It’s time for lesson three, which is on change. One of the most important historical skills is interpreting causes and effects;tTo be able to explain and analyse the impact of changes to Ancient Greek society brought by significant individuals and ideas.
Let’s kick this lesson off with a 3-2-1!
- read the 3 articles on change in Ancient Greece (provided below);
- research 2 “Greek fathers” (see Source A; i.e. Socrates, “Father of Philosophy”) and write down 2 facts about each;
- create 1 diagram of a phalanx.
Here are your 3 articles:
Source A: People, Ideas and Changes in Athenian Society (The Khan Academy n.d.)
“The first series of laws written to address these inequities was provided by the statesman Draco around 621 BCE, but the laws were considered too severe—the penalty for most infractions was death! This is where we get the term draconian! An aristocrat named Solon was called upon to modify and revise these harsh laws; he created a series of laws which equalized political power. Two of the changes for which Solon was responsible were the cancellation of debts and the abolition of debt slavery. He also created opportunities for some common people to participate in the government of Athens. In doing so, Solon laid the groundwork for democracy in Athens. Pericles led Athens between 461 and 429 BCE; he was an incredibly well-liked leader known for encouraging culture, philosophy, and science and for advocating for the common people. Under Pericles, Athens entered its golden age and great thinkers, writers, and artists flourished in the city. Herodotus—the “father of history”—lived and wrote in Athens. Socrates—the “father of philosophy”—taught in the marketplace. Hippocrates—“the father of medicine”—practiced there. The sculptor Phidias created his great works for the Parthenon on the Acropolis and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. Democritus envisioned an atomic universe. Aeschylus, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Sophocles wrote their famous plays. This legacy continued as, later, Plato founded his Academy outside the walls of Athens in 385 BCE and, even later, Aristotle’s Lyceum was founded in the city center. Still, Athenian democracy was limited to its male citizens. Foreigners, enslaved people, and women were excluded from these institutions. Women’s roles were largely confined to the private sphere, where they were responsible for raising children and managing the household, including enslaved people if the household could afford them. While women of the upper classes were often literate, most were not likely to receive an education beyond what was needed for the execution of their domestic duties. They required male chaperones to travel in public. Enslaved people, while not involved in political affairs, were integral to the Athenian economy. They cultivated food, worked large construction projects, and labored in mines and quarries. Enslaved people were present in most Athenian households, carrying out an array of domestic duties.”
Source B: Ancient Greek Military Tactics (Facts and Details c.2018)
“Unlike their predecessors—the Mesopotamians, Egyptians and Chinese, who maneuvered from a distance with chariots and archers—the ancient Greeks fought ace to face in tightly grouped ranks of soldiers called phalanxes. During the Trojan war chariots were used mainly as transport vehicles. One of the reasons for this was the rugged Greek countryside did not provide enough grazing land to feed a lot of horses, nor did it lend itself to chariot battles which need a lot of flat open space (Keegan 1993). John Porter of the University of Saskatchewan wrote: “In the 7th century B.C. armies came to rely more and more on a formation known as the phalanx — a dense formation of heavily-armored soldiers (known as hoplites) who would advance in close-packed ranks, each soldier holding a round shield on his left arm (designed to protect both him and the soldier to his immediate left) and a long thrusting spear in his right hand.. Unlike the older tactics, which had involved individuals battling on foot or on horseback, this style of fighting relied upon large numbers of well-drilled citizen-soldiers. The defense of the polis came to rest more on the willing participation of its propertied citizens (known, collectively, as the demos or “common people”) and less on the whim of its traditional aristocracy.” (Porter 2009).
Source C: Ancient Greek Mathematics in Athens (Mastin 2010)
“Democritus, most famous for his prescient ideas about all matter being composed of tiny atoms, was also a pioneer of mathematics and geometry in the 5th – 4th Century BCE, and he produced works with titles like “On Numbers”, “On Geometrics”, “On Tangencies”, “On Mapping” and “On Irrationals”, although these works have not survived. We do know that he was among the first to observe that a cone (or pyramid) has one-third the volume of a cylinder (or prism) with the same base and height, and he is perhaps the first to have seriously considered the division of objects into an infinite number of cross-sections.
However, it is certainly true that Pythagoras in particular greatly influenced those who came after him, including Plato, who established his famous Academy in Athens in 387 BCE, and his protégé Aristotle, whose work on logic was regarded as definitive for over two thousand years. Plato the mathematician is best known for his description of the five Platonic solids, but the value of his work as a teacher and popularizer of mathematics can not be overstated. Plato’s student Eudoxus of Cnidus is usually credited with the first implementation of the “method of exhaustion” (later developed by Archimedes), an early method of integration by successive approximations which he used for the calculation of the volume of the pyramid and cone. He also developed a general theory of proportion, which was applicable to incommensurable (irrational) magnitudes that cannot be expressed as a ratio of two whole numbers, as well as to commensurable (rational) magnitudes, thus extending Pythagoras’ incomplete ideas. Perhaps the most important single contribution of the Greeks, though – and Pythagoras, Plato and Aristotle were all influential in this respect – was the idea of proof, and the deductive method of using logical steps to prove or disprove theorems from initial assumed axioms. Older cultures, like the Egyptians and the Babylonians, had relied on inductive reasoning, that is using repeated observations to establish rules of thumb. It is this concept of proof that give mathematics its power and ensures that proven theories are as true today as they were two thousand years ago, and which laid the foundations for the systematic approach to mathematics of Euclid and those who came after him.”
Now write on your 2 ‘Greek Fathers’ using two columns, like this:
| ‘Greek Father’ 1 | ‘Greek Father’ 2 |
| Fact 1 | Fact 1 |
| Fact 2 | Fact 2 |
Lastly, create 1 drawing of what you believe a phalanx may look like. Upload a picture of it in the comments below!
Description of Phalanx (Encyclopedia Britannica 2017)
“Phalanx, in military science, is tactical formation consisting of a block of heavily armed infantry standing shoulder to shoulder in files several ranks deep. Fully developed by the ancient Greeks, it survived in modified form into the gunpowder era and is viewed today as the beginning of European military development.
During the 7th century BC the Greek city-states adopted a phalanx eight men deep. The Greek hoplite, the heavy-armed infantryman who manned the phalanx, was equipped with a round shield, a heavy corselet of leather and metal, greaves (shin armour), an 8-foot pike for thrusting, and a 2-foot double-edged sword. Since the phalanx held in solid ranks and was divided only into the centre and wings, there was generally little need for an officer corps; the whole line advanced in step to the sound of the flute. Such a formation encouraged cohesion among advancing troops and presented a frightening spectacle to the enemy, but it was difficult to maneuver and, if penetrated by enemy formations, became little more than a mob.”
Now that you have a deeper understanding of change over time, consider these questions below. Upload your responses in the comments.
- How did Athenian society change over time?
- How did Greek mathematics influence the way people think today?
- What were 2 strengths and 2 weaknesses of the hoplite phalanx?
For homework, complete the attached vocabulary activity on the people and places of Ancient Greece. Use the sources on this page to help you!
Ancient Greece Activity Centre 