Ancient Greece: How the City-States Rose and Fell

0:00How did ancient Greece grow strong, and why did it fall?

0:05Greece is a rocky land of mountains, and the sea is never far away.

0:11Mountains kept towns apart, so Greece grew into many separate city-states.

0:16A city-state, like Athens, was a city and its farmland, ruling itself.

0:23Greeks traded by sea and set up colonies in Italy and around the Black Sea.

0:28They were separate, but shared one language, the same gods and the Olympic Games.

0:35In about 508 BCE, Athens set up a democracy, which means rule by the people.

0:42But only men who were citizens could vote.

0:45Sparta was run differently, with two kings and a strong army.

0:51About 480 BCE, many city-states joined together and drove back a Persian invasion.

0:58Later, Athens and Sparta fought a long war, from 431 to 404 BCE.

1:05Sparta won, but years of fighting left the city-states weak.

1:11In 338 BCE, the kingdom of Macedonia, to the north, took control of most of Greece.

1:18Sea trade helped the Greek city-states rise, and wars between them helped them fall.