6th Grade: Ancient Greece and Rome

6th Graders are studying Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece this week and will then began studying later European History.

Below is an excerpt of the reading on Ancient Greece:

ANCIENT GREECE

Ancient Greece wasn't one large empire but a collection of smaller city-states. The term the Greeks used was polis, which meant "city-state." A polis was bigger than a city but smaller than a state. They were scattered throughout the Mediterranean area. Some were seaports; others were more inland. Some of the more famous city-states were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Delphi, and Thebes.

The people living in these city-states were all Greek, coming from a common heritage. But the people of each city-state did different things and had different beliefs.

Sparta, for instance, was a place of great determination. The Spartans believed in a strong army. All Spartan boys were trained to be soldiers. Other Greek city-states often looked to Sparta and its army to keep them safe. Sparta was ruled by the Senate, a group that made laws and kept tyrants in check.

Athens, another large city-state, was the birthplace of democracy, or the idea that each person could have a voice in what laws were passed and who made up the government.

Early in its history, Athens was ruled by tyrants, some of whom worked to create democracy. The Athenians invented the practice of ostracism to deal with tyrants.

Athens was also a place of great culture. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle studied and taught in and around Athens. Many of the famous buildings that are only ruins today were in Athens.

Athens was the home of the Greeks' great fleet, which beat back the invading Persians several times during the Persian Wars. Athens also used this fleet to create an empire. Other, smaller city-states grew afraid of Athens' power and sided with Sparta, another large city-state, in the Peloponnesian War, which ended in the defeat of Athens. This war left the Greeks so weak from fighting each other that they were easy targets for a determined conqueror like Alexander the Great, who conquered Greece on his way to ruling most of the known world.

Another famous city-state was Olympia, which had the Olympics, great athletic contests that soldiers and others took part in, even during wars. The Olympics were actually a religious festival dedicated to the great god Zeus. Delphi, another city-state, had the Oracle, a religious temple that answered questions in a vague sort of way.

The Greek religion was based on the worship of nature and many Gods and Goddesses (polytheism). The most powerful and famous of these was Zeus. Other famous gods and goddesses were Apollo, Aphrodite, Athena, Hades, and Poseidon. The Greeks told all kinds of fanciful tales about these gods and goddesses. Many times, they interacted with people. Other times, they did great or terrible things on their own. The Greeks invented comedy and drama and great plays and performances were a regular part of Greek life.

The Greeks also made great discoveries in math and science. Pythagoras invented his famous Theorem. Euclid invented geometry. Eratosthenes calculated how many miles the Earth was around. Aristarchus calculated the distance from Earth to the Moon. Aristotle made a name for himself as a scientist as well.

The Greeks were also the first to write history, chronicling events from wars to everyday life.