Transcript HISTORY OF GREECE

HISTORY OF GREECE
Overview and Eras of Greek History
The Stone Age
(circa 400,00 – 3000BCE)
The earliest evidence of habitation comes in the form
of a skull that was found in the Petralona Cave in Halikidiki. The
cranium has been difficult to date, with some estimates
indicating that it is about between 300,000 and 400,000 years
old. While questions abound regarding the exact age and the
species of the cranium, it has been classified as a hybrid
between “Homo Erectus, the first hominid to migrate out
Africa, and Homo Neanderthalensis, the early human that
dominated Europe and the Near East before the advent of our
own species. (Runnels & Murray, 15)
The earliest evidence of burials and commerse in the
Aegean which have been dated to 7250 BCE were unearthed in
Franchthi cave in the Argolid. A wealth of stone tools found in
sites in Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia, and the Peloponnesse
reveal the existence of flourishing Paleolithic and Mesolithic
communities in the Greek mainland. The Neolithic settlements
of Sesklo (c. 7000 - 3200 BCE) and Dimini (c. 4800 – 4500 BCE)
in Thessaly exhibit early evidence sophisticated social
organization, fortifications, and construction of pottery art and
“megaron” houses.
While the Mycenaean is considered the first “Hellenic”
civilization, the various settlements testify that the territory
that defines modern Greece was a hub of cultural activity since
the Stone Age. Several Paleolithic open air sites have been
unearthed in Epirus, Macedonia and Peloponnese, but the
Mesolithic and Neolithic settlements found are much more
numerous. The settlements of Dimini and Sesklo show that
that stone age peoples of Greece had reached a high level of
development by 3000 BCE with advanced economies and
complex social structure.
The Bronze Age
(circa 3300-1150BCE)
The Bronze Age, a period that lasted roughly three thousand
years, saw major advances in social, economic, and technological
advances that made Greece the hub of activity in the Mediterranean.
Historians have identified three distinct civilizations to identify the people
of the time. These civilizations overlap in time and coincide with the
major geographic regions of the Greece. The Cycladic civilization
developed in the islands of the Aegean, and more specifically around the
Cyclades, while the Minoans occupied the large island of Crete. At the
same time, the civilization of the Greek mainland is classified as
“Helladic”. The Mycenaean era describes Helladic civilization towards the
end ofthe 11th c. BCE and is also the called “Age of Heroes” because it is
the source of the mythological heroes and epics like Hercules, the Iliad
and the Odyssey.
All three civilizations of the Bronze Age had many characteristics
in common, while at the same time were distinct in their culture and
disposition. The Minoans are considered to be the first advanced
civilization of Europe, while Mycenaean culture had a great deal of
influence with its legends and Greek language on what later became the
splendor of Classical Greece.
“The Mycenaeans are the first ‘Greeks’” (Martin, Ancient Greece
16).
Either by fortune or force, the Mycenaeans outlasted both the
people of Cyclades and the Minoans, and by the end of the 10th c. BCE
expanded their influence over the Greek mainland, the islands of the
Aegean and Ionian seas, Crete, and the coast of Asia Minor. However,
after 1100 BCE Mycenaean civilization ceased either through internal
strife, or outside invasions (the Dorian invasions have been proposed as a
possible explanation), or through a combination of the two, it is not
known for sure.
What is known is that the extensive damage done to the
Mycenaean civilization took three hundred years to reverse. We call this
period “the Dark Ages” partly because the people of Greece fell into a
period of basic sustenance with no significant evidence of cultural
development, and partly because the incomplete historical record renders
our own view of the era rather incomplete.
The Dark Age
(circa 1100-700BCE)
During the Dark Ages of Greece the old major
settlements were abandoned (with the notable exception
of Athens), and the population dropped dramatically in
numbers. Within these three hundred years, the people of
Greece lived in small groups that moved constantly in
accordance with their new pastoral lifestyle and livestock
needs, while they left no written record behind leading to
the conclusion that they were illiterate. Later in the Dark
Ages (between 950 and 750 BCE), Greeks relearned how to
write once again, but this time instead of using the Linear B
script used by the Mycenaeans, they adopted the alphabet
used by the Phoenicians “innovating in a fundamental way
by introducing vowels as letters. The Greek version of the
alphabet eventually formed the base of the alphabet used
for English today.” (Martin, 43)
Life was undoubtedly harsh for the Greeks of the
Dark ages. However, in retrospect we can identify one
major benefit of the period. The deconstruction of the old
Mycenaean economic and social structures with the strict
class hierarchy and hereditary rule were forgotten, and
eventually replaced with new socio-political institutions
that eventually allowed for the rise of Democracy in 5th c.
BCE Athens. Notable events from this period include the
occurrence of the first Olympics in 776, and the writing of
the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Archaic
(circa 700 – 480BCE)
The next period of Greek History is described
asArchaic and lasted for about two hundred years from
(700 – 480 BCE). During this epoch Greek population
recovered and organized politically in city-states (Polis)
comprised of citizens, foreign residents, and slaves.
This kind of complex social organization required the
development of an advanced legal structure that
ensured the smooth coexistence of different classes
and the equality of the citizens irrespective of their
economic status. This was a required precursor for the
Democratic principles that we see developed two
hundred years later in Athens.
Greek city-states of the Archaic epoch spread
throughout the Mediterranean basin through vigorous
colonization. As the major city-states grew in size they
spawn a plethora of coastal towns in the Aegean, the
Ionian, Anatolia (today’s Turkey), Phoenicia (the Middle
East), Libya, Southern Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and as far as
southern France, Spain, and the Black Sea. These
states, settlements, and trading posts numbered in the
hundreds, and became part of an extensive commercial
network that involved all the advanced civilizations of
the time. As a consequence, Greece came into contact
and aided in the exchange of goods and ideas
throughout ancient Africa, Asia, and Europe. Through
domination of commerce in the Mediterranean,
aggressive expansion abroad, and competition at
home, several very strong city-states began emerging
as dominant cultural centers, most notably Athens,
Sparta,
Corinth,
Thebes,
Syracuse,
Miletus,
Halicarnassus among other.
Classical (480 – 323BCE)
The flurry of development and expansion of the Archaic Era was followed by the period of maturity we came to know as “Classical
Greece”. Between 480 and until 323 BCE Athens and Sparta dominated the Hellenic world with their cultural and military achievements. These
two cities, with the involvement of the other Hellenic states, rose to power through alliances, reforms, and a series of victories against the
invading Persian armies. They eventually resolved their rivalry in a long, and particularly nasty war that concluded with the demise of Athens
first, Sparta second, and the emergence of Macedonia as the dominant power of Greece. Other city-states like Miletus, Thebes, Corinth, and
Syracuse among many others played a major role in the cultural achievements of this period we came to call Classical Greece.
Athens and Sparta coexisted peacefully through their underlying suspicion of each other until the middle of the 5th c. BCE. The
political and cultural disposition of the two city-states occupied the opposite ends of the spectrum. Sparta was a closed society governed by an
oligarchic government led by two kings, and occupying the harsh southern end of the Peloponnesus, organized its affairs around a powerful
military that protected the Spartan citizens from both external invasion and internal revolt of the helots. Athens on the other hand grew to an
adventurous, open society, governed by a Democratic government that drew its power from commercial activity. The period of Perikles’
leadership in Athens is described as the “Golden Age”. It was during this period that the massive building project, that included the Acropolis,
was undertaken.
Bronze helmet of Miltiades. Dedicated at Olympia, now at the Olympia museum.The Athenian adventurous spirit, and their loyalty to
their Ionian kin led them to come to the aid of the Asia Minor colonies that were feuding with the powerful Persian Empire. To aid the Ionian
Revolt, led by Miletus, the Athenians landed a small garrison in Ionia to fight against the Persians and to spread the revolt. The Greek forces
burned the capital of Lydia, Sardis in 498 enraging the Persians, before they were finally defeated in 494 BCE. The sacking of Sardis invoked the
wrath of Darius who vowed revenge. In 490 BCE, he landed his forces twenty miles north of Athens, at Marathon. While the Spartans were
occupied with a religious festival, the outnumbered Athenians under the leadership of Miltiades mounted a surprise attack and routed the
dumbfounded Persians at Marathon to preserve Greek independence for the time being.
It took ten years, but the Persian king Xerxes, determined to succeed
in his second attempt, amassed what Herodotus described as the greatest army
ever put together in order to attack Greece again. The Athenians, expecting a
full attack from the Persians, under the leadership of Themistokles cashed the
silver extracted from the newly dug mines of Lavrion, and built a formidable
navy of triremes. Xerxes crossed the Hellespont in 480 BCE with his massive
army and began annexing Greece through land and sea. The first line of defense
for the Greek alliance of city-states was at the narrow passage of Thermopylae
where Leonidas with 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians held back the mighty
Persian army for three days before they fell to a man through deceit. At the
same time the Athenian ships fought the Persian navy to a stalemate at nearby
Artemision before it withdrew to the straights of Salamina.
The Athenians vacated the entire non-combat population from their
city, so when the Persians arrived they met no resistance. They took vengeance
on the buildings and temples of Athens by burning them to the ground, and
anchored their fleet at Faliron in pursuit of the Greek navy that was sheltered at
nearby Salamina Island. While the joint leadership of the Hellenes argued in
typical Greek fashion if they should withdraw to the Peloponnese and where to
engage the Pesians next, Themistokles, seeking an advantageous quick battle,
invoked the Persian fleet into attacking as the Greek ships faked an early
morning escape from Salamina. As the Persians pursued what they thought was
a fleeing foe, the Greck triremes turned and engaged the surprised Persians
inflicting massive casualties and decimating the Persian navy. With his navy
destroyed, Xerxes feared that the Greek triremes would rush to the Hellespont
to cut off his only way home, so he withdrew back to Asia leaving his able
general Mardonious to fight the Greeks. The next year, in 479 BCE, this Persian
army was defeated at Plataea by the alliance of Greek states under the
leadership of the Spartan general Pausanias, putting a permanent end to further
Persian ambitions to annex Greece.
The victory of the Greek forces at Marathon and Salamis are hailed as
pivotal points in the development of western civilization. The reason being that,
if the Persians were victorious all the achievements of Greece (and especially
Athens) that followed immediately after and what is widely consider to be the
foundation of western civilization, would not have transpired. Following the
successful defense of their homeland, the Greek states entered a state of high
development. Athens especially emerged as a major superpower that led a host
of other Greek city-states (some willing, some unwilling, and some reluctant) in a
defensive alliance, the Delian League, against the Persians. The tributes collected
by the allies helped Athens expand and maintain a formidable, yet difficult,
empire in the Aegean world. At the same time, Sparta led the Peloponnesian
League, an alliance of states mostly from the Peloponnese that acted as a
counter-balance against the perceived Athenian hegemony of Greece.
The competitive spirit, suspicion, and animosity toward each other
that characterized all Greek cities re-emerged once the external danger of the
Persians threat subsided, and with the two dominant empires occupying
opposite ends of the political and cultural spectrum, it was not long before the
underlying differences and mistrust spilled over in a particularly long and nasty
conflict: the Peloponnesian War. While Sparta and Athens were the primary
adversaries, just about every other Greek city took part at one time or another.
With Sparta possessing the stronger land forces, and Athens dominating at sea
with its navy of triremes, the war lasted for from 431 until 404 BCE with the
Peace of Nicias interrupting it briefly in 421-418 BCE. After surviving a
decimating plague in 430/9 BCE and a devastating defeat in Sicily by Syracuse in
413 BCE, Athens drained of resources finally capitulated to the Spartans in 404
BCE.
The Classical Period produced remarkable cultural and scientific
achievements. The city of Athens introduced to the world a direct Democracy
the likes of which had never been seen hitherto, or subsequently, with western
governments like Great Britain, France, and USA emulating it a thousand years
later. The rational approach to exploring and explaining the world as reflected in
Classical Art, Philosophy, and Literature became the well-grounded springboard
that western culture used to leap forward, beginning with the subsequent
Hellenistic Age. The thinkers of the Classical Greek era have since dominated
thought for thousands of years, and have remained relevant to our day. The
teachings of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle among others, either directly, in
opposition, or mutation, have been used as reference point of countless western
thinkers in the last two thousand years. Hippocrates became the “Father of
modern medicine”, and the Hippocratic oath is still used today. The dramas of
Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes are
considered among the masterpieces of western culture.
The art of Classical Greece began the trend towards a more
naturalistic (even in its early idealistic state) depiction of the world, thus
reflecting a shift in philosophy from the abstract and supernatural to more
immediate earthly concerns. Artists stopped merely “suggesting” the human
form and began “describing” it with accuracy. Man became the focus, and
“measure of all things” in daily life through Democratic politics, and in cultural
representations. Rational thinking and Logic became the driving force behind
this cultural revolution at the expense of emotion and impulse. The most striking
illustration of this “Logic over Emotion” approach is frozen on the faces of the
statues of the temple of Zeus west pediment at Olympia. In the complex array of
sculptures, it is easy to know who is a “Barbarian” and who is a “civilized
Hellene” through the expression of their faces. Barbarian Centaurs exhibit an
excess of emotion, while Lapithae women and Apollo remain collected and
emotionless even in the direst of situations .
Even after its defeat at the Peloponnesian war, Athens remained a
guiding light for the rest of Greece for a long time, but this light that shone
so bright, began to slowly fade. Sparta won the Peloponnesian war and
emerged as the dominant power in Greece, but her political prowess failed
to match her military reputation. While Sparta fought against other citystates all over Greece, Athens reconstructed her empire after rebuilding her
walls, her navy and army. Sparta’s power and military might were eventually
diminished, especially after two crashing defeats at the hands of the
Thebans first in Leuctra in 371 BCE, and again nine years later at Mantinea.
This power vacuum was quickly filled however by the Macedonians who
under the leadership of Philip II emerged as the only major military
authority of Greece after their victory at Chaeronea against the Athenians in
338 BCE.
Through diplomacy and might, Philip II who became king in 359
BCE, managed to consolidate the areas around northern Greece under his
power, and until his assassination in 336 BCE had added central and
southern Greece to his hegemony. The pretext for his military expeditions to
southern Greece was the protection of the Delphi Oracle from the
Phoceans, but his sight was fixed beyond the borders of Greece. His
ambition was to lead a military expedition of united Greece against the
Persian Empire to avenge the Persian incursions of Greece. This ambition
was fulfilled by his son Alexander the Great who became king after his
fathers assassination.
With a copy of the Iliad and a dagger in his hand, Alexander
continued the centuries-old conflict between East and West by leading a
united Greek army into Asia. His success on the battlefield and the amount
of land he conquered became legendary and earned him the epithet “the
Great”. Besides brilliant military tactics, Alexander possessed leadership
skills and charisma that made his army unbeatable in numerous battles
against more numerous opponents, pushing the Greeks all the way to Egypt,
India and Bactria (today Afghanistan). Alexander led his army in battle
always placing his own self at the point of attack, partaking in the common
soldier’s jeopardy, and thus won a series of major battles that obliterated all
opposition in its path. In the process he amassed the largest empire hitherto
known and altered the composition of the ancient world.
In 334 BCE, Alexander led his army across the Hellespond
into Asia and scored successive wins against the Persian Empire. His
fist success came at Granicus River in northwest Asia Minor where
his Calvary routed the outnumbered Persian mercenaries who
fought under the leadership of Memnon of Rhodes. In 333 BCE
Alexander’s outnumbered army defeated the Persians at Issus and
forced king Darius to flee for his life. The subsequent conquest of
Miletus, Tyre (332 BCE), and Egypt (331 BCE) gave the Greeks
control of the entire eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and
allowed Alexander to move inland towards the heart of the Persian
Empire. In Egypt Alexander was proclaimed to be the son of god
Ammon (the equivalent of the Greek Zeus), and he proclaimed
himself King of Asia after his victory at the battle at Gaugamela in
331 BCE, which sealed the fate of the Persian Empire.
From Babylon, Alexander led his army towards the heart of
south Asia, subduing all resistance and establishing cities along the
way. Despite the objections of his officers, he incorporated into his
army forces from the conquered lands, adopted local customs, and
married a Bactrian woman, Roxane. His march eastward eventually
stopped on the edge of India partly due to the objections of his
fatigued army. He returned from the frontier to Babylon to plan his
next expedition southward, towards Arabia, but in 323 BCE his
sudden death of a fever at the age of 32 put an end to a brilliant
military career, and left his vast conquered land without an
apparent heir.
The conquests of Alexander the Great changed the course
of Ancient history. The center of gravity of the Greek world moved
from the self-containment of city-states to a more vast territory that
spanned the entire coast of Eastern Mediterranean and reached far
into Asia. Alexander’s conquests placed a plethora of diverse
cultures under common hegemony and Greek influence around the
Mediterranean and southern Asia, paving the way for the distinct
Hellenistic culture that followed his death.
Hellenistic
(323 – 30BCE)
The Hellenistic Age marks the transformation of Greek society
from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan,
and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern
Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia. While the Hellenistic world
incorporated a number of different people, Greek thinking, mores, and
way of life dominated the public affairs of the time. All aspects of culture
took a Greek hue, with the Greek language being established as the official
language of the Hellenistic world. The art and literature of the era were
transformed accordingly. Instead of the previous preoccupation with the
Ideal, Hellenistic art focused on the Real. Depictions of man in both art and
literature revolved around exuberant, and often amusing themes that for
the most part explored the daily life and the emotional world of humans,
gods, and heroes alike.
The autonomy of individual cities of the Classical era gave way
to the will of the large kingdoms that were led by one ruler. As Alexander
left no apparent heir, his generals controlled the empire. They fought
common enemies and against each other as they attempted to establish
their power, and eventually, three major kingdoms emerged through the
strife that followed the death of Alexander in 323 BCE and persisted for the
most part over the next three hundred years.
Egypt and parts of the Middle East came under
the rule of Ptolemy, Seleucus controlled Syria and the remnants of the
Persian Empire, while Macedonia, Thrace, and parts of northern Asia
Minor came under the hegemony of Antigonus and his son Demetrius.
Several smaller kingdoms were established at various times, in Hellenistic
Greece. Notably, the Attalid kingdom was formed around Pergamum in
eastern Asia Minor, and the independent kingdom of Bactria was created
after Diodotos led a rebellion of Greeks there against Seleucid rule. Most
of the classical Greek cities south of Thessaly and on the southern shores
of the Black Sea remained independent.
Several Greek cities became dominant in the Hellenistic era. City-states of the classical Greece like Athens, Corinth,
Thebes, Miletus, and Syracuse continued to flourish, while others emerged as major centers throughout the kingdoms. Pergamum,
Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, and Trapezus are few of the cities whose reputations have survived to our day. None were more
influential than Alexandria of Egypt however. Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great himself in 331 BCE and very quickly
became the center of commerce and culture of the Hellenistic world under the Ptolemies. Alexandria hosted the tomb of Alexander
the Great, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the faros (lighthouse) of Alexandria, and the famed Library of Alexandria that
aspired to host the entire knowledge of the known world.
Many famous thinkers and artists of the Hellenistic era created works that remained influential for centuries. Schools
of thought like the Stoics, the Skeptics, and the Epicurians continued the substantial philosophical tradition of Greece, while art,
literature, and poetry reached new heights of innovation and development through the work of Kalimachus, Apollonious of Rhodes,
Menander, and Theocritos. The sculptures and canons of Polykleitos remained influential and were copied throughout the Hellenistic
and Roman Eras, and even centuries later during the Italian Renaissance. Great works of art were created during the Hellenistic Era. In
Architecture, the classical styles were further refined and augmented with new ideas like the Corinthian order which was first used on
the exterior of the Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. Public buildings and monuments were constructed on larger scale in more
ambitious configuration and complexity. The Mausoleum of Pergamum, merged architectural space and sculpture by the placement
of heroic sculptures in the close proximity of a grand staircase.
Hellenistic Greece became a time of substantial maturity of the sciences. In geometry, Euclid’s elements became the
standard all the way up to the 20th c. CE., and the work of Archimedes on mathematics along with his practical inventions became
influential and legendary. Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth within 1500 miles by simultaneously measuring the
shadow of two vertical sticks placed one in Alexandria and one in Syene. The fact that the earth was a sphere was common
knowledge in the Hellenistic world.
The Hellenistic age was by no means free of conflict,
even after the major kingdoms were established. Challenges
to the Hellenistic kingdoms appeared from internal conflict
and new external enemies. The size of the empire made
securing it next to impossible, and life outside the orderly
large cities was filled with danger from bandits and pirates.
Internal strife and revolutions caused the borders of the
kingdoms to be shifted several times as the rulers of the
major and minor kingdoms engaged in continuous conflict. At
the same time serious threats to the Hellenistic world came
from external threats. A Celtic people, the Gauls invaded
Macedonia and reached southern Greece in 279 BCE
attempting to plunder the treasure of Delphi, which was
miraculously saved (Pausanias, 20). Eventually, Attalus
defeated the Gauls after they crossed into Asia Minor.
At the time of Hellenistic Era, Rome had risen to a
formidable power and by 200 BCE occupied not only Italy, but
also the entire coastal Adriatic Sea and Illyria. During the
second Punic War (218 - 201 BCE) when Hannibal of Carthage
managed to establish a successful campaign against the
Romans in Italy, Philip V of Macedon allied with him and
annexed Illyria, starting thus a series of wars with Rome that
led to the eventual annexation of Greece by the Romans. In
the end, large part of the Hellenistic kingdoms disintegrated
by constant incursions by tribes of the fringes, many parts
were simply given to Rome through the will of deceased
rulers, and others won brief independence by revolution. In
31 BCE Octavian (later Augustus) defeated the rulers of Egypt
Anthony and Cleopatra in the naval battle of Actium, and
completed the demise of the Hellenistic Era.
The battle of Actium is considered the pivotal
moment that defines the end of Ancient Greece. After the
battle of Actium, the entire Hellenic world became subject to
Rome. Greece in the next two thousand years was to undergo
a series of conquests that made its people subjects of
numerous powers and did not gain its self-determination
until the 19th C. CE.
Roman
(146 BCE – 330 CE)
Greece was a Roman province in all
aspects from 146BC - AD86. The Greeks wanted
their independence, though, and when the
Pontian king Mithridates VI started invading
Roman territories many Greek states supported
him. This proved to be a disastrous decision, for
the Roman army answered by chasing
Mithridates out of Greece and by sacking Athens,
Corinth and a large part of central Greece. From
now on Greece had lost any commercial power,
and basically only art and philosophy remained a
major influence.
Augustus separated Macedonia from
Greece around 22 BC, but otherwise Greece was
pretty much left to its own misery until about
250 years later, when Hadrian was Emperor.
Herodes Atticus then beautified Athens man
many Greek cities, but when the Goths invaded
in 267 Athens was captured and Argus, Corinth
and Sparta sacked.
The Roman Empire was divided in two
parts, East and West since it had two emperors
after 385. The East was to develop into what we
know as Byzantium.
Byzantine
(330 -1453 CE)
In 267 BCE an invasion by the Herouloi (a
band of Germanic tribes) had catastrophic results
for Athens as the Teutonic hordes razed the
entire city which did not recover until 400 years
later when in the 4th century CE Teodosius II and
his wife Eudoxia the Athenian commissioned a
series of important buildings around Athens. The
city thrived as it became the intellectual
playground for Christians and Pagans alike this
time around. The Neo Platonic academy was
founded South of the Acropolis to accommodate
an expanding influx of students.
Under Justinian however, Christianity was
imposed on the city in 529 CE and all Pagan
remnants, including all the philosophy schools,
were closed forcing Athens to become a
provincial town with little culture or influence.
The Parthenon was converted to a Christian
church dedicated to the Agia Sophia (Devine
Wisdom). The Erechtheion also became a
Christian church. Devastating raids by Slavs and
Saracens shortly after completed the demise of
Athens that lasted for almost half a millennia
until in 1000 CE when it became a thriving
metropolis once again.
In 1205 CE the Francs occupied Athens and they
turned the Acropolis into a fortress and ruled the city
from the Propylaia, which they converted into a
palace. At the same time they converted the
Parthenon into a Catholic cathedral, the Notre Dame
d’ Athenes.
After Athens was occupied by the Ottoman
Empire in 1456 CE the Parthenon was converted to a
mosque, and the Erechtheion functioned as a harem.
During this period parts of the Propylaia were damaged
“either struck by lightning or due to the explosion of a
shell” (Dontas, The Acropolis and its Museum, 16).
(1453 – 1821 CE)
After the Turks failed to take Vienna in 1683,
Austria, Poland, the Pope, and Venice, allied with the
goal of re-conquering all European lands that the
Ottoman Empire occupied. The mercenary army that
was assembled for the task (often referred to as the
“Venetian” army) under the command of the Venetian
Morosini freed Moreas (Peloponnese) and in 1687
landed in Athens. The occupying Turks fortified
themselves on the Acropolis.
During the ensuing siege the Acropolis suffered
from continuing bombardment that lasted for eight
days, and on September 26, 1687 a Venetian mortar
shell scored a direct hit on the Parthenon that the
defending Turks were using as a storage magazine for
their gunpowder. The explosion blew apart the long
sides of the Parthenon, and the ensuing fire that lasted
for two days left the building in the skeletal state we
see today.
“The battery was commanded by Antonio Muitoni, Conte di San Felice, and the artificer’s name
was Sergeant di Vanny.” (The Carrey Drawings of the Parthenon Sculptures, 30).
The force of the explosion led the Turks to surrender, and the Venetian
general Morosini further damaged the building in his unsuccessful attempt to remove the
sculptures of the west pediment. “Heard some curious extracts from the life of Morosini, the
blundering Venetian, who blew up the Acropolis of Athens with a bomb, and be damned to him!”
(Byron, A Self Portrait, in his Own Words, Peter Quennell, editor, Oxford Press, 1990, pg. 249).
Once the Turks were able to expel the Venetians a year later, the Acropolis
was transformed into part of the city with many small homes scattered around its ground and a
small mosque inside the ruined Parthenon.
Ottoman Rule
While Greece was under Ottoman
occupation, the ambassador of England,
Lord Elgin, used his influential position in
order to achieve the government’s
permission to remove whatever Greek
antiquities he desired. In 1801, with the
help of an Italian painter by the name of
Lugeri, and for the next twenty years he
removed an immense amount of the Greek
cultural heritage from the Acropolis, and
more specifically from the Parthenon.
“Of the 97 surviving blocks of the
Parthenon frieze, 56 are in Britain and 40 in
Athens.
Of the 64 surviving metopes, 48 are in
Athens and 15 in the British Museum.
Of the 28 preserved figures of the
pediments, 19 are in London and 9 in
Athens.” (Greek Ministry of Culture)
Modern
( 1821 – today)
After the Greek revolution of 1821 and finally the
establishment of the Modern independent Greek state in
1830 with the Treaty of London, Greece was not the size of
ancient Greece, its territorial area included parts of Sterea
Ellas, the islands of Evia, Sporades, Cyclades and the
Peloponnesus, unrest prevailed in the country. Kapodistrias
the first Governor of Greece, ruled in a dictatorial way until
he was assassinated in 1831, which was followed by civil war.
The year after the 17 year old Bavarian prince Otto
was declared king of Greece. He was not popular for many
reasons: he was not Greek, delayed a constitution to be
made, and he taxed the people heavily. He was forced to
make a constitution after a rebellion in September 3 of 1843.
Otto became even less popular when he helped the French
and English during their embargo of Piraeus to prevent an
alliance between Greece and Russia during the Crimean War
(1854-1856).
Otto was deposed in 1862 and the Danish prince George was
crowned king of Greece after the British had suggested him.
Because the Greeks accepted him, the British gave the Ionian
islands back to Greece.
War against Turkey started again in 1878 after Greece had decided to win back some of its old territory.
After years of embargoes, negotiations and revolts, Turkey gave back Thessaly and Arta to Greece.
The economical growth of Greece begun in the 19th century. Roads and railroads were built,
the Corinth channel was finished and Piraeus became an important commercial harbour. Battles with
Turkey continued though, and Crete was put under international rule. The island finally unified with the
rest of Greece when the Cretan premier minister Eleftherios Venizelos ruled 1910-1935.
Macedonia still belonged to the Ottoman Empire, and the Balkan Wars begun 1912/13
when Greece, Serbia and Bulgaria all wanted the territory. Greece came to get a large area.
The same year king George was assassinated and his son Constantine the first succeeded
him.
Constantine was married to the sister of the German emperor, and he insisted Greece
to remain neutral during the first world war. Venizelos managed to get the country to join the
allies though, which resulted in the ostracism of the king and his son Alexander became the
new king. The allied forces had promised lands in Asia Minor to Greece, but this problem was
not kept. Venizelos then took command and his army went into Smyrna, where half a million
Greeks lived, in 1919. The following year he conquered areas in Turkey and the Greek army
reached Ankara.
In 1921 the Greeks were driven out of Turkey by the general Ataturk and the so called
catastrophe of Asia Minor followed, where the Greek population that lived there for 3000
years was chased out of the country or killed. A couple of years later an exchange of people
took place, where 1,5 million Greeks left Turkey and 400 000 Turks Greece. A time of great
poverty followed in Greece.
During this time Italy ruled the Ionian islands (1912-1947) and eastern Thrace was
given to Turkey, along with a few islands. Constantine was king again after Alexander had died
of a monkey-bite, but he abdicated after the catastrophe in Asia Minor. He was succeeded by
his other son George II. His rule was short, though, since a group of officers seized power and
proclaimed Greece a republic.
Years of constant coup d'etates followed, and
Venizelos seized power in 1928. His party sat in the
government until it lost the elections of 1933 against the
monarchist party. The new party was about to reinforce
the king when Venizelos and his followers tried to
overthrow the new government, but failed and was exiled
to Paris where he died a year later. King George II was
back on the throne, and he named the general Ioannis
Metaxas prime minister. The latter came to be a dictator
with the kings blessings when they feared the communist
party might try to take over.
The following years came to be characterized with
the dictatorial methods of Metaxas: imprisoning
opponents, censoring the press and forbidding the
communist party. When the second world war broke out
Greece remained neutral. Italy then asked Metaxas to let
the travel through Greece, but he denied them this on the
28th of October 1940, a day which today is celebrated as
the famous "ochi-day" (no-day), the National day of
Greece.
The Italians invaded Greece anyway, but were driven back to Albania. Great Britain asked Metaxas to
be allowed to have military bases on Greek soil since they feared instability on the Balkans, but again
he said no. He then died suddenly, and the new premier minister Alexandros Koryzis let the British
come to Greece. When the Germans invaded the country in 1941 he committed suicide. The German
occupation was to be one of the worst periods of time in Greece. The people starved, during the
winter of 1941 thousands of Athenians where dying every day from starvation, many Greeks were
executed by the Germans, and half the Jewish population was deported to the concentration camps.
The king was exiled to Egypt.
Three Greek resistant movements were created: two were left-winged (EAM
and EKKA) , one was right-winged and monarchist (EDES) , the biggest resistance
movement was the EAM and its military part the ELAS. The EAM organised thousands
of socialists and communist Greeks in a resistance war against the Nazis. These
parties fought both the Germans and watch each other and this continued even after
the Germans had been forced out of the country in 1944. The right winged party
formed a government with British support, and when they opened fire against
communist demonstrators in December the third of 1944 at Parliament Square it
became the beginning of the civil war.
In 1946 George II was back on the throne, and the monarchist party ruled the
country. A new left-winged movement begun controlling large areas near Albania.
USA had started watching Greece now instead of the UK, and because they feared the
communist spread during the Cold War, they literally pumped the right wing
party with money and weapons. The communist party was forbidden, and you had to
carry with you a certain document the infamous "Harti Koinonikon Fronimaton"
(paper of social believes) where it said you were not a follower of the left if you
wanted to work and vote until 1962. This infamous paper though continued to hound
many Greeks in matters of work as civil servants, passports, visas, army until the end
of the Greek Military dictatorship in 1974.
The communists managed to conquer large areas of the Peloponnesus, but
they were soon driven out by the government. In 1949 the right won the civil war
after the Greek Communist Party was not anymore supported by Yugoslavia. This
ended the civil war, but Greece was in extremely poor condition, and almost a million
Greeks emigrated to countries like the USA, Australia, Germany and Sweden.
General Papagos became the new prime minister and when he died in 1955
he was succeeded by Konstantinos Karamanlis. The country was a member of
NATO by now, and America continued to support the right winged government so
that the communist would not be able to get back.
Once again, the question of Cyprus became a hot issue. The Greek Cypriots
had wanted to unite with Greece in the 1930's already, but Turkey had opposed to
this. In 1925 the island had become a British crown colony, and in 1954 the British
explained their intentions of making Cyprus an independent state. In 1959 Cyprus
became an independent republic with the archbishop Makarios as president and a
Turk as vice president. Internal hostilities continued between Turkish Cypriots and
right wing Greek Cypriots.
Back in Greece the central party pf George Papandreou had started to grow,
and when the right party of Karamanlis won the elections in 1961 Papandreou
accused them of cheating. Two year later the leader of the left party EDA,
Lambrakis, was murdered, and Karamanlis left the country. Papandreou party
Enosis Kentrou (Union of the Centre) won the new elections, and soon a series of
reforms were enforced. Constantine II had just been crowned the new king,
political prisoners were freed and taxes were lowered. This was a time of mutual
suspicions between the right and the left, and Papandreou resigned after the king
had opposed to an operation of cleaning the army of potential coup conspirators.
In 1967 new elections were to be held, but instead
a group of generals led by George Papadopoulos took
power. The king tried to make a counter coup, but failed
and fled the country. The new regime introduced a rule of
terror, where opponents were imprisoned and tortured,
strict censorship was enforced and a strict control of the
people was exercised. There are suspicions that the USA
supported this financially since there was an interest that
Greece was ruled by non-communists.
In 1973 students in Athens were demonstrating
against the junta, and tankers stormed the university and
killed and wounded many. Papadopoulos was overthrown
by the chief of the security police, Ioannidis, who now
seized power. He planned to murder the president of
Cyprus and unite the country with Greece, but it all failed
when Makarios fled and the Turks replied by conquering a
large part of the island. 200 000 Greeks were forced to
leave everything they owned and escape to the GreekCypriot territory.
Karamanlis was called back to Greece by the army
in order to organise the country, and his party won the
elections of 1974. The son of George Papandreou, Andreas,
formed the socialist party PASOK and during these
elections he got the 13.58% of the votes. At the
referendum of 1974 69% of the people voted against
reinstating the king, and the monarchy was banned. Exking Constantine still lives in exile in London.
Karamanlis' Nea Demokratia, New Democracy, party won the elections again in 1977, and four years later the
country joined the EU. The same year 1981 PASOK won the elections with big majority and Papandreou
promised that the American military bases in Greece would be shut down, and that Greece would leave NATO.
These promises were never fulfilled. But Andreas Papandreou achieved many other things in
Greece and became one of the most beloved political leaders of the country. He was accused, after the
infamous "scandal of Koskotas", but acquitted, of charges of embezzlement of the Bank of Crete. In 1996
Papandreou resigned due to ill health, and was succeeded by Costas Simitis, he leaded European friendly
politics, and emphasized on modernisation of the country, improve its economy and fight corruption. During
the 20 years of reign of the Greek Socialist Party PASOK under Papandreou and Simitis (with a break in 1990
when the conservative party won again, with Kostantinos Mitsotakis as leader, whom after a series of
personal and political scandals resigned, and in 1993 PASOK won the new elections) Greece and the Greek
Economy flourished. Greece became a high developed country and the quality of life in Greece reached the
levels of the other developed countries of the world. The highlight of this development and achievement was
the Olympic Games of 2004. Andreas Papandreou together with Konstantinos Karamanlis and Eleftherios
Venizelos where the greatest politicians in the History of Modern Greece.