Ancient Greece: The Peloponnesian War

Ancient Greece was an area a long time ago. The country was made of many city-states, and one of the most important was called Athens. Athens was a democracy, where normal citizens voted on the decisions about how the country was run. Although Athens was an important city-state, it wasn't the only. Athens and a state called Sparta had a war called the Peloponnesian War for 27 years. Sparta came out victorious, but weakened.

All of the city-states shared a common religion. Everyone worshipped the same gods, and the states came together once every 4 years to partake in the olympic games. Wars were even stopped by 3 months so people could safely travel to the games. They were one of the ways Greeks worshipped their gods. The gods were very important to the Greeks, and leaders even went to oracles, or sacred sites, to ask gods for advice on important decisions. …show more content…
One story told that before Athens was the main city-state, the state of Crete was more important. Every 9 years, Crete would make Athens feed 7 men and 7 women to a beast called the minotaur. This went on for years, until one brave person named Theseus got the King of Crete’s daughter’s help, and was able to slay the minotaur. The Athenians no longer had to have such a terrible sacrifice. This is just one of the many stories created by the Ancient Greeks to tell about their world.

Not all Ancient Greeks’ lives were the same. In Athens, most male adults were citizens, but foreigners, slaves, and women weren’t, and therefore couldn’t vote. In Sparta, only 1 in 10 men were citizens, since you had to be rich to qualify. Most slaves were prisoners of war and often were treated terribly. The Greeks were mostly farmers and craftsmen. They lived in simple houses with a courtyard and altar in the center. Since the mud bricks used to make the houses were easy to dig through, thieves were called wall