Transcript ANCIENT AND CLASSICAL GREECE

ANCIENT AND
CLASSICAL GREECE
CIVILIZATION COMES TO
EUROPE
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY
• The Land
– Mountains dominate land; cross land travel difficult
– Fertile river valleys were center of settlement
• The Sea
– Sea travel easier than land communication
• Economy
– Agriculture: Grains, honey, olives, grapes
– Herding: Goats, sheep, cattle
– Trade: Necessary to make up for lack of resources
PHYSICAL MAP OF AREA
MINOAN SOCIETY
• Knossos
– Minoan society arose on Crete, late 3rd millennium B.C.E.
• Island of Crete
– From 2200 to 1450 B.C.E., center of Mediterranean commerce
• Society
– Much evidence of egalitarian society; women had rights
– Agriculture was important: grapes, olives, fishing, wheat
– Trade was very important: marble, artifacts, cloth
• Decline of Minoan Society
– After 1700 B.C.E., earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis
– After 1450 B.C.E., wealth attracted a number of invaders
– By 1100 B.C.E., Crete fell under foreign (Hellenic) domination
THE ISLAND OF CRETE
MYCENAEAN GREECE
• Mycenaean society
– Indo-European immigrants settled in area, 2000 B.C.E.
– Society resembled Aryan: emphasis on war, trade
– Kingdoms ruled by strongest of nobles; constant strife
• Chaos in the eastern Mediterranean 1100 to 800 BCE
– Mycenaeans engaged in Trojan war, about 1200 B.C.E.
• Recorded by Homer in the Illiad and the Odyssey
– More invasions by Hellenic tribes
– “Sea Peoples”
• Later Hellenic invaders moved by sea along coasts
ANCIENT GREECE
THE GREEK DARK AGES
• 800 TO 500 BCE
– Called Dark Ages due to loss of writing
– A period of migration and warfare
• The Hellenes
– Indo-Europeans who settled in area
– Warfare, slavery, and trade common
GREEK TRIBES
THE POLIS
• Greek City-State
– Polis = city-state; Poleis = city-states
– Acropolis = fortified center of city
• Most important
– Athens
– Sparta
POLIS OF ATTICA
POLITICAL FORMS
–
–
–
–
Demos: People – Democracy (direct election)
Aristos: The Best – Aristocracy (nobles)
Oligos: The Few – Oligarchy (rule by select few)
Monos: One – Monarchy (rule by a king)
SPARTA
• Sparta
–
–
–
–
Situated in a fertile region of the Peloponnesus
Reduced neighboring peoples to the status of helots, or servants
By 6th century B.C.E., helots outnumbered Spartans by 10 to 1
Maintained domination by a powerful military machine
• Spartan society
– Society was a military aristocracy; state ruled by two kings
– Women: surprisingly free in comparison to other Greek women
LACONIA: SPARTA
• Athens
–
–
–
–
ATHENS
Population growth, economic development caused political strain
Sought to negotiate order by democratic principles
Citizenship was open to free adult males
Foreigners, slaves, and women had no rights
• Athenian society
– Maritime trade brought about prosperity
– Class tension became intensified
• Solon and Athenian democracy
– Solon forged a compromise between the classes
• Pericles (ca. 443-429 B.C.E.)
– Ruled Athens during its Golden Age
GREECE & THE LARGER WORLD
• Greeks founded more than 400 colonies
• Effects of Greek colonization
– Facilitated trade among Mediterranean lands
– Facilitate exchanges between peoples, cultures
– Spread of Greek language and cultural traditions
THE GREEK WORLD
GREEK MILITARY
• Based on citizen soldiers
– Lightly armed, armored foot soldiers (Hoplites)
• Carry shields, long spear
– Fought in massed formations called Phalanx
• Greek navy
– Rowed vessels called galleys
• Most famous was the trireme or three oar banked
THE PERSIAN WARS
• The Persian War (500-479 B.C.E.)
– Cyrus and Darius controlled Anatolia
– Greek cities on Ionian coast revolted, 500 B.C.E.
– Darius’ Invasion
• The battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.E.
• Greeks led by Spartans and Athens battled Persia to a draw
– Xerxes Invasion
• Athenian navy destroys Persian in the battle of Salamis, 480 B.C.E.
• Persian army retreated back to Anatolia, 479 B.C.E.
• The Delian League
– Alliance among Greek poleis against Persian threat
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
• Pericles Rebuilds Athens
– Athens experiences a Golden Age
• 30 Year Civil War (431-404 B.C.E.)
– Athens and Allies vs. Sparta and Allies
– Costly victories/defeats and plague wreck city
– Unconditional surrender of Athens, 404 B.C.E.
• Hegemony first by Sparta and then by Thebes
– Constant warfare between leagues, allies
– Greece horribly weakened
– Athens remained intellectual center of Greece
RISE OF MACEDONIA
• The kingdom of Macedon
– A frontier state north of peninsular Greece
– Partially Hellenized society
• Philip of Macedon (re. 359-336 B.C.E.)
– Brought Greece under control by 338 B.C.E.
– Murdered possibly by wife and son
• Alexander of Macedon and his conquests
–
–
–
–
–
–
Educated by Aristotle; gifted in many areas
Invaded Persia, controlled Ionia and Anatolia, 333 B.C.E.
By 331 B.C.E., controlled Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia
Invaded Persian homeland and burned Persepolis
Crossed Indus River by 327 B.C.E.
Died in 323 B.C.E. at age of 33
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
HELLENISTIC EMPIRES
•
The Hellenistic Era: Age of Alexander and his successors
–
•
Saw a blending of Hellenic (Greek) and Asian, Egyptian traditions
The Antigonid empire in Greece, Macedonia and Thrace
–
•
The economy of Athens flourished again through trade
The Ptolemaic empire ruled Egypt, Cyprus, often Holy Land
–
–
The wealthiest of the Hellenistic empires
Alexandria
•
•
•
The capital of Ptolemaic empire, at the mouth of the Nile
Cultural center: the famous Alexandria Museum and Alexandria Library
The Seleucid empire Mesopotamia, Persia, India
–
–
More Greek influence than in Egypt
Greek, Macedonian colonists flocked to new Greek
HELLENISTIC WORLD
INTEGRATION OF
MEDITERRANEAN
•
Trade
–
–
•
Olive oil, wine, in exchange for grain and other items
Trade brought prosperity, population growth, colonization
Panhellenic festivals
–
–
–
Colonists shared the same religion and language
Periodic panhellenic festivals reinforced their common bonds
Olympic games, the best known panhellenic festival
FAMILY AND SOCIETY
•
Aristocracy (landed elites) vs. common
–
–
•
Over years, aristocracy gradually came to control most states
Held most of the social, political power
Patriarchal society
–
–
–
•
Male family heads ruled households,
Upper-class women wore veils in public, accompanied by servants
Women could not own land but could operate small business
Slavery
–
Worked as agricultural laborers, domestic servants
RATIONITY AND PHILOSOPHY
•
The formation of Greek cultural traditions
–
•
Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.)
–
–
–
•
An Athenian philosopher, determined to understand human beings
Encouraged reflection on ethics and morality
Was condemned to death on charge of corrupting Athenian youths
Plato (430-347 B.C.E.)
–
–
•
The Greek cultural feature: a philosophy based on human reason, rationality
A zealous disciple of Socrates
His Republic expressed the ideal of philosophical kings
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
–
–
Plato's disciple
Devised rules of logic to construct arguments; father of western science
GREEK RELIGION & FINE ARTS
• Greek Polytheism
– Deities: Zeus, Athena, Apollo and many others
• The Theatre
– Tragic drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides)
• Dramas performed at annual theatrical festivals
– Comic drama (Aristophanes)
• Lampooned public and political figures
• Art and Architecture
– Both were for public consumption and public enjoyment
– Balance, proportion and rationality part of design
HELLENISTIC WORLD VIEWS
• Hellenistic philosophers
– Epicureans
• Identified pleasure as greatest good; freedom from turmoil, pressure
– Skeptics
• Doubted certainty of knowledge, sought equanimity
– Stoics
• Cultivated by strict discipline of the body and mind.