Chapters 5 and 6 Outline
Chapter 5
I. Minoan Civilization
a. The early civilization’s home was Crete.
b. The rulers of the trading empire lived at Knossos.
c. The Minoan civilization had vanished by about 1400 B.C.
II. Rulers of Mycenae
a. The Mycenaeans were Indo-European people.
b. The Mycenean civilization dominated the Aegean world from about 1400 B.C. to 1200 B.C and they were sea traders.
c. The Mycenaens were best remembered for their part in the Trojan War that took place around 1250 B.C.
III. The Age of Homer
a. Sea raiders attacked the Mycenaen civilization after the fall of Troy.
b. We get hints about life from two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
c. The Iliad and the Odyssey reveal a lot about the values of the ancient Greeks.
IV. Looking Ahead
a. The Greeks lived in small, isolated villages for centuries after the Dorian invasions.
b. The stories heard about Crete and Mycenae went through changes and became a part of the Greek heritage.
c. The Greeks developed unique ideas about how to best govern a society.
V. Geography: The Greek Homeland.
a. Geography has helped to shape the river valley civilizations early.
b. The Greeks who farmed the valleys or settled on the islands did not create a large empire.
c. The Mediterranean and the Aegean seas were was central to the Greeks.
VI. The Polis
a. The Greeks evolved a unique version of the city state they call polis.
b. Greeks evolved into different forms of government between 750 B.C. and 500 B.C.
c. Military technology changed and contributed to the increased power of the middle class.
VII. Sparta: A Nation of Soldiers
a. Laconia was conquered by Spartans who were Dorians.
b. A Spartan would be prepared to be part of a military from childhood.
c. The Spartans isolated themselves from other Greeks.
VIII. Athens: A limited Democracy
a. The Athenian government evolved from a monarchy into an aristocracy.
b. Merchants and soldiers resented the power of the nobles.
c. Boys attended school if their families could afford it.
IX. Forces for Unity
a. Strong local ties, independent spirits, and economic rivalry led to fighting among Greek city-states.
b. Greeks were polytheistic or they believe in more than one god.
c. The Greeks came in contact with people who spoke different languages and had different customs.
X. The Persian Wars
a. The wealthiest Greek city-state was Athens by 500 B.C.
b. Rebel cities were crushed by the Persians.
c. A much larger force was sent by Darius’ son Xerxex to conquer Greece.
XI. Athens in the Age of Pericles
a. Pericles believed that all male citizens should take part in government regardless of wealth or social class.
b. A speech given by Pericles was recorded by Thucydides.
c. Pericles hired the best architects and sculptors to rebuild the Acropolis.
XII. Greek against Greek
a. Many Greeks resented Athenian domination.
b. Athens faced a serious geographic disadvantage despite its riches and powerful navy.
c. Athenian greatness was ended after the Peloponnesian War.
XIII. Lovers of Wisdom
a. Greek thinkers denied that events were caused by the gods.
b. Philosophers explored subjects mathematics, physics, music and logic or rational thinking.
c. Sophists believed that success was more important than moral truths.
XIV. Death of a Philosopher
a. We know about Socrates mostly from Plato.
b. The questioning process is known as the Socratic method.
c. Socrates accepted the death penalty because they were loyal to the laws of Athens.
XV. Ideas About Government
a. Plato emphasized the importance of reason like Socrates.
b. Plato’s’ most famous student was Aristotle who developed his own ideas about the best kind of government.
c. Aristotle also addressed the question of how people ought to live like Plate.
XVI. The Search for Beauty and Order
a. Plato argued that every object on Earth had an ideal form.
b. Greek architecture has been admired for centuries.
c. Vases and other pottery are the only greek paintings to survive.
XVII. Poetry and Drama
a. Epics of Homer were begun by Greek literature.
b. Religious festivals were the first Greek plays.
c. Comedies were also other Greek playwrights.
XVIII. The Writing of History
a. The Greeks used observation, reason, and logic to the study of history.
b. Herodotus noted bias and conflicting accounts.
c. Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War.
XIX. Macedonian Ambitions
a. The rugged, mountainous kingdom of Macedonia was a backward, half-civilized land to the Greeks.
b. Philip dreamed of conquering the city-states to the south when he gained the Macedonian throne in 359 B.C.
c. Philip proposed to lead a force of Macedonians and Greeks to conquer the Persian empire.
XX. A Mighty Conqueror
a. Alexander was already an experienced soldier by 20 years old.
b. Alexander planned to invade Persia like his father..
c. Alexander fell into a fever and lied dying.
XXI. The Legacy of Alexander
a. Alexander unleashed changes that would cross the Mediterranean world and the Middle East for centuries although his empire soon crumbled.
b. Alexandria, Egypt stood at the heart of the Hellenistic world.
c. Women were no longer restricted to their houses in the Hellenistic period.
XXII. Hellenistic Civilization
a. Armies of architects and artists were employed from the cities of the Hellenistic world.
b. New schools of philosophy rose from the political turmoil of the Hellenistic age contribution.
c. The Hellenistic age saw important advances in the sciences and mathematics.
XXIII. Looking Ahead
a. Rome came to dominate the Mediterranean world.
b. Greek ideas about law, freedom, justice, and government have influenced political thinking to the present day.
c. Greek legacy influenced the civilizations of Rome and of Western Europe.
Chapter 6
I. The Italian landscape
a. Rome ended up ruling the entire Mediterranean world after it began as a small city-state in Italy.
b. Italy is a peninsula shaped like a boot.
c. Italy was much easier to unify than Greece because of its geography.
II. Roman Beginnings
a. Like the Greeks, the Romans were an Indo-European people.
b. The Romans shared the Italian peninsula with other peoples ideas they adapted.
c. The Etruscans ruled much of central Italy.
III. The Early Republic
a. The Etruscan king was driven out by the Romans in 509 B.C.
b. The most powerful governing body ws the senate in the early republic.
c. All government officials were patricians at first.
IV. Expansion in Italy
a. Rome’s armies expanded Roman power across Italy.
b. Rome’s success was due partly to skillful diplomacy and partly to its efficient, well-disciplined army.
c. Rome posted soldiers throughout the land to protect its conquests.
V. Rivalry With Carthage
a. Carthage was the new rival after Rome’s conquest of the Italian peninsula.
b. Conflict between Rome and Carthage became inevitable as Rome spread into the Mediterranean.
c. General Hannibal sought revenge 23 years later after its loss.
VI. War With Hannibal
a. Hannibal was selected as the leader of the Carthaginian army after his father’s death.
b. Hannibal and his army moved across Italy for 15 years.
c. Hannibal died and Carthage kept to the terms of the peace
VII. Ruler of the Mediterranean World
a. While Rome fought Carthage in the west, it also expanded into the eastern Mediterranean.
b. Rome started a series of wars in the area.
c. Roman power extended from Spain to Egypt.
VIII. Effects of Expansion
a. The new class of wealthy Romans built mansions and filled them with luxuries imported from the east.
b. Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were among the first to attempt reform.
c. Rome was plugged into a series of civil wars during the next 100 years.
IX. Caesar’s Bid for Power
a. Julius Caesar combined ambition with a determination to make drastic reforms.
b. Pompey grew jealous of Caesar’s successes and feared his rising fame.
c. Enemies of Caesar worried that he planned to make himself king of Rome.
X. Imperial Rome
a. Augustus helped Rome recover from the long period of civil war.
b. Augustus created an efficient, well-trained civil service charge with enforcing the laws.
c. Not all of Augustus’ successors were great rulers.
XI. The Roman Peace
a. The period of the Pax Romana is known with Marcus Aurelius.
b. Grain was supplied to Roman by Egyptian farmers in the Nile Valley.
c. The Roman empire was also flowed by people.
XII. Family and Religion
a. The ideal Roman woman was loving, dutiful, dignified, and strong.
b. Girls and boys learned to read and write.
c. Etruscans and Greeks made a resemblance to Roman godsand goddesses.
XIII. Bread and Circuses
a. Entertainments were loved by the rich and the poor.
b. Even more popular were gladiator contests.
c. The amusements were a way to control the city’s restless mobs.
XIV. Greco-Roman Civilization
a. Rome absorbed ideas from Greek colonists in southern Italy in its early days.
b. Roman building combined both Greek and Roman elements and ideas.
c. The Romans usually left scientific research to the Greeks.
XV. Literature, Philosophy, and History
a. The rise and fall of Roman power was the Roman historian own theme.
b. Virgil wrote the Aenieid soon after Augustus came to power.
c. Greek philosophy was much barrowed by the Romans.
XVI. Roman Law
a. Commitment to the rule of law and to justice is probably the greatest legacy of Rome.
b. Rome developed a system of law during the republic.
c. Certain basic principle evolved as Roman law developed.
XVII. Jews and the Roman Empire
a. Varied religious tradition of culturally diverse empire was tolerated by Rome.
b. The Romans had conquered Palestine where most Jews lived at the time.
c. Discontent flared into rebellion in 66 A.D.
XVIII. The Life of Jesus
a. Christianity rose among them as turmoil engulfed the Jews in Palestine.
b. The teachings by Jesus were rooted in Jewish tradition.
c. Some Jews welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem but other regarded him as a dangerous troublemaker.
XIX. Spread of Christianity
a. Christianity remained a small group at first.
b. Christianity continued to spread despite the attacks.
c. Christianity was led often by women.
XX. The Early Christian Church
a. A priest was owned by each community and was under the authority of a bishop.
b. Rivalry among the bishops led to division in the Church.
c. In A.D. 313 the persecution of Christians finally ended when the emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan.
XXI. The Empire in Crisis
a. The Pax Roman ended after the death of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
b. The empire was shaken by disturbing social and economic trends at the same time.
c. Many poor farmers left their land and sought protection from wealthy landowners.
XXII. Efforts at Reform
a. Reforming emperors tried to reverse the decline
b. The emperor Diocletian set out to restore order.
c. Constantine gained the throne and continued Diocletian’s reforms.
XXIII. Foreign Invasions
a. Rome faced attacks from the Germanic people who lived along its northern borders for centuries.
b. A chain of event that could eventually overwhelm Rome were set off by war in East Asia.
c. The Roman army suffered a stunning defeat when it tried to turn back the Visigoths at Adrianople.
XXIV. The End of Greatness
a. The most obvious cause of Rome’s fall was the Germanic invasions.
b. Another reason were political problems.
c. Worried Romans pointed to the decline in values such as patriotism, discipline, and devotion to duty for centruries.
