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Ancient Greece
3 major epochs of Ancient Greek history
1. The Mycenaean age – from about 2000 B.C. to the conquest of the
Greek peninsula by invaders in the 1100s B.C.
2. The Hellenic period – from the time of Homer to the conquest of the
Greek city-states by the Macedonians in the mid-300s B.C. Includes
the classical age when Greek philosophical & artistic achievements
were most impressive.
3. The Hellenistic Age – the final period of Greek predominance, lasting
from about 300 B.C. to the first century A.D. During this time the
Greeks interacted with Eastern peoples to produce a hybrid culture
that was extraordinarily influential on the arts and sciences of both
Western and Asian civilizations.
2000 B.C. – 1100 B.C.
1900 B.C. – 1300 B.C.
1100 B.C. – 800 B.C.
800 B.C. – 300 B.C.
500 B.C. – 325 B.C.
300 B.C. – 100 A.D.
Timeline
Mycenaean civilization
Minoan civilization on Crete
Dark Age
Hellenistic civilization
Classical Age
Hellenistic civilization
Geography
Greece is the tip of the European mainland that gradually sank beneath
the Mediterranean many tens of thousands of years ago, leaving only the
tops of high mountain ranges as islands in the Aegean & eastern limits of
the Mediterranean. It has little suitable land for large-scale farming, no
broad river valleys, and no level plains. No place in Greece in more than
80 miles from the sea.
Greeks became expert sailors from early times, as it was easier to travel
by sea than by the rugged terrain.
Geography encouraged political fragmentation because the people in
each valley and river basin developed their own sense of patriotism and
identity. Greeks grew up thinking of themselves as residents of a given
place or town and only secondary as Greeks sharing a common culture
and language with other inhabitants of the peninsula.
Mycenaeans
The 1 Greeks came to the peninsula about 2000 B.C. as wandering nomads
from eastern European plains. By about 1600 B.C. they became semi
civilized, some lived in fair-sized towns, notably Mycenae. They were
known as the Mycenaeans and the 1st few hundred years of Greek
civilization are called the Mycenaean Age.
The Mycenaean civilization was inspired by one of its trading partners and
rivals: Crete. The culture on Crete was an urbanized wide-ranged trading
empire, and archeologists call this culture Minoan after Minos, the mythical
God of Crete. Between civil war and natural disasters this civilization was
in ashes.
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The Dark Age
The Mycenaeans engaged in extensive warfare between competing towns
and these civil wars weakened themselves sufficiently. So much so that they
soon fell to a new wave of invaders called the Dorians. The Greek peninsula
declined so much that this period is called the Dark Age: a period when not
only arts and crafts but also the ability to write seemed to have been largely
lost.
Early Hellenic Civilization
Starting about 800 B.C. the Greek mainland slowly recovered and went on
to far greater heights during the Classical Age (500 B.C. – 325 B.C.)
The polis developed. Polis means the community of adult free persons who
made up a town or any inhabited place, or the “City-state.”
Each of the more than 200 poleis thought of itself as a political and cultural
unit, independent of every other. Yet each polis also thought of itself as part
of that distinct and superior family of peoples calling themselves “Greek.”
The polis established a frame of reference for public as well as private life
for its citizens. Not all who lived in a polis were citizens; basically only free
males twenty years of age or more possessed full civil rights and as much as
80 percent of the population might be excluded from the political life
because of gender, age, or social status.
Ch polis had more or less the same economic design: a town, surrounded by
farmland, pasture, and woods that supplied the town with food and other
necessities.
Governments of Ancient Greece (p. 113)
I. Development of the City-states
A. Independent communities called the polis or city-state was the
center of Greek life & each developed separately for several
reasons:
1. Mountains were surrounded by some plains where enough
food was grown to support economic independence for each
city-state.
2. The Center of each polis was at the top of the mountains to
protect it from invaders. People would gather here and it
kept the communities tight-knit. There was no need for a
large central government.
II. Four types of Government known to the Greeks:
1. Monarchy – rule by a single person.
2. Aristocracy – rule by those who are born to the leading families
(Nobles)
3. Oligarchy – rule by few.(often the wealthiest members of society).
4. Democracy – rule by the people in some form. Voters limited to
citizens.
5. Also Tyranny – originally meant rule by a dictator who illegally
seized power.
A. Around 800 B.C. most city-states were ruled by a monarchy
who was often aided by nobles.
B. As the noble families gained more power, the city-states
would become an oligarchy.
C. Unrest ensued as citizens wanted a voice in government and
often a tyrant would come to power by gaining the support
of the people and overthrowing the ruling nobles.
D. By 600 B.C. most tyrants were replaced by a democracy.
III. Athens
Athens had gone through a series of monarchies and oligarchies as
many nobles fought for control . Cleisthenes gained control and gave away
his tyrannical power to a series of political bodies which made Athens a
democracy by 508 B.C. He thought it was just and would be the best way to
preserve the peace.
1. Constitution made it the duty of all male citizens over 18 to take
part in passing laws.
2. Laws were made and voted on in the General Assembly
3. General Assembly was where citizens met to make laws, spend
tax money, fill government positions, and declare war.
4. Over time a Council of Five Hundred was chosen among citizens
a. over age 30
b. no member could serve more than twice
c. choose own officers
d. decided which laws would be presented to General assembly
5. Board of Ten Generals – led Athenian Army
Much power, worked with Council
a. Pericles – leader of Athens 460-429 B.C.
b. Helped open government jobs to people & pay jurors
c. Spread democracy to conquered territories
d. Built temples to honor Athena on the acropolis – fortified
area for defense, assembly, religious center, home of ruler
IV. Sparta
Differed from Athens in almost every way possible. In 700s B.C. engaged in a
war with Greek neighbor Messenia (Messenian wars). They were conquered and forced
into slavery by the Spartans. During the 600s the Messenians rebelled again & again and
as a result Sparta made themselves into a nation of soldiers so they could maintain their
privileged position. Public life was expressed in total obedience to the state.
A. Power structure - All 3 of these groups had to agree
1. General Assembly – All male citizens over 30 elected
officials & voted on laws introduced by:
2. Council of Elders – 2 kings & 28 men over 60
3. Five Ephors – “overseers” were elected by assembly
B. Spartan People
Physical strength more important than education
1. Boys – taken from home at age 7 and raised in a military
barracks until citizenship at 30. (allowed free time only to
reproduce another generation of soldiers)
2. Girls – In charge of household & could have business
C. Economic needs met by the captive Messenians who worked the
fields and made crafts under close supervision.
D. Most Greeks admired the Spartan way of life, especially its selfdiscipline, sacrifice, rigid obedience, and physical vigor. Despite
its military nature it was conservative and nonaggressive.