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Greeks and Romans Note Packet
Intro
In Many ways, the Greeks were one of the first “civilized” cultures. Here we will discuss
many aspects of how they lived, keeping in mind that this is merely an overview.
Time Period

No person can pinpoint exactly the start of Greek culture. There is evidence
around 750 BC the Greeks produced the first phonetic alphabet. Later, around
500 BC they produced the 1st prose work about history Historia.

Most delineate Greek culture to start with the Persian Wars of 480-479. Two
battles stand out in this war:
o Battle at Marathon in which the Persians were led by King Darius (See the
book of Daniel) and were defeated by the Greeks.
o Battle at Thermopylae when 300 Spartans and 700 Thespians killed
20,000 Persians led by King Xerxes (See the book of Esther). Although the
Greeks lost this battle, their bravery spurred other city-states to fight and
led to the eventual defeat of the Persians.

Around the same time, (509 BC) the Romans freed themselves from another ruling
group and established the Roman republic which lasted until about 31 BC during
which time they garnered more power and land (including the land of Greece).

The Republic of Rome ended when Julius Caesar was stabbed for trying to make
Rome a dictatorship. The noble intentions actually resulted in Mark Anthony and
Octavian splitting rule of the Roman Empire as an oligarchy. Eventually, however,
Octavian (who renamed himself Caesar Augustus) killed Antony and became the
sole ruler of Rome. This began a long history of Roman Caesars, some good, some
bad.
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
The Roman Empire was eventually weakened by becoming too large to govern
effectively and a devastating plague. In 395 AD it broke into the Eastern
(Byzantine) and Western Empire. It was further brought to collapse when Attila the
Hun invaded from the East in 441 and the Visigoths invaded the Western empire
in 476. The empire was split into much smaller provinces in 476 which more or less
have grown into the countries we know today.
Religion
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The ancient Greeks were a deeply religious people. They worshipped many gods
whom they believed appeared in human form and yet were endowed with
superhuman strength and ageless beauty.
•
Sanctuaries or temples still stand today in tribute to Gods and Goddesses of
Ancient Rome.
Men
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Men ran the government, and spent a great deal of their time away from home.
When not involved in politics, the men spent time in the fields, overseeing or
working the crops, sailing, hunting, in manufacturing or in trade.
•
For fun, the men enjoyed wrestling, horseback riding, and the famous Olympic
Games, in which competitors were nude.
Women
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With the exception of ancient Sparta, Greek women had very limited freedom
outside the home. They could attend weddings, funerals, some religious festivals,
and could visit female neighbors for brief periods of time. In their home, Greek
women were in charge.
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•
However, Most Greek women did not do housework themselves. Most Greek
households had slaves – persons of former countries that were sacked by Rome
then auctioned to her citizens. Though slaves had some rights (they could not be
mistreated for instance) they did not have the many rights that Roman citizens
enjoyed and prided themselves on.
•
Chariot racing was the only game in the Olympics women could win, and only then
if they owned the horse. If that horse won, they received the prize.
Children
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The ancient Greeks considered their children to be 'youths' until they reached the
age of 30!
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In Athens, as in most Greek city-states, with the exception of Sparta, girls stayed
at home until they were married.
•
However, boys were tutored privately in groups or individually.
Political Landscape
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The Greeks believed in polis (city-state) which acted independently yet
cooperatively with language, trade, and religion uniting the culture.
•
Later, when the Romans conquered the Greeks, they maintained the city-state
idea, adding a body of governors (Senators) elected from the people to be their
voice, and of course, a supreme Emperor in the new capital of Rome.
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Cities – Sparta, City of War
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The goal of education in Sparta, an authoritarian, military city-state, was to
produce soldier-citizens who were well-drilled, well-disciplined marching army.
Spartans believed in a life of discipline, self-denial, and simplicity. Boys were very
loyal to the state of Sparta.
•
The boys of Sparta were obliged to leave home at the age of 7 to join sternly
disciplined groups under the supervision of a hierarchy of officers. From age 7 to
18, they underwent an increasingly severe course of training.
•
They lived, trained and slept in the barracks of their ________. At school, they
were taught survival skills and other skills necessary to be a great soldier. School
courses were very hard and often painful. Although students were taught to read
and write, those skills were not very important to the ancient Spartans.
•
Only warfare mattered. The boys were not fed well, and were told that it was
fine to steal food as long as they did not get caught stealing. If they were caught,
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they were beaten. They walked barefoot, slept on hard beds, and worked at
gymnastics and other physical activities such as running, jumping, javelin and discus
throwing, swimming, and hunting. They were subjected to strict discipline and harsh
physical punishment; indeed, they were taught to take pride in the amount of pain
they could endure.
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At 18, Spartan boys became military cadets and learned the arts of war. At 20,
they joined the state militia--a standing reserve force available for duty in time of
emergency--in which they served until they were 60 years old
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Somewhere between the ages of 18-20, Spartan males had to pass a difficult test
of fitness, military ability, and leadership skills. Any Spartan male who did not
pass these examinations became a perioikos. (The perioikos or the middle class
were allowed to own property, have business dealings, but had no political rights
and were not citizens.)
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Unlike the other Greek city-states, Sparta provided training for girls that went
beyond the domestic arts. The girls were not forced to leave home, but otherwise
their training was similar to that of the boys. They too learned to run, jump, throw
the javelin and discus, and wrestle with some of the mightiest strangling a bull.
Girls also went to school at age 6 or 7. They lived, slept and trained in their
sisterhood's barracks. No one knows if their school was as cruel or as rugged as
the boys school, but the girls were taught wrestling, gymnastics and combat skills
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At age 18, if a Spartan girl passed her skills and fitness test, she would be
assigned a husband and allowed to return home. If she failed, she would lose her
rights as a citizen, and became a perioikos, a member of the middle class.
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•
In most of the other Greek city-states, women were required to stay inside their
homes most of their lives. In Sparta, citizen women were free to move around, and
enjoyed a great deal of freedom, as their husbands often did not live at home.
Cities – Athens City of Knowledge
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The name of Athens in Ancient Greek was Athinai (pronounced roughly At-hairnigh). This is a plural form: the city was called "The Athenses" since it was originally
a group of villages which coalesced into a city. The name has no definite
etymology in Greek. The Greeks believed the city was named for its protectress,
the goddess Athena, but it is equally possible that the goddess took her name from
the city.
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Athens began its history as a Neolithic hill-fort on top of the Acropolis ("high city"),
some time in the third millennium BC. The Acropolis is a natural defensive position
which commands the surrounding plains.
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The most important religious site in Athens was the Temple of Athena the Virgin,
known to us as the Parthenon, which stood atop the Acropolis, where its evocative
ruins still stand.
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The 5th century BC marked the zenith of Athens as a centre of literature,
philosophy and the arts. Some of the greatest names of Western cultural and
intellectual history lived in Athens during this period: the dramatists Aeschylus,
Aristophanes, Euripides and Sophocles, the philosiphers Aristotle, Plato and
Socrates, the historians Herodotus, Thucydides and Xenophon, the poet Simonides
and the sculptor Pheidias.
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The city became, in Pericles's words, "the school of Hellas.” Fear of Athenian power
and dynamism led to the Peloponnesian War in 431 BC, which pitted Athens and
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her increasingly rebellious empire against a coalition of land-based states led by
Sparta and lasted twenty-seven years.
Cities – Delphi City of Religion
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Delphi was revered throughout the Greek world as the site of the
omphalos stone, the center of the universe.
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The omphalos is a type of religious stone artifact/ tablet. The word omphalos
means “navel” in Greek. According to the ancient Greeks, Zeus sent out two eagles
to fly across the world and they met at its center, the "navel" of the world - which
the omphalos represents.
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Many records indicate that the omphalos stone was the holiest object at various
oracle centers in all the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the most well
known being at Delphi.
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It most likely originated from the "stone of splendor" associated with the Canaanite
god Baal. (Biblical story of Elijah)
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The main characteristic of the omphalos/stone of splendor was its ability to allow
direct communication with gods.
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The centerpiece of Delphi was the temple of Delphi, built with donations from
every Greek city-state and from abroad.
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Also in the area is the Corycian Cave, sacred to Pan, and here each November
ancient worship rituals involved drinking and sexual orgies took place. The contrast
with the Delphic shrine is striking, and perhaps out of embarrassment, no attempt
has been made either to publicize the place or to make it easy to visit. Pan's
image in art – half-man, half goat with horns -- was adopted in the Christian era
as the image of the Devil.
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Oracle – one who tells the future or interprets the will of the Gods.
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When Apollo killed the serpent/god python, he was punished by not being able to
speak directly with humans.
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So, an oracle (an older ) prophesied for him at the place where he killed
_______________.
Cities – Corinth City of Crossroads
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Located on the Isthmus that joins Peloponnesus to Greece.
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In classical times the ancient city rivaled Athens and Thebes in wealth, based on the
traffic and
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Corinth was a major exporter of black-figure pottery to cities around the Greek
world.
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Corinth's great temple on its ancient acropolis was dedicated to Aphrodite.
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Corinth was also the gateway for trade between the Greek worlds and
Egypt.
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During this era Corinthians developed the Corinthian order, the third order of the
classical architecture after the Ionic and the Doric.
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The Corinthian order was the most complicated of the three, showing the
accumulation of wealth and the luxurious lifestyle.
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The Doric order was analogous to the strict and simplistic lifestyle of the older
Dorians like the Spartans.
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Ionic was a balance between those two following the philosophy of harmony of
Ionians like the Athenians.
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Ionic

Doric
Corinthian
When Paul first visited the city (AD 51 or 52), Gallio, the brother of Seneca, was
proconsul. Paul resided here for eighteen months (18:1-18). Here he first became
acquainted with Aquila and Priscilla.

He went from Troas to Macedonia, and then likely passed into Corinth for a
"second benefit" (2 Corinthians 1:15), and remained for three months, according to
Acts 20:3.

Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians reflects the difficulties of maintaining a
Christian community in such a cosmopolitan city.
Cities – Troy City under _Siege

Trojans were originally a steppe people related to the Magyars. After attacking
and destroying the __Hittite Empire, they came to control the Straits.

The Trojan War was a war waged, against the city of Troy by the armies of the
Achaeans, following the kidnapping (or elopement) of ___Helen Of Sparta_ by
Paris of Troy.

The _lliad__ describes an episode late in this war

Calchas the oracle had stated that the Greeks would not win without __Achilles.
His mother Thetis, knowing that Achilles would die if he went to Troy, tried to hide
him among the girls.
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
According to one story they blew a horn, and Achilles revealed himself by seizing
a __spear to fight ntruders rather than fleeing
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The history of the Trojan war is rooted in mythology. Peleus and Thetis had not
invited _Eris the goddess of disccord, to their marriage and the outraged goddess
stormed into the wedding banquet and threw a golden _apple_ onto the table.
The apple belonged to, Eris said, whomever was the __fairest.
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•
__Hera, _Athena, and _Aphrodite each reached for the apple. Zeus proclaimed
that Paris, prince of Troy and thought to be the most beautiful man alive, would
act as the judge.
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Hera promised him _power_, Athena promised him _wealth, and Aphrodite
promised the most beautiful __women in the world.
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Paris chose __Aphrodite, and she promised him that __Helen, wife of Menelaus,
would be his wife. Paris then prepared to set off for Sparta to capture Helen. Twin
prophets Cassandra and Helenus tried to persuade him against such action, as did
his mother, _Hecuba. But Paris would not listen and he set off for Sparta.
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In Sparta, Menelaus, husband of Helen, treated Paris as a royal guest. However,
when Menelaus left Sparta to go to a __funeral, Paris abducted Helen (who
perhaps went willingly) and also carried off much of Menelaus' wealth.
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Menelaus then called upon all of Helen's old suitors, as all of _suitors had made an
oath long ago that they would all back Helen's husband to defend her honor.
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The first _nine_ years of the war consisted of both war in Troy and war against
the neighboring regions. The Greeks realized that Troy was being supplied by its
neighboring kingdoms, so Greeks were sent to defeat these areas.
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As well as destroying Trojan economy, these battles let the Greeks gather a large
amount of resources and other spoils of war, including women (e.g., Briseis,
Tecmessa and Chryseis).
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The Greeks won many important battles and the Trojan hero __Hector fell, as did
the Trojan ally _penthesilea_. However, the Greeks could not break down the
walls of Troy.
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Patroclus was killed and, soon after, __Achilles was felled by Paris.
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•
Helenus, son of Priam, had been captured by _Odysseus_. A prophet, Helenus told
the Greeks that Troy would not fall unless:
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a) Pyrrhus, Achilles' son, fought in the war,
b) The bow and arrows of Hercules were used by the Greeks against the Trojans,
c) The remains of Pelops, the famous Eleian hero, were brought to Troy, and
d) The Palladium, a statue of Athena, was stolen from Troy (Tripp, 587).
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Still seeking to gain entrance into Troy, clever __Odysseus (some say with the aid
of Athena) ordered a large wooden _horse_ to be built. Its insides were to be
hollow so that soldiers could hide within it.
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Once the statue had been built by the artist Epeius, a number of the Greek
warriors, along with Odysseus, climbed inside. The rest of the Greek fleet sailed
away, so as to deceive the Trojans
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That night, after most of Troy was asleep or in a drunken stupor, __Sinon let the
Greek warriors out from the horse, and they slaughtered the Trojans.
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Menelaus, who had been determined to kill his faithless wife, was soon taken by
Helen's beauty and seductiveness that he allowed her to live.
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The surviving Trojan women were divided among the Greek men along with the
other plunder. The Greeks then set sail for home, which, for some, proved as
difficult and took as much time as the Trojan War itself (e.g., Odysseus and
Menelaus).
We’ll now look at Odysseus’ journey home from the war as recorded in The Odyssey.