Archaic Greece · 800-500 BC

The polis: why Greece had hundreds of states

The Greeks shared a language, gods and the Olympic Games, yet they never formed one country. Students study how mountains and the sea split Greece into hundreds of city-states, each with its own laws, army and pride.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 750 BC to 500 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The Greeks shared a language, gods and the Olympic Games, yet they never formed one country. Students study how mountains and the sea split Greece into hundreds of city-states, each with its own laws, army and pride.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what a polis was and name three things every polis had (citizens, an agora, an acropolis or temple).
  • Use the map to show how Greece's mountains and coastline encouraged many small states.
  • Describe how a hoplite army of citizen-soldiers changed who had a say in the city.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

750 BC

A land of mountains and bays

Open the map in 750 BC on Greece and zoom until you can see the shape of the coast. Count the bays, peninsulas and islands. Mountains cover most of the land between them. Why would farming valleys separated by ridges grow into separate states?

Open this view on the map
b

650 BC

One name, many states

Stay in 650 BC. The map labels all of Greece "Greek city-states" because there were too many to draw. Turn on the Cities layer: Athens and Sparta appear. Each polis had its own coins, calendar and laws. Find the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow neck of land that joins the Peloponnese to the mainland.

Open this view on the map
c

500 BC

Greeks beside the giant

Jump to 500 BC and zoom out. East of the Aegean the Persian Empire now rules the Greek cities of Ionia. Compare the size of the Greek mainland with the empire next door. What would make hundreds of rival cities cooperate?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. A polis was a city plus its farmland, with perhaps a few thousand citizens. What are the advantages of a state so small that most citizens know each other?
  2. The Greeks called everyone who did not speak Greek "barbarians". They were proud of being Greek but fought each other constantly. How can people feel united and divided at the same time?
  3. Hoplites were farmers who bought their own armor and fought shoulder to shoulder in the phalanx. Why might men who defended the city demand a say in running it?
  4. Citizens were adult free men born in the polis. Women, slaves and foreign residents were not. What share of the people living in a Greek city actually had a vote?
  5. Many cities were ruled by "tyrants" in the 600s and 500s BC, a word that then just meant a man who had seized power. Why might ordinary people support such a ruler?
4

Game round

10 min

No single Greek city-state fits Rule History, so play one round as Alexander the Great, who later forced the quarrelling cities under one command. Discuss: what did the Greek cities lose and gain when a king finally united them?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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