Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities: Homer & Herodotus

1. Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities:Homer & Herodotus Reconstructing history from epic poetry, history and material culture

2. Periodization of history

3. Homer and the world he creates … What constitutes a community in the … • family (γένος: génos)? • household (οἶκος: oīkos)? • palace (μέγαρον: mégaron)? • world of the elite (ἄριστοι: áristoi)? • world of the people (δήμος: dēmos)? • world of the slaves (δούλοι: doúloi)? • world of the other (ξένοι: xénoi)?

4. Homer and the world he creates … • What do the passages from the Odyssey – selection 1 on the handout – tell us about conceptions of community in the Homeric world? • political values • class distinctions • gender distinctions • generational relationships • hosts and guests • economic values

5. Cultural values • ξενία: xenía: guest-friendship • δίκη: díke: justice • ἀρετή: aretē: excellence, virtue • τίμη: tíme: honor • κλέος: kléos: respect, reputation • ἀνδρεῖα: andreīa: manliness • ἄγων: ágon: competition • αἰδώς: (avoidance of) aidōs: shame

6. Cup of Nestor, ca. 750 BCE, Pithekussai, Italy Reconstruction ΝΕΣΤΟΡΟΣΕ[ΙΜΙ] ΕΥΠΟΤ[ΟΝ] ΠΟΤΕΡΙΟΝ ΗΟΣ Δ ΑΝ ΤΟΔΕ ΠΙΕΣΙ ΠΟΤΕΡΙ[Ο] ΑΥΤΙΚΑ ΚΕΝΟΝ ΗΙΜΕΡΟΣ ΗΑΙΡΕΣΕΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΕ[ΦΑΝ]Ο ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΕΣ Translation Of Nestor I am the pleasant-to-drink-from cup Whoever drinks from this cup, immediately him A desire will seize for fair-crowned Aphrodite. Homeric references Homer Odyssey 3.71-72: “[Athena] offered [Nestor’s] rich two-handled cup to Telemachus, Odysseus’ son ....” Homer Iliad 11.632-637: “There was also a cup of rare workmanship which [Nestor] had brought with him from home, studded with bosses of gold; it had four handles, on each of which there were two golden doves feeding, and it had two feet to stand on.” Gold cup, Mycenae, 1500 BCE

7. Herodotus’ Histories • What does passage 2 - Herodotus’ Histories 8.144 - tell us about his notions of community? "…There is the Greek nation - the community of blood and language, temples and ritual, and our common customs ….” • blood and language • temples and ritual • common customs

8. Olympia, Sanctuary of Zeus: stadium

9. Agon: competition Pankration

10. Rhapsodes and performance

11. Herodotus’ Histories • What does passage 3 - Herodotus’ Histories the prooimion (προοίμιον: “opening song”) – tell us about the focus of his work? • What does his characterization of the Nile tell us about his historiographic methodology? • What does his study of Egyptian culture tell us about his attitudes and approaches towards other peoples?

12. Archaic Age: 750-480 • Land and topography • Limited arable land • Crops: oil, wine • Contact with Phoenicians • Alphabet: ABGDEZ YIKLM NOPRSTUFX • later: H J CV • Codification of law • Land pressures, growing population, interest in exploration, inquiry (ἱστορίη: historie), all led to … • revolutions and factionalism (the nostoi) • migrations • Dorian invasion • colonization

13. Delphi, Sanctuary of Apollo: temple of Apollo

14. Distribution of colonies

15. Colonization: 750-600 BCE Acquisition of • arete, time, kleos • knowledge of other places • economic & political opportunities Process: • Consult Delphic oracle • Send out nobles, landless poor, disenfranchised politicals, exiles, merchants • Founder: oikistes to found an oikos • Stake out land, temenos • Reliance on hoplites (hoplon) • Maintain connection to mother-city Places to colonize: southern Italy, Sicily, Black Sea Chigi Vase (detail), ca. 650 BCE

16. Athens: Acropolis and Agora (now)

17. Athens: Acropolis and Agora (then)

18. Herodotus’ Histories • What does passage 4 – Herodotus on events in Athens in 508 BCE – tell us about the evolution of the Athenian community?

19. The πόλις (pólis or autonomous city-state), ca. 700-500 BCE • Colonization contributed to the sense of isolation and autonomy • city-state (πόλις: polis) = autonomous, self-governing, urban (ἄστυ: astu) and rural (χώρα: chora) • usually fortified with a high point (ἀκρόπολις: akropolis) • identified with the citizens (πολιταί: politai) • ruled by the “best” (ἄριστοι: aristoi) – hence, aristocracy

20. Archaic age • an age of political development • an age of intellectual curiosity • an age of artistic achievement • an age of kings giving way to aristocrats giving way to oligarchs giving way to tyrants and, in some poleis, democracy

21. Persian Wars: defending the Greek way of life, 490-480 BCE • Persian motivation: • vengeance against Greeks (esp. Athens) for role in civil unrest and attempted revolt in 499-494 BCE • conquest of new lands • Major battles: • 490, Marathon: Athens, Plataeans defeats Persians • 480, Thermopylae: stalemate • 480, Salamis: Athens, Corinth, Greeks defeat Persians • 479, Plataea: Sparta, Athens, Greeks defeat Persians

22. Herodotus’ Histories and the Persian Wars • In the last passages, what were the key values to the Greeks as exemplified by the Spartans at Thermopylae? • How does Herodotus present the Persians in this account and how do their values differ from those of the Greeks?

23. Persian Wars Darius I of Persia Modern statue of Leonidas Trireme Olympias Spartan hoplites • Extent of the Persian Empire Persian Wars, 490-479 BCEReal and Imagined