Transcript Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece

Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Early Development of Greek Society
• First society of Greeks were known as, Minoan society
• Island of Crete
• Major city: Knossos
• Ca. 2200 B.C.E., center of maritime trade
• Scholars unable to decipher the script of early Minoans – referred to as Linear A
Classical Greece, 800-350 B.C.E.
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Decline of Minoan Society
• Series of natural disasters destroyed much of Crete after 1700 B.C.E.
• Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves
• Foreign invasions - Crete falls under foreign domination
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Mycenaean Society
• Indo-European invaders descend through Balkans into Peloponnesus, ca. 2200 B.C.E.
• Mycenaeans influenced by Minoan culture
• Visited Crete and adopted some of their ways…eventually overtake them
• Major settlement: Mycenae
• Adapted Linear A to their own language and created Linear B
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Chaos in the Eastern Mediterranean
• The Mycenaeans begin military expansion throughout region
• Went to war with city of Troy known as the Trojan War, ca. 1200 B.C.E.
• Homer’s Iliad
• Sequel: Odyssey
• Political turmoil, chaos (1100 to 800 B.C.E.)
• Mycenaean civilization disappears
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Polis
• City-state
• Urban center, dominating surrounding rural areas
• Highly independent character
• Monarchies
• “Tyrannies,” not necessarily oppressive
• Early democracies
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Sparta
• Highly militarized society
• Subjugated peoples: helots
• Serfs, tied to land
• Outnumbered Spartans 10:1 by sixth century B.C.E.
• Military society developed to control the threat of rebellion
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Spartan Society
• Boys removed from families at age seven
• Received military training in barracks
• Active military service follows
• Marriage, but no home life until age 30
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Athens
• Development of early democracy
• Free adult males only
• Women, slaves excluded
• Yet contrast Athenian style of government with Spartan militarism
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Athenian Society
• Maritime trade brings increasing prosperity beginning 7th century B.C.E.
• Aristocrats dominate smaller landholders
• Increasing socio-economic tensions
• Class conflict
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Solon and Athenian Democracy
• Aristocrat Solon negotiates a compromise between the classes
• Aristocrats to keep large landholdings
• But forgive debts, ban debt slavery
• Removed family restrictions against participating in public
• the poor could participate in the government
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Pericles
• Ruled 461-429 B.C.E.
• High point of Athenian democracy began under Pericles (ruled 461-429)
• Aristocratic but popular
• Massive public works
• Encouraged cultural development
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Greek Colonization
• Population expansion drives colonization
• Coastal Mediterranean, Black Sea
• Sicily (Naples: “Neapolis,” new city)
• Southern France (Massalia: Marseilles)
• Anatolia
• Southern Ukraine
Classical Greece and the Mediterranean Basin, 800-500 B.C.E
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Effects of Greek Colonization
• Trade throughout region
• Communication of ideas
• Language, culture
• Political and social effects
Classical Greece and the Mediterranean Basin, 800-500 B.C.E
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Persian Wars (500-479 B.C.E.)
• Revolt against Persian empire, 500 B.C.E., in Ionia
• Athens supports with ships
• Yet Greek rebellion crushed by Darius 493 B.C.E.;
• Persia decides to attack the Athenians
• Battle of Marathon
• Athenians rout Persian army in 490 B.C.E.
• Persian successor Xerxes burns Athens, but he is driven out as well
Battle of Marathon
Xerxes
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Delian League
• Many city-states create the Delian League to forestall more Persian attacks
• Led by Athens
• Massive payments to Athens fuels Pericles desire for Athenian expansion
• Athens is resented by other poleis
• Sparta formed a separate alliance – the Peloponnesian League
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Peloponnesian War
• Tensions between Athens and Sparta result in a civil war in Greece, 431-404 B.C.E.
• Poleis allied with either Athens or Sparta
• Athens forced to surrender – ultimately, Sparta and her allies won
• But conflict continued between Sparta and other poleis
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Compare and contrast the Rock Edicts of Ashoka with those found in
Hammurabi’s Code
The edicts recorded by Ashoka have direct similarities with
Hammurabi’s law Codes concerning SOCIAL expectations of people,
however, the guidelines for each set of rules are markedly different
concerning RELIGIOUS practices.
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Kingdom of Macedon
• Macedon located on the frontier region to north of Peloponnesus
• King Philip II (r. 359-336 B.C.E.) builds massive military
• 350 B.C.E., encroaches on Greek poleis to the south
• Controls region of Greece by 338 B.C.E.
• Plans to invade Persia
• Assassinated
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
Alexander of Macedon
• “Alexander the Great,” son of Philip II
• Rapid expansion throughout Mediterranean basin
• Invasion of Persia successful (defeated Achaemenid Empire)
• Turned back in India when exhausted troops mutinied
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Hellenistic Empires
• After Alexander’s death, competition for empire
• Divided by generals
• Antigonus: Greece and Macedon
• Ptolemy: Egypt
• Seleucus: Persian Achaemenid empire
• Economic integration, intellectual cross-fertilization
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Hellenistic Empires
• Historians called the time of Alexander and his successors the Hellenistic Age
 Time when Greek culture was spread to a much larger area
 Blended with Indian, Egyptian and Persian elements
• Beliefs, values and religions spread over greater distances than ever before
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Antigonid Empire
• Smallest of Hellenistic empires
• Local dissent
• Issue of land distribution
• Heavy colonizing activity
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Ptolemaic Empire
• Wealthiest of the Hellenistic empires
• Established state monopolies (Textiles; Salt; Beer)
• Capital: Alexandria (Important port city; Major museum, library)
Chapter 10: Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase
The Seleucid Empire
• Massive colonization of Greeks
• Export of Greek culture, values as far east as India – its greatest extent
• Bactria
• Ashoka legislates in Greek and Aramaic
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Trade and Integration of the Mediterranean Basin
• Geography of the peninsula – rocky and mountainous
• Greece: little grain, but rich in olives and grapes
• Colonies further trade
• Commerce rather than agriculture as basis of much of economy
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Pan-Hellenic Festival
• Useful for integrating far-flung colonies
• Olympic Games begin 776 B.C.E.
• Sense of collective identity
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Patriarchal Society
• Women as goddesses, wives, prostitutes
• Women under authority of father, husband, then son
• Limited exposure in public sphere
• Sparta partial exception
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Patriarchal Society
• Upper class women usually stayed in the home – traveled w/ chaperones and usually wore
veils to discourage the attention of men.
• literacy common among upper class women – some were even writers
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Patriarchal Society
• The most famous of writers was Sappho
• Role of infanticide in Greek society and culture
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Slavery
• Scythians (Ukraine)
• Nubians (Africa)
• Chattel (property)
• Sometimes used in business
• Opportunity to buy freedom
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
The Greek Language
• Trade brought Greeks in contact with Mesopotamia and Egypt
• Borrowed Phoenician alphabet
• Added vowels
• Complex language
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Science and Mathematics
• Use of observable evidence, rational thought
• Thales predicts eclipse, 28 May 585 B.C.E.
• Democritus, atoms
• Pythagoras, systematic approach to mathematics
• Hippocrates, human anatomy and physiology
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.)
• The Socratic method
• Student: Plato
• Public gadfly, condemned on charges of immorality
• Forced to drink hemlock
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Plato (430-347 B.C.E.)
• Systematized Socratic thought
• Republic
• Philosopher kings
• Theory of Forms or Ideas
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Aristotle (389-322 B.C.E.)
• Student of Plato
• Broke with theory of Forms or Ideas by Plato
• Emphasis on empirical findings, reason
• Massive impact on western thought
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Greek Theology
• Polytheism
• Zeus principal god
• Religious cults
• Eleusinian mysteries
• The Bacchae
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Tragic Drama
• Cult rituals and new ways of thinking set the stage for Greek drama
• Major playwrights (fifth century B.C.E.)
• Aeschylus
• Sophocles
• Euripides
• Comedy: Aristophanes
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Hellenistic Philosophies
• Epicureans
• Pleasure, distinct from Hedonists
• Skeptics
• Doubted possibility of certainty in anything
• Stoics
• Duty, virtue
• Emphasis on inner peace
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Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
Classical Greece and the Mediterranean Basin, 800-500 B.C.E
Chapter 10: Legacy of Classical Greece
EXTRA SLIDES BEGIN HERE ---- Popular Religion and Greek Drama
• Cults developed around many of the deities – some admitted only women which let them
participate in something outside of the home
 in the 5th century as the poleis gathered strength, the cults became tamer
 cult of Dionysus shifted to the poleis where they had play that honored the traditions of
the poleis – the relationships between humans and gods or reflections on problems of
ethics and morality