Social Studies 6: Greek Democracy

This site is written for grade 6 students and includes lots of information about Ancient Greece.

You can explore the ancient buildings around Athens as they originally looked. There are many views of each building.

From boxing contests with no weight classifications or point scoring to chariot racing where danger lurked on every corner, it is easy to see why the Ancient Games enthralled the Greeks for so long.

Even after 3,000 years, we're still using ancient Greek ideas in maths, science and art. Learn why!

Learn all about the start of the Olympic Games that we still have today -- they started in Greece!

Learn about Greek culture and the things that Greeks valued.

On this website you can learn a lot of really interesting facts about Ancient Greece.

In this episode Hank talks to us about Socrates and his two important students, Plato and Aristotle.

Experience daily life in ancient Greece in this animated documentary.

On this guide, you'll learn about daily life in Ancient Greece and how Greeks tried to make sense of the world with philosophy.

Each episode of "The Greeks" is divided into 10 videos. There are 3 main episodes and a bonus episode "The Greek Guide to Greatness"

What does life look like in Athens in 427 BCE? This video describes the average landowning family in Greece and outlines a day in the life of Athenian democracy.

Few individuals have influenced the world and many of today’s thinkers like Plato. He created the first Western university and was teacher to Ancient Greece’s greatest minds, including Aristotle.

Plato, one of history’s most famous thinkers, said life is like being chained up in a cave forced to watch shadows flitting across a stone wall.

Socrates, one of the founding fathers of Western philosophical thought, was on trial. Many believed he was an enemy of the state, butt Socrates wasn’t feared for claiming to have all the answers, but rather, for asking too many questions.

Psyche was born so beautiful that she was worshipped as a new incarnation of Venus, the goddess of love. But she was much more than just a pretty face.

Dig into the Greek myth of Persephone, who is abducted by Hades and is only allowed to leave the underworld every spring.

Icarus flew above Crete on wings made from wax and feathers, defying the laws of man and nature. Amy Adkins explains the myth of Icarus and Daedalus.

In Greek mythology, King Midas is known as a rogue ruler whose antics bemused his people and irritated the Gods. Many know the classic story of Midas's golden touch, but the foolish king was also known for his unusual pair of ears.

Pandora was the first mortal woman. She was given gifts from the gods. From Zeus she received two gifts: the trait of curiosity and a heavy box screwed tightly shut -- never to be opened.

Sisyphus was a clever ruler who made his city prosperous but his reckless confidence proved to be his downfall -- resulting in Zeus condemning him for all eternity.

Greek mythology brims with shape-shifters. The powerful Gods usually changed their own forms at will - but for mortals, the mutations were often unwanted. Iseult Gillespie shares how one such unnerving transformation befell the spinner Arachne.

In Greek myth, Titan Prometheus persuaded his brother Epimetheus to fight with him on the side of the Gods. Iseult Gillespie shares the myth of Prometheus.

The marriage of Orpheus to Eurydice was heralded as the perfect union. So when their wedding ended in Eurydice's death, Orpheus had to go to the underworld to reclaim his lost love.

In the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people”. It was the first known democracy in the world.

Learn about events in Greece that helped establish democracy as their form of government.

What forms of government preceded democracy and how did this pave the way for the ancient Athenians to invent democracy?

This animated TED video is an interesting look at how Athenian government/democracy was really run. Who was included? Who was excluded?

Learn about how democracy worked in Greece and how the government was organized.

Learn how government was structured in Ancient Greece and how power was distributed.

These are Free Use lesson plans, classroom activities, simulations, interactive activities, review activities, concluding activities and projects.

Resources and lessons to explore models of democracy. You can bypass the sign-in by clicking the image instead of a link.

This this lesson, students will inquire the civilization of choice and build a building that is mathematically accurate.

This lesson created by a teacher completes a mini-unit where students create a country and design its symbols of democracy.

A lesson created by a teacher for students learning about the Fertile Crescent and how people adapted to this environment.