Honors.ch.3.poleis persian warsshort

Life in Archaic GreeceCh.3 p. 67-80

End of Dark Ages = Progress

Society – Most people are farmers Growing class of artisans and merchants Aristocrats lead privileged lives

Aristocrats life of leisure because can hire others to work their lands Life revolved around symposium = drinking party

Symposium for men only Guests would play games, share songs, poetry and

philosophical disputes Competitive nature – each person trying to prove

ones’ wit and be recognized for one’s achievements As seen in athletic contests

Religion

Greeks = Polytheistic

Greek pantheon consisted of 12 gods who lived on Mount Olympus (Zeus, Hera, Ares, Aphrodite, etc.)

Gods acted like humans

Each polis would honor one of the Olympians as its guardian deity

NOTE: All gods were Panhellenic = worshipped throughout Greece

The Alphabet

Greeks adapted the alphabet from the Phoenicians

Greeks added vowels to the alphabet to create the first true alphabet

New Greek alphabet was easier to learn than any earlier writing

Helped make Greece a widely literate society

Development of Sparta

725 B.C.E, Spartans conquer their neighbor, Messenia Driven by need for land due to population growth Conquered people Herlots reduced to serfs who work

Spartan land To keep down the Herlots (greatly outnumber

Spartans) = Spartans establish military academy and camp Emphasis not on family, but on the commitment

to the polis Spartan polis = Focused on producing best soldiers

Development of Sparta

• Boys began military training at age seven.

• They lived in army barracks until age 30.

• At age 30, men became full citizens and allowed to live on their own

• Could only retire from military service at age 60

• Both men and women were required to exercise and develop strength.

• Women could inherit property and managed the household while men were at war.

• Trade, wealth, and art were not considered to be important.

Development of Athens

• Initially an aristocratic polis No written law code Governed by Areopagus - council of nobles Council elected nine magistrates, archons

• Agrarian crisis• Brought about by revolts of peasants• Economic and social pressures• Quarrels within nobility Many debtors pledged family as surety Many defaulted and enslaved

• Athenians elect reformer Solon archon, 594 B.C.E.

Solon Reforms

Cancelled current debts

Forbade future debts secured by one’s person

Freed Athenians enslaved for debt

Solon Changes Athenian Government

• Expanded citizenship Included immigrant artisans and merchants Divided citizenry into 4 classes on basis of

wealth Only 2 wealthiest classes could sit on

council of nobles (Areopagus) Third class - serve in council of 400 Thetes - fourth class - voted in assembly

Pisistratus

• Seizes power in 546 B.C.E.• Becomes Athens’s first

tyrant Increased power of central

government- At expense of nobles

Public works projects Supported poets and artists

Clisthenes (leads to Democracy)

• Vested final authority in the assembly of all adult male Athenian citizens Debate in assembly was

free and open Any Athenian could submit

or debate legislation, offer amendments or argue the merits of any preposition

Despite divisions among city-states, all Greeks did share a common culture.

• They spoke the same language.

• They prayed to the same gods, including Zeus.

• They participated in common festivals, including the Olympic games.

• They shared a sense of superiority over foreigners.

Similarities among PoleisSimilarities among Poleis

Phalanx warfare put the defense of a city-state into the hands of ordinary citizens. At the same time, it led to two influential city-

states developing different ways of life.

Sparta stressed military virtues and strong discipline.

Athens glorified the individual and extended rights to more citizens.

The Athenian leader Themistocles knew they would be attacked again.

Athens joined with Sparta and other Greek city-states to fight a new Persian invasion.

Persians conquered a huge empire in Asia, including the Greek city-state Ionia.

Athens sent ships to help the Ionians. The Persians decided to punish them.

Persia invaded Athens in 490 B.C. The Athenians, although outnumbered, were victorious.

Persian Wars

War Comes to Greece

After Athens helps Ionia, Persian King, Darius I sends an expedition to punish Athens Greeks under Miltiades won a decisive battle against

Persians Under Xerxes, Persians invade Athens and the Athenian

navy helps defeat the Persians

The Repulse of the Persians marked the beginning of the Classical period in Greece (lasted for 150 years)

Athenians lured Persian ships to a narrow strait and sank them.

The Persians defeated the Spartans and moved on to Athens, but it was empty. Its inhabitants had withdrawn.

Persians invaders under King Xerxes invaded in 480 B.C. They were met by Spartan warriors.

The Persian invasions ended when the Greeks defeated them on land.

It organized a formal alliance with other Greek city-states called

the Delian League.

Athens used its leadership position to create an empire, dominating the other members.

Athens emerged from the war as the most powerful city-state.

The Delian League

An alliance of Greek states under the leadership of Athens that was formed in 478-477 B.C.E. to resist the Persians

It was also formed to clear the Aegean of pirates

Sparta and its allies conquered Athens in 404 B.C., and Athenian dominion declined.

War broke out between Athens and Sparta in 431 B.C.

All of Greece soon became involved in the Peloponnesian War, which lasted 27 years.

Other city-states resented Athenian domination of the Delian League. Enemies of Athens, led by Sparta, formed the Peloponnesian League.

Athenian Empire and Democracy

End of First Peloponnesian War = Athens agrees to a peace of thirty years with Sparta Greece is then divided into two blocs:

Sparta and its allies on the mainland

Athens and what became its empire in the Aegean

Athenians Control the League

Athenians moved Delian League’s treasury from Delos to Athens Began to keep 1/16 of the league’s annual

revenues for themselves Athenians tighten control over their

subjects The league became an Athenian Empire

It was key to Athens’s prosperity and success

Athenian Direct Democracy Under leadership of Pericles (15 years in office)

Athenians expand democracy at home

No longer need to have property to run for office

Citizenship limited to those of two citizen parents

• Establish Freest government world had ever seen Every decision approved by citizen assembly Collection of people, not their representatives All public officials subject to scrutiny – anyone could be removed from office

No standing army or police force

- No way to coerce people

To be an Athenian citizen: mother, father, grandfather, grandmother and sometimes

even more distant relatives had to be born in Athens Citizens were those who were male, sons of citizen fathers,

from a woman who was the daughter of a citizen father and mother who had pledged loyalty to Athens

Only adult males who completed military training could be allowed to vote (at 18 went into service) Usually about 10 to 20 % of the total population of Athens

could actually vote If a citizen did not pay their dues or owed a debt to the city,

their rights could be suspended Women, children and foreigners did not have citizen rights Sometimes right to citizenship could be granted to a group of

people for their service to the state

Citizenship in Athens

Women of Athens

• Women excluded from most aspects of public life Always under control of

male guardian Married very young Role to produce male heirs

• Divorce difficult to obtain

The Great Peloponnesian War

• Thirty Years’ Peace lasted ten years

• The new war was long and disastrous

• Athens and Sparta back in warfare Spartan strategy - invade and crush army Athenian strategy – retreat to their city, allow

devastation of their land and harass or raid Sparta’s allies to put pressure on Sparta

• After 10 years of fruitless warfare, war ended in stalemate

War Between Sparta and Athens Resumes

Athens invades Sicily – leads Sparta to reopen the war with Persian aid

404 B.C.E. - After Spartans blockade Athens and cut off its food supply, Athens surrenders unconditionally

Struggle for Greek Leadership

Collapse of Athenian Empire – opened way for Spartan dominance of the Aegean

Sparta establishes increasingly arrogant/lawless policies

• Spartan hegemony Handed Ionian Greek city-states to Persia Lysander (led Spartans to victory over Athens) installs “Thirty

Tyrants” in Athens Sparta’s actions become more lawless

Sparta breaks up all alliances except the Peloponnesian League and put friends in power in several Greek cities

• Leads Athens to join with Thebes (who rebelled against Spartans earlier) to defeat Spartans at Leuctra

• Winners then free Helots • Spartan power is diminished = Sparta seizes to be a first-

rank power

Classical Culture “Tension”

Two sources of tension Pride in accomplishments vs. fear that extreme self-

confidence would bring punishment Hopes of individual vs. limits of state or polis

Many turn their backs on public life and participation in government

Major Achievements: Works of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle Athenian tragedy (dealt with politics, ethics, morality) Comedy (political satire)

Achievements of Classical Culture

• Herodotus “The father of history” - studied Persian War Attempted to explain human actions Draw instructions from them

• Thucydides “Great Historian”• History of the Peloponnesian War

Used evidence to try and discover meaningful patterns of human behaviour

Focused on rational thought to explain history

He spread Greek culture, as conquered people assimilated Greek ideas.

The new Hellenistic culture blended Greek, Persian, Egyptian, and Indian influences.

He founded the Egyptian city of Alexandria. A library in Alexandria housed the knowledge of the ancient world.

The regions Alexander conquered were called the Hellenistic world.

Emergence of the Hellenistic World

• Hellenism – period of spread of Greek culture from its homeland to Egypt and far into Asia

• Transformation of Greek culture to include Greek and Asian elements

• Period from Alexander to Julius Caesar

Philip of Macedon

• Kingdom of Macedon• Philip of Macedon (359-336

B.C.E.) Admiration for Greek culture Undermined Athenian control

of Aegean Defeated Athens in 338 B.C.E.

- Role of Philip’s son Alexander

- End to Greek freedom and autonomy- Philip assassinated in 336 B.C.E.

He dreamed of conquering Persia as well but was assassinated at his daughter’s wedding.

Philip II gained the throne in Macedonia in 359 B.C.

He built a strong army and brought all of Greece under his control.

From Macedonian to Alexander’s Conquests

Philip’s son Alexander then took the throne.

Though only 20, he was an experienced soldier and a brilliant military planner.

Alexander’s ambition was to conquer all of the known world.

Alexander was able to conquer Persia because its emperor was weak and its provinces were in rebellion.

In northern India, Alexander’s soldiers refused to go farther east, and the army turned back.

Alexander dreamed of conquering the world. He began planning a new campaign but died from a sudden fever at age 32.

Alexander was asked to whom he left his empire.

But no one could keep the empire together. Generals divided it up.

“To the strongest,” he replied.

Generals Continue the Spread of Hellenistic Culture

• Ptolemy I –(367-283 B.C.E.) Ptolomies - Thirty-first dynasty in Egypt

• Seleucus I (358-280 B.C.E.) Seleucid dynasty in Mespotamia

• Antigonus I (382-301 B.C.E.) Antigonid dynasty in Asia Minor and Macedon

• Tremendous trade and prosperity in Alexander’s land Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia

Alexander’s Successors

• Significant turning point in Greek culture Dominant role of polis is lost Arrogant Greek humanism gives way to

- Resignation to fate, helplessness

• Plato’s Academy Becomes center of skepticism (Pyrrho of Elis)

Skeptics thought that nothing could be known so nothing mattered (must accept world as is and not question it)

• Aristotle’s Lyceum Turns away from universal investigations Becomes center of literary and historical studies

Hellenistic Culture

Temples and palaces were built much larger and grander.

During the Hellenistic age, there were advances in arts and learning.

A new philosophy, Stoicism, preached that all people were morally equal, including women and slaves. Stoics urged people to accept suffering calmly.

Stoics

• Founder = Zeno of Citium (335-263 B.C.E.)• Humans must live in harmony with themselves

and with nature

• One must live in accordance with the Divine Will• Idea is that you accept life as is (goal is

apathy)• Advocated docile submission, not active

participation, of the governed

Important advances in math and astronomy included the idea of a heliocentric solar system. Earlier thinkers believed that the sun and planets revolved around Earth.

Pythagoras Archimedes

Developed formula to calculate the sides of a right triangle.

Demonstrated the lever and pulley.

The Greek physician Hippocrates set ethical standards for doctors and looked for cures to illnesses.

“I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment; I will abstain from harming or wrongdoing any man by it…”

―from the Hippocratic oath

The Greek legacy is still vibrant.

It affected the civilizations of Rome and Western Europe and still influences political

thinking today.

The Acropolis

The Acropolis. It was both the religious and civic center of Athens. In its final form it is the work of Pericles and his successors in the late fifth century B.C.E. This photograph shows the Parthenon and, to its left, the Erechtheum. Meredith Pillon, Greek National Tourism Organization.