Transcript Chapter 4 The Civilization of the Greeks

4
The Civilization of
the Greeks
I. Early Greece
1. Geography
a.
Ancient Greece most consisted of a mountainous
peninsula jutting out into the Mediterranean Sea
b.
Over 2,000 Islands in the Aegean and Ionian Seas
c.
The sea was to Greece what rivers were to Egypt and
Mesopotamia
d.
It was said that the Greeks did not live on the land but
around the sea
e.
The Greeks became master ship builders due to sea
trade Minoan Crete, 2000-1450 B.C.E.
2. Minoan Crete 2000-1450 BCE
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Minoan Crete (Island), 2000-1450 B.C.E.
Lost until rediscovered by archeologist Arthur Evans
in 1900, who named it “Minoan” after Minos, a
legendary king.
Palace Knosssus
Traded as far as Egypt
Collapsed due to natural disaster? Invaded?
Ancient Greece (c. 750 – 338)
3. Greek City-States: Mycenae
Although not much of the
site remains today,
Mycenaean civilization
erected several fortified
palace complexes on these
hills in the fifteen century
B.C.E.
a.
b.
c.
d.
Indo-Europeans, and first entered Greece aroudn
1900 BCE
Powerful monarchies and fortified palaces, a
Trojan War?
Maybe invaded 1100s BCE
4. Dark Ages 1100-750 BCE
a.
b.
c.
d.
Populating declined
New Greeks: The Aoelians and Dorians
Iron replaced Bronze, adopted Phoenician
alphabet
Homer wrote Iliad and Odyssey (aristocratic
heroes)
5. The Greek City-States 750-500
BCE
A. The Polis: City or town-for use of govt/religion
1. Citizens (free males) had rights
2. Had an acropolis as well as agora
3. A New Military System (included hoplites
in phalanx formation.
B. Colonization and Trade
1. Large numbers of Greeks left
6. Colonization and the Rise of
Tyrants
A. Colonization
1. Gulf between rich and poor, overpopulation, and trade
2. Founded as a polis
3. Cultural diffusion
4. Trade and commerce
B. Tyrants
1. A tyrant was someone who came to rule by unconstitutional ways
in 7th and 6th centuries B.C.E.
2. Support came from the new rich from trade and industry who
opposed the old aristocracy
3. Poor peasants becoming indebted to the landholding aristocrats
4. Tyrants favored merchants and traders
5. Extinguished by end of 6th century B.C.E.
• Ended the rule of aristocratic oligarchies
• Opened the door to open participation by the citizens
7. Sparta (800 to 600 BCE)
A. Conquered neighboring Laconia and Messenia

Helots (a type of serf)
B. Reforms by Lycurgus (maybe a King)


Military society (boys trained at age 7 on up)
Women (exercised, remained fit, more freedom)
C. Government



Two kings share power with the gerousia (council of 28
elders over the age of 60 serving for life)
Apella – assembly of all male citizens
Ephors-group of five men (supervised education and
conduct of youth)
8. Athens
Established about 700 B.C.E.
1. End of the 7th century B.C.E., farmers sold into
slavery for not paying debts
B. Solon (c. 640-c. 560 B.C.E.)
A.
1. 594 B.C.E. canceled all debts, outlawed new loans based on
human collateral, freed people who had fallen into slavery for debts
2. Did not initiate land redistribution
C. Pisistratus seize power in 560 B.C.E. and pursued policies
to aid trade
D. Cleisthenes seized power in 508 B.C.E.



Creates Council of 500 that was responsible for the administration
of foreign and financial affairs
Athenian assembly had final authority in passing laws
Creates the foundation of Athenian democracy
The Parthenon
The Parthenon, which dominated the Acropolis of fifth century B.C.E.
Greece and the Athens of today, represents the glory that was Greece in
the age of Pericles.
9. The Challenge of Persia
A. Darius (522-486 B.C.E.)




Unsuccessful revolt of Ionian cities, helped by
Athenian Navy
Darius outraged by revolt so attacks the mainland
Greeks
Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.E.
Darius looses war
B. Xerxes (486-465 B.C.E.)

Invasion of Greece, 480-479 B.C.E.
• Spartan league and Athenian navy
• Battle of Thermopylae, 480 B.C.E.
• Battle of Salamis, 480 B.C.E.
• Battle of Plataea, 479 B.C.E.
10. The Growth of an Athenian
Empire in the Age of Pericles
 Delian


League formed 478-77 B.C.E.
Under the leadership of Athens, the Persians attacked
and virtually all Greek city-states in the Aegean freed
Athens comes to control the League and forbids any
state to withdraw
 Pericles


Expanded democracy at home and an empire abroad
Elected to generalship 30 times between 461 and 429
B.C.E.
11. The Great Peloponnesian War
and the Decline of the Greek States
(431-404 B.C.E.)
 Sparta
and allies v. Athens and allies
 Athens stays behind its walls and Sparta ravages
the land of Attica
 Plague in 429, B.C.E., takes Pericles
 Battle of Aegospotami, 405 B.C.E.
 Surrender of Athens, 404 B.C
 Effects of the wars
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning ™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Classical Greece
12. Culture of Classical Greece



History
Greek Drama
 Tragedy
 Comedy
The Arts: The Classical Ideal
 Architecture
• Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns
• Temples
• Parthenon
 Sculpture
• Subjects of male nudity
• Proportional and life-like
Theater at Epidaurus
The acoustics at this great
outdoor theater at Epidaurus
are so clear that a whisper on
stage could be heard from
any of its 14,000 seats.
13. The Greek Love of Wisdom




Philosophy meant “love of wisdom”
Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.)
 Socratic method
 Goal of education was to improve the individual
 Questioned authority
Plato (c. 429-347 B.C.E.)
 The Republic
 The Academy
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
 Politics
 Importance of his ideas on Western thought
14. Greek Religion
 Was
necessary for the well-being of the state
 Mount Olympus
 No body of doctrine or focus on morality
 Festivals
 Oracle of Apollo at Delphi
15. Daily Life in Classical
Athens
 150,000
citizens, 43,000 of which were adult
males who exercised political power
 Economy based on agriculture and trade
 Family the central institution
 Women kept under strict control
 Male homosexuality a prominent feature
16. Rise of Macedonia and the
Conquests of Alexander
 Philip
II (359-336 B.C.E.)
 The Battle of Chaeronea
 Assassinated in 336 B.C.E.
 Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.E.)
 Persian Empire
• Battle of Granicus River, 334 B.C.E.
• Battle of Issus, 333 B.C.E.
• Battle of Gaugamela, 331 B.C.E.
• Persepolis, 330 B.C.E.
• Alexander in India, 327 B.C.E.
• Death of Alexander, 323 B.C.E.
The Conquests of Alexander the
Great
17. The Legacy of Alexander
 Hellenistic
Age (“to imitate Greeks”)
 Destruction of Persia
 Benefits Greek engineers, intellectuals,
merchants, administrators, and soldiers
 Political unity based on monarchy
 Culture
 Art, architecture, language, literature
 Cities
18. The Hellenistic Kingdoms





Four Hellenistic kingdoms emerged
 Macedonia under the Antigonid dynasty
 Syria and the east under the Seleucids
 Attalid kingdom of Pergamum in western Asia Minor
 Egypt under the Ptolemies
Greeks and Macedonians formed the new ruling class
Hellenizing an urban phenomenon
Greeks and Macedonians colonists provided a pool for civilian
administrators and workers
Agriculture and trade
 Agriculture was central to Hellenistic economy
 Trade and commerce experienced considerable expansion
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The World of the Hellenistic
Monarchs
19. Culture in the Hellenistic
World




Greeks provided sense of unity
Hellenistic era was time of accomplishments
 Scholars
 Art
Golden Age of Science
 Separation of science and philosophy
 Archimedes (287-212 B.C.E.)
Philosophy
 Athens still the center of philosophy
 Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)
 Zeno (335-263 B.C.E.) and Stoicism
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The World According to
Erathosthenes
Discussion Questions




How did geography and the sea help to shape Greek
culture?
Compare and contrast the city-states of Sparta and Athens.
How would you explain their divergent development?
What did “democracy” mean to the ancient Greeks? What
groups were excluded from Athenian democracy?
How would you explain the rise of kingdoms and the
demise of independent city-states during the Hellenistic
period?