670 likes | 690 Views
Chapter Three. Greece in the Heroic Age p. 96-127. The Earliest Civilizations in Europe: The Minoans. Minoans lived in Crete, an agriculturally good area Minoans were very good navigators Agriculture+navigation = first civilization in Europe
E N D
Chapter Three Greece in the Heroic Age p. 96-127
The Earliest Civilizations in Europe: The Minoans • Minoans lived in Crete, an agriculturally good area • Minoans were very good navigators • Agriculture+navigation = first civilization in Europe • By 1900 BCE, had writing, palace-led social organization, advanced metal-working skills, and sophisticated artistic expression
Crete • 200 km long • Mountain ranges • Semi-tropical climate • Small villages • Grew grain • Raised sheep and goats • Hunt and fished • Traded with neighbouring islands
Innovations: The Introduction of Bronze • 9 parts copper + 1 part tin = bronze • Introduced to Crete during the early Minoan period (3000-2100 BCE) • Tin was rare and more expensive, probably coming fro Turkey • Bronze was a tough, but malleable metal with a reasonably low melting point, ideal for producing sharp knives and spear points, tough saws, hard chisels
Minoan Agriculture • Paid for bronze with surplus of food, linen, and wool clothing • Better use of agriculture • Plowing heavier soils • Making cheese from milk • Planting grape vines • Planted olive tree olive oil • Brought about a society with more diverse skills and occupations
Cross-cultural Influences and the Minoans • Middle Minoan period 2100 – 1700 BCE • Population growth helped by immigration • Foreign trade with Near East increased
Advances in Civilization • New burial customs • Impressive buildings • Higher levels of artisanship • System of writing Sanctuaries = sacred grounds on hilltops had temples, sacrificial alters, and other buildings to honour the gods
Wealthy Minoans • Wealthy citizens had bigger homes (almost palaces) • Fine jewelry and clothing • Works of art • Imported luxury items • Developed record keeping systems to keep track of their property • First used hieroglyphics from Egypt and then eventually Linear A
Politics and the Palaces • Largest and most powerful palace on Crete was at Knossos • Also palaces at Phaestusand Mallia • Control over certain goods and products gave power • Large storerooms for agricultural produce and for luxury items • All destroyed around 1750 BCE, most likely because of an earthquake.
Architecture of Palaces • Dozens of interconnected rectangular rooms on many storeysaround a large open courtyard • Areas for administration, residences, religious purposes, etc • Finest rooms were decorated with frescoes • Walls reinforced with wooden beams to protect from earthquakes • Light wells • Plumbing
The Eruption of Thera • Volcanic eruption on Thera around 1628 BCE (now called Santorini) • Small town was buried by ash and was well preserved • Rediscovered in 1967 • Unlike Pompeii, most people were able to evacuate • Vibrant wall paintings all that are left • May have lead to the myth of the lost city of Atlantis
External Forces • Palaces built almost immediately after their destruction in 1750 BCE, but were once again destroyed in 1490 BCE – except for Knossos • Probably due to the Mycenaean warriors who were arriving on Crete • Mycenaeans probably used Knossos as their administrative centre 1500 BCE • Use of new language, Linear B, for record keeping • Recorded the language of the early Greek-speaking Mycenaeans • Language deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris
External Forces continued • Knossos palace served as administrative centre for about 80 years • Many features of Minoan culture disappeared • Buildings with central courts • Art forms depicting scenes from nature • Finely carved stone vases • Knossos palace destroyed by a great fire and was not rebuilt
The Myth of the Minotaur • The wife King Minos of Knossos gave birth to a half-man, half-bull called the Minotaur • Was imprisoned in the Labyrinth, built by Daedalus, the court inventor
Ariadne • Minotaur’s diet included young unmarried men and women • King Minos forced the people of Athens to select 14 young people as a sacrifice every year • Theseus volunteered to go as a sacrifice • With the help of Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, Theseus killed the Minotaur, and emerged from the Labyrinth using a ball of string and a sword that Ariadne provided him
The Myth of the Minotaur continued • Myth seems out of character for the Minoans, who seemed to love peaceful scenes of nature • There are, however, pictures of young people leaping over the backs of bulls • Also, palace of Knossos could be compared to a maze
The Earliest Greeks: The Mycenaeans • Neolithic farms were scattered in the narrow valleys of Greece from 6500 – 3000 BCE • Bronze started to be used commonly around 3000 BCE Early Helladic Period (3000-2000 BCE) • By 2000 BCE, Early Helladic culture had been replaced by less wealthy farming-herding culture (Middle Helladic Period) • Greece was invaded at this time invaders language + indigenous peoples’ language= ancient Greek • Mycenaeans spoke an early form of Greek
Characteristics of Mycenaean Culture • Powerful and wealthy chiefdoms sprang up and consolidated control of small farming villages • Chiefdoms transformed into well-defined states ruled by kings with administrative centres, with a writing system, and state institutions, including a state religion • Discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in 1876 • Thought he had discovered the burials of King Agamemnon and his family • Declared that the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer were based in history
The Legend of the Trojan War • Excavations at Troy show that the city was destroyed in a battle 1240 BCE • Was really just a fortified town with a poor standard of living • War may have been a dispute over fishing rights or control over shipping • Homer claimed that Agamemnon of Mycenae, the leader of the Greek army at Troy, returned home from the war successfully, only to be murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra
Mycenaean Royals • Schliemann found graves belonging to the royal family of Mycenae, pre-dating the Trojan War by 300-400 years • Had objects of gold, silver, ivory, and faience • Each ruler governed his own wide area from a palace • All rulers probably owed allegiance to the king of Mycenae • Wealth probably came from trade, like gold or tin
Heinrich Schliemann: Hero or Fraud • Many irregularities in Schliemann’s writings – many outright lies • Was obsessed with Troy which lead to an interest in archaeology • Combined treasures from many sites to support his research • Today’s archaeologists feel he did find Troy, but his false claims cast a shadow over this discovery • Smuggled much of the treasure out of Turkey and donated it to Germany after World War II, confiscated by Russians and not seen again until 1991
Minoan Influence on Mycenae • Very strongly influenced by Minoans • Wall painting • Dress • Vases • Seal carving • Religious ideas • Both practiced animal sacrifice • Both poured wine into the ground for religious purposes • Both kept cult areas within the palace • Names of many of the gods same as Classical Greek gods e.g. Zeus, Poseidon, Athena, Dionysos
End of Mycenaean World • Widespread destruction around 1250 BCE • Around 1200 BCE, more disasters brought an end to centralized administration and the use of writing • Palaces fell into disuse political and economic structure weakened. • Causes: • Natural disasters • Foreign attacks • Internal strife • Combination of three
The Dark Ages • For about 350 years, various groups of Greek-speaking people from the north settled in the Peloponnese • No written documents • Minstrels kept the Mycenaean past alive through oral storytelling
Geography and the Greek City-State • Mountains isolate one valley from another and reduce the habitable land in half • Kept the nation separated into small communities • Isolated communities developed into polis – city-states • The sea linked the communities and the other nations of the Mediterranean • Greek sailors brought home ideas and wealth from abroad
The Archaic Period • The end of the Dark Ages was marked by • Appearance of national literature e.g. Homer • Common view of their gods • Resurgence of trade past the Aegean Sea • Brought back skills in shipbuilding and metal-working techniques • Better knowledge of geography and navigation • Artistic and religious ideas • An alphabet -- only 27 letters
Archaic Period continued • Establishment of contacts and settlements in Italy • Access to iron and other metals in Northern Italy • Lead to colonization • Learned about rich agricultural land in Italy, Sicily, and along the coast of the Mediterranean 100s of new settlements • Establishment of the first Olympic Games to honour Zeus in 776 BCE • First firm date in Greek history • Olympics part of four Panhellenic (“all Greece”) games • Continued until 393 CE when a Christian Roman emperor, Theodosius I, ordered all pagan sanctuaries closed
Colonization • Before new settlements were established, the oracle of Apollo at Delphi was usually consulted • After the oracle’s blessing, a group of several hundred men sailed away, along with everything they would need to start a colony • Once there, had to chose the best place for a harbour, divide the land, plant the crops, build houses, and deal with the native people they were displacing
The Age of Tyrants • Greeks were first people to invent a formal democratic system in which citizens governed themselves through voting • Early Greek states were governed by a king, who acted as the chief judge, leading administrator, military leader, and sometimes priest of the state cult • Did not have absolute power nor was their power automatically hereditary
Age of Tyrants continued • During the Dark Ages, many of the kings lost some or all of their power to the aristocracy • This arbitrary power and the lack of voice in government by wealthy non-aristrocrats lead to dissent • Poor Greeks suffered loss of land, debts, and possibly even debt enslavement • Aristocrats could keep power as long as they held onto military power also
Military • Only wealthy aristocrats could afford to have heavily armed warriors backed up by their lightly armed supporters • From 675-650 BCE, warfare changed • Depended on unified movement of large number of warriors - hoplites
Hoplites • Heavily armed men with large round shields, shin protectors, helmets, body armour, and spears • Stood side by side 6-10 lines deep • Needed large numbers of warriors to not be surrounded • Because there was not enough aristocrats to do this, anyone who could afford the armour could join the army
Tyrants • In Corinth, a man of noble blood was excluded from the ruling of the city by the nobles • Cypselus gathered a military force of discontented citizens and took control of the government of Corinth in 657 BCE • A person who takes power unconstitutionally tyrant
Solon and Peisistratus • Athens avoided tyranny by having a written code of law and by appointing a magistrate called an archonto try to solve the problems between aristocrats and common citizens • Draco`s law code of 620 BCE recognized that once laws were written down, they could be changed
Solon • Appointed archon in 594 BCE • Helped relieve the debt and land problems of the poor • Abolished the practice of selling debtors into slavery • All wealthy men could run for the highest government offices • Created the Council of 400 • 100 citizens from each of the four traditional tribes were elected annually and met regularly to prepare legislation to be voted on by the entire Citizen Assembly
Who didn`t have political power • Women • Citizenship was given to those who could fight in the army • Slaves • No personal rights at all • Foreigners • Citizenship was hardly ever given to people not born in the city
Peisistratus • Eventually became Tyrant of Athens in 546 BCE and ruled until 527 BCE • Tried three times before he succeeded • Famous for his generalship • Very ambitious • Power handed over to son, Hippias
Cleisthenes Establishes Democracy • Hippias ruled until 510 BCE until the army of Sparta overthrew him • Cleisthenes created the Council of 500 with 50 members elected from 10 new tribes, equitably distributed amongst the citizens • For one-tenth of the year, teach tribe acted as executive committee of the Council
Democracy continued • Each tribe also elected a general – strategos – who would lead the city in all its military affairs • All other government positions were filled by drawing lots each year • Introduced ostracism –the city could vote to send any citizen and his family into exile for a period of ten years • Needed a minimum of 6000 votes • First started in 487 BCE and used for 70 years
Slaves in Greek Society • Slaves were considered property of their owners • Household slaves of wealthy owners were best off • Working in state mines, the worst off • At master`s discretion, could marry, have a home, and keep their children • Employed in every occupation, except military and government
Slaves continued • Athens was a major slave-owning state • About one-third of the population of Attica (greater Athens) were probably slaves (60 000-80 000) • Majority worked in manufacturing • During the Peloponnesian War (412-404 BCE), over 20 000 slaves deserted Athens
Lycurgus and Spartan Society • Two most powerful city-states were Athens and Sparta • Spartans were known as warriors, and with only 5000, Sparta had a position of leadership in Greece • Did not send out colonists, but extended their influence by defeating its western neighbours
Lycurgus • Political, social, and military systems of Sparta attributed to Lycurgus • May have lived in early seventh century BCE • Created military program which trained the best warriors in Greece • Constitution that guaranteed all citizens (adult males born to citizen parents) a minimum level of political equality • Could vote in the Assembly, have a share of land, and use the enslaved helots (state slaves)
Spartan Military • Spartan boys began military training at 7 • Learned to withstand pain without complaint • Obedient to leaders • Cunning • Never admit defeat • Only became a full citizen at 30, when they could vote, hold political office, marry, have a house, and receive an estate worked by helots