The Rise of Greek Civilization
• Homer, Sparta, Athens, and the Persian
Wars
• The Peloponnesian Wars and Greek
Culture in the Classical Age
Greece and Western Civilization
• The Hebrews contributed a significant thread
to Western culture
– Human dignity
– Religious-ethical thought
• Greece contributed the second major piece
– The development of rational thought
• Progressing form myth to logos
• Geometry, logic, naturalism, math, cultural
development, architecture
The Logos
• Greeks did not see nature acting according to
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the whims of gods and demons
saw nature as following general rules
Humans were given the capacity for rational
thought, a need for freedom, and a sense of
worth as individuals
Reason is the path to knowledge and people are
responsible for their own behavior
In short, the Greeks broke with the mythmakers
that preceded them and created the rational
outlook that is a distinctive feature of Western
Civilization
Early Aegean Civilization
• 2 related civilizations preceded Hellenic Greece: the Minoan
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and the Mycenaean
Minoans, the older group, were not Greeks and didn’t speak
a Greek language
– Lasted 2600 BC to 1250 BC
– Appear to have been peaceful
• Few military scenes in art and no defensive walls
• Around 2000 BC Greek speaking tribes who were more
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warlike moved southward into Greece
These Mycenaeans modeled their society in part on the
earlier Minoans.
They traded throughout the Mediterranean (Italy,
Macedonian, Asia Minor)
The “Dark Ages”
• Mycenaean society ended abruptly around 1100 BC
• They left an important legacy
– Religious forms, pottery, metallurgy, agriculture, language, a
warrior culture, myths and legends, codes of honor
• 1100 to 800 BC is known as the “Dark Ages” because it
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was a time of transition between the collapsed Mycenaean
society and embryonic Hellenic civilization
After 800 town life was revived and writing became part of
the Greek culture
Colonies were established along the coast of Asia Minor,
the Black Sea, Sicily, and Italy
– These were governed as their own city-states while close ties with
the homeland
– A new middle class will emerge and conflict will arise between
them and the landed aristocracy
Homer
• Epic poet and oral historian who lived during the
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8th century BC
The Iliad and the Odyssey
– The Iliad deals with a small part of the 10th and last
year of the Trojan War which had taken place during
the Mycenaean age
• These helped shape the Greek spirit and religion
– young Greeks memorized his lines
– His heroes were admired and emulated
– Scholars used Homer to justify moral truths
• Homer dealt with the hero’s action and his inner
thoughts and feelings
Homer’s Contribution. Doh...!
• Homer anticipated the Greek’s attitude of mind
that there is a fundamental (and universal) order
to things
– These ideas would later be incorporated in to Greek
philosophy
• He talked about the tragic quality of war- vicious
cycles
– It confers dignity on the victorious but suffering an
grief on the losers
– Someday the hero will himself die by the sword too
Greek Humanism
• shows the beginning of the concept of the well rounded
individual
– Nobility of mind and action
– The Phoenix tells Achilles that a man of true worth is “a speaker of
words and a doer of actions”
• Greek Humanism- a concern with man and his
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achievements
For the Egyptians and Mesopotamians the gods were
responsible for the good or evil that befell human beings
For the Greeks, human beings pay their respect to the gods
but they do not live in perpetual fear of them; they choose
their own way, sometimes turning against the gods
Homer’s view of external order and individual excellence
form the foundations of the Greek outlook
Greek Religion
• During the Dark Age it was a mixture of beliefs and cults of
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gods and goddesses inherited from their Mycenaean, Near
Eastern, and Indo-European ancestors
Homer’s epics begin to form the foundation of Olympian
gods
No uniform creed, official priests or sacred books
More ritual than belief; more social than spiritual
Visited the temple for private matters or for civic
processions
Altar was important for sacrifices
Some worshiped heroes who were half god
Some followed mystery religions
Most observed a combination of myth, folklore, ritual and
cult
Evolution of City-States
• Between 750 and 323 BC Greece consisted of independent citystates
• The average polis was small and consisted of about 5000 male
citizens
– Conducive to democracy
• The mature polis was self-governing and reflected the will of free
citizens not the desires of gods, hereditary kings, or priests
(opposite of the Near East)
• These city-states also began with a religious tone but citizens began
to deemphasize the role of the gods
– Laws become the expression of human intelligence; they don’t emanate
from the gods or from divine authority
– This didn’t destroy religion; it changed the way it was practiced
• People still worshipped the gods of the city as a civic duty
The Greek Contribution
• “What made Greek political life different from
that of earlier Near Eastern civilizations, as well
as gave it enduring significance, was the Greeks’
gradual realization that community problems are
caused by human beings and require human
solutions…. Law was valued because it
expressed the will and needs of the community,
not out of fear of the divine” (Perry 2004, 58)
Sparta
• Agrarian culture on the rugged coast of
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Lacedaemonia
According to Homer it was the home of
Menelaus and Helena
During the Archaic period they expanded the
boundaries of their polis to become the leading
power in Greece
Overpopulation led to a need for more food and
raw materials so they established one colony
abroad at Tarentum, Italy
Colonization
• 735 BC they conquered Messenia, a fertile region
• After 20 years of battle the Spartans won and turned the
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Messenians into helots or serfs
The helots outnumbered the Spartans 10 to 1 so they
set up a militaristic society
– Spartans fought. Helots did agrarian work. Perioikoi did the
trades and crafts.
• By 650 BC the helots were fed up with Spartan
oppression and revolted and began the second
Messenian war
– War took tremendous engagement by the Spartans
– Spartans were victorious but much of the fighting was done by
non-nobles
• They demanded rights equal to the nobility
• Land was divided equally with helots raising the crops
Spartan Culture
• From the age of seven boys lived separate from their families
• Slept outside on reed mats and underwent rugged training
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and Homer’s works were memorized
At 24 they join the front lines
At 30 they became citizens
At 60 they gained full independence
Going into battle it is said that a mother would tell her son to
either come back victorious carrying his sword or being
carried on his sword
Spartan women were also tough, independent and patriotic
They were forbidden to wear jewelry or ornate clothing but
enjoyed a more active public life than other women in Greece
Athens
• Located in a good position in Attica with many ports for
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foreign trade
Developed a powerful navy
Whereas the Spartans thought that trade was below
them, Athenians excelled in it
Athens allowed a citizen the right to govern the polis
Moved through a series of political developments
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Monarchy
Oligarchy
Tyranny
Democracy
Contrasts between Athens and
Sparta
• Sparta was a land power and was mainly
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agrarian; Athens was on a peninsula, had a sea
power and was a commercial capital
Sparta’s leaders were isolationists; Athenians
wanted to establish hegemony among Greek
cities
Sparta saw freedom as protecting the
fatherland; for Athenians it was political freedom
and it sought the full development of human
individuality
Political changes
• Draco 621 BC- first law code of the
Athenians
• Aristocracy began to oppress the peasants
– They owned the best land
– Governed and interpreted the law
– Forced small farmers into economic
oppression
– Sold families into slavery
• Tyrannies developed
Solon the poet
• Known as the Reformer
• Used poetry to condemn the aristocracy
• Eventually elected archon or chief
magistrate
• He freed all people enslaved for debt
• Made enslavement for debt illegal
• Gave commoners a place in government
Pisistratus- The Tyrant
• Took advantage of instability after Solon
• Became a one man ruler and tyranny
replaced oligarchy
• His achievement was that he promoted
cultural life
• Athens emerged as a cultural center
• His actions also weakened the aristocracy
Cleisthenes- The Democrat
• Pisistratus’ power was passed to his two sons;
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one was killed and the other was exiled
Cleisthenes, an aristocrat sympathetic to
democracy assumed leadership
Democracy was firmly in place and the Assembly
was becoming the supreme authority
The Persian Wars change the scenario
The Persian Wars
• 499 BC Ionian Greeks rebelled against their Persian
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overlord
Herodotus traveled the world to try to piece together the
war- He said that this was the beginning of a bad thing
for Athens and the world around her.
Thucydides was another historian but he focused on the
Peloponnesian wars
The Persian Wars took place
– Began at Thermopylae
– Greek fleet beat the Persians at Themistocle even though they
were outnumbered
• Delian League is formed ushering in Athenian imperialism
– This made the Greeks the prevailing power in the eastern world
– The Athenian Empire began to dominate the empire
– eventually leads to the Peloponnesian wars
• Sparta warned Athens that they were encroaching on Spartan territory
• A battle ensued and fighting lasted from 431 to 404 BC
• Sparta was victorious with their commander Lysander
Greek Arts
• The Greeks invented drama
• Aeschylus
– Oresteia- betrayal, murder, reconciliation
• Reason and justice must be applied to reconcile fundamental conflicts
• Sophocles
– Antigone- personal and political, divine law over human defects, law is
required for a tranquil state
– Oedipus man doomed by the gods to kill his father and marry his
mother
• He tries like hell to avoid the fate but every move brings him a step closer
• When he realizes what he did he blinds himself
• Humans must obey the will of the gods even when we don’t understand
• Euripides- tragic flaw, passions should not overwhelm reason
• Aristophanes- Satirist that lampooned city officials
Other Aspects of Ancient Greek
Culture
• The Poetry of
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Sappho
Plato’s
Symposium
• The Exception
or the Rule?
The Meaning of Love
• The Splitting of Humanity
• Vulgar vs. Virtuous Love
• Eros, Philia, Agape
Tyrtaeus
For it is a shameful thing indeed
When with the foremost fighters
An elder falling in front of the young man
Lies outstretched,
Having white hair and grey beard
Breathing forth his stout soul in the dust,
Holding in his hands his genitals
Stained with blood
The man whose riches satisfy his
greed
by Solon
The man whose riches satisfy his greed
Is not more rich for all those heaps and hoards
Than some poor man who has enough to feed
And clothe his corpse with such as God affords.
I have no use for men who steal and cheat;
The fruit of evil poisons those who eat.
Some wicked men are rich, some good men poor,
But I would rather trust in what's secure;
Our virtue sticks with us and makes us strong,
But money changes owners all day long.