* The Archaic Age of Greece ( B.C.)

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2 An uncomfortable part of Greek history was their tendency to engage in homosexual relationships as a rite of initiation for young aristocratic men. These relationships were governed by social custom. Typically a man in his late twenties to early thirties and on the rise in political life would take as his lover and protégé an aristocratic youth in his early to mid teens. The two would form a close and intimate bond of friendship, in which sexual intercourse played an important role. This intimate bond was intended to benefit the younger partner as he learned the workings of government and society, and, through his older lover, made important political and social connections that would benefit him later in life. A whole complex of values, ideas, practices, and assumptions thus informed aristocratic identity in Archaic Greece, as a result it was impossible for those outside this elite world to participate fully in the public life of the polis. By the middle of the Archaic Age, however, the circle of the aristocratic elite was narrowing even further.

3 A small number of aristocrats now dominated the higher offices of the polis, putting themselves in a position to control a wide swath of civic life at the expense of their rivals. Many aristocrats were left on the outside of their own culture looking in. For these men, a remedy to their problem lay close at hand- the hoplites. The hoplite class had complaints of their own about their exclusion from political power and as the number of aristocrats grew fewer, and their power stronger, and violence between them increased, it ultimately gave rise to the emergence of tyranny as an alternative form of government. The word tyrannos was not originally Greek, but was borrowed from Lydia (a kingdom near Troy in Asia Minor) and signified someone who seized power and ruled outside of the traditional framework. A tyrant in Archaic Greece was thus not necessarily an abusive ruler. Greeks were understandably horrified, and yet fascinated with the tyrannies. Aristotle would condemn them as a perversion of the pure form of monarchy, however, tyranny often led the way to wider political enfranchisement.

4 The change in focus to increased power for a common person influenced the growth of individualism in the polis. This was reflected in the popular culture of the time leading up to the end of the Archaic Period. Whereas the Dark Age featured the heroic themes and self sacrifice for the public good of Homer, and the Theogony of Hesiod attempted to unite the culture under a universalist mythology, late Archaic Age poets were not as ambitious. Their work tended to focus on issues of a more personal, and individualistic nature. Often they named themselves within the lines of their poems. They avoided conventional themes to focus on things that were of more interest to them individually. Many flouted traditional mores and values quite explicitly. The poet Archilochus of Paros commemorated his service in a Greek phalanx by writing, Some barbarian waves my shield, as I had to abandon it.but I escaped, so it matters not I can get another just as good. So much for heroism and standing firm in battle! Archilochus happily threw away his equipment and fled to save himself.

5 Among the most famous and accomplished of the lyric poets was Sappho, who lived in the polis of Mytilene on the island of Lesbos. Sappho wrote a great deal on sexual desire, love and longing, with a particular focus on female and female relationships. Although some lyric poets did extol marital virtues and praise heroism, the intimacy of lyric reveals to us something quite new in the history of the world, and particularly the West: the individual who expresses his or her feelings, even when these are at odds with the dominant culture of the times. Hoplite culture and the lyric style demonstrate an increasing concern with the rights and power of the individual in everyday life. Whereas the east tended to identify the individual as property of, and cogs in, the state. The western focus on the individual beginning with this time period in Greece, is the base of the Western tradition, and Western Civilization.

6 The Archaic Poleis developed in very different ways. To illustrate this, we can examine two of the most well documented examples, Athens and Sparta. None of these, however, is typical of the historical development of the Greek poleis as a whole. There were approximately 1,000 such poleis in Greece. About most of them, we know almost nothing. It seems unlikely, however, that amid such diversity we will ever be able to describe a typical polis. Athens The Athenians believed that they and their city had existed continuously since the Bronze Age (the Mycenaean's), this claim was integral to their identity and their sense of self importance within the larger Greek world. Although Attica was among the most populous and prosperous regions in Dark Age Greece, Athens itself was of no great significance in this early age as Corinth was the leading commercial center of Greece, Sparta was the major military power, and the Aegean islands and the central coast of Anatolia were where the leading cultural centers were.

7 Athens Athens emerged from the dark ages with a distinctly agricultural economy. Whatever gains her aristocrats made in trade, they reinvested in land. By the early Archaic age commerce was regarded as a disreputable means of making a living. However, they could not deny geography, and the polis s orientation towards the Aegean and her numerous excellent harbors along the Attic coast would eventually refocus Athens on seafaring and mercantilism. Aristocratic dominance of Athens rested on the elected magistracies, which they monopolized, and the council of state, which was composed of former magistrates. By the early 7 th century B.C., aristocratic officials called archons wielded executive power in Athens. Ultimately, nine archons in all presided over the civil, military, judicial and religious functions of the polis. The archons served a term of one year, after which they became lifetime members of the Areopagus Council.

8 Athens The Council was where the real power of Athens resided. The Areopagus elected the archons, thus controlling its own future membership. It also served as a high court, with tremendous influence over the judicial procedures of Athens. Deep economic and social divisions developed in Athenian society during the seventh century as a significant proportion of the society fell into slave debt, where they borrowed money, and if they could not repay it would have to work it off in indentured servitude to the creditor Rivalries between aristocratic political factions destabilized the polis even further. In 632 B.C. a prominent aristocrat named Kylon attempted to establish a tyranny, only to surrender under a pledge of safe conduct. This was violated by his enemies, and Kylon was driven into exile. Hard feelings over this incident would endure for a generation.

9 Athens The cycle of revenge killings that ensued after Kylon s failed coup would inspire the first attempt at written laws in Athens. In 621 B.C., an aristocrat named Drakon was charged with writing setting the laws, in particular he meant to control homicide through harsh punishments (which is where we get the term draconian. ) Drakon s attempts at stabilizing Athens failed, and so the city fathers and the hoplite class decided to appoint a single archon for one year, and give him sweeping powers, so that he would reorganize Athenian government. This man s name was Solon. Solon was an aristocrat who had made his name and fortune as a merchant, so was able to straddle both classes, so almost everyone in Athenian society trusted him because he was not beholden to any one interest.

10 Athens Solon s political and economic reforms laid the foundation for future Athenian democracy. He forbade the practice of debt slavery, and set up a fund to buy back Athenian debt slaves shipped elsewhere. He also broadened the rights of political participation by setting up courts in which more Athenian citizens could serve as jurors, and allowed them more access to the judicial system if a decision of the Areopagus was found wanting. He changed the Areopagus so that people who wanted hold political office had only to meet certain property qualifications, making it possible for someone not born an aristocrat to gain access to power through the accumulation of wealth. He also gave the Athenian citizen assembly, The Ekklesia, the right to elect the Archons. This was a significant step, as all free born Athenians over the age of 18 could participate in the ekklesia.

11 Athens It was apparent after a short time that Solon s reforms would not succeed. The aristocracy thought they were too radical, and the demos (Greek for people-citizens, the mob), not nearly radical enough. In the resulting turmoil, Peisistratos finally succeeded in establishing himself as a tyrant in 546 B.C. He allowed the government to function as Solon had intended. Peisistratos also launched a massive campaign of public works. However, behind his seemingly benevolent rule lay the quiet but persistent intimidation he practiced through the hire of foreign mercenaries, and the ruthlessness with which he crushed any opposition within his own regime. By enforcing Solon s reforms he strengthened the demos, and gave them a taste for self government. He remained a popular ruler until his death. After Peisistrato s death, there was a brief counterrevolution backed by the polis of Sparta that brought aristocrats back into power. However, after two generations of increasing access to power, the demos had no interest in returning to an elite oligarchy, and in a spontaneous uprising overthrew the government.

12 Athens The demos rallied around Cleisthenes, who was also an aristocrat, but had served ably in the Peisistratos government, and who had championed the cause of the demos after the fall of tyranny. Once voted in as archon in 507 B.C., he quickly took steps to limit aristocratic power. Among the steps he took was to reorganize Athens into ten voting districts, known as tribes. This suppressed the regional identities of Attica, an important source of aristocratic influence. He strengthened the Ecclesia, and extended democratic government to the local level throughout Attica, and he also introduces the practice ostracism. Once a year, Athenians could decide whether they wanted to banish someone for ten years, and, if so, whom. The system took its name from pottery shards, in Greek ostraka on which the names of unpopular citizens were scratched. Cleisthenes believed that with this power, the demos could prevent the return of a tyrant and quell factional strife if civil war seemed imminent.

13 The political struggles of the 6 th century gave Athens a far greater democratic temper than any other Greek polis, simultaneously strengthening its institutions of central government. Athens was poised to assume the role it had created for itself during the fifth century as the exemplar of Greek culture and the proponent of its own style of participatory democracy. * The Archaic Age of Greece ( B.C.) Athens Many of the ostraka have survived to this day. Themostikles, son of Didius

14 Sparta Located in the southern part of the Peloponnesus, the large peninsula that forms southern Greece, the Spartans represented everything that Athens was not. Athens was sophisticated, cultured, and cosmopolitan. Sparta, however, was basic, rural and traditional. Sparta took shape when five villages combined to form the polis of Sparta. Perhaps as a relic of this unification process, Sparta maintained a dual monarchy throughout its history, with two royal families, and two lines of succession. Although seniority or capacity usually determined which of the two ruling kings had more influence, neither was technically superior to the other, a situation that led to political intrigue in Sparta. The Spartan system depended on the conquest of Messenia, an agriculturally wealthy region west of Sparta. Around 720 B.C., the Spartans subjugated the region and enslaved the population. These Messenian slaves came to be known as helots. The helots remained to work the land, which had been parceled out amongst the citizens of Sparta.

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16 Sparta Around 650 B.C., the helots revolted, gaining support from several neighboring cities and briefly threatening Sparta with invasion and annihilation. Eventually Sparta triumphed, but the shock of this rebellion transformed Spartan society permanently. Determined to prevent another uprising, Sparta became the most militarized polis in Greece. By 600 B.C., everything in Sparta was oriented towards the maintenance of its hoplite army, a force so superior that the Spartans confidently left their city unfortified. The Spartan system made every full citizen, known as a Spartiate, or, alternatively, an Equal, a professional soldier of the phalanx. At a time when Athenian society was becoming more democratic, in Sparta the citizenry was aristocratized making every citizen-soldier into a warriorchampion of the hoplite phalanx.

17 Sparta Sparta became a society organized for war. At birth, every child was examined by Spartan officials who determined whether it was healthy enough to raise, and if not, it was abandoned in the mountains. If deemed worth, however, at age 7 it was taken from its mother and placed in the state run Spartan educational system. Boys and girls trained together until age 12, participating in exercise, gymnastics, and other physical drills and competitions. Boys then went to live in the barracks, where their military training would commence in earnest. Girls continued and education in letters until they married, usually around the age of 18. Barracks training was rigorous, designed to accustom the young Spartan male to physical hardships. At age 18, the young male would try to gain membership in a syssition, a communal mess tent as well as a kind of fighting brotherhood. Failure meant that the young man could not become a full Spartiate and would lose his rights as a citizen.

18 Sparta If accepted into a sysstiion, however, men remained in the barracks until the age of thirty. They were permitted to marry between the ages of 20 and 30, but were only allowed to see their wives once every few months, which may account for the low birth rate amongst Spartans. After age 30, a Spartiate male could live with his family. He remained on active duty military though, until he was age 60, but after age 45 was unlikely to see phalanx combat. All Spartiate males 30 and over were members of the citizen assembly, the apella,, which voted yes or no, without debate, on matters proposed to it by a council consisting of 28 elders, and the two kings, known as the gerousia, which was the main policy making body of the polis, and also its primary court. Its members were elected by the apella for life, but had to be over the age of 60 before they could stand for election.

19 Sparta Five Ephors elected annually by the apella, supervised the educational system and acted as guardians of Spartan traditions. In that role, the Ephor could even depose an errant king from command of the army while on campaign. They also supervised the Spartan secret service, the krypteia, recruiting agents from the most promising young Spartiates. Agents spied on citizens, but their main job was to infiltrate the helot population, identify potential troublemakers, and kill them. Spartan policy often hinged on the precarious relationship between the helots and Spartiates. The helots outnumbered the Spartans ten to one, and Messenia routinely seethed with revolt. Helots accompanied the Spartans on campaign as shield bearers, spear bearers, and baggage handlers, and remarkably, we know of no revolts by the Helots on campaign. At home, however, the Helots were a constant security concern. Every year, the Spartans ritualistically declared war on the helots, as a reminder that they would not tolerate attempts to break free. But the Spartans never rested easy in their beds.

20 Sparta Spartans were notoriously reluctant to commit their army abroad, in part because they feared its prolonged absence might encourage a helot uprising at home. Helot slavery made the Spartan system possible, but Sparta s reliance on a hostile population of slaves was also a serious limitation on Spartan power. Spartiates were forbidden to engage in trades or commerce, because wealth might distract them from the pursuit of martial value. Nor did Spartans farm their own lands. Economic activity in the Spartan state fell to either the helots, or the free residents of the other Peloponnesian cities known as the perioikoi, literally those dwelling round about. The periokoi enjoyed certain privileges and rights within Sparta, and some grew wealthy handling their business concerns. They could exercise no political rights within the Spartan system, however, and Sparta conducted their foreign policy for them. Spartiates who lost their rights as citizens became perioikoi as well.

21 Sparta The Spartans self consciously rejected innovation or change. They styled themselves as the protectors of the traditional constitutions of Greece, by which they meant older, more aristocratic regimes, and in this role they would try to prevent the establishment of tyrannies in neighboring states and try to overthrow them when they arose. Sparta s stern defense of tradition made it an object of admiration in the Greek world, even though few Greeks had any desire to live as the Spartans did. The fatal flaw in the Spartan system, however, was demographics. There were many ways to fall from the status of Spartiate, including criminal behavior, and cowardice. The only way to become one, however, was through birth, and the Spartan birthrate just could not keep pace with the demand for Spartiates. As a result, the number of full Spartiates declined from perhaps as many as 10,000 in the Archaic Period to only about 1,000 by 350 B.C.

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