Transcript Document

Lecture # 5: Ancient Greek Civilization:
Presented by
Abul Kalam Azad
Senior Lecturer, GED
Northern University Bangladesh
E-mail: [email protected]
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Introduction
No
doubt,
the
present
world
civilization is quite awe to the Greek
civilization especially in the arena of
Politics,
Philosophy,
Astronomy,
Arts, History, Geography and even of
sports. In fact, the Greek civilization
is the cradle of modern civilization.
Let’s discuss in detail.
Orientation of Ancient Greek Civilization
The Greek are one of the people of different
countries who are proud of their past
achievement. The name Greek is given by the
Roman. The country in the present time is
known as Greece and the people of the
country are called the Greek and their
language is called Greek. Greece is the land
of many noble and learned persons. Homer
(850 BC), Socrates (470-399 BC), Plato (428347 BC), Aristotle (384-322 BC), Alexander
(356-323 BC) the great were some of them.
Some particular orientations of ancient Greek
civilization as a separate entity may be
pointed out below:
 No national identity as Greeks but
people did identify with their cities;
 No Mesopotamian cities, temples,
palaces, no Egyptian bureaucracy in
Europe;
 Warrior culture:
 Chiefs ruled small territories,
 fought each other,
 hunted,
 engaged
in
athletic
competitions.
Time Line
Around Developed alphabet Linear A (See Next
1700 BC slide)
Around Switched to alphabet called Linear B
1450 BC (See Next slide)
776 BC
The first Olympic games.
750 B.C. New Greek alphabet circa = Ancient
Greek but with unusual Homeric forms
about Early Greek culture. Homer writes the
750 BC epics 'The Iliad' and the 'Odyssey’
508 BC Democracy begins in Athens
472 410 BC
Greeks theatre thrives in Athens. Many
of the most famous Greek plays are
written during this time.
Linear A and Linear B
431 - 404
BC
404 BC
338 BC
336 323 BC
146 BC
War between Athens and Sparta
(An ancient Greek city famous for
military)
Sparta defeats Athens.
Philip, king of Macedonia, takes
control of Greece
Alexander the Great, son of Philip,
conquers most of the known
world as far east as India.
Rome conquers Greece - Greece
becomes part of the Roman
empire.
Where is Greece?
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Greece is
 a peninsula about the size of Louisiana in
the Mediterranean Sea.
 very close to Egypt, the Persian empire
(includes Turkey) and Rome.
 1,500 miles from England.
 famous for its beautiful shore and sea!
 cities were at war with each other.
 fighters came from the town of Sparta.
 located among mountains and hills,
surrounded by Mediterranean Sea and
limited rich soil
 developed independently because of the
mountains, thus they were diverse
 The famous Greek temple was called the
Parthenon
Greek architecture
is best
characterized
by the use of
columns.
The Climate
 The climate is Mediterranean.
 The Mediterranean Sea affects the Greek
climate i.e., the hot and dry summers are
cooled by the ‘Meltemia’ (a seasonal gentle
wind from the Mediterranean).
 The average temperature is 33° whereas in
Britain it is 15°.
 The average rainfall is 6 mm whereas in
Britain it is 76 mm.
 The moderate winter is rainy on costal
regions and snowy in the mountains.
 The average temperature is 15° whereas in
Britain it is 4° -10°.
 The average rainfall is 65mm whereas in
Britain it is over 100 mm.
Terracing saves water and soil in
mountainous environments
Technology results from necessity
 Greek developed an awesome navy
for trading and fighting.
MINOAN (who lived in the bronzeage culture of Crete about 30001100 BC) COMMERCE
 Commerce was very important
 Acted as trade intermediary between
civilized and barbarian worlds
 Exported wool, olive oil and timber in
exchange for other raw materials and luxury
items
 Built large and technologically advanced
merchant and military navy
Greek Inventions
 The Greeks invented
dice.
 The Greeks invented
the crane (a tall metal
structure with a long
horizontal part which is
used for lifting and
moving heavy objects).
The Greeks were the
original Olympiads.
 Their scientists studied
the best way to perform
sports
More Greek Architecture
 This is a
catapult, a Greek
invention.
 It could throw
300 pound stones
at walls and
buildings
Greek Military
 This is a hoplite, a Greek soldier (middleclass freemen) who had to pay for their
own weapon.
Greek religion: polytheistic
 Religious worship took place in
caves and on mountain tops.
 Great Mother Goddess holding
snakes symbol of divinity
Government of Athens: the first democracy
 Democracy: type of government where
people vote. Athens was a direct
democracy
where
people
vote
on
everything. In the Assembly, every male
citizen was not only free to attend as
often as he pleased but also had the right
to debate, offer amendments, and vote on
proposals. Every man had a say in
whether to declare war or stay in peace.
Basically any thing that required a
government decision, all male citizens
were allowed to participate in. Notably,
the U.S. today is a representative
democracy, where we vote for people to
make decisions for us.
 All of Greece wasn’t a democracy. Most
of Greece was a monarchy a type of
government ruled by a king or queen.
 Sparta: was an isolated city-state that was
culturally and politically different from
Athens.
 Sparta was an oligarchy, government
ruled by a few. Spartan society was
encouraged to be linked with war.
 Boys were sent to military school at a
young age.
 Boys who are born deformed are left to
die on mountainsides
Athens
 Athenians were rough but were
encouraged
to
engage
in
activities like art, philosophy,
music.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander was not from
Athens, but Macedonia.
 Alexander was a brilliant
military strategist.
 His
favorite
book
was
Homer’s Iliad
 Alexander conquered the
Persian
empire
and
controlled
the
largest
empire the world has ever
seen.
Characteristics of Plato’s Ideal State
Plato's philosophical views had many societal
implications, especially on the idea of an ideal
state or government. Now, I’ll discuss the salient
features of Plato’s Ideal State as follows:
Justice and Division of Class
The theory of the state in the Republic culminates
in the conception of justice. Plato gives us his own
theory of justice according to which, individually,
justice is a 'human virtue' that makes a person
self-consistent and good; socially, justice is a
social consciousness that makes a society
internally harmonious and good. According to
Plato, justice is a sort of specialization. In other
words, Plato prescribed division of labor in order
to ensure justice.
For example, Plato tried to harmonize between
human organism and social organism.
Productive Which represents the abdomen (Workers)
— the labourers, carpenters, masons, merchants,
farmers, ranchers, etc. These correspond to the
"appetite" part of the soul.
Protective Which represents Warriors or Guardians —
those who are adventurous, strong and brave. These
correspond to the "spirit" part of the soul.
Governing Which represents the head (Rulers or
Philosopher Kings) — those who are intelligent,
rational, self-controlled, in love with wisdom, well
suited to make decisions for the community. These
correspond to the "reason" part of the soul and are
very few.
This relationship between human organism and
social organism may be understood with the
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following figure:
Fig: Analogy between human organism
and social organism
Function of Different Parts of Ideal State
Governing
Protective
Productive
Wisdom
Courage
Appetite
Different Parts of Human Soul
Plato’s Education System
Plato in his ideal state drew a greater
attention to the education system
categorizing into two stages that may be
shown with the following figure:
Stages of Plato’s Education System
Preliminary
Stage:
 Up to 18 Years
for literature,
music & primary
mathematics and
 Rest 2 years
(19-20 years) for
Gymnastics and
military training
Higher Stage:
 20- 30 years for Higher Math,
Geometry, Astronomy and Music
 30- 35 years for Higher
Philosophy
 35 – 50 years for being
experienced through performing
lower level state duties and
thus those who will be able to
prove himself as the wisest will
take the duty of state & he will
be called philosopher king.
Plato, while understanding the knowledgelevel of philosopher king,
coined the
phrase ‘allegory of the cave’. The allegory
depicts ordinary people as living locked in
a cave, which represents the world of
sense-experience; in the cave people see
only unreal objects, shadows, or images.
But they begin an ascent out of the cave
into reality; this process which allows one
to apprehend unchanging objects and thus
acquire knowledge. In the allegory, this
upward process culminates in the direct
vision of the sun, which represents the
source of knowledge.
Plato’s Classification of Government
Law-abiding
Government
Law-less
Government
Monarchy
Aristocracy
(Supported by
Plato)
Moderate
Democracy
Tyranny
Oligarchy/
Timocracy
Extreme
Democracy
Aristotle’s Classification of Government
Aristotle formulated his classification by
asking two questions: who rules? who
benefits from the rule?
rule by
Perverted
few
King- Tyranny
dom
True
form
one
Aristocracy Polity
Oligarchy
many
Democracy
Aristotle’s Ideal Type
 Tyranny was the worst form of government
possible – as it reduced citizens to slaves.
 Monarchy
and
Aristocracy
were
impractical systems – as they were based
on a willingness to put the interests of the
community before the rulers own.
 Polity – rule by the many for the interests
of all, was accepted by A as being the most
practicable form of systems
 The ideal type of political system was one
which had elements of both democracy and
aristocracy – mixed constitution which left
government in the hands of the middle
classes.