Greco-Roman
Society
•
•
Standard: Examine the political,
philosophical, and cultural
interaction of Classical
Mediterranean societies from 700
BCE/BC to 400 CE/AD.
Essential Question: How did
Classical Mediterranean societies
interact politically, philosophical,
and culturally from 700 BCE to 400
CE?
Greece
Rome
You are Here
Ancient Greece
•
Vocabulary: Greek Polis
Greece
Geography
• made up of two parts:
• mainland
• hundreds of small
islands
Geography
• important geographic influences
– mountains
– seas
• Geography
• mountain ranges
separated the small,
independent Greek
communities
• caused them to develop
different ways of life
Geography
• presence of a long seacoast with
bays, inlets, and harbors
• encouraged sea trade
Geography
Why Trade?
• did not have good land for farming
• rocky soil (compare to New England in
America)
Aegean
Civilizations
3000 B.C. – 1000 B.C.
• Mycenaeans
• Minoans
Phoenicians
Phoenicians
•
Phoenicians occupied the coast of the modernday Lebanon/Syria/Israel (eastern
Mediterranean)
• First Seafaring culture of the Mediterranean –
master shipbuilders
• Established colonies
• Phoenician cities first emerged as urban
entities around 1500 B.C.E
• https://www.timemaps.com/history/
world-1500bc/
• It was a time of economic prosperity for
these trading centers due to linking
colonies throughout the Mediterannean
• Traded murex – purple dye (sea snails)
which was very sought after $$$
• Became the color of royalty and
wealth
• Created the first phonetic alphabet
Mycenaean Civilization
• Fierce warriors that spread their culture through
conquest around the Aegean Sea
– Set up kingdoms in those areas
– Also became wealthy from sea trade
Mycenaean civilization
“Bronze Age”
flourished between 1600 and 1100 B.C.
powerful monarchs lived in fortified palaces
built on hills and surrounded by stone walls
Mycenaean
Civilization
• military adventures
recorded
– hundreds of years later
– Homer’s epic poems
• the Iliad and Odyssey
Trojan War
• fought between the
Mycenaeans and the
people of Troy
• myth or reality?
• Achilles led the
Mycenaean invasion
against the Trojans led by
Prince Hector
• stalemate for 10 years
Trojan War
• ends with the Trojan
Horse
• Mycenaean's hide
inside
• Horse brought into
Troy
• Mycenaeans burn
Troy down
• Mycenaeans win
Impact on Trojans
• City left in ruins
• Women became slaves to Greeks –
development of slavery in the region.
• Left to mourn loss of great heroes and
family members
Impact on
Greeks
•
•
•
Lost faith in
themselves
Lost many men
Loss feeling of
safety
Dorians
Civilization
• Myccenaeans collapsed
around 1100 B.C.
• conquered by the Dorian
Civilization
• entered into a Dark Age
Dark Ages
•
•
•
•
•
population declined
less food
economy collapsed
few records remain from this period
lasted from 1100 to 750 B.C.
Homer
• a blind poet
• began a story oral storytelling tradition
• at the end of the “Dark
Age”
• Fact or fiction?
Impact of Homer’s works
• regarded as “history”
• became a way to teach Greek culture to Greek
children
• Origins of Myth: traditional story that explains
why the world is the way it is
• established the epic
– Heroic story told in the form of a long poem
• gave the Greeks an ideal past peopled with
heroes
• Generations of Greek males used these poems
as models of heroism and honor
Greek Culture
• Vocabulary: polytheism
Greek Religion
• Polytheistic – worship of many gods
• Greek stories or myths developed about their gods
Description
•
•
•
•
Mythology was used to explain the environment in which humankind
lived
scholars believe that many elements of Greek mythology have
strong factual and historical roots.
Explained the natural phenomena witnessed
myths were used to re-tell historical events so that people could
maintain contact with their ancestors, the wars they fought, and the
places they explored
•
Greek
Mythology
Mythology – the family of Greek gods and goddesses
that ruled on Mount Olympus
– Zeus - chief god
– Hades - god of the underworld
– Apollo - god of light (sun god)
– Athena - goddess of wisdom
– Aphrodite – goddess of love
Greek Gods
• Bottom Right: Athena
• Top Left: Zeus
• Top Right: Hades
• Bottom left: Apollo
Olympics
• First held in 776 BC
• Held to honor Zeus
• Athletes came from all over the world to
compete
• Emphasis on human form/body
• Individual events rather than team
• Women were not allowed
Sports from the first Olympics in
776 BCE
Clockwise starting on the left: Wrestling, Horse
back riding, Chariot racing, Boxing, Discus,
Jumping, and Running
Center: Javelin
Development of the
Polis
•
Vocabulary: Greek Polis
City-State
evolves
• Polis:
• Greek City-State
• included a city and the surrounding land and villages
• Usually located on a hill
• Acropolis:
• fortified area on top of a hill
• Below acropolis was agora: an open area where people
could meet
Theocracy
Etymology
• Theos = god
• Kratos = power
Meaning
• a religious body with
political power (god is the
ruler)
Monarchy
Etymology
• Monos = alone
• Arkhein = to rule
Meaning
• Rule of one
Oligarchy
Etymology
• Oligos= few
• Arkhein = to rule
Meaning
• Rule of a few
Aristocracy
Etymology
• Aristos = best
• Kratos = power
Meaning
• The term originally
denoted the
government of a state
by its best citizens, later
by the rich and well
born, hence the sense
‘nobility’
Democracy
Etymology
Meaning
• Demos = common people • Power to the People (rule
of many)
• Kratos = power
Compare/Contrast
Aristocracy
• refers to a power structure
where the power is held by
the nobility
• The authority and power to
rule may pass from family.
• has been contrasted
favorably with monarchy.
Oligarchy
• refers to a power
structure where the
power is held by a small
group of people
• Inheritance is not a
necessary condition
• Oligarchy is associated
with tyranny and
oppression.
Path to Democracy
Solon:
• Of the Greek polis, Athens and Sparta were
the most powerful and influential.
• Political reforms instituted by Solon in 594
BCE and Pericles from 461 to 429 BCE
brought Athens its closest to a true democracy.
• 10% to 15% of the population of Athens was
ever allowed to participate in government.
Women, the foreign born, and slaves (about
30% of the population) were always barred
from participation
Path to Democracy
Cleisthenes:
• Began a limited
democracy in Greece
• Created the Council
of 500
– Group of 500 male
citizens who made
laws
Cleisthenes
PERICLES
• Expanded democracy
in Athens
• Athens became a direct
democracy
– All male citizens became
members of the
government
– Women and slaves were
excluded
The Polis: Distinct CityStates…
• People felt strong
ties/loyalty to their
city-state
• bitter rivalries
between city-states
• led to continuous
fighting
• lead to Greece’s
down fall
Sparta
Description:
• Military Society
• the largest and most
sophisticated army in
known world
Sparta
Significance:
• Army governed life
– trained in military
– started at age 7
– marry at 20 but live in
barracks
– retire at 60
– 53 years of service
Sparta
Role of women:
• produce healthy
children
• did not perform many
domestic tasks
• were trained in
athletic events to
keep healthy
• could own property
Sparta
• Insert picture
Education:
• Military
• No real education
outside of the
barracks
• https://www.youtub
e.com/watch?v=PZ
T-RJGkfQ4
Athens
Description:
• ruled by a king until 7th century BCE
• Replaced by an oligarchy to remove tyranny
• economic problems led to farmers sold into slavery
for nonpayment of their debts to aristocrats
Athens
• Athens had the
world’s first
democracy
• Democracy: type
of government in
which all citizens
take part in the
day to day running
of the government
Significance:
Direct Democracy
• Every male citizen had the
right to attend the Assembly
• There they participated in
the decision making process
and voted on all government
issues
• Athenians practiced
ostracism*
*a person could be banished from the
city for 10 years with 6,000 votes from
the government!
Athenian Women
• Take care of home
• Raise the children
• Seldom allowed in
public
• No formal education
• Could not own
property
• How does this differ
from Sparta?
The Persian Wars: Overview
Despite their
cultural ties, the
Greek city-states
were often in
conflict with one
another.
The threat of the
powerful Persian
empire united the
Greek city-states.
The Persian Wars: Overview
United, the city-states defeated the
Persians and ended the threat of
Persian invasions.
Hoplite armies were called “walls of
bronze” compared to the less
equipped Persians
The largest hoplite army- Over 30
city-states banded together with
110,000 soldiers for the final battle
Persian Wars:
The Outcome!
Results
•Athens increases
its status among
the city-states.
•Athens enters into
a Golden Age
•Athens formed the
Delian League: an
alliance of Greek
city-states with
them in charge
•Sparta is upset!
The Peloponnesian War:
The Alliance System Fails!
The Peloponnesian War: CAUSES
1. Many Greeks outside of
Athens resented
Athenian domination.
2. Sparta formed the
Peloponnesian League
to rival the Delian
League.
3. Sparta and Athens
rivaling for
supremacy…
A Mysterious Plague Hits Athens!
• During the war a plague
(disease) sweeps through
Athens
• Plague destroys 1/3 of
Athenian population
• Kills many Athenians
including Pericles
• This allows Sparta to win the
war!!!!!!!!!
The Peloponnesian War: Effects
1. All the Greek city- states
divided and in chaos!
2. Defeated democracy in
Greece
3. Greece would eventually
would be taken over by
Macedonia to the north
Key Figures
•
Vocabulary: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Alexander the Great
Greek Philosophers
• “love of wisdom”
• refers to an organized system of rational
thought
• early Greek philosophers concerned with
the nature of the universe
• three of the greatest philosophers of the
Western world
– Socrates
– Plato
– Aristotle
Socrates
• developed the
Socratic Method
– a question-andanswer format to
lead pupils to
understand things
for themselves
– based on the belief
that knowledge is
already present
within each of us
Socrates
• “the unexamined life is
not worth living”
– the belief in the
individual’s ability to
reason
– important contribution
of Greek thought
• killed for “corrupting
the youth”
Plato
• one of Socrates’ students
• considered to be the
greatest Western
philosopher
• The Republic: explained
Plato’s views on
government
• believed that people could
not achieve a good life
unless they lived in a just
and rational state
• ideal state has three
groups—rulers, warriors,
and commoners
• led by a philosopherking
• men and women
would have the same
education and equal
access to all positions
• established a school in
Athens called the
Academy
• Plato’s most important
pupil
• studied at the academy for
20 years
• wide-range of interests
• ethics & logic
• Politics
• Poetry
• astronomy, geology,
biology, & physics
• found three forms of
government: monarchy,
aristocracy, and
constitutional
government(preferred)
• The Lyceum
Macedonia
• North of Greece
• viewed by the Greeks
as barbarians
• Philip II became king
of Macedonia in 359
B.C.
Unification of Greece
• Macedonia defeated Greece at the Battle
of Chaeronea in 338 B.C.
• Greek city-states united in a league under
Macedonian control
• Philip was assassinated
Alexander
the Great
• Philip’s son
• student of Aristotle
• became king of
Macedonia at age 20
• put down idea of Greek
rebellion by destroying
the city of Thebes
• began his quest to take
over the Persian Empire
Alexander’s Conquest
• 334 B.C. began invasion of the Persian
Empire
• 331 B.C. conquered all of the Persian
Empire
• 327 B.C. moved through modern Pakistan
into India
• 323 B.C. Alexander died after his return to
Babylon at 32 years old
Alexander’s Legacy
•
•
•
Created an empire that stretched across three continents and over
200,000 miles
Cultural Diffusion = the rise of the Hellenistic Culture
After Alexander’s death, his Empire fell apart
Hellenism
• Vocabulary: Hellenistic culture
Hellenistic Culture
Description:
• created by Alexander
• blend of Greek and Persian cultures
• Greek language, architecture, literature, and art spread throughout
Southwest Asia, Central Asia and parts of North Africa
• Greeks absorbed aspects of Eastern culture
Hellenistic Culture
Impact:
• Four Hellenistic kingdoms emerged:
Macedonia, Syria, Pergamum, and Egypt
• all eventually conquered by the Romans
• Alexandria, home to scholars of many
different kinds
Hellenistic Culture
• Founding and rebuilding cities created
opportunities for Greek architects and
sculptors in the Hellenistic kingdoms
• thousands of statues were erected
sculptors
moved away
from classical
ideals and
created more
emotional and
realistic art
The Library of Alexandria in
Egypt
The ancient library possibly destroyed in A.
D. 642
The rebuilt library today
Hellenistic
Achievements
•
•
•
•
•
Astronomy
Geometry
Technology
Philosophy
Art
Astronomy
• Astronomers used an observatory to view
the stars and planets.
• Developed a new concept that believed
the sun was larger than the earth
Geometry
• Euclid was a Greek mathematician and
pioneer in geometry.
• Euclid’s Elements became the most
important
– still basis of geometry
Technology
• Archimedes was a Greek scientist,
inventor, and mathematician
• created the pulley
• created the Archimedes screw that
brought water from a lower level to a
higher one
Philosophy
• Stoics: philosophers who said people
should live a moral life to keep them in
harmony with natural laws
• Epicureans: philosophers who said people
could rely only on what they learned
through their five senses
Art
• Change sculptures from the Greek style of
perfect forms to a more realistic and
emotional Hellenistic influence
• Ex. Colossus of Rhodes