CONTENTS Introduction 10 Chapter 1: The Archaic Period 17 The Post-Mycenaean Period and Lefkandi 17 Colonization and City-State Formation 19 Olympic Games 20 Overseas Projects 21 The Beginnings of the Polis 22 Early Archaic Greek Civilization 25 The Sources 26 Bacchiadae and Eupatridae 27 Symposia and Gymnasia 28 Formal Relationships 29 The Lelantine War 30 The Later Archaic Period 32 The Decline of the Aristocracy 32 Changes in Warfare 33 The Early Tyrannies 36 Sparta 37 The Rhetra 38 The Helot Factor 39 The Peloponnesian League 40 Athens 42 Theseus 44 Solon 46 The Peisistratid Tyranny 51 The Reforms of Cleisthenes 54 The World of the Tyrants 58 Intermarriage Between the Great Houses 58 Poetry and Art 59 Alcaeus 60 International Influences 62 34 38 61 Chapter 2: Classical Greek Civilization: The Persian Wars 65 The Ionian Revolt 67 Causes of the Persian Wars 68 Economic Factors 68 Political Factors 68 Athenian Support of Ionia 69 Sparta s Foreign Relations 70
79 The Role of Cleomenes 71 Battle of Marathon 72 Aftermath of the Battle of Marathon 73 The System of Ostracism 74 Greek Preparations for War 74 Greek Alliances 76 The Last Persian Wars 77 Thermopylae 77 Salamis 78 Plataea 79 Chapter 3: Classical Greek Civilization: The Athenian Empire 81 The Fortification of Athens 81 The Ambition of Pausanias 83 Delian League 84 Paying Tribute to Athens 85 Strains on Greek Unity and Mounting Athenian Aggression 87 Cimon s Actions 87 Athens s Moves Against Other Greeks 88 Athens s Moves Northward 89 Sparta s Responses 89 The Ephialtic Reforms 90 Legal Reforms 90 Political Reforms 91 The Rejection of Cimon 92 Athenian Expansion 92 Friction Between Athens and Corinth 92 The Subjugation of Aegina 93 The Scale of Athenian Ambition 93 Sparta s Resistance 95 Peace with Persia 96 Revolts of Athens s Tributary States 97 Economic Sources of Resentment 97 Political and Legal Sources of Resentment 97 The Euboean Revolt 98 Greek Communities in Italy and Sicily 99 82 86 Chapter 4: Classical Greek Civilization: The Peloponnesian War 101 Causes 101
105 The Initial Phase, 431 425 104 Pericles 104 Sparta s Role 105 Continuing Strife 106 Mytilene and Plataea 107 Speculation and Unease 108 The Years 425 421 109 Spartan Calls for Peace 109 Cleon s Influence 110 Spartan Recovery 111 Athenian Aggression Outside the Peloponnese 112 Entanglement with Persia 112 Harsh Treatment of Melos 112 The Sicilian Disaster 113 The Second Phase of the War, 413 404 114 Thirty Tyrants 117 114 Chapter 5: Greek Civilization in the Fifth Century BC 118 Intellectual Achievements 118 The Effect of the Persian Wars on Philosophy 118 The Rise of Democracy 119 Hippocrates and the Fluidity of Genres 120 Hippocratic Oath 121 Greek Drama 122 Greek Tragedy 122 Greek Comedy 128 The Liturgy System 129 The Roles of Women and Slaves 131 Women 132 Slaves 133 The Acropolis 133 Military Technology 135 125 Chapter 6: Greece in the Fourth Century BC 136 Dionysius I of Syracuse 136 The Corinthian War 139 The King s Peace 142
153 From 386 BC to the Decline of Sparta 144 Spartan Adventures 144 The Second Athenian Confederacy 145 Theban Expansion 147 Athens and Thebes 149 The Rise of Macedon 152 Macedonian Supremacy in Greece 156 Alexander the Great 162 Alexander and the Greeks 162 Alexander in Egypt 167 To the Persian Gates 167 The Conquest of Bactria and the Indus Valley 169 The Final Phase 171 Greek Civilization in the Fourth Century 173 Historical Writings 173 Architecture and Sculpture 175 Mausoleum of Halicarnassus 177 Social and Commercial Exchanges 177 Organized Settlements 179 Conclusion 181 Appendix: Pre-Greek Aegean Civilizations 183 Glossary 191 Bibliography 193 Index 194
INTrODuCTION
Among the civilizations that preceded that of the Greeks were those of Minos and Mycenae. On the island of Crete, the Minoans established a sophisticated culture, the ruins of which are still visible at Knossos. Later the Myceneans formed a mighty kingdom in the Peloponnese, the hand-shaped peninsula of southernmost mainland Greece. By and large, however, the term ancient Greece the subject of this book usually refers to the period between the end of the Mycenaean era about 1200 BC and the death of Alex ander the Great in 323 BC. Most of the political, philosophical, scientific, and artistic achievements of Greek civilization date to this period. The period immediately following the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization is frequently described as a dark age. Like the western European period after the fall of the Roman Empire that is so described, Greece s Dark Age involved a significant decrease in population and literacy. As a result, historical information from this period is scant; even later historians writing during Greece s Classical Age were possessed of information about this period that was inaccurate and sometimes even false. What we do know about the post-mycenaean period is that it involved a series of migrations into western Greece, the best known of which would later be named the Dorian invasion. Introduction 11 The Dorians were a linguistic subgroup whose migration into the Peloponnese was said to be connected to the legendary return of the descendants of Heracles [Hercules]. Of course, when Greek historians wrote about the return of Heracles descendants they were simply trying to explain why the civilizations that inhabited the Peloponnese during their time were different from the ones described in the myths and legends of Homer, the epic poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey. This invented tradition is one of the hurdles we face when reading sources from the time period; that is, certain relatively new aspects of Greek society are retroactively tied to previous traditions whether historical or mythological as a means of creating legitimacy. Regardless of who the Dorians were, one thing is abundantly clear: the hostility between the Dorians and the Ionians another of the three main linguistic subgroups in Greece would shape the social, political, and cultural landscape of Greece for centuries. Greece s Dark Age was followed by the Archaic period (c. 650 480 BC), during which time the steadily increasing population brought about reurbanization and expansion, leading to the formation of the city-state, or polis. During the Mycenaean period, Greece had been divided into kingdoms that encompassed numerous small towns, as well as larger Pericles (495 429 BC), who ruled Athens during its Golden Age, is one of the most pivotal figures in the history of ancient Greece. Hulton Archive/Getty Images
12 Ancient Greece: From the Archaic Period to the Death of Alexander the Great estates owned by nobility. With the collapse of Mycenaean civilization, these kingdoms, towns, and estates vanished, only to be replaced by small villages. Over time, the populations in these villages grew, leading to the synoikismos, or gathering together, of the population of a given territory into a city-state. This gathering together could occur in two ways: either as a physical concentration of a population within one city or as a more abstract political unification of geographically separate groups. Whichever form of synoikismos occurred, a Greek city-state typically consisted of a walled city which acted as the commercial, political, and religious centre and the surrounding towns and villages. It should be noted that one of the most influential city-states, Sparta, was never consolidated in this manner, remaining a loose coalition of independent villages. The Archaic period was also characterized by the growth of overseas colonies, some of which, such as Greek settlements in Italy (c. 750 BC) and Sicily (c. 734 BC) had been established in earlier times. These settlements spread throughout the Mediterranean and along the coast of the Black Sea. Among the several factors that have been suggested as reasons for this flurry of colonization are commercial interests, political rivalries, overpopulation, or simply the need for adventure and exploration. Even though these new political entities were referred to as city-states, we should not assume that the older Mycenaean notions of class and nobility had vanished entirely. Many of the Greek city-states during the Archaic period were, in fact, aristocratic in organization, with political power resting in the hands of a small number of exclusive families (or clans). Athens, for example, had two such groups: a general class of aristocrats called the Eupatridae (the People of Good Descent ) and the basileus, a word frequently translated as kings, but being more accurately thought of as hereditary nobility. Furthermore, Sparta Athens s frequent ideological rival was ruled by two kings of equal authority. However, as the Archaic period drew to a close, opportunistic individuals would rise up and seize power from the aristocratic classes. The Greeks called these individuals tyrants a term that meant simply illegitimate ruler and encompassed the good and the bad alike. The tyrants of ancient Greece were able to wrest control of a city-state from the nobility by securing support of both the growing middle class and the peasants, many of whom were in debt to the wealthy land-owning aristocracy. The first recorded Greek tyrant was Cypselus, who took control of Corinth in the seventh century BC. Tyrants seized power in other Greek city-states, as well, including Argos, Megara, and Syracuse. The Athenian tyrant Cleisthenes instituted a number of government reforms during his reign, several of which redistributed power from the hands of the few to the hands of the many. One of Cleisthenes first changes was the restructuring the tribal system in Athens. He replaced
Introduction 13 the division of four tribes based upon Ionian descent with a reorganization of the entire population into 10 tribes based on geographic location. These new tribes became the basis for the Boule, or Council of Five Hundred, a new administrative body in charge of the daily affairs of the city. The council was formed by 50 members from each of the 10 tribes, thus giving the populous a louder voice in the political process. The reforms of Cleisthenes helped usher in an age of democracy in Athens, helping the city-state prosper well into the Classical period. Greece s Classical period, which encompassed most of the sixth, fifth, and fourth centuries BC, was a major influence on Western civilization. Modern political, artistic, scientific, and philosophical thought owe a heavy debt to the Classical period. In addition to these lofty achievements, however, the period was marked by military conflict, notably the Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War. The origins of the wars between Greece and the Persian Empire go back to Greece s dark age, when several Greek colonies the Ionian cities were first established in Asia Minor. One salient feature of the westward spread of the Persian Empire during the sixth century BC, was the Persian conquest of the Ionians. Once subdued, the new Persian territories were governed by tyrants. Between 499 and 493 BC, unhappy with Persian rule, the Ionian cities rebelled, aided by military support from Athens and Eretria. The rebellion failed, and the Persian king, Darius the Great, vowed to punish Athens and Eretria for supporting the revolt. Furthermore, Darius began to perceive that the Greek city-states in general posed a threat to the Persian Empire, and he determined to conquer the whole of Greece. The first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC and, within a year, all Greek city-states but Athens and Sparta had submitted to the Persians. In 490 BC, the Persian fleet landed at the bay of Marathon on the east coast of Attica, about 25 miles (40 kilometres) from Athens. The Persian and Athenian forces met on the plain of Marathon and, despite being outnumbered, the Athenian hoplites (soldiers) were able to defeat the more lightly armed Persian infantry. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, the Persians lost 6,400 men, while the Athenians lost only 192. The Persian king began to raise a larger army in order to once more attack and defeat his foes. This time, however, the Persian forces were deterred by a rebellion in Egypt. During this time, Darius died, and his son Xerxes took his place on the throne of the Persian Empire. After quelling the revolt in Egypt, Xerxes turned his attention to preparing a full-scale invasion of Greece. About a decade after the Persians were defeated at the Battle of Marathon, Xerxes and the Persian Empire once again entered Greece. As the Persian army marched into northern Greece, an alliance of Greek city-states met in the south to strategize over the best method of defending themselves. The Athenian
14 Ancient Greece: From the Archaic Period to the Death of Alexander the Great politician and general Themistocles suggested a two-pronged defense: hoplites commanded by King Leonidas I of Sparta would engage the Persian infantry at the pass of Thermopylae, while Themistocles would lead a blockade of the straits of Artemisium by allied naval forces. After three days, the Greek hoplites at Thermopylae had been either killed or captured and, no longer needing to support the infantry, the badly damaged allied fleet retreated to the island of Salamis. Despite the losses suffered at both Thermopylae and Artemisium, Themistocles was able to convince the allied forces to once again engage the Persian fleet at Salamis. Unaccustomed to the narrow straits, the Persian fleet became disorganized. Seizing the upper hand, the Greek forces claimed victory. After the Battle of Salamis, Xerxes ordered most of his army back to Asia; the remaining Persian ground and naval forces were defeated at the Battle of Plataea and the Battle of Mycale, respectively. Once the Persians had retreated from mainland Greece, the Athenians and their allies the newly formed Delian League launched a counterattack to liberate the rest of the Aegean from Persian control. Once the Persian Empire had been successfully driven out of Greece and the surrounding territories, the Athenians maintained control over their allies. They further expanded their influence and consolidated power into what would become known as the Athenian Empire. At the close of the Persian Wars, Athens was the dominant naval and commercial power of Greece. Athenian statesmen used tributes paid by members of the Delian League to build the Parthenon and other monuments in Athens. By the mid-fifth century BC, the growing wealthy leisure class became patrons of the arts, attracting talented artisans from all over the Greek world and making Athens the centre of literature, philosophy, the visual arts, and architecture in the Classical period. At this time, Athens was home to some of Western history s greatest cultural and intellectual figures, including the dramatists Aristophanes and Sophocles; philosophers Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates; and the historians Thucydides and Herodotus. The growing prominence of Athens at this time also led to an increase in Athenian imperialism, which would lead to conflict with Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. The Peloponnesian War (c. 431 to 404 BC) was a reaction to the growing hegemony of the Athenian Empire. Fearing Athenian dominance of Greece, Sparta led its allies, the Peloponnesian League, in a series of invasions of Attica, the ancient region of east-central Greece in which Athens was located. As the war progressed, Sparta received support from Persia, which allowed the Peloponnesian League to undermine Athenian naval superiority. Sparta also supported rebellions in Athenian cities, further weakening the empire. The
Introduction 15 Peloponnesian War ended with the destruction of the Athenian fleet at Aegospotami and the surrender of Athens. The defeat of the Athenian Empire reshaped the Classical Greek world: Sparta became the leading power in Greece, while Athens, once the strongest city-state in the region, was completely devastated. The ideological conflict between democracy (as embodied by Athens) and oligarchy (the Spartan political model) led to an increase in civil wars, as well as all-out wars among city-states. The weakened city-states of central Greece, coupled with the rise of Philip II of Macedon, would usher in the close of the Classical period. Under Philip II and, later, his son Alexander the Great Macedon extended its influence from northern Greece all the way to Persia, Egypt, and India. Even though Alexander the Great spread Greek culture throughout most of the known world, it was not the same culture found in Athens or Sparta a century before. Gone were the fiercely independent city-states of the Classical period, replaced with a more homogeneous Greek culture, which historians would later label Hellenistic.