TRA: Lesson - Greece: The Polis and Greek Culture

Map of Greece with Athens, Corinth, Olympia, and Sparta labeled.Greece: The Polis and Culture

The Polis: Greek City States

The Balkan Peninsula is a strange place for the start of what would become the massive Greek empire. It is mountainous and transitions from a jagged mainland to equally rough terrain on a series of islands. For individual sections or islands it was easy to gain control, but incredibly tough to keep control. This meant that they were pretty unique and often at war. At the turn of the 5th century BCE, people identified themselves by their city-state or polis. Things changed when the Persians (the massive empire from Module 1) invaded. The city-states realized they would fall on their own, so they came together to fight and eventually won the war. After the war, there was a sense of common identity that transcended the polis. The Greeks started to see themselves as Greeks.

Side Note: This did not prevent them from waging war on each other, though, as the individual city-states set out to become the leader of the Greeks.

Greek pottery of a Greek warrior and a womanGreek Culture

One thing that united the Greeks was their religious beliefs. They were polytheistic and generally worshiped twelve major gods. These gods were sometimes most associated with a single polis (like Zeus, god of Thunder, at Olympia or Athena, goddess of wisdom, at Athens) and acted as dramatically as humans. Most ancient Greeks believed they would exist as spirits in the underworld when they died, but a few war heroes would live on at Elysium.

The city-states had many different types of government: tyranny (the absolute rule by an individual), monarchy (the rule by a law-bound individual), oligarchy (the rule by a small group of elites), or democracy (the rule by free adult male citizens). Each polis had its own culture. Below are four of the major city-states. Each one is listed with its dominant trait. The four that influenced Greek culture the most were:

Major City-States in Ancient Greece
Polis (City-State) Olympia Corinth Athens Sparta
Image Olympic Rings Isthmus of Greece (Corinth) from space. The ruins of the Athenian Parthenon. Statue bust of a Spartan warrior.
Trait Competition Trade Thought (Philosophy) War
Description Today we know this polis as the birthplace of the Olympics. For over 1000 years, athletes from surrounding city-states would come together every 4 years for competition in sports that we still see at the Olympics today (like running, jumping, and the javelin throw). They represent the best of what came from inter-Greek competition. This polis bordered two ports and connected the Balkan Peninsula (home to Athens and Thebes) to the Peloponnesian Peninsula (home to Olympia and Sparta). It became a center of trade and wealth. But when they tried to take over another polis, it started a huge war between the Balkan and Peloponnesian city-states.

Athens’ social structure encouraged new ideas, including democracy and philosophy (study of knowledge). The first philosopher was Socrates, who mentored Plato. Plato thought up what the perfect society and government might look like. Inspired by the way Socrates taught him, Plato also created a philosophy school (called The Academy) in Athens. Athens became the center of Greek philosophy, art, and science.

 Sparta focused on war. Warriors of Sparta began training as young as seven. Even women were educated and encouraged to be strong and agile. When the Corinthians started a huge war, Sparta emerged as the winner. However, all Greek city-states were weakened by decades of war.

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