Classical Greece
Classical Greece
 From the birth of civilization to our own present
day, the Middle East has been the crucible of
conflict and the birth of empires.
 The first war we know about in any detail was
the struggle between the Hittites and the
Egyptians for dominance in the Middle East of
the 13th century BCE.
 The power vacuum created by the collapse of
these two empires led to the most famous war
of antiquity, the Trojan War.
Classical Greece
 Given the epic grandeur by Homer in the Iliad,
the Trojan War was an actual historical event.
 It demonstrates for us that the idea of a balance
of power is a fragile and dangerous mechanism
for maintaining peace.
 The Trojan War also illustrates the dangers of
undertaking a preemptive war in the Middle
East and the lesson that empires rise and fall
because of the decisions made by individual
leaders.
Classical Greece
 The Greek historian Thucydides believed that
the Middle East was enormously important in
the analysis of how power determines history.
 He began his history with the Trojan War
(c1250-1240 BCE), which took place after the
collapse of the Egyptian and Hittite empires.
 The Hittites were centered in today’s Turkey
and they controlled the production of iron
(probably the world’s most valuable
commodity—besides gold—at the time).
Classical Greece
 Ramses II tried to conquer the Hittites to get
control of their iron resources.
 Their armies met at the Battle of Kadesh
(1274 BCE), the first historical battle we
have detailed information about.
Classical Greece
 Ramses rode into an ambush, but he fought
his way out, held off the Hittites until the
rest of his army arrived, and claimed
victory.
 The battle actually seems to have been a
draw.
 The two powers signed the first detailed
peace treaty in history, which divided the
Middle East into spheres of influence.
Classical Greece
 The Egyptian Empire reached into the middle of
Syria; the Hittite Empire extended from northern
Syria and into Asia Minor.
Classical Greece
 Like most attempts to establish a balance of
power, this one failed too.
 Both empires went into decline, and by
1250 BCE there was a power vacuum in the
Middle East.
 Two new powers began to emerge—the
Greeks (or as Homer called them the
Achaeans) and the Trojans.
Classical Greece
 Both tried to fill the vacuum in their attempt
to control the iron.
 But in Homer’s version, the Trojan War
didn’t start over who controlled the iron, it
started as a banquet of the gods, celebrating
the wedding of Peleus (mortal king) and
Thetis (a sea nymph), the parents of Achilles.
Classical Greece
 Every god and goddess was invited to attend
except the goddess of discord (Eris).
Classical Greece
 In retaliation, she rolled a golden apple into
the banquet inscribed with the words “To
the fairest.”
 Those who fought the hardest for it were
Hera (the wife of Zeus), Aphrodite (Zeus’
daughter, the goddess of love), and Athena
(Zeus’ daughter, the goddess of wisdom and
war).
Classical Greece
 The goddesses asked Zeus to decide but he
gave the decision to a mortal, Paris, the Prince
of Troy.
Classical Greece
 Hera offered power, Athena offered military
glory and wisdom, and Aphrodite offered
him the most beautiful woman in the world
to be his wife.
 Paris chose Aphrodite.
 The most beautiful woman was Helen, a
daughter of Zeus and the wife of the king of
Sparta (Menelaus). His brother was
Agamemnon.
Classical Greece
 When Paris took off with
the willing Helen, the
Greeks saw this as an act
of betrayal and terrorism.
 So the king of Sparta
called on the other kings
of Greece to avenge this
act.
 The Greeks mustered a
large armada and army.
Classical Greece
 Each Greek king was an independent ruler but
they accepted the command of Agamemnon.
Classical Greece
 Agamemnon and his troops launched a
preemptive war against Troy.
 The two sides could have negotiated, but
honor was at stake.
 The Greeks not only wanted the return of
Helen, they wanted to conquer Troy.
 The Greeks mistakenly believed the war
would be short, but it dragged on for years.
Classical Greece
 There were no negotiations, only battle after
battle, because the cost of withdrawal was too
high.
 So Homer began the Iliad in the ninth year of the
war.
 Much of the story revolves around the stormy
relationship between Achilles and Agamemnon.
Classical Greece
 The Trojans, thinking victory was near,
attacked again and again.
 Achilles returned to battle, killed the Trojan
champion Hector (the older brother of
Paris), then desecrated Hector’s body before
returning it to his father, King Priam.
 The Iliad ended with the funeral of Hector.
 But Homer’s audience knew the war would
continue.
Classical Greece
 The real conflict was about dominance in the
Middle East and access to the iron of the Hittite
Empire.
 One morning in the 10th year of the war, the
Trojans awoke and found the Greeks gone, leaving
nothing but a huge wooden horse as a tribute.
Classical Greece
 The Trojans believed peace had finally
come.
 Of course, that peace was merely an
illusion.
 When the Greeks finished, Troy was in
ruins, its men killed, and its women and
children enslaved.
 Troy, which had visions of becoming a
superpower, was destroyed.
Classical Greece
 The victorious Agamemnon went home to
be murdered by his wife.
 Odysseus wandered for another 10 years.
Classical Greece
 The gods brought destruction upon the
vanquished and victors alike.
 Within a generation of the fall of Troy, the
mighty cities of Greece were attacked by
new bands of invaders.
 For the next 500+ years, Greece plunged
into its “Dark Ages.”
Classical Greece
 For over 200 years, all of the Middle East
was in turmoil and disarray.
 The iron that had been the cause of so much
bloodshed was forged into new weapons of
war.
 Among the people who moved to a new
land during this time were the people of
Israel, who moved out of Egypt and into
Canaan, a land they believed God gave
them.
Greece
 There’s a pretty sharp contrast between the huge
and centralized Persian Empire, governed by an
absolute and almost unapproachable monarch,
and the small competing city-states of classical
Greece, which allowed varying degrees of
participation in political life.
Greece
 Like the Persians, the Greeks were an Indo-
European people whose early history drew
upon the legacy of the river valley civilizations
(primarily Egypt and Mesopotamia).
 Classical Greece of historical fame emerged
around 750 BCE and flourished for about 400
years before it was incorporated into a
succession of foreign empires.
Greece
 Calling themselves Hellenes, the Greeks
created a civilization that was distinctive,
particularly compared to the Persians.
 The total population of Greece was 2-3
million, not even 1/10th of Persia’s
population.
Greece
 The Greek
civilization took
shape on a small
peninsula, deeply
divided by steep
mountains and
valleys.
Greece
 Greece’s geography certainly contributed to
the political shape of that civilization, which
was expressed, not in Persian-style empire,
but in hundreds (actually about 700) citystates or small settlements.
Greece
 Most were very modest in size, with
between 500 and 5,000 male citizens.
 These city-states were fiercely independent
and frequently in conflict with each other.
Greece
 Despite the conflict, they had much in
common: they spoke the same language,
used the same letters (from the Phoenicians),
worshipped the same gods, and every four
years they suspended their rivalries to
participate in the Olympic Games (started in
776 BCE).
Greece
 Even though there was an emerging Greek
cultural identity, the Greeks could not
overcome the political rivalries of the larger
city-states—Athens, Sparta, Thebes,
Corinth, and several others.
Greece
 Like the Persians, the Greeks were an
expansive people, but their expansion took
the form of settlement in distant places rather
than conquest and empire.
 Pushed by a growing population, Greek
traders in search of metals (mostly iron) and
impoverished Greek farmers (in search of
arable land) stimulated emigration.
Greece
 Between 750-500 BCE Greek settlements
were established all around the
Mediterranean and the rim of the Black Sea.
 Greek settlers brought their language, culture,
and building styles to these new lands, as
they fought, traded, and intermarried with
their non-Greek neighbors.
Greece
Greece
 The most distinctive element of Greek
civilization, and its greatest contrast
with Persia, was in the extent of popular
participation in political life.
 It was this idea of “citizenship,” of free
people running the affairs of state, of
equality of all citizens before the law,
that was so unique.
Greece
 A foreign king, observing the operation of
the public assembly in Athens, was amazed
that male citizens actually voted on public
policy… “I find it astonishing that here wise
men speak on public affairs, while fools
decide them.”
 The extent of participation and the role of
“citizens” varied considerably, both over
time and from city to city.
Greece
 Early in Greek history, only the
wealthy had the rights of full
citizenship, such as speaking and
voting in the assembly, holding public
office, and leading soldiers in the
army.
 Gradually, lower-class men, mostly
small-scale farmers also obtained these
rights.
Greece
 At least in part, this broadening of political
rights was associated with the growing
number of men able to afford the armor and
weapons that would allow them to serve as
hoplites, or infantrymen, in the armies of
the city-states.
Greece
 In many places, dictators known as tyrants, emerged
for a time, usually with the support of the poorer
classes, to challenge the prerogatives of the wealthy.
 Draco (c. 600’s BCE) and Solon (c 630-560 BCE).
Famous “lawgivers” or rulers.
Greece
 The monetary system that was developing
promoted the idea of borrowing, and by the
end of the 7th century BCE, a large number
of Greek citizens were in debt.
 The inability to repay a debt resulted in the
enslavement of the debtor or members of
his family.
 This system caused an economic crisis that
brought Athens and several Greek cities to
the brink of civil war.
Greece
 In 594 BCE, a wealthy merchant and poet
named Solon (c.640-560 BCE)was asked to
become governor of Athens and solve the
economic crisis.
Greece
 Solon was over 40 years old, had traveled
widely, and was considered among the wisest
men in Greece.
 He refused the offer to become a dictator of
Athens, declaring instead he would solve the
current economic problems, then step back
from power.
Greece
 His first act was to buy
out of slavery all those
Athenians who had been
sold outside of Athens
and to prohibit the
enslavement of
Athenian citizens as
payment for debt.
 He also canceled all
outstanding debt.
Greece
 Solon’s next step was to ensure the freedom of
the Athenian people from exploitation by a few
wealthy individuals, while acknowledging that
those with the greatest wealth had the biggest
stake in the government.
 To this end, he created a written constitution
for Athens, establishing a balanced democracy.
 All male Athenian citizens were granted the
right to vote, to serve on juries, and to bring
legal actions against others.
Greece
 The right to hold office was reserved for the
wealthiest Athenians, but these men still had to
be elected by their fellow citizens.
 Solon also established a supreme court that
had the power to declare laws unconstitutional.
 Having written the Athenian constitution,
Solon declared that the laws should not be
changed for 10 years.
Greece
 He then retired from
office and traveled.
 Solon was a noted
reformer, whose
legal code, with its
opposition to tyranny
and injustice, laid the
constitutional
foundations of
Athenian democracy.
Greece
 To our founding fathers, Solon was the
model of a true statesman. (This plaque is in
the House of Representatives).
Greece
 The evolution of Sparta, famous for its
extreme forms of military discipline, differed
in many ways from that of Athens.
Greece
 Early on, Sparta solved the problem of feeding
its growing population, not by creating overseas
colonies as did many other Greek city-states, but
by conquering their Greek neighbors
(Messenia—between 640-620 BCE) and
reducing them to a status of permanent servitude
(essentially state-sponsored slavery).
 Known as the Helots, these people far
outnumbered the free citizens of Sparta (20-1)
and represented a permanent threat of rebellion.
Greece
 Solving the problem of
the Helots was how
Spartan society came
to be autocratic and
militaristic.
 Sparta had to be ready
for war at any moment
to keep the Helots in
their place.
Greece
 Helots lived in the household
of their master but unlike
ordinary slaves, their master
could not declare them free.
They worked as domestic,
agricultural and military
servants.
 Helots were served excessive
alcohol as an object lesson to
other Spartans.
Greece
 Politically and legally Helots had no rights
at all. The state was free to send them or
dispose of them wherever they saw fit.
 The Helots could not vote and could not
own property.
 The Spartans created an elite secret police
known as the Krypteria. The Krypteria were
responsible for keeping the Helots under
control.
Greece
 The Helots had a huge impact on Spartan
foreign policy. Fear of a Helot rebellion
meant that the Spartans were afraid of
foreign contacts or visitors who might
encourage the Helots to revolt.
 It also meant that the Spartans were hesitant
to become involved in military campaigns
far from home (like against Persia in Lydia)
in case the Helots used the army's absence
as an opportunity to revolt.
Greece
 To maintain their militaristic system, all
Spartan boys were removed from their homes
at the age of seven to be trained by the state in
military camps, where they learned the art of
warfare.
 There they remained until the age of thirty.
Greece
 The ideal Spartan male was a skilled
warrior, able to endure hardship and pain,
and willing and ready to die for his city.
Greece
 Sparta’s rigorous educational system was
designed to make its citizens extremely
patriotic.
 Sparta had a “balanced” democracy, in
some ways similar to that of the United
States (because decisions of the people
could be overturned by a supreme court—
the Council of Elders).
Greece
 The Council of Elders
was composed of twenty
eight men over the age
of sixty, who came from
the wealthier and more
influential segment of
Spartan society.
 They served for life.
Greece
 Sparta had a strong commander–in-chief in
the form of two kings (both hereditary
positions based on family).
 They had priestly obligations and the power
to declare war.
 The Spartan Assembly was made up of all
full (male) citizens over the age of 18
(known as Spartiates).
Greece
 Even though Athens has been celebrated as
the major impetus for Western democracy
and rationalism, its posture towards women
was far more negative and restrictive than
that of the militaristic and much less
democratic Sparta.
 As the men of Athens moved towards
political participation, women had no
opportunities to be included in the
Assembly, councils, or the juries of Athens.
Greece
 In legal matters, women had to be represented by a
guardian, and court proceedings didn’t even refer
to women by name, but only as someone’s wife or
mother.
Greece
 Famous philosophers (especially Aristotle)
justified the exclusion of women from
public affairs and general subordination to
men this way…
“a woman is, as it were, an
infertile male. She is female in fact on
account of a kind of inadequacy.”
 The “inadequacy” was her inability to
generate sperm, which contained the “form”
and the “soul” of a new human being.
Greece
 A woman’s role in the reproductive process was
passive, she was merely the “receptacle” for the
vital male contribution.
 Women were compared to children or
domesticated animals, associated with instinct and
passion, not the rationality needed to take part in
public life.
Greece
 Aristotle said “it is best
for all tame animals to
be ruled by men for this
is how they are kept
alive. In the same way,
the relationship between
male and female is by
nature the male is
higher, the female lower,
that the male rules and
the female is ruled.”
Greece
 Women were usually married in their mid
teens to men ten to fifteen years older.
 Their main function was to produce sons
and maintain the affairs of the household.
 Sons were expected to become literate
while daughters were taught spinning,
weaving, and other household tasks.
 By law, women could not buy or sell land
and could negotiate contracts only if the
value was less than a bushel of barley.
Greece
 The Greek writer
Menander once
exclaimed :
“Teaching a woman to
read and write? What a
terrible thing to do!
Like feeding a vile
snake on more
poison.”
Greece
 Women in authoritarian and militaristic
Sparta actually had more freedom and were
accorded more respect.
 Like Athens, their main job was to bear
warrior sons for Sparta.
 To strengthen their bodies for childbearing,
girls took part in sporting events—running,
throwing the discus and javelin, wrestling,
even driving chariots.
Greece
 Women in Sparta.
Greece
 Unlike Athens, women were not secluded or
segregated.
 Women married young men their own age,
usually around the age of eighteen.
 Marriage was usually given a trial period to
see if children could be produced, if not
divorce and remarriage was accepted.
 Aristotle, and other Greeks were astonished
and appalled at the “freedom” Spartan
women had.
Greece
 Early steps towards Athenian democracy were
the result of class conflict so intense, it almost
led to a civil war.
 In 594 BCE Solon pushed Athenian politics in
a more democratic direction, eliminating debt
slavery, opening public office to a wider
group of men, and all (male) citizens were
allowed to take part in the Assembly.
Greece
 Later reformers like
Pericles (495-429 BCE),
extended the rights of
citizens even further. By
450 BCE, all public
office holders were
chosen by lottery and
were paid, so that even
the poorest (male) citizen
could serve.
Greece
 Athens did not have a ruler, but had a
popular assembly where any male citizen
was permitted to speak and vote.
 The Assembly, where all (male) citizens
could participate, became the center of
political life.
 Under normal circumstances, the Assembly
met every nine days and majority rule was
absolute.
Greece
 What was known as the Periclean Era (460-429
BCE) was also known as the “Golden Age of
Athens” for under the leadership of Pericles,
Athens built the Parthenon on top of the
Acropolis.
Greece
 During the Periclean Era,
Herodotus (c. 490-425 BCE)
wrote the very first work of
history (The Persian War);
Greek theater was born
when Sophocles (496-406
BCE), wrote Antigone and
King Oedipus, and
Euripedes (480-406 BCE),
wrote Medea and Electra.
Greece
 Athenian democracy was different from
modern democracy. It was direct rather than
representative.
 Athenian democracy was also limited to (male)
citizens only…no women, no slaves, no
foreigners could participate (and together they
made up more than half of the population).
Greece
 Nonetheless, political life in Athens was
unequalled anywhere else in the classical
world.
 The Athenians valued the freedom to live as
one chose as long as others were not
harmed.
Greece
 Pericles celebrated the uniqueness of Athens in
a famous speech:

“It is true that we are called a democracy, for the
administration is in the hands of the many not the
few. But while the law secures equal justice to all
alike in their private disputes, the claim of
excellence is also recognized…Neither is poverty a
bar, but a man may benefit his country whatever be
the obscurity of his condition…We alone regard a
man who takes no interest in public affairs, not as
harmless, but as a useless character.”
Greece
 The Periclean Age (or Golden Age of Athens)
was short lived as Athens and Sparta were in
constant competition with each other trying to
control of the Greek mainland.
 The Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE)
were civil wars that were the result of their
attempt to dominate Greek life.
Greece
 After the Persian wars ended in 478 BCE, a
group of Greek city-states formed a coalition
(known as the Delian League) to create and
fund a standing navy to defend against
further Persian attempts (there were none).
 There were thirty members, with Athens
being the largest, most powerful member of
the Delian League.
Greece
 Eventually, Athens (under Pericles)
absorbed many of the other Greek citystates into a greater Athenian Empire and
Sparta got nervous (and jealous).
 Sparta took the lead in defending what it
considered the traditional independence of
the Greek city-state.
Greece
 Not only was Sparta
jealous of Athenian
power, Athens began
meddling in the affairs
of several of Sparta’s
allies.
 As the war drew close,
Athens had the superior
navy while Sparta had
the superior land force.
Greece
Greece
 The Spartan strategy was to invade the land
surrounding Athens (Attica). While this
invasion deprived Athens of the productive
land around their city, Athens itself was able
to maintain access to the sea, and did not
suffer much.
 Many of the citizens of Attica abandoned
their farms and moved inside the Long Walls,
which protected Athens.
Greece
 The Athenian Long Walls allowed Athens
access to the sea during times of siege.
Greece
 The Spartans would occupy Attica for only
a few weeks at a time (remember the
Helots)—the longest Spartan invasion
lasted just 40 days.
 The Athenian strategy was to avoid open
battle with Sparta and rely on their fleet.
 But the cramped and dirty living conditions
in Athens were an easy target for disease.
Greece
 In 430 BCE the Athenian fleet went on the
offensive winning several battles, but an
outbreak of the plague (scientists believe it
was anthrax or typhus) ravaged the densely
packed city.
 In the first recorded instance of a plague,
rampant fever, exhaustive vomiting and
diarrhea, and a general delirium, often
killed the infected within a few days.
Greece
 Athens suffering from the plague.
Greece
 The plague wiped out over 30,000 citizens,
sailors, soldiers, and even Pericles and his
sons…between one quarter and one third of
the Athenian population.
 The fear of plague was so widespread that
the Spartan invasion of Attica was
abandoned because Spartan troops were
unwilling to be near their diseased enemy.
Greece
 The war would rage for 27 years (with a six year
truce in the middle), and in the end, Sparta
defeated Athens as Athens was eventually starved
into submission in 404 BCE.
 The Peloponnesian Wars ended the “Golden Age
of Athens,” and even though Sparta won, it set off
a series of quarrels between other Greek city-states
which weakened Greece overall.
 A weakened Greece was now vulnerable to attack
from a new power to the north: Macedonia.
Greece
 The Hellenistic Period:
 With the defeat of Athens in
the Peloponnesian Wars,
the glory days of Greece
were over, but the spread of
Greek culture was just
beginning.
 A Roman version of
Aphrodite (the Greek
original has been lost).
Greece
 Until the 4th century BCE, Macedonia was a
sleepy frontier state in northern Greece.
 Most Macedonians were either farmers,
pastoralists who followed their herds from
mountain pastures to valleys, or engaged in
trade with other Greek city-states.
 King Philip II (r. 359-336 BCE) came to
power when more powerful neighbors were
on the verge of putting an end to Macedonia’s
existence.
Greece
 Macedonia at the start of Philip II’s reign:
Greece
 Through diplomacy and sheer cunning, Philip
avoided disaster and concentrated on
conquering his neighbors. His sights were
then set on the Greek city-states to his south.
Greece
 Since the Greeks
could not agree with
each other they were
not able to form
alliances against
Philip…he was able
to conquer Greece
within ten years
(by 338 BCE).
Greece
 When Philip turned to Sparta; he sent them
a message, "You are advised to submit
without further delay, for if I bring my army
into your land, I will destroy your farms,
slay your people, and raze your city."
 Their laconic reply: "If.”
 Philip and Alexander would both leave
Sparta alone.
Greece
 The Greeks never considered the Macedonians
kinsmen, they were considered dangerous
barbarians.
 The Macedonian conquest of Greece (by 338
BCE) accomplished what the Greeks had been
unable to achieve—the political unification of
Greece.
 But this came at a high price—the cost was the
much prized independence of the Greek citystates.
Greece
 Philip also set in motion a second round in
the collision between Greece and Persia.
 This project united the Greeks behind the
Macedonians as they would fight their
common enemy.
 Even though it had been 150 years since the
great battles of Marathon and Thermopylae,
many Greeks sought vengeance against the
Persians for their earlier assaults on Greece.
Alexander the Great
 Philip II was about to
invade Persia when he
was assassinated (336
BCE) so the task fell to
his 20 year old son,
Alexander III…known
to history as Alexander
the Great.
Alexander the Great

Macedonia at the start
of Philip’s reign.
 Macedonia at Philip II’s
death.
Alexander the Great
 As a 13 year old, Alexander
tamed the untamable horse
Bucephalus, and this horse
became legendary as
Alexander’s charger in
many battles.
 When it died in battle (at
the age of 30), Alexander
named a city after it
(Bucephala).
Alexander the Great
 As an adult, Alexander claimed that he had
been sired by the god Zeus, and his mother
Olympias backed him up.
 She said the night before her wedding to
King Philip II, she had been sexually
assaulted by a thunderbolt (Zeus) and that
fire and flame came from her womb.
 She was beautiful but odd—she came from a
Dionysian sect of snake-worshippers and
liked to take large reptiles to bed with her.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander was classically
trained and educated
(until 16) by the world’s
most famous tutor,
Aristotle.
Alexander the Great
 In his short career (13 years), Alexander
was able to conquer most of the known
world to the Greeks. It is the stuff of
legend.
 Alexander inherited a well disciplined and
well equipped army, and Alexander’s
ambition drove the Macedonians to conquer
one area after another.
 His attention was first focused on the
Persians.
Alexander the Great
 In 334 BCE, after securing his northern
border and brutally crushing a Theban
rebellion, Alexander crossed the
Dardanelles.
 With him were 32,000 infantry and 5,000
cavalry.
 He defeated Darius III at the Battle of
Granicus and continued down the Ionian
coast, capturing Persian-held coastal cities.
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
 The Persians were among the most feared
adversaries because they used scythewheeled chariots.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander entered what is now northern Syria
in 333BCE, and within a year, defeated Darius
III for a second time at the battle of Issus.
Alexander the Great
 Even though Darius escaped the battle, he
was forced to leave his mother, wife, and
children in Alexander’s hands as royal
hostages.
 In 332, Alexander conquered the
Phoenician coast at Tyre (Lebanon)
preventing the Persian fleet from landing
and moved south to Egypt.
Alexander the Great
 When Alexander besieged Tyre, the city was
divided into two parts: on the mainland was
the “old” city and about ½ mile into the
Mediterranean was an island fortress.
Alexander the Great
 The island fortress was protected by fabled
walls that were up to 150 ft high, and
Alexander had no navy.
 First he tried diplomacy, sending two envoys
to suggest an alliance. The Tyrians killed the
men and threw their bodies into the sea.
 Incensed, Alexander decided to build a
causeway between the mainland and the
island, an extraordinary undertaking
considering the water reached 20ft deep.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander ordered the old city demolished and
used the debris to build a roadway 200 ft wide
(so he could march his soldiers in their
phalanxes).
Alexander the Great
 The Tyrians sent out ships filled with archers
and catapults that rained destruction down
upon Alexander’s workmen; but the
causeway advanced.
 The Tyrians sent out unmanned ships of
flaming pitch and tar into the causeway,
setting it on fire; but the work continued.
 Alexander had two mobile siege towers (150
ft high) built on the causeway with catapults.
Alexander the Great
 After seven months, the causeway was completed
and Alexander launched his attack.
Alexander the Great
 The Tyrians put up a desperate defense but were
overwhelmed by the Greeks and the island
fortress fell.
 Alexander ordered the deaths of all male
inhabitants (over 8,000) and the enslavement of
everyone else.
 Today it is still possible to make out the stones
of Alexander’s road across the ocean.
Alexander the Great
 Darius tried to get his family back by offering a
worthy ransom and ceding territory west of the
Halys River (Asia Minor).
 In his characteristic arrogance, Alexander wrote
back

“King Alexander to Darius,
In the future, let any communication between us be addressed
to the King of all Asia. Do not write to me as an
equal. Everything you possess is now mine,
so if you should want anything, let me know in
the proper terms or I shall take steps to deal with
you as a criminal. If you wish to dispute the
throne, stand and fight for it and do not run away.
Wherever you may hide yourself, be sure I shall
seek you out.”
Alexander the Great
 In Egypt, at the age of twenty-four, Alexander
liberated the Egyptians from Persian
domination, was crowned pharaoh, and was
declared by Egyptian priests to be the “son of
Amon, the king of the gods.”
Alexander the Great
 Alexander then founded his namesake city
(Alexandria) at the mouth of the Nile.
 It would be Egypt’s capital for over 1300
years.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander then returned to Mesopotamia to
deal with Darius III and the Persians.
 Marching in columns through heat that
reached 110 degrees, nearly 50,000 Greeks
(and Greek allies) crossed the Syrian desert,
the Euphrates, then Tigris Rivers until they
met the Persians on the plain near
Gaugamela.
 Darius had over 250,000 infantry, 40,000
armored cavalry and chariots, and 15 war
elephants.
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
 Darius had deliberately maneuvered his
forces to bring Alexander to this plain.
 The Persians spent the week before the
battle making booby traps (pits full of
sharpened stakes) and tamping down wide,
smooth areas to use their scythe wheeled
chariots.
 Even though he held the upper hand, Darius
tried to bargain with Alexander.
Alexander the Great
 Darius’ peace offering was this: besides
paying 30,000 silver talents in ransom for his
mother, wife, and children, he also offered
Alexander all territory west of the Euphrates
River.
 When Darius’ emissaries brought this offer,
Alexander’s chief general, Parmenio, advised
“If I were Alexander I would accept this offer.”
Alexander famously replied “So would I, if I
were Parmenio.”
Alexander the Great
 Through Persian deserters, Alexander found
out where the booby traps were.
 Parmenio advised a night attack to surprise
and panic the Persian forces, but Alexander
rejected the idea as dishonorable (also highly
unpredictable and chaotic).
 But a rumor of a night attack might not be a
bad one to spread (through spies).
 Darius kept much of his army up all night for
an assault that never came.
Alexander the Great
 Although considerably outnumbered,
Alexander’s (well rested) army defeated the
hated Persians on the plains near Gaugamela.
Alexander the Great
 Some ancient sources say that Darius sought
out and charged at Alexander (surrounded by
his bodyguards, the Companions) on the
battlefield, only to have Alexander kill
Darius’ charioteer with a spear.
 A (false) rumor then spread that Darius was
dead which caused the Persian forces to
retreat in disarray and panic.
Alexander the Great
 Others say Darius saw that he was in danger of
being outflanked and fled before he could be
captured.
 Either way the result was the same: the Great
King of the Persians raced for his life across the
vast plain that was supposed to be the sight of
his victory.
Alexander the Great
 Close up of the “Alexander Mosaic” (from
the Roman city of Pompeii).
Alexander the Great
 From the
“Alexander
Mosaic.” It was
said that Darius III
was panic-stricken
in his chariot at
Alexander’s
advance.
Alexander the Great
 The Greeks inflicted up to 50,000 Persian
casualties while losing between 500-1500 men.
 The Greek army then seized the great cities of
Babylon and Susa.
 They then looted and burned down the Persian
capital city of Persepolis.
 Alexander was hailed the “King of Asia.”
 Darius was murdered by his cousin (and former
advisor)…Alexander ordered a royal burial.
Alexander the Great
 The great Persian Empire was at an end.
 The Greek historian Arrian described
Alexander:

“His passion was for glory only, and in that he
was insatiable…Noble indeed was his power of
inspiring his men, of filling them with
confidence, and in the moment of danger, of
sweeping away their fear by the spectacle of his
own fearlessness.”
Alexander the Great
 No one could stand up
to the power and tactics
displayed by Alexander
and his generals.
 He pushed his army all
the way to the Indus
River, where his
exhausted troops
refused to go any
further.
Alexander the Great
 But after Alexander defeated Darius, he went
into a deep depression, in part because there
were no more worlds left to conquer, and
because his victories exacerbated a tendency
towards megalomania.
 He began to drink heavily, and to his army’s
dismay, became “orientalized,” wearing
Persian robes and insisting on the Persian
custom of hand-kissing to show obedience.
Alexander the Great
 He planned to merge Greek and Asian
institutions and cultures under his control,
naming many cities Alexandria in his honor.
 He forced his men to marry the women of
conquered territories to create new, blended
civilizations (most marriages dissolved after
his death).
 Alexander himself married several daughters
of conquered princes.
Alexander the Great
 In Babylon,
Alexander married
a Persian princess
(Roxana) and the
wedding revelry
was carried to such
shameful excesses,
Alexander’s best
friend drank
himself to death.
Alexander the Great
 But his dreams of grand, long lasting empire,
ended with his death to fever in Babylon (323
BCE).
Alexander the Great
 Soon after his death, his empire was divided
into three kingdoms, ruled by leading
Macedonian generals (Antigonid—Greece;
Ptolemaic—Egypt; Seleucid—Persia).
 The most famous dynasty were the Ptolemies
who ruled Egypt (Cleopatra was from this
line).
Alexander the Great
 Although his political ambitions failed, his
conquests had a huge cultural impact on the
course of world history.
 Through this conquests, Alexander
disseminated Greek culture throughout the
First Civilizations—Egypt, Mesopotamia,
and India—resulting in one of the great
cultural encounters of the classical world.
Alexander the Great
 Greek culture spread to hundreds of cities
throughout the empire…as Greek sculptures
and monuments, Greek theaters and markets,
and Greek councils and assemblies attracted
thousands of Greek settlers serving as state
officials, soldiers, or merchants.
Alexander the Great
 The most famous
Alexandria (Egypt) was
the largest—with over
500,000 people—it was
one of the largest
cosmopolitan cities in
the world. Here
Egyptians, Greeks, Jews,
Babylonians, Syrians,
Persians, etc rubbed
elbows.
Alexander the Great
 Alexandria’s (Egypt) harbor had space for
1,200 ships which facilitated long-distance
trade.
 The famous Library had over 700,000
volumes.
Alexander the Great
 From cities like Alexandria, Greek culture
spread.
 A simplified form of Greek was spoken from
the Mediterranean to India (even Ashoka
published some of his decrees in Greek).
 An independent Greek state was established
in Bactria (today northern Afghanistan).
 Many young Jews were so attracted to Greek
culture there was a fear among Jewish leaders
that Judaism might not survive.
Alexander the Great
 Cities like Alexandria were very different
from the original Greek city-states, both in
their cultural diversity and in their absence
of the independence so valued by Athens
and Sparta.
 Macedonians and Greeks, representing
maybe 10% of the population in those
Hellenistic kingdoms, were clearly the elite
and worked to keep themselves separate.
Alexander the Great
 In Egypt, different legal systems for Greeks
and native Egyptians maintained this
separation.
 Periodic rebellions expressed resentment at
Greek arrogance, condescension, and
exploitation.
 But the Greeks sometimes placated
subjugated peoples by building temples to
their local gods and supporting their priests.
Alexander the Great
 In India, the Greeks were assimilated into the
hierarchy of the caste system as members of the
Ksatriya (warrior) caste.
 In Bactria, many Greeks converted to Buddhism,
including one of their kings (Menander).
Alexander the Great
 Greek influence found in Afghanistan.
Alexander the Great
 Buddhist art in
India began to
depict the Buddha
in human form for
the first time, but in
Greek styled
fashions with a face
resembling the
Greek god Apollo.
Alexander the Great
 Through time, a growing number of native
peoples were able to become Greek citizens
by getting a Greek education, speaking the
language, dressing appropriately, and
assuming a Greek name.
 Clearly, not all was conflict between the
Greeks and the peoples of the East.
Alexander the Great
 By the first century CE, much of Greece’s
cultural influence had begun to disappear as
the Hellenistic kingdoms weakened and
vanished.
 In the western part of the Hellenistic world,
Greek rule would be replaced by that of the
Romans, whose empire, like Alexander’s,
continued to spread Greek culture and ideas.
Alexander the Great
 Alexander and his troops were able to create a Greek
empire that stretched from Anatolia (Turkey) and
Egypt in the west to Afghanistan and India in the
east.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Unlike virtually everyone else in the classical
world, the Greeks did not create a religious
tradition of lasting importance.
 The religion of the Greek city-states brought
together the unpredictable, quarreling, and
lustful gods of Mt. Olympus, secret fertility
cults, and oracles predicting the future.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The cloud-capped peak of Mt. Olympus,
Greece’s highest mountain, was the mythical
home of the Twelve Olympians.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Here the gods feasted, drank, and slept with
each other—or with mortals abducted from
below—in palaces built by Hephaestus (the
blacksmith/fire god).
 Although Zeus, the thunder/lightening
wielding king of the gods, was their
acknowledged lord, they were constantly
fighting with each other.
 The gods reflected the constant fighting of
the Greeks on earth.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Olympians, often
called sky-gods because
they roamed through the
skies (except Poseidon
who lived in the sea and
Hades in the underworld),
probably came to Greece
through Indo-European
invaders during the late
Bronze Age.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Three deities made up
the Olympian “royal
family”: Zeus, king of
the gods; his wife Hera,
goddess of marriage; and
Athena, daughter of
Zeus, born directly from
his forehead, goddess of
the arts, wisdom,
handicrafts.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Zeus was the supreme
ruler of the gods and
mortals. He embodied
power, wisdom, and
majesty; he was the
father of justice and
mercy; and he could
destroy his enemies
with thunderbolts.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Zeus was the youngest son of
Cronus (Saturn) who
devoured his older children
fearing they would depose
him. Zeus was hidden by his
mother Rhea on Mt. Ida in
Crete where he was raised by
nymphs. Later, Zeus made
his father vomit his siblings,
deposed his father, then
crushed the giant Titans, and
the established his rule.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 He divided the world
with his brothers,
Poseidon taking the
oceans, and Hades
taking the underworld.
 In honor of Zeus, the
Olympic Games were
held at Olympia in the
Peloponnese (near
Sparta) every four years.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Zeus married his
sister Hera, but he
constantly seduced
women, both divine
and mortal, fathering
many children.
 Hera, his unwilling
wife, was portrayed
as majestic rather
than beautiful.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Hera was famously
fiery—understandable
considering Zeus’ endless
love affairs.
 She was widely revered
as the goddess of
marriage and childbirth.
 Hera intervened against
the Trojans because
Prince Paris snubbed her.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Athena, Zeus’ most
brilliant child, was
often shown as a
warrior-goddess with a
spear and shield.
 She became the patron
of Athens after winning
a contest against her
uncle Poseidon.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Athena was also often seen with the owl of
wisdom.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Midway between gods and men were the
heroes. These were men, sometimes with
divine parents, who won undying fame
through their exploits.
 Hercules (who performed the “Twelve
Labors”—tasks considered utterly impossible
for ordinary humans) and Achilles (the
greatest warrior) were among this group.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Hercules
 Achilles
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Most Greek religion was connected to the
political life of the city (polis) and was centered
on festivals and sacrifices performed in public.
 Public religion was generally happy; by
celebrating their gods, Greeks were celebrating
their city and themselves.
 Public sacrifices gave poorer citizens a rare
chance to eat meat and it was said that the gods
were content to smell the burnt skin and bones
of sacrificed animals.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greeks did not perform human
sacrifices (only animal).
 In Greece, there was no priestly caste or
profession. Priests and priestesses were
appointed from full citizens with good
reputations.
 Priesthood was generally unpaid and parttime.
 Women played an important role serving
the goddesses.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 To the Greeks, the proper conduct of funeral rites
was extremely important because the souls of
those left without proper rites were doomed to
forever roam the desolate banks of the River Styx
that flowed around Hades.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Because of the importance of these rites,
especially for men killed in battle, a Greek army
would concede defeat only so they could ask the
victors permission to retrieve their dead to give
them a proper burial.
 This permission was almost always granted.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 During the Bronze Age, inhumation (burial) was
the norm. By Homer’s time (8th century BCE),
cremation had replaced burial as the normal way to
dispose of the dead.
 In Classical times, cremation was the most
common, but burial was still performed.
 By the early centuries CE, burial replaced
cremation as the most common rite (probably
because of the rise of Christianity).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 It was common to put a coin on the corpse’s
mouth (or under the tongue or on the eyes) to pay
Charon, the ferryman who transported the dead
across the River Styx (Acheron) into the shadowworld of Hades.
 If you couldn’t afford the coin, you were doomed
to roam the banks of the River Styx for 100 years.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greeks were known for theater,
especially tragedy (tragoidia—which means
“goat-song” because the first actors either
wore goatskins or were given goats as
prizes).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Greek theater began as
a ritual honoring the
god Dionysus (who
was the god of wine
and dance, and later
the god of dramatic
performances).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The first performances had
men dressed as satyrs,
those mythical creatures
who were half-man halfgoat—who drank a lot and
got wild—they danced and
sang in chorus about the
god (Dionysus).
 Dionysus and the Satyrs (c
480 BCE)
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 In 534 BCE, the actor
Thespis made
theatrical history by
stepping out of the
chorus, donning
various different
masks, and taking
different roles.
 Drama had been born.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 By 500 BCE, two actors were performing
alongside the chorus, each one playing several
parts.
 The greatest playwrights of Greek tragedy were
Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Aristotle remarked that true tragedy
involved the downfall of a hero, humanly
fallible, caught in a conflict with the laws of
gods or men that reveal fatal character
flaws.
 It showed adversity heroically endured or
overcome, leading to resignation, even
serenity.
 Aristotle once said, tragic characters were
“like us, only finer.”
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Aeschylus (c.525-456
BCE), widely
considered the father
of Greek drama, was
the first to write plays
in trilogies, the first to
use dramatic
suspense, and the first
to use special effects.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Komoidia (comedy) was
another Greek invention
which emerged about
fifty years after tragedy.
 One of the greatest
“comedians” was
Aristophanes (c.450-385
BCE). He was a master
of satire, ridicule, and
political incorrectness.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Athens was the birthplace of Greek theater
and the main dramatic performances took
place during the Great Dionysia festival
towards the end of March.
 For four days, citizens went to see the latest
plays (which were judged by 10 judges—
one from each Athenian tribe—who allotted
prizes).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Going to a show cost the equivalent of a day’s
pay (for an unskilled laborer), but funds were
set aside to allow the poorest to go for free.
 By the 4th century BCE, female citizens were
allowed to go to the theater.
 Performances lasted all day, with spectators
sitting motionless on unpadded stone benches
out in the open (which could be chilly in
March).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 People brought food and drink to enjoy
during a performance (Aristotle noted
people drank a lot if the performance was
bad).
 Theater was as popular as football is today
(15,000 in the audience was common).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 All actors wore masks and were male. Women
were not allowed on the Greek stage.
 Masks were elaborate and often realistic,
usually made of linen and molded onto the
actors’ faces.
 Some were horrific—one for Oedipus showed
his gouged-out eyes bleeding.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Most actors were men of good standing in the
community.
 A maximum of three actors played all the
speaking parts, making quick changes of
costumes and masks.
 Most costumes were simple, based on everyday
dress.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The most elaborately
dressed person on stage
was the flute-player (the
aulos) who accompanied
the chorus.
 The chorus consisted of
12-15 actors who danced,
recited, and sang (and
became less important as
individual actors became
more prominent).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greeks developed cranes to introduce
gods high up on stage and allow them to fly
across stage.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 In Euripides’ Medea, the queen flew across
the stage in a chariot with the bodies of her
dead children.
 Some acting was so realistic, it is said
women in the audience sometimes fainted.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greek theater form that emerged after
400 BCE:
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 In the 6th century BCE as
theater was just beginning to
gain in importance, a freed
slave named Aesop began
writing moralizing Fables.
 Among the best known were
The Tortoise and the Hare,
The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The
Lion and the Mouse and The
Fox and the Grapes (where we
got the term “sour grapes”).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Literacy: by 700 BCE, the Greeks had
adopted the Phoenician alphabet (our Roman
(or Latin) alphabet came from the Greeks.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 By 500 BCE, most urban Greeks were semi-
literate (they could read but not always write).
 In antiquity, the main writing material was
papyrus (from the papyrus plant grown almost
exclusively in Egypt—the word paper comes
from papyrus).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Text was written horizontally, and the reader
slowly unwound each scroll (papyrus was
very expensive and very fragile).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Scrolls were wrapped around sticks,
identified with tags, and stacked like loose
rolls of wallpaper in numbered boxes and
barrels.
 Many scrolls were 25+ft long, making
reading them cumbersome and taking two
hands.
 The index of the great Library at Alexandria
was said to be over 120 scrolls.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 There was a lack of inexpensive material to
write on, so people often wrote notes on
wood or shards of pottery (known as an
ostrakon—where the term ostracism
(temporary exile) comes from).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greeks, always
rivals of the
Egyptians, developed
parchment (vellum),
made from animal
hides.
 Parchment was
harder to write on,
but much tougher.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 In the 3rd century CE,
parchment sheets began
to be sewn together into
what is known as a
codex (a bound book).
 By the 6th century CE,
parchment had replaced
papyrus as the preferred
writing material.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Greeks say Philosophy (Greek for ‘love
of wisdom’) began with them.
 The Greeks were the first to think
systematically, almost free of constraints,
about the universe and humanity’s place in
it.
 Ethics, logic, metaphysics, philosophy—
Greek words for concepts the Greeks
originated.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Philosophical enlightenment affected the
physical sciences as early philosophers were
also scientists/mathematicians.
 History, astronomy, biology, zoology,
geography, geometry, trigonometry (and
countless other scientific words) are Greek.
 The first known philosophers came from the
Ionian Coast (today’s western Turkey)
between 600-500 BCE.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Thales (c.625-547 BCE) is considered the
founder of natural philosophy (what we call
science today).
 He correctly predicted a solar eclipse (in 585
BCE) that stopped a battle between the
Lydians and the Medes because they were
superstitiously terrified.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Thales deduced that water was the primary
principle of everything, and he believed that
the Earth was spherical.
 Thales became revered as one of the Seven
Sages of Greece because he reached his
conclusions by observing and thinking, not
because scripture or divine revelation told
him.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The Seven Sages: Thales, Pittacus, Bias, Solon,
Chilon, Cleobulus, Myson.
 A Roman mosaic of the Seven Sages:
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 A student of Thales, Anaximander (c.610-540
BCE) proposed that there were countless
worlds beyond our knowledge out in apeiron
(infinity).
 He is credited with making the first map and
sundial (important to an age without clocks).
 He even speculated about evolution after
studying fossils.
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 The first man to be called a philosopher
(lover of wisdom) was Pythagoras (c.570497 BCE).
 Pythagoras was a philosopher/mathematician,
conjuror and mystic. Dressed in white robes
and wearing a gold coronet, he believed in an
immortal soul that would be reincarnated as
an animal (so he was a vegetarian).
The Greek Cultural Tradition
 Pythagoras’ great
mathematical discovery
was that the sum of the
squares on the two
shorter sides of a rightangled triangle equals
the sum of the square
on the remaining side,
the hypotenuse.
Socrates
 After the defeat of the Ionian revolt against
the Persians (494 BCE), intellectual life
moved to Athens.
 One of the most famous philosophers in
history was Socrates (c470-399 BCE).
 Socrates was the first Athenian-born
philosopher and he changed the focus of
philosophy from speculation about the
physical world to ethical issues.
Socrates
 Socrates became the
archetypal philosopher
with his disdain for
worldly riches, his
intellectual curiosity, and
his bravery.
 He likened himself to a
“gadfly”, stinging people
into thought. And like a
fly, he got squashed.
Socrates
 He was, by all accounts, short and stout, not
given to good grooming (often dirty), not
very handsome, and a lover of wine and
conversation.
 Anyone could listen to him debating topics of
the day on the streets of Athens.
 Since he didn’t charge any fees (unlike the
Sophists) he became impoverished when he
abandoned his trade as a sculptor/stone
mason and walked around in rags and
barefoot.
Socrates
 In exchange for his teaching, the wealthy
young men of Athens made sure that he was
taken care of.
 Since he claimed to have few needs, he took
very little, much to his wife Xanthippe’s
disappointment.
 Socrates had set his mind on higher things
so he seemed indifferent to wealth, sex, and
the trappings of success.
Socrates
 Considered an intellectual
martyr, philosophy was
for Socrates a sacred path,
a holy quest—not a game
to be taken lightly.
 He said that he did not
teach, but rather served,
like his mother, as a
midwife to truth that is
already in us.
Socrates
 Socrates gained fame for questioning Athenians
about fundamental, usually unchallenged
concepts.
 “What is truth?” “What is courage?” “What is
justice?” “What is friendship?” “What is arete?”
(virtue, valor, excellence, goodness)
 His questions usually revealed the ignorance in
others, often making him unpopular (especially
when he asked “Who is truly fit to govern?” The
answer appeared to be…no one.
Socrates
 Socrates was not a democrat or an
egalitarian. To him, the people should not be
self-governing; they were like a herd of sheep
that needed the direction of a wise shepherd.
 He denied that citizens had basic virtue
necessary to nurture a good society (unlike
Kong fu Tzu), instead equating virtue with a
knowledge unattainable by ordinary people.
Socrates
 Striking at the heart of Athenian democracy,
he contemptuously criticized the right of
every citizen to speak in the Athenian
assembly.
 On occasion, he had positive things to say
about the great enemy of Athens, Sparta.
 This brought him into conflict with
Athenian authorities.
Socrates
 In 399 BCE Socrates was accused of “not
recognizing the city’s official gods and
introducing new ones” and “corrupting the
young.”
 He was convicted and given the choice: exile or
the death sentence. He chose death, claiming he
would not abandon Athens, and to his end,
discussed the immortality of the soul.
Socrates
 His end was not very dignified—drinking a
dose of poison hemlock caused convulsions
and vomiting.
Plato
 Socrates favorite (and
most brilliant) student was
Plato, arguably the greatest
philosopher ever (429-347
BCE).
 Most of his writings
survive, with works
ranging from cosmology
(the study of the origin and
structure of the universe)
Plato
 Disgusted with Athenian politics because of
the death of his beloved teacher Socrates, Plato
left Athens and lived with the Pythagoreans in
Italy.
 At the age of 40, after his self-imposed exile of
about 12 years he returned to Athens, where he
founded the Academy for a select few to study
philosophy.
 The Academy is considered the Western
world’s first university.
Plato
 Raphael’s School of Athens (Plato’s Academy).
Plato
 Probably Plato’s most famous work, The
Republic, was a sketch for a good and just
society.
 This vision of a Utopian society was ruled
by an elite trained from birth for the sole
task of ruling.
 The Republic would be ruled by this class
of highly educated “guardians” led by a
“philosopher-king” who was guided by
virtue.
Plato
 These “guardians” would be able to penetrate the
countless illusions of the material world and
grasp the “world of forms,” where ideas like
goodness, beauty, justice, and mathematics lived
a real and unchanging existence.
 Plato’s “Theory of Forms” meant that everything
was a copy an ideal, unchanging Form, which
had a permanent, indestructible, existence
outside the confines of time and space.
Plato
 For Plato, nothing lasts and nothing ever stayed the
same, except the world of the Forms (where there
was permanence, order, and ultimate reality).
 Forms were blueprints (there were countless cats,
dogs, trees, etc but they were made from the single,
universal “cat,” “dog,” “tree.”)
 Even men were made in the universal Form of man.
The key was the “soul,” which was immortal,
existing even before birth.
 At death, the soul was reincarnated into a new life
form.
Plato
 Only such people who understood this (the
“guardians”) were fit to rule.
 The rest of society was divided into two lower
orders—soldiers and the common people.
 This ideal state was predicated on the soul's three
elements: “reason, courage, appetites.”
Plato
 In Plato’s Utopia (The Republic), there was no talk of
personal freedom or individual rights.
 Everything is rigidly controlled by the guardians for
the good of the state.
 As for the rest of the citizenry, their duty is simply to
understand how to best put whatever talents they
possessed to work for the benefit of society as a whole
and devote themselves solely to that task.
Plato
 Plato’s state is certainly not a democratic
one…he openly condemned democracy as a
source of bad government.
 This has led several modern philosophers to
condemn his works as supporting
totalitarianism.
Plato
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69F7GhAS
OdM
Plato’s allegory of The Cave is all about the shadow
world we all live in…the world available to our
five senses…the world of illusion.
 What we see around us is not the “ultimate”
reality; if we could only pull back the curtain that
divides us from this reality, we would be
confronted by something extraordinary.
Aristotle
 Plato’s most famous student (and the tutor to
Alexander the Great) was Aristotle (384-322
BCE).
Aristotle
 Aristotle was probably the most complete
expression of the “Greek” way of knowing
because he wrote and commented on
practically everything.
 He grew up in Macedonia, not Athens so he
was always considered an outsider.
 Often seen as the contradiction to his teacher
Plato, Aristotle once said “Plato is dear to
me, but dearer still is the truth.”
Aristotle
 In 335 BCE he founded his school, the
Lyceum, which was open to all (men),
unlike the Academy.
 This became the world’s first research
institute, with a library, museum, and
collections of natural objects.
 Aristotle systematically classified the
natural world—botany and biology begin
with his studies.
Aristotle
 He dissected animal and human corpses,
making notes and illustrations.
 Alexander sent his ex-tutor specimens
during his world conquest.
 He mapped out several fields of inquiry,
including biology, law, economics, politics,
meteorology, ethics, logic, and physics.
 He even catalogued the constitutions of 158
Greek city-states.
Aristotle
 The universe, according to Aristotle.
Aristotle
 Most famous for his reflections on ethics,
he argued that “virtue” was the result of
rational training and good habits that could
be learned.
 He believed the best form of government
was a mixed system, a combination of the
principles of a monarchy, an aristocracy,
and a democracy.
Aristotle
 Aristotle was more realistic (or conservative)
than Plato when it came to the ideal society,
accepting slavery and women’s inferiority as
natural.
 Unlike Plato, Aristotle placed great emphasis
on the importance of empirical investigation.
 He laid the groundwork for a logical
philosophy that would dominate Western and
Islamic thought until the Scientific
Revolution.
Democritus (460-370 BCE)
 Democritus was the first to propose the
existence of countless atoms, which are
constantly in motion and traveling in an
infinite void, as the basic stuff of the
universe.
 This came to known as Atomism.
Epicurus (341-270 BCE)
 Followed Democritus in his belief of atomic
theory but became known for arguing that
the gods had no influence on life and his
rejection of an afterlife.
 Life, he believed, should be devoted to the
pursuit of simple pleasure and friendship:
“Happiness is the greatest good.”
 In other words, make the most of life. This
became known as Epicureanism.
Epicurus
 Happiness was achieved by
eliminating all mental and
physical pain (including the
desire for wealth, fame,
etc)…
 His school in Athens, the
Garden, competed with the
Academy of Plato and the
Lyceum of Aristotle.
Epicurus
 Unlike both of these schools, it admitted
women, and even one of Epicurus's slaves.
 It taught the avoidance of political activity
and public life.
Hippocrates
 Hippocrates (c. 475- )
became the most
famous physician in
antiquity, and a large
number of medical
treaties are attributed to
him.
Hippocrates
 Hippocrates had a probing, scientific mind,
a mind that described, then analyzed.
 He studied fractures and recommended
treatments; he distinguished between
diseases that were contagious and diseases
that were self-contained; and he described
how to treat infections.
 He was also very concerned with diet and
with the concept of preventive medicine.
Hippocrates
 Probably his most compelling essays were
on the “sacred disease” (epilepsy). He
made an extensive study of epilepsy and
concluded that it was caused by a
malfunction in the brain.
 Medicine for Hippocrates was a sacred
trust. Even if diseases didn’t come from the
gods, he believed that the true doctor had an
obligation to the gods just as he did to his
patients.
Hippocrates
 He wrote for posterity
what is the living
statement of Greek
medicine: the
Hippocratic Oath.
 …to be honest in the
practice of medicine,
to do no harm to your
patients, and to keep
patient information
confidential.