Greece: 1100 B.C.E. - 300 B.C.E. Unit Two

The Geography of Greece

Greek Geography Greece was divided into small self-governing communities (city-states or polis). The main reason for this was the geography of the region: islands and valleys cut off by the sea or mountains. Warrior aristocracies developed with main centers in Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Delphi, and Thebes. Each city-state controlled smaller areas and over time inter-city rivalry would give way to war between city-states.

Bronze Age Greece

Minoan Civilization

Crete: Minoan Civilization (Palace at Knossos)

Knossos: Minoan Civilization

The Mycenaean Civilization

The Mask of Agamemnon

Archaic Greece: 800 B.C.E. - 480 B.C.E.

Greek “Dark Age” to Archaic The so-called “Dark Age” (1150 B.C.E.- 700 B.C.E.) was a time when Greece was largely isolated from the rest of the world. Greek isolation ended when Phoenician ships began to enter the Aegean and gave the Greeks a writing system (phonetical) and aided in the development of civilization from the Eastern Mediterranean and SW Asia.. While much of Greece remained primarily an oral culture, development of theatrical drama, philosophical dialogues, and oratory came from the interaction of speaking and writing.

Homer: The “Heroic Age” Greek religion encompassed a wide range of cults and beliefs known as sky-gods. Some of the gods represented the forces of nature, Zeus and Poseidon, and others beauty, war,etc. The two great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, by Homer put these deities in anthropomorphic form. Greeks would seek out oracles for advice or predictions of the future. The most prestigious was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi in central Greece. Many of the other gods were fertility gods.

Olympia: Temple to Hera

"Hellenic" (Classical) Greece: 700 BCE - 324 BCE

The Arts & Sciences (Pre-Socratic) DRAMA (tragedians): Aeschylus (525-456 B.C.E.) Sophocles (496-406 B.C.E.) Euripides (480-406 B.C.E.) THE SCIENCES: Pythagoras (580-490 B.C.E.?) - father of mathematics Democritus (460-370 B.C.E.)- all matter made up of small atoms. Hippocrates (460-370 B.C.E.) “Father of Medicine”

Early Athenian Lawgivers Draco (7th C B.C.E.)- “draconian” Solon (6th C B.C.E.) - lawgiver; divided Athens into four classes based on farm yields; avert civil war Cleisthenes (5th C B.C.E.) - created the first democracy. Pericles- Athenian democracy: Assembly, Council of 500, People’s Court; Parthenon

Persian Wars: 499 BCE – 480 BCE

Persian Wars: Famous Battles Marathon (490 BCE) 26 miles from Athens Thermopylae (480 BCE) 300 Spartans at the mountain pass Salamis (480 BCE) Athenian navy victorious

Golden “Age of Pericles”: 460 BCE – 429 BCE

Great Athenian Philosophers Socrates (470-399 B.C.E.) Know thyself! question everything; Socratic Method only the pursuit of goodness brings happiness. Plato (428-347 B.C.E.) The Academy The world of the FORMS The Republic  philosopher-king

Great Athenian Philosophers Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) The Lyceum Collect and categorize a vast array of knowledge: politics, philosophy, ethics, logic, poetry, rhetoric, physics, astronomy, meteorology, zoology, and psychology; Modern disciplines and the Scientific method.

Acropolis

The Acropolis Today

The Parthenon

The Agora- “Gathering Place”

The Classical Greek “Ideal”

The Ancient Olympics: Athletes & Trainers

Peloponnesian Wars- 431 B.C.E.

The Peloponnesian War The emergence of Athens as an imperial power after the Persian Wars led to open hostilities with former allies. Mainly between the Spartans, financed by the Persians, and the Athenians, lasted three decades with the victory of the Spartans. Persia regained much of its control and because of uprisings in Egypt, Cyprus, and Phoenicia, it did not return to attack Greece. In northern Greece, Macedonians, Philip II and his son, Alexander, would reshape the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia in this vacuum.

Macedonia Under Philip II

"Hellenistic" Greece: 324 BCE - 100 BCE

Alexander the Great 356-323 B.C.E.

Alexander the Great He saw himself as an Achaemenid ruler in the tradition of the Persians. Alexander,a Macedonian, defeated Athens but was welcomed by the military to power. Alexander and his armies would travel over 22,000 miles and extend Greek influence from Egypt to the Indus River. Benevolent despotism but don’t test him.

Alexander the Great in Persia

Building Greek Cities in the East

Library at Alexandria (333 B.C.E.)

Alexander the Great’s Empire

Pergamum: A New “Hellenistic” City Cosmopolitan Culture

Trade in the Hellenistic World

Hellenic vs. Hellenistic Art

The Breakup of Alexander’s Empire

The “Known” World – 300 B.C.E.

The Incursion of Rome into the Hellenistic World

Conclusions Greek language and culture became the dominant culture among the ruling intellectual and commercial elites from the Mediterranean, India, Russia, and Central Asia. Local customs coming from the Persians, endured and transformed the simplicity of earlier Hellenic culture into the more complex, elaborate, and cosmopolitan Hellenistic culture until the death of the last Macedonian queen, Cleopatra in 30 B.C.E. Buddhist art is also transformed. Hellenistic ecumene- unified urban culture, encompassing the vast lands and diverse peoples. Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, Delphi and later cities built by Alexander and his generals. Asia, Africa, and Europe begin to merge culturally.

Greece: 1100 B.C.E. - 300 B.C.E.