SWBAT analyze how Athenians viewed the Spartans through interpreting primary documents - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

SWBAT analyze how Athenians viewed the Spartans through interpreting primary documents and inferring the author’s perspectives towards Sparta.

Focus Questions:

How did Athens view Sparta?

How do we learn about ancient peoples?

How do we analyze primary documents or artifacts?

How does an author’s perspective affect history?Slide2

Do Now

Recall the differences between Athens and Sparta.

How do you think Spartans viewed Athenians?Slide3

How did Athens view Sparta?

Since the Spartans left no written history, it is next to impossible to know what their true perspective may be.

We do have, however, many different sources from Athenian writers, all of whom wrote about Sparta and the Spartans.Slide4

How did Athens view Sparta?

We are going to analyze how these writers viewed Sparta and what their perspective is on Sparta.

Let’s see if all Athenians viewed them as the enemy, or if they have a more complex view. Slide5

The authors:

Thucydides

– Athenian general, exiled due to his military record, who wrote the most thorough account of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta.

Herodotus

– Athenian historian and writer, known as the “Father of history.” Often embellished events for a good story.

Pericles

– Athenian politician and general who led Athens during her “golden age” and began the war against Sparta.

Xenophon

– Athenian military officer and writer who fought alongside—and lived among—the Spartans, and admired their culture.Slide6

VocabularyLacedaemon

– specifically refers to the land on which Sparta is situated. Is often used to refer to Sparta itself. Spartans are thus also called

Lacedaemonians

.

Hellas

– Word used to describe Greece as a whole. Greeks are thus also referred to as

Hellenes

.Slide7

Protocol for reading ancient texts

Identify the author, purpose and audience.

Read the document one paragraph or verse at a time instead of the entire document at once.

Within each paragraph, identify the subject, verb and object in each sentence. (“Who” is doing “What” to “whom”, or “it”, or “them”?)

Look at any of the extra phrases, clauses or words in the sentence. Ask: “Are these important or necessary to understand the document?” Ignore or cross out unnecessary details.Slide8

"Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighbouring

states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves. Its administration

favours

the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition…”Slide9

Activity

Each group will be assigned one of five short passages by one of the four authors we are studying (

Thucydides,Herodotus

, Xenophon, and Pericles)

Read the text using the protocol to get at the central idea.

As a group, answer the following on your activity sheet:

According to the author, what kind of people were the Spartans? What evidence in the passage led you to this answer?

What do you think is the author’s perspective on Sparta? Use evidence in the passage to support your answer.

Would a typical Athenian agree with the author? Why/Why not?Slide10

Passage 1

 “Show yourself a brave man, as a Spartan should; and do you, allies, follow him like men, and remember that zeal, honor, and obedience mark the good soldier, and that this day will make you either free men and allies of Lacedaemon (Sparta), or slaves of Athens…No cowardice then on your part, seeing the greatness of the issues at stake, and I will show that what I preach to others I can practice myself.” Slide11

Passage 2

"If we turn to our military policy, there also we differ from our antagonists (enemies). We throw open our city to the world, and never by alien acts exclude foreigners from any opportunity of learning or observing…while in education, where our rivals from their very cradles by a painful discipline seek after manliness, at Athens we live exactly as we please, and yet are just as ready to encounter every legitimate danger.”Slide12

Passage 3

“These men have come to fight us for the pass and they are getting ready to do just that. It is their custom to do their hair when they are about to risk their lives. But you can rest assured that if you defeat these men and the force that awaits you in Sparta, there is no other race on earth which will take up arms and stand up to you, my lord, because you are now up against the noblest and the most royal city in Greece, and the bravest men.” Slide13

Passage 4

“It

occurred to me one day that Sparta, though among the most thinly populated of states, was evidently the most powerful and most celebrated city in Greece; and I fell to wondering how this could have happened. But when I considered the institutions of the Spartans, I wondered no

longer…In

other states, I suppose, all men make as much money as they can. One is a farmer, another a ship-owner, another a merchant, and others live by different handicrafts. But at Sparta Lycurgus forbade freeborn citizens to have anything to do with business affairs. He insisted on their regarding as their own concern only those activities that make for civic freedom. Indeed, how should wealth be a serious object there, when he insisted on equal contributions to the food supply and on the same standard of living for all, and thus cut off the attraction of money for indulgence' sake? Why, there is not even any need of money to spend on cloaks: for their adornment is due not to the price of their clothes, but to the excellent condition of their bodies

.”Slide14

Passage 5

“This coalition, after repulsing the barbarian (Persians), soon afterwards split into two sections…At the end of the one stood Athens, at the head of the other Lacedaemon, one the first naval, the other the first military power in Hellas. For a short time the league held together, till the Lacedaemonians and Athenians

quarrelled

and made war upon each other with their allies, a duel into which all the Hellenes sooner or later were drawn, though some might at first remain neutral. So that the whole period from the Persian war to this, with some peaceful intervals, was spent by each power in war, either with its rival, or with its own revolted allies, and consequently afforded them constant practice in military matters, and that experience which is learnt in the school of danger… The growth of the power of Athens, and the alarm which this inspired in Lacedaemon, made war inevitable.” Slide15

What was their attitude towards Sparta?

Author

Attitude towards Sparta (+, -, 0, ?)

Thucydides

Xenophon

Pericles

HerodotusSlide16

Wrap Up Questions

Can any of these passages be the authentic, definitive opinion of the average Athenian towards Sparta?

How did each author’s experience play into their perspective?

Can we ever truly understand what Athenians thought of Sparta?Slide17

Exit SlipAnswer the following based on your analysis:

“How did Athens view Sparta?”