Download The Glory That Was Greece

THE CIVILIZATION OF
THE GREEKS
Chapter 4
Zeus
Parthenon
Alexander
After the Fall of Troy and Mycenae
 Greece
entered a Dark Age (define),
featuring:
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Emigration
Dorian invasion
Beginning of the Iron Age
Adoption of the Phoenician alphabet
Homer, cont.

The Iliad and the Odyssey

Commentary on the Dark Ages
• Greeks considered these epic poems as
authentic history.

Moral Handbook
• courage
• heroic excellence
• fighting to protect family and honor

Circa 750 BC, Greek civilization
emerged from the Dark Ages,
featuring,
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Hoplite Infantry
Colonization
Tyrants and the Polis (City-state)
Warfare

End of the 8th Century the
hoplite infantry formation
was developed.
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Early warfare dominated by
aristocratic (define) cavalry
and individual duels.
Advantages?
Heavy bronze or leather armor.
Bronze helmets, breastplates,
and bronze-plated wooden
shields.
Bronze short sword and an iron
spear.
Why not more iron?
Hoplites, cont.

Hoplites operated in
Phalanx
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What is it?
Why it worked
Why is studying
military formations and
hardware sometimes
important?

What does it tell us
about the society?
Colonization and the Rise of Tyrants
 The
poverty of the Dark Age meant that
many Greeks emigrated by sea, seeking
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Land
Trade opportunities
Why did these colonies tend to be
independent of their mother polis?
What were the
• Cultural consequences?
• Economic rewards?
• Political consequences to the old Aristocracy and
new merchants?
Greek Colonies
Tyrants
 Rise
in the 7th and 6th centuries.
 Why are they called “tyrants?”


How did they gain power?
From whom did they get political support?
 Goals
of “tyrants”?
 Why age of tyrants ended?

Consequences?
The Polis

In the 8th Century the Polis emerged as the fundamental
institution in Greek society.

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Poleis varied considerably in political structure.
Activities (political!) of the Polis:
• Government and Trade
• Social/cultural
• Religious activities.

The Polis was stratified into three broad categories
• Citizens with political rights – adult males (approx. 1/3 of total)
• Citizens without political rights – women and children
• Non-citizens – foreigners and slaves

Citizenship: What rights/what responsibilities?
 Negatives of the Polis for Greece?
This Is Sparta

Located in Laconia in the
southwestern Peloponnesus

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
Conquered Laconian
neighbors: Helots
Expand to Messenia
What problem does this leave
the Spartans with?
Why is a military state an
attractive solution?

Were there other possible
solutions?
Sparta
Lycurgan Reforms

Codex of social and military policies

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Governmental structure

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What was the role of women?
Educational system?
Kings
Gerousia and Apella
Ephors
Why is Sparta designed this way?
Attitude toward foreigners and foreign ideas?
Why?
 Peloponnesian League. On what principle does
this alliance function?
Athens

Located on Attic Peninsula
 Why is the government in trouble in 700 BC?
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What form does the government take?
How is it weakening itself and its people?
Demands of farmers?
In 590 Aristocrats appoint Solon, as reformer

Effects of his reforms?

Tyranny
 Democracy: Athenian Assembly rules

10 Generals
CLASSICAL GREECE

Period from 500 until 338.
 Begins with war against the
Persians,
 Ends when Alexander the Great
conquers Greece.
 Period from which those things
we most remember about
ancient Greece originated.
The Persian War
 Persia:

powerful empire to east of Greece
Had conquered many Greek colonies in Asia
Minor.
 499:
Greek cities revolted against Persian
domination.
 Assisted by naval forces from Athens.

What are their motives?
 Effect
of failed rebellion?
Battle of Marathon

Persian emperor Darius
attacks mainland Greece in
490.


What is expected?
Greek hoplites defeat the
Persians on the plains of
Marathon, roughly 26 miles
from Athens.
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How?
Effect on Greece and Persia?
Darius the Great
The Persian War
Darius’ successor, Xerxes, renewed the
invasion
 Sparta forms a defensive league and Athens
joins

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Sparta—strong army
Athens—strong navy
480: Persians attack with 150,000 troops and
700 ships. Huge army for ancient times
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Advantages for Greeks?
Thermopylae
Sack of Athens
Plataea: Defeat of Persians
 Herodotus:
First Greek Historian
Delian League

Athens wants greater
unity among city-states.
Why?
 Athens wants to continue
fight against Persians.
Where?
 Forms Delian League in
477 with Athens as
leader.
 Liberates Greek Asian
colonies
Athenian Dominance

Athens rejected calls by small
city-states to end the league.

Why maintain the alliance?

What is the effect for Athens?
 Pericles perpetuated power
of Athens
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Pericles
How did Pericles maintain his
own power in Athens?
In the League?
Athenian power at its height.
431 BC: Great Peloponnesian War
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Athens and Allies v. Sparta and Allies
Lasted 27 years
Destroyed classical Greece
Thucydides: Athenian historian
The Rise Of Macedonia

While the Greeks city-states were fighting each
other, the Macedonians were emerging as a
power in the north.
 Phillip II built a powerful army
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Battle of Chaeronea near Thebes in 338.
The Greeks were crushed by Macedonians
How do the Greeks “win?”
Corinthian league
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City-states required to pledge loyalty to Phillip.
Forced to help him fight Persia
Alexander the Great

Son of Phillip II. Took
power at age 20.
 Continued fight against
Persians
 Over the next 13 years,
created an empire
spanning Southwest Asia
 Effect of conquests for
Greece and the world?
Alexander’s Empire
Alexander’s Conquests

334: Granicus: defeats Persians in Asia Minor;
liberated the Greek states in Ionia
 333: Issus: Defeats a larger Persian force under
Darius III.
 332: takes control of Syria, Palestine and Egypt
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Established the city of Alexandria
Declares himself Pharaoh
331: Defeats the Persians in the decisive battle
at Gaugamela.
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Enters Babylon and takes the Persian capitals at
Susa and Persepolis,
Seized the Persian treasury and took vast quantities
of gold and silver.
Gaugamela I
Gaugamela II
Gaugamela III
Gaugamela IV
Alexander’s Conquests, cont.
 330:
Darius III is killed and Alexander
takes the title of the Great King of Persia.
 327: Conquers western India
 Alexander retreats; Why?

Consequences?
 323:
Alexander dies at the age of 32 due
to his wounds, fever and probably
excessive alcohol consumption.
Hellenistic Era
 Alexander’s
empire was short-lived, but
created smaller kingdoms across
Mediterranean.

Succession Crisis
 Hellenistic
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Kingdoms
Leading generals had been left to govern
areas of the conquered land.
What happens when Alexander leaves his
Empire in the hands of a one-year old boy?
Hellenistic Kingdoms
The Fate of the Hellenists
 Greeks
never stopped being seen as
invaders.

Why not?
 Established
new Greek colonies in
conquered lands.

Effects of those?
 Immigrants
from Greece to Hellenistic
kingdoms. What for?
 Economic and social trends
Culture In The Hellenistic World
 Greek
language, culture and tradition gave
Greek states a sense of unity.

Continued advancement in art, architecture,
literature and science.
 Alexandria

Libraries: centers of intellectual achievement.
 Science

and Pergamum
diverges from philosophy
Archimedes of Syracuse
Epicureanism

Epicureanism was founded by Epicurus near the
end of the fourth century BC.
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People’s self-interest should be the basic motivating
force.
Happiness is the goal of life
Means to achieve happiness is the pursuit of pleasure
“pleasure” is freedom from emotional turmoil, freedom
from worry, being mentally at ease.
To achieve peace one has to free oneself from public
activity.
What earlier school of thought informs
Epicureanism?
Stoicism
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Stoicism popularized by Zeno.
Rejected attempts to control one’s world to achieve
happiness

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Should define happiness without regard to day-to-day
travails and tragedies.
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Road to happiness: accept whatever life brought, good or bad.
Basic tenet was to live in harmony with the will of God.
Most popular philosophy of the Hellenistic period and was also
popular during the period of the Roman Empire
Stoics did not remove themselves from public affairs. Service
was considered noble.
What earlier school of thought informed Stoicism?