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The First Greek CivilizationsThe First Greek Civilizations

• The Impact of Geography• The mountains andsea played a significant

role in the development of Greek history– Mountains isolated Greeks from one

another• Caused communities to develop their

own ways of life– Greece has a long coast line that provided

many harbors• The Greeks became seafarers

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The Minoan CivilizationThe Minoan Civilization

• 2800 BC Bronze Age civilization established on Crete

• flourished between 2000 and 1450 BC• Arthur Evans, English archaeologist 1st

discovered the civilization, named after King Minos

• destroyed by invasion of mainland Greeks known as the Mycenaeans

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The First Greek State: MycenaeThe First Greek State: Mycenae

• Mycenae a fortified site in Greece 1st discovered by German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann

• Mycenaean– part of the Indo-European people– skilled warriors

• Homer (poet): Mycenaean Greeks led by Agamennon sacked Troy around 1250 BC

• Mycenaean civilization collapsed around 1100 BC

44

The Greeks in a Dark Age – 1100 to 750 BCThe Greeks in a Dark Age – 1100 to 750 BC

• population declined and food production dropped• farming revived in 850 BC• Developments of the Dark Age

– large number of Greeks left the mainland– many went to Ionia, modern-day Turkey– Aeolian Greeks settled in Lesbos– The Dorians settled in southern Greece: Peloponnesus,

Aegean islands and Crete– iron weapons replaced bronze– iron farming tools helped to increase food production– Greeks adopted Phoenician alphabet to give themselves a

new system of writing

55

HomerHomer

• The Illiad and the Odyssey – 1st great epic poems of early Greece

• stories of the Trojan War– war caused by Paris, prince of Troy– Paris kidnaps Helen, wife of king of Sparta– King’s brother, Agamemnon leads the Greeks in an attack

of Troy– War lasted for ten years, until the Greeks used the Trojan

Horse• The Illiad tells of Achilles and how the anger of

Achilles led to disaster• The Odyssey recounts the journeys of Odysseus,

after the fall of Troy and his return to his wife• Homer taught the values of courage and honor

66

The Greek City-StatesThe Greek City-StatesThe Polis: Center of Greek LifeThe Polis: Center of Greek Life

• city-state/polis became the focus of Greek life• politics is derived from the word polis• main gathering place in the polis was a hill top, at

the top was the acropolis – a fortified area– acropolis

• served as a place of refuge during attack• religious center where temples were built

– agora• below the acropolis • open area: assembly or market place

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The Greek City-StatesThe Greek City-StatesThe Polis: Center of Greek LifeThe Polis: Center of Greek Life

• Aristotle – a citizen did not belong just to himself or herself: “We must rather regard every citizen as belonging to the state”

• citizen’s loyalty was to the city-state– city-states distrusted one another– division of Greece into fiercely patriotic

dependent units helped to bring about its ruin• method of fighting

– phalanx – marching shoulder to shoulder in a rectangular formation

– created a wall of shields to protect the soldiers

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Greek ColoniesGreek Colonies

• colonization led to:– spread of Greek culture and political ideas– increased trade and industry– Greeks on the mainland

• exported: pottery, wine and olive oil• imported: grains and metals from the west, and

fish, timber, wheat, metals and slaves from the Black Sea region

– the expansion of trade treated a new group of wealthy individuals

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Tyranny in the City-StatesTyranny in the City-States

• creation of the new group of rich men led to the rise of tyrants in 7th and 6th century BC– tyrants (at this time) were not necessarily oppressive or

wicked – Greek tyrants were rulers who seized power by force from

the aristocrats– they kept power by using hired soldiers– tyrants had fallen out of favor by the end of the 6th century

BC

1010

Tyranny in the City-StatesTyranny in the City-States

• Greeks believed in the rule of law and tyranny was an insult to that idea– led to the development of democracy – government by the

people or rule of the many

• some chose an oligarchy – rule by the few• two most famous and powerful city-states: Athens

and Sparta

1111

SpartaSparta

• needed more land, instead of making colonies they conquered others– conquered neighboring Laconians and Messenia making

them serfs for the Spartans

• created a military state to keep control– 800 – 600 BC Spartans lives rigidly organized and

tightly controlled – spartan means – “highly self-disciplined”– at birth child examined by state officials

• decided if the child was fit to live• unfit to live left on mountainside to die

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SpartaSparta

• Males– fit to live taken from mother at age 7 to train– trained to be soldiers– enrolled in the army at age 20– allowed to marry, but had to live in the military barracks

until age 30– age 30 males could vote in the assembly and live at home– stayed in the army until age 60

• Women– married women lived at home– had greater freedom of movement and power in the

household because of separation– expected to exercise and remain fit to bear and raise

healthy children

1313

Government of SpartaGovernment of Sparta

• was an oligarchy headed by two kings• five men (ephors) responsible for the education of

the youth and conduct of citizens• foreigners, who might have brought in new ideas,

were discouraged from visiting• citizens discouraged from studying philosophy,

literature, or the arts – subjects that might encourage new thoughts

• all arts other than war frowned upon

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Athenian GovernmentAthenian Government

• 700 BC Athens was a unified polis on under its aristocrats

• was an oligarchy • Farmers sold into slavery for not paying debts to

aristocrats• cries to cancel debts and give land to the poor

– Athens seemed on the verge of civil war– Aristocrats reacted by giving full power to Solon 594 BC

• Solon a reform minded aristocrat– canceled all land debts and freed people fallen into slavery

of debts– refused to take land from rich and give to the poor– internal strife finally led to tyranny

1515

Athenian GovernmentAthenian Government

• Pisistratus, an aristocrat seized power in 560 BC– aided trade to please merchants– took land from rich, gave it to the poor– rebelled against Pisitratus’ son and ended tyranny

in 510 BC

1616

Athenian GovernmentAthenian Government

• Cleisthenes, another reformer gained power in 512 BC– created a council of 500 to supervise foreign

affairs, oversaw the treasury, proposed laws – voted on by the assembly

– assembly composed of male citizens– assembly had final authority to pass laws after

free and open debate– created the foundation of Athenian democracy

1717

Classical GreeceClassical Greece

• Classical Greece– name given to the period of Greek history from

500 BC to the conquest of Greece by the Macedonian king Philip II in 338 BC

• period marked by– a brilliant culture– disastrous war among the Greeks, the

Peloponnesian War

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The Challenge of PersiaThe Challenge of Persia

• Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean • Greeks came into contact with the Persian Empire to

the east• Ionian Greek city-states in western Asia Minor had

fallen subject to Persian Empire

1919

The Challenge of PersiaThe Challenge of Persia

• 499 BC, unsuccessful revolt by the Ionian cities – assisted by the Athenian navy – led the Persian ruler Darius to seek revenge– 490 BC Persians landed on the plain of Marathon (26 miles

from Athens)– outnumbered Athenian army attacked and defeated the

Persians – Daruis died in 486 BC

• Xerxes the new ruler promised revenge – 479 BC Persians defeated at Plataea near Athens– news of Persia’s defeat brought by a runner 26 miles from

Marathon to Athens

2020

The Growth of the Athenian EmpireThe Growth of the Athenian Empire

• Athens took over the leadership of the Greek world, with defeat of the Persians

• 478-477 BC Athenians formed a defensive alliance against the Persians called the Delian League

• by controlling the Delian League Athens created an empire

2121

The Age of PericlesThe Age of Pericles

• dominant in politics 461 – 429 BC• Athens expanded its empire abroad• Period Known as the Age of Pericles

– height of Athenian power and brilliance– government was a direct democracy– assembly

• passed all laws• elected public officials• made final decisions on war and foreign policy

2222

The Age of PericlesThe Age of Pericles

– poor able to take part in public affairs because Pericles paid office holders

– 10 officials known as generals were the overall directors of policy – were elected

– practiced ostracism to protect against overly ambitious politicians

• person banned from city for 10 years

2323

The Great Peloponnesian WarThe Great Peloponnesian War

• defeat of the Persians, Greek world divided into two camps: – Athens– Sparta

• Sparta and its allies feared the growing Athenian Empire

• series of disputes finally led to the Peloponnesian War

2424

The Great Peloponnesian WarThe Great Peloponnesian War

• Athens fought from behind the city’s protective walls – hoping that the colonies and navy would provide supplies– Spartians and their allies surrounded the city– Pericles knew the

• Spartians could defeat the Athenians in open battle

• never left behind the walls

– 2nd year of war a plague killed 1/3rd of the people– Pericles died the following year– war lasted another 27 years

2525

The Great Peloponnesian WarThe Great Peloponnesian War

– 405 BC Athenian fleet destroyed – crushing blow– 406 BC Athenians surrounded

• walls torn down• navy disbanded• Athenian destroyed

• next 70 years Sparta, Athens and Thebes (new Greek power) struggled to dominate Greek affairs

• Greeks continued in fighting, led them to ignore Macedonia – would cost them their freedom

2626

Daily Life in Classical AthensDaily Life in Classical Athens

• Athens - largest city-states 430 BC – 150,000 people• slavery was common• The Athenian Economy

– largely based on farming and trade– agricultural growth

• grains, vegetables, fruit, for local use• raised sheep and goats for wool and milk

• export: wine and olive oil (local use also) – imported 50 – 80% of its grain

• because of the number of people and lack of fertile land – trade was very important

2727

The Family and the Role of WomenThe Family and the Role of Women

• family was very important • primary function – to produce more citizens

• women• citizens who could take part in most religious festivals • otherwise they were excluded from public life• could not own personal property • always had a male guardian/leader• chief job to bear children, especially boys to preserve

the family line• strictly controlled, married at 14 or 15• expected to remain at home, out of site• could not leave home without a companion

2828

The Culture of Classical GreeceThe Culture of Classical Greece

• Greek Religion– affected every aspect of Greek life– religion necessary to the well-being of the state– temples dedicated to gods/goddesses were the major

buildings in Greek cities

2929

The Culture of Classical GreeceThe Culture of Classical Greece

• 12 chief gods and goddesses - Mount Olympus– Zeus – chief god– Ares – god of war– Hera – wife of Zeus– Aphrodite – goddess of love, beauty– Artemis – goddess of the hunt– Athena – goddess of wisdom, craft– Hermes – messenger god– Hades – god of the underworld– Poseidon – god of the sea, earthquakes, Zeus’ brother– Hephaestus – god of fire– Apollo – god of the sun, poetry

3030

The Culture of Classical GreeceThe Culture of Classical Greece

• religion – had no body of doctrine– nor did it focus on morality

• spirit of most people– went to a gloomy underworld– regardless of what they had done in life

• rituals became important to gain the gods favor• festivals were a way to honor gods/goddesses

– Olympia – Zeus– Delphi – Apollo

• 1st games held at Olympic festival in 776 BC• used the oracle – shrine where god/goddess revealed the

future through a priest or priestess• most famous was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi

3131

Greek DramaGreek Drama

• drama was created by the Greeks• plays presented in outdoor theaters

– part of religious festivals

• 1st Greek dramas were tragedies– presented in trilogy (set of 3 plays)– the Oresteia, composed by Aeschylus

• only complete trilogy possessed today• relates fate of Agamemnon and his family upon

his return• shows that reason triumphs over the forces of

evil

3232

Greek DramaGreek Drama

• Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex• Oracle of Apollo tells how Oedipus will kill his father and marry

his mother

• Euripides – tried to create more realist characters• Plots more complex and showed a greater interest in real-life

matters

• Greek tragedies examined such problems as • the nature of good and evil• the rights of the individual]• the nature of divine forces• the nature of human beings

• Greek comedy used to criticize both politics and intellectuals (developed later than tragedies)

3333

Greek PhilosophyGreek Philosophy

• philosophy – an organized system of thought

– means “love of wisdom”• Pythagoras

– Pythagorean theorem – geometry– taught that the essence of the universe could be found in

music and numbers

3434

Greek PhilosophyGreek Philosophy

• Sophists– beyond the human mind to understand the universe– more important for individuals to improve themselves– stressed the art of rhetoric – persuasive speaking– no absolute right or wrong

• what was right for one might be wrong for another– many viewed them as harmful to society and dangerous to

the values of young people

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SocratesSocrates

• a critic of the Sophists• goal of education was only to improve the person• Socratic method

– Question-and-answer format to lead pupils to see things for themselves by using their own reason

• believed that all knowledge is already present within each person– only critical examination could bring it out

• he questioned authority – led to trouble– accused and convicted of corrupting the youth by teaching

them to question and think for themselves

• sentenced to die by drinking hemlock – poison

3636

PlatoPlato

• student of Socrates• fascinated with the question of reality – “How do we

know what is real?”• a higher world of eternal, unchanging Forms has

always existed– ideal forms make up reality and only the trained

mind – goal of philosophy – can become aware of or understand these Forms

3737

PlatoPlato

• explained his ideas about government in “The Republic”

• distrusted democracy– best government was a philosopher-king– believed in the ideal state

• men and women should have the same education and equal access to all positions

• established a school – the Academy in Athens

3838

AristotleAristotle

• studied at the Academy• did not accept Plato’s theory of ideal forms• interests lay in analyzing and classifying things

based on observation and investigation• wrote about: ethics, logic, politics, poetry,

astronomy, geology, biology and physics• in his book “Politics”

– tried to find the best form of government– 3 good forms: monarchy, aristocracy and

constitutional government– favored the constitutional form for most people

3939

The Writing of HistoryThe Writing of History

• history is a systematic analysis of past events – created in the Western world by the Greeks

• Two great history writers: – Herodotus and Thucydides

• Herodotus – wrote “History of the Persian Wars”– regarded as the first real history in Western

civilization

4040

The Writing of HistoryThe Writing of History

• Thucydides– greatest historian of the ancient world– wrote – “History of the Peloponnesian War”– unlike Herodotus – Thucydides was not

concerned with divine forces or gods as causal factors in history

– saw war and politics in purely human terms, as activities of human beings

– placed much emphasis on the accuracy of facts– believed that the study of history is of great value

in understanding the present

4141

The Classical Ideals of Greek ArtThe Classical Ideals of Greek Art

• art – concerned with expressing eternal ideals– subject matter of the art was the human being– presented as an object of great beauty

4242

The Classical Ideals of Greek ArtThe Classical Ideals of Greek Art

• architecture– most important form – the temple dedicated to a

god or goddess– Parthenon – most famous building, classical

Greek temple• built between 447 and 432 BC• dedicated to Athena, patron goddess of Athens• shows the principles of classical architecture the search

for calmness, clarity, and freedom from unnecessary detail

• Greek sculptors did not seek to achieve realism, but rather a standard of ideal beauty

4343

Alexander and the Hellenistic KingdomsAlexander and the Hellenistic Kingdoms

• Leadership of Alexander the Great, Macedonians and Greeks united to invade and conquer the Persian Empire

• The Threat of Macedonia– viewed as barbarians by the Greeks– end of 5th century Macedonia became a powerful

kingdom

4444

Alexander and the Hellenistic KingdomsAlexander and the Hellenistic Kingdoms

– 359 BC Phillip II turned Macedonia into the chief power of the Greek world

• he wanted to unite all of Greece under Macedonia

• Athenians fearing Phillip allied with other Greek states and fought Phillip at Chaeronea, near Thebes in 338 BC

• the Macedonian army crushed the Greeks• Phillip was assassinated before he could

invade Persia – Alexander becomes king

4545

Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great

• 20 yrs old when he became king of Macedonia

• reasons for wanting to invade Persia– fulfill his father’s dream– desire for glory and empire– desire to avenge the Persian burning of Athens in

480 BC

4646

Alexander the GreatAlexander the Great

• Alexander’s Conquests• freed the Ionian Greek cities • 332 BC Syria, Palestine, and Egypt under his

control• built Alexandria as the Greek capital of Egypt • Alexander took control of the rest of the

Persian Empire• he was not content

– 327 BC he entered India– experienced a number of difficult campaigns– weary of fighting the soldiers refused to go farther

• 323 BC exhausted from wounds, fever and too much alcohol, he died at the age of 32

4747

The Legacy of AlexanderThe Legacy of Alexander

• creation of monarchies

• due to his conquest: – Greek language, architecture, literature and art

spread throughout Southwest Asia and the Near East

• Greeks absorbed aspects of Eastern culture

4848

The Hellenistic KingdomsThe Hellenistic Kingdoms

• Alexander created a new age, the Hellenistic Era• Hellenistic – “to imitate Greeks”• Alexander’s empire fell apart soon after his death

– most important generals fought for power• four Hellenistic kingdoms emerged as the successor

to Alexander:– Macedonia– Syria in the east– Kingdom of Pergamum in western Asia Minor– Egypt

4949

The Hellenistic KingdomsThe Hellenistic Kingdoms

• Alexander planned to fuse Macedonians, Greeks, and Persians in his new empire by using Persians as officials and encouraging his soldiers to marry native women

• Hellenistic rulers encouraged a massive spread of Greek colonists to Southwest Asia

5050

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

• Hellenistic Era – period of considerable cultural accomplishment in many

areas, especially science and philosophy

• Hellenistic city of Alexandria stood out– become home to poets, writers, philosophers, and

scientists– library – largest in ancient times, over 5,000 scrolls

• Architecture and Sculpture– Hellenistic sculptors maintained the technical skill of the

classical period, but they moved away from the idealism to more realistic art

5151

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

• Literature– Appolonius of Rhodes wrote the epic poem

“Argonautica” – tells story of Jason and the search for the Golden Fleece

– New type of comedy developed – sought only to entertain and amuse and avoided political commentary

5252

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

• Science– Aristarchus – astronomer

• developed the theory that the sun is at the center of the universe

• the Earth rotates around the sun in a circular orbit

– Eratosthenes – astronomer• determined that Earth was round and calculated Earth’s

circumference at 24,675 (within 200 miles of actual figure)

5353

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

– Euclid – mathematician• Wrote the “Elements” textbook on plane geometry

– Archimedes – scientist• worked on the geometry of spheres and cylinders• established the value of the mathematical constant pi• inventor

– Archimedes screw – machine used to pump water out of mines and to lift irrigation water

• military weapons

5454

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

• Philosophy– Athens remained the chief center of philosophy– Epicureanism and Stoicism strengthened Athens’

reputation as a philosophical center– Epicureanism –

• believed that human beings were free to follow self-interest as a basic motivating force

• the means to achieve happiness was the pursuit of pleasure, the only true good

• needed to separate themselves from the world

5555

Helenistic CultureHelenistic Culture

• Philosophy– Stoicism –

• founder was Zeno• like Epicureanism – concerned with how people found

happiness• Stoics – happiness could be found only when people

gained inner peace by living in harmony with the will of God

• they could bear whatever life offered• did not believe in the need to separate themselves from

the world and politics• real Stoic was a good citizen

5656

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5858