First people to move
into Greece came from
Turkey around 3000 BC
Remained a primitive
Neolithic people for a
long time
MINOANS AND MYCENAEANS
• Came into contact with
Minoan civilization on the
nearby island of Crete
• Minoans were merchants
who established trade
contacts with early Greeks
(known as Mycenaeans)
– Brought rudiments of
civilization to them
MINOAN CIVILIZATION
Minoan civilization based on huge
palace complexes such as one at
Knossos
Top god was a female goddess
called “The Snake Goddess”
Had writing system
MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION
• Mycenaneans later invaded Crete and
destroyed Minoan civilization forever
• Mycenaean civilization:
– No centralized state
– Just numerous small city-states
• Surrounded by stone walls
• Ruled by self-styled “kings”
– Primary economic activity was
piracy
– Primarily warriors who used bronze
weapons and fought among
themselves continually
CATASTROPHE
• Mycenaean civilization ultimately
weakened itself by constant
internal warfare
– Became the victim of new
invaders who moved into Greece
from the north around 1100 BC
• Ionians and Dorians
• Destroyed much of
Mycenaean culture
– City-states were
destroyed, stone
architecture ceased, and
writing was forgotten
– Greece plunged into a
Dark Age
END OF THE DARK AGE
Population pressure pulled
Greece out of the Dark Age
around 800 BC
In response to population
explosion on Greek
mainland, many left and
settled in groups
elsewhere
Never lost their Greek
identity, remained
“Greek” no matter
where they settled
CIVILIZATION REVIVES
• With establishment of a
world-wide network of
colonies, the Dark Age
came to an end
– Greeks rediscovered
trade
– Adopted and modified
the Phoenician alphabet
– Evolved a new form of
government
• The polis
THE POLIS
• Greeks organized themselves
into independent city-states
– Through a long and
complicated process of
evolution during the Dark
Age, Greek government was
based on elected
assemblies made up men
who were eligible for
military service
• Such men were always
relatively wealthy
• No hereditary kings
Greek ballot (made from pottery shard)
GREEK “DEMOCRACY”
• Polis government was not
“democratic” in the modern sense
of the word
• Athens
– Population of 200,000
– Only 30,000 considered “free
citizens” (ie., eligible to
participate in politics)
• Male
• Native-born
• Free
• Could afford to serve in army
– Women, slaves, residents not
born in Athens, and the lower
classes were excluded
LEGACY
• Polis government was still better than
the god-pharaohs of Egypt or the
absolute emperors of Mesopotamia
– Greeks met together in assemblies to
work out policy and they elected
their own leaders
– Citizenship was not as broad-based as
we would like but at least the Greeks
had rejected the idea that one
individual had an inherent right to
rule
• Introduced the concept that
people could and should rule
themselves
THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR
• In 499 BC, Greek colonies along the coast of
Asia Minor rose up in revolt against Persian
rule
• Persian emperor Darius I put down revolt
with little trouble
– But he learned that Athens and several
other city-states on the Greek mainland
had aided the rebels
– Made up his mind to get revenge by
destroying Athens and conquering the
Greek peninsula
• Started “The Great Persian War”
GREEKS WIN
•
•
•
•
War lasted from 490-479 BC (21 years)
Led by Darius and, later, by his son Xerxes
Persia tried to invade and conquer Greece three times
But the Greeks dropped their differences, banded together,
and turned back each attempt
– Led by Athens and Sparta
– Persians finally just gave up
ATHENS
• Athens at forefront of
Greek Golden Age
– Pericles transformed
Delian League into a
mini-empire
• Which he then used
to finance massive
rebuilding of the
city-state
• Transformed it to the
most beautiful city in
the ancient world
SPARTA
Athens
Sparta
• Sparta was ruled by dual kings
• Military state par excellence
– Infants examined for defects
and killed if they had any
– Boys taken from their mother
at age 7 for 14 years of
military training
– All men lived together in
barracks until age 30
– Entire life spent in army
– Civilian work was performed
by slaves called helots
PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE
• Spartan soldiers had the
deserved reputation of
being the best in the Greek
world
– Very courageous
– Never surrendered or
retreated
• Sparta used military power
to create mini-empire in
southern Greece
– The Peloponnesian
League
PELOPONNESIAN WAR
• Caused by conflicting imperialistic
ambitions of Athens and Sparta
– 431-404 BC
– Caused widespread destruction
and loss of life throughout the
Greek world
– Sparta was the technical victor
but it emerged from the war
just as exhausted and bankrupt
as Athens
– More suicidal wars would follow
• Completely weakening the
entire Greek peninsula
PHILLIP II
• Greek city-states unable
to put up any effective
resistance when invaded
by Philip II
– “King and Warrior
Lord” of Macedonia
• Conquered the
entire region
• 338 BC
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
• Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC
– Was in the middle of planning a war
of revenge against Persia
• In order to win the hearts and
minds of the Greeks
– Replaced by his 21-year old son,
Alexander
• Would continue his father’s plan
and go further than Philip’s
wildest dreams
– Would create the largest
empire the world had ever
seen
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
ALEXANDER THE MAN
• Complex personality
– Enormous intellectual talent
– Athletic
– Brilliant general
– But also cursed with an
unlimited ego and a strong
vindictive streak
• Mixture of personality traits
motivated him
– Intelligence and talent, on
one hand, and an insatiable
desire for glory and cutthroat ruthlessness on the
other
CONQUEST
• Joint Macedonian/Greek
army of 45,000 men
invaded Persian Empire in
334 BC
– Conquered the entire
empire and pushed
eastward into Central
Asia and then India
• Leaving behind
hundreds of
thousands of
corpses, burnt
villages and farms,
and devastated cities
NEW CITIES
Library in Alexandria
• To guard his lines of
communication back to Greece,
Alexander built new cities along
his route of conquest
– Many of them rapidly
developed into thriving
centers of Greek culture and
exerted a powerful influence
on their surrounding regions
– The best known are
Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch
in Syria, and Pergamum in
Asia Minor
A SUDDEN AND SURPRISING END
• Alexander’s army mutinied in central
India and refused to move any further
east
– Homesick
– Demoralized
– Frightened
• Alexander relents and agrees to
return home
– But marches them through a
devastating desert as punishment
• 2/3s of his men die as a result
– Sets up temporary headquarters in
Babylon
• Dies there after a drinking
party in 323 BC at age 32
UGLY AFTERMATH
• Alexander’s only
legitimate heirs are
killed during the civil
war that erupted after
his death
– 12 year old son by
Persian wife
– Retarded older brother
• Empire is ultimately
divided between three
of his former generals
Together, these states were known as the
“successor kingdoms” and the time that
they dominated the ancient world (330-150
BC) is known as the Hellenistic Age
Antigonus Gonatus gets Greece
and Macedonia
Also plagued with trouble
during the years that followed
Selecus gets most of old Persian
Empire
It would break up over time
Ptolemy gets richest portion:
Egypt and Mediterranean
Coast of Middle East
Founds Ptolemy Dynasty that
would rule Egypt until 31 BC
ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY I
• Iliad and Odyssey allegedly
composed by the blind
poet, Homer, around 800
BC
– He did not write them
– He was a professional
story-teller
– Probably combined
several existing folktales
into long narratives
– Both would be written
down much later
ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY II
Achilles
• Deal with the wars of the Mycenaeans
– Specifically their attack Troy
• Include some of the best-known
characters in Greek mythology
– Achilles, Odysseus, Helen of Troy,
Hector, Agamemnon, etc
– Gods are also characters
• Portrays characters as both heroic and
admirable but also flawed
– Often prideful, stubborn,
vindictive, jealous, and lustful
– Major breakthrough: characters
portrayed in sophisticated manner,
not just in stark black and white
terms
OTHER POETS
SAPPHO
Lived on island of Lesbos
Only fragments of her poems survive
Tremendous amount of descriptive
beauty
and insight into human relationships
PINDAR
Invented the “eulogy” (long
poems praising the lives and
exploits of famous individuals)
GREEK THEATER
• Pioneers in the theater
– Invented the dramatic forms of
comedy and tragedy
– Actors in stylized masks acted
out stories surrounded by a
chorus who sang, danced and
chanted a commentary
between scenes
– Plots were normally derived
from Greek mythology
• But playwrights modified
them to address issues
concerning universal
human problems and
concerns
GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS
• Sophocles
– Oedipus Rex
• Euripides
– Trojan Women
– Lysistrada
• Aristophanes
– The Clouds
PHILOSOPHY
The most famous Greek
philosophers were Socrates,
Plato, and Aristotle
Appeared one after the other in
Athens from the end of the
Peloponnesian War to the rise of
Alexander the Great
Socrates was the first and
greatest but he never wrote a
word. Everything we know of
him comes from his student,
Plato
Plato
Socrates
Aristotle
SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
• Socrates and Plato were primarily
interested in fundamental questions
about the human condition
– What is justice?
– What is good?
– What is beauty?
• Tried to find absolute answers to
these questions
– Universally valid answers that
would apply to all people, at all
times, and in all places
– Employed rigorous question and
answer form of inquiry
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle’s school, The Academy,
outside of Athens
• Aristotle was also interested in the
same fundamental questions as
Socrates and Plato
– But he differed from them in
method
• Rather than speculate in a logical
manner, he argued that a person
should gather evidence on a topic,
analyze that evidence, and then
base conclusions on that analysis
– Pioneered methodology to
obtain knowledge still used
today by scholars and scientists
OTHER SCIENTISTS
Pythagoras
Mathematician who developed the
formula to find the square of a rightangle triangle
Hippocrates
“founder of modern medicine”
Rejected concept that evil spirits caused illness
Developed theory of “bodily humours”
Argued that body was made up of equal parts
of four humours (blood, water, bile, etc.) and
that a person became sick when the balance
between them was thrown off
Function of medicine was therefore to get
these humours back in balance
Also wrote an oath of medical ethics: The
Hippocratic Oath
PARTHENON
• Pericles’ building program turned
Athenian Acropolis into an eternal
monument
– The centerpiece was the
Parthenon
• Temple dedicated to Athena
• Huge rectangle-shaped
building with white marble
columns supporting a red tile
roof with gold trim
• A panel ran along the roof line,
portraying scenes from the life
of Athena
• Inside was dimly lit and
dominated by a colossal ivory
and god statue of Athena
HELLENISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS
• “realistic sculpture”
• Individualistic philosophies
– Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism
• Further advances in science
– Work of Archimedes
• Emphasis was on the individual, not the collective
HELLENISTIC CITIES
• Center of scientific, artistic, and
intellectual activity shifted from
to the old city-states of Greece
to the new and great cities of
the successor kingdoms
– Greece was progressively
weakened by this drain of its
best and brightest people
• Gradually sunk into
backwardness and decay
• Greeks were still at the forefront
of achievement but they no
longer lived in Greece
Lighthouse at Alexandria
HELLENISM
Colossus at Rhodes
• As new Middle Eastern people were
brought into contact with Greek
culture as a result of the conquests
of Alexander and the establishment
of the successor kingdoms, Greeks
themselves became influenced by
Middle Eastern culture as they
spread around the world
– Result was a certain fusion
between East and West
– Creation of a new common
culture that was part Greek/part
Middle Eastern
• Hellenism
• Would provide cultural unity
to the ancient world