1. Overview Overview & Timeline for Greek History
Background on Archaic Period
Factors favoring Panhellenism
Homer’s Epics
The Olympic Games
Threat of Foreign Invasion
Factors favoring the Polis
Geographical Influences
Acropolis
Civic Identity
Tyrants and political agitation

2. Timeline Archaic Period: 750-500 Classical Period: 500-350
The genesis of ancient Greek Culture
Classical Period:
The Golden Age of the Polis
Hellenistic Period: BCE
The Spread of Greek Culture throughout the Eastern Mediterranean

3. The Archaic Period
Period of Creative Tension influenced partly by the conflicting loyalties to the polis and a common Greek identity
Demographic & Commercial Expansion c. 700 BCE
Formation of Greek Colonies
Magna Graecia
Ionian Greece
Philosophy & Speculative inquiries

4. The Archaic Period
Between 1000 and 800 BCE many Greeks migrate from Greece to Asia Minor and gradually develop a distinctive Ionian Greek culture
Ionia preceded mainland Greece in the rebirth of civilization by re-developing trade networks, cities, and literature; many of the pre-Socratic philosophers and scientists, such as Thales, Pythagorus, and Heraclitus, were born in Ionia
By 800 BCE Ionian civilization had spread across the Mediterranean as far away as Spain and connected the Greek mainland to many of the ideas and developments, including the Phoenician alphabet, which the Greeks quickly adopted and adapted

5. Ionian Greeks & Philosophy
During the course of the eighth century, Greek city states along the coast of Asia Minor underwent a resurgence of trade; prosperity spread as populations swelled
By the seventh century in the city of Miletus a new strain of intellectual endeavors spread
A group of thinkers, including Thales and Heraclitus, known as sophoi or philosophoi (lovers of wisdom) imagined that the workings of the cosmos could be explained through reference to mechanistic rather than supernatural forces
Later, Pythagoras of Samos incorporated the orderly nature of mechanistic thought with religion to produce a secretive mystery religion

6. Factors Favoring Panhellenism: Homer
Using the newly adopted Greek alphabet, Homer allegedly wrote the epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey around 750 BCE
The poems had been circulating in oral tradition for centuries before Homer put his version in writing
References in the poems suggest that they relate events that took place during the Bronze Age c BCE
The Iliad tells the story of a ten year long siege of Troy that the Greeks endure in order to reclaim a Greek princess who was kidnapped by Paris of Troy

7. Factors Favoring Panhellenism: Homer
Achilles is the great Greek hero of the Iliad; by modern standards he seems almost bipolar, one minute sulking in his tent because his concubine has been ravished by his king, Agamemnon, and the next minute seeking revenge against the Trojans for the slaying of his soul mate, Patrocolus - the relationship between Achilles and Patrocolus is reminiscent of that between Gilgamesh and Enkidu
Rather than viewing Achilles as bi-polar, it is more accurate to view his moodiness as the result of ten years of fighting and bloodshed; his violent slaying of Hector, Patrocolus’ killer, signifies the brutality of the hardened warrior

8. Factors Favoring Panhellenism: Homer
Eventually Achilles is re-civilized and he agrees to return the battered body of Hector to the Trojans for proper burial; by agreeing to the entreaties of his enemies who invoke the wishes of the gods, Achilles demonstrates his willingness to re-integrate with civilized life

9. Influence of the Homeric Epics
The Homeric epics became the basis for Greek education during the classical period; students memorized great portions of the poem in order to learn grammar, vocabulary, and particularly ancient values
heroism
piety and respect for the gods
The poems never doubt the existence of the gods, whose humanity is evident throughout
The poems established a common identity and shared past for the various tribes and cities that began to emerge at the end of the Greek Dark Ages

10. Factors Favoring Panhellenism: Olympics
Beginning in the early eighth century, the games are part of a religious festival held at Olympia in the NW Peloponese every four years
Competition initially included running, wrestling, jumping, throwing and later included horse and chariot racing
Individual, not city-state, competitions with a garland for the winner
Women were barred on pain of death but had their own games dedicated to Hera, wife of Zeus

11. Factors Favoring Panhellenism: Olympics
Emphasis on excellence: aretê
Contributed to panhellenic identity
all fighting ceased during the games
Olympia was not the site of an ancient city or town; it was a sacred sanctuary complex
Temple of Zeus was the principal shrine; it was destroyed by the Christian Roman Emperor Theodosius II in 426 CE

12. The Ancient Greeks Dark Age: 1200-800 BCE Archaic Age: 800-500
Classical Age:
Aristophanes wrote from ~ BCE
Hellenistic Age:

13. The Ancient Greeks Dark Age: 1200-800 BCE Archaic Age: 800-500
Classical Age:
Aristophanes wrote between s
Hellenistic Age:

14. Theater of Dionysus

15. What does the introduction tell us about Aristophanes and his plays?
They were written during the 500s BCE
They were performed in front of small elite audiences over the course of a Summer
They were often performed during a festival honoring the wine god, Dionysos
They rarely relied on crude humor

16. What was Aristophanes’ attitude toward democracy?
He was a staunch defender of it as the bedrock of Athenian culture
He was very critical of its leaders and practices
He rarely mentioned it or any political matters because of censorship
I have no idea - whoops

17. What topics are the primary foci of these plays?
Education & how to end the Peloponnesian War
Political corruption & public drunkenness
Bribery & extortion
Achilles, the gods, and heroism

18. The Ancient Greeks Dark Age: 1200-800 BCE Archaic Age: 800-500
Classical Age:
Aristophanes wrote between s
Hellenistic Age:

19. Homer c. 750 BCE wrote about events from the early 1100s BCE

20. Discuss Homer What did Homer write about?
What were the Greek in his poetry like?
Is his work in any way historical?
What was Homer’s impact on the development of Greek civilization?

23. Mycenaean Daggers

24. Mycenaean murals from the palace of Nestor in SW Peloponese

25. Mycenaean Vase c. 1300

26. Mycenaean Palace: Lion’s Gate

30. Greek Bireme c. 1200

34. Troy

35. The Walls of Troy 7

36. Entrance Ramp to Ancient Troy 2

37. Pergammon Museum in Berlin

39. Homer c. 725 BCE

40. How might Homer have contributed to Panhellnism?
By establishing a written version of Greek
By reinforcing common values among the Greeks: a Greek identity
By consolidating beliefs about common gods
By encouraging Greeks to cooperate

41. The Archaic Age and the Emergence of Greek Civilization

43. Remains of the ancient site of Olympia

45. Mt. Olympus in Thessalonica

49. Apollo Temple of Zeus
One of the most popular gods of the Greco Roman world
Represented the sun, wisdom, justice
The favored god of the ancient Trojans; Achilles desecrates his temple in the Iliad

51. Pentathlon: The Discuss

52. Pentathlon: Wrestling

53. Running Races varied in length from ½ mile to 3 miles
In one of the half mile races contests wore full armor (50-60 lbs)

54. Equestrian Sports Expensive, only the wealthy could compete
Road bareback and without stirrups
At 4.5 miles, the standard race was much longer than modern thoroughbred racing

55. Four Horse
Chariot Race

58. Typical Greek Acropolis

59. Colonization c. 500 BCE

60. Ancient Greece

61. Greek Hoplites

62. Hoplite phalanx Hoplite phalanx
This frieze of attacking foot soldiers is from the so-called Chigi Vase--a Corinthian masterpiece. When the Greeks adopted heavy armor, weapons, and shields, their lack of mobility forced them to fight in several dense lines, each behind the other. Cohesion and order became as valuable as courage. Here a flute player plays a marching tune to help the hoplites maintain their pace during the attack. (Villa Giulia Museum/Gabinetto Fotografico Nazionale)

63. Sophoi: Thales of Miletis (624-547) Pythagoras of Samos (570-495)

64. Sophoi: Socrates? ( )

65. Attica

66. Solon and the Tyrants

67. Pesistratus Instituted the Pan Athenian Festival during the mid 500s BCE

69. Cleisthenes Father of Athenian Democracy 508-507 BCE

70. Aristophanes & Old Comedy

71. Factors Favoring the Polis: Geography
Similar to the political organization of ancient Sumeria - and later Renaissance Italy - city states had become the principal form of political organization in Greece by 750 BCE, which is traditionally identified as the beginning of the Archaic Greek Age
With its plethora of mountains and isolated pockets of land surrounded by sea, the geography of Greece encouraged the formation of fragmented rather than unified political structures
Additionally Greeks established numerous urban colonies throughout the Aegean and Mediterranean

72. The Polis
In contrast to the Mesopotamian city-state, the Greek polis had a much broader level of political participation, which was often divided among its male citizens, not its inhabitants
Because both rich and poor participated in the political process, tension was an ongoing feature of many poleis during the Archaic Age, when many city-states sought to define the rules for administering justice and sharing power

73. The Polis
Several poleis first emerged on fortified hilltops, called an acropolis, which served as a defensive post in time of war and the treasury in time of peace
Unified by civic gods, traditions, and ceremonies, the various poleis were the primary focus of Greek political loyalties, which were caught between the conflicting forces of panhellenism and civic pride
Most poleis numbered only ten to twenty thousand people and many were limited in size by the fertility of the surrounding countryside

74. The Tyrants & the Poleis
As the population and commercial expansion spread to the Greek mainland during the seventh and sixth centuries, tensions emerged in the poleis as the merchants and prosperous independent farmers challenged the control that the hereditary aristocracy had exercised on the governments of Greek cities
In most of the Greek mainland a group of popular dictators known as tyrants seized power from the aristocracy by catering to the will of the independent farmers and merchants

75. The Tyrants
One of the most successful tyrants was Solon ( BCE) of Athens; he reorganized the social and economic laws of the city and ushered in a period of profound prosperity for the city’s merchants during the early decades of the sixth century BCE
An unintended consequence of his actions was a mushrooming of foreign born slaves in the city
Solon is usually credited with a vital influence on the spread of popular control over the city government: the democratization of Athens

76. Diverging Cultures: The Lacedaemonians
Unlike Athens, Sparta never had a tyrant and they developed a culture that was rabidly opposed to tyranny
Political power was shared by hoplite warriors, “the Similars,” who were led by a king
The Spartan warriors were free to train for warfare throughout most of their life while their economy was supported by virtually servile labor of helots
Encouraged to perform physical exercise, Spartan women enjoyed more independence and freedom than in other Greek city-states

77. Diverging Cultures: The Lacedaemonians
The term used to describe those who lived in and around Sparta
people of few words, from whom we obtain the term laconic
male children raised for martial career from a very early age; by 7 they are living in barracks, separated from family
Relatively sparse population but immense political influence in Hellas based on the respect that they engendered for their bravery and military exploits; this respect helped the Spartans form the Peloponesian League, a coalition of allied city-sates loyal to Sparta

78. Summary
The writing of the Iliad and the Odyssey marked an important step in the coalescence of the various elements of Greek culture
language
religion
values
As various civic cultures developed throughout the Greek mainland, the common heritage of the Homeric epics provided a unifying element of panhellenic identity; nevertheless, panhellenism generally played second fiddle to the attraction of the polis
During the archaic Greek Age, the various poleis of Greece developed their own customs and traditions and gradually undermined the unifying aspects of panhellenism

79. Discuss the Ancient Greeks
What was their connection to western civilization?
What was their significance?
How did they differ from other ancient civilizations?
What was their religious orientation?
How did they resemble the Sumerians?

80. Discuss the Greeks
How might the Iliad and the Odyssey have inspired unity among the Greeks?
What kinds of values would a warrior epic espouse?
What factors brought about change in the Greek world between 800 and 500 BCE?
How might these changes have brought about divisions among the Greeks?

81. Aristophanes & Old Comedy
By user:shakko - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,

82. Discuss Aristophanes
What environment surrounded the production of the plays?
Who funded the productions of the plays?
Why would the sponsorship matter?
Who was in attendance?
What was the chorus, and what did they do during the play?

83. What topic are the primary focus of these plays?
Education & how to end the Peloponnesian War
Political corruption & public drunkenness
Bribery & extortion
Achilles, the gods, and heroism

84. How did Aristophanes portray Socrates?
As a warrior
As a sophist, who corrupted Athenian youth
As a drinking companion
As a very religious priest