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Chapter 3
The Classical Greece and the Hellenistic Period
3.1 The Classical Age
Goals
Identify developments in ancient Greek culture.
Discuss the significance of Athens in ancient Greek culture.
Recognize developments in Greek art.
Recognize developments in Greek architecture.
Recognize developments in literature.
Discuss the important role of the Parthenon in ancient Greek culture.
Cite architectural components and terminology.
The period covered in this chapter falls into three parts. The first, the years from 479
B.C.E. to 404 B.C.E., saw the growth of Athenian power and the consequent mistrust on
the part of the rest of the Greek world of Athens’ intentions. The same period was
marked by major cultural developments at Athens. Sculptors such as Myron and Phidias
created the High Classical blend of realism and idealism. Tragic drama, in which music
played an important role, reached its highest achievement in the works of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides. In 449 B.C.E. work was begun on the buildings on the
Athenian Acropolis planned by Pericles, Athens’ ambitious leader. The Parthenon and
the Propylea were completed in an atmosphere made increasingly tense by the
deteriorating relations between Athens and the other leading Greek states, particularly
Corinth and Sparta.
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3.2 The Peloponnesian War
Goals
Discuss the consequences of the Peloponnesian War in ancient Greek culture.
Discuss the role of Pericles in Athenian culture.
In 431 B.C.E. the Peloponnesian War broke out, with Athens and her few remaining
allies on one side and the rest of the Greek world on the other. In 429 B.C.E., Pericles
was killed by a plague that ravaged the city. In the absence of firm leadership, the war
dragged on. During a period of truce, the Athenians launched a disastrous campaign
against the Greek cities of Sicily. When hostilities resumed, the Athenians were fatally
weakened, and in 404 B.C.E. they surrendered to the Spartans and their allies.
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3.3 Classical Art and Literature
Goals
Recognize developments in ancient Greek art.
Recognize developments in ancient Greek literature.
Recognize developments in ancient Greek philosophy.
Understand the significant role of Thucydides.
The years of fighting profoundly affected cultural developments at Athens. Both the
sculpture and the vase painting of the late 5th Century B.C.E. show a new and somber
interest in funerary subjects. In the theater, the later plays of Euripides depicted the
horrors of war, while the comedies of Aristophanes mocked the political leaders
responsible for the turmoil. Thucydides wrote his History of the Peloponnesian War to
try to analyze the motives and reactions of the participants. Socrates began to question his
fellow Athenians about their moral and religious beliefs in a similar spirit of inquiry.
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3.4 The Late Classical Period
Goals
Identify developments in ancient Greek culture.
Discuss the significance of Sparta and Thebes in ancient Greek culture.
Recognize developments in ancient Greek art.
Recognize developments in ancient Greek philosophy.
Discuss the evolution of the human figure and how it is represented in Greek art.
The second period, from 404 B.C.E. to 323 B.C.E., was marked by considerable
upheaval. Athens was no longer the dominating force in the Greek world, but there was
no successor among her rivals. First Sparta and then Thebes achieved an uneasy control
of Greek political life. With the collapse of the optimism of the High Classical period, the
Late Classical age was marked by a new concern with the individual. The dreamy
melancholy of Praxiteles’ statues provide a strong contrast to the idealism of a century
earlier, while his figure of Aphrodite naked was one of the first examples in the Western
tradition of sensuous female nudity. The most complete demonstration of the new interest
in the fate of the individual can be found in the works of Plato, Socrates’ disciple, who
spent much of his life studying the relationship between individuals and the state.
Aristotle, Plato’s younger contemporary, also wrote on political theory as well as on a
host of other topics.
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3.5 The Rise of Macedon
Goals
Identify developments in ancient Greek culture.
Discuss Macedon’s significant influence on ancient Greek culture.
Discuss Alexander’s rise to prominence.
In 359 B.C.E. the northern kingdom of Macedon passed under the rule of Philip II and
began to play an increasing part in Greek affairs. Despite Athenian resistance, led by the
orator Demosthenes, Philip succeeded in uniting the cities of Greece in an alliance known
as the League of Corinth; the only important city to remain independent was Sparta.
When Philip was assassinated in 336 B.C.E., his son Alexander succeeded him and set
out to expand the Macedonian empire. After defeating the Persians, Alexander set out on
an amazing series of victories that brought him to the borders of India. Only the revolt of
his weary troops prevented him from going farther. In 323 B.C.E., in the course of the
long journey home, Alexander died of fever.
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3.6 The Hellenistic World
Goals
Identify developments in ancient Greece.
Discuss Macedon’s significant influence on ancient Greek culture.
Discuss Alexander’s influence on Western culture.
Recognize developments in architecture.
The period from 323 to 146 B.C.E., marked by the spread of Greek culture throughout
the parts of Asia conquered by Alexander, is known as the Hellenistic Age. In the
confusion following his death, four kingdoms emerged: Syria, Egypt, Pergamum, and
Macedon itself. Prosperous and aggressive and frequently at war with one another, they
combined Greek intellectual ideas and artistic styles with native Eastern ones.
The chief characteristics of Hellenistic art were virtuosity and drama. Works such as the
Altar of Zeus at Pergamum were commissioned by Hellenistic rulers to glorify their
reigns. Artists were encouraged to develop elaborate new techniques and employ them in
complex and dramatic ways. The principal buildings of the age were public works like
markets and theaters or scientific constructions such as the Lighthouse at Alexandria.
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3.7 The Roman Conquest of Greece
Goals
Discuss the consequences of Alexander’s death.
Discuss the consequences of Rome’s expansion into Greece.
Discuss the continued influence of Greece on Roman culture.
The inability of the Hellenistic kingdoms to present a united front caused them to fall
victim one by one to a new force in the eastern Mediterranean: Rome. By the end of the
3rd Century B.C.E. the Romans had secured their position in the western Mediterranean
and had begun an expansion into Asia that was to bring all the Hellenistic kingdoms
under their control. In 146 B.C.E., Roman troops captured the city of Corinth, center of
the League of Corinth founded by Philip and symbol of Greek independence. Greece was
made into a Roman province, and its subsequent history followed that of the Roman
Empire. If Greece was under Roman political control, however, Greek art and culture
dominated much of Roman cultural life and were passed on by the Romans into the
Western tradition.
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