Chapter 7 The Greek Adventure

1
Chapter 7The Greek Adventure

• Three epochs of ancient Greek history
• Mycenaean Age
• Hellenic period
• Hellenistic Age

2
Geography and Political Development
3
Geography and Political Development

• Little suitable land, no large flat areas for
  large-scale farming
• No place is farther than 80 miles from the sea
• Has always been easier to travel and trade by sea
  than by land
• Geography also encouraged political fragmentation
• Own sense of community and identity
• Only secondarily shared common culture and
  language

4
Mycenaean Civilization

• Mycenaeans were nomadic Indo-Europeans, settled
  into towns
• Our knowledge comes from archaeological
  excavations and epic poems, the Iliad and the
  Odyssey
• Trojan War probably caused by Mycenaean trade
  rivalry with Troy
• Minoan culture was wide-ranging empire
• Both partner and rival of Mycenaeans
• Mycenaeans destroyed settlements
• Minoan civilization disappeared
• Mycenaeans engaged in extensive internal warfare
• Fell to the Dorians
• Dark Ages then began as culture declined

5
Early Hellenic Civilization

• The Polis (pl poleis)
• Community of adult free persons making up a town
• Could be any size Athens had nearly 300,000
  population
• Each polis saw itself as political and cultural
  unit, but also as part of distinct Greek
  culture
• Polis was the frame of reference for all public
  life

6
Early Hellenic Civilization

• Not everybody was a citizen
• Women were excluded
• Many resident aliens
• Many slaves
• Included only free males over age 20
• Each polis had roughly same economic and
  demographic design
• Town of varying size, surrounded by farms,
  pasture, woods
• Artisans, traders, import-export merchants,
  intellectuals, artists etc.
• Most Greeks were peasants, workers

7
Athens and Sparta

• Two poleis dominated Greek life and politics
• These came into conflict
• Four types of government known to the Greeks
• Monarchy
• Aristocracy
• Oligarchy
• Democracy

8
Early Athens

• Original monarchy forced aside by aristocrats
• Aristocrats gave way to oligarchs
• Most important oligarch was Solon
• Oligarchs gave him supreme power to deal with
  discontent
• He established a constitution
• Pisistratus made himself sole ruler, gave
  concessions to common people
• Cleisthenes
• True founder of Athenian democracy
• Believed the people should have the last word in
  their government

9
Athenian Democracy

• Ekklesia town meeting
• All free male Athenians, med on ad hoc basis
• All could speak freely
• All could be elected
• Boule
• Council of 500 citizens, served 1-year terms
• Day-to-day legislature, executive
• Supervised civil and military affairs
• All male citizens would serve at least one term
• Deme
• Territorial unit
• Could select certain number of boule members

10
Athenian Democracy

• Ostracism
• Pushing out of citizen who did not conform to
  will of others
• Person had to go into exile, lost all rights of
  citizenship
• Democracy
• Was actually a very abnormal system of government
• Quite daring when introduced
• Not used again until 18th century
• Probably some poleis adopted similar governments
• There was resistance even within such poleis

11
Spartan Militarism

• Sparta differed from Athens in almost every way
• Messenian Wars Sparta fought with nearest
  neighbors, won
• Defeated people became near-slaves helotry
• Sparta became nation of soldiers and their
  helpers
• Economic needs largely met by captive helots
• Worked the fields, did all crafts, commerce
• Spartans devoted all their energies to military
  arts

12
Spartan Militarism

• Spartans held arts in contempt, rejected
  individualism
• Public life meant total obedience
• Government headed by ephors elected officers
• Most Greeks admired Spartan way of life
• Self-discipline, courage, rigid obedience,
  physical vigor
• Single-minded patriotism
• Sparta was conservative, non-aggressive state
• Army was so large, feared, that rarely had to be
  used
• Actually became peaceable polis

13
Persian Wars

• Through 5th century, Athens and Sparta were both
  concerned with keeping independent of foreign
  threat Persia
• First Persian War
• Athenian victory
• Athens went to aid of rebellious Persian colonies
• Persian emperor Darius sent army to Greece
• They were defeated at Marathon in 490 BCE

14
Persian Wars

• Second Persian War
• Even more decisive Greek victory
• Other poleis helped Athens
• Spartan troops defeated Persians at Thermopylae
  in 480
• Athenian navy defeated Persians at Salamis
• By end of these wars, Greece had decisively
  turned back Persia
• Crucial turning point for western civilization

15
Peloponnesian War431-404 BCE

• No harmony among Greeks after Persian Wars
• Athenians under Pericles in conflict with
  Corinth, a Spartan ally
• When Sparta defended them, Pericles responded
  with war
• Athens thought they could defend against Sparta
  indefinitely
• War was an intermittently fought deadlock
• In 404 Spartans defeated Athenian navy with
  Persian help
• War was actually a loss for all concerned

16
Final Act in Classical Greece

• Greeks continued to fight intermittently for two
  generations
• Macedonians took over from north
• Philip of Macedonia turned it into effective,
  aggressive state
• Took over most of mainland
• City states became provinces of Macedonian Empire
• From now on, Greece would almost always be under
  foreign rule

17
Discussion Questions

• 1. The polis was the organizational unit of
  Greek civilization. What do you see in common
  between the polis and the modern city? What does
  the modern city have that the polis did not? Are
  there advantages to living in the polis what are
  they?
• 2. The rule of the people was one of Athens
  most enduring developments, yet it differed from
  modern ideas of democracy. What comparisons can
  you make between Greek and modern democracy? Are
  there advantages of the Athenian model over the
  modern one?