Classics 1000 – October Test PDF

Classics 1000 – Ancient Greece and Rome Sources for the Ancient World: Antiquity: the ancient past, especially the period before the Middle Ages - How do we know what happened in the Greek and Roman world? - How do we know when it happened? - How do we know what events meant...

Classics 1000 – Ancient Greece and Rome Sources for the Ancient World: Antiquity: the ancient past, especially the period before the Middle Ages - How do we know what happened in the Greek and Roman world? - How do we know when it happened? - How do we know what events meant to the ancients? 1. Chronology and time reckoning o Language o Greek and Latin Literature o Inscriptions 2. Literary Sources 3. Archaeology o Architecture o Painting o Sculpture Chronology and Time-Reckoning - This course focuses on the period ca 1500 BCE to ca 476 CE. - These dates are a modern convention, reflecting the modern calendar. - The ancient situation was more complex: o a strong awareness of the changing seasons and months (astronomy) o there were many different calendars for individual cities o Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, bringing it closer to the modern system. - The ancient situation (cont.) o Historical events were typically dated by the year of a particular priest or magistrate in which they fell. § Magistrate: a civil officer or lay judge who administers the law, especially one who conducts a court that deals with minor offenses and holds preliminary hearings for more serious ones o Often reference is made to a particular season. o Rough lengths for a single generation were used to date past dynasties. § Dynasty: a line of hereditary rulers of a country o The ‘acme’ system was widely used in ancient biography. § Acme: the highest or most critical point or stage (as of growth or development)  o Occasionally the distance is measured from some single event, common era (e.g., the first Olympics 776 BCE, founding of Rome 753/2 BCE, Trojan War 1183/2 BCE). - Modern statements of historical chronology represent a conversion of ancient modes of time-reckoning to modern. o e.g., a Roman writer would say that Caesar was murdered on the Ides of March C. Caesare et M. Antonio consulibus. o We would say that Caesar was killed on 15 March 44 BCE. - This modern ‘fact’ represents a series of interpretations. Literary Sources: - Languages: Greek and Latin o Greek is descended from Indo-European, and Indo-European speakers seem to have moved into the Greek world some time before the Mycenaean Age (ca 2000 BCE). o This new language seems to have displaced an indigenous language (or languages), but traces of pre-Greek vocabulary remain in the lexicon of classical Greek. § Lexicon: A dictionary for Greek o The Greek world is geographically disparate, and during the classical period Greeks inhabited not only mainland Greece, but the Aegean islands, the coast of Asia Minor, parts of north Africa and southern Italy. o A number of dialects flourished, each with considerable variation in phonology, morphology and vocabulary. § Phonology: the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages § Morphology: the study of the forms of things o Although to the modern student ancient Greek is often synonymous with Attic Greek, in fact a standard version of Greek did not emerge until the later part of the Hellenistic period when koinê was used throughout much of the Greek-speaking world. § Between the death of Alexander the Greek in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30BC  o Latin began as the language of Latium, the region of which Rome is the most important centre, and Latin belongs to the Italic group of Indo-European languages. o Having originally been spoken at Latium from ca 800 BCE, Latin came to be the dominant language of Italy, and later became the common tongue of the western Mediterranean world and as far as the Balkans to the east. o The diffusion of Latin is a direct reflection of the growing influence of Rome, the city that dominated Italy politically and culturally. o After the middle of the third century BCE there emerged a formal literary language, which is conventionally called Classical Latin. o The Romans themselves spoke of sermo urbanus, a phrase which suggests both ‘urbane speech’ and ‘speech of the city.’ o In sharp contrast to early Greece, where the literary language reflects the influence of several dialects and so a number of regions, other Italian dialects seem to have had little or no influence on the development of Latin literary culture. The Character of Greek and Latin - Very different from English. - Inflected languages (i.e., meaning and syntactical function are determined by word-forms, not word-order). - Extensive vocabularies. - Translation is a difficult and often inexact science. Literature: - The Greeks and Romans each had an extensive literary tradition - Only a small fraction survives - How did the ancient texts survive? Modes of Survival: - Mediaeval transmission: passing down stories’ traditions, and cultural practices from one tradition to another - Papyri: form of paper made from papyrus - Inscriptions: a historical, religious, or other record cut, impressed, painted, or written on stone, brick, metal, or hard surface - Mediaeval transmission presupposes a number of factors:  o the transition from orality to literacy o the introduction of writing (the Greek alphabet) o the development of a book trade o the consolidation of ancient texts in the Library of Alexandria after 307 BCE o the preservation of Greek and Latin texts in mediaeval monasteries, etc. - A mediaeval Manuscript o The opening of Book 16 of the Iliad in the Townley Homer (London, British Library, MS Burney 86, f. 170v): 1059 CE - The beginning of Aristophanes’ Frogs (Codex Ravennas, late 10th Century CE) A Modern Edition - The first page of Homer’s Odyssey - Many mediaeval copies - an extensive ‘secondary’ tradition - popularity guarantees survival - Not all texts were as fortunate as the Odyssey. - Despite significant loss, a rich array of Greek and Latin literature survives: o Poetry o Drama o Philosophy o Oratory § Oratory: a small chapel, especially for private worship (speech) o Historiography § Historiography: the study of historical writing Papyrus Texts - fragments of ancient copies - often badly damaged - new texts continue to come to light - Papyrus texts shed light on old problems and create new ones. - The ‘new’ Archilochus → Inscriptions - Texts inscribed on stone  -set up by ancient communities throughout antiquity -preserve a great deal of information, shedding valuable light on historical events, social history, religion, etc. Bronze Age - Linear A and B → Historical Inscription - Inscription from Sardis (during the reign of Marcus Aurelius) The Lindian Chronicle Fasti Capitolini (Capitoline Museum, Rome) Fasti Capitolini (detail) Archeology - the physical remains of antiquity - numerous kinds of physical evidence o ‘digs’ o architecture o sculpture o painting (on vases and walls) o jewellery The Classical World Athens, Greece Downtown Athens (from the Acropolis) The Problem of Continuous Habitation: Rome Ephesus (near Kuşadasi, Turkey) Pompeii (Bay of Naples, Italy) An archaic kouros statue Bronze Zeus from the classical period Athens, National Archaeological Museum Prima Porta Augustus (Vatican Museum, Rome) Copy of the Prima Porta Augustus painted (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) Statue of Augustus from the Prima Porta (1st cent. A.D.), with modern replica in polychrome. Vatican Museums, Rome. Fifth-century black-figure vase depicting Dionysus and maenads Mycenaean seal ring Art and Text Combined - “Here stands the memorial of Mnesagora and Nikochares. You cannot point out the two of them: fate from the gods has taken them away, and they have left great grief for dear father and mother alike; for the two of them have perished and travelled to the house of Hades.” - CEG 84 (ca 440 BCE) The Bronze Age – The Minoans & Mycenaeans: Historical Framework - Palaeolithic Period: before 70,000 BCE - Neolithic Period: 6000 - 3000 BCE - Bronze Age: 3000 - 1150 BCE - Historical Period: 1150 BCE - 476 CE The Ancient Greek World Palaeolithic Period ca 70 000 BCE  - Evidence for habitation in the Greek world. - Hunting and gathering society. - Tools and weapons of stone, wood, and bone. - No evidence for social organization, etc. Neolithic Period ca 6000-3000 BCE - Evidence more abundant. - Beginnings of agricultural cultivation, domestication of animals, use of textiles. - Permanent communities. - Perhaps development of social structure - Figurines found that may suggest the worship of a female fertility (or earth-) goddess and her ithyphallic male consort. Egyptian god Min-Foruth Millennium BCE (Ashmolean, Oxford) Historical Context: The Ancient Near East - In contrast to the Greek world, the Near East had developed elaborate civilizations (‘high culture’). - Numerous surviving documents. - Influence on the Greek world is controversial, but scholarly acceptance is growing (e.g. M. L. West, The East Face of Helicon ) Historical Context: Egypt - An elaborate high culture. - Trade relations as early as the 3rd mil. BCE - Some see Egypt as the source of key aspects of Greek culture (e.g. the pantheon of gods) o This is suggestive, but unconvincing - Clear Egyptian influence on early Greek art (esp. in representing male figures) Bronze Age Chronology - 3000-2100 BCE - Early Bronze Age - Early Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic - 2100-1600 BCE - Middle Bronze Age - Middle Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic - 1600-1150 BCE - Late Bronze Age - Late Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic; also the Mycenaean Age The Minoans: Knossos “Palace of Minos” - Discovered by Arthur Evans in 1899 - Located on Crete near the modern port-city of Iraklio - Complexity of the site supported the view that Crete had been the centre of a powerful thalassocracy. o Thalassocracy: describes the government of the Minoan civilization, whose power depended on its navy - Evans named this early Aegean civilization ‘Minoan’ after Minos, King of Crete in myth. - Portrait of Arthur Evans, Ashmolean Oxford - Evans at 73 - The Palace is one of several Bronze Age sites on Crete - It was built ca 2000 BCE (several phases of development are discernible). - Damaged by an earthquake ca 1700 BCE - Evans restoration is highly speculative: an ‘archaeological Disneyland’. Floor-plan of the Palace at Knossos An artist’s speculative impression of the Palace of Knossos The Minoans: Akroteri - A Bronze Age town located on the island of Santorini. - Deserted before the final eruption of the volcano ca 1600 BCE. - Remarkable preservation of buildings. - Provides unique insights into everyday life. - Arresting examples of Minoan wall-painting. Minoan Society - Pre-palatial or Early Minoan (3500-2000 BCE) o small farming communities o Arts & crafts established (ceramics, wood-working, textiles, etc.) o Communal tombs o varied grave-goods suggest a hierarchical society - Middle Minoan  o ca 2000 BCE palaces established o Knossos is the most famous, but there are other sites (Phaestus, Mallia) o system of writing (hieroglyphic) o trade, and a wide range of products o ca 1700 BCE damage from earthquakes (?) o rebuilding and development of palaces o ca 1600-1500 BCE § high point of Minoan culture § thalassocracy § influence throughout the Aegean world § evidence of warfare § violent sports (bull-leaping) § human sacrifice? A Note on Human Sacrifice - ‘Ritual murder’ at Arkhanes, Crete: o National Geographic 159.2 (February 1981) 204-222 - A. Henrichs, “Human Sacrifice in Greek Religion,” Le sacrifice dans l’antiquité (Entretiens sur l’antiquité classique 27: Vandœuvres-Geneva 1981) 195-242 - D. D. Hughes, Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece (London 1991) Decline of Minoan Society - centralization of power and authority - strained resources? - natural disasters o eruption of Santorini - after 1500 BCE settlements were destroyed (often by force), and not immediately reoccupied - the Mycenaeans were the chief beneficiaries, who took over Crete ca 1450 BCE - Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) Mycenae - A major centre of power during the Later Helladic period. - Known from Homer as the home of Agamemnon, leader of the Achaean forces at Troy. - Excavations of tombs by Schliemann brought to light many extraordinary finds. - Lion Gate – Mycenae - Circle Grave A – Mycenae Artists’ reconstruction of the palace at Pylos Nestor’s Cup - “[???] Nestor’s well-made cup; whoever drinks of this cup will immediately be seized by desire from fair-garlanded Aphrodite.” CEG 454 (ca 725-720 BCE) o ε[ἰμ]ι ἔ[ρρο]ι Mycenaeans - Term applied to the inhabitants of Mycenae, as well as to the inhabitants of southern central Greece during the LH (ca 1600-1050 BCE) - Descended from Indo-European speakers - immigrants from northwest Anatolia? - Ruled by a warrior elite - Influenced by Minoan culture but remained distinct. - 14th and 13th cent. BCE were the acme of Mycenaean power and influence. - Possibly called Ahhiyawa in Hittite texts, whose ruler is called ‘Great King’ - End of 13th cent. BCE evidence of earthquake activity - Decline in Mycenaean power - Hostile forces from the east? Troy and Homer: - Arcimboldo ca. 1570 CE  o The site was discovered in 1820 and excavated by Schliemann from 1870-1890. o The most influential excavations were carried out by Carl Blegen of the University of Cincinnati (1932-1938) § Excavation: the process of digging and removing something from the ground o Important recent excavations by Manfred Korfmann (1988-present) - The site of Troy: - The site was occupied from ca 3000 BCE to 1200 CE - More than 46 building phases, which are grouped in 9 bands (sometimes called ‘cities’) - ‘Priam’s Troy’ has been identified with Layers VI-VIIb - There is still much controversy. The Homeric Poems: Homeric Poems as Epics - Epic: the nature of the genre o a substantial narrative poem in dactylic hexameters § Hexameter: a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet (six dactyls) o elevated tone o concerns the exploits of gods and heroes o subject matter derived from traditional myth o many conventional features (e.g. formulaic language, archaisms, type-scenes, extended similes) - ‘The Homeric Question’ - The oral-formular style (the contribution of Milman Parry) - Oral vs. Literate epic (or primary and secondary epic) Milman Parry (1902-1935) - Studied the ‘formulae’ of the Homeric poems - Concluded that the Iliad and the Odyssey were the products of an oral tradition of heroic song. - Found a modern tradition in the former Yugoslavia  - Examples of ‘formulae’ in Homer - from M. Parry, The Making of Homeric Verse ed. A. Parry (Oxford 1972) Possible Implications of Oral Theory - No single poet is fully responsible for the composition of the Homeric poems o and so no ‘Homer’ in the usual sense of an author - Language and content shaped over time - No single authoritative version o extemporization (on the spot performing) was important in the tradition - The Homeric poems had collective importance o “A tribal encyclopedia” (Havelock)? Limitations of Oral Theory - May overrate the strength of the tradition, and underrate the contributions of individual singers - Fails to explain the emergence of a fixed text - Fails to explain convincingly the transition from oral poem to written text - Has not formulated a strategy for ‘reading’ these texts Homer’s Illiad - Salient characteristics: narrative, speeches, similes, divine ‘machinery’, etc. - Basic divisions (24 ‘books’) - Expansive narrative combined with remarkable compression. o The poem treats only 14 days in a war that lasted 10 years. - General structure and themes - Influence Homer’s Odyssey - Similar to the Iliad in character, but very different in themes and structure. - Regarded as the lesser poem in antiquity. - Focus on the wanderings and sufferings of Odysseus. - Explores the nature of human society by viewing it from without. - Extensive use of folktales, often with striking parallels from the Near Eastern tradition. The Early Epic Tradition  - The Epic Cycle - Homeric Hymns - Hesiod o Theogony o Works and Days o Catalogue of Women, etc. From the Dark Age to the Archaic Period: Fall of Mycenaean Civilization: - Beginning ca 1200 BCE Mycenaean civilizations began to falter. o palaces were attacked and destroyed o many were abandoned o a breakdown of social cohesion - By 1100 BCE the palace-communities were gone. - Great NE empires (Hittites, Egypt) were also in trouble - Troy fell ca 1250-1200 BCE What Happened? - It is easier to describe what happened than account for it. - Various theories: o marauding ‘sea-peoples’ (as they are called in Egyptian texts) o Dorian ‘invasion’ o A “massive ‘systems collapse’” ‘Dark Age’ ca 1150-700 BCE: - A period of decline and slow reorganization and recovery. - Archaeological evidence sparse (graves for the most part). - The expression ‘dark age’ suggests more consistency than the archaeological record has shown. - Some regions recovered sooner than others. - Not a return to a primitive state. - The elaborate architecture of the palaces and the bureaucracy of Mycenaean Civilization were gone. o so too was literacy - But life continued: o Agriculture o Livestock o spinning and weaving (a diminution of skill and quality) o pottery (improved technology)  o smelting and working iron (after 1050 BCE) § by 950 BCE weapons in graves were typically made of iron, not bronze. - Beginning of colonization of Asia Minor o Greek presence opened the door to a later ‘orientalising’ period. - Consolidation of settlements such as Corinth and Athens - Large-scale bureaucracy replaced by local power structures. o e.g. ‘chieftains’, clan-groups, ‘warrior class’ o There was considerable variety. o The foundation for the development of the city-states (poleis) End of the Dark Age - Rise of a land-owning elite (aristocracy) o Aristocracy: the highest class in certain societies o emphasized divisions in society o forced many to relocate - Colonization and trade o new settlements in southern Italy and Sicily o establishments of trading ties abroad - Alphabet and literacy - How the text of Hesiod might have looked in the 8th century BCE (800-701) - Considerable development of religious festivals. o Panhellenic worship: place of worship in Ancient Greece, opened to all Greeks regardless of the city-0state it belonged to. o Certain cult-centres became prominent (e.g., Delphi, [MS1] Dodona) § Delphi: ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Apollo § Dodona: ancient religious sanctuary dedicated to the Greek god Zeus o Olympic games (first recorded in 776 BCE) o Renewed interest in Mycenaean tombs (and burial practices[MS2] ) § Ancestor cult · Families worshiped ancestors to maintain connection § Hero cult[MS3] · Hero (modern): person who achieved above and beyond, acted bravely than others. · Hero (greek): unknown where the word came from. Really important guy, chief. Is a religious term. · Person who finds the colony is worshipped as the hero. Archaic Period (ca 700-500 BCE): - Archaic Greece o Trade and colonization o Panhellenic religious festivals proliferated and grew in importance o Prominence of ‘new’ literary forms o Development of artistic expression § Vase-painting § Sculpture § Architecture - ‘Birth’ of philosophy - Rise of the city-state (polis) - Archaic Greece o wars proliferated o civil unrest § a by-product of the stratification of society § an aristocratic elite is naturally complemented by a subordinate poor Rise of the City-States: - City-state (polis) [MS4] is a convenient modern term to describe the most conspicuous political unit of Archaic and Classical Greece: o A central city and its surrounding territory o E.g., Athens and Attica - The arrangement is a natural development of political conditions of the Dark Age o Aspects are implicit in the Homeric poems Synoecism (Political Unification):  - The basic political elements of early Greek society: o A basileus (‘chieftain’) o Council of Elders o Assembly (of men of fighting-age) o The demos § Greek word for “village”, country district - Clan-ties were used to bind together the various group both within the city and in the surrounding region. - This is called by the Greeks synoikismos Forms of Government: - There was a tendency to eliminate or reduce the rôle of the basileus (king/monarch) - Re-allocation of various leadership rôles - Aristocratic council (‘elders’) gains importance - Decrease in importance of popular council - Development of complex civic structures - Of central importance was the army[MS5] o Cities could not survive without an army Archaic Greek Lyric Poetry: The Lyric Age of Greece: - This title is somewhat misleading, although it has been important for many intellectual histories of Greece - A great deal of ‘lyric’ poetry was written down during the 7th and 6th centuries BCE o little has survived into the modern world - There were clearly rich and varied traditions of solo song [MS6] stretching well back to the Bronze Age (and beyond). ‘Lyric’ vs Lyric: - We use the word lyric to refer to a broad range of personal[MS7] poetry. - The word properly refers to poetry sung to the accompaniment of a lyre [MS8] (lyra). o Lyre: great grandfather of a guitar - The aulos[MS9] was also used to accompany some kinds of poetry. o Aulos: translated to flute or obo (but isn’t really either) - The early Greeks often used the word melos (‘song’) o Melic poetry Characteristics of Early Greek Poetry: - Very different from modern notions of personal poetry o a “spontaneous outpouring of emotion” (Wordsworth) - It was sung and so performed, not designed for reading. - Closely bound to occasions: o Religious festivals o Weddings[MS10] § Acknowledging earth and kids o Funerals o Victory-celebrations o Symposia[MS11] : “drinking party”, but in the Greek world was simply just a dinner - Formal and often traditional in character. - Complex metres. - Highly complex language o Elevated and artificial o Doric dialect common in some types, Ionic in others (even when produced in non-Dorian and non-Ionian communities). - Two basic modes: o solo-song (monody) o choral poetry The major figures - Iambos: genre of ancient Greek poetry that included an iambic meter. Whose origins trace back to the cults of Demeter and Dionysus. Genre features insulting language, sometimes referred to as “blame poetry” o Archilochus[MS12] [MS13] : poet who wrote about epic life as a warrior, seafarer, and lover § Encouraged to fight  o Semonides: wrote a verse on a misogynist theme, but without invective and obscenity o Hipponax: wrote about depicting the vulgar side of life in Ionian society - Elegy[MS14] : Song of mourning o Tyrtaeus[MS15] : Spartan poet of the mid-7th century BCE. Five books with 250 lines that describes the great historical interest in relation to two crises affecting Sparta at the time o Solon[MS16] : articulated his vision of the world politically. A wish for moderation in a world where political polarization was on the increase as the pantheon of Ancient Greece was beginning to crumble o Mimnermus: wrote about solar eclipses. o Theognis[MS17] : wrote two song books, then performed - Choral[MS18] : type of lyric poetry that was created by the ancient Greeks and performed by Choruses. Sung about myth o Alcman: wrote in a type of Doric related to the Laconian vernacular, used in the region that included Sparta o Stesichorus: “instructor of choruses” o Simonides: first to establish the choral dirge o Bacchylides: nephew of Simonides and rival of Pindar. Poems celebrating victories in athletic contests o Pindar: greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece and the master of epinician, choral odes celebrating victories achieved in the Pythian, Olympic, Isthmian, and Nemean games - Monody: poetry sung by a single performer o Alcaeus[MS19] : addressed Sappho in his poems. Poems referring to politics o Sappho[MS20] : “one of the greatest poets to the greeks”. Wrote about love and the strong emotions it generated, such as passion, jealousy, affection and hatred o Anacreon: wrote about love, infatuation, disappointment, revelry, parties, festivals, and observation of people and life. § Wrote about love but lied The Ancient Greek World: - Anacreon fr. 358 PMG: o Once again golden-haired Love (Eros) strikes me with his purple ball and summons me to play with the girl with ornate sandals; but she — for she comes from Lesbos with its fine cities— finds fault with my hair because it is white, and gapes after another - Anacreon[MS21] fr. 358 PMG:  o Once again golden-haired Love (Eros) strikes me with his purple ball and summons me to play with the girl with ornate sandals; but she — for she comes from Lesbos[MS22] [MS23] [MS24] with its fine cities— finds fault with my hair because it is white, and gapes after another § Lesbos: lesbian · Or She’s going to reject me because I’m old, she’s looking for someone younger § Eros: god of love § Arrows means sexual The ‘New’ Sappho (published in 2004) - P.Köln 21351 The ‘New’ Sappho - Restored and translated by M. L. West: Pursue the violet-laden Muses’ handsome gifts, My children, and the loud-voiced lyre so dear to song: But me — my skin which once was soft is withered now By age, my hair has turned to white which once was black, My heart has been weighed down, my knees give no support Which once were nimble in the dance like little fawns. How often I lament these things. But what to do? No being that is human can escape old age. For people used to think that Dawn with rosy arms And loving murmurs took Tithonus fine and young To reach the edges of the earth; yet grey age In time did seize him, though his consort cannot die The ‘Brothers’ Poem; the ‘Newer’ Sappho (2014)... but you are always carrying on and on that Charaxus should come with a full ship. Such things, I think, Zeus and all the gods know, but you need not think about these things; rather you should send me with orders to offer many a prayer to Lady Hera that Charaxus may arrive, steering his ship here safely, and find us safe and sound. As for the rest, let us entrust it all to the gods. Fair weather quickly follows great storm blasts. For whomever the king of Olympus already wishes a helper god to turn them away from troubles, those people are blessed and have abundant wealth. And as for us, if Larichus should lift up his head and at some point become a man, we also may from our very many sorrows straightway be freed. Archaic Art and Architecture: Art from Dark Age to Archaic Period - Our evidence is principally in the form of vase-painting - From 11th to 8th centuries BCE vases were decorated without images - After ca 750 BCE a new style emerges with increasing emphasis on figures and scenes of action o Late Geometric Period (ca 750-700) o ‘Orientalizing’ Types of Early Greek Poetry Greek Pottery Production - Numerous kilns excavated o Kilns: furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying (for pottery) - The firing process had three stages: 1. Fired and oxidized (high temp., with air circulation) 2. Reducing conditions (high temp., wood-smoke, no air) 3. Oxidizing 2 (red colour, but black gloss remained black) - The result was pottery with red and black colour Styles of Vase-Painting - Black-figure o Invented ca 720 BCE at Corinth (perfected at Athens) o Lines incised into a silhouette with the addition of red and white o The human figure was drawn with increasing naturalism - Red-figure o Invented ca 525 BCE at Athens o Decorations are left in the clay colour (i.e., red) and the background is painted black o Details are applied with a brush, allowing greater fluidity of drawing  - [MS25] [MS26] [MS27] [MS28] Archaic Sculpture and Architecture: From Dark Age to Archaic Age - The skills necessary to produce a large-scale work like the Lion Gate at Mycenae seem to have been lost. - But the production of smaller (often sacred) figurines continued. - Puberty initiation: ritual that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood o Cutting of the long hair - Some evidence for continuity from the Bronze Age, as well as innovations (warriors, centaurs, etc.). - Terracotta Centaur Sculpture in the Archaic Period (Orientalizing Period, 700-600 BCE) - Bronze continued to be a prized metal. - Decorated cauldrons and tripods.[MS29] - Numerous small mould-made (and so mass-produced) terracotta figurines o a female figure reminiscent of the NE goddess Astarte common [MS30] Archaic Sculpture (600-480 BCE) - Marble becomes an important medium beginning near the end of the 7th century BCE. - Two major types o standing male kouros (pl. kouroi) o standing clothed female kore (pl. korai) - A development from rather abstract stylization to greater naturalism - Attic kouros, ca 530 BCE (right) - Attic kouros, ca 500 BCE (left) [MS31] - Roman copy of an early Greek Athena Parthenos [MS32] - Zeus (Athens) [MS33] - Marble Poseidon (Athens) - Charioteer (Delphi) - ‘Artemision Jockey’ (Athens) - Bronze horse (Capitoline Museum, Rome) - Minotaur (Athens) - Techniques continued to develop. - In later antiquity Greek sculptors created pieces characterized by a naturalness that would not be out of place in the Baroque or Rococo Period. - Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625 CE) - Villa Borghese, Rome Architecture - Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion - The building of temples to the gods remained a priority for Greek communities. - The temples were surrounded by colonnades.[MS34] o Colonnades: roof with series of pillars - The architectural ‘orders’ were designed for these exteriors[MS35]. - The ‘orders’ represent a lasting contribution to western architecture and help define the classical style. - Three main ‘orders’ o Doric o Ionic o Corinthian Ionic Capital and base (New York) Parthenon Gallery (London[MS36] ) Metopes from a temple at Selinunte (Palermo, Sicily[MS37] ) Actaeon Metope (Sicily[MS38] ) Temple of Zeus at Olympia (aerial view) Olympia, Temple of Zeus Reconstruction of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia with sacred stature[MS39] The Persian Wars - Greek warfare - Athenians - Spartans - The Conflict “One must realize that War is shared, and Conflict is Justice, and that all things come to pass in accordance with Conflict” - Heraclitus[MS40] [MS41] (6th century philosopher) - For Greek’s justice is about achieving balance, dynamic process “War is the father of all and king of all; and some he shows as gods, others as men; some he makes slaves, others free” - Heraclitus[MS42] - Warfare is transformative - War was a persistent feature of Greek society. - Conflicts grew in scale as large power blocks emerged. - War shaped the institutions, society, and economy of the Greek world. - Military function and social and political status were closely related. o Important statements of this in both Homer and Aristotle. o This accounts, in part at least, for the exclusion of women from political and public life. - Victory in war was seen as indicative of divine favour. o There is a large religious component to war in antiquity. - At Athens the war dead were buried with an annual public ceremony and an oration (epitaphios) that linked the fallen with the achievements of the polis. o War underpins civic ideology.  § Civic Ideology: a system of claims about the nature of a state and its relationship to its subjects, as articulated by both the state and its subjects - The Greeks were very much aware of the destructive side of war. o “No one is so foolish as to prefer war to peace: in peace children bury their fathers, while in war fathers bury their children.” (Herodotus) o A common theme in tragedy and comedy. o Historians regularly focused on the suffering of communities in defeat. o War is “a violent teacher” (Thucydides) - After the Persian Wars (Greeks vs Foreigners) the view that Greeks should not fight Greeks was often expressed (e.g. by Plato), but the legitimacy of war itself was rarely questioned. Techniques of Greek Warfare - No theoretical treatises from early Greece. - The Iliad seems to emphasize single combat. - Tyrtaeus stresses the cohesion of the group - Hoplite warfare: citizen-soldiers of ancient Greek city-states who were armed with spears and shields o the phalanx - Our idea of tactics is sketchy o In the Persian Wars the Greeks seem to have thought in terms of large-scale strategy for the first time. - The Athenian development of sea power introduced a new element to warfare. The Persians - In the narrow sense Persia is the name of the country lying in the folds of the Zagros mountains. - In a broader sense Persia (and the Persians) refers to territory ruled from Persia that extended to the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor in the 6th century BCE[MS43] o Greeks repelled Persia - At the beginning of the 5th century BCE (490 and 480/79) the Persians made two attempts to expand their Empire to include Greece. o Hence the Persian Wars. - There were complex ties between Greece and the Persians both before and after the Persian Wars. - The approaching Persian forces polarized the Greek city-states.  o Some saw Persian victory as inevitable and advocated capitulation (‘Medizers’). § Capitulation: the action of surrendering or ceasing to resist an opponent or demand § The Greeks often referred to Persians as Medes. o Others resisted (Sparta and Athens were the leaders). Sparta: Origins - Located in Laconia, the Peloponnese in mainland Greece (North-Western part) - Evidence for substantial Neolithic community in the area. - Origins of Sparta shrouded in myth and legend: o the return of the Heraclids (descendants of Heracles) § formed the founding population of sparta § came from other places o the ‘Dorian invasion’ - Archaeology suggests a break with the Bronze Age Sparta: Archaic and Classical - Sparta emerged as a major power in the 8th century BCE by conquering neighbouring Messenia and enslaving its population (‘helots’). - Sparta was transformed both culturally and militarily. o Dedications at the Temple of Artemis Orthia o Visits from distinguished poets - During the 7th century Sparta was beset by numerous problems: o a major Messenian revolt (the Second Messenian War) o internal discontent from poor citizens o military defeat by Argos in 669 BCE - During the 6th century Sparta successfully addressed its external problems by o several successful wars. o the creation of the so-called Peloponnesian League (which in turn provided support against the helots). - Internal problems were addressed by o extending control over the whole of Messenia o re-organizing the structure of Spartan society to achieve a compromise between rich and poor (Lycurgus, the law-giver). 1. An economic system, according to which citizenship was given to several thousand men who served as full-time hoplites and were supported by produce provided by helots; the hoplites could perform no manual labour.  · Helot: member of class between slaves and citizens 2. A political system which consolidated power in a small group (magistrates, two kings, council of elders). 3. A social and ritual system in which all Spartiate’s (except the two kings and their immediate heirs) underwent an austere upbringing and education that stressed corporate military values. - The result was eunomia (‘good order’), which was admired for its long-term stability. o a society of peers rather than equals (homoioi) Athens - Not a major centre in the Bronze Age - Continuous habitation has largely effaced any archaeological record of prehistoric settlements - Attracted ‘refugee’ groups after the collapse of Mycenaean society - The Athenians perpetuated the myth of autochthony o Autochthony: something native to an area o Erichthonius[MS44] § God of the polis § Ones ancestor spurred from the earth itself - Achieved eminence and influence during the Archaic Period The Persian Wars: The Conflict Herodotus - ‘The father of history’ - His account of the Persian Wars is the first real work of historiography, and remained a central masterpiece of Greek literature - Little is known of his life or precise chronology o b. “a little before the Persian Wars”? o from Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum on the Aegean coast of Turkey) § Halicarnassus was under Persian control at this time o Strong ties with Athens § His histories was well known ca 425 BCE § His language, however, is that of the Ionian coast o Seems to have participated in a struggle against the Persians in his native area § The result was exile § Travel to many places (including Egypt) § Spent considerable time in Athens § A friend of the tragic poet Sophocles  § Died in the 420s BCE Herodotus’ Histories “What Herodotus the Halicarnassian has learned by inquiry (historia) is here set forth so that the memory of the past may not be blotted out from among people by time, and that great and marvellous deeds done by Greeks and non-Greeks (barbaroi) and especially the reason why they made war against each other may not lack renown (aklea).” (1.1) - A series of detailed, inter-connected narratives focused around the Persian Wars o Begins with the fall of Lydia in 545 BCE, and looks forward to the 420s BCE - A rich variety of style - A ‘joy at story-telling’ (‘Freude an de Erzählung’). - Very different from Thucydides, the great historian of the Peloponnesian War Persian Wars: the Conflict (cont.) - Two Persian attempts to conquer mainland Greece: o 490 BCE (under Darius) o 480/79 BCE (under Xerxes) - The origins go back to the revolt of Asiatic Greeks at the beginning of the 5th century o Herodotus dramatizes the Persian desire for revenge o In reality, the campaigns were intended to secure Persian rule over existing Greek subjects - The first attack was by sea o Number of islands (including Naxos) were subjugated - The Battle of Marathon o A crucial event in the war o The Athenians and their allies from Plataea had ca 10 000 men o The Persian force was probably twice that size o The Athenians defeated the Persians by thinning their line at the centre and strengthening the ‘wings’ o They pursued the defeated Persians to their ships, and captured 7 ships o This brought to an end Darius’ campaign § Darius died § A revolt in Egypt Marathon The campaign of 480/79 BCE - The Persian army was led by Xerxes, the Great King, himself  - A very large invading force o Just how large remains controversial o A fleet of 1207 triremes? o An army of 100 000Z? - The Delphic oracle predicted a Persian victory o The Athenians were told to flee, and later to rely on a wooden wall o The latter was interpreted as referring to their newly-built navy - The Athenians resolved to resist - An alliance emerged with the Spartans in command - The Battle of Thermopylae o Small contingent of Spartans led by their king, Leonidas, held the position for two days o Betrayed by locals o The bravery of the fallen became a rallying cry o “O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obeying their orders.” – Simonides Ep. 22b Page Thermopylae “Of those who died at Thermopylae glorious is the fortune, fair their fate; their tomb is an altar (bomos), for lamentation remembrance, and their pity is praise; such a funeral-gift neither mould nor all-conquering Time will make dim. This precinct of noble men chose the glory of Greece as its inhabitant; witness to this is Leonidas himself, king of Sparta, who left behind a great adornment of valour and ever-flowing glory (kleos).” — Simonides fr. 531 PMG - Athenians retreated to Salamis - Athens was evacuated and Attica occupied, as was most of central Greece - Themistocles orchestrated a naval victory near Salamis - Xerxes withdrew to Asia, leaving his general Mardonius in charge of the campaign - Persian command was based in Thessaly - Mardonius attempted to deal with the Athenians through negotiations. o Mardonius: Persian military commander during the Greco-Persian War - Hostilities continue with a Greek counterattack. o Mardonius killed. o Persians withdraw from central Greece - but eventually a treaty (449/8 BCE) secured the independence of Asiatic Greeks. Trireme Result of the Wars - Persia had learned to respect Greek military strength o Continued to take an interest in Greek affairs - The Greeks gained an enhanced sense of their ‘Greekness’ o Athenians rejected Mardonius’ terms in the name of “Greek community of blood and language and religion and ways of life” (Herodotus 8.144.2) In Class Notes: Week 1: Sources for Antiquity Textbooks provide dates, judgements, figures, etc. But how did we determine these? What you will read is the summation of generations of scholarly thinking on a given topic, but not all of it is strictly true. There are always some disputes on academic consensus roiling under the surface of most disciplines, including ours. Thankfully the Ancient Greeks and Romans have left behind a large amount of textual and material evidence for us to investigate. But how do we make sense of all of the ancient materials we’ve collected? How do we know what happened? How do we know what it meant to the ancients? Chronology and Time Reckoning This course’s scope is ca.1500 BCE to ca.476 CE. ca. = circa, Latin for “around,” or “about.” BCE = Before Common Era, while CE = Common Era. These are updated, secular titles to our modern calendrical system, which previously used BC (Before Christ) and AD (Anno Domini). Years from BCE count backwards towards the year 1 BCE. The year which comes before 1 BCE is 2 BCE, while the year which follows 1 BCE is then 1 CE. The ancients had many and much different ways of reckoning time from the modern system. One can objectively measure the passage of time, but the experience of the passage of time and the ways of reckoning the passage of time can be quite subjective. The ancients were acutely aware of the seasons, months, and astronomical cycles which all influenced timekeeping. Individual cities, particularly in Greek territories, would each have a unique, imprecise calendar which was often oriented around loosely scheduled religious festivals. These calendars would often drift into complete inaccuracy, to the chagrin of the city’s inhabitants. The Romans never get it quite right either, but put us on a better track. Their calendar began with 10 months. Julius Caesar instituted a major calendrical reform, adding a month named for himself (July), which marks the switch to the Julian calendar. His successor Augustus adds a second month (August) which brings us yet closer to the calendar we use today. That calendar was further refined until becoming our modern calendar, which was instituted in the 16th century by Pope Gregory XIII, and which is thus called the Gregorian calendar. How did the ancients track time? Years were marked by reigns of priests or magistrates. Archons for the Greeks, or consuls for the Romans. References are often made to particular seasons in a given year. The acme system: ancient historians and record keepers often dated a great deed or event as happening in the “high point,” or “acme,” of a man’s life, which they believed to be 40 years of age. “Where were you when the Mede came?” Dates measured from a singular watershed event which would be widely remembered, such as in this example which references the invasion of the Persians into Greek territory. Think to how people today tend to divide recent history as pre- and post-9/11. Literary Sources Our ancient literary sources are crucial for providing context. They are not always correct in terms of the direct information they provide, but the context which they provide scholars is essential to understanding the ancient world. These sources are written in Ancient Greek and Latin, two languages which descend from the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). PIE emerged in India and spread across vast parts of Asia and Europe, and spawned many descendant languages with its spread. No examples of PIE remain, but linguists use comparative analysis of descendant languages to make approximate reconstructions of PIE vocabulary. Indo-European speakers seem to have entered the Greek territories around 2000 BCE, seriously altering the linguistic makeup of the region such that the Greek language is considered a descendant of PIE. Traces of pre-Indo European vocabulary remain, however. The Greek world was vast and contained a number of distinct dialects. When people think of “Ancient Greek” they tend to think of Attic Greek, which comes from the region of Attica and is the dialect in which works from Classical Athens were written. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great a common dialect of Greek emerged in the Eastern Mediterranean called Koine Greek. Latin comes from the region of Latium in Italy, wherein Rome was the most prominent city. Latin is the dominant administrative language across the Roman empire and is the forebear of modern Romance languages. Latin’s prominence across the Roman empire attests to the immense influence which Rome exerted over the territories which it controlled. Both languages are heavily inflected, but what does this mean? It means the function of a word in a sentence is determined by its spelling. English is very lightly inflected, an example being the difference between “I,” and “me.” They mean the same thing, but context determines which word we use when. This means that in Greek and Latin word order is not nearly as important as it is in english. “Me the dog bites,” would be an example of perfectly intelligible sentence structure to a Latin speaker. The stark differences in grammar, as well as both languages’ extensive vocabularies, makes translation a difficult and inexact process. September 11, 2024 Literature: What has survived and how has it survived? Greeks and Romans had extensive literary traditions, of which we only have a small fraction. Take Sophocles for an example. We believe him to have written somewhere in the ballpark of 120 plays, of which we have 7 which we can read in full. We do have fragments of some of his other works, quoted by other authors, or preserved on fragments of papyri. Modes of Survival 1. Mediaeval transmission: “Copies of copies of copies of copies.” Not all human societies use text. The shift in Greece from an oral culture to a literate culture is huge. The emergence of the innovatively precise Greek alphabet facilitates this cultural shift in Greece. The Romans later base their own alphabet off of that of the Greeks, which we still use to this day. Book trade: The first mention of a book is in 406 BCE, centuries into being a literate culture, which seems rather late! Greeks had been inscribing for centuries at that point, but who was reading what they wrote? Before Gutenberg developed the printing press in the mid 15th century CE all books had to be copied out by hand. If you wanted a book someone had to specifically hand write a copy for you: a time consuming and expensive process. If, for whatever reason, nobody wanted to read a book, it wouldn’t take much time at all for it to disappear. After Alexander’s conquests in the 4th c BCE Alexandria rose as a prominent cultural centre under the Ptolemaic dynasty. Ptolemy I ordered the construction of the first library, consolidating all of the great texts from the Greek world into an expansive and comprehensive collection. After antiquity there was a decline in interest in Classical works, but many texts were preserved by scribes in monasteries across Europe. Texts were traditionally written on scrolls until the Romans developed the codex, bound books as we know them. The more popular a text tended to be, the more surviving manuscript copies survived to modernity. The more manuscript copies we have of a given text means we have a higher number of different versions of the text. Various factors led to informing which texts were preserved in the manuscript tradition. The 7 complete Sophoclean plays we have survived as they were the plays used as school texts in the ancient world. Despite significant losses plenty of Greek and Roman literature survives. 2. Papyri Actual sheafs of ancient text which have survived for millenia, often in rather poor condition. Most climatic conditions around the world are not conducive to the preservation of papyri, but Egypt’s exceptionally dry climate has preserved plenty of it for us to examine. Another interesting example is the library at Herculaneum: a family’s extensive private collection of papyri which was utterly carbonised and buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which we are in the process of slowly uncovering using sophisticated modern imaging technology. Papyri may shed new light on otherwise poorly attested material. They are, for example, an important source for the poetry of Archilocus, who was an Archaic poet who was held in highest regard second only to Homer. Our main ancient source on one kind of poem that Archilocus composed was a Byzantine scholar, whose work tended to ignore the mythological aspects of Archilocus’ poetry in favour of edifying discussions of subjects such as virtue. A recently discovered papyrus helps give us a fuller picture of Archilocus’ work which was otherwise lost to the record. 3. Inscription Carving text onto stone. In the Bronze Age we find examples of Linear A: a script in Greece which we have been thus far unable to decode. We also find examples of Linear B: an entirely separate script which we have discovered to be an early form of Greek, although the script is entirely unrelated to the Greek alphabet which emerges later. Subjects of inscriptions include epitaphs, proclamations, local histories, and lists of local rulers and magistrates. Archaeology: “The study of old things.” Really the study of physical antiquity, which covers a few different areas: “Digs,” sites excavated by archaeologists Architectural studies Sculpture Vase and wall paintings Archaeological strata: Things get buried! You have to dig meticulously, layer by layer, to uncover era after era at any given site. September 13 Archaeology continued: Providing the “where,” and the “what.” The Where: One needs to forget modern notions of a “country” when looking back to antiquity. There was no broad territory with set borders or a shared national identity. The territory of Greece was really a series of politically independent city-states around the mainland and islands surrounding the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, including parts of modern day Italy and western Turkiye. These city-states shared a language and key cultural elements. “The problems of continuous habitation.” When we look at Athens we see classical features mingling with modern development, a big, dense, urban environment which conceals a territory of major archaeological significance. Rome is another key example. You can’t kick over a stone without initiating another archaeological investigation. Ephesus: A counter example. Some cities were utterly abandoned or depopulated, meaning that after the ages buried the sites, there was no new development covering up the old. Ephesus was one such site, Pompeii was another. These sites give us, in addition to a wealth of archaeological finds, unaltered examples of ancient city planning and layout. The What: Excavations give us ancient objects. These rarely come unscathed, however. We have examples of statuary, which would often become defaced or suffer amputations in the intervening millenia, as we see in the kouros statue depicting a long haired youth. We have also received some examples of bronze statuary, although they are rare, as they tended to get melted down and repurposed. The bronze statue of Zeus was salvaged from a shipwreck, which explains why it was spared the fate of so many other bronzes through antiquity. Marble statuary and architecture have given us an impression of a gleaming, austere antique world, but the reality is that their statuary was richly painted in rather bold colours. Pottery: Many vessels were adorned with scenes and imagery, some of them depict cult iconography for various gods, some depict scenes from myth, and others bawdy or comic scenes. Some were display pieces while others were for use in the drinking of wine in the symposium. Art and Text: Sometimes an inscription accompanies a work of art, letting us know what we are looking at. Take, for example, a funerary stele, which bears an epitaph telling the reader about the deceased, who are rendered in a tender portrait below. Chronology in the Greek World Palaeolithic Age: Neolithic Age: Bronze Age: pre 70,000 BCE 6000-3000 BCE 3000-1150 BCE Historical Age: 1150 BCE-476 CE The older the age, the more speculative the information tends to be. Academic consensus on any given topic is frequently called into question. The Palaeolithic Period: The ‘Stone Age.’ Some evidence for habitation, hunting and gathering, stone, wood and bone tool usage, but no evidence of social organisation (although such organisation was almost certainly present). The Neolithic Period: The ‘New Stone Age.’ More evidence of habitation, the beginnings of agriculture and animal husbandry, as well as permanent communities. We start finding figurines of a fertility goddess and her ithyphallic consort (we estimate these roles of goddess and consort based on the relative sizes of the figurines). Exaggerated anatomy on the figurines suggests their roles. Ithyphally (an exaggeratedly large erection) projects strength and manliness, suggesting a protective quality to the figurines. We think the male is a consort and not a warrior or god because he is smaller in size than the female (suggesting power hierarchies, cosmic importance). These figurines hint towards an indigenous culture which worships an earth goddess, which culture will later come into contact, and likely conflict, with sky-god worshipping Indo-Europeans. The Ancient Near East Within scholarship there is an increasing awareness of early Greek culture’s contact with and influence from the older elaborate civilizations of the Near East, such as the neighbouring Hittites. Early cultural influences can also be traced to the Egyptians, who were another considerably older and thoroughly developed culture, and with whom the Greek world had been trading since the 3rd Millennium BCE. One can see this Egyptian influence in early Greek art especially. Bronze Age Chronology Early Bronze Age: 3000-2100 BCE Middle Bronze Age: 2100-1600 BCE Late Bronze Age: 1600-1150 BCE Week 2: The Minoans September 16, 2024 Bronze Age Chronology Early Bronze Age: 3000-2100 BCE Early Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic Middle Bronze Age: 2100-1600 BCE Middle Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic Late Bronze Age: 1600-1150 BCE Late Minoan, Cycladic, Helladic, Mycanaean The Bronze Age is really when we begin to get enough evidence to really start thinking about the structure of societies. The Bronze Age continues until it transitions into what we call the “Greek Dark Age.” There are three main regions through the Bronze Age: Mainland Greece, the Cycladic Islands, and the island of Crete. Things happen at a different pace in each of these areas, and it seems that languages differed between these regions. Knossos at Crete: “The Palace of Minos” Knossos is the primary hilltop “palace” of the Minoan culture. It was discovered by Arthur Evans in 1899, who poetically dubbed it the “Palace of Minos.” Calling the structure a “palace” seems to be a bit of a misnomer, but we’ve stuck with the terminology for lack of a better term. Evans named this culture after the mythical Cretan king Minos, from whom we have the myth of the “minotaur.” Evans identified the mythical “labyrinth” of the minotaur with a kind of folk memory of the thoroughly complicated palace complex at Knossos. Evans’ poetic spirit tended to meld myth with archaeology, which wound up muddling the record somewhat. Evans carried out extensive reconstructions/restorations on the site, but they were largely highly speculative in nature. They reflect a different era of archaeology, as they tended to be real cowboys back then, playing fast and loose with modern cultural and mythological ideas of layout. Knossos is situated near the modern port of Iraklio, and Knossos was itself likely closer to the shore in its own day. The palace is a large, complex structure. This suggests some sort of administrative hub, implying that the Minoans had a hierarchical societal structure with a ruling elite, from which they ran a thalassocracy. Thalassocracy = “Rule by sea.” Most ancient cities were built on or around hilltops or high points. Why build on high places? It’s a hostile world, height is a strategic advantage in wars. Most ancient cities were surrounded by walls, based on that same principle, but Knossos lacks walls. The administration at Knossos seems not to have been too worried about sea invasions, implying they exercised some control over the surrounding sea (and were thus likely a thalassocracy). The palace is one of a number of Bronze Age sites on the island of Crete. The palace was built c. 2000 BCE, had a number of later phases of development over several centuries. It is stunningly complex for a time when the standard dwelling was a one room hut. It was damaged by an earthquake c. 1700 BCE, but was quickly rebuilt. This swift response from the Minoans suggests a healthy and strong administration. Evans’ work was quite exciting at the time, even influencing 20th century design sensibilities with the reconstructed Minoan art and architecture which he was revealing to the world. Akrotiri A Cycladic city on the island of Santorini which was unearthed in 1967 (a much more cautious age in archaeology). Akrotiri had been abandoned and buried in the settling ash from a nearby active volcano c. 1600 BCE. The site was eventually discovered because farmers on Santorini kept finding interesting objects while working the earth. Akrotiri preserves some striking examples of Minoan-style wall painting, although we don’t have any of the usual evidence of habitation, like jewellery, nor do we have any evidence that anyone was buried in volcanic ash like at Pompeii. This suggests that locals must have packed up and left before the town was buried. Akrotiri’s architecture is totally unique to the island, showing up at no other sites. The lack of its reproduction elsewhere leads scholars to believe that the islanders’ ships sank as they fled the island, perhaps overwhelmed by the tsunami that followed the eruption, as shipwrecks were not uncommon in the Bronze Age. We are left with some very well preserved examples of Bronze Age architecture at the site, including second stories of dwellings, which rarely survived elsewhere. Minoan Society Pre-palatial/Early Minoan period (3500-2000) BCE: Small farming communities from whom we have tools for arts and crafts such as ceramics, woodworking tools, and textile tools. Presence of Communal tombs. Varied grave goods suggest a hierarchical society, as there are evidently richer and poorer people. Middle Minoan (ca. 2000 BCE): Palaces are established across Crete. Knossos is the most famous but there are other palace sites across the island as well, such as Phaestus and Mallia. A system of hieroglyphic writing is developed which we call “Linear A.” We have thus far been unable to decode what it says. Similar writing systems existed in the Near East and Egypt. Widespread trade and a wide range of products imported and exported. Palaces damaged by earthquakes c. 1700 BCE, but not only are they rebuilt, but they are improved. The “high point” of Minoan culture c. 1600-1500 BCE: Evidence of their thalassocracy and broader Aegean influence, as well as some evidence of warfare. Evidence of violent sports, specifically “bull leaping.” We find depictions of youths leaping over bulls. o Bulls in general are prominent in Cretan iconography. Is bull leaping religious? Many ancient activities, including sports, were cultic in nature. There are hints of human sacrifice in times of distress. There is one cave near a volcanic site with burials in it, some of which had been drained of blood. September 18, 2024 Decline of Minoan Society The strong Minoan administration seems to fall apart, and it’s difficult to tell exactly why. There’s a lot of speculation as to what caused their decline, we really only have archaeological evidence for this decline. It bears thinking about why large complex societies disappear. Theories for Minoan Decline: Political theory: An increased centralization of power and authority may have strained resources Natural disasters: A volcanic eruption may have been highly destructive, and while they may not have completely destroyed the civilization, it certainly would have strained and destabilised it by interrupting supply chains and weakening the administrative structure o Other natural disasters could have included famine & crop failure. Most of these societies had to sustain themselves locally. Famine leads to all kinds of societal complications, disease, and a restless public. o Pandemic is another possibility. These eat away at the fabric of society and create divisions, but over a period of time not overnight. After 1500 BCE Minoan settlements were destroyed and not immediately restored and reoccupied. This is significant because it suggests Minoan society was not as it was before. There is also evidence for hostility in this period. Soon after the Mycenaeans come over and take over Crete around 1450 BCE. Minoan language seems to disappear around this time. The Minoans had a strong artistic tradition at the height of their society. Art is reflective of a society that is thriving and has elite groups. The palace at Knossos contains many fragments of richly decorated, vibrant walls. The fragments we have are tiny, but careful comparative analysis allows us to paint a better picture and fill in the gaps. Bull-jumping wall art Highly-stylized art We also have some interesting objects, figurines and pottery from Knossos: The ‘snake goddess’ figurines: figurines of women wielding snakes, wearing elaborate dresses with their breasts bared, which suggests to some a fertility goddess. These served a talismanic function.  A ceremonial knife: It is difficult to draw continuity between the Minoans and later societies, but ritual animal blood sacrifice was central to Mycenaean ritual practices Phaistos disk: A humble reminder of the limits of our knowledge. Found at the palace at Phaistos. We have no idea what it is, covered in symbols which we are unable to decode. Was it a game? A Calendar? The Mycenaeans Mycenae Mycenae, the capital city of the Mycenaean, is a large citadel on a hilltop in the plain of Argos on mainland Greece. Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) A German businessman, not an academic, but had a lifelong obsession with the works of the Archaic Greek poet Homer. He was convinced of the poems’ historical truth. The academic consensus at the time saw Homer to be largely fictional. Schliemann set out to prove the truth of the poems and desired to find the site of Troy, widely thought to be a mythical city. He set out to lead an archaeological expedition at the site where Homer claimed the site of Troy to be, and actually found it! It is important to note that archaeology at the time was by no means a formalised science. There were little to no ethical concerns or constraints on archaeologists at the time. His penchant for buying goods off the black market and claiming them as his own discoveries has earned him a mixed reputation, although at the time he was a major celebrity. Mycenae Cont. Mycenae was also excavated by Schliemann, as he identified the site with the home of the king Agamemnon, the leader of the Greeks, from Homer’s Iliad. He not only found the citadel site, but a series of elaborate elite tombs (called ‘circle graves’) on the site, to some exciting discoveries of grave goods. Illustrated that the Myceneans were a rich and powerful society with elite groups The citadel site was surrounded by impressive stone walls, with a gate decorated with sculptures of lions called the “Lion’s Gate.” Lion imagery is surprisingly common with the literary record of Agamemnon’s ill-fated family, the Atreids. The walls and gate are important for us to understand the militaristic/defensive nature of society at the time, especially compared to that of the Minoans, who didn’t have walls. Pylos There is a palace site at Pylos, of which we have scant evidence of how it actually looked, although it was likely richly decorated in a manner similar to Knossos. The size and complexity of these sites suggest and elaborate and complex society Mycenae Cont. Schliemann’s excavations of the circle graves on the citadel yielded gold leaf “death masks.” One particularly impressive find of a death mask apparently convinced Schliemann that he had found “the death mask of Agamemnon.” It is a fake unfortunately. Other grave goods from these tombs include a gold diadem, and a rhyton (drinking cup) in a Minoan style, but this time also made of gold. All sorts of jewellery. Nobody would tell you that the Iliad is a documentary, but these finds show some kind of connection between the works of Homer and this period of history. We also have text from this period. A Mycenaean clay tablet from Pylos is written in Linear B, which was deciphered in the 1950s by two scholars. Linear B is an early form of Greek The Script is a pictographic system with some syllabic elements These texts are primarily administrative records, temple inventories, & a list of sacrifices (and gods). This gives us a different insight into the Mycenaean world than other texts and poems, including important information about daily life and religion. o For example, these tablets name Dionysos, which we had previously thought of as an 8th century import, but don’t name Apollo, who was apparently a later import than previously thought. Nestor’s Cup: One of Schlieman’s more interesting archaeological finds. Nestor, a king from Pylos a generation older than the other warlords from the Iliad, has a cup which roughly matches the description of the golden cup found. Nestor’s Cup #2: Another cup dated to 735-720 BCE from the island of Ischia (in the gulf of Naples, Italy) with an inscription on it is our earliest example of Ancient Greek writing. This inscription appears to identify this ceramic cup as “Nestor’s.” The cup itself appears to be speaking in the inscription The inscription has been interpreted as beginning with “I am Nestor’s well-made cup...” o The rest of the inscription tells us that Aphrodite will fall in love with the person who drinks from the cup.  Another interpretation of inscription is “Away with Nestor’s well-made cup...” This suggests that this cup is jokingly suggesting that you forget about, or “cast off,” Nestor’s cup in favour of this cup, because it can make you fall in love. The cup may have been imbued with “love” magic, which has more serious ritual implications. September 20, 2024 Mycenaeans continued There are other important Mycenaean sites aside from Mycenae, such as Pylos, although Schliemann’s designation of “Mycenaean” has stuck for the inhabitants of southern central Greece. These people reached their peak during the mid 2nd millennium BCE, circa 1600-1050 BCE. We assume that Mycenaeans descended from Indo-European speakers who moved into the Greek world around 2000 BCE. These people brought their own language and religion to Greece, and rather than supplanting the local religion, they fuse their religion with the indigenous religion. There is an idea that the Mycenaeans are ruled by a warrior-elite, although this idea is uncertain. They definitely had a hierarchy of groups and a strong elite class. Mycenaeans reached their acme (high point) in the 14th and 13th centuries. Possibly referred to in Hittite texts as Ahhiyawa, who are ruled by a great king. Ahhiyawa resembles Achaean, the primary word used to refer to the Greeks in the works of Homer. End of the 13th century BCE bears evidence of earthquake activity. After this point there is a marked decline in Mycenaean power. Elaborate palaces disappear, serious cultural transformations occur. We don’t really know what happened. Egyptian texts from the period refer to a mysterious “Sea People” who invade and destabilise the eastern Mediterranean. Troy and Homer One of Schliemann’s driving goals was to unearth the (supposedly) mythical city of Troy. The Iliad places the site of Troy north of Mount Ida, in the northwest of the Aegean Sea in modern Turkey. The Site of Troy The site of Troy was discovered in 1820, and was excavated by Schliemann from 1870- 1890. Schliemann established that this was the likely site of Troy, proving that it was indeed a real site. The most influential excavations were carried out by Carl Blegen of the University of Cincinnati (1932-38). Blegen did really important work in this period. Blegen was an archaeologist, whereas Schliemann was a treasure hunter. Important recent excavations have been carried out by Manfred Korfmann (1988-present). The site was continuously occupied from around 3000-1200 BCE. Blegen’s excavations revealed more than 46 building phases, which are grouped in 9 bands (sometimes called “cities”). These were phases of development related to each other but distinct from the other bands. Within these bands there has been evidence of construction and destruction. Of course, it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish between destruction from natural disasters and from invading forces. Previous perspectives on Troy: The Troy which Schliemann found and ‘excavated’ was understood as a site of little importance, thought to be a smaller Hittite outpost not situated on any major trade routes. New perspectives on Troy: Korfmann in the 80s surveyed a large area of the site with ground penetrating radar (GPR). GPR identifies solid material underneath the earth. Korfmann’s picture of Troy differed substantially from Schliemann’s. The site Blegen excavated was a small area within a wall (the citadel of troy only, the high point of the city). Korfmann discovered that the rest of the area that was unexcavated was once part of the city and the actual extent of the city was marked by ditches further out. Archaeology has also since suggested that this site was a major city than previously thought and a large trading outpost of the Hittite empire situated along an important trade route along the coast of what is now western Turkey. A scribe’s seal was found bearing one of the principal languages of the Hittite empire. The site seems to have been a wealthy Hittite trading outpost at the height of Mycenaean influence around the Aegean. Schliemann believed in the truth of the Homeric texts with a “disarming naivete.” The character of any kind of conflict between the Mycenaeans and the Trojans as we now understand them would have been of quite a different nature than the poems report. Troy was not a Greek speaking city and would have worshipped different gods than Greece. The Homeric Poems The Iliad and the Odyssey were the greatest works of Greek literature, which reputation has held up rather steadfastly. Greek poetry was not meant to be read, but was meant to be sung aloud! Cycladic figurines show men playing the lyre with their head titled back in a posture of singing. Early Greece was described as a song culture. Homeric Poems as Epics Homeric poems are epic poems, a formal designation of a literary genre. All of the elements that describe epic are basically descriptors of the Homeric poems. Not only are Homer’s works “epic,” they are the definition of epic to the Greeks. Greek epics are longform narrative poems, composed in dactylic hexameters. Ancient Greek did not have a stress accent, but a pitch accent. Thus, poems were a combination of long and short syllables. Epic also possesses an “elevated tone.” The subject matter of Epics concern the exploits of gods and heroes (a “hero” is a very different concept to the ancient Greeks than it is to us, in epic it seems to mean “important guy,” but by the 5th century BCE it is a designation for a deceased mortal who is the object of religious worship). Epic derived its subject matter from traditional mythology, and was in some cases the principle means of relaying traditional mythology (traditional comes from latin trado, or, “to hand down”). Traditional myths are stories which are handed down orally across generations. We also sometimes have ‘Pseudo-myths,’ which are made up by some authors (E.g. Plato’s Atlantis myth). Epic bears many conventional features (e.g. formulaic language, archaisms, type-scenes, extended similes). Nearly every character has an epithet associated with them and repeated throughout the poems, like “the swift-footed Achilles.” (formulaic language) Homer uses a lot of vocabulary that is very old by the time we know it to be told, kind of freezing the language in time (Archaisms). The poems are also full of “type scenes,” which recur. Things like the warriors getting dressed for battle, scenes of hospitality, dinner scenes, etc. Extended similes were used. These are really lengthy and elaborate descriptions of things being like or as other things. These similes have attracted a lot of attention, becoming a hallmark of epic. Week 3: Monday, September 23 Greek Epic There’s something different about the Homeric poems compared to other epics. The Homeric Question: There are some odd features to these works. They’re quite long. There are linguistic inconsistencies, written in a form of Greek that was never spoken in any one place at any one time. “Even Homer nods.” noted the Roman poet Horace. There are minor mistakes throughout. Descriptions of arms and armour can’t be dated to any one era, minor characters who’ve died may not stay dead. There were a couple statements made in the ancient world which were suggestive. The Roman Cicero refers to a Peisistratean Recension, suggesting the poem was recorded in Athens some time in the 6th century. Another Roman writer, Josephus, refers to the idea that Homer was illiterate. What could this mean? There were all kinds of ancient critiques of Homer, mostly on religious grounds, as they found the portrayal of the gods in the poems theologically and cosmologically problematic. Others claimed them to be the works of a culture, rather than a person. One argument in the 19th century CE was made that the works of “Homer” had been added to by other poets over the centuries, leading to a quest to excise all of the “inauthentic” parts of the poem. This all changed in the early 20th century with the work of Milman Parry (1902- 1935). Parry, as a young scholar at Berkeley, became fascinated by the works of Homer, with a focus on the formulae of the Homeric works. Parry, in his study of Homeric formulae, came to a conclusion somewhat in the vein of Josephus, concluding that the particular language of Homeric epic was the product of an oral tradition of heroic song. The text of Homer reflected a tradition more akin to jazz than classical music, with an improvisational element to its composition. It would take about 3 days to perform an entire Homeric epic, and no two performances would be the same. Parry, assisted by Albert Lord, studied a modern heroic poetic tradition in Yugoslavia, performed by Guzlars, where they identified formulae reminiscent of those in the works of Homer. What are the implications of oral theory? No single poet would have been fully responsible for the composition of the Homeric poems, thus there was no one “Homer” who authored them. These poems would have been shaped over time by generations of performers. Homer becomes a kind of character created by the tradition. When we talk about “Homer” now we really try to refer to “Homeric poetry,” or “epic tradition.” The language and content of the poems were shaped over time. There would be, originally, no authoritative version of the works. Extemporization was important to the tradition. The fact that they were cited over and over again emphasises their importance. If the poems weren’t resonant they would not have been repeatedly performed. Repeated performances not only reaffirmed, but further deepened their importance. Limitations of oral theory This may overrate the strength of the tradition and underrate the contributions of individual singers. We have fragments of other epic poems, but the Iliad and Odyssey are conspicuous in that they are evidently longer and better than the other epic poems. We see here the work of unusually talented singers. Some scholars argue for a monumental composer, meaning one particularly important singer/composer. If there is such a monumental composer, there were almost certainly two, one who composed the Iliad, and another who composed the Odyssey. These composers would have necessarily lived quite early in the tradition. Some would also argue must have been illiterate, as some cannot reconcile talent as an oral composer with literacy. They would argue that these monumental composers would have dictated their composition to a scribe. These ideas of an early, illiterate composer are all rather romantic. In this view early composition is good, as are illiterate (thus viewed as more “genuine”) composers. The idea that one cannot have orality and literacy seems kind of shaky, especially in an Ancient Greek context. Parry and Lord recorded a Guzlar before and after he had learned to read and write, and he was markedly worse after becoming literate. The problem is that literacy acquisition in modern Europe was a much different process than it was in the ancient world. The 19th century was the golden age of the codification of language. The Ancient Greek script was a series of symbols which described sounds. “The Ancient authors did not make mistakes.” as there were no codified rules of grammar for them to break. The date of the recording of the Homeric works is unclear. For whatever reason we began getting Greek song books which were produced in the 7th and 6th centuries BCE. Why did we get a Homeric text? The reasons are unclear. The rumours of Peisistratean recension suggest that we have written copies of Homer dating back to the 6th century. Homer’s Iliad All the features of epic are found here. Extensive speeches, similes, divine ‘machinery,’ etc. The work features strangely anthropomorphic gods compared to those worshipped in cult practice. The epic is divided into 24 ‘books’ (paced more like chapters). These divisions were drawn by Alexandrian scholars much later, who divided the long work up into 24 neatly organised scrolls, each book corresponding to a letter of the Greek alphabet. How would this have been performed as an oral poem? To recite the whole thing would take about three, maybe four, days. The poem looks like it could be structurally divided up into three large chunks rather neatly. Wednesday, September 25 Iliad continued... We could spend a whole course talking about it. It’s an expansively long narrative, yet has a concise character to it, in that it only covers 14 days of the 10 year long Trojan War and omits many details and moments from the Trojan War mythological cycle. Wrath is a central theme of the poem, and is the first word of the poem in the Greek text. Conflict and anger run through the poem, something seemingly fundamental to the human condition, which the poem plays on with depth and sophistication. Anyone who finds themselves reading the Iliad as a celebration of martial prowess is trivialising the work in key ways. Achilles, the foremost Greek warrior, gets into a dispute with the Greek king Agamemnon. The poem begins with a priest of Apollo who comes to the Greek camp to ransom back his daughter who has been taken by Agamemnon, who cruelly rejects his appeal. The priest prays to Apollo, who then wreaks havoc on the Achaean (Greek) camp with a divine plague. Agamemnon is pressured by the Achaeans to release the daughter of the priest. Agamemnon, after acquiescing to this demand, asserts his authority by then taking Achilles’ hostage-prize Briseis. Achilles is prepared to kill Agamemnon, but is stopped by Athena, who insists that the best way for him to punish the Achaeans is to withdraw from battle. Things continue to get worse for the Greeks until Agamemnon realises that they really do need Achilles, and sends him an offer of a vast fortune to return to battle. Achilles declines. Achilles’ behaviour and sensibilities may seem alien to us in some ways, and while the poem operates on some levels which seem timeless, there is also a distinct presentation of a totally different culture and social system. The poem presents an “honour society,” and Achilles’ honour has been seemingly irreparably harmed by Agamemnon, rendering any prizes or apologies moot. Patroclus, the dearest friend (and in other traditions a lover) of Achilles, dons Achilles’ armour and goes into battle to rally the Greeks and improve morale. He experiences an aristeia (a kind of divine battle inspiration), and is successful in battle until he meets the chief defender of Troy, Hector, who kills Patroclus. The killing of Patroclus transforms Achilles’ rage into something new and terrifying. Achilles storms across the battlefield on a killing spree until he eventually runs down Hector and kills him in front of the walls of Troy and Hector’s entire family. Achilles’ rage doesn’t abate, and he continues to mutilate Hector’s corpse, dragging it behind his chariot in a loop around the walls of Troy. Achilles, one of the most articulate speakers of the Iliad, becomes one who threatens Hector with eating his flesh raw in his final moments. Even the gods are horrified by Achilles’ mutilation of Hector’s corpse. They convene and arrange for King Priam, Hector’s father, to be spirited through the lines of the Achaean army to Achilles’ camp so that he may ransom back the body of his son. Priam and Achilles speak at length, and Achilles eventually capitulates and ransoms Hector’s body back to Priam. The poem ends with the funeral of Hector. It is a phenomenal work of art, and was one that the Greeks could never really get off their minds. It was “good to think with,” so to speak. Homer’s Odyssey Similar to the Iliad in character, but very different in theme and structure. The Odyssey seems to come from a different strand of the poetic tradition, and seems to be some kind of response to the Iliad. The ancients regarded the Odyssey as the lesser of the two Homeric poems. It is a bit more accessible to modern audiences in some key ways. The Odyssey is less about war, although there is no shortage of violence, but seems to be more about the structure of societies and households. The first word of this poem in the Greek text is “A man.” The chieftains from the Trojan War had, by and large, quite troubled homecomings as retribution for their excessively horrific sack of Troy. The Odyssey focuses on the prolonged homecoming of Odysseus after the war, and his struggles and wanderings along the way. The narrative starts with Telemachus, Odysseus’ son (whose name means “he who does battle from afar"), who visits some of the other Achaean chieftains from the war, Nestor and Menalaus, in order to find his missing father. We eventually find Odysseus marooned on the island of Ogygia where he has been for 5 years, with the goddess Calypso, who wishes to marry Odysseus and keep him on Ogygia there forever. Odysseus sets out from Ogygia to return to his home of Ithaca, to reunite with his wife and family. Odysseus gets blown off course and is sent to the furthest reaches of the Greek world. The Greeks thought of the site of Delphi as the “navel of the world,” from which the further you travelled the stranger the world became. Odysseus eventually returns to Ithaca, disguised as a beggar, going from the highest level of society to the lowest. He found his household filled with suitors who sought to marry his wife in his absence (and presumed death). Shedding his disguise, he surprised and murdered all the suitors, reaffirming the structure of the ancient household. A reflection of a fundamentally hierarchical and patriarchal culture, the Odyssey presents a picture of a settled, post-war world and the tensions, anxieties, and dangers of maintaining that structure. Friday, September 27 The larger context to Homeric Epic. The early Greek world was full of song. People performed in many settings: private, public, religious, recreational, etc. There were poems for all occasions. Some time in the Archaic Period these poems begin getting recorded. Other Poems in the Epic Tradition The Epic Cycle: We have lost poems describing the mythological cycle, many describing further episodes from the Trojan War. There are extant summaries of these works, and scant fragments of text. The Homeric Hymns: A collection of hymns written in the same style as the Iliad and Odyssey. The main difference is that the Hymns focus much more heavily on the Olympian gods. Hesiod: Sometimes treated rather disdainfully by the historical record. Where Homer was an epic poet, Hesiod was a didactic poet, meaning his works were instructive in nature. We have two main Hesiodic works which survive, both written in dactylic hexameter (the same poetic metre as Homer): the Theogony and the Works and Days. Theogony: A poem providing stories of the Olympian gods. Works and Days: A poem which is sometimes reductively described as being “about farming,” and treated like a didactic agricultural manual, although it is much more than that, and features interesting mythological episodes. Catalogue of Women: This work doesn’t survive, unfortunately. It was a list, which is a poetic format that the ancients were quite fond of. This poem listed the women of myth who had relations with gods and gave birth to mythologically significant children. A highly influential text on later literature. The period which gave rise to the Iliad and Odyssey was a really creative productive period in general, with a vast influence over the following generations’ cultural output. We see this influence on all manner of cultural output. Some scholars use pottery from the early 7th century that show scenes which appear in the Homeric texts as evidence of the date of the recording of the poems. All these pottery scenes really tell us is that the artists painting the pottery were familiar with the same stories which appear in the texts. An amphora which depicts Odysseus sailing through the territory of the sirens seems to recall the telling of the tale from the Odyssey, although the depiction of the sirens is strikingly different from their description in the text. Illustrations which depict episodes from the Trojan War were enormously popular throughout the ancient world. From ‘Dark Age’ to the Archaic Period Fall of Mycenaean Civilization: The Mycenaean palace centres began to wane in influence around the beginning of the 1200s BCE, and their abilities to respond to crises (invasions, natural disasters, etc.) declined until the palace centres were totally abandoned by 1100 BCE. With the abandonment of the palace centres, the communities which surrounded them also declined and dispersed. This seemed to be a general period of crisis for advanced civilizations, as the Hittites to the East and Egyptians to the South also struggled, although some civilizations bounced back quicker than others. The fall of Troy is dated to approximately 1250-1200 BCE. What Happened? Various theories abound as to how the palace centres became destabilised. There are contemporary Egyptian accounts of mysterious marauding “sea-peoples,” there were theories about a Dorian “invasion” (Dorians settled in the Western mainland Greece, but to describe it as an invasion very likely mischaracterises the process). “Systems Failure:” A society becoming too large for the administration to sustain itself. With resources spread thin the ability of the administration to quickly and effectively respond to crises such as natural disasters, famine, disease, and war declines. ‘Dark Age’ “Dark Age,” is a rather loaded term, and refers to the absence of literacy and monumental architecture in this period. The Mycenaean writing system “Linear B” disappears entirely and Greece is plunged back into illiteracy. We do, however, see a continuation in agriculture, animal husbandry, spinning and weaving, improvements in pottery making technique and technology, and the smelting and working of iron from around 1050 BCE onward