Greek Suicide

Social Studies for 9th

Teacher: Mauricio Torres

I love studying Ancient History and seeing how empires rise and fall, sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

Martin Scorsese

HerodotusThe Fall of Persia

The historian Herodotus wrote a history to answer the question of why great nations rise and fall:

He wrote on how the Persians rose to power and were defeated by a small group of Greeks, which led to its final downfall.The fall of the Persian Empire, like the fall of the Roman Empire, demonstrates powers first collapse from within.

HerodotusWarning to the Athenians

He wrote his history as a warning to Athens. He urged the Athenians not to follow in the wake of the Persian Empire and other empires that had failed before. He urged the Athenians, while they still had the chance, to go back to their old values of patriotism, courage, and financial and political common sense.

Edward GibbonThe higher you walk, the harder you fall

He was an English historian who documented the rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

Gibbons not only created a document which details how and why the Roman Empire rose and fell; he created a document which detailed precisely how a successful and powerful Empire could be subverted and destroyed. He seems to come from the premise that luxury inherently bears a corrupting element in its DNA.Also, that empires crumble from within.

Greek DeclinePyrrho

Pyrrho was a ruler from Epirus.He assembled a great army to fight off the Romans.

He defeated them at a great cost, at Heracleia.One of his generals complimented on his success, and his answer was written down forever in History:

“another such victory will ruin me”.This is known as a “Pyrrhic victory”.He defeated them again, but lost his power.

An old lady killed him by throwing a tile on him.

Greek DeclineGiving Up

Greeks fought each other for power.In these attempts, they asked the Romans, a young power from the west, for help in exchange for their loyalty. Theses events happened around 168 B.C.

They fell under a false sense of liberty sponsored by the Romans.Little did they know that it was a path towards their submission to the Romans.

Luckily for us, Greek culture ultimately conquered the Roman mind.

Factors the led to the final decline:

We can finally summarize the decline of Greek power by reducing it to the following factors:

Obsolete army

Internal strugglesOver comfort

Submission to Rome