The Civilization of the Greeks

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• The Civilization of the Greeks

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Early Greece

• Importance of geography in Greek history
• Sea
• Topography (Map 4.1)
• Minoan Crete, 2000-1450 B.C.E.
• Height between 2000 and 1450 B.C.E.
• Knossus
• Sudden and catastrophic collapse around 1450
  B.C.E.
• Mycenaean Greeks, 1600-1100 B.C.E.
• Flourished between 1400 and 1200 B.C.E.
• Indo-European / warrior people
• Agememnon
• Mycenae torched about 1190 B.C.E.

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Ancient Greece (c. 750 338)
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Mycenae

• Although not much of the site remains today,
  Mycenaean civilization erected several fortified
  palace complexes on these hills in the fifteen
  century B.C.E.

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The Greek Dark Age (c. 1100-c. 750 B.C.E.)

• Collapse of agricultural production
• Migration east across the Aegean Sea
• Ionian Greeks
• Two other major groups
• Aeolian Greeks
• Dorians
• Homer
• Iliad
• Odyssey
• Heroic values form the core of aristocratic virtue

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The Greek City-States (c. 750 c. 500 B.C.E.)
The Polis

• The polis is a small but autonomous political
  unit in which all major political, social, and
  religious activities are carried out in a central
  location
• Acropolis and Agora
• Citizens, non-citizens, and responsibilities
• Military system
• Hoplites (heavily armed infantrymen) formed into
  phalanx
• Political and military repercussions

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Colonization and the Rise of Tyrants

• Colonization
• Gulf between rich and poor, overpopulation, and
  trade
• Founded as a polis
• Cultural diffusion
• Trade and commerce
• Tyrants
• A tyrant was someone who came to rule by
  unconstitutional ways in 7th and 6th centuries
  B.C.E.
• Support came from the new rich from trade and
  industry who opposed the old aristocracy
• Poor peasants becoming indebted to the
  landholding aristocrats
• Tyrants favored merchants and traders
• Extinguished by end of 6th century B.C.E.
• Ended the rule of aristocratic oligarchies
• Opened the door to open participation by the
  citizens

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Sparta

• Southwestern Peloponnesus
• Conquered neighboring Laconia and Messenia
• Helots (a type of serf)
• Reforms by Lycurgus
• Military society
• Women
• Government
• Two kings share power with the gerousia (council
  of 28 elders over the age of 60 serving for life)
• Apella assembly of all male citizens

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Athens

• Established about 700 B.C.E.
• End of the 7th century B.C.E., farmers sold into
  slavery for not paying debts
• Solon (c. 640-c. 560 B.C.E.)
• 594 B.C.E. canceled all debts, outlawed new loans
  based on human collateral, freed people who had
  fallen into slavery for debts
• Did not initiate land redistribution
• Pisistratus seize power in 560 B.C.E. and pursued
  policies to aid trade
• Cleisthenes seized power in 508 B.C.E.
• Creates Council of 500 that was responsible for
  the administration of foreign and financial
  affairs
• Athenian assembly had final authority in passing
  laws
• Creates the foundation of Athenian democracy

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The Parthenon

• The Parthenon, which dominated the Acropolis of
  fifth century B.C.E. Greece and the Athens of
  today, represents the glory that was Greece in
  the age of Pericles.

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The Challenge of Persia

• Darius (522-486 B.C.E.)
• Unsuccessful revolt of Ionian cities
• Attacks the mainland Greeks
• Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.E.
• Xerxes (486-465 B.C.E.)
• Invasion of Greece, 480-479 B.C.E.
• Spartan league and Athenian navy
• Battle of Thermopylae, 480 B.C.E.
• Battle of Salamis, 480 B.C.E.
• Battle of Plataea, 479 B.C.E.

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The Growth of an Athenian Empire in the Age of
Pericles

• Delian League formed 478-77 B.C.E.
• Under the leadership of Athens, the Persians
  attacked and virtually all Greek city-states in
  the Aegean freed
• Athens comes to control the League and forbids
  any state to withdraw
• Pericles
• Expanded democracy at home and an empire abroad
• Elected to generalship 30 times between 461 and
  429 B.C.E.

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The Great Peloponnesian War and the Decline of
the Greek States (431-404 B.C.E.)

• Sparta and allies v. Athens and allies
• Athens stays behind its walls and Sparta ravages
  the land of Attica
• Plague in 429, B.C.E., takes Pericles
• Battle of Aegospotami, 405 B.C.E.
• Surrender of Athens, 404 B.C
• Effects of the wars

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Classical Greece
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Culture of Classical Greece

• History
• Greek Drama
• Tragedy
• Comedy
• The Arts The Classical Ideal
• Architecture
• Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns
• Temples
• Parthenon
• Sculpture
• Subjects of male nudity
• Proportional and life-like

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Theater at Epidaurus

• The acoustics at this great outdoor theater at
  Epidaurus are so clear that a whisper on stage
  could be heard from any of its 14,000 seats.

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The Greek Love of Wisdom

• Philosophy meant love of wisdom
• Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)
• Socratic method
• Goal of education was to improve the individual
• Questioned authority
• Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E.)
• The Republic
• The Academy
• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
• Politics
• Importance of his ideas on Western thought

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Greek Religion

• Was necessary for the well-being of the state
• Mount Olympus
• No body of doctrine or focus on morality
• Festivals
• Oracle of Apollo at Delphi

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Daily Life in Classical Athens

• 150,000 citizens, 43,000 of which were adult
  males who exercised political power
• Economy based on agriculture and trade
• Family the central institution
• Women kept under strict control
• Male homosexuality a prominent feature

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Rise of Macedonia and the Conquests of Alexander

• Philip II (359-336 B.C.E.)
• The Battle of Chaeronea
• Assassinated in 336 B.C.E.
• Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.E.)
• Persian Empire
• Battle of Granicus River, 334 B.C.E.
• Battle of Issus, 333 B.C.E.
• Battle of Gaugamela, 331 B.C.E.
• Persepolis, 330 B.C.E.
• Alexander in India, 327 B.C.E.
• Death of Alexander, 323 B.C.E.

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The Conquests of Alexander the Great
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The Legacy of Alexander

• Hellenistic Age (to imitate Greeks)
• Destruction of Persia
• Benefits Greek engineers, intellectuals,
  merchants, administrators, and soldiers
• Political unity based on monarchy
• Culture
• Art, architecture, language, literature
• Cities

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The Hellenistic Kingdoms

• Four Hellenistic kingdoms emerged
• Macedonia under the Antigonid dynasty
• Syria and the east under the Seleucids
• Attalid kingdom of Pergamum in western Asia Minor
• Egypt under the Ptolemies
• Greeks and Macedonians formed the new ruling
  class
• Hellenizing an urban phenomenon
• Greeks and Macedonians colonists provided a pool
  for civilian administrators and workers
• Agriculture and trade
• Agriculture was central to Hellenistic economy
• Trade and commerce experienced considerable
  expansion

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The World of the Hellenistic Monarchs
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Culture in the Hellenistic World

• Greeks provided sense of unity
• Hellenistic era was time of accomplishments
• Scholars
• Art
• Golden Age of Science
• Separation of science and philosophy
• Archimedes (287-212 B.C.E.)
• Philosophy
• Athens still the center of philosophy
• Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)
• Zeno (335-263 B.C.E.) and Stoicism

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The World According to Erathosthenes
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Discussion Questions

• How did geography and the sea help to shape Greek
  culture?
• Compare and contrast the city-states of Sparta
  and Athens. How would you explain their divergent
  development?
• What did democracy mean to the ancient Greeks?
  What groups were excluded from Athenian
  democracy?
• How would you explain the rise of kingdoms and
  the demise of independent city-states during the
  Hellenistic period?