Ron Paul Curriculum 7th Grade History
Taught by: Professor Bradley Fish
Lesson 5 essay: Ancient Greece
by KryssaLee Baze
The country of Greece is composed of a rocky coastland surrounded by many islands. The earliest civilizations were the Minoans and the Mycenaeans. The Minoans were a peaceful people that focused primarily on developing their culture. Their most recognizable archaeological feat was the Palace of Knossos. The Mycenaeans, however, were a very warlike people. They colonized much of Greece, and were nomadic, traveling around and colonized much of Greece. The Dorians eventually conquered the Mycenaeans and changed the writing to what we now know as Greek.
After the Dark Ages, a time period when not much history was recorded, Greece started to develop city states. Athens and Sparta were the strongest and most influential of the city states. They were basically independent of each other and had their own government separate from one another. Athens was a peaceful city, focusing on developing high culture, much like the Minoans. On the other hand, Sparta was very warlike. There was hardly any time for family life, and they had a very powerful army, much like the Mycenaeans.
When Persia invaded Greece, the city states were forced to form an alliance and successfully repulsed Persia. After the Persian Wars, however, Athens and Sparta battled against each other in what is called the Peloponnesian Wars, to see who was the strongest. Sparta won, due to all their focus on the military during their past history. When Alexander the Great conquered Greece, it became the strongest empire in the world of that time.
After the fall of the Seleucid Empire, however, Greece never became a world power again. Though Greece never again rose to a world power, it's culture continued to be influential throughout the world.
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