Greece The Peloponnesian Wars
The Peloponnesian Wars
Pericles was a young and talented Athenian. He was a leader. He kept an eye on Sparta and built a wall to defend the city of Athens from attack should one come. He also encouraged his people to build beautiful buildings on the Acropolis. He traveled to Sparta, and convinced the Spartans to grant a peace of 30 years, to give everyone in the Greek world a chance to recover from the Persian Wars. That success made him famous in the ancient Greek world. Pericles was a persuasive speaker!
It was a time of great prosperity for Athens. They were loaded with wealth. They were at peace. Art, poetry, philosophy, and architecture – everything flourished. They built wonderful buildings on the Acropolis, the rocky hill overlooking Athens. They were happy.
One day, Athens and Sparta quarreled about something. It was an insignificant quarrel. But it started a war, a war that lasted nearly 30 years. In the third year of the war, more than half the people died – not from fighting, from illness. Everyone in the surrounding countryside had fled inside the city gates. The city was not prepared for that many people to live in Athens. There was not enough food. They did not have a way to safely remove waste. It was a mess. People became ill, and died. One of those who died was the young leader Pericles.
Things got worse after that. Athens suffered from poor leadership and a lack of food. Finally, in April, in the year 404 BCE, Athens surrendered. They were starving. The Spartans had the town surrounded. The Athenians could not get to their crops.
Despite the bitterness, the Spartans were generous. They did not level the town as Corinth and Thebes had wanted them to do. Instead, they made Athens a satellite state under a Spartan oligarchy. It was the end of democracy. Ten years later, Athens regained her independence. She regained much of her old strength. But never again was ancient Athens the golden city she once was.
Still, great thinkers and great teachers continued to live in Athens. Athens might have rebuilt to her former glory, only time was running out for all the Greek city-states. To the north, in Macedonia, a new king would soon be born. His parents would name him Alexander. The world would call him Alexander the Great.
Questions:
What did Pericles do that made him famous?
Which two city-states wanted the Spartans to destroy Athens?
Pericles was a young and talented Athenian. He was a leader. He kept an eye on Sparta and built a wall to defend the city of Athens from attack should one come. He also encouraged his people to build beautiful buildings on the Acropolis. He traveled to Sparta, and convinced the Spartans to grant a peace of 30 years, to give everyone in the Greek world a chance to recover from the Persian Wars. That success made him famous in the ancient Greek world. Pericles was a persuasive speaker!
It was a time of great prosperity for Athens. They were loaded with wealth. They were at peace. Art, poetry, philosophy, and architecture – everything flourished. They built wonderful buildings on the Acropolis, the rocky hill overlooking Athens. They were happy.
One day, Athens and Sparta quarreled about something. It was an insignificant quarrel. But it started a war, a war that lasted nearly 30 years. In the third year of the war, more than half the people died – not from fighting, from illness. Everyone in the surrounding countryside had fled inside the city gates. The city was not prepared for that many people to live in Athens. There was not enough food. They did not have a way to safely remove waste. It was a mess. People became ill, and died. One of those who died was the young leader Pericles.
Things got worse after that. Athens suffered from poor leadership and a lack of food. Finally, in April, in the year 404 BCE, Athens surrendered. They were starving. The Spartans had the town surrounded. The Athenians could not get to their crops.
Despite the bitterness, the Spartans were generous. They did not level the town as Corinth and Thebes had wanted them to do. Instead, they made Athens a satellite state under a Spartan oligarchy. It was the end of democracy. Ten years later, Athens regained her independence. She regained much of her old strength. But never again was ancient Athens the golden city she once was.
Still, great thinkers and great teachers continued to live in Athens. Athens might have rebuilt to her former glory, only time was running out for all the Greek city-states. To the north, in Macedonia, a new king would soon be born. His parents would name him Alexander. The world would call him Alexander the Great.
Questions:
What did Pericles do that made him famous?
Which two city-states wanted the Spartans to destroy Athens?