Introduction to Greek and Roman History

Lecture 1

Before the Polis:Homer and the “Dark Ages”

Luca Asmonti

Roma Aeterna

The image of the perfect ruler - I

The image of the perfect ruler - II

The seat of authority

The seat of authority

What does ancient evidence tell us?

1. A copy of Thucydides

2. A funerary stele from Attica

4. An Attic drinking cup (kylix)

3. Account of expenditure for the organisation of festivals

The problem with Greek identity

What was Greek? A map of the Greek world

Olympic states

What was Greek? Homer

Homer

•Supposed author of Iliad and Odyssey, set in a semi-mythical “Bronze Age”•If he actually existed as a single individual, flourished between 750-730 B.C.•Wrote in the Ionian dialect

The Greek world at the time of the Trojan WarThe end of the Bronze Age

Chronology

• 1184 B.C. (Eratosthenes)• 1209/8 B.C. (Parian Marble)

• 1250 B.C. (Herodotus)• 1334/3 B.C. (Douris).

Heinrich Schliemann, 1822-1890• 1873-1874:Discovered the site of ancient Troy on the hill of Hissarlik (Turkey).• 1876-1877: Discovered the site of ancient Mycenae.

What we know about the Bronze Age

Mycenae, Lion’s Gate

Mycenae, Agamemnon’s mask

Palace of Cnossos

Palace of Cnossos

What we know about the Bronze Age: Cnossos

What we know about the Bronze Age: Mycenae

What we know about the Bronze Age: Mycenae

Main centres of the Minoan-Mycenaean world

What we know about the Bronze Age

Linear A Linear B

Mycenaean society

• Wanax: “divine lord”; political, military, religious leader.• Lawagetas: leader of the army.• Telestai: “landowners”.• Koretes: governor• Prokoretes: vice-governor.

• Damos: the people.

The Greek world after the collapse of the palaces

• Social-political system collapses.

• Population decreases.• Linear B disappears.• New form of burial (cremation

instead of inhumation).• Protogeometric pottery.

The dawn of a new world: Achilles’ shield

The dawn of a new world: Achilles’ shield