GREEK CIVILIZATION
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GREEK CIVILIZATION
LOCATION / RIVER
LOCATION
LOCATION
Modern-day Greece but also:
Asia MinorBlack Sea
Southern ItalySicily
South of FranceEgypt Cyprus
RIVER?
Successive waves of migration by new tribes from the plains of the Danube river
WRITING SYSTEM
WRITING SYSTEM
Adapted from old Phoenician script(Phoenician: maritime trading culture, 1550 – 300 BCE;
modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Palestine)
GOVERNMENT
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT• Kingdom• Aristocracy
Craftsmen and traders gaining influence in politics• Democracy , but growing share of slave labour
Slaves employed in agriculture, crafts, miningAlso as clerks, scribes, servants, baby-minders
TIMELINES
TIMELINES
2600 – 1600 BCE:
Minoan periodIsland of Crete
A Bronze Age civilizationAdministration centred
around palaces“Palace economy”
Frescos; walls without plaster
Direct predecessor of European civilization
TIMELINES2600 – 1600 BCE:
Minoan periodCeremonial and political centre:
Knossos Palace (= Labyrinth)
TIMELINES1600 – 1100 BCE:
Heroic ageMycenaean culture
Inhabited islands across the Aegean Sea
Ornate royal graves and masks (e.g. of King
Agamemnon)"Sea Peoples" begin raids in the Eastern Mediterranean
TIMELINES1200 – 800 BCE:
Homeric Age = = Dark Ages
Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey
Aristocratic lifestyle Morality – emphasis on
competition and on excelling Reciprocal ties of obligation binding individuals to each
other (friendship, guest-ship, comradeship)
TIMELINES800 – 600 BCE:
Archaic eraCity-states!
Each with its own unique culture and political organization:
Monarchy Oligarchy (“rule of a few”) “Tyrants” Democracy
Polis (“metroPOLIS”, “POLITical”, “POLITy”)Rivarly between Sparta and Athens
CITY-STATES
CITY-STATES: SPARTADisciplineSimplicitySelf-denial
Rejection of luxuries, expensive foods, leisureYet widely admired by other states
CITY-STATES: ATHENSThe “winner” who wrote history
(therefore Sparta presented as rough, brutal)More or less a democracy
Prosperous agriculture (crops for export)Trading and commercial centre; Advanced craftsCentre of art and literature; Architecturally rich
Religious festivalsOutshone other Greek city-states
TIMELINES
TIMELINES
5th-4th century BCE:
Classical eraGreco-Persian WarsHistoriographers:
Herodotos (father of history)Thucydides [thoo-sid-i-deez] (founder of scientific history) 4th century BCE:
Macedonian ruleAlexander the Great
CONTRIBUTIONS: TOO MANY TO LIST
ART, ARCHITECTURE, PHILOSOPHY, GOVERNMENT, LITERATURE, RELIGION…
ARCHITECTURETemples facing East
Priests, ceremonies – in front of temple
Archaic era: Doric style
Classical era: Ionic temple/columns
Latest style: Corinthian
ARCHITECTUREAmong the seven wonders of the ancient world…
Temple of Artemis in Ephesos
ARTKalokagathia
(“beautiful” + “brave/good”)Educating body and spirit
Healthy soul in healthy body
THEATREOriginally four times a year, at religious festivals
Sponsors (wealthy citizens) no entrance feeAudience clapping hands / hissing
Moral, political, philosophical themes
Catharsis: emotional cleansing of the audience Dramatic structure:
ExpositionComplication
CrisisClimax
ResolutionMoral
RELIGION (SHARED BY ROMAN CIVILIZATION)
The Earth created from ChaosEarth Goddess = Gaia
“1st-generation gods”: Mountains, sea, skies“2nd-generation gods: Cyclops/Titans
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
Immortal children of ZeusAlso known as Olympian gods
(made their home on Mount Olympus)Anthropomorphic =
= possessing human qualities (jealousy, hatred, love)
Gave rites to cults, often of a regional nature
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
ZEUS Jupiter (in Roman religion)
“King of the gods” Ruler of Mount Olympus
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
HERA Juno (in Roman religion)
Wife/sister of ZeusGoddess of women and marriage
One of many legends:Hera cursed the nymph (=female spirit) Echo, who loved her own
voice, to only repeat the words of others
( “echo”)
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
HADES Pluto (in Roman religion)
Zeus’ s brotherGod of the underworld
According to legend, Zeus/Hades/Poseidon defeated
the Titans and ruled the underworld, air, and sea,
respectively
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
POSEIDON Neptune (in Roman
religion)Zeus’ s brotherGod of the sea
and earthquakes
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
DEMETER Ceres
(in Roman religion)Earth-mother
presiding over the cycle of life and death
Goddess of grains, the fertility of the
earth, the seasons, and the harvest
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
ARES
Mars(in Roman religion)
Son of Zeus and HeraGod of warfare
“3RD-GENERATION GODS”
ARES
Mars(in Roman religion)
Son of Zeus and HeraGod of warfare
“4TH-GENERATION GODS”
ATHENA Minerva
(in Roman religion)Goddess of arts, wisdom, sciencePatron saint of the city of Athens
The temple of Parthenon in Athens built in her honour
“4TH-GENERATION GODS”
APHRODITE Venus
(in Roman religion)Goddess of love and beauty
Born from the sea foam (aphros)
“4TH-GENERATION GODS”
APOLLO Apollo (in Roman religion)
God of light and the sun; truth and prophecy; archery; medicine and healing; music, poetry,
and the artsLeader of the Muses
(goddesses or spirits who inspire the creation of literature and the arts)
PHILOSOPHY
“Philosophical religions” such as Stoicism and certain forms of Platonism
Stoicism: Focus on ethics
Avoid destructive emotionsAccepting life as it is
Judging a person’s behaviour rather than speech
PHILOSOPHY
Socrates (469 – 399 BCE)One of the founders of Western
philosophyas well as political philosophy,
moral philosophy, ethicsScientific method: Asking questions
Forming a hypothesisStill valid today
PHILOSOPHY
Plato (428 – 348 BCE)Philosopher, mathematician, writer
Student of Socrates
Crucial contribution to Western systematic thinking:
Metaphor/allegory of the cave
PHILOSOPHY
Plato’s Cave:
Forms / “ideas” as the highest kind of reality(fundamental reality)…
…NOT the (always changing) material world that we know through our senses
WESTERN THINKING
ASIANTHINKING
“THE OTHER WORLD”
BEING PERMANENCE
“THIS WORLD”
BECOMING CHANGE
PHILOSOPHY
Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)Student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the Great
Physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics,
biology, zoologyA comprehensive system of Western
philosophy, encompassing morality and aesthetics, logic
and science, politics and metaphysics
PHILOSOPHY
Western systematic thinking, logic, science, etc.
TODAYare still Platonic/Aristotelian
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