900 likes | 1.02k Views
Greek History. Complex and sophisticated motto: all things in moderation they did nothing in moderation. Ancient Greece. importance to Western culture fundamental ideas and categories Individualism and Humanism the rise of Reason decline of superstition/religion. Important Precursors.
E N D
Greek History • Complex and sophisticated • motto: all things in moderation • they did nothing in moderation
Ancient Greece • importance to Western culture • fundamental ideas and categories • Individualism and Humanism • the rise of Reason • decline of superstition/religion
Important Precursors • Minoan Crete • Mycenaean Greece
Minoan Crete • ca. 2900 B.C. to 1450 B.C. • contemporary with Egypt • major, non-river valley culture • highly sophisticated • literate • Linear A and Linear B
Minoan Crete, con’t • surplus agriculture • industry • over-seas commercial trade
Minoan Culture • elaborate towns and villages • complex religious ideas • sophisticated art • sports and leisure • high status for women
an artist’s rendering of the main building of the Palace of Minos at Knossos
North entrance of the Palace of Knossos Iraklion Museum, Crete
A fresco with partridges from the Caravan seraglio of Knossos.
From the Palace of Knossos: The famous "bull leaping" fresco from the East wing of the palace
Rython bull’s head from Knossos
Snake “goddess” -goddess? -priestess? -worshipper?
Labrys “double axe” Labyrinth = “the House of the Double Axe”
Minoan Culture, con’t • unwalled cities • no foreign invasions • few weapons • no civil conflict
Mycenaeans • Bonze Age Greeks • 2000-1100 B.C. • small, warrior states • war, trade, piracy • literate (Linear B)
Mycenaeans, con’t • the Heroic Age • the Age of Myth • the development of Greek Religion • beginnings of a common culture
The great megaron at Mycenae
The Dark Ages • the Dorian Invasion ? • loss of literacy • loss of political sophistication
The Archaic Period • ca. 850 B.C. • beginning of classical Greek history • foundations of Western culture
The Polis • the city-state • city and dependent territory • independence of each city • warfare and rivalry
Rise of Literacy • the alphabet • Homer • the Iliad, the Odyssey • Hesiod • Works and Days, the Theogony • Lyric poetry • Sappho
The Good Ones • monarchy (rule by one) • aristocracy (rule by the best) • constitutional government(rule by a body of law)
The Bad Ones • tyranny (extra-legal rule by one man) • oligarchy (rule by a faction) • democracy (rule by the people, without law)
Athens and Sparta • most available evidence • both are exceptions to the norm • both dominate the Greek world
Sparta • no colonization, conquest of neighbors • the constitution of Lycurgus • a perpetual military state • all citizens are subordinated to the state • no private property
Athens • evolution from monarchy to democracy • aristocracy, with elected rulers • Cylon and Draco • Solon: reform and timocracy • Peisistratus: a tyranny • Cleisthenes: the rise of democracy