Ancient Greece
Chapter 4
1900
BCE
0
133
BCE
Where are we?
Geography of Greece
• Long indented coastline
• Low-lying rugged mountains
• Leads to
– Fractured political system
– Reliance on the sea
http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=T_NaRmA5FKo
Minoan Civilization
• 2500 – 1450 BCE
• Seafaring nation whose
power and influence peaked
around 1600 BCE
• Knossos
• Sudden and catastrophic
collapse around 1450
– Legend of Atlantis?
– Invasion by Mycenaeans
Mycenaean Civilization
• Flourished 1600 – 1100 BC
• Indo-European
• Made up of a collection of small monarchies
– Tholos tomb
• Warlike
– Agamemnon and Trojan War
– Traders
The Dark Ages
• 1100 – 750 BCE
– Population declines
– Food production declines
– Few written records
– Migrations
– Iron replaces bronze
– Adoption of the Phoenician
alphabet (8th cent. BC)
Homer: Poet or Historian?
•
Sing O goddess, the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, that brought countless ills upon the
Achaeans. Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades, and many a hero did it
yield a pray to dogs and vultures, for so were the counsels of Jove fulfilled from the day on
which the son of Atreus, king of men, and great Achilles, first fell out with one another
• The opening lines of the Illiad, an epic poem that
tells the story of the Trojan War
• Plot summary
– Paris (Troy) kidnaps Helen (Sparta) (The Face that launched
1,000 ships” Agamemnon (Spartan King’s brother) attacks
Troy. 10 years pass and Achilles fights and dies. Finally the
Spartans go away and leave a gift
•
The
Odyssey
Tell me, O muse, of that ingenious hero who
travelled far and wide after he sacked the famous
town of Troy. Many cities did he visit, and many
were the nations whose manners and customs he
was acquainted; moreover he suffered much by sea
while trying to save his own life and bring his men
safely home; but do what he might he could not
save his men, for they perished from their own
sheer folly in eating the cattle of the sun-god
Hyperion; so the god prevented them from ever
reaching home. Tell me, too, about all these things,
O daughter of Jove, from whatsoever source you
may know them.
• Plot
– Odysseus tries to get home. He
undergoes many problems and
eventually makes it to find his wife
waiting for him.
Why Homer Matters
• His version of history is accepted as factual
• Provides an idealized history peopled by
heroes
• Serves as tales to educate generations to
core values:
• Courage
• Honor
• Arete – excellence / virtue – what Greek
heroes strive for.
776 BC
The first
Olympic Games are held
signaling the
end of the dark ages
The Polis (City State)
• By 750 BC the Greek polis had become the central
focus of Greek life.
• What is a polis?
– A city, town or village and its surrounding countryside
– A meeting place for religious, political or social activities
– A community of people who share a common identity and
common goals
• Citizens had greater rights and greater responsibilities
– Great variation in size and population
• Athens had > 300,000 people at one time
The Polis
Citizens with
political rights
males
The Polis
Non-citizens
Citizens without
political rights
The Acropolis and the Agora
• Most city states had a
main gathering place that
was on a hill. At the top of
the hill was a fortified area
called the acropolis
• Below the acropolis was
and open area where
people could meet and
talk. It also served as a
market area. This was
called the agora
Impact of the Polis on Greek
Culture
• Created a sense of community that bonded
areas into tightly knit groups where people
were committed to that community
• Citizen Soldiers
– Hoplite
– Phalanx
Greek Colonies
• Between 750 and 550 BCE
Greeks left their homeland
in search of farmland and
trade partners
• Each colony became a new
polis
• Byzantium
• Creation of wealthy
merchant class
• Tyranny –rule by force
Byzantium
Athens and Sparta
• Tyranny fell out of favor
• Two other forms of
government
– Oligarchy
– Democracy
• Athens represents democracy
• Sparta represents oligarchy
Sparta – The First Totalitarian
State?
• Sparta did not colonize – they conquered
• State is rigidly organized and controls life from
birth
– Newborns are examined at birth for “fitness” and if
found to be wanting, killed
– Children are educated by the state
• At 7 boys are removed from mother
• At 14 they are organized into groups and forced to be selfsufficient-living off inadequate rations plus what they could
steal
• Compulsory military service 20 – 60
• Must live in barracks till 30
• At 30 they are allowed to vote in assembly
Spartan Government
• Oligarchy
– Two kings
– Ephors
– 28 men over 60 along with kings formed council of
elders
– Assembly of all male citizens
– Limited outside contact
Spartan Women
• Occupied a secondary position in society
• However
– Men live in barracks so they enjoy more freedom
and autonomy then women in much of Greece
The Helot Problem
• Spartan society divided in to Spartans and
helots (captured people)
• Helots did the work (farming etc.)
• They outnumber the Spartans dramatically
• Crypteia (secret police)
• Spartans acted as if they were an invading
army in their own country and controlled the
helots through terror and force
Athens – Democracy’s Birthplace?
•
•
•
•
700 BCE finds Athens a unified polis
Ruled by king
Evolves into an oligarchy
Economic crisis
– Debtors sold into slavery to repay their debts
– Farmers are forced to give 1/6th of their crop to
aristocrats
– 620 BCE code of laws drawn up by Dracon (very harsh)
– 594 BCE Solon is appointed archon (Chief Magistrate)
• Abolished debt slavery
• Abolished 1/6th to aristocrats
From Tyranny to Democracy
• Five years after death of Solon Pisistratus takes power
as a tyrant
– A tyrant in Ancient Greece was simply a person who had
seized power from aristocrats but was neither a king nor a
magistrate
• Psistratus succeeded by son, Hippias
• Hippias is overthrown by Cleisthenes (with support of
Spartan army)
– Created a council of 500 people that supervised foreign
affairs and the treasury and recommended laws to the
Athenian assembly- all male citizens
– Assembly had central role in Athens- foundations of
democracy had been established
–
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Persian War
• Conflict with Persia
– 499 unsuccessful revolt by Ionian cities
helped by Athenian Navy
– 490 BC Darius invades battle at Marathon
• Pheidippides “Victory, we win”
– 480 BC Xerxes invades battles at
• Thermopylae
•
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2En9cW9bLhc
• Salamis
• Platae
Major Battles of the Greco-Persian
War
Why it matters
• Persian War ends with Athens as the
dominant force in Greece
– Athenian Empire
• Athens takes leadership role in Greek world forms
Delian League which pursues war with Persia and frees
most Greek states from Persian control
The Age of Pericles
• 661 – 429 BCE (A “Golden Age”)
• Direct Democracy
– All male citizens > 18 (circa 43,000)
– Meetings every 10 days near Acropolis
• Rich and poor had a voice
• Officeholders were paid
Peloponnesian War
• Athens and Sparta become
rivals – their systems are
mutually exclusive
– 431 War breaks out
• Athenian strategy get behind
walls and wait
• Spartan strategy draw out
Athenians
• 430 Plague breaks out in Athens
• 405 Battle of Aegospotami ends
with destruction of Athenian
navy
Sparta / Athens Use the following words to complete the Venn Diagram: polis, totalitarian,
oligarchy, democracy, helot, Pericles, Solon, Leonides, “The 300”, ephors, tyranny, led Delian League, fought against
Persia, expanded through conquest, expanded through colonization, strong army, strong navy
Greek Religion
• Religion is central to Greek life
– Not a force for morality
– No real doctrine
– Rituals matter
– Shrines and oracles play a key role
• Gods lived on Mt. Olympus
The Olympians
Greek Gods
• Zeus
– Chief god and father of gods
• Hera
– Zeus’s wife
• Athena
– Goddess of wisdom
• Apollo
– God of sun and poetry
• Ares
– God of war
• Aphrodite
– Goddess of love
• Poseidon
– Zeus’s brother and god of sea
and earthquakes
• Hestia
– Goddess of the hearth
• Hephaestus
– God of crafting and
metalwork
• Artemis
– Goddess of the hunt
• Hermes
– Messenger god
• Hades
– God of the underworld
Greek Theater
• Tragedies
– Dealth with universal
themes of human
existence that are still
relevant today
• Good v. evil
• Rights of individuals
• Examples
– Oresteia (Aeschylus)
– Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
– Medea (Euripedes)
• Comedies
– Purpose is to entertain
and provoke a reaction.
Could be used to poke
fun at politicians
• Examples
– The Frogs (Aristophanes)
• Philosophy
Greek Philosophy
– From Greek meaning “Lover of wisdom”
• Sophists
– Traveling teachers who stressed rhetoric
• The “Big Three)
– Socrates
• Goal of education is to improve the individual
• Question everything (Socratic method)
• The unexamined life is not worth living
– Plato
• How do we know what is real?
• Forms ((Allegory of the cave)
• The Republic
– Philosopher Kings
– Warriors
– Masses
– Aristotle
• Analysis by observation and investigation
• Politics
– Monarchy
– Aristocracy
– Constitutional Government
From Greece to Rome
• http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/greecevsr
ome/ss/GreecevsRome.htm
Where are we?
•750 miles long
•120 miles wide
•Apennine
mountains less
rugged than
those of Greece
•More and better
farmland
•Rome located
on natural ford
of Tiber River
•18 miles
from sea
•“7 Hills of
Rome”
Origins of Rome
• “Latins” arrive in Italy between 1500 and 1000
BCE
• Etruscans and Greeks arrive after 800 BCE
• Both have influence on Roman Development
• Romans overthrow Etruscan king in 509 BCE
and establish a Republic
• This Republic expands through conquest and
by 264 BCE they controlled almost all of the
Italian Peninsula
Methods of Roman Expansion
• Roman “Confederation”
– Some people (Latins) had full Roman citizenship
– Others were “allies” who could run their own affairs but had
to provide soldiers and tribute. These allies could, if they
proved themselves, become citizens
• Why Rome Succeeded
– Think Horatius
• Great warriors who had a strong sense of duty, courage and
discipline
– Dogged and persistent as well as great strategists (Fortified towns linked
by good roads)
• Great diplomats
– They knew when to be cruel and when to be kind
• They were practical engineers
The “Glory” That Was Rome
• Roman government
– Patricians – great landowners
– Plebeians – small landholders, craftspeople,
merchants, small farmers
– Two Consuls run government and
Praetor
•In charge
lead army
of civil law
– Senate
• 300 Patricians who served for life
– Centuriate Assembly
• Elected consuls and praetors
• Organized by wealth and class
The Struggle of the Orders
• For more than 200 years plebeians and
patricians struggled for power
– 471 BC council of the plebs
– Tribunes of the plebs
– Plebeians can become consuls
– 287 BC council of the plebs passes laws for all
Roman citizens
– Senate still dominates Roman politics
• Roman Law
The real “Glory”
– Twelve Tables (450 BC)
• Appropriate for simple farming society
• Becomes more complex as Rome expands
• Applied only to Roman citizens
– Law of Nations
• Product of Roman expansion (how do we treat noncitizens?)
• Viewed as a “universal’ or “natural” law based on reason
– Innocent till proven guilty
– Accused get to defend themselves in front of a judge
– Judge weighs evidence
Further Roman Expansion
• Rome v Carthage
– Carthage founded by the Phoenicians in 800 BC
– Grows into a powerful trading state in western
Mediterranean
– First Punic War 264 - 241 BC
– Second Punic War 218 – 201 BC
•
•
•
•
Hannibal
Battle of Cannae 216 BC
Romans invade Spain in 206 BC
Battle of Zama 202 BC
– Third Punic War 151 – 146 BC
• Other Wars
– Macedonia and Greece
– By 129 BC Rome controlled all of Mediterranean
From Republic to Empire
• Rome loses its way
– Senate increases its power
• Rebellion (Gracchus brothers)
– Military changes
• Marius (107 BC)
– Personal loyalty
– Incentive for military to become involved with politics
• Sulla (82 BC)
– Conflict between Senate and Council of the Plebs
– Struggle for power (82 – 31 BC)
• The First Triumvirate (60 BC)
– Crassus (richest man in Rome) Given command in Syria
– Pompey (successful general) Given command in Spain
– Caesar (successful general) Given command in Gaul
Rome From Republic to Empire
•
Ancient Rome – Expansion and conquest
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•
http://www.ovguide.com/tv/ancient_rome_the_rise_and_fall_of_an_empire.htm
Beginnings of Empire
• Crassus killed in battle (53 BC)
• Senators back Pompey and order Caesar to give up
command
• Caesar refuses and marches n Rome (“Crossing the
Rubicon”)
• Caesar victorious. Declared dictator in 45 BC
– Gives land to poor
– Increases Senate membership to 900 (packing with
supporters)
– Assassinated in 44 BC
The Second Triumvirate
•
•
•
•
Octavian (Caesar’s nephew and heir)
Antony (Caesar’s ally and friend)
Lepidus (Caesar’s cavalry commander)
Lepidus is quickly marginalized and Roman world
split between Antony and Octavian
• Conflict ensues
– Alliance with Cleopatra
– Battle of Actium
• 31 BC Octavian becomes sole ruler of Rome
– “Restoration of Republic”
– Declared “Augustus in 27 BC
– Declared “Imperator”
• 28 legions (legion = 5,000 men - must be citizens)
• 130,000 auxiliary troops
• 9,000 “Praetorian Guard”
Empire
• Octavian gains power to name his successor
–
–
–
–
Tiberius
Caligula
Claudius
Nero
• “Five Good Emperors”
–
–
–
–
–
Nerva (96 – 98 AD)
Trajan (98 – 117 AD)
Hadrian (117 – 138 AD)
Antonius Pius (138 – 161 AD)
Marcus Aurelius (161 – 180 AD)
Culture and Society
• Rome borrowed heavily from the Greeks
– “idealistic” v “realistic”
• Romans were builders (architects and engineers)
– Greek style continued (columns and rectangular
buildings)
– Arch, dome and vault become widely used
– Concrete used on a massive scale
– Roads (50,000 miles!)
– Aqueducts (at least 12 for Rome alone!)
• Literature
– Virgil
– Horace
– Livy
• Family Life
–
–
–
–
“Paterfamilias”
All expected to learn to read
Males are adults at 16
Women can marry at 12, men at 14 (usually later)
• Slavery
– Rome came to rely heavily on slavery
• Initially small scale
• Growth of empire created huge supply
• Greeks used as tutors and doctors, most worked extremely hard
– Spartacus (73 BC)
• Rome
– 1 million people
– Villas and insulae
– Bread and circuses
The Development of Christianity
A clash between the kingdom of
heaven and those on earth.
Greek and Roman Gods
Greek god
Ares
Zeus
Hera
Aphrodite
Artemis
Athena
Hermes
Hades
Poseidon
Hephaestus
Roman god
Mars
Jupiter
Juno
Venus
Diana
Minerva
Mercury
Pluto
Neptune
Vulcan
Role
Roman Ways
• Religion and state work together
• State priests performed rituals that led to
good times
• Syncretic and tolerant
Jews in the Roman Empire
• Jews given relative freedom in Hellenistic period
• Rome gains control and appoints a procurator to
govern province
• Split between
– Sadducees
• Priestly class who favored cooperation with Rome
– Pharisees
• Scholarly class who believed that close observance of Jewish
religious law would protect their identity
– Essenes
• Separatists who lived communally waiting for God to save them
from oppression
– Zealots
• Called for violent overthrow of Roman rule
Christianity
• Jesus preached inner spiritual salvation rather than
outward expression of ritual
• Ethical characteristics
– Humility
– Charity
– Love
• God first
• Your neighbor as yourself second
• Jesus crucified on order of Roman procurator Pontius
Pilate and followers clam that he rose from dead –
identified as the Messiah
Spread of Christianity
• Role of Apostles
– Simon Peter (fisherman)
– Paul (educated Roman Jew) spread message to
Gentiles. Preaches Jesus as savior, Son of God,
Christos
• Initial teaching is oral but as letters (epistles)
are written a record of Jesus’ life and
teachings are collected in the Gospels (Good
news). They form the core of the New
Testament
Rome’s Reaction
• Initial response is tolerance or ignoring
• Christianity becomes seen as dangerous as it
grows
– Refusal to worship state gods and emperors seen
as treasonous
• Persecution begins during the reign of Nero
Christianity Triumphant
• Despite persecution Christianity grows quickly
– Clergy
• Priests
• Bishops
– Laity
• Reasons for growth
– Personal religion gives meaning and purpose to life
– Offers immortality as the result of the sacrificial death of a saviorgod
– Sense of community
• Constantine (first Christian Emperor)
– Edict of Milan 313 ad official tolerance
• Theodosius the Great
– Declares Catholic Christianity the official religion of the empire
380 ad
Empire’s End
• Death of Marcus Aurelius 180 AD
– 13 years of civil war – Emperor Septimius Severus (pay
your soldiers, and ignore everyone else)
– 235 – 284 a time of constant struggle and civil war – 22
emperors
• Problems
– Military
• Invasions from without
• Civil wars
• Use of mercenaries
– Economic
• Decline in trade
• Decline in farm production
• Labor shortage resulting from Plague
Diocletian and Constantine
• Diocletian (284 – 305
– Breaks empire down into 4 administrative units
– Last persecution of Christians
• Constantine (306 – 337)