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Dominant City States
• After the Greek dark ages, exciting things
began to happen in ancient Greece.
• Villages started to band together to form
strong trading centers. These groups of
villages that banded together were called
city-states. Soon, hundreds of city-states
had formed in ancient Greece.
City built around a defensible
fortification called an acropolis
• Average polis covered between 30 to 500
square miles. Athens covered 1,000 square
miles
• No professional bureaucracy, no professional
army, no professional politicians
Argos
• Argos lies four miles distance from the
Argolic gulf, at the north eastern
Peloponnese. It is the second oldest city
after Sikyon
– Sikyon was the first settlement of Achaeans,
therefore the most ancient city state of Greece.
– According to the old common belief it was here
that Prometheus brought the fire to mankind.
• Prior to the Greek Dark Ages, Argos
became dependant to the nearby city of
Mycenae.
Argos
• Argos was actively
involved in the arts.
– Their magnificent stone
sculptures of athletes, rippling
with stone muscles, were the
envy of many a Greek citystate.
• Argos was famous for
their wonderful musicians
and poets.
• Drama reached new
heights in their polis
The Theater at Argos
• The capacity of the
theater was about 20,000
people
• The sound control is
excellent.
• Greek theater normally
has no roof but this
theater should have had
a roof.
– There is a hole on every
13steps which seems to
the hole for pillars to
support a roof
Megara
• Megara was a highly respected citystate in ancient Greece.
• As a coastal city-state, their history
was similar to Corinth's, their neighbor.
Megara
• Like Athens, Megara
offered its citizens a great
deal of freedom.
• Like nearly all Greek citystates, Megara had
beautiful temples,
gorgeous statues, and
open-air theatres.
• They were famous for
their glorious textiles,
which were the envy of
other Greek city-states.
Megara
• As a coastal town,
Megara did a great
deal of trading.
• They had their own
coinage,
– an idea they
copied from Corinth
– (who copied it from
Argos.)
Byzantium
• They were also
explorers.
– The city-state of
Megara founded the
city of Byzantium,
– It was mainly a
trading city due to its
strategic location at
the Black Sea's only
entrance.
• Another advantage was the
Golden Horn
– a deep inlet that offers excellent
protection to the city:
– an army can only approach it
from the west.
Megara
•
•
•
•
Coastal City-State
Famous for textiles
Own coinage
Founded city of
Byzantium
(Constantinople,
Istanbul) in 630 B.C.E.
Corinth
Corinth
• Founded in the 10th
Century B. C.
– Strategically located
• Guards the narrow
isthmus that
connects the
Peloponnesus to the
mainland and hosts
the important harbors
of Lechaion and
Kenchreai
– Became the richest port
and at one time the
largest city in Ancient
Greece
Temple of Apollo
Corinth
• The two seaports were
only four miles apart
– Lechaion, the western
harbor in the Corinthian
Gulf was the trading
port to Italy and Sicily
– Kenchreai, the eastern
harbor in the Saronic
Gulf, was the port for
the eastern
Mediterranean
countries
Corinth:
Diolkos
• The diolkos was an
ancient paved path
that enabled ships
to be moved
overland across the
Isthmus of Corinth
from sea to sea.
• Periander constructed
the five foot wide rock-cut
tract for wheeling small
ships and their unloaded
cargo from one gulf to the
other.
Corinth: Government
• With increased wealth and more
complicated trade relations and
social structures, some city-states
overthrew their traditional
hereditary kings
– Corinth, the richest city-state, led the
way
– Instead of developing long-term
solutions to the societal and economic
problems, ambitious politicians or
generals called “tyrants” seized power
by irregular means and ruled without Periander, second
being subject to the law
tyrant of Corinth
Corinth: Government
• Tyrants were usually members of the ruling
aristocracy who either had a personal grievance
or led an unsuccessful faction
• They were generally supported by the politically
powerless new wealthy and by poor farmers
• Once in power they often seized land from the
aristocrats and divided it among their own
supporters
Corinth: Government
• Tyrants were not necessarily oppressive
despots
– Many were quite popular, in part due to the
public works programs they established and
the debts they cancelled
– The word “tyrant” comes from how they
gained power rather than how they governed
Corinth
• Coastal City-state that
became cultural and
trade center
• Well-educated
• Famous bronze
statues, pottery,
and vase paintings
Sparta
• Covered by hills and mountains, isolation
contributed to the Spartan’s desire to be
left alone.
• Education focused entirely on physical
fitness and military training (men were full
time soldiers from 20 to 30 years of age)
• Women were to bear children, but were
also known for their wealth and indepence
• Almost no interest in the arts or philosophy
Sparta
• The Spartan citizens were, in fact, the
descendants of 9th century BC Doric invaders
to the Peloponnese.
– Rather than exterminating or enslaving the native
population,
– the Spartans had—for whatever reason—managed
to come to a unique arrangement with the
conquered inhabitants.
• These continued to live and work in Laconia, enjoying
distinctly different status and privileges from the Spartan
citizens, or Spartiates, but far better than that of chattel
slaves.
Sparta: Perioikoi
• These peoples were divided into two broad
categories:
– The residents of the pre-Doric towns, who enjoyed a
free but dependent status as "Perioikoi,"
– and the peasants, who enjoyed a far more restricted
status as "helots."
• The Perioikoi had their own laws and customs,
could pursue any profession or trade they liked,
and had their own local officials and dignitaries.
Sparta: Helots
• The "helots" were tied to the land and were
officially the property of the
Lacedaemonian government.
• By the 6th Century B.C., helots probably
outnumbered Sparta citizens by 10 to 1
• The large number of helots allowed the
Spartans to cultivate their region efficiently,
but also posed the threat of constant
rebellion
Sparta: Helots
• The Spartan helots—if compared to slaves in
other Greek city-states—were very privileged
indeed.
• Helots were not chattels.
– They could not be bought and sold by their "masters."
– They could marry who and when they willed.
– They even legally had parents and children.
• (In other Greek states, a slave was not allowed to marry, and
offspring of sexual intercourse, regardless of the partner,
"belonged" to the owner of the slave; parenthood was not
recognized.)
Sparta: Spartiates
• In theory, all Spartans citizens were equal
– To discourage economic and social distinctions,
Spartans observed an extraordinarily austere lifestyle
as a matter of policy
• No jewelry, elaborate clothes, luxuries, or
accumulation of great private wealth
– Even today, “spartan” means
• Practicing great self-denial
• Unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or
judgment
• Resolute in the face of pain or danger or adversity
What was it like to be a
Spartan?
• Taken away from your parents at age 7, you lived a
harsh and often brutal life in the soldiers barracks.
• You were beaten by older children who started fights
to help make you tough and strong.
• You were often were whipped in front of groups of
other Spartans, including your parents, but never
cried out in pain.
• You were given very little food, but encouraged to
steal food, instead. If caught stealing, you were
beaten.
• To avoid severe pain, you learned to be cunning, to
lie, to cheat, to steal, and how to get away with it!
Sparta: Education
• What distinctions did exist in Spartan
society were based not on wealth or social
status, but on prowess, discipline, and
military talent
• Spartan educational system cultivated
such attributes from an early age
– Boys left their homes at age seven to live in
military barracks under a rigorous regime of
physical training
– At age 20 they took a test of Athletics and
Leadership
• If they passed, they went into the military as citizens
where they served until retirement
• If they failed, they became part of the Perioikoi
Sparta: Spartiates
• Women married at age
18 or 20 but did not live
with their husbands
– The men stayed in the
barracks until about
age 30 when they
began to set up
households with their
wives and children
– Women maintained
strict physical regimes
in the hopes of bearing
strong children
Sparta: Spartiates
• Even after they were married,
the men did not live with their
wives and families. They lived
in the barracks.
• Military service did not end
until a Spartan male reached
the age of 60.
• Only then could a Spartan
soldier retire and live in their
home with their family.
Sparta: Government
• Highly unusual
government that
contained elements
of democracy,
timocracy,
monarchy, and
oligarchy
King Leonidas
ca. 530 BC-480 BC
Sparta: Government
• Oligarchy
– Rule by a few
– Power was in the
hands of five men
called Ephores who
were elected
annually by the
Council of Elders
• Timocracy
– Government by
people of honor
– All Ephores were over
the age of 60 and had
completed their
military career
– The Ephores
controlled all daily life
in Sparta
Sparta: Government
• Monarchy
– Rule by a hereditary
sovereign
– Under the five
Ephores there were
two Kings that came
from the two noble
families of Sparta
– With divine approval,
shown in an oracle or
an omen, the Ephores
had the power to force
the Kings’ abdication
• Democracy
– Election based on
numerical majority
– Under the Kings were
the Council of the Elders.
– The council passed laws
and elected the five
Ephores
– Beneath them were the
rest of the free Spartan
men who voted for the
Council of Elders
Sparta
• Oligarchy is dominant
government
• Military strength most
important
• Harsh treatment of their
slaves
• Farming Economy
Life in the Polis
• Life centered around agora (marketplace)
• Divided into three groups
– Adult men: citizens with political rights
– Free people (women, children and resident
foreigners: no political rights
– Slaves: prisoners of war or for debt
• Girls were considered economic liabilities
since they had to be provided with
dowries before they could get married
Law codes
• Laws were enforced by aristocrats and
ruled as they saw fit
• Demands grew to force the aristocrats to
codify, or write down, the customary laws
and procedures governing the cities
• As the laws were made public for all to see
the rule of the aristocrats was brought to
an end
Tyrrany: Solon the Lawgiver
• Social unrest leads to
new system
• Solon canceled debts and
abolished enslavement
for debt.
• Citizenship based on
wealth
– Public office was open to
the three upper classes
– Fourth class was ineligible
for public office
• Problems for poor
farmers continued
Peisistratus & Cleisthenes
• Peisistratus the Tyrant
– Wielding sole political power in violation of the established law, but with
the support of the people
– Beautified the city and increased the sense of being a Athenian by civic
festivals
• Cleisthenes democracy
– Mixed different tribes in hope to destroy the regional power of the
aristocracy
– Created Council of Five Hundred
– Direct democracy: all legislative and electoral power remained with the
popular assembly, made up of all voting citizens
Women in
Athens
• Women did not have citizen
rights.
• They could only go out to
weddings, funerals, religious
festivals and to visit female
friends.
• In wealthy families girls were
educated to run the household
of servants and slaves, and
were usually married by the age
of 13.
• In poorer families women
worked alongside men, farming
in the fields or running the family
business.
Education
in Athens
• Until age 6 or 7, boys were taught at
home by their mother or by a male
slave.
• They boys learnt the poetry of
Homer and how to play the lyre.
• Their teacher, who was always a
man, could choose what other
subjects he wanted to teach.
• He might choose to teach drama,
public speaking, government, art,
reading, writing, maths and the flute.
• Books were expensive and rare, so
lessons were read out-loud, and the
boys had to memorize everything.
• They were taught to read and write the Greek
alphabet.
• They didn’t have books to write in. Instead, they use
a wax tablet, and wrote on this with a metal 'pen'. The
pen had a sharp end and a rounded end.
• They wrote with the sharp end, and then rubbed out
the work with the rounded end.
• At 14 boys attended a higher school for four more years.
• When they turned 18, they entered military school for two
additional years.
•
At age 20, they graduated.
• Girls were not educated at school, but many learned to
read and write at home.
What it was like to be an
Athenian
• Be polite.
• You have had a good education.
• Until age 6 or 7, you were taught at home by your mother, or by
a male slave.
• From age 7-14, you attended a day school in the neighborhood
where you memorized poetry and learned to play the lyre.
• You learned drama, public speaking, reading, writing, math, and
perhaps even how to play the flute.
• You attended four years of higher school, and learned more
about math and science and government.
• At 18, you attended military school for two additional years!
• You believe you are better than any other city, and are proud to
be an Athenian!
Athens
• Democratic
government
• Education valued
• Trade Economy
How was order maintained
in Greece?
• Government
– Sparta
• Military means
– Athens
• Democratic means
– Corinth
• Tyrants