was a city state south of Athens on the Peloponesus peninsula. They believed that the main purpose of government was to train good soldiers, not democratic citizens. Basically a Spartan Citizen was a soldier or wife or mother of a soldier.

were the slaves of Sparta and they made up most of the inhabitants. They did the farming and the heavy labor. Interestingly enough other Greeks from other city-states worked as skilled labor and in trade.

If the baby were stout and well made it was permitted to live. If it were puny and ill shaped it was left on a hillside to die. What is this called ? (Infanticide) Newborn children were bathed in wine instead of water to help them acquire firmness like steel. At the age of seven, a Spartan boy was placed in community training center along with about sixty other boys. They were toughened by going bare foot, sleeping on a bed of reeds and wearing only one layer of clothing even in the coldest of weather. He learned to run, wrestle, swim, sing military songs, and fight. To build up his courage, he was beaten until he bled. To develop his cunning, he was encouraged to steal. If he were caught stealing, the boy was whipped without mercy for not being a successful thief. At eighteen he joined a secret police force whose job it was to kill any helot inclined to rebel. This he did quietly and secretly. Then, for the greater part of his adult life, he served as a hardened soldier of his city-state.

In Greece women were probably never as free as there were in Crete. In Crete the working class women shared in the work of farming and making pottery. Aristocrats attended the theater and games and took an active part in all social affairs. Women were often in charge of religious ceremonies, and in the Minioan religion, goddesses were more important than gods. In Mycenae women were a lot less free. It was a world of warriors, traders, pirates and sailors. Still women moved about in society and played leading rolls in important events. By the end of the Dark Ages women held their own Olympic games called the Heraea. By 450 B.C. women lost most of their rights. The Greeks of the golden Age took a more oriental view of women. Women were expected to stay in seclusion and in most cities except Sparta they couldn=t own or pass on property. A girl was usually only fourteen or fifteen years old when she married; and she rarely saw her future husband before the marriage. A woman=s education was confined to learning how to run a home.

She came to Athens around 450 B.C. from Mylatea. She founded a school of rhetoric (the art of speaking and writing well). She encouraged women to become educated and to take a more active part in society. Many girls of well to do families came to her classes. Men also attended her lectures. Pericles was so impressed that he divorced his first wife and brought her home with him. She became the source of many rumors and disrespect in Athens.

The Greek religion was made of a pantheon of gods from Athena to Zeus. There were special rites associated with each god or goddess some of which were secret and were known as mysteries. There was a complex set of myths connected with the gods which often involved human beings in some way. In fact the gods and goddesses had many positive and negative human characteristics which the Greeks used to justify and explain themselves. However it wasn=t too long before very few Greeks took their religion seriously. Instead they turned to philosophy...........

AWisdom mongers@ taught courses in mathematics, astronomy, and speech. Many of them taught tricks in logic to help them escape the law (Sophistry). However they contributed to grammar, logic and speech techniques.

He was a teacher and taught wherever and whenever he had the chance. Like the Pavilion for example. He asked AWhat is the purpose of life? What is good? What is justice? ALife without inquiry is not worth living.@ His philosophy can be summed up by, each person should think for him or herself, each person should seek knowledge for knowledge helps a person to be virtuous. He sincerely believed that if one could know enough he or she could be a happy virtuous person. He adopted the saying which was inscribed at the Temple of Delphi the home of the famous oracle, AKnow Thyself.@

All of what we know about Socrates is due to Plato. He was his most famous student. He set up a school outside of Athens in a grove of trees known as the Academy. His dialogues are some of the most famous books of philosophy in history outlining imaginary conversations representing various points of view. People should be guided by principles of justice, honor, goodness and love. They should stop thinking of material things which disappear with time. People should do the jobs for which they are best suited. And only the wise should rule. Women should have equal rights with men.

He studied under Plato and lived from 384-322 B.C. He is most famous for tutoring Alexander the Great son of King Philip of Macadonia, the region just North of Athens. He did much in the sciences as well as philosophy which was a heavy influence on Christian thinking. Sometimes he was right and sometimes he was dead wrong, but whatever his influence lasted for 1500 years. He believed in ANothing in excess.@ The golden mean, and learn by doing.

This was an open air theater on the Southern hillside of the Acropolis of Athens (5th Century). During the March Festival in honor of the Wine God. They held a contest for the best play. Admission was low so everyone could afford it. Their opinions were registered while the judges made their selections.

Wrote the famous ATrojan Women@ which criticized war. He also stated that events were the result of natural causes. They were not an expression of the will of the gods and goddesses.

Answered Euripides attacks on religion with comedies like the AFrogs@. He warned Athenians against men who were frauds and rascals.

Was one of the first persons to see the importance of establishing principles in geometry. He also predicted eclipses and studied magnetism. The Greeks excelled in theoretical science but didn=t do much in the areas of physics and chemistry.