Greek and Hellenistic Civilization
What is Hellenistic Civilization?
 The Hellenistic period is the period of ancient Greek and
Mediterranean history between the death of Alexander the
Great in 323 BCE and the emergence of the Roman Empire
as signified by the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and the
subsequent conquest of Ptolemaic Egypt in 30 BCE.
 At this time, Greek cultural influence and power was at its
peak in Europe, Africa and Asia, experiencing prosperity
and progress in the arts, exploration, literature, theatre,
architecture, music, mathematics, philosophy and science.
 Greeks lived, about 2000 B.C.E., on land surrounding
Aegean Sea at the eastern end of the Mediterranean.
 Their culture came into touch with early civilizations of
Near East, like Egypt, Asia Minor, the Syria-Palestine
region, and Mesopotamia.
 Among all these cultures, Greeks forged their own culture
and way of life that would spread beyond their homeland.
 In the 8th century, Greeks began to expand beyond the
Aegean region and established the Poleis on the shores of
the Mediterranean Sea and, went on to coasts of the Black
Sea in southern Russia and as far east as the Caucasus
Mountains.
 Early in the 5th century B.C.E., Persian Empire committed to
end the Greek independence.
 But, Greek armies led by city-state Sparta and Athens won a
remarkable victory over the Persians.
 Sparta passed over the power and protection of the Greeks to
Delian League after the war.
 This league, led by Athens, soon turned into the Athenian
Empire.
 This empire
constitution.
developed
an
extraordinary
democratic
 The democratic state created a new situation of fear, and to
some extent, jealousy, which sparked series of major wars
 These wars left Greece vulnerable to outside attacks.
 Philip of Macedon conquered the Greek state and ended the age
of polis in 338 B.C.E.
 Interestingly, Greek culture and way of life got more popular
and widespread after Philip’s son, Alexander the Great took
power.
 The Greek culture was spreaded to Egypt and into Asia.
 Later on, preserved and adapted by the Romans, Greek culture
powerfully influenced the western societies and Byzantine
Empire in the middle ages.
 The civilization that came out of Greek-Roman experience
spreaded across Europe and in the time crossed the Atlantic to
The Polis
 It is argued that the Polis does not exactly mean “City-state”.
 All Greek polies began as little more than agricultural villages
or towns and many stayed that way.
 So, calling them “city-state” is not that appropriate.
 In terms of being independent political unites, they were all
states.
 Those political unites were constructed as community of
relatives, such as being from same clan, or tribe.
 They built a real community that their worships were all
common ceremonies.
 Aristotle argued that the Polis was a natural growth and that the
human being is by its nature “an animal who lives in a polis”.
 The political system that they developed is considered as the
first example of direct democracy.
 They would all come togather and make decisions that affect
their society.
 The Polis was established on defensible rocks to which the
farmers of the neighboring area could retreat in case of enemy
attack.
 They had no walls like those other cities and towns in the Near
East for centuries.
 An available farm land and a natural fortress determined their
Expansion of the Greek World
 From the middle of the 8th century B.C.E., until well into
the 6th, Greek expanded the territory they controlled.
 They colonialized the territory from Spain to the shores of
Black Sea and created small city-states.
 About 750 B.C.E. they borrowed a writing system from
one of the Semitic scripts and added vowels to create the
first true alphabet.
 Greeks created colonies in Syria, Italy, Spain and in south
France, northeastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea, and the
straits connecting them, as well as North African coast.
 The colonization of the Greeks created a new class of
wealthy people.
 These new people created a problem for aristocratic Poleis.
 They were barred from political power, religious privileges
and social acceptance by ruling aristocrats.
 These led many crises in many states.
 The social unrest led to the tyranny in some city-states
between 700 and 500 B.C.E.
 The newly tyrants would be the member of ruling
aristocracy and they would get support from farmers, poor,
newly wealthy people.
 By the end of the 6th century B.C.E. the tyranny had
disappeared from the Greek states.
Religion
 Greeks were polytheists and religion played an important role in
their lives.
 A great deal of art and literature was closely associated with
religion.
 There were 12 gods in Greek religion and they would live on
Mount Olympus. Zeus was the father of the gods and Hera was
the wife of Zeus.
 There was a god assigned for every major event. Gods were
more human like; they were mortal.
City-States or the Polis
 There were 2 major city-state; Sparta and Athens.
 The social life in Sparta was based on military training.
 At age 7, the Spartan boy would be taken from his family and
be turned over to young instructors to train athletics and the
military arts.
 All healthy Spartan boys would be enrolled in the army by 20
and would live with his companions until age 30.
 Then on, he would deserve to be a citizen after age 30.
 When the man is 60 he could retire from the military service
and turn to his family.
 Indoctrination of the youth was very important in Sparta.
 Government in Sparta was a mixture of monarchy, oligarch
and democracy.
 There were 2 kings, a council of elders, and an assembly.
 The power of the kings was limited by law.
 The council of elders, who were 28 men over 60, was elected
for life.
 The council had important judicial functions and they would
sit as a court.
 The council would be consulted before any law proposal put
 The assembly, which consisted of all males over 30, was
theoretically the final authority, but in practice they were to
ratify the decisions of elders and the kings.
 There was also a unique institution in Spartan political
system; the board of ephors.
 These were 5 people elected by the assembly.
 They were in the position of checking on the kings’
decisions.
Athens
 Aristocrats controlled the power in Athens in 7th century
B.C.E.
 There was no written law in Athens.
 A council of nobles was governing the state.
 9 members of the council would be elected.