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Ancient Greece
This is a brief introduction to our history as Greeks from our beginning to now, around the year 510 BC.
We are Greeks. Our ancestors are a little mysterious to us, but our myths and stories tell us a little. Thousands of years
ago, there was a civilization on the island of Crete. It was called Minoan culture after King Minos, the famous king who
in our myths built the labyrinth for the Minotaur. Minoan civilization was advanced. There were large palace-cities with
sewage systems and buildings with several floors, well-developed arts, a large trade network, religion, and the most
unique aspect of a civilization, a writing system, called Linear A. We do not think that the Minoans were violent or that
they started wars with other peoples.
While the Minoans were developing their civilization, Indo-European groups began to settle in Europe and what
is now the area we call Greece. The groups settling in Greece noticed the success of the Minoans and began to copy
them. Cities began to grow around Greece, very similar to those on Crete. They built large palaces, fortified against
enemies, and even copied the artistic styles of the Minoans. The Mycenaeans learned how to write from the Minoans.
Linear B, the Mycenaean system, would eventually spread all over Greece and parts of Turkey. The Mycenaeans did not
speak the same language as us. This new, Greek civilization is called Mycenaean, named after the city of Mycenae.
Mycenae
Mycenaean Warrior Vase, 1250 BC
Linear A and B Writing
The Mycenaean period lasted from around 1650 BC to about 1100 BC. It was the first ‘true’ civilization in Greece and
Europe. Mycenae was the largest of these palace-cities on Greece. Some of the other most famous Greek city-states
date their foundation to the Mycenaean period. Our city of Athens was founded during this time, as was Sparta, Thebes,
Pylos, and many other cities.
The myths and legends tell us that the Mycenaeans were very violent and liked war. Perhaps it is from the
Mycenaeans that we Greeks get our love of battle and conflict. The Mycenaeans created a sort of kingdom that united
most of Greece, the only time for many hundreds of years that Greece was one country. We call this time the ‘Age of
Heroes’ when Agamemnon, Achilleus, Ajax, Odysseus, and the other heroes lived. We believe that the Trojan War
happened in this period. When our epic poets wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, they must have looked at the ruins of
these large Mycenaean palaces all over our countryside and thought only heroes and men larger than life could have
built them. We look back to this period as a golden age, when men fought with honor against other heroes and the
gods, and completed exotic, dangerous, and impossible quests.
The good times ended around 1100 BC. A very strange and scary group of barbarians, called the Sea Peoples,
started attacking cities all over the Eastern Mediterranean. They fought and defeated the powerful Egyptians, Hittites
(in Turkey), the Phoenicians, and our ancestors, the Mycenaeans. We have no idea who these people were, but they
destroyed Greece. At the same time, our direct ancestors, the Dorians, began moving into Greece. These people spoke
our Greek language and they replaced or married the Mycenaeans, creating us. We call this time the Dark Ages and it
lasted from about 1100 to 800 BC. We forgot how to read and write. We became very tribal, staying close to the old
cities, which now became little kingdoms. The leader of a Dark Age village or town was called a Basileus
(Each basileus had a small group of warriors and ruled from the town center or acropolis. Most of us were
peasants and lived as farmers, never leaving the territory of our cities. This is the birth of the Greek city-state, as these
villages and former Mycenaean cities became centers of government for the chiefs and kings. At the end of the Dark
Ages, around the year 800 BC, one of the most important developments in Greek and world history happened. We
borrowed the Phoenician alphabet and learned how to write Greek. Here is what our alphabet looks like:
Now that we could write, we were able to record events for the future. This alphabet is unique because it is phonetic. A
phonetic alphabet means that the letter is a sound. This makes it very easy to learn how to read and write, also
increasing the number of people who can communicate. This is critical for all of our cultural developments that
happened during this period and after because it was easy for MORE people to write down their ideas so that people in
the future could examine them and write down their new ideas. Greek is so easy to learn, that it became the language
of trade and international communication in the entire eastern Mediterranean. There was also another very important
invention around this time.
Around the year 750 BC, our blacksmiths discovered how to make iron. Up to this time, our tools and weapons were
made of bronze. Bronze is strong, but breaks often. Iron is more expensive, but it is very strong and lasts for longer.
Now we can make better farm equipment and weapons for our soldiers. Better farm equipment means that we can
farm more land, which increases the amount of food produced each year. Our population grew very fast at the end of
the Dark Ages and our villages and towns grew into cities. Greece is a very mountainous country with little land for
farming. We as a people are connected to the sea because of this, especially in Athens. We are very comfortable on the
sea, sailing and exploring islands and cities. Population grew so fast that we started to make colonies all over the
Mediterranean Sea: Syracuse on Sicily, Marseilles in France, most of southern Italy, and even colonies in the Black Sea
were founded by different Greek city-states.
With the invention of a phonetic, written alphabet, the discovery of iron, and the founding of Greek colonies, we
moved into our current historical period, Archaic Greece (800-478 BC).
The Archaic Period, our current time, is full of exciting developments in the polis, philosophy and science,
literature, art and architecture, and drama. The goal of these developments is to explain, describe, and show the
perfect harmony, balance, and order in nature, humanity, and government through logic.
Even though we are not united as one country in Greece, we all share the same culture. We all speak Greek. We all
have the same religion based on the 12 Olympic gods. We all create the same styles of art, architecture, philosophy,
and sciences. We also have one very important thing in common too: the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games begin
around 776 BC and are held every 4 years. They celebrate our competitive spirit in a peaceful manner. We have
other games and festivals like this that unite all Greeks. They are sacred to all of us and no Greek can war on another
Greek during these celebrations.
The Polis:
The city-state is the backbone of our Greek culture, and it grew out of the small town and village kingdoms of
the Dark Ages. A Greek city-state is 3 main parts: a polis: ‘city’), an acropolis: ‘high city’,
the civic center and fortress of a polis), and a  chora: ‘countryside’, territory of a city-state). We call one
city-state a polis and all of the city-states are poleis. Poleis are like independent kingdoms with their own sets of
laws, territories, and armies. Our neighbors (and we Athenians) are extremely territorial and we fi ght each other
constantly for a larger chora.
A citizen of a polis is expected to serve in the army, and we feel it is both an honor and our duty to fight for
our homes. War is an important part of our culture. We are not professional soldiers, but we train together.
In our style of warfare, the phalanx, we are all equals and no man is more important than any other. There
are no nobles or peasants on the battlefield because each soldier fights as a part of a group, side by side. An
interesting result of our phalanx is that the government that develops in our polis also becomes very
communal and almost democratic as a result.
Chigi Vase, 650-640 BC, showing a hoplite phalanx
Red-figure vase 6th-5th C.
We Greeks believe that if we are able to fight as a group for our polis, then we should be able to make decisions in the
government as well. All poleis started as monarchies and had tyrants at one point. We all decided what government
works best in our own poleis. All of us have some sort of Assembly of citizens with a few administrative positions. The
administrative positions control the real power, but the citizens have some power and are able to at least debate issues
in their Assemblies.
Some of the most famous city-states are Thebes, Argos, Sparta, Corinth, Athens, and Arcadia. There are also many great
cities in Ionia (the coast of Turkey) such as Ephesus, Miletus, and Halicarnassus. There are also growing poleis in
Southern Italy and on the island of Sicily. The most powerful poleis are Sparta and our city of Athens, and we hate and
admire each other.
The independence of each polis and our concept of communal participation in government and military encourage
free-thinking, leading to the intellectual, artistic, and political developments in the past decades.
Philosophy and science:
In Athens, we have heard of very new methods of thinking from our Greek cousins in Ionia. Citizens of the
Ionian poleis are trying to examine our world and how everything works. They are not using myths and legends
to explain the cosmos, they are using logic to explain and understand the cosmos. These great minds are
trying to discover the basic material of all things in the universe, or principles of the universe. Around 640 BC,
Thales, a philosopher from the polis of Miletus, said that water is the principle element of the universe. He
believed that everything is created from water. We also call Thales the father of philosophy. Pythagoras from
the island of Samos, around 550 BC, believed that the principle element was numbers. All things are composed
of ordered, geometrical shapes. He created the Pythagorean theory: a2 + b2 = c2. A more recent philosopher,
Anaximenes of Miletus, argued around 550 BC that the principle element of the universe is air. The most
modern idea comes from Heraclitus of Ephesus, a polis in Ionia. He argues that the principle element is fire.
However, it is constantly changing into different forms and back to fire. logos), which means word,
logic, or reason, controls the whole process. Logos is controls the changing process of the universe and the
human soul. People and the universe are in a rational, ordered, moral changing process. Perhaps someday
these great minds will come to Athens…
Art and Architecture:
With our desire to learn about the natural world in philosophy and the order of things, we have started to create
a new style of art. We are trying to copy the perfect, natural forms of the cosmos, especially the human body.
The current style of sculpture is called a kouros, and it is our closest copy of the perfect form of the human body.
Kouros statue, 510-500 BC
We believe that the polis is the perfect harmony of civic order. Architecture represents the city-state’s place of
importance as the source of man’s social order in nature and also shows the somewhat uniquely Greek pride in
civic duty and devotion to the city-state. It must be ordered and perfect, following geometric and linear shapes.
The best architecture represents the best city-state.
Miletus, Ionia (Turkey)
Poseidonia, Italy
Theater of Syracuse, Sicily
Sparta
Corinth
Pottery and ceramics are at this point the finest examples of our art. Around the year 680 BC, a style of pottery
was developed in the polis of Corinth. It is called Black-figure pottery, because the shapes on the sides of vases
are black. It is very popular with citizens of all poleis, and in Athens, we are currently creating our own factories
to produce our own Black-figure pottery. In Athens right now, we are creating a completely new technique for
painting on pottery. It is called Red-figure pottery, and it was created a few decades ago. It is the exact
opposite of Black-figure style. We paint the vase black and draw figures and images in red. It is very trendy in
our region, and hopefully, it will spread all over Greece in the next few years.
Black-Figure Pottery, 540 BC
Red-Figure Pottery, 480 BC
Every day, we are learning new ways to improve our representation of the harmony in the natural world
perhaps soon it will be perfected.
Literature:
The invention of the Greek alphabet around 800 BC allowed us to create different types of literature. The
legendary epic poet Homer probably wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, around 750 BC, in the Ionian city of Chios.
These are the famous stories of the Trojan War. Another famous writer was Hesiod, who lived in central Greece
near the polis Thebes. Around 700 BC, he wrote Works and Days. This book tells us about the difficult life of a
farmer in Greece and the rules of being a farmer. He also wrote Theogony, which is tells us the stories of our
gods, our heroes, and the creation of the world. Lyric poetry is a type of poetry that is told with a musical
instrument called the lyre, and other musical instruments. It is the poetry of love, passion, and beauty. The first
well-known lyric poet, Archilocus of Paros, started writing around 700 BC. The most famous of the lyric poets
was Sappho, from the island of Lesbos. She lived from around 620 BC and died around 570 BC, and is probably
the greatest poet of our time.
Drama:
In Athens, we are the pioneers of a new and very exciting style of literature, called drama. About 100 years ago,
a man named Thespis appeared on a stage as a character in a play. He was the first true actor. Today, we call
actors thespians in honor of him. All of us Greeks perform the ancient myths and legends in front of a crowd,
but in our polis it is more than that. Every year, on the feast of Dionysus, we host a theater festival during which
any playwright may perform one of the 3 styles of drama: tragedy, comedy, or satyr play. We vote on the be st
and it is the HIGHEST honor to receive an award. We Athenians are becoming a very artistic nation, and drama is
one the best examples of art in all of Greece.
Athens
We are the Athenians, and our polis is Athens. The chora we control is called Attica, and we speak a dialect of
Greek called Attic. Our city is very old and our patron is the goddess Athena. Legend tells us that the first king of Attica,
Cecrops, created a new polis. Both Athena and Poseidon wanted to be patrons of this new polis, for they believed it was
going to be very strong in the future. They each gave us a gift and our ancestors would decide on a patron. Poseidon
struck a rock on the acropolis with his trident, making a spring of water. His gift to us symbolized naval strength in the
future. Athena created an olive tree on the acropolis. Her gift symbolized peace and prosperity in the future. Cecrops
chose Athena as our patron goddess, and our polis was named Athens. The olive tree, hundreds of years old, is still on
the acropolis today.
Like all the other cities of Mycenae and the Dark Ages, Athens was ruled by a Basileus (king). At the beginning of the
Archaic Period (800 BC), the aristocracy and land owners formed a council called the Areopagus. This small group of
wealthy citizens controlled all of the power of Athens. The members of the Areopagus selected 9 archons and generals
to control Athens. There was an Ecclesia, or Assembly of Citizens, but it had no power. Our city was now an oligarchy.
At the same time, Athens was creating a chora by uniting the towns and villages of Attica. The people of Attica and
Athens were divided into 4 tribes based on family. Athens was now a true polis: it had a polis, acropolis, and a
surrounding chora. However, this only benefited the members of the Areopagus and citizens became unhappy and
demanded change.
Around 620 BC, the Areopagus selected an oligarch named Draco to write our first laws that all citizens had to obey. The
Draconian code was not fair to most citizens and the death penalty was a common punishment for many crimes. A lso,
people who owed debts to the aristocrats and could not pay were enslaved or exiled. In the next 20 or 30 years, most of
our poorer fellow citizens were not able to pay their debts to the aristocrats. The aristocrats would take the land and
then enslave the citizen and his family. By about 594 BC, our polis was in a serious economic crisis. If there was a bad
harvest, a poor farmer had to borrow money from a wealthier person. If the farmer had another bad harvest, he could
not pay the owed debt and was enslaved. As a result, a majority of our fellow citizens were landless and enslaved and a
handful of aristocrats, the Areopagus, owned most of the land and had nearly all the money in Athens. The average
Athenian citizen had little opportunity for a happy life. What is worse, no common citizen could change this! As we
know, none of the cultural, literary, scientific, and artistic progress of the Archaic Period happened in Athens. Not only
were we in an economic crisis, but our Athenian culture was in a crisis too! The political situation was bad, and the
Areopagus elected a man named Solon as archon in 594 BC. Solon completely revolutionized and reorganized our
government.
The Reforms of Solon:
1. Erased all debt in Athens and ended debt slavery.
2. Established a new set of laws for all citizens and removed the harsh laws of Draco.
3. Opened Athenian citizenship so that artisans, philosophers, and other great minds could come to Athens and
live.
4. Allowed ALL citizens to vote in the Ecclesia.
5. Created the βουλή (Boule), a council of 400 citizens selected from 4 tribes of Attica and Athens. Each tribe
selected by lot 100 eligible members for 1 year. The Boule guides the Ecclesia.
6. Organized us into 4 classes of citizens, based on how much grain we can each produce (medimnoi = bushels).
Here are our 4 classes:
I.
Pentacosiomedimnoi (Πεντακοσιομζδιμνοι): at least 500 medimnoi of grain annually
II.
Hippeis (ἱππεῖς): 300-499 medimnoi of grain annually
III.
Zeugitai (ζευγῖται): 200-299 medimnoi of grain annually
IV.
Thetes: less than 199 medimnoi of grain annually
Only certain classes were eligible for government jobs:
 Assembly: open to ALL citizens of Athens
 Boule: open to ONLY Zeugitai, Hippeis, and Pentaciosmedimnoi
 Archon: open to ONLY Pentaciosmedimnoi
The reforms are not perfect—only the 3 upper classes can truly participate, but most of us finally had a voice in the
Ecclesia. There is no mistake: Solon did not believe in a democracy, but he believed that wealth determines ability to
rule. The members of the Areopagus were unhappy with their lost power, and the thetes and lower classes now wanted
to be more active in the government. The wealthy families fought for ways to keep control and the situation was not
good in Athens. The first attempt at democracy in our city was not working.
Around 550 BC, after 2 attempts to seize power, an aristocrat named Peisistratus seized control of our city. He was a
tyrannos (tyrant) and he finally brought political stability to our city. He was tyrant until his death in 526/7 BC. Some of
us remember the rule of Peisistratus and it is not all bad. He built roads and aqueducts. He rebuilt our marketplace, the
agora and started to build many temples all over Attica. He also helped poor farmers through loans. He was a patron of
the arts, and finally the seed of culture was planted in our city, by a tyrant! Most important, he stabilized the
government and was able to make court law standard and just. This broke the political power of the aristocrats and
Areopagus. Peisistratus helped bring us to the brink of a new era. His sons, however, changed our minds about tyrants.
Hipparchus and Hippias ruled together for about 10 years, and continued their father’s tradition of rule. As we know,
members of an aristocratic family murdered Hipparchus in 514 BC. The past few years have not been good in our city.
Hippias has become very cruel and paranoid. He thinks all people around him want to kill him, and we Athenians are
afraid that our good luck will end soon. Our city is crumbling, people cannot find work, and there is social unrest in our
streets. We have heard rumors of an aristocrat Cleisthenes and his ideas of reform and change for ALL Athenians. He is
preparing to move into our city and force Hippias into exile. He believes that a more democratic state will bring
prosperity to our city. Some people want to return to the days of the Areopagus. The year is 508 BC, and we have the
chance to make history in Athens…
Our Acropolis around the year 500 BC
Our Acropolis around the year 420 BC
Our Polis in the 5 th Century BC