Transcript Chapter 7 PP

Chapter 7
The Greek Adventure
Three epochs of ancient Greek
history
Mycenaean Age
Hellenic period
Hellenistic Age
Geography and Political
Development
Geography and Political
Development
• Little suitable land, no large flat areas for largescale 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
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
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
Early Hellenic Civilization
• Not everybody was a citizen
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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
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
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
Athenian Democracy
• Ekklesia – town meeting
– All free male Athenians, med on ad hoc basis
– All could speak freely
– All could be elected
• Boule
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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
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
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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
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
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
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
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
Peloponnesian War
431-404 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
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
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?