Mediterranean Society The Greek Phase Chapter 10 The

Mediterranean Society: The Greek Phase Chapter 10

The Sea • The geography of Greece had a huge influence on the way early Greeks lived. • Greece lies on a southern part of the Balkan Peninsula, and points southwards into the Mediterranean Sea. • The Aegean Sea is to the east and the Ionian Sea is the west. • Because of Greece’s long, uneven, coastline many Greeks became fishermen, sailors, and traders.

Classical Greece, 800 -350 B. C. E. 3

Physical Geography and its Impact • Greece’s geography made it hard for early people to have a sense of unity. • Short mountain ranges and small island chains kept villages and people groups apart from each other. • Because of this isolation, separate city-states began to emerge.

Minoans • The first civilization in Greece was the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete around 2000 BCE. • The Minoan civilization was named after its founder and ruler, King Minos. • His palace and capital city was at Knossos. • The palace was cover with frescoes-paintings made on wet plaster walls. • The Minoans worshipped the bull and an Earth goddess • In 1628 BCE, a volcano erupted on a nearby island. • Tidal waves caused by the eruption destroyed most of the island, and severely weakened the Minoan government.

The Mycenaeans • The Mycenaeans controlled mainland Greece from 1600 BCE-1200 BCE. • There were a warring people who grouped themselves into clans and tribes. • Their main cities were built in a fort-like style. • They developed a form of writing called Linear B that was an early form of the Greek language. • By 1200 BCE, a combination of earthquakes and wars had destroyed most of the Mycenaean cities.

Linear B

Greek Alphabet

The City-States of Greece • During the 800 s and 700 s BCE, the Greeks began to form a number of independent citystates. • The Greek word for city-state is polis. • The polis was usually developed around a fort. • Over time the polis came to represent the center of Greek identity and its inhabitants were intensely loyal to. • Each polis was completely separate from one another socially, politically, and economically.

City-States • The largest Greek city-states were Athens and Sparta. • Most city-states had less than 10, 000 people and the population was mostly slaves and non -citizens. • In order to be citizen of a polis you had to be a free adult male. • Each polis had an acropolis or hill where temples and public buildings. • Each polis also had an agora or marketplace that served as a public meeting place.

Sparta: History and Geography • Around 1100 BCE, invaders from the North conquered the area of the Peloponnesus Peninsula. • These invaders forced the indigenous people to work for them and treated them harshly. • The conquered, native people were called helots. • These invaders founded the city-state of Sparta was in a mountain valley; the city had no walls for protection.

Spartan Life • The polis controlled the life of Spartans from infancy until death. • Children were inspected at birth to see if they were healthy enough to survive a Spartan life. • Boys left home at the age of 7 and could not return home until the age of 30. • Girls stayed at home but were put through physical training to prove they could be healthy wives and mothers of future Spartan soldiers.

Athenian Society • Strongly patriarchal • Like Sparta, Athens had three social classes: • Citizens, Metics, Slaves • Citizens were the top class, but were given the title because they were born in Athens, not because of heritage. • Metics were people born outside of Athens. They had no voting rights. • Slaves had no rights at all. If they were freed they became Metics.

Athenian Government • Archons or generals were elected in times of war, but some who came to power abused it. • Draco was a tyrant and Archon who wrote Athens first law code. • It was so harsh that even today, harsh laws are referred to as Draconian Laws. • In 507 BCE, Cleisthenes seized power and turned Athens into a democracy.

The Athenian Economy • Most Athenians were poor farmers who grew olives, grapes, and figs. They planted these on terraced hillsides. • Terracing means to carve small, flat plots of land out of the hillside. • Trade was a major part of the economy. • Athens exported olive oil, wine and other household items while they imported grain and other foods.

Greek Colonization • Population expansion drives colonization • Coastal Mediterranean, Black Sea • • Sicily (Naples: “Neapolis, ” new city) Southern France (Massalia: Marseilles) Anatolia Southern Ukraine Effects of Greek Colonization �Trade throughout region �Communication of ideas � Language, culture �Political and social effects

Classical Greece and the Mediterranean Basin, 800 -500 B. C. E.

Home Life • Athenians believed that money should be spent on buildings to benefit the whole community, not on private homes. • Because of this belief, many homes were simple, one story structures made out of sun-dried brick with no plumbing.

Women in Ancient Athens • Marriage was an important part of life. Parents always arranged the marriages. Girls would marry at 13 or 14 while their husbands might be twice that age. • Women were considered inferior to men, and their main duties were supervising the slaves, children, and the household. • Girls learned to run a household, but did not receive a formal education. • Sappho (c. 610 -c. 580 BC) is a rare exception.

Early Education in Athens • Mothers took care of their children until the age of 7. At that time boys came under the care of their pedagogue. This was a male house slave that taught the boys manners. • Boys could also be sent to elementary school for a small fee. There they would study reading, writing, grammar, poetry, music, and gymnastics. They would learn to recite the epics of Homer by heart!

Secondary Education in Athens • The school for older boys was run by the Sophists. There they learned government, mathematics, ethics, and rhetoric. • Ethics deals with what is good, bad, and moral duty. • Rhetoric is the study of oratory or public speaking, and debating. • At 18, men received a year of military training. • The Greeks’ focus on education help to spread their culture and ideas across the known world.

The rise of the Aristocrats • The city-states of Greece had originated as small kingdoms ruled by warrior chieftains from their hilltop fortresses. • The chieftains had to rely on wealthy landowners to run and fund their armies • Over time this group of landowners became know as the aristocrats or “best men” in Greek. • By 700 BCE, the aristocrats had thrown over their rulers and took the power for themselves.

Aristocracy • Greek city-states that were controlled by nobles were known as aristocracies. • Originally, the word aristocracy meant “rule by the best” • Over time, the aristocracy came to represent a privileged social class that was composed of the wealthiest landowners in the city-state.

Hoplites • Around 600 BCE, there was a shift in many Greek economies and some non-aristocrats began to grow wealthy. • Now those who were not aristocrats could afford weaponry and stand up for themselves. • A new kind of non-aristocractic soldier called the hoplite emerged in many parts of Greece. • Hoplites were heavy infantry who carried long spears and who fought in closely spaced rows.

Tyrants • As a result of the formation of the hoplites, many Greeks began to look for other forms of leadership. • Some city-states adopted the government of a tyrant. • A tyrant was someone who illegally took power but had the people’s support. • At first many of the tyrants ruled well, but many became unjust and that is why the word tyrant came to mean someone who uses absolute power brutally.

Democracy • By 650 BCE, many city-states overthrew their tyrants and the idea of popular government started to take root. • Popular government is the idea that people can and should rule themselves. • Some city-states like Athens developed forms of democracy-a government in which the citizens take part. • Only free, males were citizens in Athens. • Some city-states like Sparta continued the rule by nobility and kings.

The Rise of Philosophy • One of the Greeks’ greatest achievements was the development of philosophy, the study of basic questions of reality and human existence. • In Greek, the word philosopher means “lover of wisdom”. • While they had their disagreements, most philosophers believed that all of nature is based upon certain natural laws or truths. • They believed they could discover these truths through reason.

Socrates • One of the most important thinkers during the Golden Age was Socrates. • He taught that education was the key to personal growth. • Socrates did not use memorization as a teaching tool. Instead, he taught his students to think for themselves by asking them questions that forced them to test their own values and ideas. • This teaching method has become know as the Socratic Method. • Socrates demise came when he was accused and found guilty of corrupting the youth of Athens and was forced to commit suicide.

Plato • Socrates never wrote down his teachings. This was done by one of his students, Plato. • After Socrates death, Plato founded The Academy, a special school for the teaching of philosophy. • One of Plato’s most important ideas was the “Theory of Forms”. • Plato believed that all material things were imperfect expressions of perfect and universal ideas or forms. • He felt that perfection could never been reached in the physical world because the human senses could be fooled. • Plato’s argument was that a true philosopher pursued knowledge of the perfect form that lay beyond the senses.

Plato • Plato was also interested in politics. • His book “The Republic” is a long dialogue describing Plato’s view of the perfect society. • Plato’s ideal form of government was an aristocracy. • His ideal rulers were philosophers, chosen for their wisdom, ability, and high ideals.

Aristotle • Aristotle was one of Plato’s students who founded his own school in 335 BCE. • Aristotle believe that every field of knowledge needed to be studied logically. • He had a special skill for designing and classifying things. Much of our current science classification system comes from Aristotle’s ideas. • Aristotle believed that monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy were equally forms of government and should be combined to create a limited democracy.

Mathematics, Medicine, and Science • Pythagoras was a philosopher who believed that everything could be explained in terms of mathematics. • He is best remembered for the Pythagorean theorem. • Greek philosophers believed that the world could be explained in terms of natural laws. • Natural laws are things that can be identified, observed, and defined. • Hippocrates is considered the founder medical science and doctors today still take the Hippocratic Oath.

History • The Greeks were the first people to take history seriously. • Herodotus was the first historian of the Western world and is often called the Father of History. • He was careful to note if he had seen an event happen himself, or if he had been told about it. • Another Greek historian was Thucydides. He became famous for the History of Peloponnesian War. • Thucydides believed that studying the past helps us to understand human nature.

Greek Theater • There are three types of Greek theater: o. Drama o. Tragedies o. Comedies • Two of famous writers of Greek tragedies were Euripides and Sophocles. • The greatest Greek writer of comedies was Aristophanes.

The 1 st Persian War • Around 500 BCE, a group of Greek city-states in Asia Minor, helped by Athens, rose up against the Persian Empire. • This began a series of conflicts that lasted until 479 BC and became known as the Persian Wars. • Darius was the Persian ruler at the time. • He easily crushed the rebellions in Asia Minor, but wanted to pay Athens back for helping the city-states. • In 494 BC, Darius invaded Greece. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, the Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon.

The 2 nd Persian War • After the Battle of Marathon, there was an uneasy peace between the Greek city-states and Persia. • In 480 BC, Darius’s son, Xerxes led another Persian force against Greece. • This time, several city-states came together to fight the Persians. • The most famous example of this war was the battle in the narrow pass of Thermopylae.

The Battle of Thermopylae • The Persians had to advance through the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae. • A small group of 300 Spartan soldiers led by one of the Spartan kings, Leonidas held the pass for three days. • Eventually, the Persians found another way through the mountains and surrounded the Spartans. • The Spartans refused to surrender and were all killed. • The Spartans courage at the Battle of Thermopylae bought the other city-states time to prepare their forces.

The End of the Persian War • After the Battle of Thermopylae, the Persians marched toward Athens. • Athens’ leader was a man named Themistocles. He evacuated the city because the Persians were coming. • The Persians came to Athens and destroyed the city, but many lives were saved because the city had already been evacuated. • The 2 nd Persian War ended in 479 BC when the Athenians and Spartans worked together to defeat the Persians at Plataea.

The results of the Persian Wars • After the wars, the Persians still tried to mettle in Greek affairs. • The Athenians rebuilt their city, entered a classical age, and started to build an empire. • Because of the continued threat from Persia, the Greek citystates started to realize that they must unify in order to survive. • Athens was the most successful and used diplomacy to form the Delian League. • The Delian League was an alliance of 140 city-states with Athens as the leader.

The Age of Pericles • Pericles was a great general, orator, and statesman who held public office in Athens from 461 -429 BCE. • Under his leadership, Athenian democracy reached its height and become the most completely democratic system in all of history. • Officeholders were paid a salary and were chosen by lot so that no one had an advantage. • The Athenian system of weights and measurements became standard throughout the empire. • Members of the Delian League enjoyed the same privileges as the citizens of Athens, but lost the independence of their individual polis.

The Peloponnesian War • For all his successes, Pericles failed to unite Greece under Athens. • Tensions grew so high between Sparta and Athens that war broke out in 431 BC. This war became known as the Peloponnesian War. • The war went on for 27 years. • During the siege of Athens, a plague broke out and many people died, including Pericles. • After the Peloponnesian War, Greece was politically unstable, but still made great advances in the arts and sciences.

Phillip II of Macedon • Despite it great advances, Greece entered a period of struggle after is Golden Age. • To the north of Greece lay the warlike kingdom of Macedon. • The Macedonian kings could only rule with the support of the nobles. • In 359 BCE, Phillip II of Macedon became king.

Phillip’s Early Life • As a child, Phillip had been held captive by the people of the Greek city-state of Thebes. • While a prisoner in Thebes, he had learned many aspects of Greek culture. • When he returned to Macedon, he used his knowledge of Greek military tactics to strengthen his armies. • One of the tactics he used was that of the phalanx. • A phalanx contained rows of soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder.

Macedonian Phalanx

Phillip as King • Phillip’s first goal as king was to restore order in Macedon. • He accomplished this task and then set his sights on conquering Greece. • The Greeks had differing views of Phillip, some thought he was a savior who could unify the Greeks and others thought he threatened their freedoms. • An Athenian orator named Demosthenes was the main leader against Phillip. • Regardless of any opposition, Phillip conquered Greece when he defeated Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE. • Phillip had planned to use his newly acquired Greek forces to invade Persia when he was assassinated in 336 BC.

Young Alexander • After Phillip’s death, his 20 year old son, Alexander came to power. • Alexander had been trained in the Macedonian Army and had received his formal training from Aristotle. • Several rebellions had occurred in Greece when Phillip died. Alexander quickly crushed them and set out to conquer the world! • By 331 BCE, Alexander had destroyed Persia and the process had conquered the lands of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. • However this was not enough for Alexander and he soon set his sights on India.

Alexander’s conquests • For four years Alexander led his troops east towards India and they got as far as the Indus River Valley. • However, when they reached India many of his troops rebelled and Alexander was forced to turn back in 326 BCE. • He led his army to the Indian Ocean, split the army in two and led his half of the army across the desert. • Many of his troops died from exposure and lack of food and water. • After arriving in Persia, Alexander became very ill and died in June of 323 BCE before his 33 rd birthday.

Alexander’s conquests

Alexander the Great • In 13 years, Alexander almost never lost a battle and conquered most of the known world. • Alexander purposely spread Greek culture wherever his armies marched. He founded numerous cities, many named Alexandria in his honor. • He used marriage as a way to unite the Greek and Persia Empires. He married two Persian noblewomen and required his generals and soldiers to marry Persian women.

The Hellenistic World • Alexander failed to achieve his dream of world rule. • However, his reign spread a new culture throughout much of the world. • No longer purely Hellenic or Greek this new way of life becomes known as Hellenistic culture. • This culture was spread to all the places Alexander visited and thrived until the Roman conquest in 146 BC. • After Alexander’s death, his generals competed for his empire and 301 BCE his three generals divided Alexander's Empire into three kingdoms, Macedon, Egypt and Syria.

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