Classical Greek Civilization BC

Classical Greek Civilization 700-324 BC

Little is known about the time between 1100 and 750 BC because little to no writing took place, and this is why it is called a Dark Age. Between 750 and 600 BC, many Greeks left the mainland by ship to establish new colonies as a reaction to overpopulation, economic problems, and rising political tensions. Also during this time, Greece was marked by widespread famines. By 600 BC most farmers in Athens, who were in debt to the land aristocracy, had their property taken and were turned into slaves to work their own farms.

Resentment of the ruling aristocracy led to tyrants seizing power in many city-states. These tyrants, meaning "unrightful ruler", were not necessarily bad because they forced the aristocrats from power and built marketplaces, walls, and temples. These tyrannies did play a crucial role as a rising distaste for tyrants led to the creation of alternative systems of government.

The behavior of the tyrants created the desire among the Greeks to develop a more efficient and possibly fair system of government, such as democracy in Athens.

Kouros, 6 th Century BC

Kore, 6 th Century BC

Black-figure Style, 700-400 BC

Achilles and Ajax

Hercules fighting the Hydra

Red-figure Style, 530-200 BC

Hermes Pursing a Woman

Athens By 700 BC, Athens had become a unified polis.

Athens By 700 BC, Athens had become a unified polis. In 510 BC, Athenians had deposed their last tyrant and formed a council of five hundred that supervised foreign affairs, oversaw the treasury, and proposed laws to be voted on by an assembly of all free male citizens. What form of government is this? Ostracism protected Athenians from someone gaining too much power; the assembly would vote to ostracize that person, and if a person received 6,000 votes then that person could not return to Athenian territory for 10 years.

Ostracism

Pericles

The Acropolis

The Acropolis Today

The Propylaea

The Temple of Athena Nike

The Erechtheion

The Porch of the Caryatids

The Caryatids

The Parthenon

Statue of Athena

East Pediment Marbles

The Three Goddesses

The Acropolis Museum

During the Age of Pericles, the assembly, consisted of around 43,000 males over 18, which had final authority to pass laws after free and open debate. Between 461 and 429 BC, Pericles was the dominant figure in Athenian politics, leading the Athenian democracy, rebuilding Athens, and expanded the Athenian empire abroad. This was Athens golden age. Foreigners had protection under the law, and had some civic responsibilities, such as taxes. Everyone except the poorest citizens had at least one slave, and some worked for the state.

Population 100,000 Citizens 150,000 Foreigners Slaves 35,000

The role of the family was to produce and raise good Athenian citizens. Women in Athens had no formal education, but some could read, write, and play musical instruments. Women married between 14 and 15, and owned nothing but their personal items. A woman s responsibility was to have kids to, take care of their family, and keep house. Women had to have a male companion at all times when traveling outside of the home.

Sparta Instead of starting new colonies, the Greek city-state of Sparta conquered its neighbors.

Sparta Instead of starting new colonies, the Greek city-state of Sparta conquered its neighbors. These conquered peoples became helots, basically slaves forced to work for Sparta. The Spartan form of government was an oligarchy, composed of two kings and 28 council members over the age of 60. Sparta was above all a military state with the art of warfare as the central focus of Spartan life, and all other arts were frowned upon. For this reason, the Spartans did not leave behind any great works of art, architecture, or literature like the Athenians did.

Shortly after birth, a mother would bathe her child in wine, and if the child survived it was brought before a council by the child's father. If the council decided the child was puny and deformed, the baby was thrown into a chasm. Male Spartans began military training at seven, and Spartan girls received a similar education as boys, with less emphasis on military training. Spartan males began military service at age 20, they lived in barracks even if married until age 30, and military duty lasted until age 60. Spartan mothers would give their sons the shield with the words "[Return] With it or [carried] on it."

Spartan women enjoyed power and respect that was unknown in the rest of the classical world, such as owning property, moving freely in society, and speaking their mind in public. Unlike Athens, Spartan girls were fed the same food as their brothers, they were not confined to the house and prevented from going outside, or from competing in sports. Rather than being married off at the age of 12 or 13, Spartan law forbade the marriage of a girl until she was in her late teens or early 20s. Delaying marriage helped ensure the birth of healthy children, and prevent lasting health problems associated with adolescent pregnancy.

Spartan women, better fed from childhood and fit from exercise, fared a better chance of reaching old age than other Greek women. The median age of death for women in other Greek cities was 34.6 years or roughly 10 years below that of men. When Spartans died, marked headstones were only granted to soldiers who died in combat during a victorious campaign, and women who died in service or childbirth. Because of the practice of infanticide, absence of men on campaigns, and losses in battle, the Spartan population was hard to maintain, and this almost proved fatal to their existence.

The Greco-Persian Wars The Ionian city-states fell to Persia in 550 BC. The Athenian navy helped liberate them in 499 BC, which led the Persian ruler Darius to seek revenge. The Athenians defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon, approximately 26 miles from Athens in 490 BC. From this comes the legend of Pheidippides. After Darius death in 486 BC, the new Persian monarch, Xerxes, vowed revenge. In 480, Xerxes led a force of about 180,000 troops and thousands of warships into Greece.

Xerxes

At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000 Greeks delayed the Persian force for two days, but were ultimately defeated.

Hoplite

Phalanx

At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000 Greeks delayed the Persian force for two days, but were ultimately defeated. After the Greeks were defeated Thermopylae, the Athenians abandoned their city, which was sacked and burned by the Persians. The Persians were ultimately defeated by the Athenian navy at the Battle of Salamis, and at the Battle of Plataea by a combined force of 110,000 Greeks.

At the Battle of Thermopylae, a force of 7,000 Greeks delayed the Persian force for two days, but were ultimately defeated. After the Greeks were defeated Thermopylae, the Athenians abandoned their city, which was sacked and burned by the Persians. The Persians were defeated by the Athenian navy at the Battle of Salamis, and at the Battle of Plataea by a force of 110,000 Greeks. In 478, the Greeks formed the Delian League, an alliance of 150 to 173 Greek city-states under Athenian leadership, whose purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire.

The League's name is derived from its official meeting place, the island of Delos, which was also the location of the League s treasury. The League liberated virtually all Greek citystates throughout Mediterranean from Persia. Athens began to use the League's navy for its own purposes, and in 454 BC, Pericles moved the treasury to Athens, effectively creating an Athenian Empire. By 431 BC, Athens' heavy-handed control of the Delian League prompted the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War, leading to the League being dissolved in 404 BC.

Peloponnesian War By 431 BC, the majority of the Greek world was divided between Athens and Sparta, each having a very different society that had little or no tolerance for the other. The Athenians were fiercely loyal to their democracy, and Sparta and its allies had grown weary of the Athenian Empire. When war broke out in 431 BC, the Athenians, led by Pericles, intended to stay behind their walls and receive supplies from their navy. Sparta and its allies laid siege to Athens, hoping to draw the Athenian army into open battle.

After two years under siege, a plague broke out in Athens killing one-third of the people, including Pericles.

After two years under siege, a plague broke out in Athens killing one-third of the people, including Pericles. The war lasted another 25 years until, in 405 BC, the Athenian navy was finally destroyed. Within a year Athens surrendered, its walls were torn down, its navy disbanded, and its empire destroyed. The war weakened the major Greek states, and for the next 66 years, Athens, Sparta, and Thebes struggled for dominance.

Classical Greek Philosophy Besides government, architecture, and military strategies, the Classical Greeks left a legacy of art, literature, science, and philosophy. Philosophy refers to an organized system of thought, and early philosophers were concerned with critical and rational thought about humanity, nature, and the universe. Early philosophers tried to explain the universe on the basis of unifying principles. The philosopher Pythagoras taught that the essence of the universe could be found in music and numbers.

Sophists were traveling teachers who sold their services to the young men of Greece, and believed it was beyond the reach of the human mind to understand the universe. They believed it was more important for individuals to improve themselves, and they also believed that there was no absolute right or wrong. They also believed what was right for one individual might be wrong for another. They taught that true wisdom was pursuing one s own good, and for this reason many people viewed them as harmful to society.

Socrates (469-399 BC), was an Athenian philosopher who believed that real knowledge was already in us, and the goal of education should be to improve the individual.

Socrates

Socrates (469-399 BC), was an Athenian philosopher who believed that real knowledge was already in us, and the goal of education should be to improve the individual. Socrates left no writings, what is known about him is from the writings of is pupils, who he taught for no pay. The Socratic Method was a way to teach using question-and-answer format which led pupils to figure things out for themselves by using their own reason. The unexamined life is not worth living. What does this mean?

The Death of Socrates, 1787

Following their defeat in the Peloponnesian War, Athenians no longer trusted democracy and open debate. Socrates questioning of authority led to him being accused and convicted of corrupting the youth of Athens, and he was sentenced to die by drinking poison. Socrates most famous pupil, Plato (424-347 BC), questioned reality asking how do we know what is real?

Plato

Aristotle

His ideal government was divided into 3 classes; a philosopher-king who would rule justly, next warriors for protection, and then everyone else. Plato s most famous pupil, Aristotle (384-322 BC), believed in analyzing and classifying things based on observation and investigation. He wrote about logic, politics, ethics, poetry, astronomy, geology, biology, and physics; all science was based on his ideas and writings until the 7 th century AD. Aristotle knew that there was no ideal state, but through observing existing governments, he favored a constitutional government as the best form for most people.

Classical Greek Art The standards in art set by the Classical Period has dominated the arts in the Western world. The subject matter of the art was the human being, presented as an object of great beauty. The classical art style was based on the ideals of reason, moderation, balance, and harmony. Greek sculptors did not seek to achieve realism, but rather they idealized beauty. Polyclitus wrote down systematic rules for proportion for the perfect human form, based on mathematical ratios.

Dying Warrior Temple of Aphaia, 500 BC

Charioteer, Delphi, 477 BC

Apollo with Battling Lapiths and Centaurs Temple of Zeus, Olympia, 460 BC

Aphrodite

Aphrodite of Cnidus

The Marathon Youth

The Victorious Youth

Riace Bronzes, 460 430 BC

Poseidon or Zeus?

The Olympic Games Athleticism and competition was admired by the Classical Greeks, and related to the Gods. Olympia was a sanctuary in ancient Greece, and was the site of the Olympic Games in classical times, and date back to 776 BC. The first games began as an annual foot race of young women in competition for position of the priestess for the goddess Hera. The tradition of athletic nudity began in 720 BC, probably by the Spartans, and this was adopted early on in the Olympics.

Finally, the Olympic Games were suppressed, either between 393 to 435 AD, by Roman emperors as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as a state religion. The Olympic site of Olympia remained until an earthquake destroyed it in the 6th century AD. The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, were held in Athens, and it was the first time since 1896 that the games were held in Greece.

Olympia Today

2004 Olympic Games, Athens