Athens in GreecePower Point By: Karley Bounds

Athens and Sparta organized rival alliances in 400's B.C.

History of AthensAthens is one of the oldest named cities in the world, having been continuously inhabited for at least 7000 years. Situated in southern Europe, Athens became the leading city of ancient Greece. During the Middle Ages, Athens experienced decline and then a recovery under the Byzantine Empire. Athens were relatively prosperous during the Crusades, benefiting from the Italian trade. After a long period of decline under the rule of the Ottoman empire, Athens re-emerged in the 19th century as the capital of an independent state.

AcropolisThe Acropolis,

Dedicated to Athena, was a religious shrine and high fortress for the Athenian people. Amid the largest and most apparent achievement of Athens, is the marble Parthenon, situated at the highest point of the Acropolis. The Parthenon held several temples to the goddess Athena.

AthenaAthena, also known as Athene, was a Greek Goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice, and skill. her mother is Metis and she is the daughter of Zeus. Athena was also known as the Roman god Minerva. It was said that when he swallowed Metis when she was pregnant for her and that Athena was born out of his head.

The Women's of AthensThe womens of Athens were just above slaves. Most weren't taught to read or write. There are three general classes Athenian womens could be classified in, they are the lower class, which were slave women, the second class, which were Athenian citizen women, and the third class, which was known as the Hetaerae. Hetaerae women were the ones that were taught how to read and write.

Classes of AthensThere are two main classes

in Athens, they are citizens and slaves. Citizenship allotted many privileges to the populations of Athens. Women were excluded from becoming citizens. Citizens could own land, slaves, belong to the assembly, and could have some political sway. While slaves were excluded from religious festivals of Athens. They could not own land, were denied some civil rights, and could not participate in political activities. Some of the younger slaves' masters even allowed apprenticeships in their workshop.

Athens against SpartaAthenians: You could get a good education and could pursue any of several kinds of arts or sciences. You could serve in the navy or army, but only if you wanted to. (this applied to boys only, girls were restricted to other pursuits.

Spartan: They focused on obedience and war. Slavery this possible by freeing the young men from household and industrial duties and allowing them to focus on their military duties. Young men were trained to be warriors while young girls were trained to be mothers of warriors.

Democracy Democracy began at Athens. But they were not a representative democracy, instead it was direct democracy. Representative democracy is where people vote for representatives who decide issues in their name. Direct democracy is where every citizen can vote on every issue. In Athens, they had an assembly, or a lawmaking group. Any of the free men could speak in the assembly and vote on a new law.

Trading in AthensThe Athens didn't get enough food for the city's people, so they traded. Athenians traded with other city-states and some foreign lands to get the goods they needed. They acquired grain from Egypt and wood from Italy. In exchange, they traded olive oil, silver, honey, and painted pottery. Athens developed its own coins. They were made of such metals as gold, silver, and bronze. They decorated the flat sided of their coins. Athens developed its own coins to make trading much easier.

Work Cited Picture of the map of the allies of Athens and Sparta. [Online Image]

http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/ancient-greece3.gif, February 17, 2011

Picture of the Acropolis. [Online Image] http://www.travlang.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/acropolis-landmark_321.jpg, February 17, 2011

Picture of Athena. http://www.comicbookmovie.com/images/users/uploads/17374/Athena.jpg, February 17, 2011

Picture of the women of Athens. [Online Image]http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/aegean/culture/womenofathens.html, February 18, 2011

Picture of slaves. [Online Image]http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/img/background/illustrations/32b.jpg, February 18, 2011

Picture of where Athen and Sparta are located. [Online Image]http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_3My9-7xbqSU/R14LTnQzYtI/AAAAAAAAABA/Njoq6EeURss/s320/athens+sparta.bmp, February 22, 2011

Picture for Democracy. [Online Image]http://www.initiativesamendment.org/background.htm, February 22, 2011

Picture of statue. [Online Image]http://www.sikyon.com/athens/athens_eg.html, February 23, 2011

Picture of coins. [Online Image]http://www.eramuslim.com/fckfiles/image/Gold-coin%20US.jpg, February 23,2011