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Unit Two
The Geography of Greece
Greek Geography
• Greece was divided into small self-governing
communities (city-states or polis).
• The main reason for this was the geography
of the region: islands and valleys cut off by
the sea or mountains.
• Warrior aristocracies developed with main
centers in Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Delphi,
and Thebes.
• Each city-state controlled smaller areas and
over time inter-city rivalry would give way to
war between city-states.
Bronze Age Greece
Minoan Civilization
Crete: Minoan Civilization
(Palace at Knossos)
Knossos: Minoan Civilization
The Mycenaean Civilization
The Mask of Agamemnon
Greek “Dark Age” to Archaic
• The so-called “Dark Age” (1150 B.C.E.- 700
B.C.E.) was a time when Greece was largely
isolated from the rest of the world.
• Greek isolation ended when Phoenician ships
began to enter the Aegean and gave the
Greeks a writing system (phonetical) and
aided in the development of civilization from
the Eastern Mediterranean and SW Asia..
• While much of Greece remained primarily an
oral culture, development of theatrical drama,
philosophical dialogues, and oratory came
from the interaction of speaking and writing.
Homer: The “Heroic Age”
• Greek religion encompassed a wide range of
cults and beliefs known as sky-gods.
• Some of the gods represented the forces of
nature, Zeus and Poseidon, and others
beauty, war,etc.
• The two great epic poems, the Iliad and the
Odyssey, by Homer put these deities in
anthropomorphic form.
• Greeks would seek out oracles for advice or
predictions of the future. The most
prestigious was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi
in central Greece.
• Many of the other gods were fertility gods.
Olympia: Temple to Hera
The Arts & Sciences (Pre-Socratic)
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DRAMA (tragedians):
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Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.E.)
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Sophocles (496-406 B.C.E.)
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Euripides (480-406 B.C.E.)
THE SCIENCES:
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Pythagoras (580-490 B.C.E.?) - father of mathematics
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Democritus (460-370 B.C.E.)- all matter made up of
small atoms.
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Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.E.) “Father of Medicine”
Early Athenian Lawgivers
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Draco (7th C B.C.E.)- “draconian”
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Solon (6th C B.C.E.) - lawgiver; divided
Athens into four classes based on farm
yields; avert civil war
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Cleisthenes (5th C B.C.E.) - created the first
democracy.
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Pericles- Athenian democracy: Assembly,
Council of 500, People’s Court; Parthenon
Persian Wars: 499 BCE – 480 BCE
Persian Wars: Famous Battles
$ Marathon (490 BCE)
 26 miles from Athens
$ Thermopylae (480 BCE)
 300 Spartans at the
mountain pass
$ Salamis (480 BCE)
 Athenian navy victorious
Golden “Age of Pericles”:
460 BCE – 429 BCE
Great Athenian Philosophers
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Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.)
 Know thyself!
 question everything; Socratic Method
 only the pursuit of goodness
brings happiness.
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Plato (428-347 B.C.E.)
 The Academy
 The world of the FORMS
 The Republic  philosopher-king
Great Athenian Philosophers
$ Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.)
 The Lyceum
 Collect and categorize a vast array of
knowledge: politics, philosophy, ethics, logic,
poetry, rhetoric, physics, astronomy,
meteorology, zoology, and psychology;
 Modern disciplines and the Scientific method.
Acropolis
The Acropolis Today
The Parthenon
The Agora- “Gathering Place”
The Classical Greek “Ideal”
The Ancient Olympics:
Athletes & Trainers
Peloponnesian Wars- 431 B.C.E.
The Peloponnesian War
• The emergence of Athens as an imperial power
after the Persian Wars led to open hostilities with
former allies.
• Mainly between the Spartans, financed by the
Persians, and the Athenians, lasted three
decades with the victory of the Spartans.
• Persia regained much of its control and because
of uprisings in Egypt, Cyprus, and Phoenicia, it
did not return to attack Greece.
• In northern Greece, Macedonians, Philip II and
his son, Alexander, would reshape the eastern
Mediterranean and western Asia in this vacuum.
Macedonia Under Philip II
Alexander the Great
356-323 B.C.E.
Alexander the Great
• He saw himself as an
Achaemenid ruler in the
tradition of the Persians.
• Alexander,a Macedonian,
defeated Athens but was
welcomed by the military
to power.
• Alexander and his armies
would travel over 22,000
miles and extend Greek
influence from Egypt to
the Indus River.
• Benevolent despotism but
don’t test him.
Alexander the Great in Persia
Building Greek Cities in the East
Library at Alexandria (333 B.C.E.)
Alexander the Great’s Empire
Pergamum:
A New
“Hellenistic”
City
Cosmopolitan
Culture
Trade in the Hellenistic World
Hellenic vs. Hellenistic Art
The Breakup of Alexander’s Empire
The “Known” World – 300 B.C.E.
The Incursion of Rome into the
Hellenistic World
Conclusions
• Greek language and culture became the dominant culture
among the ruling intellectual and commercial elites from
the Mediterranean, India, Russia, and Central Asia.
• Local customs coming from the Persians, endured and
transformed the simplicity of earlier Hellenic culture into
the more complex, elaborate, and cosmopolitan Hellenistic
culture until the death of the last Macedonian queen,
Cleopatra in 30 B.C.E.
• Buddhist art is also transformed.
• Hellenistic ecumene- unified urban culture, encompassing
the vast lands and diverse peoples.
• Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Delphi and later cities
built by Alexander and his generals.
• Asia, Africa, and Europe begin to merge culturally.