Guess the Test #1

By the 800s BC, a new type of society emerged in Greece, centered around the polis, or city-state. (More than one polis is spelled “poleis”). The polis was a fortified town surrounded by farmland and was the basic political unit and center of daily life and culture. People were very loyal to their polis and often attacked neighboring poleis. Even in times of peace, the poleis were suspicious of each other and kept to themselves. Greek geography played a big part in this. There is very little good farmland in Greece and rugged mountains divide and isolate one fertile valley from another. It wasn’t long before the poleis grew too large for the food supply, so early on, the Greeks became colonists. They sailed east across the Aegean Sea to establish poleis on the islands and along the coast of modern day Turkey, and west across the Adriatic Sea to colonize Southern Italy.

The typical polis spread out below a high area called an acropolis, which was originally a fortress, but later became a holy site with temples to the gods and open space for ceremonies. Below the acropolis was the agora or open air marketplace (where Athenians argued politics), surrounded by shops, houses, more temples, and a gymnasium. Around the outskirts of the polis was a wall for defense, and beyond that, fields for crops. These poleis were kind of like towns in Alaska – centers for commerce surrounded by absolute wilderness.
Each polis developed its own political system. While civilizations outside of Greece were run by priest-kings, the polis of Corinth was an oligarchy – a rule by several leaders at once. Athens was a democracy, run by the people. Thebes was an aristocracy, ruled by members of the wealthy class only.
Sparta was a mighty polis, but unlike the others. Spartans conquered nearby towns and forced the people to be helots or state slaves. Helots were given to Spartans to do their manual labor so that the citizens could spend all their time training for war. This was believed to be the only way to keep order because the helots outnumbered the Spartans and might rebel at any time. Therefore, Spartans demanded that their citizens be tough from birth. Babies that were not healthy were left in the wild to die. Boys entered a school for combat at age 7. At 20, they became hoplites or foot soldiers, and served in the army for 10 years. Women were also expected to be physically fit and help run the city when men were away at war. Sparta was led by two military commander kings but eventually, an elected council of elders made many decisions.

GODS AND HEROES

Ancient Greeks believed in hundreds of gods and goddesses. Each ruled over nature or life. The Greeks believed the gods would protect them if they offered sacrifices. About 12 of the gods were especially important and were thought to live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. The gods were powerful, but they were not perfect. They often got jealous or made mistakes just like people. However, they had unlimited power, so Greeks tried really hard to avoid irritating any of them!