Transcript Mediterranean Societies: The Greek Phase

Mediterranean Societies: The
Greek Phase
Chapter 10
Pre-Classical Greece: Minoans
• (2200-1100 BCE): Crete
– Palaces (esp. at Knossos)
– Linear A (undeciphered script)
– commerce (ships, colonies)
• Exports: wine, olive oil, wool
• Imports: grains, textiles, manufactured goods
• After 1700 BCE: decline due to natural disasters
• By 1100, under foreign domination
Pre-Classical Greece: Mycenaeans
• (1600-1100 BCE): Peloponnesus
– Trade with Minoans
– Adopted Linear A, then created Linear B
– Stone fortresses and palaces with agricultural
communities around them
– Overpowered Minoans (est’d craft workshops in
palaces and colonies throughout E. Med)
Pre-Classical Greece: Mycenaeans
• 1200 BCE: Trojan War in Anatolia
• 1100-800 BCE: chaos in E. Med = invasions, civil
disturbances -> unstable gov’ts and unproductive
agriculture
• Decline in palaces, population, abandoned
settlements, writing disappeared
Classical Greece
• The polis (=city-state): no centralized empire;
centers of Greek society
• Various forms: monarchies, collective rule, military
tyrants
• Most important = Athens and Sparta
Classical Greece: Sparta
• Peloponnesus: 9th and 8th centuries BCE – economy
and population grew, took control of area
– Neighboring groups (helots) used as serfs
– Egalitarian, austere lifestyle (“spartan”), distinctions
based on achievement
– Focus on military values and order(physical fitness)
Classical Greece: Athens
• Economic and population growth -> need for
order -> democratic principles
– Citizenship to all free adult males
• As trade increased, aristocratic landowners
benefited (controlled land and gov’t)
– Many small landowners had to sell due to debt (some
became slaves)
• By 6th century BCE: majority were poor and very
unhappy
Classical Greece: Athens
• Solon’s solution: aristocrats kept land, cancelled
debts, forbade (and freed) debt slaves
– Allowed commoners to serve in gov’t (if they could
afford it) and later, paid salaries
• Pericles: most popular leader of his time
– Supported construction to create jobs
– Led Athens to sophistication (science, philosophy,
poetry, art, architecture, etc.)
Greece and the Larger World
• 700s BCE: resource strain on peninsula ->
colonies along Med. and Black Sea coasts
– By 6th century BCE: more lived in colonies than in
Greece
– Not controlled by central gov’t or the polis
– => increasing communication, interaction, and
exchange -> spread Greek language and culture and
complexity
Conflicts with Persia and Its Results
• 500-479 BCE: Persian Wars
• Anatolian Greeks rebelled, were aided by Greece
• Darius retaliated by attacking Greece (Athenians
won at Marathon)
• Xerxes tried to avenge the loss -> captured and
burned Athens (but, Greek fleet defeated Persians
at Salamis)
• Skirmishes continued
Results of Persian Wars
• Delian League: group of city-states with Athens
providing military and others $
– Athens used $ for itself -> resentment
• Tension -> Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE) –
Athens, et al. vs. Sparta, et al.
– Athens surrendered, but tensions continued,
weakening the Greek poleis
The Macedonians
• North of Greece: agriculture/pastoral seminomads; monarchy, but with semi-autonomous
clans
• Philip II of Macedon (r. 359-336 BCE): built
powerful military, consolidated Macedon, annexed
N. Greece poleis
• Assassinated in 336 BCE
The Macedonians
• Alexander took over and continued Philip’s plan
– Excellent military strategist and leader: conquered all
of E. Med., Persia, NW India
– Troops refused to go further, returned to
Mesopotamia to celebrate and he died (323 BCE)
• Early statecraft: cities, wanted to marry officers to
Persian women, relied on est’d institutions
– What would have been next?
The Hellenistic Empires
• Empire divided among his generals: Greece and
Macedon (Antingonus), Egypt (Ptolemy), and
Persia (Seleucus)
• Hellenism: expansion of Greek influence beyond
Greece (Hellas)
– Integrated economies and culture
The Antigonid Empire
• Tension between rulers and cities
– recognized rule in exchange for tax relief and local
autonomy)
– Land issues, social issues -> many left to become
Seleucid colonists
The Ptolemaic Empire
• Wealthiest
• Did not interfere with political, economic
organization
– Est’d monopolies on lucrative industries (textiles,
salt, and beer)
– Alexandria: capital, cosmopolitan (melting pot,
museum and library), cultural capital of Hellenistic
world
The Seleucid Empire
• Colonial cities: garrison cities/admin. centers ->
commercial centers
• Bactria withdrew and became kingdom (250
BCE), heavy Greek influence (but old traditions
continued)
Greek Economy
• Early: depended on trade for food and other
resources (land didn’t grow grain, but grapes and
olives)
• More trade -> more colonization -> more Greek
influence
• Commercialization of trade:
-partnerships between shipowner,
merchants, and money lenders
spread risk
• Later: caravan trade and maritime trade
Family and Society
• Patriarchal: fathers made all decisions
• Upperclass women had more rights (e.g., Sappho)
– Could own small businesses, be priestesses
• Women had more rights in Sparta
• Slavery: for labor mobilization
– Included different groups and different jobs
– = chattel slavery
The Cultural Life of Classical Greece
• Greeks also learned from cultures they came into
contact with (Egyptians, Mesopotamians,
Phoenicians)
• Philosophy:
– Socrates (470-399 BCE):
• questions,
• ethics and morality,
• purposes and goals of life,
• found guilty of immorality and corruption -> drank
poison
Cultural Life of Classical Greece
• Philosophy (cont.)
– Plato (430-347 BCE)
• Dialogues, The Republic
• Socrates’ influence, later theory of forms or ideas
(this world is a reflection of a more perfect world)
• Philosophers should be kings because they
understand
• Intellectual aristocracy
Cultural Life of Classical Greece
• Philosophy (cont.)
– Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• Use senses to gain information and reason to sort it out
• Rules of logic
• Also studied other subjects: bio, physics, astronomy,
psych, politics, ethics, lit.
• All 3 influenced development of European and
Islamic thought - provided intellectual
framework
Popular Religion
• Indo-European ancestors – worshipped natural
elements
• Over time -> became gods and goddesses (with
myths) with different responsibilities
• Religious cults provided sense of community
(rituals, feasting, sacrifices)
• Eventually -> theater festivals (tragedies and
comedies)
Hellenistic Philosophy
• Epicureans: pleasure as way to quiet salvation
• Skeptics: no certain knowledge -> no position on
issues
• Stoics: all as universal family (lead virtuous lives
and help others)
Hellenistic Religion
• Religions of salvation became popular: eternal
bliss for observing rites and living in accordance
with doctrine
– Spread along trade routes
– savior whose death and resurrection led to eternal
salvation for followers
– single, universal god