Chapter 5
Ancient Greece
1750 – 133 B.C.

Early people of the Aegean

2

Europa, Phoenician princess, married the king of Crete, then spread her name to a new continent – Europe
Crete, near the Aegean Sea was home to a brilliant early civilization
– Named after Minos, a legendary king of
Crete
– Success was based on trade
Acquired ideas and technology through trade contact with Egypt and Mesopotamia

The Palace of Knossos
– Housed the rulers of Crete included religious shrines dedicated to the honor of gods and goddesses
– Walls covered with colorful frescoes worshipped bulls and a mother goddess
A Civilization Disappears
– By about 1400 B.C. civilization disappeared
– Likely invaded by Mycenaeans, first Greekspeaking people of whom we have a written record

Mycenaean civilization was an Indo-
European people
Successful Sea Traders
– Mycenaean civilization dominated the Aegean world for about 200 years
Absorbed Egyptian and Mesopotamian influences, which were passed on to the Greeks
– Built separate city-states
The Trojan Wars
– Took place around 1250 B.C.
– An economic rivalry between Mycenae and Troy
Troy controlled the vital straits, or narrow water passages, connecting Mediterranean and Black Seas
– Considered initially by many as legend, however proven fact with the last 100 years

Fall of the Mycenaean civilization led to the rise of the Dorians from the north
– Also a Greek-speaking peoples
Epic Poems, Iliad and Odyssey, which described the life the Greek people from
1100 – 800 B.C.
– Tradition say Homer wrote told these stories through oral history
Later written down after Homer died

Iliad is the chief source of information about the Trojan War
– Achilles, mightiest Greek warrior, stubbornly avoids joining the war until friend killed
Odyssey
– Struggles of Greek hero Odysseus return home to his faithful wife, Penelope, after fall of Troy
These writings reveal Greek beliefs
– Heroes display honor, courage, and eloquence

Dorians, though not major sea traders initially, evolve into one of the most influential civilizations

The Rise of Greek City-States

Geography of the Greek Homeland
Mountains and Valleys
– Greece is part of the Balkan peninsula, into the Mediterranean Sea
– Built many small city-states, cut off from one another
Fiercely defended their independence from each other

Geography of the Greek Homeland
(Con’t)
The Seas
– Seas were a vital link to the outside world contains many safe harbors for ships
– Became skilled sailors, carrying materials and ideas
Expanded the Phoenician alphabet, creating base for all western languages
– Greeks traveled all over the
Mediterranean Sea

City-States (called polis) were designed with a hilltop acropolis and walled main city below
– Many cities were small, allowing people to be involved in community triumphs and ills
Early Governments
– Initially ruled by monarchies
– Eventually moved to an aristocracy rule by a landholding elite
– However as trade expanded, and middle class arose, an oligarchy style government resulted power by a small, powerful elite people

Governing the CityStates (con’t)
Change in Warfare
– Creation of iron weapons, allowed ordinary people to become involved in warfare
– Evolution of warfare to Phalanx massive formation of heavily armed foot soldiers
– Led to the creation of two opposite cities
Sparta
– Stressed military virtues and stern discipline
– Athens glorified the individual and extended political rights to more citizens

Dorians who conquered Laconia, or
Peloponnesus
– Southern part of Greece
– Turned the conquered people in helots
State-owned slaves that worked the land
Spartan government included two kings and a council of elders who advised the monarchs
– Citizens were male, native-born Spartans over the age of 30
The Rigors of Citizenship
– Age of seven, boys began training for a lifetime in the military age 20, man could marry, but continued to live in the barracks for another 10 years

Sparta: A Nation of Soldiers (Con’t)
Women
– Expected to produce healthy soldier boys
– Given the opportunity to inherit property
Sparta and its neighbors
– Looked down on trade, travel, new ideas and wealth

Worked its way from a monarchy style government to an aristocracy
Demands for Change
– While an aristocracy, there was a great deal of discontent over the power of the nobles
– Slowly began moving towards a democracy government by the people

Athens: A Limited Democracy
(Con’t)
Solons Reforms
– Appointed archon (chief official, in 594
B.C.
– He outlawed debt slavery and freed those who had already been sold into slavery for debt basically expanded rights to more people
– Encouraged more trade of wine and olive oil
– Led to the rise of tyrants people who gained power by force

Athens: A Limited Democracy
(Con’t)
Later Reforms
– Athenian tyrant Pisistratus gave land and loans to farmers
– Reformer Cleisthenes broadened citizen roles in government created a genuine legislature
– law making body debated laws before deciding to approve or reject them

Athens: A Limited Democracy
(Con’t)
Limited Rights
– Compared to other civilizations during this time period, Athenians were very active in the political process
– Though by today’s standards, there were no many rights for individuals

Athens: A Limited Democracy
(Con’t)
Women
– Lacked status under the Athenian culture
– They did “womanly things” and were relatively secluded
Education for Democracy
– Boys attended school if their families could afford it
Girls were not able to attend school
– Studied to become skilled speakers, military training, and athletics

Despite divisions, Greeks spoke same language, honored the same ancient heroes, participated in common festivals and prayed to the same gods
Religious Beliefs
– Polytheistic
– Believed that gods lived on Mount Olympus
Most powerful Olympian was Zeus
– Aphrodite goddess of love
– Ares god of war
– Athena, goddess of wisdom (mother of Athens) built temples and festivals
– consulted oracles, priests or priestesses

View of Non-Greeks
– Greeks held high regard for themselves compared to other civilizations called them barbaroi, which is the root for barbarian
– Including Phoenicians and Egyptians

Victory and Defeat in the Greek
World

King Darius of Persia demanded the
Athenians and Spartans to surrender to Persia
– Both Greek city-states threw the messengers into a well
Athens was the wealthiest Greek city-state
– However Persia was a very powerful empire as well

Victory at Marathon
– Darius wanted to punish Athens for interfering with Ionian Greek city-states (who were under the rule of the Persians)
Darius sent a fleet of fighters to punish Athens
They met at the city of Marathon
– Athenians, though greatly outnumbered, drove the Persians back to their ships
Began the Persian Wars

Renewed Attacks
– Darius’ son Xerxes, sent a bigger army back to Greece in 480 B.C.
The Greek states were more united this time
– Battle of Thermopylae
Spartan King Leonidas, held out against the Persian forces
– However, ultimately losing the battle
– Battle of Themistocles
Athenians filled their fleet of ships, and ultimately took down the naval fleet of the Persians

Results
– Greek victories against the Persians, renewed the own uniqueness
– Athens emerged as the most powerful citystate of Greece
– Athens organized the Delian League, an alliance with the order to protect Greece from Persia
Alliance is a formal agreement between two or more nations or powers to cooperate and come to one another’s defense
Ultimately Athens used the Delian League to rebuild Athens and force control over other Greek
City-States

Years after Persian Wars led to the golden age for Athens with Pericles as the head statesman
Political Life
– Direct Democracy a large number of citizens take direct part in the day-to-day affairs of government

Athens in the Age of Pericles
(Con’t)
Political Life (Con’t)
– Periclean Democracy
All male citizens should take part in government pay stipend for members who participated
– fixed salary
Serve on juries
– A panel of citizen who have the authority to make the final judgment in a trial
– Also received stipends
Athenians would ostracize citizens who posed a threat to the democracy
– Send away

Athens in the Age of Pericles
(Con’t)
The Funeral Oration
– Pericles gave a speech praising democracy still considered by many as the earliest and greatest expressions of democratic ideals
The Economic Cultural Life
– During Pericles reign, they rebuilt the acropolis new temples and colossal statues were built

Resentment toward Athenians pride, created a rival to the Delian League
– Sparta started the Peloponnesian League, which supported an oligarchy style government, as opposed to democracy
Greek against Greek
– Sparta had a geographical advantage against
Athens in the war
Sparta was inland, able to avoid the powerful
Athenian navy fleet
– Ultimately Sparta allied with Persia and defeated the Athenian army

The Aftermath of War
– Athenian economy was revived, however corruption and selfishness ruined many of the ideas of service from government
– Greek city-states continued to battle between each other, until a leader from Macedonia rose and took control

The Glory that was Greece

Philosophers challenged the idea that
Gods were in control of the universe
– “Lovers of Wisdom”
– They used a great deal of Logic
Rational Thinking
Ethical Issues
– Greatly questioned ethics versus morality developed skills in rhetoric
– the art of skillful speaking

Socrates
– An Athenian stonemason and philosopher
Most of what we know about Socrates comes from his student Plato
– Used the Socratic Method, pose a series of questions to his students and challenge them to examine the implications of their answers help students to seek truth and self-knowledge
– Ultimately was tried and received the death penalty for a crime of “corrupting the youth”

Plato
– Death of Socrates led Plato to dislike
Democracies
– Setup a school called the “Academy” emphasized the importance of reason
– Wrote the book The Republic describing his vision of an ideal state argued that the state should regulate every aspect of its citizens’ lives in order to provide for their best interests

Aristotle
– Plato’s most famous student
– Analyzed all governments and decided that a single strong and virtuous leader was the best
– Reason should be the guiding force for learning
– Set up a school for the study of all branches of knowledge same pattern used 1,500 years later for the development of colleges

Architecture
– Greek architects sought to convey a sense of perfect balance to reflect the harmony and order of the universe
Parthenon was a temple dedicated to the goddess
Athena
Sculpture and Painting
– By 450 B.C. Greek sculptors had developed a new style to emphasized natural poses trying to show individuals in their ideal/perfect form

Greek literature began with the epics of Homer
Beginnings of Greek Drama
– Literature was from the field of drama, that evolved out of religious festivals performed outside with little to no scenery
Great deal of use of masks to show emotions

Tragedy
– Plays that told stories of human suffering that usually ended in disaster purpose was to stir emotions of pity and fear
– Antigone
Sophocles explored what happens when an individual’s moral duty conflicts with the laws of the state
– Ultimately the playwrights stressed that people, not gods, were the cause of human misfortune
Comedy
– Humorous plays that mocked people or customs
– Generally sharply criticized society, much as political cartoonists do today

Herodotus was called the “father of history” in the western world
Live through and wrote about the
Persian Wars and the
Peloponnesian War
– He stressed the importance of research and to avoid bias

Alexander and the Hellenistic Age

To the Greeks, Macedonia was a backwards area
Phillip’s Dream
– Phillip of Macedonia hired Aristotle to teach his son Alexander
Phillip used threats, bribery, and diplomacy to gain power and influence
– In 338 B.C. he brought all of Greece under his control
– He dreamed of taking over the Persian empire, however he was assassinated murder of a public figure, usually for a political reason
– Then Alexander ascended to the throne

Conquest of Persia
– At the age of 20, Alexander amassed an army to take on the famed Persian Empire
– Alexander won his first victory against the
Persians at the Granicus River
Led to more and more victories across the Persian
Empire, until all of the Persian Empire was under
Alexander’s control
Onward to India
– Crossed the Hindu Kush into northern India though they did not lose a battle, Alexander’s soldiers forced him to retreat back to Babylon

Sudden Death
– While planning another conquest,
Alexander died of a sudden illness
– Leaving no one to take over his empire
– For 300 years, their descendants competed for power over the lands
Alexander had conquered

His most lasting achievement was the spread of Greek culture
A Blending of Cultures
– Created many new cities, many of them named after himself
– Built Greek Statues and temples from
Greece, Egypt to India
– Local people assimilated Greek Ideas, and spread the eastern ideas back to Greece absorbed
– The Hellenistic Culture emerged following
Alexander’s death
Blending of Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian
Influences

The Legacy of Alexander (Con’t)
Alexandria
– The heart of Hellenistic Civilization was the city of Alexandria in Egypt
– Home of great diversity of goods and peoples
Also home to the Pharos or “Lighthouse of
Alexandria”
– They built a museum which contained laboratories, lecture halls, and a zoo
Also had a library that housed many of the scrolls from the ancient world
– However it burned in a fire

The Legacy of Alexander (Con’t)
Opportunities for Women
– Women were no longer restricted to their homes during the Hellenistic period
Even Cleopatra came to power in Egypt

New Schools of Thought
– Political turmoil allowed the rise of
Stoicism philosophy accept calmly whatever life brought to you preached high moral standards and rights of fellow humans

Advances in Learning
– Pythagoras developed the Pythagorean theorem
– Euclid wrote The Elements, base for most geometry books
– Aristarchus argued that the earth rotated on its axis and orbited the sun heliocentric theory
– sun centered solar system
– Archimedes applied physics to make practical inventions

Medicine
– Hippocrates studied the causes of illnesses and looked for cures
Hippocratic oath set ethical standards for doctors today
Swore to “Help the sick according to my ability and judgment but never with a view to injury and wrong”

During the Hellenistic Period, Rome rose to prominence
Though the end of the Greek
Civilization came, Greek culture greatly influence the rising Roman
Civilization