Download Ch. 1.2 The Civilization of the Greeks

Ch. 1.2 The Civilization of
the Greeks
Classical Greece 800 BCE – 338 BCE
I. The Polis: The Center of Greek
Life
• A town, city, or village where the people
met for political, social, and religious
activities.
– Usually hilltops served as political and
religious centers, ex. The Parthenon atop the
Acropolis in Athens
– Lower ground, the agora, usually was the
center of social and economic activity
Athens
The Agora (lower ground)
The Acropolis (city on a hill)
Greek City-States
• 3 main groups:
– Citizens WITH political
rights (free adult
males)
– Citizens WITHOUT
political rights (women
and children)
– Non-citizens (slaves
and foreigners)
• Citizens:
• Only about 10% of
the population
• Took part in lawmaking
• Duty to fight and die
for city-state
IA. City-States: Sparta
800-600BCE
• Military State
• Males at 7 years taken away and put under state
control (unhealthy children left to die)
• Males at 20 put in army; lived in barracks until 30, when they were
allowed to live at home, vote in the assembly, but they remained in
military service until age 60.
• Women lived at home allowing for greater personal freedom;
exercise was encouraged to bear healthy children
• All meals eaten in public
• Foreigners and travel were discouraged because of fear of
insurgency and new ideas
• Education limited; study of philosophy, literature, and
the arts not allowed for fear of free thinking
IB. Athens
•
•
•
•
•
Largest, most powerful city-state
By 683BCE, Athens had shifted from a monarchy to an aristocracy
Citizens elected the nobles to government
Aristocrats owned the best land & controlled politics
Economic problems forced small farmers into debt and
slavery
• By 594BCE, Solon reformed the economy by canceling
the debts and ending slavery
• 508BCE, Cleisthenes made further reforms by allowing
ALL citizens to submit and debate laws
– Created the Council of 500, whose members were chosen
randomly
– Considered the founder of democracy; direct democracy
• 461-429BCE: Pericles
– The Golden Age of Greece
– Increased democracy by paying public officials and jurors
– Athens becomes center of Greek culture
– “We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics minds
his own business; we say he has no business here at all.”
• When Anacharsis saw Athenian democracy at
work, he remarked that it was strange that in
Athens wise men spoke and fools
decided. Solon showed Anacharsis some laws
that he was drafting for the
Athenians. Anacharsis laughed at Solon for
imagining that the dishonesty and greed of the
Athenians could be restrained by written
laws. Such laws, said Anacharsis, are like
spiderwebs: they catch the weak and poor, but
the rich can rip right through them.
II. The Greek Love of Wisdom
• Philosophers used logic and reason to
think critically about the nature of the
universe
• Investigated society, morality, politics
II. Greek Philosophers
A. Socrates
B. Plato
•
•
•
Goal of education to improve
human understanding
•
“the unexamined life is not
worth living”
•
Question authority
1. The Socratic Method: a
technique to draw knowledge
from pupils through question
and answer
Socrates’ student
Wrote “The Republic” –
society should be ruled by
philosopher-kings; society
should be governed by the
wisest, not the richest.
• Men and women should be
equal in education and
position
• 3 groups in society:
1. philosopher-kings who ruled
2. Warriors to protect
3. Masses
Death of Socrates, Jacques-Louis David,
1787, The Met, New York.
C. Aristotle
• Plato’s student
• Wrote “Politics”
• Analyzed and classified the
world based on observation
and investigation
• Studied forms of government
and concluded the three best
were: aristocracy, monarchy,
and constitutional government;
the latter being the best of the
three
• Developed libraries and local
museums; expanded
curriculum of schools
Plato gestures up toward Heaven, his
source of inspiration
Aristotle points to the earth, from
which his observations sprang
Decline of Greece
•
Peloponnesian War (431 – 409 BCE) between
Sparta and Athens
–
•
•
Sparta defeats Athens, disbanding the Delian
League (a Greek city-state military alliance) and
thereby weakening Greece
338BCE King Philip II of Macedonia invaded
and defeated the Greeks, ending democracy &
restoring a monarchy
With Greece in decline, Rome is developing its
power…
Classical Art
– Relating to the culture of ancient Greece and Rome (classical
Antiquity). The classical world played a profoundly important role
in the Renaissance, with Italian scholars, writers, and artists
seeing their own period as the rebirth (the "renaissance") of
classical values after the Middle Ages. The classical world was
considered the golden age for the arts, literature,
philosophy, and politics. Concepts of the classical, however,
changed greatly from one period to the next. Roman literature
provided the starting point in the 14th century, scholars patiently
finding, editing and translating a wide range of texts. In the 15th
century Greek literature, philosophy and art - together with the
close study of the remains of Roman buildings and sculpturesexpanded the concept of the classical and ensured it remained a
vital source of ideas and inspiration.
Raphael, School of Athens
1509-1511, Vatican Palace, Rome, Italy
Greek Art
• The art of the ancient Greeks is
often referred to as "classical art." It
is simple and geometric and placed
a great emphasis on the beauty of
the human body. They usually used
their ideas of the ideal human or of
the gods as the subject of their art,
rather than actual people. The Greek
people used their artistic talent to
create beautiful sculptures, vases,
paintings, jewelry, and reliefs. Many
of these pieces still exist today.
Venus de Milo,
Sculpting is probably what the
Louvre, Paris.
Greeks are most known for,
however. Many museums around
the world house ancient Greek
sculptures or copies of those
sculptures.
Greek Vase, British
Discobolos by
Myron
Nike of Samothrace,
Louvre, Paris.
The Parthenon restoration project
(Bombed by the Venetians in 1687 when it was under Turkish control and used
as an ammunition storage facility. The rocket destroyed the building’s center.)
• It is said that “More
human creative genius
concentrated on the
Periclean Acropolis than
in any other place or time
in the history of Western
Civilization.”
• At one time or another it
has been converted to a
Byzantine Church, a
Catholic Church, and an
Islamic Mosque. Each
time the building was
structurally modified.