Match the columns. Study the words and then use them for your speaking activity

A	B
1. agora	a. covered walkways or porticos, often used by merchants to sell their goods, artists to display their artwork
2. a theater	b. a place where the young men were educated both in intellectual matters and in athletics
3. an acropolis	c. the word derives from the Ancient Greek theatron, meaning “the seeing place”
4. a stadion	d. a building which housed the council of citizens (boule) in Ancient Greece
5. bouleterion	e. a political unit consisting of a city and its surrounding territory with a strong self-governing system
6. a city-state	f. an open “place of assembly” where free-born male land-owners who were citizens would gather for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council
7. stoa	g. for purposes of defense, people chose elevated ground, often a hill; in many parts of the world, these early citadels became the nuclei of large cities

 

 

Task IV.

Answer the following questions.

 

1. What changes took place in Ancient Greece when the Dark Ages were over?

2. What were the new types of villages called?

3. What were they characterized by?

4. What was a typical plan of a city-state? What basic elements did it comprise?

5. What activity was held in these poleis?

6. Name some of the city-states.

 

 

Task V.

Develop your speaking activity. Choose one of the topics to discuss.

ü Typical features of an ancient city-state.

ü Types of its buildings and the purposes they served.

ü Suppose you are an ancient ruler, arrange a plan of your own city-state and describe it.

 

 

Athenians thought of themselves as the shining star of the Greek city-states. They were famous for their literature, poetry, drama, theatre, schools, buildings, and government.

Before the Greek Dark Ages, Athens was a small village where a tribe of Ionian people lived. After the Dark Ages, the city grew rapidly until it became one of the two most powerful city-states in the ancient Greek world. (The other one was Sparta.)

The Athenians, who devoted themselves to the arts and sciences, were very different from the ancient Spartans, famous for their military strength.

The Greeks believed that each city-state in ancient Greece had a God or Goddess as their special patron. For Athens, it was Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom. May be, it explains why the Athenians put a great deal of emphasis on education. Girls learned at home from their mothers how to run a home and be good wives and mothers.

Boys were educated quite differently. Until the age 6 or 7, they were taught at home by their mothers. From 7-14, boys attended a day school outside the home, where they memorized Homeric poetry and learned to play the lyre. They also studied Drama, Public Speaking, Reading, Writing, Maths, and perhaps even how to play the flute. After middle school, they went to a four - year high school to learn more about Maths, Science, and Government. At 18, teenagers attended two years of military school.

A Rich Man’s House in Greece

The men of Athens met each week to discuss problems, worked on solutions.

Unlike most Greek city-states that were ruled by kings, the Athenians experimented with the government. For about 100 years, Athens was a direct democracy.

 

Task I.