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Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I
EARLY GREEK SOCIETY (2200-336 BCE)
Influenced by Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, etc.
Geography
- Mountainous regions prevent overland travel
- Limited farming
o Rocky infertile soils
o Lack of agricultural lands
- Resort to fishing, sailing, trading
Minoan Society (2200-1100 BCE)
- Sophisticated Minoan society in Crete
- 2000-1700 BCE – lavish palaces
o Knosses
o Palaces nerve center of society
o Residence of rulers
o Storehouses for collected taxes
- Linear A
o Script devised by palace officials
o Symbols stand for syllables no words, ideas,
vowels or consonants
o Undecipherable
o Detailed records of economy/commerce
- 2200-1450 BCE Center of Mediterranean commerce
o Use advanced Phoenician sail craft
- Decline (1700 BCE)
o Natural disasters
 Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions,
tidal waves
o Invasions (1100 BCE)
Mycenaean Society (1600-1100 BCE)
- 2200 BCE Indo-European migrations into Greek
Peninsula
- 1600 trade w/ Crete
- Linear B
o Adapt Minoan Linear A
o Syllabic script
- 1500-1100 BCE expand influence
o Take over Minoan society
- Trojan War
o Conflict w/ city of Troy
- 1100-800 BCE chaos in E Mediterranean]
o Invasions
o Civil disturbances
o Population decline
o Unstable government
o Abandonment of settlements
o Disappearance of Linear A & B
Greek City-States (800-338 BCE)
- Politics
o No centralized government
o Local city-states restore order
o City-states emerge independently
o Attract increasing populations
o Commercial centers & urbanization
o
o
o
Taxation to support poleis
2 most popular: Sparta & Athens
Forms
 Small monarchies
 Most collective rule by local
notables
 Many fall to tyrants – route to
power by force, not descriptive of
policies since many were popular
Sparta
- Fertile region of Peloponnesus
- Extend control and reduce neighbors to helots
(servants)
o Outnumber Spartans 10 to 1
o Not chattel slaves but not free
o Could form families
o Cannot leave land
o Role – agricultural labor
o Constant threat of rebellion keep Spartans
occupied w/ military
- Politics
o Impose rule by military means
o Solve tensions resulting from economic
development & overpopulation by military
o 2 king monarchy
 Council of elders (advisors)

Assembly of all citizens approve
major decisions
 5 Ephors elected by assembly –
have real power and run everyday
affairs
- Social Structure
o Spartan citizens equal in theory
o Discourage social distinctions
o Policy of austere lifestyle
 No jewelry
 Elaborate clothes
 No luxuries
 No private wealth
 No circulation of precious metal
coins
 Distinction by military talent not by
social distinctions or wealth
 300s BCE accumulation of wealth
and aristocratic families
- Women’s Status
o Women marry at 18-20
o Don’t live with husbands until men are age
30 and leave military barracks
- Education
o All boys leave family at age 7
o Live in military barracks for physical
training
o Age 20 – active military service until
retirement
1
Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I
o
Vigorous physical training for girls –
produce strong children
o
o
Athens
- Politics
o Solve tensions of population growth and
political/economic strain caused by
economic development through democracy
o Maritime trade – wealth to Attica around
Athens – chief beneficiaries – aristocracy
o Most sophisticated of poleis – science,
philosophy, literature, arts
o Begin as monarchy - aristocracy control
government – grew wealthier
o Small landowners cannot compete – sold
into slavery
o People of Attica grow resentful of wealthy
Athenians and threaten civil war
o Solon
 Act as mediator between classes
 Devise solution to situation
 Aristocrats keep land
rather than redistribute
 Eliminate debt slavery
 Cancelled debts
 Representation of
common classes in govt.
 Open council offices to
any citizen wealthy
enough to devote time to
politics regardless of
lineage
o Age of Pericles (460-429)
 Able statesman
 Direct democracy
 Several assemblies / month
 At least 6000 members to make
major decisions
 All male citizens equally partake in
govt.
 Fixed salary for men in public
office - enable poor to serve
 Jury system
 May be hundreds or
thousands
 Men over 30 chosen by lot
to serve for 1 yr
 Receive salary
Greek Colonies
- 800 BCE Greeks establish colonies along
Mediterranean & Black Sea
o Population pressures
o Strained resources
o Most popular sites – Sicily, S Italy
o
o
Colonies provide agricultural surplus, access
to metal ores of C Italy
Colonization not controlled by govt/ since
no centralized government
Colonization = trade, communication,
exchange
Colonies built small states
Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)
- Political/economic interests of Greek colonies –
conflict w/ Persians
- As Cyrus & Darius tighten control of Anatolia,
Ionian Greeks expel Persian administrator
- Athenians send fleets to support fellow Greeks
- 493 BCE Darius suppress Ionian rebellion
- 490 Battle of Marathon
o Darius send troops to Greek peninsula to
punish Greeks
o Athenian victory
- 480 BCE Battle of Salamis
o Xerxes avenge Persian losses
o Captured & burned Athens but fleet
destroyed at Salamis
- Intermittent battles between Greece & Persia for
more than a century – no full-scale war
o Persians unwilling to devote resources to
conquer small & distant Greece
o Greeks don’t have resources or desire to
challenge Persian empire – remain content
w/ independence
Delian League
- After Persian wars, poleis create alliance
- Discourage further Persian actions
- Athens leader – superior fleet
o Athens supply league’s military
o Other poleis – financial support
o Fed Athenian treasury
 Finance bureaucracy
 Vast constructions
- Other poleis grow resentful of Athenian benefit in
absence of Persian threat
- Peloponnesian Wars result
Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 BCE)
- Power struggle between Sparta & Athens
- Spartans & allies force Athens into unconditional
surrender
- Spartan dominance spark new rivalries
- Power pass through Thebes, Corinth & others
- Time demoralizing conflicts between city-states –
divided & weakened poleis
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Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I
HELLENISTIC AGE (300s-30 BCE)
Age of Alexander & his successors
Macedonia
- Cultivators & sheepherders
- Recognized kings but organized into
semiautonomous clans – handle political affairs
- Wealth and proximity of Greece change Macedonia
- Philip II of Macedonia (359-336 BCE)
o Overcome traditional clans – ruler of
Macedonia
o Admire Greek culture
o Conquest of Greece
o Grandiose dream of conquering Persian
Empire but assassinated
-
Alexander the Great (336-323 BCE)
o Alexander start rule at 20
o Conquest of Persia (334-327 BCE)
o Empire over 2000 miles
o Would have continued conquest of India but
troops refuse to go any farther from home
o Legacy
 3 generals divide empire after death
– 300 yrs power struggle
 Spread Greek culture
Alexander’s Successors
- Sponsored interactions, trade, exchange
- Antigonid Empire (306-168 BCE)
o Greece & Macedon – smallest
o Benefit from new order - trade
o Continued tension between Greek cities and
Antigonid rulers
 Greeks try to retain independence
 Form defensive leagues and
resisted Antigonid control
 Bargain w/ Antigonids for tax relief
& local autonomy in exchange for
recognition of rule
 Internal conflicts due to land
distribution continue
o Overpopulation lead to colonization, esp. in
Seleucid Empire
o Rule until Roman Empire
- Ptolemaic Empire (300s-30 BCE)
o Egypt – wealthiest
o Greek/Macedonian overlords don’t interfere
in Egyptian society
o Rulers contented w/ organized agriculture,
industry and tax collection
 Maintain irrigation, monitor crops
and tax collection
 Royal monopolies in lucrative
industries – textiles, salt-making,
brewing beer

-
Much of wealth flow to capital,
Alexandria
 Alexandrian Museum
o State-financed
institute of
learning
 Alexandrian Library
o Wealth attract many migrants (megapolis) diversity
o Rule until Roman Empire
Seleucid Empire (323-64 BCE)
o Former Achaemenid, from Bactria to
Anatolia – largest in territory
o Attracted many Greek colonists
o Maintain Achaemenid central bureaucracy
o Rule until Parthian conquest
COMPLEXITY OF GREEK CULTURE
Trade
- Geography limit agriculture
o Produce little grain
o Concentrate on cultivating olives & grapes
o Trade brings prosperity
 Mostly small scale manufacturing
 Partnerships to limit risks of
commercial ventures
- Long-distance trade
o Caravan from Persia/Bactria to west
 Unable to transport heavy bulky
items – luxury goods
o Bulkier materials traded overseas
- Trade link Greece with colonies abroad
o Same gods
o Same Greek dialects
o Commercial relationships
o Share panhellenic festicals
Panhellenic Festivals
- Greek colonies gather together for festivals that
reinforce common bonds
- Athletic, literary, musical contests for victory of their
polis
- Olympic Games (776 BCE)
o Every 4 years
o Greek communities send best athletes to
polis of Olympia to compete in speed,
strength and skill
o Winners receive olive wreath – become
celebrated heroes in their home poleis
o Though disunited politically, gave sense of
collective community to Greeks
3
Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I
Patriarchy
- Strictly patriarchal
o Fathers can determine life or death of child
o Infanticide illegal, but could abandon to die
o Greek women authority of fathers, husbands
and sons
o Venture outside w/ chaperones
o Wear veils
o Most poleis cannot own property
- Limited opportunity
o Sometimes operate small businesses
o Only public position – priestess
o Literacy common – upper class
o Formal education for elite women
o Artisan families – men & women participate
in business, stands, booths, marketplace
o Sappho
 Most famous female poet
 Invite young women home to
instruct literature & music
 Female homosexuality shunned
 Only fragments of poetry survive
- Spartan women exception
o Compete in athletic contests
o Town by themselves
o Join public festivals
o Sometimes took up arms
o Men alone still determine state policy
Slavery
- Prominent means of mobilizing labor
- Differing backgrounds
o Indebted Greeks
o Soldiers captured in war
o Russians
o Africans
- Slave ports
o Black Sea – semi-nomadic Scythians of
Russia
o Egyptians – African slaves from Nubia & S
- Treatment
o Depends on temperament of owners
o Powerful slaves w/out skills – hard labor
o Other unskilled – domestic servants
o Educated – special opportunities
 Regarded as economic investments
 Provide w/ shops
 Allow keeping portion of earnings
 Sometimes win freedom
Greek Philosophy
- “philosophers” – lovers of wisdom
- Challenge belief that events caused by whims of gods
- Use observation and reason
- Search for principles or laws
-
Greek Sophists
o Athens
o Moral/ethical truths are opinions not
principles
o Success more important
o Teach persuasive speaking for fee – public
life
o Accused of undermining traditional
Athenian values
-
Socrates & Citizenship (470-399 BCE)
o Critic of Sophists
o Athenian stonemason & philosopher
o Plato his pupil
o No written work – Plato write dialogues
o Humans can lead honest lives – honor more
important than wealth, fame etc.
o Scorned those who preferred public
accolades to personal integrity
o Need to reflect on purpose/goal of life
o Striving for personal integrity & honor
towards others lead to just society
o Socratic method
 Pose questions on human issues –
esp. ethics / morality
 Questioning to examine
implications of answer
 Patient examination reveals truth
and self-knowledge
 Threatened accepted traditions
o Put on trial
 Accused of corrupting youth and
not observing gods
 Jury of 501 citizens – condemned
to death
 Good citizen submit to laws of state
 Refused to escape prison – drink
hemlock
-
Plato & Reason (430-347 BCE)
o Distrust democracy after Socrates’ death
o School called Academy & taught
 Reason not experience leads to
genuine knowledge
 Unchanging ethical
principles
 Perfect beauty
 Organizing society
o Theory of Forms or Ideas
 World we live not the only world
 World is imperfect reflection of an
ideal genuine reality
 Only by entering world of Forms or
Ideas – understand true nature of
virtue, etc.
4
Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I

o
Secrets of world of Forms or Ideas
only available to philosophers –
those who pursue wisdom
Republic – the Ideal State
 Reject Athenian democracy
 Philosopher king
 Intellectual aristocracy
 State regulate every aspect of
citizens
 Equality of all at birth –
meritocracy
 3 classes: workers / soldiers /
philosopher ruler
-
Aristotle & Rule of Law (384-322 BCE)
o Plato’s most famous student
o Analyze all forms of govt.
o Distrust theory of Forms & Ideas – artificial
intellectual constructs unnecessary for
understanding the world
o Depend on reason & logic for understanding
o Constitutional Government – “Polity”
 Just & stable rule by many –
middle class
 Suspicious of democracy – mob
rule
 Despise tyrants
 City-state best and natural form
 Rule of Law
 Even rulers subject to law
o Ethics
 Good conduct – “golden mean” –
moderate between extremes
o School at Lyceum
 All branches of knowledge
 Reason as guiding force
 First universities based courses on
Aristotle
o Return to Macedonia (birth place) – 345BC
o Tutored Alexander the Great
-
Stoicism
o Zeno founder
o Avoid desire/disappointment by acceptance
of all things
o High moral standards
 All equal
 Women & slaves also orally equal
– have power of reason
 Duty
 Well-being of all people
-
-
Polytheism
o Indo-European ancestors – supernatural
powers to natural elements
 Sun, wind, rain
o Greeks personify natural elements
 Zeus – grandson of earth & sky
gods – become ruler
 Apollo – wisdom & justice
 Fortune – opportunities & difficulty
 Furies – vengeance for those who
violate divine law
Cults
o Cults create powerful sense of community
o Many cults – ritual observances open only to
initiates
o Eleusinian mysteries
 Ritual community meal
 Initiates observe high moral
standards
o Women
 Some cults admit only women
 Provide opportunity for women
who cannot legally participate in
political life
 Cult of Demeter (fertility)
 Exclude men
 Celebratory feast in
October/Nov before
planting of grain
 Cult of Dionysus or (wine)
 Also known as Bacchus
 Men sometimes join
celebration
 Spring retreat to hills to
celebrate w/ song/dance
o 400s BCE Taming of the cults
 Poleis control public/political life
 Cult of Dionysus one of most
unrestrained – domesticated
 Nature of observances change from
emotional to plays that honor
tradition of polis
Greek Religion
- Most Greeks not educated – little access to
philosophers
- Masses turn to popular religion
5
Classical Societies:
500BCE-500 CE (Unit 2)
[CHAPTER 10 : ]
Mediterranean Society – The Greek Phase
I
Hellenistic Philosophy
- Greek philosophy & religion lose civic character
o Poleis no longer control destinies
 Only small part in large Hellenistic
administrative matchine
 No longer center of loyalty
 Turn to cultural / religious
alternatives of philosophy and
religions of salvation
- Epicureans
o Pleasure as the greatest good
o Not unbridled hedonism but state of quiet
satisfaction – shield from pressures
- Skeptics
o Refuse to take strong positions on political,
moral, social issues
o Doubt possibility of certain knowledge
o Not engage in fruitless disputes – seek
equanimity
- Stoics
o Most influential & respected of Hellenistic
philosophers
o All humans member of universal family
o Didn’t withdraw from pressures of world
o Individuals had duty to aid others lead
virtuous lives
o Avoid anxiety by concentrating strictly on
duties that reason/nature demand
o Brings state of inner peace & tranquility
Drama
- Transformation of cults – emergence of literature
- Thousands of plays written but only few survive
- Tragedians (400s BCE)
o Content
 Limitations of human action
 Extent humans act as responsible
agents in society
 Proper role when confronted w/
limits
 How to proceed when humans/gods
present conflicting demands
o Aeschylus
o Sophocles
o Euripides
- Comic Dramatists
o Content
 Human striving and responsible
behavior
 Delight in lampooning
public/political figures of the time
 Influence popular attitudes w/
ridicule
 Call attention to absurd
consequences for bad actions
o Aristophanes
Hellenistic Religion
- Philosophy appeal to educated elites
- Religions of salvation appeal to most
- Egyptian cult of Osiris
o Popular
o Promise salvation for those who lead
honorable lives
- Cults of Persia, Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Greece
attract disciples in Hellenistic world
- Christianity
o Beginnings of belief
o Worship of savior – death – resurrection –
eternal salvation
o God had a plan for salvation of all
humankind
6