Ancient Greece Chapter 4 PDF

SECTION 1 - EARLY CIVILIZATIONS IN GREECE ========================================= Greek civilization consists of a mountainous peninsula and numerous small islands. The mountains and the sea played an especially significant role in the development of Greek history. Two peninsulas make up much of...

SECTION 1 - EARLY CIVILIZATIONS IN GREECE ========================================= Greek civilization consists of a mountainous peninsula and numerous small islands. The mountains and the sea played an especially significant role in the development of Greek history. Two peninsulas make up much of Greece: the **Peloponnese peninsula and the Isthmus of Corinth**. The mountains that make up much of Greece isolated the Greeks from one another, causing different Greek communities to develop their ways of life. The **Aegean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and the Ionian Sea** make up the eastern, southern, and western borders of Greece. Greeks became seafarers and sailors. By sailing the Aegean Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea, they made contact with the outside world. The Minoans ----------- By 2800 BCE, the Bronze Age civilization had been established on the island of Crete. The **Minoan civilization** flourished from 2700 BCE to 1450 BCE. Named after King Minos of Crete, the Minoan civilization was a **rich, far-ranging, sea empire based on trade**. They traded **pottery, gold, and silver jewelry** for other goods. Archaeological excavations reflect a rich and diverse culture of the Minoans, but there appears to have been a sudden catastrophic collapse around 1450 BCE. Historians believe that the result of a **tidal wave triggered by a powerful volcanic eruption or the result of an invasion by the Mycenaeans** caused the Minoan civilization to collapse. The Mycenaeans -------------- The Mycenaeans come from Mycenae, a fortified site on the Greek mainland. Mycenaean civilization reached its peak at around **1400 BCE to 1200 BCE**. The poetry of Homer outlines the most important contribution of the Mycenaean Greeks. By the late 1300s BCE, Mycenae was **in trouble with civil wars**, and **earthquakes disrupted society.** New invasions contributed to the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization by 1100 BCE. After the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, Greece entered a **dark age** where **population declined, food production decreased, and education ceased**. For nearly 400 years, very few records were kept and it was only around 850 BCE that farming revived. During the dark age, many Greeks left the mainland and sailed to the western shores of Asia Minor to Ionia. **Iron replaced bronze** in weaponry, and **iron farming tools helped reverse the decline in food production**. The Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, reducing all words to **a combination of 24 letters**. Reading and writing became easier and the works of Homer, one of the greatest poets of all time, appeared. He (or they) wrote **the Iliad and the Odyssey**: epic poems about the Trojan War and the adventures of Odysseus. Many Greeks believed that stories to be true, but true or not, they taught the values of **courage and honour**. Homer gave generations of Greek males a model of heroism and honour. SECTION 2 - THE GREEK CITY-STATES ================================= The **polis or city-state** was the center of Greek life. The citizens of a polis had defined rights and responsibilities, as well as a strong **identity and loyalty**. Unfortunately, this strong identification kept the city-states divided and helped bring about its ruin. The main gathering place in the polis was usually a hill or a fortified area called the **acropolis**. The acropolis served as **a place of refuge during an attack, but also the religious center** on which temples and public buildings were built. Below was the **agora**, an open area that served as a place where people could meet as well as a market. By 700 BCE, the army was based on **hoplites**, who were heavily armed infantry soldiers. Hoplites went into battle as a unit, marching shoulder to shoulder, in a formation known as a **phalanx**. This close formation created a wall of shields and as long as they kept order it was difficult to hurt them. The expansion of trade and industry created a new group of wealthy people. These new wealthy people sought power from the **landed aristocracy (nobles)** and this fostered the rise of **tyrants**. Neither good nor bad, tyrants were rulers who **seized power by force from the aristocrats**. Support for the tyrants came from the newly rich who made their money as traders. Tyrants came to power and kept it by using hired soldiers. Once in power, the tyrants tried to help the poor and they launched public works projects. Eventually, the people felt oppressed and rebelled against the tyrants. The result of the collapse of the tyrannies was different among city-states -- it meant the **birth of democracy**, while others preferred **oligarchies or government by a select few**. Spartans -------- Sparta was overpopulated and needed more land. Rather than set up colonies, they conquered the neighbouring **Laconia and Messenia**. Spartans took their land and made them slaves, who were called **helots**. The lives of Spartans were rigid and tough. Highly self-disciplined males spent their childhood learning to fight. They enrolled in the army at the age of **20**, and although they were allowed to marry, they continued to **live in the barracks until the age of 30**. They could live at home after the age of 30 but **remained in the army until they were 60**. Spartan women remained in the home to parent and raise healthy children. Unhealthy children were left on hillsides to die. Spartan women were trained in boxing wrestling, and gymnastics. The Spartan government was an **oligarchy** headed by two Kings. A group of five elders known as **ephors** were elected each year and were responsible for education and the conduct of citizens. Athens ------ By 700 BCE, Athens had become an important city on the Attica Peninsula. Early Athens was an oligarchy, ruled by a king and wealthy landowners. A succession of tyrants ruled Athens including **Draco**, who codified the laws by adding harsh penalties, including slavery for debtors. **Solon**, who although reform-minded, refused to take much from the aristocrats. **Peisistratus** seized power and encouraged trade, but he gave aristocratic land to the poor. **Cleisthenes**, a reformer, created the Council of 500. Cleisthenes created the Athenian assembly, made up of male citizens; it was given the authority to pass laws with free and open debate. **He created the basis for Athenian democracy**. SECTION 3 - CLASSICAL GREECE ============================ Battles between the Greeks and the Persians led by **Darius and Xerxes** saw key victories by the Greeks when they cooperated among city-states. The Greeks built up a **great navy** and they formed the Greek largest army up to that time. After defeating the Persians, Athens took control of the entire Greek world. The Athenians formed a defensive alliance against the Persians known as the **Delian League**. Under Athenian leadership, the Delian League pursued the attack against the Persian empire and liberated all of the Greek states in the Aegean Sea. Under Pericles, Athens expanded its empire abroad. Democracy flourished at home, and Athenian power reached its greatest height. The age of Pericles saw Athenian citizens get **direct democracy**. All male citizens could participate in governing and voting on major issues. Athenians devised the practice of **ostracism** to protect against ambitious politicians -- a person named by at least 6000 members could be banned from the city for 10 years. Having defeated the Persians, the Greek empire once again split. On one side was Athens and the Delian League and the other, Sparta and its supporters. Neither society was able to tolerate the other system. **The Great Peloponnesian War broke out in 431 BCE**. The Great Peloponnesian War --------------------------- Spartans laid siege to the city of Athens in 430 BCE. **Safe behind the walls**, the Athenians wanted for the opportunity to use their naval advantage, rather than engage the Spartans' superior army. In the second year of the war, **the plague struck**, killing one-third of Athenian citizens, including Pericles. Although they withstood another 25 years, the Athenian fleet was destroyed in 405 BCE on Hellespont. Within one year, **Athens surrendered**. The walls were torn down, the navy destroyed, and the empire dissolved, signalling **the end of the Classical Greek age**. The Great Peloponnesian War weakened the major Greek states. For the next 67 years, **Athens, Sparta, and Thebes** struggled relentlessly to dominate Greek affairs, paving the way for Alexander the Great. SECTION 4 - THE CULTURE OF CLASSICAL GREECE =========================================== Greek religion did not have a set of beliefs or doctrines nor was it a moral code. According to Greek religion, the spirits of most people went to the gloomy underworld ruled by Hades. Rituals were important to the ancient Greeks. **Ceremonies or rituals involved prayers and were often combined with gifts to have the gods look favourably upon followers for their requests.** The Greeks often consulted **oracles**, sacred shrines where a god or goddess reveals the future through a priest or priestess. The responses provided were often puzzling and could be interpreted in more than one way. Greek Arts and Literature ------------------------- Drama was created by the ancient Greeks. **Sophocles was an Athenian playwright whose most famous play was Oedipus Rex**. Another outstanding Athenian playwright was Euripides. He tried to create realistic characters in real-life situations. Greek comedy developed later than tragedy. Comedies were used to criticize politicians, intellectuals, and people who take themselves too seriously. The Greeks were perhaps the first people to present history as a systematic analysis of the past. Herodotus wrote the History of the Persian Wars. He was considered to be the first historian. Greek Philosophy ---------------- Philosophy is an organized system of thought. The term comes from ancient Greek meaning **'love of wisdom'**. Three great philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle established the foundations of western philosophy. The **Sophists** were a traveling group of teachers in ancient Greece. **They argued that it was beyond the reach of the human mind to understand the universe, they should therefore focus on improving themselves**. To the Sophists, there was no right or wrong. One must be able to perceive and pursue their own good. Socrates was critical of the Sophists; he believed in the absolute truth. Socrates taught his students how to live their lives by **a code of ethics**. He believed that people could be happy by living moral lives and that they could also be taught how to behave morally. The Socratic method of teaching uses a question-and-answer format to see for themselves. **Socrates believed that all real knowledge is already present in each person and one need only draw it out.** He questioned authority, and that got him into trouble. Coming out of the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians no longer trusted open debate. Socrates was accused and convicted of corrupting the youth. He was sentenced to die by drinking hemlock. One of Socrates' students was Plato. According to Plato, a higher world of eternal, unchanging forms has always existed. To Plato, **the objects that we perceive with our senses are simply reflections of the ideal forms.** He distrusted democracy and believed that individuals could not achieve a good life and must live in a just and rational state. **Plato believed that the equality of men and women and they should receive the same education and have equal access to all positions.** Aristotle was perhaps the most famous student of Plato. He believed that by examining individual objects, we could perceive their form. **He taught that happiness resulted from living a life filled with virtue**. Aristotle believed in analyzing and classifying things based on observation and investigation. He defined entire categories of study such as logic, biology, and physics. He also wrote about ethics, politics, poetry, and the sciences. SECTION 5 - ALEXANDER AND THE HELLENISTIC ERA ============================================= Under the leadership of Alexander the Great, the Macedonians and the Greeks united to invade and conquer Persia. In the conquered lands, Greeks and non-Greeks formed a new society. This splendid society is referred to as **the Hellenistic era**. The Greeks viewed the Macedonians as barbarians. **Philip II** became king of the Macedonians and **built a powerful army with the hopes of uniting all of Greece under Macedonian rule**. He quickly crushed all opposition and gained control of Greece. He insisted the Greek city-states form a league and cooperate with him in the war against Persia. **Before Philip could undertake his invasion of Asia, however, he was assassinated.** **Alexander the Great was 20 years old** when he became king of Macedonia. Raised in a military life, he was respected by his troops. **He was motivated by the desire for glory and empire but also sought revenge for the Persians burning of Athens.** Taking an enormous risk, Alexander attacked the Persians in 334 BCE. Over the next year, he liberated the Ionian Greek states of western Asia Minor and defeated a large Persian Army at Isis. Alexander then turned towards **Syria, Palestine, and Egypt**, and by the winter of 332 BCE, they were under his control. He built the city of **Alexandria** and the Egyptians named him pharaoh, then he named himself **King of Kings**. In 331 BCE, Alexander fought a decisive battle with the Persians at Gaugamela and won. Not long after, he controlled the entire Persian empire. Over the next three years, Alexander moved as far as modern Pakistan and India. In 326 BCE, his soldiers refused to go any further, and he agreed to go home. **Alexander returned to Babylon, but in 323 BCE, exhausted, wounded, stricken with fever, and perhaps under the influence of alcohol, he died.** Alexander's extraordinary success is explained by **his leadership and military skills**. He created an enormous legacy that extended Greek and Macedonian rule over a vast area capturing huge amounts of gold and silver. He left a cultural legacy as well: the Greek language, architecture, literature, art, and religious beliefs spread throughout parts of Asia and north Africa. In ancient Greece, Hellenistic means '**to imitate Greeks**'. The Hellenistic era was a period of considerable cultural achievements. Alexandria became a home to poets, writers, philosophers, and scientists. The library in Alexandria became the largest in ancient times, with **more than 500,000 scrolls**. Another school of thought was **stoicism**. Stoicism was the product of a teacher named Zeno. According to him, material possessions were not necessary to be happy. **Stoics wanted to find happiness, but they thought it could only be found by living in harmony with the will of God.**