Transcript Chapter 4 - HCC Learning Web

Chapter 4
The Aegean World and the
Rise of Greece:
Trade, War, and Victory
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
How do the Cycladic, Minoan,
and Mycenaean cultures
differ?
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Cyclades
• The later Greeks traced their ancestry to the
cultures on the islands in the Aegean Sea
• The Cycladic islands had abundant resources of
marble, especially on Naxos and Paros
• The most famous artifacts of the Cycladic people
are highly simplified Neolithic marble figurines in an
abstract style that appeals to the modern viewer
• The function of these figures is unknown, but they
might have been created for a mortuary purpose
• They later created elaborate wall frescoes depicting
everyday events—probably under the influence of
the Minoan culture to the south (Crete)
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Minoan Culture in Crete
• Unique to the Minoan culture is an emphasis on the
bull, associated with the legend of King Minos and the
Minotaur
• Like the Cycladic frescoes, the Minoan frescoes were
painted in homes and palaces to be enjoyed by the
living
• Minoan artists employed the technique of buon fresco
similar to the technique used by Renaissance artists
nearly 3,000 years later
• Ample archeological evidence tells us that the Minoans
in Crete worshipped female deities
• The Minoans were master builders of complex palace
structures that gave rise to the word labyrinth
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Mycenaean Culture on the Mainland
• Mycenaean warriors from the Greek mainland
invaded Crete in about 1450 BCE
• They valued the Minoan culture, especially
their metalwork, but the Minoan and
Mycenaean cultures differed vastly
• Battle scenes were virtually nonexistent in
Minoan art, but dominated Mycenaean art
together with hunting scenes
• Minoan culture appears to have been
peaceful, while the warlike Mycenaeans lived
and died by the sword
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
What is an epic, and how do
Homer’s epics the Iliad and
the Odyssey differ?
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
• An epic is a long narrative poem about
the deeds of a historical hero following
certain formal characteristics, such as
starting in medias res (“in the middle of
things”) and formulaic epithets
• The stories of Homer’s Iliad and
Odyssey comprised for the Greeks their
archaiologia, or their way of knowing
their past
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Iliad
• The Iliad tells of the anger of the Greek hero
Achilles and its consequences during a war
between the Achaeans and Troy (sometime
between 1800 and 1300 BCE)
• In the Iliad, Homer recognizes the ability of
the warriors to exceed their mere humanity,
to raise themselves not only to a level of
great military achievement, but to a state of
compassion, nobility, and honor
• It reflects the exploration of the “doubleness”
of the human spirit, its cruelty and its
humanity, its blindness and its insight
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Odyssey
• The Odyssey follows the Greek commander
Odysseus on his adventure-laden journey
home to his faithful wife Penelope
• It is Odysseus’ craftiness—his wit and his
intelligence—not the intervention of the gods,
that saves him and his men
• Homer is less concerned with what happened
than how it happened
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
How are the values of the
Greek polis reflected in its art
and architecture?
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
• Each of the rural areas of Greece, separated
from one another by mountainous geography,
gradually began to form into a community—
the polis or city-state—that exercised authority
over its region
• Certain of these poleis became more powerful
than others
• Corinth’s central location, for instance,
allowed it to control sea traffic; trade with the
Near East inspired its thriving pottery industry
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
The Sacred Sanctuaries
• The sanctuaries were sacred religious sites that
inspired the competing poleis to create the first
monumental architecture since Mycenaean
times
• At Delphi, the home to the Sanctuary of Apollo,
the poleis built monuments and statues
dedicated to the god, and elaborate treasuries
to store offerings
• At Olympia, a sanctuary dedicated to Hera and
Zeus also housed an elaborate athletic facility
where the first formal Panhellenic (“all-Greece)
athletic competition was held
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Male Sculpture and the Cult of the
Body
• Greek athletes performed in the nude, which gave
rise to what may be called a “cult of the body”
• The physically fit male won accolades in athletic
contests and at the same time represented the
conditioning and the strength of the military forces
of a particular polis
• The portrayal of the male nude, especially in the
widespread genre of kouros sculpture (i.e., ideal
male nude statues), was found in sanctuaries and
cemeteries, often serving as votive offerings to
the gods or as commemorative grave markers
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
How did democracy develop
in Athens?
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
• In the early sixth century BCE, the statesman and
poet Solon eliminated Draconian slavery, weakened
the aristocracy, and strengthened the legal system
• The rise of democratic institutions in Athens was
inspired through the reaction to the tyranny of
Pisistratus (r. 560–527 BCE) and of his successor,
his son Hippias (r. 527–508 BCE)
• After Hippias was overthrown, Cleisthenes instituted
the first Athenian democracy in 508 BCE
• The power and influence of noble families was
diminished under the rule of the Council of Five
Hundred, the membership of which changed every
36 days
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2008 by Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.