Download 4th Century Greece - Eastern New Mexico University

Greece & Rise of Macedon
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Aftermath of Peloponnesian War
– Sparta installs Thirty Tyrants in Athens
(404-403 B.C.)
– Oligarchy overthrown, general amnesty
– Sparta attempts to control all of Greece
 Makes alliance with Persia: Sparta has free
hand in Greece; Persia has authority over
Ionian cities
 King’s Peace 386 B.C.
Rise of Thebes
Thebes challenges Spartan hegemony
– Defeats Sparta at Leuctra in 371 B.C.
 Tactics of Epaminondas
 Sacred Band: 150 pairs
– Thebes invades Laconia, frees Helots
 Thebes emerges as leading military power
– Athens rebuilds military and naval power
– Sparta and Athens challenge Thebes; defeated
at Mantinea in 362
 Epaminondas killed
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Plato, 429-347 B.C.
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Contributed to the study of Western
psychology, philosophy, logic, & politics
– Realism (Idea of ideal forms)
Dialogues of Socrates
 The Republic
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– Central Themes:
 Nature of Justice
 Political Community
 Reason as the basis of human institutions
Plato on the Polis
Supported the polis, but had no love for
contemporary Athenian democracy
 Convinced that individuals were not
capable of rising above their own narrow
self-interests
 Preferred an enlightened oligarchy
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Aristotle, 384-322 B.C.
Contributed to the study of philosophy, logic,
physical & biological sciences, ethics, politics,
& constitutional government
 Philosophy based on the application of
reason: Rationality is the way to achieve
knowledge
 Aristotelian Ethics: Pursuit of happiness is
the main goal in life. But an individual’s
happiness can be achieved only through
virtuous acts
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Aristotle on Politics
Humans are naturally disposed to form
political associations
 The polis was the natural outcome of human
nature
 Criticized Athenian democracy because it
allowed uneducated people to control politics
 Believed that only certain people were
bestowed with the capability to undertake the
responsibilities of citizens
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The Rise of Macedon
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Philip II of Macedon (359-336 B.C.)
Vying interests with Athens
– Seizes Amphipolis, gold mines make him rich and
independent
– President of Delphic amphictyony
– Philippics of Demosthenes
Invasion of Greece (339 B.C.)
– Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.)
League of Corinth (338 B.C.) unites Greece Philip
forbids war without permission
– No tribute, but must support Macedon
The Rise of Macedonia and the
Hellenistic World
Philip II of Macedon (359-336 B.C.)
– Military innovations: combined arms
– Conflict with Athens
– Invasion of Greece (339 B.C.)
– Battle of Chaeronea (338 B.C.)
– League of Corinth (338 B.C.)
 Philip plans invasion of Persia
 Philip assassinated (336 B.C.)
 Alexander III (the Great) becomes king
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The Macedonian Phalanx:
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Philip‘s innovation to overawe and dominate the
traditional Greek phalanx
Use of the sarissa, the long spear, to present an
impenetrable front
Use of cavalry to protect flanks
Alexander the Great
and the War on Persia
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Rise of Alexander III
(356-323 B.C.)
Macedonia’s War with
Persia: 334 B.C.
– Use of companion
cavalry &
Macedonian phalanx
– Granicus 334
– Issus 333
– Gaugamela 331
 Death of Darius
The Conquests of Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
at the Battle of Issus, 333 B.C.
•Alexander’s March to Persepolis in 330
•Effective End of Persian Empire
•Macedonian Empire: Asia Minor, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, India
•Death in Babylon in 323 BC
After Alexander
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End of Persian empire
Leadership vacuum in Macedonia
– Murder of wife Roxane and son in 310
Division of conquests
– Egypt: Ptolemy
– Mesopotamia: the Seleucids
– Greece & Macedon: the Antigonids
Effective end of Greek polis as complete
expression of Greek life
Greek culture dominates Eastern Mediterranean
– Emergence of common Greek language: koine
Hellenistic Kingdoms, ca. 240 B.C.
Greek Art

Transition from classic style to Hellenistic
– Realism rather than idealism
– High level of skill in sculpture and
architecture
– Advances in engineering and warfare
 Catapults and quinqueremes
– Emergence of monarchies rather than
democratic rule
Statue of Zeus at Olympia
Statue of Athena
 Combines realism and
symbolic elements
 Religious function not art
Bronze
Charioteer
(c. 475)
Myron,
Diskobolus
(c. 460
B.C.)
Pythokritos, The
Winged Victory
of Samothrace
(ca. 200 B.C.)
The Laocoon:
Roman copy of
a masterpiece of
Hellenistic
sculpture
Dying Celts:
Sculpture for the
King of Pergamun,
ca. 230 B.C.
Contemporary Artist‘s Sketch of a Catapult
Designed by Hero ca. 270 B.C.