Download Chapter 4: Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean

Chapter 4: Classical
Civilization in the
Mediterranean:
Greece and Rome
AP World History I
Classical Civilization
-Mediterranean shore line
-800 bc- 476ad
Persia
• By 550 BCE, Cyrus the Great had established a massive
empire from the Middle East to India
• Mesopotamia successor
• Preserved local customs (cuneiform)
• Tolerant- empire diverse in languages and cultures
• Development of Zoroastrianism
Persian achievements
1. Darius (after Cyrus)- worked hard to
centralize laws and tax collection
2. Infrastructure- roads reduced travel
time, simplified commerce and troop
movement
3. Inns provided rest stops
This would help Middle East connect
to central and eastern Asia
Zoroastrian
-Zoroaster religious leader
-monotheism
-individual salvation through the free
choice of God over evil
- battle: good vs evil
-”House of Song” vs eternal pain
Persian empire was toppled by
Alexander the Great
-Greek educated conqueror
-Impressed by Persian political
structure
-Persian language and culture survived
in NE ME
Persian Empire
Greece
• RVC ME and Africa spread to some islands
near Greek Peninsula
• Crete- Egyptian influence
• Greeks were an indo-European people who
took over the Balkan Peninsula by 1700 BCE
• Early kingdom of Mycenaeans (S Greece)
around 1400s
– Kingdom in Homer’s epics about the Trojan War
• Rapid rise in Greek Civilization from 800
BCE to 600 BCE
Indo/European Migrations
Greek Development
• City-state
concept, rather
than a single
political unit.
• Trade and
economy
flourished
• Alphabet based
off of Phoenician
alphabet
Greek Development
• City-state celebrations (Olympic games)
• Athens and Sparta become the two most
powerful city-states
• Sparta
– Strong military aristocracy dominating a slave
population
• Athens
– Strong commercial, intellectual, and artistic state
(also with slaves)
Athens and Sparta
• Both city-states cooperated
between 500 and 449bc to
defeat a huge Persian invasion
• After this, Athenian and Greek
civilization in general reached
its zenith- more colonies
spread
• In Athens, Pericles sets the
model for democratic
negotiation
Peloponnesian War
• 431-404 BCE
• Athens v. Sparta
• Sparta technically wins, but
both city-states are so weak
that ambitious kings from
Macedonia soon conquer the
cities.
– Philip II of Macedon
– Alexander
Greece at Peloponnesian War
(Athens and Sparta colors
are backwards!)
Hellenistic Empire
• Alexander expands Greek
influence beyond the
peninsula, to…
–
–
–
–
Asia Minor
Egypt
Middle East
India
• Short-lived…Alexander dies at
33 after 13 years of conquest.
Hellenistic Period
• Greek Art and Culture merge
with other Middle Eastern
forms during this time period.
– Trade flourished
– Important scientific centers were
established like Alexandria, in
Egypt
Hellenistic Empire
Greek Politics
• Politics comes from “polis,”
Greek for “city-state.”
• Citizens felt that the state was
theirs…rights and
responsibilities
– Participation in the military too
• Diversity in political forms
– Unlike China’s elaborate
bureaucracy
Greek Politics
• “demos” = “the people”
– Democracy
• General assemblies in which all
citizens could participate
– Direct democracy…not elected
representatives.
– Met every 10 days
– Only a minority were active
participants
Greek Politics
• The most widely preferred political
framework centered on aristocratic
assemblies
• Sparta: Singularly militaristic
aristocracy
• Other city states were aristocratic,
but not necessarily bent on the
impact of the military
• Aristocracy comes from Greek
terms, meaning “rule of the best”
Rise of Rome
• Last phase of Classical Med. Civ
• The Roman state begins around 800 BCE
as a local monarchy in central Italy.
• Aristocrats drive out monarchy in 509
BCE and the Roman Republic was born
– Extends influence over the Italian peninsula
-Strong military
-3 Punic Wars 264-146 bc
- Carthage (North Africa)
- Hannibal- Carthaginian General
(not this guy)
-brutal/bloody
-salt to harm
agriculture
-Roman Empire-Greece to Egypt
-Politics in Rome unstable
-Civil Wars
-Julius Caesar 45 bc took power
-Grandson Augustus Caesar 27 bc
-Marcus Aurelius 180 ad
-Empire now Spain, North AfricaGermany (p87)
-Decline of empire
Rise of Rome
• Roman conquest spread
quickly during the Punic Wars
from 264 to 146 BCE.
– Fought armies of the Phoenician
city of Carthage under leadership
of Hannibal
– Romans seize the entire western
Mediterranean along with Greece
and Egypt
Punic Wars
Rise of the Roman Empire
• Politics in Rome grew unstable
• Julius Caesar takes power in 45
BCE
– Following his assassination,
Augustus Caesar takes power in
27 BCE
• 200 years of peace, known as
Pax Romana through the reign
of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE.
Pax Romana
• Empire maintains great vigor
• Spreads peace throughout the
Mediterranean world
• Expansion of trade, culture,
arts, architecture, etc.
Roman Empire
Provinces of the Roman
Empire
Roman Empire
• Slow, decisive fall, lasting over 250 years,
finally falling in 476 CE
• Emperor Constantine adopts Christianity as
official religion in 313 CE to attempt to
unite empire
• Specifically in the western half of the
Roman Empire, effective government
became local.
• Invasions from nomadic peoples from the
north
• Loyalty of non-Roman army recruits were
suspect
Roman Politics
• In the Roman Republic, the
constitution guaranteed that
citizens would gather in
periodic assemblies
– To elect magistrates entrusted
with the will of the common
people
• Legislative body was the
SENATE
Roman Politics
•Senate was comprised of mostly
aristocrats
•Two consuls shared primary
EXECUTIVE power
•In times of crisis, the senate could
choose a dictator to hold emergency
powers
•Cicero, a Roman Senator, engaged in
political theory by writing on the issues
of political ethics, duties of citizens, and
importance of incorruptibility.
•Represents Confucianism, but with
less hierarchy and obedience, or
bureaucratic virtues.
•During the Empire, the Roman senate
became rather meaningless.
Roman Law
• By 450 BCE the Roman Republic
introduced its form of codified law,
the Twelve Tables of Roman Law.
– Restrain the upper classes from
arbitrary action against the lower
– Subject all citizens to common
legal principles.
– LAW takes over characteristics of
families, fathers, or landlords
– Common sense doctrine…
Roman Law
• With citizenship in the Roman
empire came full access to
Rome-appointed judges and
uniform laws.
– Property rights
– commerce
The Roman State
• Placed great premium on
military service/conquest
• VAST PUBLIC WORKS
– Roads/harbors
(military/commerce)
– Stadiums
– Public Baths
– Gladiator contests
– Theaters
– Aqueducts
Roman Coliseum
Roman Aqueducts
Roman Theaters
Roman Religion
• Government sponsored official
religious ceremonies etc, but
were tolerant of different
strains
– Attacked Christianity, but only
because they didn’t put they
allegiance to the state first
• In difference to China and
India, the Romans did not
create a “great world religion”
Greco/Roman Religion
• Christianity was aided by the
Romans, but was not a product
of Rome.
• In Greco/Roman Religion,
there was a complex system of
gods and goddesses
– Names different, but
organization the same…
Greco/Roman Religion
• Zeus or Jupiter: preside over
the gods
• Apollo: Sun
• Neptune: Oceans
• Mars: War
• Venus: Love/Beauty
• Other gods were patrons of
other human activities.
• Gods were depicted as human
Greco/Roman Religion
• Gods did not necessarily
elevate people to higher planes
of spirituality, they merely
regulated life…
– Lack of spiritual passion
– Leaves a sense of dissatisfaction
• Leads to the development of
philosophy as a separate form
of thinking and behavior
regulation
Greco/Roman Philosophy
• Philosophers like Aristotle and
Cicero urge moderation an
balance in human behavior.
– Stoics emphasize inner moral
independence, strict discipline of
the body, and personal bravery…
– Will mix with Christianity later…
Greco/Roman Philosophy
• Philosophy emphasized the
power of individual rational
thought…
– Socrates (b. 469 BCE) encouraged
pupils to question conventional
wisdom
• Rational inquiry
– Plato (student of Socrates)
suggests that human reason
could understand the absolutely
true, good, and beautiful.
Greco/Roman Intellectualism
• Not necessarily scientists…but
emphasis on rational thought
– Try to find balance in the
universe…try to explain
everything
– Theories…some wrong…about
the motions of the planets,
elemental principles of earth, fire,
air, and water.
– Impressive work in Geometry
(Pythagoras’ theorem)
Greco/Roman
Intellectualism
• Ptolemy: produced an
elaborate theory of how
the sun revolves around
the earth
– Geocentric theory
(Hellenistic)
– Contradicts middle east
thought of the time
Roman Intellectualism
• More practical than the
Greek…
– Engineering achievements
• Roads, aqueducts
• Arches
Greco/Roman Literature
• Music/Dance festivals
• Greek Drama
–
–
–
–
Comedy and tragedy
Sophocles: Oedipus Rex
Homer: Iliad and Odyssey
Virgil: Roman Poet
Greco/Roman Aesthetics
• Greek artists excel in ceramic
work
• Roman painters decorate the
homes of the wealthy
• Greek columns develop three
different ornamentations…
– Doric
– Ionic
– Corinthian
Greco/Roman Aesthetics
• Roman architects adopt the
Greek themes and use
engineering skill to build upon
them.
– Romans learn how to add domes
to rectangular buildings
– Empire adopts a taste for massive
monuments and public buildings
– Demonstration of the empire’s
size and strength
The Greco/Roman Economy
• Substantial portion of the
population were farmers (not in
the cities!)
– Poor soil conditions
– Conversion of economy to market
economy because of the wholesale
production of olives and grapes.
– Required substantial capital
• Conquered territory to get access
to grain producing fields
– Sicily and Northern Africa
The Greco/Roman Economy
• Trade with civilizations outside of
the Mediterranean was less
profitable…
– Goods were inferior to Asian
(China/Indian) goods
• Most traders were foreigners from
the middle east, or descendants of
Phoenicians and Lydians.
• Merchants had higher status in
Rome (forming class underneath
landed Patricians)
• Merchants fare better in the
Mediterranean than they did in
China
Greco/Roman Slavery
• Aristotle produced elaborate
justifications for the use of slavery
– Athens used slaves for housekeeping and
in silver mines
– Sparta uses slaves in agriculture
• Rome expands use of slavery, also as
tutors for children
• Neither Greece or Rome were
particularly interested in technological
innovations.
– Slave reliance impacts this…
• The Mediterranean world lags behind
India and China in technological
innovation, which accounts for its trade
imbalance with Asia