Classical Greek Civilization

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Classical Greek Civilization
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Before Greek Hegemony

• Greek-speaking people migrated to area from
  Central Asia around 4000 B.C.E.
• Minoan civilization on island of Crete.
• Mysteriously disappeared around 1450 B.C.E.,
  later discovered in early 1900s.
• Mycenaean civilization on Greek mainland.
• Warrior people, responsible for invasion of Troy
  around 1250 B.C.E. and possibly Minoans.

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Minoan bull-leapers portrayed on a fresco
discovered in the palace at Knossos, Crete.
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A seventh century B.C.E. Greek vase depicts the
Trojan horse.
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Dark Ages of Greek Culture

• Mycenaean civilization collapses around 1100
  B.C.E. because of other Greek-speaking invaders.
• Greek culture fragments and Greek-speaking people
  spread across Aegean Sea, including Ionia and
  various islands.
• Greeks pass from a bronze to iron age.
• Adopt a new alphabet based on Phoenician
  alphabet.
• Dark Age ends around 750 B.C.E.

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Phoenician Greek Alphabets
? a
- Alpha
- Aleph
? ß
- Beta
- Beth
G ?
- Gamma
- Gimel
? d
- Delta
- Daleth
What do you think they sound like? Do these
letters look familiar?
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The Homerian Epic

• Iliad and Odyssey depict events that took place
  in Mycenaean period during and after Trojan War.
• Recorded history, plus discussed certain Greek
  values
• Arete (??et?) excellence or virtue
• Hubris (?'?ß???) excessive pride.

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Greek City-States

• The polis (p????), city or city-state, became
  chief political unit of ancient Greece.
• Community of peoplefocus of all social,
  economic, political, and religious activities.
• Rulers oligarchs, kings, tyrannos (t??a????),
  and despots
• Citizens with political rights, demokratia
  (d?µ???at?a)
• Citizens without political rights
• Non-citizens
• Citizens were rabidly loyal to own polis.
• Negative aspects?

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Classical Age

• Classical Age began around 500 B.C.E.
• Marked by a period of literary, philosophical,
  and artistic development, also war.
• Persian Wars (499 479 B.C.E.)
• Growth of Athens
• Peloponnesian War (431 - 404 B.C.E.)
• Development of classical culture and religion.

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Persian Wars

• Greek city-states in Ionia rebel in 499-4 B.C.E.
• Rebellion crushed by Darius.
• Darius invades Greek mainland at Marathon and is
  defeated in 490 B.C.E.
• Xerxes, Dariuss successor invades again in 480
  B.C.E. with 15,000 troops Greeks numbered only
  9,000.
• Spartans defeated at Thermopylae (Pyrrhic
  victory), but Athenian navy defeats Persians at
  Salamis.
• Rise of Athens.

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LEFT A Spartan phalanx.
RIGHT An Athenian trireme.
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Peloponnesian War

• Rivalry between Athens and Sparta.
• According to Thucydides, war was caused by
  Athens increasing power after the Persian War.
• Under king Pericles, Athens became the center
  of Greek culture and powerall money spent in
  Athens.
• Athens crushed (after suffering a plague where
  1/3 population died)Greeks in disarray.
• Leads to the rise of Macedonia in 338 B.C.E. and
  end of classical period.

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Allegiances of Greek city-states during the
Peloponnesian War.
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Culture of Classical Greece

• Despite wars, period witnessed a flourishing of
  arts.
• History (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon)
• Drama (tragic trilogies Aeschylus, Sophocles,
  and comedies Aristophanes)
• Art and architecture
• Philosophy (Aristotle, Socrates, Plato)
• Religion plays a large part too.