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Classical Greek Civilization
700 - 324 BC
 Little is known about the time between 1100
and 750 BC because little to no writing took
place, and this is why it is called a Dark Age.
 Between 750 and 600 BC, many Greeks left
the mainland by ship to establish new
colonies as a reaction to overpopulation,
economic problems, and rising political
tensions.
 Little is known about the time between 1100
and 750 BC because little to no writing took
place, and this is why it is called a Dark Age.
 Between 750 and 600 BC, many Greeks left
the mainland by ship to establish new
colonies as a reaction to overpopulation,
economic problems, and rising political
tensions.
 Also during this time, Greece was marked by
widespread famines.
 By 600 BC most farmers in Athens, who were
in debt to the land aristocracy, had their
property taken and were turned into slaves to
work their own farms.
 Resentment of the ruling aristocracy led to
tyrants seizing power in many city-states.
 These tyrants, meaning "unrightful ruler",
were not necessarily bad because they forced
the aristocrats from power and built
marketplaces, walls, and temples.
 These tyrannies did play a crucial role as a
rising distaste for tyrants led to the creation
of alternative systems of government.
 The behavior of the tyrants created the desire
among the Greeks to develop a more efficient
and possibly fair system of government, such
as democracy in Athens.
Kouros, 6th Century BC
Kore, 6th Century BC
Black-figure Style, 700-400 BC
Achilles and Ajax
Hercules fighting the Hydra
Red-figure Style, 530-200 BC
Hermes Pursing a Woman
Athens
 By 700 BC, Athens had become a unified polis.
Athens
 By 700 BC, Athens had become a unified polis.
 In 510 BC, Athenians had deposed their last
tyrant and formed a council of five hundred
that supervised foreign affairs, oversaw the
treasury, and proposed laws to be voted on
by an assembly of all free male citizens.
 What form of government is this?
 Ostracism protected Athenians from someone
gaining too much power; the assembly would
vote to ostracize that person, and if a person
received 6,000 votes then that person could
not return to Athenian territory for 10 years.
Ostracism
 During the Age of Pericles, the assembly,
consisted of around 43,000 males over 18,
which had final authority to pass laws after
free and open debate.
 Between 461 and 429 BC, Pericles was the
dominant figure in Athenian politics, leading
the Athenian democracy, rebuilding Athens,
and expanded the Athenian empire abroad.
 This was Athens golden age.
Pericles
The Acropolis
The Acropolis Today
The Propylaea
The Temple of Athena Nike
The Erechtheion
The Porch of the Caryatids
The Caryatids
The Parthenon
Statue of Athena
East Pediment Marbles
The Three Goddesses
The Acropolis Museum
 During the Age of Pericles, the assembly,
consisted of around 43,000 males over 18,
which had final authority to pass laws after
free and open debate.
 Between 461 and 429 BC, Pericles was the
dominant figure in Athenian politics, leading
the Athenian democracy, rebuilding Athens,
and expanded the Athenian empire abroad.
 This was Athens golden age.
 Foreigners had protection under the law, and
had some civic responsibilities, such as taxes.
 Everyone except the poorest citizens had at
least one slave, and some worked for the
state.
Population
100,000
Citizens
150,000
Foreigners
Slaves
35,000
 The role of the family was to produce and
raise good Athenian citizens.
 Women in Athens had no formal education,
but some could read, write, and play musical
instruments.
 Women married between 14 and 15, and
owned nothing but their personal items.
 A woman’s responsibility was to have kids to,
take care of their family, and keep house.
 Women had to have a male companion at all
times when traveling outside of the home.
Sparta
 Instead of starting new colonies, the Greek
city-state of Sparta conquered its neighbors.
Sparta
 Instead of starting new colonies, the Greek
city-state of Sparta conquered its neighbors.
 These conquered peoples became helots,
basically slaves forced to work for Sparta.
 The Spartan form of government was an
oligarchy, composed of two kings and 28
council members over the age of 60.
Sparta
 Instead of starting new colonies, the Greek
city-state of Sparta conquered its neighbors.
 These conquered peoples became helots,
basically slaves forced to work for Sparta.
 The Spartan form of government was an
oligarchy, composed of two kings and 28
council members over the age of 60.
 Sparta was above all a military state with the
art of warfare as the central focus of Spartan
life, and all other arts were frowned upon.
 For this reason, the Spartans did not leave
behind any great works of art, architecture,
or literature like the Athenians did.
 Shortly after birth, a mother would bathe her
child in wine, and if the child survived it was
brought before a council by the child's father.
 If the council decided the child was puny and
deformed, the baby was thrown into a chasm.
 Male Spartans began military training at
seven, and Spartan girls received a similar
education as boys, with less emphasis on
military training.
 Spartan males began military service at age
20, they lived in barracks even if married until
age 30, and military duty lasted until age 60.
 Spartan mothers would give their sons the
shield with the words "[Return] With it or
[carried] on it."
 Spartan women enjoyed power and respect
that was unknown in the rest of the classical
world, such as owning property, moving freely
in society, and speaking their mind in public.
 Unlike Athens, Spartan girls were fed the
same food as their brothers, they were not
confined to the house and prevented from
going outside, or from competing in sports.
 Rather than being married off at the age of 12
or 13, Spartan law forbade the marriage of a
girl until she was in her late teens or early 20s.
 Delaying marriage helped ensure the birth of
healthy children, and prevent lasting health
problems associated with adolescent
pregnancy.
 Spartan women, better fed from childhood
and fit from exercise, fared a better chance of
reaching old age than other Greek women.
 The median age of death for women in other
Greek cities was 34.6 years or roughly 10
years below that of men.
 When Spartans died, marked headstones
were only granted to soldiers who died in
combat during a victorious campaign, and
women who died in service or childbirth.
 Because of the practice of infanticide, absence
of men on campaigns, and losses in battle, the
Spartan population was hard to maintain, and
this almost proved fatal to their existence.
The Greco-Persian Wars
 The Ionian city-states fell to Persia in 550 BC.
 The Athenian navy helped liberate them in
499 BC, which led the Persian ruler Darius
to seek revenge.
 The Athenians defeated the Persians at the
Battle of Marathon, approximately 26 miles
from Athens in 490 BC.
The Greco-Persian Wars
 The Ionian city-states fell to Persia in 550 BC.
 The Athenian navy helped liberate them in
499 BC, which led the Persian ruler Darius
to seek revenge.
 The Athenians defeated the Persians at the
Battle of Marathon, approximately 26 miles
from Athens in 490 BC.
 From this comes the legend of Pheidippides.
 After Darius’ death in 486 BC, the new
Persian monarch, Xerxes, vowed revenge.
 In 480, Xerxes led a force of about 180,000
troops and thousands of warships into
Greece.
Xerxes
 At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000
Greeks delayed the Persian force for two
days, but were ultimately defeated.
Hoplite
Phalanx
 At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000
Greeks delayed the Persian force for two
days, but were ultimately defeated.
 After the Greeks were defeated Thermopylae,
the Athenians abandoned their city, which
was sacked and burned by the Persians.
 The Persians were ultimately defeated by the
Athenian navy at the Battle of Salamis, and at
the Battle of Plataea by a combined force of
110,000 Greeks.
 At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000
Greeks delayed the Persian force for two
days, but were ultimately defeated.
 After the Greeks were defeated Thermopylae,
the Athenians abandoned their city, which
was sacked and burned by the Persians.
 The Persians were defeated by the Athenian
navy at the Battle of Salamis, and at the
Battle of Plataea by a force of 110,000
Greeks.
 In 478, the Greeks formed the Delian League,
an alliance of 150 to 173 Greek city-states
under Athenian leadership, whose purpose
was to continue fighting the Persian Empire.
 The League's name is derived from its official
meeting place, the island of Delos, which was
also the location of the League’s treasury.
 The League liberated virtually all Greek citystates throughout Mediterranean from
Persia.
 Athens began to use the League's navy for its
own purposes, and in 454 BC, Pericles moved
the treasury to Athens, effectively creating an
Athenian Empire.
 By 431 BC, Athens' heavy-handed control of
the Delian League prompted the outbreak of
the Peloponnesian War, leading to the League
being dissolved in 404 BC.
Peloponnesian War
 By 431 BC, the majority of the Greek world
was divided between Athens and Sparta, each
having a very different society that had little
or no tolerance for the other.
 The Athenians were fiercely loyal to their
democracy, and Sparta and its allies had
grown weary of the Athenian Empire.
 When war broke out in 431 BC, the Athenians,
led by Pericles, intended to stay behind their
walls and receive supplies from their navy.
 Sparta and its allies laid siege to Athens,
hoping to draw the Athenian army into open
battle.
 After two years under siege, a plague broke
out in Athens killing one-third of the people,
including Pericles.
 After two years under siege, a plague broke
out in Athens killing one-third of the people,
including Pericles.
 The war lasted another 25 years until, in 405
BC, the Athenian navy was finally destroyed.
 Within a year Athens surrendered, its walls
were torn down, its navy disbanded, and its
empire destroyed.
 The war weakened the major Greek states,
and for the next 66 years, Athens, Sparta,
and Thebes struggled for dominance.
Classical Greek Philosophy
 Besides government, architecture, and
military strategies, the Classical Greeks left a
legacy of art, literature, science, and
philosophy.
 Philosophy refers to an organized system
of thought, and early philosophers were
concerned with critical and rational thought
about humanity, nature, and the universe.
 Early philosophers tried to explain the
universe on the basis of unifying principles.
 The philosopher Pythagoras taught that the
essence of the universe could be found in
music and numbers.
 Sophists were traveling teachers who sold
their services to the young men of Greece,
and believed it was beyond the reach of the
human mind to understand the universe.
 They believed it was more important for
individuals to improve themselves, and they
also believed that there was no absolute right
or wrong.
 They also believed what was right for one
individual might be wrong for another.
 They taught that true wisdom was pursuing
one’s own good, and for this reason many
people viewed them as harmful to society.
 Socrates (469 - 399 BC), was an Athenian
philosopher who believed that real knowledge
was already in us, and the goal of education
should be to improve the individual.
Socrates
 Socrates (469 - 399 BC), was an Athenian
philosopher who believed that real knowledge
was already in us, and the goal of education
should be to improve the individual.
 Socrates left no writings, what is known
about him is from the writings of is pupils,
who he taught for no pay.
 The Socratic Method was a way to teach
using question-and-answer format which led
pupils to figure things out for themselves by
using their own reason.
 “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
 What does this mean?
 Following their defeat in the Peloponnesian
War, Athenians no longer trusted democracy
and open debate.
 Socrates’ questioning of authority led to him
being accused and convicted of corrupting the
youth of Athens, and he was sentenced to die
by drinking poison.
The Death of Socrates, 1787
 Following their defeat in the Peloponnesian
War, Athenians no longer trusted democracy
and open debate.
 Socrates’ questioning of authority led to him
being accused and convicted of corrupting the
youth of Athens, and he was sentenced to die
by drinking poison.
 Socrates’ most famous pupil, Plato (424 - 347
BC), questioned reality asking “how do we
know what is real?”
Plato
 Following their defeat in the Peloponnesian
War, Athenians no longer trusted democracy
and open debate.
 Socrates’ questioning of authority led to him
being accused and convicted of corrupting the
youth of Athens, and he was sentenced to die
by drinking poison.
 Socrates’ most famous pupil, Plato (424 - 347
BC), questioned reality asking “how do we
know what is real?”
 He distrusted democracy, believing that men
are neither just nor rational so how do they
achieve a government that is.
 His ideal government was divided into 3
classes; a philosopher-king who would rule
justly, next warriors for protection, and then
everyone else.
 Plato’s most famous pupil, Aristotle (384 322 BC), believed in analyzing and classifying
things based on observation and investigation.
Aristotle
 His ideal government was divided into 3
classes; a philosopher-king who would rule
justly, next warriors for protection, and then
everyone else.
 Plato’s most famous pupil, Aristotle (384 322 BC), believed in analyzing and classifying
things based on observation and investigation.
 He wrote about logic, politics, ethics, poetry,
astronomy, geology, biology, and physics; all
science was based on his ideas and writings
until the 7th century AD.
 Aristotle knew that there was no ideal state,
but through observing existing governments,
he favored a constitutional government as the
best form for most people.
Classical Greek Art
 The standards in art set by the Classical
Period has dominated the arts in the Western
world.
 The subject matter of the art was the human
being, presented as an object of great beauty.
 The classical art style was based on the ideals
of reason, moderation, balance, and harmony.
 Greek sculptors did not seek to achieve
realism, but rather they idealized beauty.
 Polyclitus wrote down systematic rules for
proportion for the perfect human form,
based on mathematical ratios.
Dying Warrior
Temple of Aphaia, 500 BC
Charioteer, Delphi, 477 BC
Apollo with Battling
Lapiths and Centaurs
Temple of Zeus, Olympia,
460 BC
Aphrodite
Aphrodite of Cnidus
The Marathon Youth
The Victorious Youth
Riace Bronzes, 460–430 BC
Poseidon or Zeus?
The Olympic Games
 Athleticism and competition was admired by
the Classical Greeks, and related to the Gods.
 Olympia was a sanctuary in ancient Greece,
and was the site of the Olympic Games in
classical times, and date back to 776 BC.
 The first games began as an annual foot race
of young women in competition for position
of the priestess for the goddess Hera.
 The tradition of athletic nudity began in 720
BC, probably by the Spartans, and this was
adopted early on in the Olympics.
 Finally, the Olympic Games were suppressed,
either between 393 to 435 AD, by Roman
emperors as part of the campaign to impose
Christianity as a state religion.
 The Olympic site of Olympia remained until
an earthquake destroyed it in the 6th century
AD.
 The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, were held
in Athens, and it was the first time since 1896
that the games were held in Greece.
Olympia Today
2004 Olympic Games, Athens