Chapter 2

1. Chapter 2 • The early Greeks built a civilization in the Aegean peninsula in which the tensions between individual pride and heroism would become a dominant theme, as would an emphasis on the role of humans and their abilities to understand and master their world.

2. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • The Greek Peninsula • The Greek peninsula is dominated by mountain ranges that caused the ancient civilization to be made up of many communities. • The Minoans, 2000-1450 B.C. • Economic Power • Minoan ships were the best-made in the region • Centers of economic as well as political power, Minoan palaces comprised vast mazes of storerooms, workrooms, and living quarters • Religious Ritual • Paintings portrayed many of the everyday objects and activities that Minoans held dear, including religious rituals

3. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • Minoan Destruction • Archaeological evidence shows that Minoan society was toppled by invaders from across the sea (Crete Island) Not Greek Probably a Semitic people related to those living in the Eastern and Southern Mediterranean

5. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • King Knossos (Ruled over all of Crete) • Large Palaces • Influence From Other Peoples • Art Egyptian • Writing From Sumerians • Bronze Tools & Weapons • Minoans Ships Were Best Made in the Area • Minoan Destruction • Reasons Uncertain Taken over or passed to the earliest Greeks whom we call the Mycenaeans

6. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • Mycenaean Civilization: The First Greeks, 2000-1100 B.C. • Trade • Traded for copper and tin to make bronze weapons and tools. Trade was widespread – and their pottery replaced Minoan pottery. • Violence and Disruption • In about 1200 B.C., violence and a wide-ranging movement of peoples disrupted the eastern Mediterranean • Egyptian empire Besieged Lost Territory

7. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • Syria Confronted Invaders • Mycenaean Involved in These Invasions • 1250 B.C. Trojan War

9. The Rise and Fall of Ancient Heroes, 2000-800 B.C. • 1200 B.C. Mycenaean Civilization Dissolved • Bases Over Trojan War • Leaders & soldiers away too long which brought about the down-fall of the highly structured life on the great mainland. • 1100 B.C. • Excavation Show out of 13 villages Only Three Remained • All Main City Centers Were Destroyed Except Athens • From “Dark Ages” to Colonies 1100-800 B.C. • Founding Colonies • Greek culture spread through the many colonies Greeks established in the region

11. Chapter 2 • The Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet, which allowed them to record and transmit their powerful values and ideas to others.

12. Emerging from the Dark: Heroic Beliefs and Values • Founding Colonies • Toward the end of the Dark Ages trade flourished in wine, olive oil, and other goods. • While trading the Greeks adopted new ways – such as the system of weight from Babylonia and making of coins from the Lybians. “Whatever the Greeks have acquired from foreigners, they have in the end turned into something finer.”

13. Emerging from the Dark: Heroic Beliefs and Values • Heroic Values Preserved • Homer (800 B.C.) • The most influential Greek poet, historians believe lived in the early eighth century B.C. • Homer’s two greatest epics were the Illiad and the Odyssey • Hesiod • For three centuries life was based on small villages.

14. Emerging from the Dark: Heroic Beliefs and Values • The Family of Gods • Oracles • Interpreted Divine Will • The Delphic oracle could enter into a trance and receive cryptic Messages from Apollo • Worship of Dionysus • God of Wine & Fertility • Special Appeal to Women • Impact of Religious Ideas • Gods Human-Like • Made Greeks Aspire to the Greatest in Human Accomplishments • Encouraged Greeks to Master and Understand Their World

15. Emerging from the Dark: Heroic Beliefs and Values • Studying the Material World • The Greeks rejected earlier explanations about the world and studied nature for themselves • Thales and Democrates • Thales studied astronomy and geometry, and believed in an orderly cosmos accessible to human reason. • Democrates thought of an infinite universe of tiny atoms with spaces between them. • Pythagoras • He studied mathematics and astronomy, and new first attempts to understanding the world in a scientific and philosophical way.

16. Emerging from the Dark: Heroic Beliefs and Values • Practical Applications • The sixth-century B.C. engineer Eupalinus constructed a 3,000 foot long tunnel through mountain in order to bring water from a spring into a city. • He used only hand tools, and had to work in the dark. • Fears of “Impiety” (Crime to Deny the Gods) • Accusations of impiety always hovered on the borders of scientific inquiry.

17. Chapter 2 • In the great city-states Greeks developed an economy based on olives and experimented with different political forms which varied in the degree of democratic participation allowed to citizens. • Hoplite Armies • Ancient Greek infantrymen equipped with Large round shields and long thrusting spears.

18. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Changes in Warfare • Brisk trade brought down the price of metals • Raise Armies (Infantrymen) • Called Hoplites • They could form a tight formation called a Phalanx • The Invention of Politics • Tyrants (650-550 B.C.) • Civil war broke out lower classes rose to overthrow the aristocracy which led to rulers by physical force.

19. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Tyrants • This was a new form of authority – based on power, not heredity right • Tyrant granted popular support by: Freeing Slaves, Eliminating Debts, and Redistributing Land • Later as tyrants relied on force to hold power, the term tyrant acquired the negative meaning it holds today. • City-States (Greek City-State Called a Polis) • A political unit that generated intense loyalty from its citizens • The poleis usually included a fortified high ground called an acropolis

20. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • City-States • Had A Market Called the Agora • Unlike Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Mycenae Where Their Was A King or Priesthood • Citizens Were Actively Responsible for Guiding Their Own Poleis Each city-state created its own form of government and retained some form of oligarchy (rule by a few)

21. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • The Heart of the Polis • The household • Men’s and Woman’s Roles (Sparta Different) • Men – Outside, Women – Inside • Women taught female slaves, managed goods, participated in spinning and weaving. • Slave Labor • Captives of War or Debtors • Lived on Their Own • Save Money • Work Along Side the Free • Some Slaves Had Brutal Masters • Work in Silver Mines

22. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Fears and Attachments in Greek Emotional Life • Strict Segregation of Men and Woman • Bisexual Relations • Many ancient Greeks accepted bisexuality • Relationships were seen as a natural part of a world which men feared female sexuality, spent all their time together, exercised nude in the gymnasia, and praised the male body as the ideal of beauty

23. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Sappho of Lesbos • Sappho from the island of Lesbos, expressed passionate love for the young women in her social circle • Sappho’s poetry was so influential that the word “Lesbian” • She has become synonymous with female homosexuality • Courtesans • prostitutes

24. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Athens: City of Democracy • Oligarchy • Rule by a small group or by a particular social class – often wealthy middle classes • Solon’s Reforms • Introduced reforms intended to appease lower classes while keeping aristocrats in power • Increased Democracy • Archons, Areopagus, Council of 400, Ecclesia, people’s court of appeal • Tyranny • Athens turned to tyranny bringing Peisistratus to power in 560 B.C. • Hippias was the last of Athens’s tyrants

25. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • Assessing Democracy • Ecclesia represented only about 20 percent of the population of Athens, but it excluded women, slaves, and resident foreigners. • Ostracism • A political technique by which people believed to be threats to the city-state were chosen for exile by popular vote. • Sparta: Model of a Military State • Spartans were militaristic, strict, and sparing of words • Spartan Life • Harsh – if a child was deemed physically deficient, it would be left outdoors to die • Women handled most of the household arrangements

26. Life in the Greek Polis: 700-489 B.C. • The love of the Contest • Athens and Sparta would stop their warfare to celebrate their love of the contest • Olympic Games • 1st held in 776 B.C. • Women at Olympics • They were prohibited from attending the contest • Some women conducted games of their own

27. Chapter 2 • After their victory against the Persians, the Athenians built an empire, creating tensions between themselves and the citizens of other city-states.

28. Imperial Athens, 489-431 B.C. • The Persian Wars, 490-431 B.C. • Battle of Marathon • The Athenians were far outmatched by the Persians • The Athenian victory was in Philippides • A Second Invasion • Thermopylae • Narrow pass, held by a small coalition of Greeks led by Spartans • Only the Spartans stayed to fight to the death

29. Imperial Athens, 489-431 B.C. • Greek Naval Victory • Greek vessels crushed almost the entire Persian fleet • Herodotus: The Father of History • Herodotus recorded the details of the Persian Wars in a 600 page work. • The Father of Western history

31. Imperial Athens, 489-431 B.C. • Athens Builds an Empire, 477-431 B.C. • Delian League • In 477 B.C. poleis on the coasts and the islands of the Aegean decided to form a defensive league. • Each member contributed money to maintain a large fleet for the defense of them all. • Pericles’ Democracy • Tried to ensure that even poor citizens could participate fully in Athenian politics and culture • Artistic Athens • The Parthenon • Mathematical proportion

33. Imperial Athens, 489-431 B.C. • Greek Theater: Exploring Complex Moral Problems • Eight playwrights were chosen to perform at the religious celebration of Dionysus • Men in masks played the woman’s roles • Aeschylus and Sophocles • Aeschylus wrote The Persians • Sophocles wrote The Theban Plays

34. Chapter 2 • The end of Athenian prosperity, which came with the wars between Athens and Sparta and their respective allies, raised new questions among Greek philosophers, which were accompanied by innovations in culture and science. • Thucydides • Wrote History of the Peloponnesian War

35. Destruction, Disillusion, and a Search for Meaning • The Peloponnesian War, 431-404 B.C. • The Peloponnesian League – Sparta gathered together allies to challenge the Athenian Empire’ power • Melos Destroyed • Athens took the right to force Melos into serving as its ally • The Meliams maintained that they had the right to make their own choices • The Athenians killed every last man, and enslaved the women and children • Athens Loses • The Peloponnesian League’s fleet destroyed the Athenian fleet • Athenians were forced to surrender in 404 B.C.

37. Destruction, Disillusion, and a Search for Meaning • Philosophical Musings: Athens Contemplates Defeat • Socrates • Absolutes of truth and justice and excellence • “Socratic” method • Accused of impiety and corruption of the young • He received the death penalty, and drank a cup of deadly poison • Plato • Believed that truth and justice existed only as ideal models, or “forms” • Established a school called the Academy • Disillusioned with democracy, encouraged an autocratic state ruled by philosopher-kings • Aristotle • Three categories of knowledge: ethics, natural history, and metaphysics • “Golden Mean” no extremes in all aspects of life

38. Destruction, Disillusion, and a Search for Meaning • Tragedy and Comedy: Innovations in Greek Theater • Euripides • Wrote tragedies in which people grappled with anguish on a heroic scale • Women of Troy • Aristophanes • Used costumes and crude humor to deliver biting political satire • Lysistrata • Hippocrates and Medicine • Considered the father of modern Western medicine

39. Destruction, Disillusion, and a Search for Meaning • The Aftermath of War, 404-338 B.C. • Power Struggles • Postwar developments heightened competition among the poleis in the years after Athen’s loss. • Wars among the poleis only aggravated weaknesses within each city • Government in all the poleis unraveled further with innovations in military tactics