Chapter 4: Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean: Greece and Rome

1. Chapter 4: Classical Civilization in the Mediterranean: Greece and Rome AP World History I

2. Persia • By 550 BCE, Cyrus the Great had established a massive empire from the Middle East to India • Tolerant of local customs • Development of Zoroastrianism

3. Persian Empire

4. Greece • Greeks were an indo-European people who took over the Balkan Peninsula by 1700 BCE • Early kingdom of Mycenaeans around 1400s • Kingdom in Homer’s epics about the Trojan War • Rapid rise in Greek Civilization from 800 BCE to 600 BCE

5. Indo/European Migrations

6. Greek Development • City-state concept, rather than a single political unit. • Trade and economy flourished • Alphabet based off of Phoenician alphabet

7. Greek Development • Olympic games • Athens and Sparta become the two most powerful city-states • Sparta • Strong military aristocracy dominating a slave population • Athens • Strong commercial, intellectual, and artistic state (also with slaves)

8. Athens and Sparta • Both city-states cooperated between 500 and 449 to defeat a huge Persian invasion • After this, Athenian and Greek civilization in general reached its zenith • In Athens, Pericles sets the model for democratic negotiation

9. Peloponnesian War • 431-404 BCE • Athens v. Sparta • Sparta technically wins, but both city-states are so weak that ambitious kings from Macedonia soon conquer the cities. • Philip II of Macedon • Alexander

10. Greece at Peloponnesian War (Athens and Sparta colors are backwards!)

11. Hellenistic Empire • Alexander expands Greek influence beyond the peninsula, to… • Asia Minor • Egypt • Middle East • India • Short-lived…Alexander dies at 33 after 13 years of conquest.

12. Hellenistic Period • Greek Art and Culture merge with other Middle Eastern forms during this time period. • Trade flourished • Important scientific centers were established like Alexandria, in Egypt

13. Hellenistic Empire

14. Greek Politics • Politics comes from “polis,” Greek for “city-state.” • Citizens felt that the state was theirs…rights and responsibilities • Participation in the military too • Diversity in political forms • Unlike China’s elaborate bureaucracy

15. Greek Politics • “demos” = “the people” • Democracy • General assemblies in which all citizens could participate • Direct democracy…not elected representatives. • Met every 10 days • Only a minority were active participants

16. Greek Politics • The most widely preferred political framework centered on aristocratic assemblies • Sparta: Singularly militaristic aristocracy • Other city states were aristocratic, but not necessarily bent on the impact of the military • Aristocracy comes from Greek terms, meaning “rule of the best”

17. Rise of Rome • The Roman state begins around 800 BCE as a local monarchy in central Italy. • The monarchy is driven from power in 509 BCE and the Roman Republic was born • Extends influence over the Italian peninsula

18. Rise of Rome • Roman conquest spread quickly during the Punic Wars from 264 to 146 BCE. • Fought armies of the Phoenician city of Carthage under leadership of Hannibal • Romans seize the entire western Mediterranean along with Greece and Egypt

19. Punic Wars

20. Rise of the Roman Empire • Politics in Rome grew unstable • Julius Caesar takes power in 45 BCE • Following his assassination, Augustus Caesar takes power in 27 BCE • 200 years of peace, known as Pax Romana through the reign of Marcus Aurelius in 180 CE.

21. Pax Romana • Empire maintains great vigor • Spreads peace throughout the Mediterranean world • Expansion of trade, culture, arts, architecture, etc.

22. Roman Empire

23. Provinces of the Roman Empire

24. Roman Empire • Slow, decisive fall, lasting over 250 years, finally falling in 476 CE • Emperor Constantine adopts Christianity as official religion in 313 CE to attempt to unite empire • Specifically in the western half of the Roman Empire, effective government became local. • Invasions from nomadic peoples from the north • Loyalty of non-Roman army recruits were suspect

25. Roman Politics • In the Roman Republic, the constitution guaranteed that citizens would gather in periodic assemblies • To elect magistrates entrusted with the will of the common people • Legislative body was the SENATE

26. Roman Politics Senate was comprised of mostly aristocrats Two consuls shared primary EXECUTIVE power In times of crisis, the senate could choose a dictator to hold emergency powers Cicero, a Roman Senator, engaged in political theory by writing on the issues of political ethics, duties of citizens, and importance of incorruptibility. Represents Confucianism, but with less hierarchy and obedience, or bureaucratic virtues. During the Empire, the Roman senate became rather meaningless.

27. Roman Law • By 450 BCE the Roman Republic introduced its form of codified law, the Twelve Tables of Roman Law. • Restrain the upper classes from arbitrary action against the lower • Subject all citizens to common legal principles. • LAW takes over characteristics of families, fathers, or landlords • Common sense doctrine…

28. Roman Law • With citizenship in the Roman empire came full access to Rome-appointed judges and uniform laws. • Property rights • commerce

29. The Roman State • Placed great premium on military service/conquest • VAST PUBLIC WORKS • Roads/harbors (military/commerce) • Stadiums • Public Baths • Gladiator contests • Theaters • Aqueducts

30. Roman Coliseum

31. Roman Aqueducts

32. Roman Theaters

33. Roman Religion • Government sponsored official religious ceremonies etc, but were tolerant of different strains • Attacked Christianity, but only because they didn’t put they allegiance to the state first • In difference to China and India, the Romans did not create a “great world religion”

34. Greco/Roman Religion • Christianity was aided by the Romans, but was not a product of Rome. • In Greco/Roman Religion, there was a complex system of gods and goddesses • Names different, but organization the same…

35. Greco/Roman Religion • Zeus or Jupiter: preside over the gods • Apollo: Sun • Neptune: Oceans • Mars: War • Venus: Love/Beauty • Other gods were patrons of other human activities. • Gods were depicted as human

36. Greco/Roman Religion • Gods did not necessarily elevate people to higher planes of spirituality, they merely regulated life… • Lack of spiritual passion • Leaves a sense of dissatisfaction • Leads to the development of philosophy as a separate form of thinking and behavior regulation

37. Greco/Roman Philosophy • Philosophers like Aristotle and Cicero urge moderation an balance in human behavior. • Stoics emphasize inner moral independence, strict discipline of the body, and personal bravery… • Will mix with Christianity later…

38. Greco/Roman Philosophy • Philosophy emphasized the power of individual rational thought… • Socrates (b. 469 BCE) encouraged pupils to question conventional wisdom • Rational inquiry • Plato (student of Socrates) suggests that human reason could understand the absolutely true, good, and beautiful.

39. Greco/Roman Intellectualism • Not necessarily scientists…but emphasis on rational thought • Try to find balance in the universe…try to explain everything • Theories…some wrong…about the motions of the planets, elemental principles of earth, fire, air, and water. • Impressive work in Geometry (Pythagoras’ theorem)

40. Greco/Roman Intellectualism • Ptolemy: produced an elaborate theory of how the sun revolves around the earth • Geocentric theory (Hellenistic) • Contradicts middle east thought of the time

41. Roman Intellectualism • More practical than the Greek… • Engineering achievements • Roads, aqueducts • Arches

42. Greco/Roman Literature • Music/Dance festivals • Greek Drama • Comedy and tragedy • Sophocles: Oedipus Rex • Homer: Iliad and Odyssey • Virgil: Roman Poet

43. Greco/Roman Aesthetics • Greek artists excel in ceramic work • Roman painters decorate the homes of the wealthy • Greek columns develop three different ornamentations… • Doric • Ionic • Corinthian

44. Greco/Roman Aesthetics • Roman architects adopt the Greek themes and use engineering skill to build upon them. • Romans learn how to add domes to rectangular buildings • Empire adopts a taste for massive monuments and public buildings • Demonstration of the empire’s size and strength

45. The Greco/Roman Economy • Substantial portion of the population were farmers (not in the cities!) • Poor soil conditions • Conversion of economy to market economy because of the wholesale production of olives and grapes. • Required substantial capital • Conquered territory to get access to grain producing fields • Sicily and Northern Africa

46. The Greco/Roman Economy • Trade with civilizations outside of the Mediterranean was less profitable… • Goods were inferior to Asian (China/Indian) goods • Most traders were foreigners from the middle east, or descendants of Phoenicians and Lydians. • Merchants had higher status in Rome (forming class underneath landed Patricians) • Merchants fare better in the Mediterranean than they did in China

47. Greco/Roman Slavery • Aristotle produced elaborate justifications for the use of slavery • Athens used slaves for housekeeping and in silver mines • Sparta uses slaves in agriculture • Rome expands use of slavery, also as tutors for children • Neither Greece or Rome were particularly interested in technological innovations. • Slave reliance impacts this… • The Mediterranean world lags behind India and China in technological innovation, which accounts for its trade imbalance with Asia