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The American University of Rome
HSM 201 - Survey of Western Civilization
Session 5
Classical Greece : Politics, Science and
Philosophy
…and the arts.
I
Minoan vs. Mycenaean palaces
Hittites and Egypt
Kadesh
Sea Peoples / Reemerging Assyria
16 years later…Ramses II
The treaty has been preserved both in its Hittite and Egyptian version
and its contents are identical apart from the opening: In the Egyptian
version it was the Hittite king suing for peace, while in the Hittite
version it was the pharaoh, who sent emissaries to Hatti.
Both empires make an undertaking not to attack each other's
territories, to come to each other's aid in an emergency and to
extradite rebels and political refugees. The gods are invoked to bear
witness and be guarantors of this peace. The frontiers are not laid
down in this treaty but can be inferred from other documents.
Evolution of Greek Politics
The Archaic period… after the Dark Ages… art?
politics? QC 3: What cultural changes marked the end of the dark Age
of Greece?
The formation of new political systems? From Demos to
Polis and birth of the City State. What is a Polis?
Pan-Hellenic colonial expansion by Greek poleis 800400 BC… Renewal (migrations) and growth of Greek populations
Hoplite tactics become standard in Greek warfare 725650 BC… QC 3: Hoplite tactics affecting Greek political norms? The
citizen-soldiers
Emergence of Tyrannical governments
Militarization of Sparta
700-600 BC
600 BC
Sequence in Athenian politics
Monarchy
pre-700
In the already established City State, the monarchy was replaced by an
aristocracy of nobles, the common people had few rights. The city was controlled
by the Areopagus (Council of Elders), who appointed three (later nine)
magistrates, or archons, who were responsible for the conduct of war, religion,
and law.
> Tyrannical governments
> Cylon, 632
> Draco and his laws
> Solon’s as archon, reforms
700-600 BC
621
594
finishing the social unrest
council (boulé), a popular
assembly (ekklesía), and law courts. He also encouraged trade, reformed the
coinage, and invited foreign businessmen to the city. Only partially successful.
> Pisistratus, tyrant, aristocracy 560 First temples on Acropolis
>Cleisthenes, democratic revolution 509 reorganizing the
city's tribal structure so that the base of his support was in the more democratic
urban center and in Piraeus. A powerful popular assembly
QC 3: To what extent was the culture of Athens in the Golden Age the product of
Athenian Democracy?
The Persian Wars
Treaties? diplomatic ties? Level of international
politics? Any previous international alliances?
What did the Persians seek in Greece? What could be gained
from such a territory? Or QC3: How were the Greek armies able to
defeat the much larger Persian forces?
> The accounts: Herodotus
Chronology
> Croesus, king of Lydia, conquers Greek cities of
Anatolia c. 560 BC
> Cyrus, king of Persia, conquers Lydia and controls
Greek cities 546 BC
> Ionian revolt 499-494 BC
> Darius invades Greece, 1st Persian War
> Battle of Marathon 490 BC, Leonidas and the
Spartans
Map of the battles from website
aerial view of acropolis
> Xerxes invades Greece 480 BC, 2nd Persian War
> Sack of Athens
> Defeat at Thermopylae
>Victory at Salamis 480 BC
> Rebuilding of the wall and port of Pireaus
> Battle of Plataea 479 BC last remnants
> Formation of the Delian League, led by Athens 478477 BC…the Athenian (commercial) Empire…
> Pericles and the greatness of Athens, 450
Q of chapter 4 of the Expansion of Greece
> What conditions led to the growing number of mercenaries in the 4th c.
BC.
> Why did Plato’s ideal polis differ from Aristotle’s?
> What accounts for the remarkable success of the Macedonian
conquests?
> What characteristics defined and distinguished the three major
Hellenistic kingdoms?
> Why as prosperity so unevenly distributed in the Hellenistic economy?
> What was the relationship between Epicureanism and Stoicism?
> What were the principal themes of Hellenistic architecture abd
sculpture?
> Why did science and medicine flourish in this period?
> What changes occurred during the Hellenistic period to the polis-based
culture of classical Greece?