CHAPTER 4: ANCIENT GREECE
4A- THE GEOGRAPHY OF ANCIENT GREECE
Geography can have an impact on society, politics, and economics. This is especially true of Ancient Greece, because its geography is so varied. The main physical geographic features of Ancient Greece included mountains, islands, and the sea.
The mountains of Ancient Greece separated people geographically. Due to this separation, Greek city-states tended to be isolated from one another. This meant that societies grew and developed independently. City-states had their own governments. So, without a central government, there was not a plan to create a big empire as we often imagined with respect to Ancient Greece.
Having access to the sea gave Ancient Greece the opportunity to grow economically. This allowed the city-sates to build many seaports to conduct trade. Greeks the became good mariners and were able to use their skills to trade with other city-states. Ancient Greeks used to travel via the Aegean Sea from city to city. In addition to being an important trade route, the sea provided an abundant source of food.
From the mountains to the sea and islands, the geography of Ancient Greece was very unique. It played a large role with respect to the establishment of a strong trade-based economy, political development and society as a whole.
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4B- THE ERAS OF ANCIENT GREECE
There are several iconic eras in Ancient Greece. When we think of Ancient Greece, we often only have one image of what life was like. We imagine booming city-states, strong military forces, thriving culture, bustling markets, etc., however this is only one side of Ancient Greece. There is much more interesting history about the other eras of Ancient Greece.
The Minoan civilization was located on the island of Crete and dates as far back as 3500 BCE. Urbanization began forming around 2000 BCE and flourishing until around 1100 BCE. The capital of Crete at this time was Knossos. This was a long-lasting civilization that was successful because of a strong navy and trade. Being an island, it was necessary for Crete to develop a skilled naval force in order to better protect themselves. Being an island located in the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas also meant that they had lots of opportunities for trade with other places. During the Minoan Era, there was a written language known as “Linear A.” The written characters in Linear A look like pictures, rather than letters. The Minoan Era’s strong navy, trading, and written language show that these people were intelligent and were a well-developed society.
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The Mycenaean civilization thrived on mainland Greece from around 1750-1050 BCE. At the time, there were many dialects spoken throughout Ancient Greece, however the Mycenaeans spoke Greek. They lived mainly in the city of Mycenae, with population nearing 30,000. There were also other Mycenaean cities which developed into separate city-states. These city-states became very important and had a lot of influence in Ancient Greece. Two of the major cities which became city-states were Thebes and Athens.
When you hear the name “The Dark Ages,” you might be thinking about a similarly named time period in European history. However, this is an entirely different time. The Dark Ages of Ancient Greece were much earlier. During this period, Greece suffered from natural disasters and attacks from invaders. These events were responsible for a 300-year struggle against famine, drought, and a declining population. It was also noted that during this time that the Mycenean culture's literacy was lost, making it difficult for historians to pinpoint an exact reason for the fall of their civilization.
The Archaic Era saw an upturn in quality of life and culture in Greece. This period is also known as classical Greece, and the Golden Age. This is the Greece which is often popularized in films and literature today. The Archaic Era saw the growth and flourishing of Greek culture in the city states. |
4C- GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Religion was an important aspect of Ancient Greek life. Ancient Greeks were polytheistic, meaning that they believed in multiple gods and goddesses.
These gods and goddesses were believed to control nature and guide each person’s life. The gods were so significant in Ancient Greek culture that the Greeks built monuments, statues, and other buildings to honor them. They also practiced rituals to show their respect and to please the gods. They also believed by doing this that it would secure their good fortune and win the favor of the gods. Other common practices were building altars, praying, presenting gifts, and dedicating festivals to honor the gods. In fact, the Olympics was originally a festival created to honor the god Zeus. The games were named the Olympics because it was held in the city of Olympia.
There were many gods and goddesses the Ancient Greeks venerated, but there were a few of particular importance.
- Zeus was believed to be the king of the gods. He was also worshipped as the god of the sky, weather, law and order, destiny, fate, and kingship.
- Hera was the queen of the gods. She was the goddess of marriage, women, the sky, and the stars of heaven.
- Athena was the goddess of wisdom, heroic endeavors, weaving, pottery, and crafts, which were all seen as very important elements of daily life in Ancient Greece. In her statues and monuments, she is depicted as a stately woman of dignity.
- Apollo was the god of oracles, music, song, poetry, archery, healing, plagues, and was considered a protector of young people. He was depicted in art forms as being a handsome, beardless young man.
- Artemis was the goddess of hunting, wilderness, childbirth, and wild animals. She was believed to be the protectress of girls up until they reached marrying age.
- Aphrodite was an Olympian goddess. She was the goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She was always shown in statues and other depictions as being a beautiful woman.
The Greeks believed that these gods and goddesses worked together to control people’s lives and the universe. The Ancient Greeks wanted to please the gods and honor them so that the gods would not allow any misfortune to enter into their lives.
4D- COMPARING ATHENS AND SPARTA
Athens and Sparta are two of the most well-known Ancient Greek city-states. Throughout history, their reputation has been built on their many achievements and incredible development for people of an ancient era. Although they were both a part of Ancient Greece, they had stark cultural differences.
Athens was considered to be cultured and intellectual. Athens had a very strong navy but was also known for so much more than their military strength. Athenian society was built on democratic values. They valued education greatly, and children learned reading, writing, and math. Promoting childhood education was considered advanced for this time.
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Athens was the leader of the Delian League. The Delian League was created in order to save Greek independence from Persian rule. Another important part of Athenian life was its economy and trade culture. Merchants and citizens traded goods at the “agora.” The agora was what we might imagine as a public square. It was the hub of the city, where goods as well as ideas were exchanged. It was here that Athenian culture grew and flourished.
Sparta was less interested in aesthetics than Athens, and more interested in military success. Sparta was the leader of the Peloponnesian League. This is important, because the Peloponnesian League was actually at war with the Delian League during the 4th century BCE. The Spartan army was very strong and is considered legendary to this day. It was very advanced in terms of tactical movement and organization. The Spartan government was an oligarchy, meaning that it was ruled by a very small group of people. The culture was dominated by the value of militaristic success. Of course, there was other work to be done besides going to war. People still needed to eat. The agricultural work was done by helots. Helots were essentially serfs, owned by the Spartan government for agricultural labor.
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Although Athens and Sparta had very big differences in culture and values, there were some basic similarities. First, they were both Greek city-states. Even though they appear to be opposites, they both show different sides of Greek culture: beauty, intellectualism, militarism and order. Finally, they were actually united in the war against the Persians.
4E- THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
The Persian Empire was one of the largest in history, at its height it spread from Egypt to the Indus River. Indo-Europeans began settling in the land east of the Fertile Crescent around 1000 B.C.E. In 550 B.C.E., a Persian king named Cyrus began conquering kingdoms. Over time, his empire had grown from Anatolia (Turkey) in the west to the Indus River in the east. The way that Cyrus ruled his empire was very unique for that time. He was tolerant of the people he conquered by allowing them to keep their local customs, religion, and language.
The Persian Empire was able to control such a large empire by establishing a well-developed imperial bureaucracy. The empire was divided into various provinces and each province was ruled by a governor called a satrap, making it easier for the emperor to effectively govern such a large empire. This system of bureaucracy has been copied in modern day governments and its influence can even be seen in modern American government.
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The Persians were also great engineers and built royal roads that connected the empire. These roads encouraged trade, communication, and allowed the military to move more quickly and effectively. As the Persian Empire spread, it came in contact with Central Asian, Mesopotamian, Arabic, and Egyptian cultures. All of these earlier civilizations contributed to the Persian culture and also allowed it to become the largest empire in the world at that time.
Around 600 B.C.E., a Persian prophet named Zoroaster emerged and his teachings and philosophies became the basis for religion known as Zoroastrianism. This religion teaches that there are two opposite forces in the universe, good and evil; and because of this, humans are involved in an endless battle and are expected to participate. Zoroastrians believe in one god, Ahura Mazda. They believe that Ahura Mazda would judge people based on how well they fought for good. Zoroastrianism became the main religion of the Persian Empire and is still practiced today in parts of Iran, India, Pakistan, and other small areas of the world. This religion has also influenced other religions such as Christianity and Islam.
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4F- THE GOLDEN AGE OF ATHENS
A “golden age” is a time of peace, prosperity, and happiness, and often occurs when cultural activities such as art or writing reach a peak. The Greek city-state of Athens reached its Golden Age between 480 - 404 BCE. This era is also referred to as the Age of Pericles, for the Athenian statesman who led the city from 461 to 429 BCE.
During its Golden Age, Athens was an artistic and intellectual hub. If there was a new contribution in the arts or sciences during this era in Greece, chances are that it was the work of an Athenian.
Athenians had an appreciation for poetry and drama. They enjoyed theater events in the genres of comedy, tragedy, and satire. Like today, there wore costumes and read from scripts. Performers the wore masks and and would stand in a semicircle. Some performers even gained celebrity-like status. Two of the most famous stage performers of the Golden Age were Euripides and Sophocles.
Aesthetics (beauty), logic, and order mattered very much to the Athenians. Fine and architecture and sculpture became important in their society. Athenians put a lot of time, effort, and great amounts of money into these art forms. The Parthenon is the most well-known building of this era. It was made to honor the Greek goddess Athena. There were many other buildings and statues constructed in honor of the Athenians’ gods. Skilled artisans also built monuments to honor the memory of military victory, athletic events, and other occasions. Their buildings were unique and featured many types of pillars. The world still appreciates these pillars today, and you can see them replicated on many government and residential buildings.
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The Athenians also valued the preservation of history. Even today, you can read the works of the Athenian historian Herodotus. He became known as the “father of history,” because he documented historical information spanning the Persian Wars along with his own travels. Another famous historian during this tie was Thucydides. In addition to being a general in Athenian Navy, he preserved the historical events of the Peloponnesian war. Xenophon was another soldier know for historical writing. He wrote about war tactics, politics, the general history of Greece, and even horse breeding.
Another common association with Athens is philosophy. The word “philosophy,” comes from a Greek word (philosophia) which means “the love of wisdom.” Socrates and Plato are two of the most well-known philosophers of the Golden Age. Socrates is credited with the Socratic method of teaching, while Plato wrote many philosophical works. His most famous written work is The Republic.
Ancient Greece also produced many important thinkers in the realm of science. Hippocrates applied logic to the field of medicine and collected information on hundreds of patients. His work helped advance the understanding on what causes disease or death, and also swayed people away from believing in supernatural causes.
Math and science were also important in Athenian society. Much of what we learn in math and science classes today comes from Golden Age Athens. For example, Pythagoras developed the Pythagorean theorem while Euclid introduced the world to Geometry. The lever and pulley were system was first explained by Archimedes, who also deducted the first accurate calculation of Pi (π).
4F- PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE
Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were some of the most famous Greek philosophers. Their philosophy has been so influential that it continues to be studied today. Although they lived so long ago, their intellectual contributions to the humanities are enduring because they laid the foundation of critical thought. Rather than accepting life as it came, they believed in questioning life. They also inspired debates about how to see the world. These debates are still relevant and studied today.
Socrates is given credit for laying down the fundamentals of modern Western philosophy. He created the Socratic Method, which is still used today. The Socratic Method was a way of thinking about the world which involved asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking. Socrates was also Plato’s mentor.
Plato not only studied under Socrates, but he was also the mentor of Aristotle. Plato is an important philosopher because he blended ethics, political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, and moral psychology together to form his philosophy. Plato is also famous for his dialogues, which can still be read today.
Aristotle, Plato’s student, is considered the father of the field of logic and a formalized system for reasoning. Aristotle’s philosophy is unique in that he believed that the ultimate purpose of human life was happiness.
A major feature of classical Greek philosophy was engaging others in discussion and debate. As is evident in the relationships of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, coming together in intellectual exchange was very important in the development of Greek philosophy.
4H- THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
Sparta and Athens were in competition with each other for control of Greece. This tension would eventually intensify into what became known as the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). Athens and Sparta were very different from each other in terms of cultural values and outlook on life. Sparta is typified by an austere, militaristic character, while Athens is remembered for being an intellectual capital with an appreciation for aesthetics. Naturally, when the two came up against each other in war, their unique advantages and disadvantages were highlighted.
Sparta’s militaristic culture was an essential part of their life and system of values. Their military was much stronger than Athens’ and had better training. This was their major advantage. As far as disadvantages, it might be hard to imagine how a militaristic city-state could possibly have any in regard to war. However, while their army was strong, their navy was not. The Athenians had the stronger navy. This meant that the Athenians could interfere with Sparta’s trade route, negatively impacting any reliance Sparta had on imported goods used in war or survival on the homefront.
Sparta and its allies were known as the Peloponnesian League. This alliance was led by Sparta and centered on the Peloponnese, which is a peninsula and geographical region in southern Greece. This region is connected to central Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth, which provided the league with most of the land powers of central Greece, including Corinth. The main victories for the Spartan army were at Plataea (427 BCE), the Battle of Amphipolis (422 BCE), and later, a victory at Sicily (413 BCE).
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The Athenian army was not as strong as the Spartan army; however, its navy was far more superior. Another advantage afforded to the Athenians was that many of their allies gave them financial support. The main disadvantage for the Athenians was a plague that struck around 430 BCE. This horrible plague was responsible for killing the Athenian leader Pericles along with many other Athenians, which took a huge toll on their morale. The plague also led to social unrest and a lack of unity. Due to the uncertainty of life during the plague, law and order in Athens was compromised as it caused widespread panic.
Athens was allied with the Delian league. The Delian league consisted of most of the islands and coastal states around the northern and eastern coasts of the Aegean Sea. Athens also had several key victories in the Peloponnesian War, and were even able to suppress a rebellion on the island of Lesbos.
The effects of the war were different for Athens and Sparta. Sparta was victorious, but after so many years of fighting in intense battles, their military was weakened. They were thus left more susceptible for an outside invasion. As for Athens, their flourishing, rich culture had been wounded by defeat. Overall, the military defenses of Greece were weakened by this prolonged war.
4I- ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Alexander the Great was born in 356 BCE, the son of the Macedonian KIng Philip II. Macedon was a kingdom just to the north of the Greek city-states. During his youth, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle until age 16. After Philip's assassination in 336 BCE, he succeeded his father to the throne and inherited a strong kingdom and an experienced army.
Alexander spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through western Asia and northeast Africa. By the age of 30, Alexander had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to northwestern India. He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of history's most successful military commanders.
In Egypt, Alexander the Great conquered Gaza. From there, he led his military towards the eastern gateway to Egypt at Pelusium. Alexander lead this campaign into Egypt for the purpose of expelling the Persians from Egypt. Surprisingly, he did not face any resistance from the Egyptians or from the Persian forces at Egypt's eastern frontier. Getting through Egypt with considerable ease, Alexander the Great went on with his forces across the Nile River and arrived at the capital of Memphis, where he was welcomed by the Egyptians.
Moving on to Persia, Alexander the Great showed how powerful he and his forces were as he crushed a revolt in Thebes. He was able to use military strength along with political savvy to overthrow Persian leadership. He then went eastward where he finished his conquest of the Persians.
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After he conquered the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, Alexander the Great began another campaign in India. Alexander attempted to reach the "ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea" and invaded India in 326 BCE, winning an important victory over the Pauravas at the Battle of the Hydaspes. He eventually turned back at the demand of his homesick troops, dying in Babylon in 323 BCE, the city that he planned to establish as his capital.
Alexander's legacy includes the cultural diffusion of the vast territory he conquered. The next age in Greek history was known as the Hellenistic World, when Persian and Indian influences merged with Greek culture. Alexander became legendary as a classical hero in the mold of Achilles. He is featured prominently in the history and mythic traditions of both Greek and non-Greek cultures. He was undefeated in battle and became the measure against which military leaders were compared. Military academies throughout the world still teach his tactics. He is often ranked among the most influential people in history.
4J- COMPARING HELLENIC AND HELLENISTIC GREECE
The Hellenic Age describes the period of Classical Greece between 507 BCE (the date of the first democracy in Athens) and 323 BCE (the death of Alexander the Great). This is the period that many know as the Golden Age of Ancient Greece.
Hellenic culture was based on the way of life that developed in the major Greek city-states like Athens, Sparta, and Corinth. This includes the development of democracy in Athens, the great philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and the countless scientists, artists, historians, and writers that helped to develop Western culture.
Greek literature of the Hellenic period began with Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey and continued through with the great playwrights Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus and Aristophanes.
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Greek mythology and the gods of Mount Olympus played an important part in the lives of the people of the Hellenic World. Great statues and temples were created for the worship and praise of their gods and goddesses such as the Parthenon in Athens, which was dedicated to the goddess Athena, and the Temple of Zeus at Olympia.
The Hellenistic period began with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. After his conquests, a wave of Greek colonization spread to the East. This led to a great cultural diffusion and the merging of Greek, Persian, and Asian culture.
Politically, the Hellenistic Period is characterized by a division and a split from Alexander's former empire with endless wars between his successors. The city-states which dominated the Hellenic Age were replaced by larger kingdoms with more centralized power.
This period showed progress in architecture, the development of art, and creation of libraries, with the most famous being the Great Library of Alexandria. This library was one of the largest and most significant libraries of the ancient world
During the Hellenistic period the importance of the Greek peninsula within the Greek-speaking world declined. The great centers of Hellenistic culture became Alexandria and Antioch, the capitals of Ptolemaic Egypt and Seleucid Syria respectively. Cities such as Pergamon, Ephesus, Rhodes and Seleucia were also important, and increasing urbanization of the Eastern Mediterranean was characteristic of the time.
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The Hellenistic Age is considered to end with the annexation of the classical Greek Achaean League heartlands by the Roman Republic. This culminated at the Battle of Corinth in 146 BCE, a crushing Roman victory that led to the destruction of Corinth and ushered in the period of the Roman era of Greece.