Ancient Greece Background: Minoan & Mycenaean Cultures

• Ancient Greece is covered in this chapter.

Background of Greek Civilization

• Greece is called Hélade by Greeks, referring to the islands between the Ionian and Aegean seas.
• The civilization developed around the same time as Egypt and Mesopotamia.
• The Mediterranean Sea became the main source of communication, food, navigation, and trade due to less productive lands.
• Important cultural hubs emerged in Hélade, with Minoan and Mycenaean cultures preceding Greek civilization.

Minoan Civilization (2600-1600 BC)

• Minoan civilization developed on the island of Crete.
• It dominated maritime trade along the coasts of Greece, Syria, and Egypt.
• The form of power was based on maritime control, known as thalassocracy, ruled by powerful kings with political and religious authority.
• The most important king was the king of Knossos.

Mycenaean Culture (2000-1700 BC)

• Small kingdoms formed in the Peloponnese were known as city-states.
• Monarchs with groups of warriors held despotic power.
• The center of the political system was the Mycenaean palaces, based on thalassocracy and war.
• Territorial expansion started by conquering Crete and Troy around 1250 BC, known as the Trojan War.
• The decline began in 1200-1100 BC: palaces were destroyed, and the population decreased due to wars.

Dark Age (1150 – 800 BC)

• A period of crisis known as the Dark Age started after the fall of Mycenae.
• The city-state was called polis; while each polis was independent, they shared common elements.
• They were ruled by a king with a council (aristoi or "the best"), consisting of aristocrats forming a warrior and landowning nobility and an assembly that advised the king, formed by adult men of the polis.
• The population of Attica (area of Athens) moved to Ionia (coasts of Asia Minor) and formed cities called Hélade, which had the same rights as other poleis.

Areas of the Greek Poleis

• Walls
• Acropolis: A fortified and elevated area where the most important buildings, like temples, were concentrated and served as a refuge in wars and combats.
• Agora: A central plaza where political and civic activities were held.
• Sanctuaries.

Archaic Period (800 -490 BC)

• The period was marked by social struggles.

• Artisans, peasants, and merchants allied against the nobles (landowners and warriors) to fight against the kings with a goal to establish a political system where power resided in the people (demos).

• Democracy excluded women, slaves, and foreigners.

• Hoplites were troops of peasants and artisans and mercenaries from all the Greek poleis who obtained political power of the demos.

• Sparta had an aristocratic system.

• Other poleis had tyrannical systems where the tyrants were chosen by the demos in a time of crisis.

• They distributed land, cancelled debts, favored commerce and craftwork, and abolished slavery (debts) but lost support and disappeared.

• Greek colonization expanded in the Mediterranean, founding colonies like Magna Grecia (Tarento, Syracuse)

Classic Greece (5th Century BC)

• The Classical Era took place during the 5th century BC and the first half of the 4th century BC.
• It was characterized by a great splendor of the Greek poleis, such as Athens and Sparta.

Two Conflicting Political Systems: Athens vs. Sparta

• Athens was the most prosperous city, trading through its port (Pireo).

• It had a model government for other cities with an Athenian democracy, which was based on the demos (free men).

• The institutional body of the political system was the Ecclesia, formed by the Boulé or Council of the Five Hundred, composed of 500 citizens over 30 years old (by lottery)

• The council drafted laws and decided on policies that were discussed in the assembly.

• The Ecclesia (Popular Assembly) consisted of citizens over 20 years old (with the right to vote and be elected).

• Voting was by raising hands

• Proposals presented by the Boulé were debated that consisted of legislative, judicial, and executive powers; it was formed by magistrates (legal power) and strategists (military command).

• The Areopagus served as a consultative and judicial body, formed by aristocrats.

• The Heliaia was the people's court.

Spartan Diarchy

• There was a militarized regime where all men (rich and poor) were obligated to train as soldiers.
• The population was subdued by force, while women were trained for war and had more rights than in other poleis.
• Aristocratic regime: diarchy; the dual rule was held simultaneously by two kings from aristocratic families; there were institutions such as the Apella or Military Assembly and the Gerousia (Council of 28 elders), who decided on war and peace and possessed judicial powers.

The Medical Wars

• In 547 BC, the Persian Empire conquered Mesopotamia and Ionian poleis.
• In 499 BC, there was a rebellion supported by Athens and other Polis.
• Darius I crushed the rebellion and prepared an offensive against the poleis of Hélade leading to the First Medical War (492 BC-490 BC).
• The Greeks were victorious, resulting in the Battle of Marathon (Greek soldiers (hoplites) defeated the Persians.)
• Athens and Sparta formed an alliance known as the Symmachy; the Spartans would lead all the Greeks if the Persians attacked.
• The Second Medical War took place from 480 BC to 479 BC.
• The persian king Xerxes I sacked Athens, and different battles took place: there was a Persian victory in the Battle of Thermopylae after the offensive of Leonidas of Sparta, but the Athenians won naval battle of Salamis.
• The Greek troops defeated the Persians.
• A Third Medical War occurred but did not have as great a magnitude as the previous ones.

Peloponnesian War

• Athens and the Ionian cities formed the Delos League

• Sparta, with its military hegemony, formed the Peloponnese League

• The Delos League provided navigation security, reinforced Greek identity, and served Athens.

• The Peloponnese League confronted Athens during the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

• Athens led by sea, and Sparta led by land; Sparta invaded, causing inhabitants to seek refuge in Athens, leading to an outbreak of plague and Athens being defeated.

• In 377 BC, the Athenian League caused the rise of Thebes as a hegemonic power, and Hélade went into decline.

• The kingdom of Macedonia became a new power.

Hellenistic Greece

• King Philip II of Macedonia took advantage of the weakness of the Greek poleis and conquered Greece.
• He organized a powerful army and subjected all the poleis of Greece, except Sparta, in 338 BC.
• He was assassinated in 336 BC when he was about to conquer the Persian Empire.
• Alexander the Great succeeded Philip II and formed a great army and launched himself to forge a world empire with a powerful Macedonian army, whose main core was the phalanx.
• It extended to Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia (Battles of Isos and Guagamela) and reached as far as India; the mutiny of his troops lead to his death in 323 BC.
• Since his succession was not regulated, this caused the fragmentation of the Empire into a set of kingdoms.

Cultural Synthesis of Alexander The Great in its Territories

• Asia and Egypt adopted their religious rites.
• He founded cities with Greek poleis names like Alexandria and improved communication routes and commerce.
• Upon his death, the empire was divided into Hellenistic kingdoms such as the Seleucid Empire (321 BC - 64 BC) in Persia, the Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 BC - 30 BC) in Egypt, and the Antigonid Dynasty (277 BC - 168 BC) in Macedonia and Greece.