Transcript Graecia Antiqua

Graecia Antiqua
Ancient Greek history, culture, and
influences on Rome
5 Eras of Greek History
The Bronze Age (ca. 2000-1000 BC)
2 civilizations, plus possible island precursors
Minoans – seafaring civilization, trade and wealth
Mycenaeans – warlike; many kingdoms; Trojan War
Culture – Heroic tradition; Greek religion
Dark Age (ca. 1100-800 BC)
Decline of population around Mediterranean
Collapse of kingdoms and long-distance trade
Division of Greek peoples into many small villages
Growth of ‘chieftain’ aristocracy
Culture – rise of epic poetry, Homeric tradition
Archaic Age: ca. 800-491
Growth in urban populations
Rise of the polis city-state, Greek architecture
Colonization – spread of Greek cities across the Mediterranean
International trade, competition with Phoenicians
Spread of Greek alphabet and written literature
Classical Era: 491-323 BC
Persian Wars
Greek nationalism, height of polis
Dorian League and the Peloponnesian War – Athens and Sparta
Drama – festivals to Dionysus
Philip, Alexander, and the Battle of Chaeronea
Invasion of Persia
Culture: Greek literature, law, sculpture, rhetoric, Socratic philosophy
Hellenistic Era: 323-30 BC
‘Diadochoi’ – successor kingdoms to Alexander the Great
Antigonids, Seleucids, and Ptolemies
Collapse of the polis
‘Scientific’ warfare; professional soldiers
Pyrrhus of Epirus and involvement in Roman affairs
Roman conquest of Greek or Hellenistic civilizations – Macedon, Syria,
and Egypt
Culture – Spread of Greek as international language; Hellenistic philosophies
Influences on Rome
“Captured Greece took captive her wild captor” -- Horace
Literature: Prose – history, rhetoric, philosophy
Poetry – epic, lyric, drama
Greek as second, educated language
Art:
Architecture, temples and monumental buildings
Paintings and sculpture – public > private
Politics: Polis system and public duty
Democracy, oligarchy, and autocracy
Religion:Greek gods and myths
Socratic and Hellenistic philosophies
Trojan connection in foundation myth