Top Banner
First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time
38

First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

Dec 15, 2015

Download

Documents

Shania Bonsell
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC

Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a

long time

Page 2: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

MINOANS AND MYCENAEANS

• Came into contact with Minoan civilization on the nearby island of Crete

• Minoans were merchants who established trade contacts with early Greeks (known as Mycenaeans)– Brought rudiments of

civilization to them

Page 3: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

MINOAN CIVILIZATION

Minoan civilization based on huge palace complexes such as one at

KnossosTop god was a female goddess

called “The Snake Goddess”Had writing system

Page 4: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION• Mycenaneans later invaded Crete and

destroyed Minoan civilization forever

• Mycenaean civilization:– No centralized state– Just numerous small city-states• Surrounded by stone walls• Ruled by self-styled “kings”

– Primary economic activity was piracy

– Primarily warriors who used bronze weapons and fought among themselves continually

Page 5: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

CATASTROPHE• Mycenaean civilization ultimately

weakened itself by constant internal warfare– Became the victim of new

invaders who moved into Greece from the north around 1100 BC• Ionians and Dorians• Destroyed much of

Mycenaean culture– City-states were

destroyed, stone architecture ceased, and writing was forgotten– Greece plunged into a

Dark Age

Page 6: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

END OF THE DARK AGEPopulation pressure pulled Greece out of the Dark Age

around 800 BC

In response to population explosion on Greek

mainland, many left and settled in groups

elsewhere

Never lost their Greek identity, remained “Greek” no matter where they settled

Page 7: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

CIVILIZATION REVIVES

• With establishment of a world-wide network of colonies, the Dark Age came to an end– Greeks rediscovered

trade– Adopted and modified

the Phoenician alphabet– Evolved a new form of

government• The polis

Page 8: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

THE POLIS• Greeks organized themselves

into independent city-states– Through a long and

complicated process of evolution during the Dark Age, Greek government was based on elected assemblies made up men who were eligible for military service• Such men were always

relatively wealthy• No hereditary kings

Greek ballot (made from pottery shard)

Page 9: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

GREEK “DEMOCRACY”• Polis government was not “democratic” in the

modern sense of the word

• Athens– Population of 200,000– Only 30,000 considered “free citizens” (ie.,

eligible to participate in politics)• Male• Native-born• Free• Could afford to serve in army

– Women, slaves, residents not born in Athens, and the lower classes were excluded

Page 10: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

LEGACY• Polis government was still better than

the god-pharaohs of Egypt or the absolute emperors of Mesopotamia– Greeks met together in assemblies to

work out policy and they elected their own leaders

– Citizenship was not as broad-based as we would like but at least the Greeks had rejected the idea that one individual had an inherent right to rule• Introduced the concept that

people could and should rule themselves

Page 11: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

THE GREAT PERSIAN WAR

• In 499 BC, Greek colonies along the coast of Asia Minor rose up in revolt against Persian rule

• Persian emperor Darius I put down revolt with little trouble– But he learned that Athens and several

other city-states on the Greek mainland had aided the rebels

– Made up his mind to get revenge by destroying Athens and conquering the Greek peninsula• Started “The Great Persian War”

Page 12: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

GREEKS WIN

• War lasted from 490-479 BC (21 years)• Led by Darius and, later, by his son Xerxes• Persia tried to invade and conquer Greece three times• But the Greeks dropped their differences, banded together,

and turned back each attempt– Led by Athens and Sparta– Persians finally just gave up

Page 13: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ATHENS

• Athens at forefront of Greek Golden Age– Pericles transformed

Delian League into a mini-empire• Which he then used

to finance massive rebuilding of the city-state• Transformed it to the

most beautiful city in the ancient world

Page 14: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

SPARTA• Sparta was ruled by dual kings• Military state par excellence– Infants examined for defects

and killed if they had any– Boys taken from their mother

at age 7 for 14 years of military training

– All men lived together in barracks until age 30

– Entire life spent in army– Civilian work was performed

by slaves called helots

Sparta

Athens

Page 15: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

PELOPONNESIAN LEAGUE

• Spartan soldiers had the deserved reputation of being the best in the Greek world– Very courageous– Never surrendered or

retreated• Sparta used military power

to create mini-empire in southern Greece– The Peloponnesian

League

Page 16: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

PELOPONNESIAN WAR• Caused by conflicting imperialistic

ambitions of Athens and Sparta– 431-404 BC– Caused widespread destruction

and loss of life throughout the Greek world

– Sparta was the technical victor but it emerged from the war just as exhausted and bankrupt as Athens

– More suicidal wars would follow• Completely weakening the

entire Greek peninsula

Page 17: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

PHILLIP II

• Greek city-states unable to put up any effective resistance when invaded by Philip II– “King and Warrior

Lord” of Macedonia• Conquered the

entire region• 338 BC

Page 18: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT• Philip II was assassinated in 336 BC– Was in the middle of planning a war

of revenge against Persia• In order to win the hearts and

minds of the Greeks– Replaced by his 21-year old son,

Alexander• Would continue his father’s plan

and go further than Philip’s wildest dreams–Would create the largest

empire the world had ever seen

Page 19: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE

Page 20: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ALEXANDER THE MAN• Complex personality– Enormous intellectual talent– Athletic– Brilliant general– But also cursed with an

unlimited ego and a strong vindictive streak

• Mixture of personality traits motivated him– Intelligence and talent, on

one hand, and an insatiable desire for glory and cut-throat ruthlessness on the other

Page 21: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

CONQUEST• Joint Macedonian/Greek

army of 45,000 men invaded Persian Empire in 334 BC– Conquered the entire

empire and pushed eastward into Central Asia and then India• Leaving behind

hundreds of thousands of corpses, burnt villages and farms, and devastated cities

Page 22: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

NEW CITIES

• To guard his lines of communication back to Greece, Alexander built new cities along his route of conquest– Many of them rapidly

developed into thriving centers of Greek culture and exerted a powerful influence on their surrounding regions

– The best known are Alexandria in Egypt, Antioch in Syria, and Pergamum in Asia Minor

Library in Alexandria

Page 23: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

A SUDDEN AND SURPRISING END• Alexander’s army mutinied in central India

and refused to move any further east– Homesick– Demoralized– Frightened

• Alexander relents and agrees to return home– But marches them through a

devastating desert as punishment• 2/3s of his men die as a result

– Sets up temporary headquarters in Babylon• Dies there after a drinking party in

323 BC at age 32

Page 24: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

UGLY AFTERMATH

• Alexander’s only legitimate heirs are killed during the civil war that erupted after his death– 12 year old son by

Persian wife– Retarded older brother

• Empire is ultimately divided between three of his former generals

Page 25: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

Ptolemy gets richest portion: Egypt and Mediterranean

Coast of Middle East

Founds Ptolemy Dynasty that would rule Egypt until 31 BC

Selecus gets most of old Persian Empire

It would break up over time

Antigonus Gonatus gets Greece and Macedonia

Also plagued with trouble during the years that followed

Together, these states were known as the “successor kingdoms” and the time that

they dominated the ancient world (330-150 BC) is known as the Hellenistic Age

Page 26: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY I

• Iliad and Odyssey allegedly composed by the blind poet, Homer, around 800 BC– He did not write them– He was a professional

story-teller– Probably combined

several existing folktales into long narratives

– Both would be written down much later

Page 27: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY II• Deal with the wars of the Mycenaeans– Specifically their attack Troy

• Include some of the best-known characters in Greek mythology– Achilles, Odysseus, Helen of Troy,

Hector, Agamemnon, etc– Gods are also characters

• Portrays characters as both heroic and admirable but also flawed– Often prideful, stubborn,

vindictive, jealous, and lustful– Major breakthrough: characters

portrayed in sophisticated manner, not just in stark black and white terms

Achilles

Page 28: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

OTHER POETS

SAPPHOLived on island of Lesbos

Only fragments of her poems surviveTremendous amount of descriptive

beautyand insight into human relationships

PINDARInvented the “eulogy” (long poems praising the lives and

exploits of famous individuals)

Page 29: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

GREEK THEATER• Pioneers in the theater– Invented the dramatic forms of

comedy and tragedy– Actors in stylized masks acted

out stories surrounded by a chorus who sang, danced and chanted a commentary between scenes

– Plots were normally derived from Greek mythology• But playwrights modified

them to address issues concerning universal human problems and concerns

Page 30: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS

• Sophocles– Oedipus Rex

• Euripides– Trojan Women– Lysistrada

• Aristophanes– The Clouds

Page 31: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

PHILOSOPHYThe most famous Greek philosophers were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle

Appeared one after the other in Athens from the end of the Peloponnesian War to the rise of Alexander the Great

Socrates was the first and greatest but he never wrote a word. Everything we know of him comes from his student, Plato

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

Page 32: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY• Socrates and Plato were primarily

interested in fundamental questions about the human condition– What is justice?– What is good?– What is beauty?

• Tried to find absolute answers to these questions– Universally valid answers that

would apply to all people, at all times, and in all places

– Employed rigorous question and answer form of inquiry

Page 33: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

ARISTOTLE• Aristotle was also interested in the

same fundamental questions as Socrates and Plato– But he differed from them in

method• Rather than speculate in a logical

manner, he argued that a person should gather evidence on a topic, analyze that evidence, and then base conclusions on that analysis– Pioneered methodology to

obtain knowledge still used today by scholars and scientists

Aristotle’s school, The Academy, outside of Athens

Page 34: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

OTHER SCIENTISTSPythagoras

Mathematician who developed the formula to find the square of a right-

angle triangle

Hippocrates“founder of modern medicine”

Rejected concept that evil spirits caused illnessDeveloped theory of “bodily humours”

Argued that body was made up of equal parts of four humours (blood, water, bile, etc.) and that a person became sick when the balance

between them was thrown offFunction of medicine was therefore to get

these humours back in balanceAlso wrote an oath of medical ethics: The

Hippocratic Oath

Page 35: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

PARTHENON• Pericles’ building program turned

Athenian Acropolis into an eternal monument– The centerpiece was the

Parthenon• Temple dedicated to Athena• Huge rectangle-shaped

building with white marble columns supporting a red tile roof with gold trim• A panel ran along the roof line,

portraying scenes from the life of Athena• Inside was dimly lit and

dominated by a colossal ivory and god statue of Athena

Page 36: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

HELLENISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS

• “realistic sculpture”• Individualistic philosophies– Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism

• Further advances in science– Work of Archimedes

• Emphasis was on the individual, not the collective

Page 37: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

HELLENISTIC CITIES

• Center of scientific, artistic, and intellectual activity shifted from to the old city-states of Greece to the new and great cities of the successor kingdoms– Greece was progressively

weakened by this drain of its best and brightest people• Gradually sunk into

backwardness and decay• Greeks were still at the forefront

of achievement but they no longer lived in Greece

Lighthouse at Alexandria

Page 38: First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people for a long time.

HELLENISM• As new Middle Eastern people were

brought into contact with Greek culture as a result of the conquests of Alexander and the establishment of the successor kingdoms, Greeks themselves became influenced by Middle Eastern culture as they spread around the world– Result was a certain fusion

between East and West– Creation of a new common

culture that was part Greek/part Middle Eastern• Hellenism• Would provide cultural unity

to the ancient world

Colossus at Rhodes