Transcript Powerpoint - St. Olaf Pages

Athens and Sparta
And the Peloponnesian War
Sparta
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Rigorous training of the body for women as well as
for men. Men were warriors, women were breeders
of warriors.
Marriage was limited to the prime of life, husbands
live in barracks and have to see their wives in secret.
They all go barefoot, have a single garment per year,
withstand heat and cold.
Men eat in the common mess. Food reputed to be the
worst in all of Greece.
Sparta (cont.)
• Ephors, five high executive officials. Had police, judicial
powers. They also determined the fate of newborns.
• Two kings, largely ceremonial function.
• Democratic assembly, voted yes or no on legislation.
• Gerousia, same as senate, a council of elders.
Athens
• Originally it was ruled by a king and a council of Elders
(Areopagus), then a series of constitutional measures was
enacted. Kings were replaced by archons, with a limited
term of office. Finally, an assembly was instituted.
• Draco: in 621 he published a law code, esp. for
homicide. It was known for the harshness of its
penalties.
• Solon: In 594, given extraordinary powers for reform,
esp. land reform. Instituted a constitution by
representation on basis of land ownership rather than
birth. People’s appeals court was formed.
Athens (cont.)
• Pisistratus: gained leadership 545-28 through popular
support, but unable to start a dynasty.
• Reforms were enacted by Cleisthenes in 508: new
council created, breaking up old systems of alliances,
and service was rotated to limit power. More fluid
situation than in Sparta, less stability.
Poleis were thus a kind of experimental
opportunity for testing various forms of
government. Attempts at solving balance of
power in different ways, fertile source of
political theory.
Peloponnesian War
• Following the defeat of Persia in the Persian War of 480, Sparta
withdrew into isolation, while Athens continued to develop as a
sea power.
• Delian League: Asian, Ionian Greeks, and Greek cities on
islands in Aegean, accept Athenian leadership.
• By 465, cities are being coerced into joining. Money is being
taken as tribute, by 454, treasury is moved to Athens.
• Pericles: popular leader in Athens, gains ascendancy. Begins to
reconcile with Persia, take defensive stance toward other poleis.
• Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta, forms in defense against
Athens. Tribute money, meanwhile, being used in Athens to
construct Parthenon, Phidias' statue of Athens. All this
increases Pericles' popularity.
From the Textbook
Terms:
• Solon
• Pisistratus
• Delian League
• Parthenon
• cleruchies
• heterai
• gymnasium
• Messenia
• helots
• Lycurgan system
• laconic; Laconia
Questions:
• How did Athens avoid the
instability of revolution and
counter-revolution? How did
Sparta?
• What was the nature of slavery in
Greece during this period?
• What was the status of the wives
of citizens in Athens? What was
Athenian marriage like? How did
their status and circumstances
compare to those of Spartan
women?
Pericles; the Acropolis
Delian and Peloponnesian Leagues
• Pericles expands eligibility for higher office so that poorer
people can serve, thus weakening the aristocracy, Areopagus.
• Quarrel began when Corinth and colony, Corcyra, fell out in
433. Corcyra called upon Athens for help, and a member of
Peloponnesian Leage, Megara, helped Corinth.
• 433-421, Athens used sea power, Sparta land. Yearly invasions
of Athens, Stalemate
• Meanwhile plague hit Athens, took Pericles. Uneasy peace
finally struck.
• 415-404 theatre moved to Sicily. Fighting deprived Athens of
her empire entirely, Sparta looked on as liberator.
• The war was followed by period of hegemonies: Sparta, then
Thebes (setting of Oedipus Rex).
• Eventually, Macedonia, to the North, began to expand. New
chapter which would end with conquests of Alexander the
Great.
Questions: Pericles Funeral Oration
• This portion of Thucydides History reflects Athens near the beginning of the
Peloponnesian War; in fact within a year after this speech Pericles, the leading
citizen in Athens, died of the plague, thus depriving the Athenians of their
most effective leader according to Thucydides. What appears to be the
balance between individual valor and glory on the one hand and service to the
polis, a public insitution, on the other in Pericles' celebration of the deeds of
these fallen warriors? How would you compare this balance to what you
found among Homeric heroes?
• What does Pericles believe to be the source of Athenian excellence, especially
in comparison to Sparta?
• What insights do you gain about the role of Athenian women from Pericles'
brief remarks about female excellence?
Questions for Aristophanes Lysistrata:
• Keeping in mind that this is a comedy, what might you conclude about the
attitudes and stereotypes regarding women during this time? Would you
consider Aristophanes to be a feminist?
• What does this source tell you about the survival of traditional Greek
agonistic values toward the end of the Peloponnesian War?
Questions for Lysistrata:
• Keeping in mind that this is a comedy, what might you conclude
about the attitudes and stereotypes regarding women during this
time? Would you consider Aristophanes to be a feminist?
• What does this source tell you about the survival of traditional
Greek agonistic values toward the end of the Peloponnesian
War?