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Chapter 4Greece

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ANCIENT GREECE

•Geography heavily influenced Greek Culture

•Located on the Balkan Peninsula

•Greeks settle into city-states separated by mountainous land & narrow river valleys

•Because of their long sea coast & many harbors, the Greeks became great traders and lived on a healthy diet of fish.

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MINOAN CIVILIZATION (2700-1450BC)

• Located on Island of Crete

• Developed civilization in response to contact with Egypt

• Merchants (trading culture)

Minoans trade with EgyptPalace at Knossos

•Established trade contacts with Mycenaeans

•Destroyed in 1500 BC- perhaps by Mycenean invaders or a tsunami (tidal wave) triggered by a volcanic eruption

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MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION(1600-1100’s BC)

• First city-state, grew out of Central Greece, eventually controlling Greek mainland

• Very proud, heroic warrior culture.• Homer’s Iliad & Odyssey probably written

at the end of this age• Stone fortifications surrounded cities• Main economic activity was piracy• Frequent War

between city-states & earthquakes led to fall of Mycenae in 1100’s BC Mycenean soldier

replica (top) and statue (left)

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THE DARK AGE (1100-750BC)• Food supply and population

declines (few written records)

• Many Greeks left the mainland and settled elsewhere– Islands in Aegean Sea– Coast of Turkey and Black

Sea– Southern Italy & France– Eastern and southern coasts

of Spain– Coast of North Africa

• Greek colonists always kept their ties to the Greek mainland and their Greek identity. Colonists remained “Greek” in a cultural sense no matter where they lived

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THE POLIS• Polis: a Greek city-state. A city-state is an independent

political unit made up of a city & its surrounding area – Ancient Greece had no kings or family dynasties.– The polis was governed by assemblies of men who were

capable of military service– The early Greek military was made of noblemen on

horseback. These were the only men wealthy enough to arm and equip themselves.

Athens (Present Day)

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Every Polis generally had two features:1. Agora – Open area used as a market and social gathering

place. Homes were usually close to the agora.2. Acropolis- a fortified hilltop area

– Provided safe refuge during attack. – Contained public buildings and religious temples

dedicated to favorite gods. • Parthenon in Athens-dedicated to Athena (previous slide)

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Agora

Acropolis

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• The spread of Greek settlements during the Dark Age led to the development of trade

• Mainland Greeks exported pottery, wine & olive oil.

• They received grain and metals from the West and fish, lumber, wheat and slaves from the East

• Cities like Byzantium & Troy became crucial trade points

• A wealthy class of traders began to challenge the ruling aristocrats in Greece.

Polis Trade & Tyranny (750-550 BC)

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• Eventually the wealthy traders took over political control from the noblemen

• These traders were called tyrants.

• At this point, the word tyrant simply refers to a leader who seized power by force from the ruling aristocrats.

• The Greek tyrants were not necessarily oppressive or unwelcome. They were often very popular.

• Because the aristocrats had oppressed the peasants, the peasants supported the tyrants.

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Tyranny in the City-States (cont.)

• Tyrants seized and kept power by using hired soldiers.

• They built new walls and temples, which glorified their cities and made them popular.

• By the end of the sixth century B.C., however, tyrants had fallen out of favor.

• Their rule contradicted the rule of law that was a Greek ideal.

Periander, a very popular tyrant in Corinth, Greece

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• The end of tyranny allowed new classes to participate in government.

• Some city-states became democracies, ruled by the many.

• “Demos” is Greek for people, “Kratos” means power

• Others became oligarchies, ruled by a privileged few.

Tyranny in the City-States (cont.)

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Athens and Sparta show the differences between these two kinds of government

ATHENS• Glorification of individual• Movement toward

democracy; limited citizenship; rise of tyrants

• Wealth & power of aristocracy

• Participation in government by male citizens

• Slaves• Military training & education

for boys• Trade with other city-states• Limited rights for women

SPARTA• Government made up of 2

kings, council of elders, citizens assembly, 5 ephors

• Citizenship for native-born Spartan men over 30 years

• State-owned slaves• Strict control over people• Prohibition against trade,

travel, or mixing with other city-states

• Scornful of wealth• Women can own property

but expected to obey men

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Athens & Sparta

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ATHENIAN “DEMOCRACY”

• Athens: only 30,000 out of a total population of approx. 200,000 were “free citizens”

• WHO WAS EXCLUDED FROM CITIZENSHIP?

• Women• Slaves• Residents not born in Athens• Lower classes who could not

afford military service

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SPARTAN SOCIETY

• All Life Devoted to the Military

• Babies inspected for defects

• Boys taken from mothers at age 7 for 14 years military training

• Spend entire adult life in army

• Created Peloponnesian League

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GREAT PERSIAN WAR• Ionian Greeks revolt

unsuccessfully against Persia in 499 B.C.

• Started by Darius I in 490 BC and continued by his son, Xerxes (until 479 BC)

• Three invasion attempts of mainland Greece

• Greece won – More familiar with terrain– Fighting for their homes– City-states united together to

face Persian threat

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After the War

• Athens formed a defense alliance called the Delian League among the Greek city states. (former military alliance transformed into an empire)

• Pericles (leader)– Drew on resources of empire to

transform city into the most beautiful city of the ancient world

– Turned Athens into a direct democracy

– Mass meetings where all male citizens could vote on issues.

– A system of ostracism developed to protect themselves from overly ambitious politicians. (6,000 votes and someone could be banned form the city…ex. Socrates)

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PELOPONNESIAN WAR• Between Athens and Sparta

• Lasted 25 years (431-404 BC)• Caused massive destruction and loss of

life throughout Greek world

• Sparta technically won but it was an empty victory—both Athens and Sparta exhausted

• Did the Greeks learn anything from this horrible experience? No !!

• It did leave the Greeks vulnerable and they were conquered by the Macedonians

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MACEDONIAN CONQUEST

• Philip II, “King and Warrior Lord” of Macedonia, invades Greece in 338 BC and conquers entire peninsula

• Murdered two years later– In the middle of planning “war of

revenge” against the Persian Empire

• Succeeded by his 21-year old son, Alexander (the Great)– Not only continued his father’s plan

but also went beyond Philip’s wildest dreams to create the largest empire the world had ever seen

• Encompassed all the land between Greece and the middle of India

Alexander’s Empire

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Alexander the Great Film

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Classical Greek Culture (before Alexander the Great)

• The Greeks were the first to write and perform plays

• Greek Philosophy (love of wisdom) organized rational thought

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GREEK LITERATURE

• ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY

• Composed by Homer

• Deal with the wars of the Mycenaneans and their attack on Troy

• Include many famous characters: Achilles, Odysseus, Agamenon and many gods

• Characters not portrayed in black and white terms—even heroes have personality flaws. Sophisticated portrayal of characters

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GREEK POETS

• SAPPHO (female poet from Lesbos)– Only fragments of her poetry survive– Great descriptive beauty and insight into human

relationships• PINDAR

– Developed the eulogy—long poems praising the lives and exploits of famous individuals

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GREEK THEATER• Invented tragedy and comedy

• Wore masks and used chorus

• Plots derived from mythology

• Sophocles---Wrote Oedipus the King

• Euripides— The Trojan Women

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• Socrates – Athenian who was ostracized. “ the unexamined life is not worth living”

• Plato – Socrates student wrote the Republic – ideals of a virtuous state

• Aristotle – Plato’s student, wrote Politics…3 good forms of government Monarchy/ Aristocracy / Constitutional Government– Also wrote on many other subjects (ethics, logic,

biology, physics, astronomy)

Philosophers

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SOCRATES AND PLATO• Philosopher: “lover of wisdom”

• Interested in fundamental questions about the human condition– what is justice; what is good; what is beauty

• Used rigorous logic and demanding question-and-answer form of inquiry

• Attempted to find absolute answers (universally valid answers that apply to all people, at all times, and in all places

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ARISTOTLE

• Interested in same questions as Socrates and Plato

• Differed in method

• Argued that a person should gather evidence on a topic, analyze that evidence, and then base conclusions on that analysis

• Example: Politics

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GREEK SCIENCE

• PYTHAGORAS– Mathematician– Formula for the square of a

right angle triangle

• HIPPOCRATES– Father of modern medicine– Rejected supernatural

explanations for illness– Theory of “bodily humours”

(blood, water, black bile, yellow bile)

– Hippocratic Oath

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Greek Architecture• Ancient Greeks were excellent

architects and builders. 

• They were master column builders.  – They developed the column.  They

used the column in most of their important structures. 

• There are three main parts to a column.  – Base– Shaft – Capital 

• The column has come to define Greek architecture and it was by far the most important factor in Greek architecture. 

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Greek Architecture• There were three types of Greek columns. 

Doric

Ionic

Corinthian

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Doric Columns in New York City

Corinthian Columns at the University of Virginia

Ionic Columns at the University of Virginia

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•PARTHENON

• Excellent example of Classical Greek Architecture

•Built as a temple

•Known for its calm and orderly characteristics

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Parthenon

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Hellenistic Kingdoms• Civil war erupts after

Alexander’s death– Empire is ultimately

split into three parts among his former generals

• Ptolemy (Egypt)• Selecus (most of old

Persian Empire)• Antigonus Gonatus

(Macedonia and Greece)

• Known as the “successor kingdoms”

• Period known as the Hellenistic Age

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HELLENISTIC CIVILIZATION

• Realistic Sculpture

• Advances in science

• Center of intellectual/cultural achievement moved to cities of successor kingdoms (Alexandria)

• Fusion of Greek and Middle Eastern civilization = Hellenism

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• Individualistic philosophies (Skepticism, Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism)

• Epicureanism – Believed human beings were free to follow self interests and happiness was their goal in life…..Pursue Pleasure

• Stoicism –founded by Zeno, believed happiness was gained by living in harmony with the will of god – regarded public service as noble

HELLENISTIC Philosophies

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Tholos: Beehive shaped royal tomb

Agamemnon’s Mask