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Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities

Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities. Prof. Michael Arnush February 14, 2005. Last time …. What constitutes a community in the … family? household ( oikos )? palace ( megaron )? world of the elite ( aristoi )? world of the people ( demos )? world of the slaves ( douloi )?

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Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities

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  1. Homeric and Archaic Greek Communities Prof. Michael Arnush February 14, 2005

  2. Last time … What constitutes a community in the … • family? • household (oikos)? • palace (megaron)? • world of the elite (aristoi)? • world of the people (demos)? • world of the slaves (douloi)? • world of the other (xenoi)?

  3. Herodotus, passage 1 • Blood and language: close-knit kinships, same alphabet, similar dialects, modes of communication • Religion: rituals, worship of the same gods, festivals, temples • Customs

  4. Greek festivals Parthenon, 432 BCE

  5. Festival processions: Panathenaia • Parthenon, Panathenaic frieze

  6. Panathenaia

  7. Olympia, Sanctuary of Zeus: stadium

  8. Delphi, Sanctuary of Apollo: temple of Apollo

  9. Agon: competition Pankration

  10. Greek values • arete: manliness, virtue • time: honor • kleos: reputation, renown • avoidance of aidos: shame

  11. Rhapsodes and performance

  12. Delphi, sanctuary of Apollo: theater

  13. Homer, passage 2 • Agora: • market • meeting place • civic and religious space • court trials with elders as judges • heralds keeping order • demos as spectators • dancing place (orig. threshing floor, later orchestra?) • fields, vineyards, pasturelands • basileus as warrior ruler • proto-polis

  14. (Athens) Agora: now

  15. (Athens) agora: then

  16. Homer and the oral tradition • Late Bronze Age: 2000-1200 • Trojan War: “1186” • Dark Age: 1100-750 • Homeric world: ca. 800 • Homer: 750-725

  17. Thucydides, passage 3 • nostoi • revolutions and factionalism • migrations • Dorian invasion • colonization

  18. Homeric culture • reliance on the sea • social contracts • fortified communities • political relations: assemblies, royal councils, basileus and basileis

  19. Archaic Age: 750-490 • Land and topography • Limited arable land • Crops: oil, wine • Contact with Phoenicians • Alphabet • Codification of law • Land pressures, growing population, interest in exploration, historie, all led to …

  20. Colonization • Acquire arete, time, kleos • Knowledge of other places • Consult Delphic oracle • Send out nobles, landless poor, disenfranchised politicals, exiles, merchants • Founder: oikistes to found an oikos • Stake out land, temenos • Reliance on hoplites (hoplon) • Maintain connection to mother-city • Places to colonize: southern Italy, Sicily, Black Sea

  21. Distribution of colonies

  22. The polis: the autonomous city-state, ca. 700-323 • Colonization contributed to the sense of isolation and autonomy • polis = autonomous, self-governing, urban (astu) and rural (chora) • usually fortified with a high point (akropolis) • identified with the citizens (politai) • ruled by the aristoi (hence, aristocracy)

  23. Archaic intellectualism: Greek philosophy • world of discovery, inquiry, challenge to authority • development in art, architecture, literature, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, government • analogy of ships at sea • philosophia: “love of wisdom,” or “devotion to uncommon knowledge”

  24. Greek world view: according to Hecataeus, 6th century

  25. 6th century spiritual movements • social, intellectual, spiritual stirrings • dissatisfaction with Hesiod’s world view and the Homeric conception of myth • craving for life after death, curiosity about what happens to the soul • Orphism, Dionysiac worship, mystery cults (Eleusis), Pythagoreanism

  26. 6th century intellectual movements • Ionian thinkers, originating in or near Miletus • Thales: water is everything • Xenophanes: kosmos is everything • Heraklitos: change is everything • Parmenides: being is everything

  27. Archaic age • an age of political development • an age of intellectual curiosity • an age of artistic achievement • an age of kings giving way to aristocrats giving way to oligarchs giving way to tyrants and awaiting … democracy

  28. This week • Wednesday: Aeschylus Agamemnon (Prof. Erika Nesholm) • Thursday, 5.30pm: A Very Liquid Heaven (Prof. Mary Crone Odekon) • Friday: Sophocles Ajax (Prof. Nesholm)

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