Greek Archaic Period 750 500 B C De

Greek Archaic Period (750 -500 B. C. ) (De Blois, pp. 67 -88)

Introduction to the Archaic Period • The eighth century B. C. marked what new course in the history of Greece? – The emergence of an entirely new culture rather than a revival of the former Mycenaean culture • The Archaic period in Greece coincided with the era of what three empires? – Neo-Assyrian, neo-Babylonian, and Persian empires • Greeks made contact with what other peoples during the Archaic period? – Egypt, Lydia and Phrygia, Persia, and the Phoenicians

Demographic and Economic Changes • Great changes occurred during the Archaic period in what five areas? – Cultural, demographic, economic, social, and military • What was the main demographic change? – Greek population increased significantly • What were three economic consequences of this change? – Farmers concentrated more on crop cultivation rather than raising stock. • Waste land was brought under cultivation. • The range of crops was expanded. – Some Greeks took to the sea for piracy or trade. – Cities developed as a result of the fusion of expanding villages.

The Polis • A polis was a community with its own political organization. • Polis means “city state. ” • A typical polis comprised – a small territory with an urban administrative center and meeting place, – the agora, later to also serve as a marketplace, – and a fortified hill, the acropolis.

Elements common to the government of most poleis • They were governed by officials with specific responsibilities, such as military leadership, jurisdiction, or the supervision of religious practices, who were appointed in some kind of election. • Very few were ruled by kings (Sparta being a notable exception). • The noble (privileges by birth) landowners monopolized the political offices – an aristocracy.

Principal concern of all poleis • Freedom and autonomy – the freedom from domination by a great power or by a different polis, – which implied autonomy, or the possibility of making one’s own laws.

Another political element in archaic Greece • The ethne (plural of ethnos, meaning nation) consisting of tribal structures which prevailed in less developed areas – groups of small communities that joined forces in special circumstances such as for military operations – Sometimes cities developed in these areas and the cities later developed into poleis.

The Greeks never developed a unified country, yet they had a national identity • The Greeks felt united – by a common language, – by their worship of the same gods, – and by their communal traditions, such as the Olympic Games.

Greek colonies • From whom did the Greeks most likely borrow their ideas of the polis, alphabet, and artistic motifs? – The Phoenicians • What was the Greek solution to over-population? – Colonization • The main Greek colonies – The majority of colonists settled as farmers in the fertile areas along the shores of the Black Sea, in Sicily, and southern Italy. – The later two areas were known as Magna Graecia (greater Greece)

Greek colonies (2) • How did Greek colonies differ from other colonies such as the European colonies in America during the 17 th and 18 th centuries AD? – A Greek colony (apoikia) was not a foreign territory governed by the city that founded the colony, but a new, independent polis, which was bound to its mother city only by moral and religious ties. • Athens and Rome were unique among ancient world cities in what respect? – They were extremely large cities where the majority of inhabitants were not engaged in agriculture and therefore they were dependent on imports from regions with surplus grain.

The impact of the demographic and economic changes of the 8 th century BC • What new social group emerged in Greece? – Nouveaux riches (new rich) – people who had managed to make a new fortune • What was the impact on the typical small farmer? – Life became increasingly difficult for the old-fashioned small farmer. – Family property had to be split up amongst children every generation, resulting in smaller and smaller plots until they became too small to support a family. – Farmers couldn’t switch crops because they lacked the resources or surplus land to tide them over through the unproductive period of the change. – Many farmers had to take out loans since they did not produce enough surplus grain to sow the next crop. When their crops didn’t increase, they were reduced to debt-bondage.

Military Changes • Who were the primary soldiers during the ‘dark ages’? – Only the noble elite • What was a hoplite? Describe how hoplites fought. – In the Archaic period, the new rich and middling farmers could afford to equip themselves with armor – helmet, breastplate, greaves, spear, and shield. – The soldiers were called hoplites after the hoplon, or shield. – Hoplites fought in a body in close array known as a phalanx. The hoplites had to ensure that the ranks remained closed so that the unprotected right sides of their bodies were covered by their neighbors’ shields, thus the need for a strong sense of solidarity.

Greek hoplite and phalanx

Greek Phalanx

Writing • When and where did the Greeks acquire the alphabet? How did they change it? – They borrowed it from the Phoenicians in the 10 th century BC. – The Greeks adapted the alphabet, which included only consonants, for their own language by using some of the existing characters for vowels and adding new characters. – With only minor changes, this is the alphabet which has been passed down to us through the Romans. • What are the oldest forms of Greek writing that have survived? In what style were they written? – Literary texts. They were written in verse because they were intended to be memorized and recited.

Homer and Hesiod • Explain the significance of Homer. – His epics were regarded as a kind of Bible. – They were a compulsory part of Greek education until well into the Hellenistic age. – They described the nobility in the dark ages. – The competitive mentality of the nobles and the portrayal of the gods as superior anthropomorphic beings with the same mentality as the aristocracy had a profound influence on Greek thought and religion. • Explain the significance of Hesiod. – Hesiod told us about the lower classes of early Greek society. – His ‘Works and Days’ describes the harshness of farming. – His ‘Theogony’ systematized the legends about the gods of the Greek pantheon.

Greek Vase Art • What were three phases of vase painting in ancient Greece? – 700 s – Yellow, Oriental style, was characterized by zigzags and swastikas with stylized human figures. – 500 s – Athenian vase painters started to decorate their vases with figures in black silhouette. – Red-figure style came later.

Yellow or Geometric

Black Figure

Red Figure Pottery

Greek Architecture • What were three types of architecture in ancient Greece? – Architecture was distinguished by the style of column – Doric (Greece, 600 s, Parthenon best example), Ionic (Ionia and the Aegean islands, temple of Athena Nike), and Corinthian (300 s). See Fig 9 -3 a, p. 84. – The key difference was in the capital. The Doric was plain. The Ionic had a scroll. The Corinthian had a flowery design.

Architecture

Doric

Ionic Temple Athena Nike

Corinthian Temple of Zeus

Religious similarities • What were the similarities between Greek and other Near Eastern religions? – They were all polytheistic. – The gods were seen as anthropomorphic beings. – There was no official dogma. – Rituals were important in establishing a good relationship with the gods. – Each city had its own patron god or goddess. – The Greek views on death and the after-life were similar to the Mesopotamian views.

Religious differences • What were differences between the Greek and other Near Eastern religions? – The Orphic movement was a mystery religion based on the assumption that the body and the soul were separate entities. The soul could free itself from the body after death. Reincarnation was part of this belief. Orphism had a profound influence on Pythagoras and Plato, and became an important doctrine in Christianity. – Greek followers of Demeter (Earth goddess) believed in a blissful life after death. – The Greek temples never played a central part in economic, cultural, and administrative affairs. Nor did they have large estates or a priesthood with the power to manipulate politics. The Greek myths did not originate in the temples.

Philosophy and Science • Who was primarily responsible for the Greek pantheon? – Homer • To whom do we our knowledge of the legends on the origins of the Greek gods? – Hesiod • What gave rise to natural philosophy and physical science? Why was this important? – Some original minds no longer accepted the explanations for physical phenomena given in myths. – They tried to determine the primal substance from which everything evolved and to analyze processes in the natural world with logical reasoning. – This was important in representing the first steps towards a new, rational way of analyzing and explaining natural phenomena, which was to become the basis for Western scientific thought.

Early Greek Philosophers • Xenophanes (6 th century) – Monotheistic. Believed the gods of the myths were only helpers and different embodiments of one supreme god. He criticized Homer’s depiction of the gods. • Anaxagoras (c. 500 – c. 428) – denied the existence of the gods of the Greek pantheon. He believed that everything ultimately consisted of indivisible parts. The movement of those parts was controlled by a divine spirit, the mover of the cosmos. • Democritus (c. 460 – c. 370) – called the indivisible parts ‘atoms. ’ • Pythagoras (b. 531) – He believed the cosmos was composed of seven spheres according to numeric ratios, with the earth in the lowest sphere. Knowledge of numbers and measures (mathematics) was the key to understanding the cosmos and nature. He had an Orphic view of reincarnation. His followers, Pythagoreans, developed a political philosophy centered on his beliefs and the idea that government was best left to wise, philosophically trained experts.