CLA1101 Week 1 Lecture Slideshow PDF

Welcome to course CLA1101 B A silver tetradrachm (“four drachmas”) coin of Athens, circa 430 B.C. Purchasing power: about $400 Cdn. The “heads” side shows the city’s patron goddess, Athena: She wears a warrior’s helmet, also an earring. The “tails” side shows Athena’s emblematic bird, the owl, and...

Welcome to course CLA1101 B A silver tetradrachm (“four drachmas”) coin of Athens, circa 430 B.C. Purchasing power: about $400 Cdn. The “heads” side shows the city’s patron goddess, Athena: She wears a warrior’s helmet, also an earring. The “tails” side shows Athena’s emblematic bird, the owl, and Athena’s fruit, the olive. In Greek myth, the olive was Athena’s gift to Athens, and in real life, Athenian olive oil was a prime export item, vital to Athens’ economy. The banana shape behind the owl is a crescent moon. The Greek lettering ATHE stands for “Athens”. Now compare a modern Canadian quarter, which (i) isn’t silver but is made to look like silver. (ii) The “heads” side shows a matriarchal head, facing rightward. (iii) The “tails” side shows an animal (a caribou) that symbolizes the country, with also (iv) the country’s name spelled out. Canada’s coins don’t imitate the ancient Greeks directly, but instead are part of a coining- tradition that descended from Greece to ancient Rome to the British Empire to Canada. Slideshow for Week 1: classes of Sept. 4 and 6  Lecture topics for Sept. 4 and 6 1) CLA1101 course outline 2) Our modern legacy from ancient Greece: a sampling 3) Durable materials and the archaeologist. The value of ancient pottery 4) The ancient land of Greece: geography and climate - mountains and the sea - overseas connections - crops and the farming year Weekly supplemental readings on Brightspace On our Brightspace “Content” page, see the module labelled “Readings due for Sept 6”. Please read those postings soon, if you haven’t already done so. For next week, see the module “Readings due for Sept 13”. Topic #2: Durable materials and the archaeologist See the pdf “The science of archaeology”, posted in the Brightspace module “Readings due for Sept 6”. Any questions about the “Archaeology” posting?  Topic #3: The land of Greece In the “Readings due for Sept 6” Brightspace module, see the Word doc “Two maps: Greece and the sea”. In our textbook (“Pomeroy”), see these maps— - the inside-front-cover map: “Greece and the Aegean World” - the inside-back-cover: “The World of the Mediterranean etc.” - page 107: map of the Peloponnese (or “Peloponnesus”) Greece’s connections by sea Greece and the Near East (= Western Asia) Footnote: Introducing “Asia Minor” Introducing “Asia Minor” Asia Minor = roughly the modern nation of Turkey. The ancient Romans called it Asia Minor, “little Asia”, because they viewed it as a westward projection of the Near East. Another traditional name for the region is Anatolia. So “Asia Minor” = “Anatolia”= “Turkey”: all three names are acceptable in our CLA1101 course. In ancient times, the west coast of Asia Minor was part of the Greek homeland, dotted with Greek cities. The Greek cities of west Asia Minor, circa 600 B.C. —see the region in yellow, at right-of-centre Two fundamental features of Greece’s geography the mountains the surrounding seas Mountains and sea The Aegean Sea  The Aegean Sea = the Greek sea The name “Aegean”— — ? from the Greek word aigis, meaning “storm” — ? or from the name Aegeus (Greek: Aigeus). Aegeus was a mythical king of Athens who supposedly committed suicide by leaping into the sea near Athens. From the myth of Theseus: King Aegeus and the black sail The islands of the Aegean Sea One theme of CLA1101: Ancient Greece’s overseas connections  Greece and the sea Ancient Greece’s overseas connections This idea overlaps with— the importance of seafaring and sea-trade in Greek history the topic of Greek copycatting of other peoples: in technologies, religion, etc. New ideas often arrived to Greece by sea, or were revealed to Greeks who had reached foreign lands by sea the topic of Greek overseas colonizing: 700s–500s B.C. One example of a people whom the Greeks would copy, circa 900– 600 B.C.: the Phoenicians of Lebanon.  One recurring topic in CLA1101: Greek copycatting “Whenever we Greeks copy anything from foreigners, we invariably bring it to a higher perfection.” —the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, circa 370 B.C.  Ancient Greek seafaring See the “Ancient Greek seafaring” pdf in the Brightspace module “Readings due for Sept. 13”. The “Seafaring” article is short. Please read it in time for Sept. 13 class. Ditto for the other five items in the “Sept. 13” module. Greek merchant ship, circa 500 B.C.: perhaps 75 feet long and round-shaped when viewed overhead. With a crew of about six, it could carry two tons of cargo a hundred miles in 24 hours (at the fastest). The mountains of Greece Mt. Olympus, home of the gods  The mountains of Greece Another theme of our CLA1101 course will be ancient Greek disunity. “Disunity” = lack of unity. The quality of being divided into factions. Greece’s mountains were one cause of this disunity. The mountains compartmentalized mainland Greece into dozens of separate valleys and plains—and in the Aegean Sea, into separate islands—where the people lived. The mountains were a fundamental cause of Greece’s disunity, but not the only cause.  The Greek word polis —meaning: “city-state” —plural: poleis In ancient Greece by about 700 B.C., every major city was its own country. For example, Athens and Corinth were “foreign countries” to each other. There was no political nation of Greece, just the disunified Greek poleis, numbering about 70 at first, around 700 B.C. Eventually the number of poleis would grow to perhaps 1,000, as the Greeks settled overseas in Italy, North Africa, the Black Sea coasts, and even southern France, etc. This very local organization-by-polis was prompted by the compartmentalizing effect of Greece’s mountains. Like the feuding Highland clans of Scotland in the 17th and 18th centuries, the ancient Greeks were divided against each other—in part by their mountain landscape.  Not enough farmland The mountain landscape had several further strong effects on ancient Greece’s history and living conditions. Fundamentally, the mountains displace the arable land: Only about 20 percent of Greece’s landscape is prime farmland, with another 10 percent being marginal farmland on the hillsides. The prime farming-patches are scattered throughout the mainland. They include— the Plain of Messenia, in the southwest Peloponnese the Plain of Argos, in the eastern Peloponnese the Plain of Boeotia [“bee-O-sha” ], in east-central Greece. Major city: Thebes the Plain of Thessaly, in the northeast Try to find these place-names on the inside-front-cover map in our Pomeroy textbook. Neighbouring cities could be enemies The limits on farmland had a big consequences for Greek history. Food anxiety was constant. So was anxiety over water supply. Neighbouring city-states might often (not always) be permanent rivals or enemies of each other, in competition for resources. Two city-states that shared a single farming plain might go to war over majority- possession of the plain, as happened between Chalcis and Eretria, in east-central Greece, around 700 B.C. (Chalcis won.) Similarly, we hear of border wars in central Greece in the 600s–500s B.C. between the cities Athens and Megara, and between Megara and Corinth. (Megara lost.) A third example: The neighbouring cities Tegea and Mantinea, in Arcadia in the north-central Peloponnese, repeatedly fought wars in the 400s B.C. over the routing of a water-course, running along their shared border, that was destructive to farmland. This situation seems to combine food-and-water anxiety between neighbours. Source: Thucydides V.65.4  Not enough farmland To compensate for land shortage, city-states and inhabitants had to be creative, in ways beyond just trying to conquer their neighbours. One solution was population control. Starting in the 700s B.C., city-states would send out shiploads of young peasant men to find new farmland in distant regions overseas: in south Italy, Sicily, North Africa, etc. This was the dynamic practice of Greek colonization, 700s–500s B.C., as we’ll discuss in the course. A second solution was for a city’s young men to seek their livelihood by sea, not by farming: The father struggles as a farmer but the son goes to sea. Such careers included commercial fishing, long-distance trade by sea, and piracy. Sometimes the very same shipload of men might be merchants or pirates, depending on opportunity.  A dry land Among Greek farming-problems, another one is climate. Greece has a dry climate—although not so dry as Syria’s or Iraq’s, for example. Greece has a rainy season from October to April, but then the five warmer months are mostly rainless. Summer can be ferociously hot and dry. In a Greek winter, the mountains receive snow and the valleys (and cities) receive rain. Winter in the valleys tends to be like April in Ottawa: chilly and rainy, but not a deep-freeze. Over the wet winter, some vegetation flourishes. In Greece, the barren season isn’t winter; it’s summer. The welcome winter rains are considerably more sparse on the eastern side of Greece than in the west. This is due to Greece’s north-to-south “spine” of central mountains, which blocks the eastward progress of the prevailing weather and causes the rain-clouds to dump on the western half of the country. Corfu, on Greece’s northwest coast, receives about 42 inches of rain a year —slightly more precipitation than Ottawa. But Athens, in the east, sees less than 15 inches. Greece’s mountain spine: Its “weather stop” effect keeps most of the rain from reaching Greece’s east coast A dry land. Here, Athens in summer —Athens receives about 40 percent the annual precipitation of Ottawa  A dry land: affected now by global warming https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c6247ez66r2o Deadly fires edge closer to Athens, and suburbs count cost August 2024 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-66295972 Wildfires devastate the Greek islands of Rhodes, Evia, and Corfu July 2023 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/greece-ap-athens-w estern-europe-b2127210.html Fires threaten Athens’ hillside suburbs for second day July 2022 More about Greece’s mountains…  In ancient Greece’s mountains: natural resources timber limestone and marble: high-end building materials some mineral wealth: metal deposits: iron, copper, and silver One effect of ground-limestone is caves. The relatively soft limestone gets hollowed-out by running water, underground, over thousands of years. Often, the caves are in the mountains. Footnote: Caves played a prime role in ancient Greek religion and mythology. A limestone cave on the Greek island of Cephalonia A limestone cave in Quebec: at Lusk, near Chelsea  Greece: limestone in the ground Another natural effect of ground-limestone is the loss of surface-water (such as rain or springtime runoff, etc.), particularly in the mountains. The surface water tends not to pool but instead drops vertically, down into the ground. —this phenomenon worsens Greece’s perpetual water shortage. —it also contributes to Greece having very few large rivers or lakes. Greece’s rivers are few in number and mostly small. Instead, the porous limestone allows water to fall from the surface, to underground.  The main crops of ancient Greece The crops had to be able to survive—or else avoid—the brutally hot, dry Greek summer. The Mediterranean Triad [the word “triad” = “trio”] grain = barley and wheat, primarily olives grapes Also... certain other fruit trees: figs, pears, pomegranates legumes: beans, peas, chick peas See Pomeroy pp. 11–12: “food and livestock”. Each of the three vital crops was under a patron deity grain: Demeter (with her daughter, Persephone) olives: Athena grapes: Dionysus The grain goddess Demeter: holding ears of wheat Left, the goddess Demeter, on a silver coin of Metapontum, a Greek city of south Italy famous for its grain crop. Right, an ear of barley. The Greek letters read “META–”. Circa 300 B.C. Demeter, left, with her daughter, Persephone, and the boy Triptolemus —marble carving from Eleusis, near Athens, circa 440 B.C.  Grain: mainly barley and wheat Please note: It’s “grain” and not “corn” in Canadian and U.S. English. Or you could call it “corn” in British English. The ancient Greeks had no maize, no corn on the cob.  Grain in Greece —sown in October: not as in Canada! The seeds would germinate throughout the mild Greek winter. —harvested in May (barley) and June (wheat). Circa 650–330 B.C., Greek citizen-soldiers did not like to be away from home during May–June. This was because, statistically, the main livelihood of citizen- soldiers was farming. Only one city-state was the exception…...Sparta, with its full-time professional army. Spartan male citizens had no job other than soldiering. Slaves back at Sparta did all the farming The olive: the 2nd crop of the Mediterranean Triad In myth, Athena created the first olive tree: for Athens and for all humankind Olive harvest, on an Athenian black-figure vase, circa 520 B.C. A mainstay of ancient Greek economy, mainly because… …olive oil was lamp fuel Psyche surprising the sleeping Cupid by Louis Jean François Lagrenée, 1769 Normally, an ancient lamp contained flammable vegetable oil, not a genie. Other uses for olive oil in ancient Greece as a cooking oil as a food dressing as a kind of soap for water-less bathing. The oil would be poured over a person’s skin and then be scraped off. as a personal adornment or honorific. Compare the biblical Psalm 23: “Thou anointest my head with oil…” The Hebrew Bible often refers to olive oil. Probably the Greeks were copying the Near East in this ceremonial use of oil to signify an honour to someone. See again Slide 48, above. And the 3rd crop of the Mediterranean Triad: grapes, used mainly to make wine. Below, the wine-god Dionysus enjoys a drink, in an Athenian black-figure vase painting, circa 530 B.C.  Grapes Like olives, grapes mainly were not consumed raw but were processed into a vital economic product. Some ancient Greek regions known for good wine were— Athens Chios Euboea Lesbos Naxos Rhodes Thasos. You’re not asked to memorize this list. It is just f.y.i. Generally, grape vines flourish in a hot climate, on sloping ground, and in clay soils—all of which Greece possesses. Grape vines flourish in a hot climate, on sloping ground, and in clay soils—all of which Greece possesses.  Grapevines in Greece —the soil’s reddish colour = the presence of clay And speaking of Greek clay… …let’s not forget the famous Greek pottery. The François Vase: circa 570 B.C. See Pomeroy, Plate Xa  Ancient Greek pottery —made from local clay —important as (i) an ancient-world technology, (ii) an ancient Greek industry and export-item, and (iii) a medium for the art of painting —pottery-remnants are absolutely crucial to the modern study of archaeology. Again, see the “Science of archaeology” pdf, in the “Readings for Sept. 6” Brightspace module. Information comes to us from ancient Greek vase painting. For example, this Athenian jar shows an olive harvest, painted in black-figure style: circa 520 B.C. Question Early on, circa 1000–700 B.C., when Greece was still relatively poor and humble, what could the Greeks offer for trade to richer kingdoms? That is, kingdoms such as— Egypt the Phoenicians of Lebanon Urartu (= ancient Armenia)  Ancient Greek export items Answer Some of the natural products mentioned in this lecture— timber from the mountains high-end olive oil (shipped in clay jars) high-end wine (shipped in clay jars) Also, perhaps: ingots of silver, mined from certain Greek mountains slaves The “export economies” of certain city-states By developing local natural resources for export—timber, olive oil, etc.—a number of Greece’s city-states got themselves into Mediterranean international trade, starting probably in the 900s B.C. Define “an export economy”: The $-value of exports exceeds that of imports. Athens by the 500s B.C. would achieve an export economy: exporting a premier olive oil, also wine, perfumes, pottery, and metalwork. Athens’ one major import-item would be grain, as we’ll discuss later. Footnote: In modern times, too, developing nations have traditionally tried to create lines-of-export, to get into global trade: https://www.pressreader.com/oman/oman-daily-observer/20240403/2819646 12735187 See there just the first three paragraphs. Again, connections by sea Slides 67–68, above, revisited Question: Circa 1000–700 B.C., when Greece was still poor and humble, what could the Greeks offer for trade to richer kingdoms like Egypt or the Phoenicians or Urartu or Lydia? Answer: some of the natural products mentioned in this lecture— timber from the mountains high-end olive oil (shipped in clay jars) high-end wine (shipped in clay jars) Also, perhaps: ingots of silver, mined from certain Greek mountains slaves… Slaves for Greek export, circa 580 B.C. The biblical book of Ezekiel, chapter 27, mentions Greek traders at the (non-Greek) Phoenician city of Tyre, in what is now Lebanon, circa 580 B.C. Ezekiel’s text is protesting against the immoral affluence of Tyre. Ezekial mentions the Greeks’ wares-for-sale in Tyre’s market: “vessels of bronze and the bodies of men” [slaves, in other words]. The Bible passage gives a clear image of Greeks using slaves as an export-item, for overseas sale. excursus: Where did the ancient Greeks get their slaves?  Where did the ancient Greeks get their slaves? Answer: From at least two non-Greek regions close to Greece: interior western Asia Minor and the north Aegean Sea coast. And from Greece itself.  Where the Greeks got their slaves: 500s–400s B.C. (1)(a) In ancient Greek writings, we read of enslaved non-Greek people from western-interior Asia Minor, particularly the regions Phrygia and Caria. These people would have been free- born but then captured in raids by Greeks. Probably the raiders came mainly from the Greek cities of the Asia Minor west coast. Thus, for example, there’s this quotation from the poet Hipponax of Ephesus, circa 550 B.C.: “If they catch any foreigners, they put them up for sale: the Phrygians to work the grain mills in Miletus...” (1)(b) Similarly, slaves captured in the non-Greek, north-Aegean region called Thrace. (2) People of the above two categories, but raised in captivity as children in Greek cities. (3) Also, Greek slaves, captured as war-prisoners in the endless wars of Greek against Greek. Take for example the infamous capture of the Greek island of Melos by Athens in 416 B.C. during the Peloponnesian War. The Athenians executed all the combatant-age males (about 500), and sold into slavery the women and children (about 2,500). Source: Thucydides, Book V Three non-Greek regions: Thrace, Phrygia, and Caria Slaves: mining silver at Laurium, near Athens —in an Athenian black-figure vase painting, 400s B.C. Lecture topic #5 The first Greek-speakers arrive in Greece: circa 2200–2100 B.C. Geography note: the Peloponnese, the mainland’s southern peninsula The Peloponnese (or “Peloponnesus”): Pomeroy page 107 map The first Greek-speakers arrive in Greece, circa 2200–2100 B.C. —destruction of the “House of the Tiles”: Pomeroy pp. 20 bottom to 21 top The House of the Tiles, at Lerna in the Peloponnese —destroyed circa 2100 B.C. Destroyed by Greek invaders from the north?  Footnote: The House of the Tiles —built circa 2200 B.C. by non-Greek aboriginal people: See Pomeroy’s “Timeline” page xvii, middle —destroyed circa 2100 B.C., presumably by the invading Greeks: Pomeroy “Timeline” page xvii, lower middle but confusion at Pomeroy page 21, middle paragraph. Pomeroy’s “circa 2250 B.C.” for the house’s destruction doesn’t make sense. An editing error Question: What should we call the original, non-Greek inhabitants of Greece? Answer the “non-Greeks” or “native non-Greeks” or the “aboriginal inhabitants” of Greece or the Pelasgoi (“Pelasgians”), which is what later Greek writers called them The archaeological record of the Greeks’ arrival: rather scanty 1) Destruction of the House of the Tiles, circa 2100 B.C. 2) Skeletal remains of horses emerge as a normal feature at archaeological layers after about 2000 B.C. but not earlier. Those horses would have been domesticated. Presumably the invaders in 2200–2100 B.C. introduced the domesticated horse to Greece. 3) A new pottery-style emerges in the Peloponnese, circa 1900 B.C. 4) A new burial-style (“shaft graves”) emerges at the site of Mycenae, circa 1600 B.C. Pomeroy pp. 27–28. These graves signify the beginning of the Greek The earliest Greek-speakers arrive in Greece …To be continued next week, in Sept. 11 class. Remember: our classes of Sept. 11 and 13 will take place over Zoom.