Ancient Greece

1
Ancient Greece
2
Greek Civilization

• Many consider as foundation of Western
  Civilization
• Powerful influence on Roman Empire European
  Culture
• Influenced language, politics, history,
  educational, philosophy, medicine, drama, art and
  architecture of the modern world
• Shared common traditions language
• Biases of Greek Writers
• Arrogant, Athenian Male

3
The Mediterranean World
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The Greek World

• Mountainous terrain
• Many islands
• Asia Minor (Ionia)
• No city-state could rule all

• Each very independent
• Colonies spread
  throughout Mediterranean
• Common Hellenic Culture

5
Greece Chronology

• Mycenaean Civilization 2000-1100 BC
• Dark Ages 1100-900 BC
• Geometric Period 900-700 BC
• Archaic Period 700-480 BC
• Classical Period 480-323 BC
• Hellenistic Period 323- 31 BC
• Roman Period in Greece 31 BC 323 AD
• Byzantine Period in Greece 323 1453 AD

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Mycenaean Civilization

• Bronze Age Greece
• Indo-European Greek Speakers
• Settled around 2000 BC
• Wealthy, hierarchal society
• Powerful kings
• Agamemnon of Mycenae
• Trade throughout Mediterranean
• Very warlike
• Writing system Linear B
• Adopted from Minoans

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Greek Alphabet

• Used to write the Greek language since about the
  9th century BC
• First to use separate symbols for each vowel and
  consonant
• Modification of the Phoenician alphabet
• Gave rise to Latin alphabet

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Greek Ideal The Hero

• Arete highest virtue
• Manliness, courage excellence
• Man of action
• Pursuit of life of glory
• Seize power glory for oneself
• Images and depictions found everywhere in Greek
  art, literature and mythology
• Herakles, Theseus, Odysseus

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The Trojan War c. 1250 BC

• Homers poem The Iliad
• Historical memory
• Political economic competition in the Aegean
  Sea
• Stories believed to be authentic history by
  Greeks
• Part of common Greek heritage identity
• Tremendous impact on Greek culture
• Personalities in literature, art philosophy
• Discovery of Troy
• Heinrich Schliemann - 1871

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Homer

• Legendary early Greek poet
• Credited with the composition of the Iliad and
  the Odyssey
• Assumed 8th century BC - Ionia
• Debate Real person or name given to one or more
  oral poets who sang traditional epic material
• Name means hostage
• Homeric poems are the product of an oral
  tradition
• Iliad and Odyssey underwent standardization and
  refinement out of older material beginning in the
  8th century BC
• Production of a canonical written text.

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Dark Ages 1100-900 BC

• Fall of Mycenaean Civilization
• General disruption throughout Mediterranean
• Invaders from north Dorian Greeks
• Cities abandoned
• No writing from time

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Geometric Period 900-700 B.C.

• Greek polis "city-state" develops
• Athens, Corinth, and Sparta
• Expansion into Ionia
• Artistic output - painted pottery
• Rise of trade
• Olive oil, wine, pottery
• Colonies established in Italy, Sicily
  elsewhere
• Development of Greek writing
• Greek alphabet adapted from Phoenician
• Homer Iliad Odyssey
• Become widely circulated

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Polis (Poleis)

• Independent City-State
• Intense loyalty of citizens
• Develop autonomous traditions
• Own form of government
• Artistic styles
• Founding myths
• Acropolis fortified high ground
• Agora marketplace
• Temple

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The Archaic Period 700-480 BC

• Individual city-states and their colonies prosper
• Development of centers of political, religious,
  philosophic and artistic achievement
• Many cities ruled by tyrants
• strong-willed men who rule, not by constitutional
  authority, but by popular support
• Monumental sculpture, stone temple architecture,
  civic building programs

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Olympics

• Share common culture
• Founded in 776 BC at Olympia in southern Greece
• Pan-Hellenic contests every four years
• Opportunity to display heroic qualities civic
  pride
• Contests- running, chariot racing, boxing,
  wrestling
• Laurel wreath to the victor
• As many as 40,000 gather at games from throughout
  Greece

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Greek Colonies

• Population grew beyond the capacity of its
  limited arable land
• About 750 BC began 250 years of expansion
• Independent city-states found colonies
• Colonies not politically controlled by founding
  cities
• Often retained religious and commercial links
• Aegean coast of Asia Minor colonized first
• Albania, Sicily,southern Italy,south coast of
  France, Corsica, northeastern Spain
• Colonies were founded in Egypt, Libya and the
  Ukraine
• Polis became the basic unit of government
• All aspects of Greek culture continued

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Greek Colonies
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Warfare

• City-States constantly at war with each other
• Hoplites
• Army of infantrymen
• Citizen soldiers for Polis
• Supplied own weapons 60-70 pounds
• Fought in phalanx - impenetrable
• Surrounded by family friends
• Strict rules of warfare - honor
• War defined as challenge between two armies
• Quick decisive battles
• Exchange of dead after battle
• Winner annexes land

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Sparta

• Militaristic state totalitarian
• Opposite of Athens
• Ruthless expansionists
• Conquered all surrounding areas
• Practiced selective breeding
• Brought up from birth to be soldiers
• Lives structured around discipline and war
• Barracks center of life for men
• Few possessions except for weapons
• Spartans were forbidden non-military pursuits and
  occupations
• Wealth derived from property
• Periokoi conquered peoples of region
• Worked as traders, craftsmen, artists
• Helots serfs worked the land
• Required to pay half of output to owner

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The Persian Wars 490 480 BC

• Invasion of mainland Greece by the Persians in
  490 BC Darius I
• Battle of Marathon Victory led by Athens
• 480 BC - Xerxes I sent more powerful force by
  land
• Battle of Thermopylae
• Delayed by Spartans
• Athens captured burned
• Battle of Salamis
• Athenian leader Themistocles
• Persians defeated by Athens navy
• Persian army defeated at Plataea

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Classical Period 480-323 BC

• Period of greatest cultural achievement
• Literature, drama, philosophy arts flourish
  throughout the Greek world
• Period of wealth power for Athens naval power
• Trireme
• Statesmen Pericles leads Athens to glory
• Empire through Delian League
• Democratic reforms
• Great building program
• Parthenon Acropolis rebuilt

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Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC)

• War between Athens and Sparta their allies
• Lasted 27 years
• Very destructive brutal
• Chronicled by Thucydides
• Cause - resentment of Sparta and its allies at
  the dominance of Athens over Greek affairs
• Athens naval power
• Sparta land power
• War of attrition
• Athens retreated behind long walls
• Sparta ravages country-side
• Both side win battles
• Athens defeated by Sparta in 404 BC
• Term of defeat - Athens lost her city walls, her
  fleet, and all of her overseas possessions

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Greek Religion

• Tolerance for religious diversity
• No "dogma" or "theology" in the Greek tradition
• No single truth or code
• Produced no sacred, written text like the Bible
  or the Quran
• Different cities worshipped different deities
• Many cult centers
• No single true way to live in dealing with the
  gods
• Individuals had a great deal of autonomy in
  dealing with the gods
• Unclear lines between divinity and humanity
• Religious ideas continued to develop over this
  time

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Greek Religion

• Virtues fostered by Greek religion were chiefly
  respect for the gods
• Seek to understand their will
• Temples were home of the diety
• Cult image revered
• Variety of rituals and local festivals
• Must be performed correctly
• Most widespread public act of worship was
  sacrifice
• Grain or animal offered
• Votive gifts were offered to the gods by
  worshippers
• Temples become treasurers

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Greek Mythology

• Mythology formed a central reference point in
  Greek society
• Interwoven with ritual and other aspects of
  social existence
• Stories about the origins and actions of Greek
  divinities varied widely
• Depended on where the tale appeared
• comedy, tragedy or epic poem
• Greek gods resembled human beings in their form
  and in their emotions
• Lived in a society that resembled human society
  in its levels of authority and power
• Crucial difference existed between gods and human
  beings Humans died, and gods were immortal
• Heroes also played an important role
• Stories about them conveyed serious themes
• Felt connected to human heroes from the past

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Purposes of Greek Myths

• 1. Explained the world
• Lent structure and order to the world
• Origin of current state of things
• Pandora released diseases miseries upon world
• Origin of rituals - Prometheus outwits Zeus in
  first sacrifice
• 2. Exploration of human emotions and moral
  behavior
• Examining contradictions and ambiguities
• Explore social questions by placing them, in
  extreme and exaggerated form

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Purposes of Greek Myths

• 3. Provided authority and legitimacy
• Myths were regarded as history rather than
  allegory
• Gave authority to a claim, an action, or a
  relationship
• City-states and aristocratic families often
  traced their ancestry back to the heroes or gods
• Validation of the identity and culture of
  individual communities
• 4. Provided entertainment
• Public performances of drama were hugely popular

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Delphi

• Dates to 1400 BC one of oldest sites in Greece
• Phythia - Oracle of Apollo
• Gave advice on decisions from personal problems
  to fates of cities
• Visitors required to pay a fee based on the
  importance of the question
• Inquire on what course of action should be taken
• Obscure answers very difficult to interpret
• Sacred spring at site
• Hugely popular appeal for its beauty
• became extremely rich

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Athenian Democracy

• Democracy - rule by the people
• Solon reformer
• start of 6th cen.
• Sought to limit oppression of poorest Athenians
• Abolished debt and debt slavery
• Ended aristocracys monopoly on public affairs
• Gave all citizens right to appeal decisions of
  judicial officials

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Athenian Democracy

• 508 BC revolt against oppression of tyrant by
  ordinary people
• Cleisthenes called from exile asked to build
  government
• Established worlds first democracy
• Gave citizens say in government
• Designated citizens assembly
• Assembly to meet every nine days
• Instituted simple vote yes or no
• Organized citizens into ten tribes
• Created new Council of 500
• People to decide on all issues
• Ordinary Greeks could be heroes in politics

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Athenian Democracy

• Reforms of Ephialtes 462 461 BC
• Curbed power of Areopagus ancient aristocratic
  council (ex-Archons)
• transferred powers to Court, Council of 500
  Assembly
• Archonship Highest office
• Extended to more citizens
• 9 appointed each year
• Council of 500 chosen by lot from all citizens
  over 30 years old
• Sets agenda for Assembly
• 50 from each tribal unit
• Assembly Ecclesia all adult male citizens
• Votes on legislature presented by Council
• Peoples Court of Appeal
• Selected by lot

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Athenian Democracy

• Ostracism
• Once a year - vote to expel one person who was
  seen as threat
• Themisticles - regarded as having gained too much
  power after war with Persia
• Citizenship
• Males only
• Required land ownership
• Large number of small farmers each had a
  limited voice in public affairs
• Not extended to foreigners, women or slaves
• Hoplites citizen soldiers
• Required to serve in military

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Judicial System in Athens

• Communities established system of impartial
  judges to keep vendettas from developing
• Armed men ready to defend their honor
• Trivial quarrels turn violent lead to more
  blood
• Third parties need to resolve disputes to stop
  cycle
• By early 6th cen. BC citizens chosen by lot
  sworn to render impartial verdicts
• Jurors sat in panels of 500, 1000, 1500, even
  6,000 once
• Called dikastai or judges
• Collective opinion was final
• Jurors sworn en masse once a year
• Jurors voted after listening to both prosecution
  defense
• Simple majority determined verdict tie to the
  defendant

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Judicial System in Athens

• More formal system enacted in early 4th cen. BC
• Eligibility requirements male, at least 30,
  free of public debt
• Jury divided into sections and given
  identification tags
• Jurors swore oath
• Efforts to prevent corruption in courts
• Random selection based on name tags
• Elaborate precautions to safeguard fairness
• Assigned seating
• Even representation of tribes
• Trials could last no longer than a day
• Water clock monitored length of time prosecution,
  defense, witnesses and accused could speak
• Jurors voted with disks either for acquittal or
  conviction at end of day
• No deliberation among jurors

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Women in Greek Society

• Society dominated by men
• Few opportunities outside home
• Wife's duty to bear legitimate children and
  manage the household
• Expected to remain inside her home except for
  rare occasions
• Athenian philosophers believed that women had
  strong emotions and weak minds 
• Had to be protected from themselves 
• Pandora
• Could not own property
• Guardianship system
• Kyrios (guardian) - either her closest male
  birth-relative or her husband
• Controlled everything about her life

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Women in Greek Society

• Marriage
• Management preservation of property
• Production of children as future care-givers
  heirs
• Arranged by families based on dowry
• Unveiling of the bride at wedding
• Men around age 30
• Girls around age 14-15
• Want to ensure virginity
• Unlikely to produce deep love
• Husbands could pursue relationships outside of
  home
• Wives expected to remain completely faithful

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Women in Greek Society

• Religion - only way of influencing public affairs
  by wives of citizens
• Could attend festivals of specific cults that
  were open to woman - Maenids
• Important priestesses goddess cults
• Priestess of Athena Oracle of Delphi could
  influence public affairs
• Courtesans - hetaera
• Most privileged women - very accepted
• Could attend male parties symposium
• Often of foreign origin
• Sparta - Women were more independent than in
  other Greek societies

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Sappho- Poetress from Lesbos

• 7th cen. BC
• Aristocratic background
• Island of Lesbos
• Reputation for excessive sexual behavior
• Came to denote female homosexuality
• Taught circle of girls
• Wrote love poetry to women
• Writes of love lost

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Homosexuality

• Men expected to spend most of time with other men
  because of defined roles
• Bisexuality accepted
• Men expected to have successful heterosexual
  lives
• Excessiveness effeminacy discouraged
• Homosexual relationships mainly Pederastic boy
  older man
• Encouraged, ritualized facilitated by gathering
  places like the gymnasium
• Relationship last from age 12 to 20
• Arranged by male friends
• Generally with one mentor
• About initiation and domination
• Mature into life-long useful friendships
• Adult male relationships rare
• Seen as rebellion against society
• Gods have homosexual relations
• Apollo has 19 males lovers
• Zeus Ganymede

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Slavery

• Property of their masters rather than citizens of
  Greece
• Major role in ancient Greek civilization
• domestic servants
• factory workers
• shopkeepers
• mineworkers
• farm workers
• ship's crewmembers
• police force
• clerks at the treasury office
• Different ways to become a slave
• born into slavery
• taken prisoner in war
• sell family member
• Treated differently depending upon what their
  purpose was

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History

• Herodotus of Halicarnassus - 480-429 BC
• World's first true historian Chronicled Persian
  War
• Insatiable curiosity Traveled throughout the
  world interviewing people about current recent
  events
• Attached great importance to truthfulness
• Blended oral and written styles in his history
• Showed curiosity, consideration and respect for
  other cultures
• Contains ethnographic descriptions of peoples,
  fairy tales, gossip legends
• Thucydides 460-395 BC, former Athenian general
• History of the Peloponnesian War
• Offers an in-depth analysis of the mechanisms of
  war
• Tries to remain objective, but cant hide
  personal judgment
• Xenophon - 430-354 BC, Athenian historian
• Takes up where Thucydides left off
• Lacks objectivity and veracity often in question

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Philosophers

• Thales of Miletus (6th cen. BC)
• Provide give rational explanations for physical
  phenomena
• Idea to look for deeper causes was the true
  beginning of philosophy and science
• Socrates
• Leader in revolution in thinking
• Spent life questioning assumptions
• Rejected conventional wisdom
• Examine all issues rationally through dialogue
• Search for universal truths
• Use reason and logic to study people
• Group of youthful followers Plato, Xenophon
• Tired executed (d. 399 BC)
• Charged with undermining youth and corrupting
  public morals
• Becomes great hero after death

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Philosophers

• Plato (427347 BC)
• Writer of philosophical dialogues - Socrates'
  point of view
• Founder of the Academy in Athens
• Lectured on politics, ethics, metaphysics,
  epistemology
• Themes in dialogues
• best possible form of government
• role of heredity the environment on human
  intelligence personality
• distinction between knowledge and true belief
• Aristotle (384 BC 322 BC)
• Student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the
  Great
• Wrote books on physics, poetry, zoology, logic,
  rhetoric, politics,
  government and biology
• One of the few figures in history who studied
  almost every
  subject possible at the time

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Medicine

• Greek physcians first to separate medicine from
  supernatural
• Diseases have natural causes which can be known
• First known medical school opened in Cnido in 700
  BC
• Practice of observing patients first established
• Alcmaeon, author of the first anatomical work
• Hippocrates, c.460-377 BC
• Father of modern medicine
• Established his own medical school at Cos
• Emphasized four main aspects of medical care
• observation, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment
• Hippocratic Corpus contains the core medical
  texts of school
• Hippocratic Oath implies that a group of
  professional physicians are bound by a strict
  ethical code.
• Asclepius - God of healing
• Asclepieion Healing sanctuaries all over Greek
  world

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Theater

• Theater in every major Greek city
• Home of popular entertainment
• Drama starts during Athens age of tyrants
• Encourage Athenian patriotism
• Contest for reciting famous stories at
  Pan-Athenaic festival
• First theatrical productions - Athens Dionysus
  festival
• Athens Theater of Dionysus built about 500 BC
• Initially a single actor accompanied by a chorus
  of singers
• All wore masks allowed actors to play multiple
  roles
• All male cast played female roles
• 472 BC oldest play The Persians by Aeschylus
• Aeschylus added second actor
• Sophocles added third actor
• Plays sponsored by wealthy patrons
• Very noisy audiences

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Theater

• Tragedy
• stories of great men falling from heights
• Athenians invented an art form that
  confronts unpleasant truths head-on
• Played out such deadly myths as the
  Trojan War, murder among families,
  and Oedipus
• Tragedies concerned with social and political
  problems raise important civic questions
• What makes a good leader?
• Should citizens resist illegitimate authority?
• How can a society develop fair laws and
  administer justice equitably?
• How should society treat women, slaves, and
  immigrants?
• What can we learn from the excesses and failures
  of others?
• Comedy look at the lighter side of life

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Pottery

• The Vase - great artistic legacy
• Pottery made for everyday use, not for display -
  drinking storage
• Freshness naturalness to art
• Potters not a respected profession
• factories in Athens prostitute district
• tried to outdo each other other
• Corinth Athens dominate trade
• Pottery exported all over the Greek world
• Many mass-produced low quality
• Greek pottery frequently signed by the potter,
  not artist

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Pottery

• Pottery Types
• amphorae
• kraters (bowls for mixing wine water)
• hydria (water jars)
• Kylix wine cup
• libation bowls, jugs
• Historical styles
• Protogeometric from about 1050 BC
• Geometric from about 900 BC
• decorated with abstract designs
• Black Figure from tearly 7th century BC
• red and white details and incising for outlines
  and details
• Red Figure from about 530 BC
• pots being painted black the figures painted in
  red

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Sculpture

• Marble Bronze
• Human form the most important subject for
  artistic endeavour
• Gods in human form
• No distinction between the sacred secular in
  art
• Immensely influential on Western art
• Renaissance
• Classical revival
• Little has survived, mostly in Roman copies
• Sculpture not merely for artistic display
• Public memorials, temples, grave markers,
  decorative friezes

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Sculpture

• Archaic Period
• Most important sculptural form was the kouros
• Standing male nude
• Very stiff in posture
• Classical Period
• Revolution in statuary
• Poses more naturalistic
• Technical skill greatly increases
• 500 BC - statues began to depict real people
• Funeral statuary - highly personal family groups
• Know names of individual sculptors
• Phidias (Parthenon), Praxiteles

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Architecture

• Doric order
• Western Greece
• Simplest, with plain,
  round capitals
• Ionic order
• Eastern Greece
• Slender, fluted pillars
• Two opposed volutes (scrolls)
  on capital
• Corinthian order
• Most ornate of the Greek orders
• Slender fluted column
• Capital carved with two rows of leaves and four
  scrolls
• Designed by Callimachus 5th cen BC

52
Architecture

• Parthenon
• Greek for "Virgin Temple"
• Athens Acropolis
• Extraordinarily expensive
• Represent grandeur
• Paid for by tribute from
  Delian League
• 20,000 tons of marble
• Architects and sculptors from all over Greece
• Phidias designer
• 15 years to complete
• 40 foot high statue of Athena
• 500 foot long frieze celebration
  of Athenian values
• Elgin Marbles in British Museum