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Chapter 10
Mediterranean Society:
The Greek Phase
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1
Classical Greece, 800-350 B.C.E.
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Early Development of Greek Society
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Minoan society
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Island of Crete
Major city: Knossos
Ca. 2200 B.C.E., center of maritime trade
Scholars unable to decipher Linear A script
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Decline of Minoan Society
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Series of natural disasters after 1700 B.C.E.
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Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves
Foreign invasions
Crete falls under foreign domination
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Mycenaean Society
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Indo-European invaders descend through Balkans
into Peloponnesus, ca. 2200 B.C.E.
Influenced by Minoan culture
Major settlement: Mycenae
Military expansion throughout region
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Chaos in the Eastern Mediterranean
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Trojan war, ca. 1200 B.C.E.
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Homer’s Iliad
Sequel: Odyssey
Political turmoil, chaos from 1100 to 800 B.C.E.
Mycenaean civilization disappears
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The Polis
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City-state
Urban center, dominating surrounding rural areas
Highly independent character
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Monarchies
“Tyrannies,” not necessarily oppressive
Early democracies
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Sparta
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Highly militarized society
Subjugated peoples: helots
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Serfs, tied to land
Outnumbered Spartans 10:1 by sixth century B.C.E.
Military society developed to control threat of
rebellion
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Spartan Society
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Austerity the norm
Boys removed from families at age seven
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Received military training in barracks
Active military service follows
Marriage, but no home life until age 30
Some relaxation of discipline by fourth century
C.E.
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Athens
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Development of early democracy
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Free adult males only
Women, slaves excluded
Yet contrast Athenian style of government with
Spartan militarism
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Athenian Society
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Maritime trade brings increasing prosperity
beginning seventh century B.C.E.
Aristocrats dominate smaller landholders
Increasing socio-economic tensions
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Class conflict
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Solon and Athenian Democracy
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Aristocrat Solon mediates crisis
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Aristocrats to keep large landholdings
But forgive debts, ban debt slavery
Removed family restrictions against participating
in public life
Instituted paid civil service
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Pericles
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Ruled 461-429 B.C.E.
High point of Athenian democracy
Aristocratic but popular
Massive public works
Encouraged cultural development
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Greek Colonization
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Population expansion drives colonization
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Coastal Mediterranean, Black Sea
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Sicily (Naples: “Neapolis,” new city)
Southern France (Massalia: Marseilles)
Anatolia
Southern Ukraine
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Classical Greece and the Mediterranean
Basin, 800-500 B.C.E.
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Effects of Greek Colonization
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Trade throughout region
Communication of ideas
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Language, culture
Political and social effects
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Persian Wars (500-479 B.C.E.)
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Revolt against Persian empire, 500 B.C.E., in
Ionia
Athens supports with ships
Yet Greek rebellion crushed by Darius 493
B.C.E.; Athenians rout Persian army in 490
B.C.E.
Successor Xerxes burns Athens, but driven out as
well
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The Delian League
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Poleis create Delian League to forestall more
Persian attacks
Led by Athens
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Massive payments to Athens fuels Periclean expansion
Resented by other poleis
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The Peloponnesian War
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Civil war in Greece, 431-404 B.C.E.
Poleis allied with either Athens or Sparta
Athens forced to surrender
But conflict continued between Sparta and other
poleis
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Kingdom of Macedon
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Frontier region to north of Peloponnesus
King Philip II (r. 359-336 B.C.E.) builds massive
military
350 B.C.E., encroaches on Greek poleis to the
south; controls region by 338 B.C.E.
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Alexander of Macedon
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“Alexander the Great,” son of Philip II
Rapid expansion throughout Mediterranean basin
Invasion of Persia successful
Turned back in India when exhausted troops
mutinied
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Alexander’s Empire, ca. 323 B.C.E.
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The Hellenistic Empires
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After Alexander’s death, competition for empire
Divided by generals
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Antigonus: Greece and Macedon
Ptolemy: Egypt
Seleucus: Persian Achaemenid empire
Economic integration, intellectual crossfertilization
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The Antigonid Empire
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Smallest of Hellenistic empires
Local dissent
Issue of land distribution
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Heavy colonizing activity
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The Ptolemaic Empire
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Wealthiest of the Hellenistic empires
Established state monopolies
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Textiles
Salt
Beer
Capital: Alexandria
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Important port city
Major museum, library
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The Seleucid Empire
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Massive colonization of Greeks
Export of Greek culture, values as far east as
India
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Bactria
Ashoka legislates in Greek and Aramaic
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Trade and Integration of the
Mediterranean Basin
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Greece: little grain, but rich in olives and grapes
Colonies further trade
Commerce rather than agriculture as basis of
much of economy
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Panhellenic Festivals
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Useful for integrating far-flung colonies
Olympic Games begin 776 B.C.E.
Sense of collective identity
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Patriarchal Society
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Women as goddesses, wives, prostitutes
Limited exposure in public sphere
Sparta partial exception
Sappho
Role of infanticide in Greek society and culture
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Slavery
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Scythians (Ukraine)
Nubians (Africa)
Chattel
Sometimes used in business
Opportunity to buy freedom
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The Greek Language
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Borrowed Phoenician alphabet
Added vowels
Complex language
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Science and Mathematics
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Use of observable evidence, rational thought
Thales predicts eclipse, 28 May 585 B.C.E.
Democritus, atoms
Pythagoras, systematic approach to mathematics
Hippocrates, human anatomy and physiology
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Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.)
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The Socratic method
Student: Plato
Public gadfly, condemned on charges of
immorality
Forced to drink hemlock
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Plato (430-347 B.C.E.)
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Systematized Socratic thought
Republic
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Philosopher kings
Theory of Forms or Ideas
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Aristotle (389-322 B.C.E.)
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Student of Plato
Broke with theory of Forms or Ideas
Emphasis on empirical findings, reason
Massive impact on western thought
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Greek Theology
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Polytheism
Zeus principal god
Religious cults
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Eleusinian mysteries
The Bacchae
Rituals eventually domesticated
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Tragic Drama
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Evolution from public presentations of cultic
rituals
Major playwrights (fifth century B.C.E.)
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Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Comedy: Aristophanes
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Hellenistic Philosophies
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Epicureans
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Skeptics
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Pleasure, distinct from Hedonists
Doubted possibility of certainty in anything
Stoics
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Duty, virtue
Emphasis on inner peace
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