economic. By the year 200 CE, relating to the
management of
there was a significant recession. This meant that
money and resources
there were fewer jobs and fewer goods available. to produce, buy,
Recessions are often accompanied by periods and sell goods
and services
of inflation, and that is what happened in the
Roman Empire. During a time of inflation, money recession, n. a time
of reduced economic
is available but not worth much, so prices rise.
activity, when there is
People have to pay more and more for the things little buying or selling
they want to buy.
inflation, n. a rise
The emperors tried to address the problems that in prices and a fall in
the purchasing value
came with recession and inflation. The emperor
of money
Diocletian (/dye*uh*klee*shun/) (284–305 CE)
thought that he could stop prices from rising by declaring what the prices
should be. This did not improve matters. The only thing that happened was
that some goods became completely unavailable.

Emperor Constantine (274–337 CE) thought that the problem with high prices
was that more money was needed. He took gold from the pagan temples
and turned it into money, but this did not
help either. Inflation did not stop, and
other problems developed. Recession and
inflation combined to cause joblessness.
With joblessness came poverty, and with
poverty came crime and disease. Some
Roman leaders tried giving away money
and bread, but these were short-term
fixes to problems that were large and
On this ancient Roman coin, you can
complicated. see the emperor Constantine.

128
Gap Between Rich and Poor
Additionally, the gap between the rich and the poor widened. Aristocrats,
such as senators, were five times richer than they had been in the Age of
Augustus. And there were fewer and fewer opportunities for people to
improve their future. The Roman army had been one place where many
men had gained wealth, land, and social position. However, the army was
no longer conquering new territories. In fact, it was struggling to hold on to
lands that had been conquered many years before.

Government also suffered serious problems. Powerful generals and the army
legions loyal to them battled for power. General murdered general. It seemed
as if civil war had become a way of life. Officials became increasingly corrupt
and did not do their jobs properly.

Some emperors were good and wise, but others were totally unsuited to
ruling. For example, Nero, who reigned from 54 to 68 CE, was probably
insane. He had his mother stabbed to death and his first and second wives
were killed. One was executed; the other was murdered. He was accused
of setting fire to the city of Rome—a crime that he blamed on Christians,
whom he cruelly put to death. (Today, most historians have concluded that it
is unlikely that Nero caused the fire.) At last, the army forced him to commit
suicide. Before he died, Nero supposedly said, “Death! And so great an artist.”
Other emperors poisoned their enemies and neglected the affairs of the
empire. Between 180 and 270 CE there were eighty emperors—almost one a
year—and many of them were worthless.

People wondered whether there was any justice in the world. It seemed that
greed and corruption were everywhere in the empire. They began to wonder
whether there was anything worth believing in.

During this time, the number of Christians continued to grow. Christianity

seemed to offer what many in the empire were looking for. Some were drawn
to Christianity because it preached peace in a time of violence. Others were

129
Nero blamed the Christians for the fire that broke out in Rome in 64 CE.

drawn to Christianity because it gave opportunities for talented men to

become leaders without having to kill to gain power. Talented, educated
men were needed to lead the Church, and Church leaders did not lead by
force and violence. During the 200s CE, Christians were still not considered
loyal citizens of the empire, and they still faced persecution. After the Edict of
Milan in 313 CE, however, they could be found throughout society.

The troubles of the 200s and 300s CE were so serious that it seemed like the
empire would collapse. Bur the problems inside the empire were only part of
the story.

The Germanic Tribes

For the Romans, the center of the world was Rome, and Rome was part of the
Mediterranean world. Their attention was drawn to the lands and peoples
that surrounded the Mediterranean Sea. Once Rome had conquered all of
these, their generals looked for other ways to expand the empire. Men such

130
as Julius Caesar fought wars in Europe to bring the peoples of the North
under Roman control. Caesar and a few other Romans went as far as Britain
and established bases there.

The peoples of northern Europe, however, were not like the familiar peoples
of the Mediterranean. The Romans referred to northern Europeans as
barbarians. Unlike the peoples of the Mediterranean, some of the peoples of
Europe did not settle in one place. They moved from place to place in search
of adequate sources of food, and at times because of conflicts with others.
They did not build large cities like the ones in other parts of the Roman
Empire, and they offered fewer opportunities for trade with Rome.

Goths and Vandals

One significant group of northern people included Germanic tribes, such as
the Goths and the Vandals. For several centuries, these tribes bothered the
Romans by attacking Roman soldiers and trying to invade the empire. Most of
these attacks were small and not well organized. Such attacks were not really
a threat to the empire when it was strong, but now the empire had its own
problems and was not as strong as it had been. The Germanic tribes began to
be successful when they attacked Roman troops.

Many of the so-called barbarians were fierce fighters. The Romans admired
this. In places when they were able to, they included these warriors in the
army legions that patrolled the borders of the empire. After a time, the
Roman army that patrolled the northern borders of the empire was mostly
made up of warriors from Germanic tribes. They fought off the attacks of
other Germanic tribes. At least they were supposed to.

In 410 CE, the Visigothic king Alaric (/al*uh*rihk/)

Vocabulary
and his army invaded the empire and attacked
plunder, v. to take
the city of Rome. They overcame Rome’s defenses
something by force
and plundered it. The Roman leaders in the

131
eastern part of the empire were
shocked that the western Roman
leaders had let it come to this. The
western part of the empire was in
chaos. The last Roman emperor in
the west was Romulus Augustulus.
He was overthrown by Odoacer
(/oh*doh*ay*sur/), a Germanic
warrior. Odoacer became the first
barbarian king of Italy. He ruled until
493 CE when he was overthrown
by Theodoric (/thee*ah*duh*rihk/),
king of the Ostrogoths. At this point,
Roman rule no longer existed in
western Europe and the western In 410 CE, the Visigoths, led by King Alaric,
part of the Mediterranean. attacked and plundered Rome.

The Rise of Islam

Roman rule still existed in the east, which had long been the wealthier and more
important part of the empire. Increasingly, it was also called the Byzantine
(/bihz*un*teen/) Empire. There was an emperor in the great city of Constantinople,
which Emperor Constantine had founded as the “New Rome.” (Constantine
founded Constantinople in a place formerly known as Byzantium which is where
the Byzantine Empire got its name. Today, this city is called Istanbul and is in
Turkey.) The Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire ruled over the lands that today
are Greece and Turkey. At different times, the Eastern Roman Empire also ruled
over parts of the Middle East.
Vocabulary
In 610 CE, a man named Muhammad, who lived
prophet, n. someone
in Arabia, began to see visions. He was regarded chosen by God to
as a holy prophet by many and soon became the bring a message
to people
leader of a new religion: Islam. Muhammad united
132
the Arabs, who had long been fighting, and gave them a sense of purpose.
They became followers of Allah and students of a holy book called the Koran.

Islam grew as a religion. Within several years, the Arabs had joined together as
Muslims. Anyone who was not a Muslim was classified as an unbeliever. Many
Muslims felt that it was lawful to make war on unbelievers.

The Arab armies began to attack the Byzantine Empire from the south. The
city of Antioch in Syria fell in 637 CE. Alexandria in Egypt fell in 642 CE. In the
early 700s, Muslim armies conquered Spain. However an attempt to invade
Gaul (France) was stopped by a Christian army in 732 CE.

The Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantine Empire, with its capital in

Constantinople, remained standing. It would last for almost a thousand
years, although it was attacked a number of times. Finally, in 1453 CE,

This medieval painting from the 1400s shows the city of Constantinople.

133
Constantinople was conquered, and the emperor was killed. The Byzantine
Empire, which had always considered itself an extension of the Roman
Empire, had fallen at last.

The Grandeur That Was Rome

The decline and fall of Rome was a long, slow process. It had many causes,
and there was no single moment, event, or decision that could have stopped
it. Problems within the empire and challenges from outside combined to
bring the empire in the west to an end. Yet even when there was no longer a
Roman emperor in Rome, people still thought in terms of the empire.

Christian leaders took on many of the duties of Roman officials. They divided
the Church along the same lines as the empire in the west had been divided.
Over centuries, the Roman official called a vicarius became a church vicar, a
minister or priest in charge of a church. A diocese, originally an area for Roman
administration, became an area of church administration. Church leaders
continued to wear the same clothing, or vestitus, that Roman officials had
worn. Today, these items are referred to as vestments, the garments worn for
religious rituals.

The prestige of the old Roman Empire was so strong that in 800 CE, a king of
the Franks named Charlemagne was named “Holy Roman Emperor.” Although
his “empire” was really much of western Europe and did not even include all
of Italy, he was the strongest ruler at the time, and therefore, in the minds of
many people, the man who should be the new emperor.

European kings after Charlemagne based their laws on Roman laws. European
universities made sure their students read Roman histories and Roman poets,
such as Virgil. In later centuries, Rome was rediscovered as a center for art,
culture, and learning. Although the empire ended, its power and influence
continued to live on.

134
Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800 CE by Pope Leo III.

135
Chapter 17
The Heritage of Greece
and Rome
A Rich Legacy It is almost impossible
to overestimate the influence the The Big Question
civilizations of Greece and Rome have How would you
had on American civilization. If you visit sum up the impact
our nation’s capital, you will see that the and influence of
ancient Greece
great majority of our important national and Rome on the
buildings and monuments are based on United States?
Greek and Roman architecture.
The Lincoln Memorial was inspired by the Parthenon. The White House, the
Jefferson Memorial, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol are all based on
Greek and Roman designs. In fact, it is rare to find
Vocabulary
a statehouse anywhere in the country that is not
classical, adj.
based, at least in part, on classical architecture. Many
belonging to, or in
the style of, ancient older banks and churches also show traces of the
Greece or Rome classical style.

But these buildings are only the tip of the iceberg. Our political institutions
have also been greatly influenced by these ancient cultures. The leaders of
the American Revolution and the framers of the U.S. Constitution paid close
attention to the political histories of Greece and Rome. They didn’t want the
American states to be as disunited as the ancient Greek city-states. However,
they also didn’t want the national government to be as strong and centralized
136
The architectural style of the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC, was based
on classical architecture.

137
as it was under the Roman Empire. In laying out the Constitution, they tried
to create a mixed government. They tried to make sure that different parts of
the government serve as “checks and balances” against one other. They paid
particularly close attention to the Roman Republic.

As a result, we have a government that borrows heavily from the Romans.

We pledge allegiance to a republic inspired by the Roman Republic. We elect
senators to a Senate modeled partly on the Roman Senate. But we have
borrowed from the Greeks as well. From them, we have taken the idea of
democracy, the principle of majority rule, and the concept of a jury. Even our
major political parties—Democratic and Republican—can trace their names
back to ancient Greece and Rome.

The cultural influence of ancient Greece and Rome is with us not only on
election day but every day of the year. Although many people may not realize
it, our calendar is basically a Roman calendar, designed by Julius Caesar.
Several of our months are named for Roman gods, and two summer months
are named for Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar.

The way we divide our day into a.m. and p.m. also comes from the Romans.
The Romans divided the day into two parts: the time before the sun reaches
its meridian, or middle point, and the time after the sun passes the meridian.
In Latin (the language of ancient Rome), these periods are referred to as ante
meridiem, or a.m., and post meridiem, or p.m.

Nor are these the only abbreviations that come from the Latin language.
Do you know anyone who has a B.A. degree? Or maybe an M.A., M.D., J.D.,
or Ph.D.? All of these abbreviations come from Latin. And so do some others
you might see in books. The abbreviation e.g. (exempli gratia) means “for
example”; i.e. (id est) means “that is”; and n.b. (nota bene) means “note well.”

Greek and Latin Words

Thousands of English words are derived from Latin words. English also
includes many Greek words, many of which you have already encountered

138
in this book. You probably speak several Latin and
Vocabulary
Greek words every day without even realizing it.
jurisprudence, n. a
Take a look at the chart. How many of these words
country’s system of
do you know and use? laws and justice

English Words from Latin English Words from Greek

aquarium aristocracy
army astronomy
cancer athlete
candle comedy
cereal democracy
extra economics
gladiator epic
hospital geometry
jurisprudence harmony
justice hero
language laconic
major marathon
minor mathematics
nebula melody
picture metaphor
pirate olympics
pollen panic
port philosophy
prejudice physics
property poetry
radius police officer
salary politics
school rhetoric
senate rhythm
street spartan
verb stadium
vision tragedy
139
Of course, all of this might have turned out differently. If the Athenians and
the Spartans had not cooperated to force the Persians out of Greece during
the Persian Wars, the Persians might have conquered much of Europe and our
language might be full of Persian words. We might not think about politics,
drama, or architecture in the same way that we do today. Likewise, if Carthage
had burned Rome to the ground, both our language and our culture would
certainly be different. But those things did not happen. Instead, it was the
civilizations of Greece and Rome that prevailed and prospered. These two
civilizations had a great influence on the European cultures that came after
them, and European immigrants eventually brought their cultures to America.

The knowledge and accomplishments of the ancient Greeks and Romans laid
the groundwork for many of the achievements of later centuries. Engineering
achievements, such as the column and the arch, made it possible to build
cathedrals, palaces, law courts, and government buildings, as well as bridges

The ancient Greeks loved theater. Inspired by the ancient Greeks, there are outdoor
theaters in many parts of the world. This outdoor theater is in Cornwall, England.

140
and towers. History made it possible to understand and learn from the past,
while philosophy and religion made it easier to understand the universe.
Drama and art made life more enjoyable; government made it more orderly;
medicine and science helped extend it.

All these things, taken together, make up the cultural heritage of ancient
Greece and Rome. They represent a tradition, or a collection of ideas and
concepts that we have inherited from these earlier
cultures. The Greco-Roman heritage is so rich, Vocabulary
and so important, that it is impossible to fully heritage, n.
something that is
understand modern America without knowing a
inherited by one
little about ancient Greece and Rome. That is why person or group
these ancient civilizations are still important today. from an older person
or group

Many of our ideas of government can be traced to ancient Greece. The democratic principle
of people choosing their own leaders is demonstrated during local, state, and national
elections when candidates are chosen.

141
Glossary
civil war, n. a war between people who live in
A the same country (102)
abstract, adj. relating to ideas, rather than
concrete objects, actions, or people (68) classical, adj. belonging to, or in the style of,
ancient Greece or Rome  (136)
administrator, n. a person responsible for
carrying out the day-to-day workings of an conspirator, n. a person who plans or
organization or government (110) participates with others in a crime (106)

ally, n. a nation that promises to help another conversion, n. a change in one’s religious
nation in wartime  (38) beliefs  (124)

architect, n. a person who designs corruption, n. illegal or dishonest behavior,

buildings  (40) often by people in a position of power  (11)

aristocracy, n. the upper or noble class whose D

members’ status is usually inherited (5)
democracy, n. a in ancient Greece, a form
“aristocratic council,” (phrase) a group of of government in which the male citizens
people from the upper class or nobility who held ruling power and made decisions;
helped govern Sparta (21) in modern times, a form of government
in which citizens choose the leaders by
“aristocratic republic,” (phrase) a
vote  (5)
government in which people from
the upper class or nobility serve as dialogue, n. a piece of writing organized
representatives (84) as a conversation between two or more
characters (64)
Asia Minor, n. a peninsula in southwestern
Asia; today most of this area is the country “diplomatic relations,” (phrase) f ormal
of Turkey (2) contact or communication between
countries, including an exchange of
assassinate, v. to kill someone; often a ruler or
representatives called diplomats  (50)
member of the government  (72)
dramatist, n. a person who writes plays  (40)
assassination, n. the murder of a public
figure, such as a government official  (106)
E
assembly, n. a group of people; in ancient
Greece, the Assembly made laws.  (7) economic, adj. relating to the management of
money and resources to produce, buy, and
sell goods and services (128)
B
edict, n. an official order given by a ruler  (124)
baptize, v. to perform a ceremony that brings
a person into the Christian Church (124) emblem, n. a symbol (24)
barracks, n. buildings where soldiers live (18) “epic poem,” (phrase) a long poem that tells
the story of a hero’s adventures (13)
C ethics, n. rules based on ideas about right and
citizen, n. a person who is legally recognized wrong (58)
as a member or subject of a country or
state (8) evacuate, v. to leave a place in an organized
way, in order to get away from danger  (34)
city-state, n. a city that is an independent
political state with its own ruling
government  (2)

142
 league, n. a group that works together to
G achieve common goals  (38)
Gallic Wars, n. wars between Rome and the
people of Gaul, which today is the country legion, n. a group or unit of about three
of France (101) thousand to six thousand soldiers in the
Roman army (114)
governor, n. the leader of the government in a
province (87) logic, n. the study of ways of thinking and
making well-reasoned arguments (13)
H
M
heir, n. a person who will legally receive the
property of someone who dies; the person mean, n. a place between two extremes; the
who will become king or queen after middle  (70)
the current king or queen dies or steps miracle, n. an extraordinary event or action
down (79) that is considered an act of God (120)
Hellenistic, adj. relating to Greek culture or monarchy, n. a government led by a king or a
language (79) queen  (5)
heritage, n. something that is inherited by
one person or group from an older person O
or group (141)
oligarchy, n. a government controlled
hypocrite, n. a person whose behavior does by a small group of people made up of
not match his or her beliefs (59) aristocratic and wealthy non-aristocratic
families  (5)
I orator, n. a skilled public speaker  (39)
idealistic, adj. believing in high standards or ostracize, v. in ancient Athens, to send a
the possibility of perfection (66) person away from the city; today, ostracize
immortalize, v. to honor a person or event by means to shun or ignore a person (10)
creating an artistic or literary work, causing
the person or event to be remembered P
forever  (26)
pagan, adj. related to the worship of many
infantryman, n. a soldier who travels and gods or goddesses (125)
fights on foot (74)
pass, n. a place in the mountains that is
inflation, n. a rise in prices and a fall in the lower than the surrounding peaks and
purchasing value of money (128) that people use as a path through the
mountains  (33)
J patrician, n. a member of ancient Rome’s
jurisprudence, n. a country’s system of laws highest social class; a wealthy landowner in
and justice (139) ancient Rome  (85)

jury, n. a group of people who listen to Pax Romana, n. literally, Roman peace; a
information presented during a trial in a period of about two hundred years without
court and make decisions about whether major conflicts in the Roman Empire (115)
someone is guilty or innocent (11) persecution, n. cruel and unfair treatment of a
group of people (123)
L
phalanx, n. a group of soldiers who attack in
landlocked, adj. cut off from the seacoast; close formation with their shields overlapping
surrounded by land (22) and spears pointed forward (22)

143
phenomena, n. observable events; in nature, rite, n. a ritual or ceremony  (29)
occurrences such as sun, rain, storms, and
earthquakes (56) ritual, n. an act or series of actions done in the
same way in a certain situation, such as a
philosophy, n. the study of ideas about religious ceremony (122)
knowledge, life, and truth; literally, love of
wisdom (54) “rock quarry,” (phrase) a place where stones
are taken from the earth (52)
Phoenicians, n. an ancient Mediterranean
trading civilization  (90) S
plague, n. a highly contagious, usually fatal, sophist, n. a philosopher; in ancient Greece,
disease that affects large numbers of a teacher of philosophy and rhetoric  (60)
people  (51)
soul, n. the nonphysical part of a person; in
plebeian, n. a common person without power many religions, the soul is believed to live
in ancient Rome  (85) even after the body dies (57)
plunder, v. to take something by force (131) spoils, n. property or valuables taken by the
winner in a conflict  (115)
priestess, n. a woman who has the training
or authority to carry out certain religious statesman, n. a political leader  (46)
ceremonies or rituals  (27)
prominence, n. importance; fame (72) T
propaganda, n. false or exaggerated trade route, n. a road or waterway traveled
information that is spread to encourage by merchants or traders to buy or sell
belief in a certain person or idea (113) goods (96)

prophet, n. someone chosen by God to bring treasury, n. a place where the money and
a message to people (132) other riches of a government are kept  (115)

province, n. an area or region; when an area tribune, n. in ancient Rome, an elected

was conquered by Rome, it became a plebeian representative  (85)
province under Roman control (87)
tribute, n. payment of money or goods by a
Punic, adj. Carthaginian; the Roman word people or their ruler to another country or
punicus is Latin for Phoenician, and the ruler, in exchange for protection (88)
Carthaginians were descendants of the
Trojans, n. people from the ancient city of
Phoenicians  (90)
Troy in Asia Minor (112)

R truce, n. an agreement to stop fighting (24)

reason, n. the ability of the mind to think and tyranny, n. a type of government in which
understand (56) one person illegally seizes all power,
usually ruling in a harsh and brutal way;
recession, n. a time of reduced economic a dictatorship (5)
activity, when there is little buying or
selling (128)
V
rhetoric, n. the skill of using words effectively
virtue, n. a high moral standard (67)
in speaking or writing (13)

144
 CK HG™
Core Knowledge History and Geography™

Series Editor-In-Chief
E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

Editorial Directors
Linda Bevilacqua and Rosie McCormick
Subject Matter Expert Olympic victor being crowned, illustration from ‘Newnes’ Pictorial Knowledge’, 1932 (litho), English
School, (20th century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 26
Michael J. Carter, PhD, Professor, Ostrakon with the name of Themistokles, c.472 BC (ceramic), Greek, (5th century BC) / Agora
Department of Classics, Brock University Museum, Athens, Greece / Bridgeman Images: 10
Panathenaic black figure amphora depicting a foot race (pottery), Greek, (5th century BC) / Musee
Illustration and Photo Credits Municipal Antoine Vivenel, Compiegne, France / Bridgeman Images: Cover C, 25
Pericles delivering the funeral oration over the Athenians (litho), English School, (19th century) /
A Roman Legion (gouache on paper), Linklater, Barrie (b.1931) / Private Collection / © Look and Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images: 51
Learn / Bridgeman Images: 114 Pheidippides bringing news to Athens in 490 BC, Salinas, Alberto (1932–2004) / Private Collection /
A Spartan hoplite, or heavy armed soldier (gouache on paper), Howat, Andrew (20th Century) / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 32
Private Collection / Bridgeman Images: Cover A, 17 Relief of a Trireme (stone), Greek School / Acropolis Museum, Athens, Greece / Bridgeman Images: 31
A young woman arranging her clothes in a coffer, 450 BC (stone), Greek, (5th century BC) / Museo Robertharding/SuperStock: 99
Archeologico Nazionale, Taranto, Puglia, Italy / Bridgeman Images: 12 Roman civilization, Mosaic known as ‘Alexander Mosaic’ and depicting battle of Issus between armies
Aristotle and Plato: detail of School of Athens, 1510–11 (fresco) (detail of 472), Raphael (Raffaello of Alexander Great and Darius III of Persia, Copy of painting by Philoxenos of Eretria, From House of
Sanzio of Urbino) (1483–1520) / Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City / Bridgeman Images: 69 Faun, Pompei, Italy, / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Nimatallah / Bridgeman Images: 75
Assault on Carthage (gouache on paper), Baraldi, Severino (b.1930) / Private Collection / © Look and Roman Forum (colour litho), Italian School / Private Collection / De Agostini Picture Library /
Learn / Bridgeman Images: 95 Bridgeman Images: 118–119
Athenian trireme, Howat, Andrew (20th Century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Roman Republican Coin from Rome, 44 BC (silver), Roman, (1st century BC) / Ashmolean Museum,
Bridgeman Images: 31 University of Oxford, UK / Bridgeman Images: 104
Aureus of Constantine the Great (AD 306–37) Emperor of Rome, Trier Mint, AD 306–37 (obverse) Roman road construction (gouache on paper), Jackson, Peter (1922–2003) / Private Collection / ©
(gold), Roman, (4th century AD) / Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, UK / Bridgeman Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 127
Images: 128 Rome invaded by the Barbarians, Scarpelli, Tancredi (1866–1937) / Private Collection / © Look and
Battle of Marathon, Payne, Roger (b.1934) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Learn / Bridgeman Images: 132
Images: 36–37 Scholars at work in the famed library of Alexandria, Hook, Richard (b.1938) / Private Collection / ©
Battle of Salamis, Howat, Andrew (20th Century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 80
Images: 35 Socrates Addressing the Athenians, illustration from ‘Hutchinson’s History of the Nations’, 1915
Brian Jannsen/age fotostock/SuperStock: 42 (litho), Heath, Dudley (20th Century) / Private Collection / Bridgeman Images: 59
Bust of Alcibiades (c.450–04 BC) (marble), Greek School / Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy / Bridgeman Socrates, marble head, copy from a bronze from the Pompeion in Athens, made by Lysippus, Classical
Images: 53 Greek, c.330 BC / Louvre, Paris, France / Bridgeman Images: 58
Bust of greek general and politician Pericles, Roman copy in marble of Greek original from the Spartan Army, Howat, Andrew (20th Century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Bridgeman
Acropolis in Athens (Greece), Greek Civilization, 5th Century BC / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Images: 20
Nimatallah / Bridgeman Images: 39 Spartan warrior (bronze), Greek, (6th century BC) / Private Collection / Photo © Boltin Picture Library /
Bust of Plato (c.428–c.348 BC) (stone), Greek / Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy / Bridgeman Images: 67 Bridgeman Images: 17
Bust of Sophocles (496–406 BC) (marble), Roman / Musei Capitolini, Rome, Italy / Bridgeman St. Paul Preaching at Athens (cartoon for the Sistine Chapel) (PRE RESTORATION), Raphael (Raffaello
Images: 46 Sanzio of Urbino) (1483–1520) / Victoria & Albert Museum, London, UK / Bridgeman Images: 121
Cimon takes command of the Greek Fleet, illustration from ‘Hutchinson’s History of the Nations’, The academy at Athens (colour litho), English School, (20th century) / Private Collection / © Look
1915 (litho), Weatherstone, A.C. (fl.1888–1929) / Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 65
Bridgeman Images: 23 The Acropolis and Parthenon, Payne, Roger (b.1934) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn /
Constantinople / Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, Spain / Photo © AISA / Bridgeman Images: 133 Bridgeman Images: 54–55
Debate in the early Roman senate (gouache on paper), Baraldi, Severino (b.1930) / Private Collection / The Alexander Mosaic, detail depicting the Darius III (399-330 BC) at the Battle of Issus against
© Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 105 Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) in 333 BC (mosaic) (detail of 154003), Roman, (1st century BC) /
Detail from the eastern frieze of the Parthenon showing part of the Assemlby of the Gods / Werner Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Italy / Bridgeman Images: 72–73
Forman Archive / Bridgeman Images: 4 The Arch of Titus, Rome (w/c on paper), Wyld, William (1806–89) / Manchester Art Gallery, UK /
Emperor Augustus (63 BC–14 AD) (stone), Roman / Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy / Bridgeman Bridgeman Images: 84
Images: Cover E, 109 The Battle of Alexander at Issus. Oil painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer (1480–1538).
Emperor Constantine I (c.274–337) the Great (mosaic), Byzantine / San Marco, Venice, Italy / 1529. Detail., Altdorfer, Albrecht (c.1480–1538) / Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany / Photo ©
Bridgeman Images: 125 Tarker / Bridgeman Images: 75
f.106r The Coronation of Emperor Charlemagne (742–814) by Pope Leo III (c.750–816) at St. Peters, The death of Julius Caesar, Doughty, C.L. (1913–85) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn /
Rome in 800, Grandes Chroniques de France, 1375–79 (vellum), French School, (14th century) / Bridgeman Images: 107
Bibliotheque Municipale, Castres, France / Bridgeman Images: 135 The Death of Socrates, 1787 (oil on canvas), David, Jacques Louis (1748–1825) / Metropolitan
Figurine of a girl running, (bronze), Greek, (6th century BC) / British Museum, London, UK / Museum of Art, New York, USA / Bridgeman: 62
Bridgeman Images: 18 The Discobolus of Myron. Greek sculpture. From The National Encyclopaedia, published c.1890. /
George Munday/age fotostock/SuperStock: 8–9 Private Collection / Photo © Ken Welsh / Bridgeman Images: 28
Gold Stater, Alexander the Great coinage of Sicyon, c.323 BC (obverse) / Fitzwilliam Museum, The early city of Rome, Baraldi, Severino (b.1930) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn /
University of Cambridge, UK / Bridgeman Images: Cover B, 76 Bridgeman Images: 82–83
Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD (gouache on paper), Baraldi, Severino (b.1930) / Private Collection / © The Parthenon, built 447-432 BC (photo) / Acropolis, Athens, Greece / © SGM / Bridgeman Images: i, iii, 41
Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 130 The Parthenon, the Proylaea and the Erechtheum, Athens, built in the 5th century BC (photo) /
Greece, Athens, The Acropolis of Athens, Dionysus Theatre,4th Century BC, Ancient Greece / De Acropolis, Athens, Greece / Photo © AISA / Bridgeman Images: 55
Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images: 44 The School of Athens, from the Stanza della Segnatura, 1509–10 (fresco), Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio
Greece, Corinth, Apollo Temple,6th Century BC, Ancient Greece / De Agostini Picture Library / G. Dagli of Urbino) (1483–1520) / Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City / Bridgeman Images: 69
Orti / Bridgeman Images: 48–49 The Toreador Fresco, Knossos Palace, Crete, c.1500 BC (fresco) / National Archaeological Museum,
Hannibal crossing the Alps, English School, (20th century) / Private Collection / © Look and Learn / Athens, Greece / Bridgeman Images: 2–3
Bridgeman Images: 93 The Wrestler, copy of Greek sculpture 3rd century BC (marble) (see also 122614) / Galleria degli Uffizi,
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c.535–c.475 BC) (oil on canvas), French School, (17th century) (after) / Florence, Italy / Bridgeman Images: 28
Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Medecine, Paris, France / Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images: 57 Triumph of Faith – Christian Martyrs in the Time of Nero, 65 AD (oil on canvas), Thirion, Eugene
Ian Cook/Image Source/SuperStock: 29 Romain (1839–1910) / Private Collection / Photo © Bonhams, London, UK / Bridgeman Images: 123
Iberfoto/SuperStock: 89 Urn depicting a wedding scene, red-figure pottery from Illyria, Albania. Greek civilization, 4th
imageBROKER/SuperStock: 140 Century BC. / De Agostini Picture Library / A. De Gregorio / Bridgeman Images: 47
In earliest times a simple foot-race was the only event, illustration from The Story of Greece by Mary Vercingetorix throws down his arms at the feet of Julius Caesar, 1899 (oil on canvas), Royer, Lionel
Macgregor, 1st edition, 1913 (colour print), Crane, Walter (1845–1915) / Private Collection / The Noel (1852–1926) / Musee Crozatier, Le Puy-en-Velay, France / Bridgeman Images: 101
Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images: 25 View of the exterior showing the stairway, 13th-9th century BC (photo), Roman / Ara Pacis (Altar of
Ingemar Edfalk/Blend Images/SuperStock: 141 Peace), Rome, Italy / Bridgeman Images: 110
Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon (colour litho), English School, (20th century) / Private Collection / © Virgil (70-19 BC) and the Muses, from Sousse (Hadrumetum) (mosaic), Roman, (3rd century AD) /
Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: Cover D, 103 Musee National du Bardo, Le Bardo, Tunisia / Bridgeman Images: 1, 112
Leonidas and his troops fighting to the end, English School, (20th century) / Private Collection / Walter Bibikow/age fotostock/SuperStock: 137
© Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 33 When They Were Young: The Great General Hannibal, Jackson, Peter (1922–2003) / Private Collection /
Masters and pupils at the Athenian school where studies included music. Greek red figure vessel. © Look and Learn / Bridgeman Images: 92
Staatliche Museum Berlin / Universal History Archive/UIG / Bridgeman Images: 14
 CK HG™
Core Knowledge History and Geography
A comprehensive program in world and American history
and geography, integrating topics in civics and the arts,
exploring civilizations, cultures, and concepts specified in the
Core Knowledge Sequence (content and skill guidelines for Grades K–8).

Core Knowledge History and Geography™

units at this level include:

World Deserts
Ancient Greece and Rome
The Enlightenment,
The French Revolution and Romanticism
The Industrial Revolution: Changes and Challenges
Independence for Latin America
The Making of America: Immigration,
Industrialization, and Reform

www.coreknowledge.org

Core Knowledge Curriculum Series™

Series Editor-in-Chief
E. D. Hirsch, Jr.

ISBN: 978-1-68380-321-8 960L