Greek City-States: Formation and Self-Government

Formation of New City-States

• Political, economic, and social changes led to new ways of organizing second-generation societies.
• Violent upheavals freed many from the domination of Assyria and Persia, resulting in new thinking and societies.
• City-states exchanged trade goods and ideas.
• Independent, self-governing city-states emerged with order restored in the ninth and eighth centuries BCE.
• City-states were ruled by their citizens, such as those in Corinth, Thebes, Sparta, and Athens.
• The Athenian-led alliance of city-states fought against the Persians in the early fifth century BCE.

Self-Government and Democracy

• City-states were known as polis in Greek.
• Self-government took various forms, including:
  • Tyranny: Rule by a popularly approved individual
  • Oligarchy: Rule by a few
  • Democracy: Rule by all free adult males
• City-states comprised adult male citizens, other free persons, foreign immigrants, and unfree persons.

Families as Foundational Units

• The small family unit was a significant social unit of the city-state.
• Only adult free males had full citizenship rights.
• Freeborn women had no standing and were expected to remain within the private world of the family, while lower-class women worked outside the home.

Competition and Armed War

• City-states were competitive, engaging in frequent wars over land, trade, religion, and resources.
• New military equipment and tactics, like the phalanx, were developed.
• Wars threatened to destabilize city-states, such as the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BCE) between Athens and Sparta.
• Despite wars, city-states innovated and prospered, facilitating trade and exchange throughout the Mediterranean.

Economic Innovations and Population Movement

• Free markets and money-based economies developed, using coins instead of barter.
• Money connected producers and buyers, allowing for efficient exchanges.
• The search for commodities and resources led to widespread trade.
• Independent colonial communities (city-states) were established along the western Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

Chattel Slavery and Outside Encounters

• Human beings were bought and sold in chattel slavery for labor, particularly in dangerous tasks.
• Slaves, mainly war captives, became an essential part of city-states.
• Peoples in northern and central Europe integrated into the world of city-states and were called "barbarians" by the Greeks.
• Frontier peoples were commonly imported as slaves as Mediterranean empires grew more powerful.

New Ideas

• Without a monarchy, priestly rule, or other authority, ideas and beliefs were free to rise and circulate.
• Naturalistic science and realistic art emerged, showing humans as artists saw them.
• Later artwork depicted humans in an idealized way, with the nude being central to Greek art.
• Artists, such as vase painter Exekias and sculptor Praxiteles, began to sign their work.

New Thinking and Greek Philosophers

• Philosophers tried to explain the cosmos with radical explanations.
• Thinkers like Thales, Xenophanes, Democritus, and Pythagoras emerged.
• Fifth century BCE debates focused on society, with thinkers describing an ideal state.
  • Socrates (469–399 BCE): Emphasized honor and integrity.
  • Plato (427–347 BCE): Envisioned a perfect city in The Republic.
  • Aristotle (384–322 BCE): Believed facts yielded greater understanding.

Alexander the Great

• Alexander the Great's armies set into motion cultural and economic forces that transformed Afro-Eurasia.
• In the fourth century BCE, Alexander led his armies eastward from Macedonia to the Indus River valley, leading to long, violent campaigns.
• Hellenism and Buddhism linked diverse populations in Afro-Eurasia, and imperial conquests aided the emergence of the Silk Roads.
• Covering 5,000 miles, the Silk Roads linked commercial exchanges between East Asia and the Mediterranean for over 1,000 years.

Alexander the Great's Motivations

• Alexander the Great (356–323 BCE) spread Hellenism to other regions.
• Alexander's father conquered the surrounding areas before Alexander conquered the former Persian Empire.
• Alexander's motivations include emulation of Greek heroes, revenge against Persians, and the influence of his mother, Olympias.
• Alexander viewed himself as a bridge connecting distant cultures and integrated lands economically by redistributing seized wealth.

Rise of Alexander the Great

• Born in 356 BCE, Alexander was tutored by Aristotle and trained by his father, Philip II, who introduced military reforms like the sarissa.
• Philip II defeated Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea (338 BCE).
• Alexander became king after Philip II's assassination (336 BCE) and crushed the Theban Rebellion.
• Alexander framed his Persian invasion as revenge for past Persian invasions.

Conquest of Persia

• In 334 BCE, Alexander crossed into Persia with 50,000 troops.
• At the Battle of Issus (333 BCE), Darius III fled.
• At the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BCE), Alexander used feigned retreats to defeat Darius, who was later assassinated.

Alexander's Actions

• Hephaestion was elevated to “chiliarch,” a position second only to Alexander himself.
• Alexander formalized kinship ties through marriage to his wife’s sister to associate his children together.
• To gain credibility with the Persians, Alexander took on Persian customs, but the Macedonians disliked these changes.

Alexander’s Final Years and Legacy

• Alexander declared himself King of Persia and continued eastward to India before his army refused to march further in 326 BCE.
• He died in Babylon in 323 BCE.
• He left behind a vast but unstable empire, spreading Hellenistic culture.

Alexander’s Successors and the Territorial Kingdoms

• Alexander died in Babylon in 323 BCE at 32 years old, leading to fragmentation of his conquered lands.
• Alexander’s generals (Seleucus, Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus) took over regions, modeling themselves on authoritarian rulers.
• Women like Berenice of Egypt and Cleopatra VII had a chance to rule.
• Three large territorial states emerged: the Seleucid Empire, Macedonia, and Egypt.

Alexander's Successors and City-States

• Middle-size kingdoms emerged between the major states, and old city-states still functioned.
• City-states banded together to form confederations, especially on mainland Greece.
• The three large territorial states balanced threats with alliances, diplomacy, and treaty making.

Hellenistic Culture

• The unification of territory under Alexander’s successors helped spread Hellenistic culture in the Mediterranean, Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Central Asia.
• Hellenism included philosophical and political thinking, secular disciplines, popular entertainment, and art.
• Hellenic influences were welcomed in some places and resisted in others.

Common Language

• Common (Koine) Greek became the international language, benefiting communication throughout the Afro-European world.
• The shared Greek language emerged facilitating commercial and cultural exchange.

Cosmopolitan Cities

• Cosmopolitan cities emerged where citizens saw themselves as part of a multiethnic community.
• Alexandria in Egypt exemplified the cosmopolitan city, with half a million people from the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia.
• A new urban culture emerged, influencing art and political styles.

Philosophy and Religion

• Individuals expressed concern with self in various ways, leading to different philosophical ideas.
  • Diogenes: Advocated self-sufficiency (Cynicism).
  • Epicurus: Founded The Garden.
  • Zeno: Founded Stoicism.
• Long-established religions saw a revival, such as the cult of Isis.
• New religious beliefs and rituals were practiced and new cults of Demeter and Dionysus focused on individual salvation.

Philosophy and Religion in Detail

• Cynicism, founded by Diogenes, emphasized self-sufficiency and rejection of social norms.
• Epicureanism, led by Epicurus, imagined The Garden as an ideal scholarly community focused on maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain.
• Stoicism, founded by Zeno, saw human constructs as unnatural and advocated perceiving and accepting the natural rules of the universe.
• The cult of Osiris and Isis in Egypt was revived and infused with Greek elements, introducing baptism and personal salvation.
• The Eleusinian Mysteries, dedicated to Demeter and Persephone, promised initiates personal salvation and spiritual enlightenment.

Eleuisinian Mysteries

• The Eleuisinian mysteries were open to anyone who was not a murderer and reflected a shift from civic to personal beliefs.
• The Ancient rites centered around the myth of Demeter and Persephone.

Plantation Slavery and Money-Based Economies

• Plantation slavery rose alongside Hellenic preoccupations.
• Elites had wealth where they could buy land and enslaved people for agricultural production, mainly in Italy, Sicily, and North Africa.
• Marginalized peasants relocated to overcrowded cities and revolts by enslaved people impacted later political crises.
• Money became widely used for trade, leading to economic integration.

Adaptation and Resistance to Hellenism

• Elites embraced Hellenistic culture to enhance their positions.
• Meroe in Sub-Saharan Africa was significantly influenced by Greek culture, worshipping Greek gods and employing Greek scribes.
• Jews in Judea resisted Hellenism, leading to the Maccabee revolt and an independent Jewish state.
• Rome transitioned from a city-state to a large territorial state, adopting elements of Hellenistic culture.
• Carthage took on important aspects of Hellenistic culture, influencing political theory, warfare, and architecture.
• Hellenism facilitated increased communication and exchange and Carthage went as far as setting up a trading post in West Africa.