ANCIENT GREECE

1. ANCIENT GREECE First people to move into Greece came from Turkey around 3000 BC Remained a primitive Neolithic people without any signs of civilization Ultimately came into contact with civilization that had developed on nearby island of Crete

2. MINOAN CIVILIZATION • Located on Crete • Developed civilization in response to contact with Egypt • Merchants • Established trade contacts with Mycenaeans • Destroyed in 1500 BC (combination of manmade and natural disasters)

3. MYCENAEAN CIVILIZATION • Mainland Greece • Small city-states in southern and central Greece • Ruled by chieftains • Stone fortifications • Main economic activity was piracy • Warriors • Incessant fighting among themselves • Destroyed by invasions of Dorians, Ionians, and others • Plunge Greece into “Dark Age” • 1100-800 BC

4. END OF THE DARK AGE I • Population Pressure • Many Greeks left the mainland and settled elsewhere • Islands in Aegean Sea • Coast of Turkey and Black Sea • Southern Italy and France • Eastern and southern coasts of Spain • Coast of North Africa • Greek colonists always retained ties to the Greek mainland and kept their Greek identity • Remained “Greek” in a cultural sense no matter where they lived

5. END OF DARK AGE II • With the establishment of worldwide network of colonies, Dark Age came to an end • Greeks rediscovered trade • Also rediscovered writing • Adopted Phoenician alphabet and modified it to fit their spoken language • Also evolved new form of political organization • The Polis

6. THE POLIS • Product of a long and complicated process of evolution that had occurred during the Dark Age • Based on the city-state • No kings • Governed by assemblies made up of men who were eligible for military service • Greek soldiers had to arm and equip themselves so assemblies were made up of men wealthy enough to do this • Also governed by spokesmen selected from and by these assemblies

7. ATHENIAN “DEMOCRACY” • Athens: only 30,000 out of a total population of approx. 200,000 were “free citizens” • WHO WAS EXCLUDED FROM CITIZENSHIP? • Women • Slaves • Residents not born in Athens • Lower classes who could not afford military service

8. GREAT PERSIAN WAR • Response to Athenian aid to rebellion in Ionia in 499 BC • Started by Darius I in 490 BC and continued by his son, Xerxes (until 479 BC) • Three invasion attempts of mainland Greece • Greece won • More familiar with terrain • Fighting for their homes • City-states united together to face Persian threat

9. ANCIENT ATHENS • Delian League (former military alliance transformed into an empire) • Pericles • Drew on resources of empire to transform city into the most beautiful city of the ancient world • Golden Age • Trade boomed • Work was plentiful • City was an exciting place to live

10. SPARTAN SOCIETY • All Life Devoted to the Military • Babies inspected for defects • Boys taken from mothers at age 7 for 14 years military training • Spend entire adult life in army • All civilian worked performed by helots • Created Peloponnesian League

11. PELOPONNESIAN WAR • Between Athens and Sparta • Lasted 25 years (431-404 BC) • Caused massive destruction and loss of life throughout Greek world • Sparta technically won but it was an empty victory—both Athens and Sparta exhausted • Did the Greeks learn anything from this horrible experience? • No !!!!

12. MACEDONIAN CONQUEST • Philip II, “King and Warrior Lord” of Macedonia, invades Greece in 338 BC and conquers entire peninsula • Murdered two years later • In the middle of planning “war of revenge” against the Persian Empire • Succeeded by his 21-year old son, Alexander (the Great) • Not only continued his father’s plan but also went beyond Philip’s wildest dreams to create the largest empire the world had ever seen • Encompassed all the land between Greece and the middle of India

13. ALEXANDER THE GREAT’S EMPIRE

14. ALEXANDER THE GREAT • Enormous intellectual and military talents • Enormous ego and powerful vindictive streak • Intelligence and talent plus insatiable desire for glory and cutthroat ruthlessness = conquest of known world

15. ALEXANDER’S CONQUESTS • 334 BC—invaded and conquered Persian Empire • Then invaded and conquered Central Asia • Then invaded India • Met fierce resistance • Retaliated with slaughter of civilians and destruction of property • Established new cities along route of conquest to protect supply and communications lines

16. THE END • Troops mutiny in central India • Alexander punishes them by marching them back home through a desert • Stops temporarily at Babylon in 324 BC • Dies suddenly in 323 BC at age 32

17. THE SUCCESSOR KINGDOMS • Civil war erupts after Alexander’s death • Empire is ultimately split into three parts among his former generals • Ptolemy (Egypt) • Selecus (most of old Persian Empire) • Antigonus Gonatus (Macedonia and Greece) • Known as the “successor kingdoms” • Period known as the Hellenistic Age

18. GREEK LITERATURE • ILLIAD AND ODYSSEY • Composed by Homer • Deal with the wars of the Mycenaneans and their attack on Troy • Include many famous characters: Achilles, Odysseus, Agamenon and many gods • Characters not portrayed in black and white terms—even heroes have personality flaws. Sophisticated portrayal of characters

19. GREEK POETS • SAPPHO(female poet from Lesbos) • Only fragments of her poetry survive • Great descriptive beauty and insight into human relationships • PINDAR • Developed the eulogy—long poems praising the lives and exploits of famous individuals

20. GREEK THEATER • Invented tragedy and comedy • Wore masks and used chorus • Plots derived from mythology • Sophocles---Oedipus the King • Euripides—The Trojan Women • Aristophanes—The Clouds

21. SOCRATES AND PLATO • Philosopher: “lover of wisdom” • Interested in fundamental questions about the human condition– what is justice; what is good; what is beauty • Used rigorous logic and demanding question-and-answer form of inquiry • Attempted to find absolute answers (universally valid answers that apply to all people, at all times, and in all places

22. ARISTOTLE • Interested in same questions as Socrates and Plato • Differed in method • Argued that a person should gather evidence on a topic, analyze that evidence, and then base conclusions on that analysis • Example: Politics

23. GREEK SCIENCE • PYTHAGORAS • Mathematician • Formula for the square of a right angle triangle • HIPPOCRATES • Father of modern medicine • Rejected supernatural explanations for illness • Theory of “bodily humours” (blood, water, black bile, yellow bile) • Hippocratic Oath

24. PARTHENON Acropolis

25. HELLENISTIC CIVILIZATION • Realistic Sculpture • Individualistic philosophies (Skepticism, Stoicism, Cynicism, Epicureanism) • Advances in science

26. AN IMPORTANT SHIFT • Center of intellectual/cultural achievement moved to cities of successor kingdoms (Alexandria) • Fusion of Greek and Middle Eastern civilization =Hellenism