Massive Review

1
Massive Review

• Legacy of Greece
• Hellenistic Diffusion
• Rise of Rome

2
The Legacy of Greece

• Developers of
• Philosophy
• Science
• History
• Drama
• Classical sculpture
• Architecture
• Politics
• Why?

3
Geography

• Rocky, mountainous, infertile, no great rivers,
  lots of harbors and islands make Greece difficult
  to centrally control and contribute to Polis as
  main unit of governance.

4
Minoans and Mycenaeans

• By 1650 BCE, Mycenaeans settled in Peloponnesus
  and Minoans in Crete
• Not a lot known about either
• Minoans developed Linear A (still not cracked)
  and Linear B gt Greek
• Mycenaeans conquered Minoans around 1450 BCE and
  expanded through area unchallenged until 1300 BCE

5
Dark Ages

• Between 1300 and 800 BCE, one kingdom after
  another falls, probably to infighting
• Chaos spreads, civilization all but lost
• Greeks flee all through Aegean Sea (Greek Lake)
  seeking stability

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Homer Hesiod

• Blind Homer authors 800BCE, written much later
• Iliad and Odyssey tell PART OF THE STORY of the
  Trojan War.
• Iliad is about RAGE
• Odyssey is about acquisition of wisdom
• Flawed characters, larger than life gt tragic
  heroes
• Hesiod
• Theogony traces the origins of the Gods
• Works and Days More myths of ancient Greece

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Polis or City-State

• A city and its surrounding countryside
• Fiercely independent
• Citizenship (males only) hard to join
• Few joined federations and were thus pretty
  unstable, but serious communities
• Some democratically ruled
• Size varied by geography
• No standing army, hoplites
• Agora, center of polis government and market

8
Lyric Age 800-500BCE

• Domination by Athens, Sparta and Thebes
• Spread of culture across entire Mediterranean
  trade and colonies
• Rebirth of literacy and culture
• Archilochus and Sappho early poets
• Archilochus was a soldier-poet
• Sappho was bisexual, erotic poetess

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Athens

• Bounced between tyrants and democracy
• Acropolis, a hill in Athens with many temples
  including the Parthenon, crown architectural
  jewel of Athens, continues to be built through
  Classical Period
• Solon early law giver, steered toward democracy
• Demoscitizens (males) are sovereign
• Early democratic experience taught that a large
  group of people could run the state

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Sparta

• On the Peloponnese
• War with Messenia forged Spartan identity
  mother to son, Return with your shield or on
  it.
• Military values for entire society.
• Later adoptees of stoicism

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Classical Period 500-338

• Begins with Persian War
• Growth of Athenian Empire
• Pericles, 494-429
• Peloponnesian War
• History, drama, philosophy, architecture
  flourished
• Ends with Philip conquering Athens

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Persian War

• Persia tries to re-take the Anatolian/
  Lydian/Turkish coast
• Is ultimately defeated by combined Greek forces
• Documented by Herodotus

13
Athenian Empire

• Starts with forming the Delian League
• Athens (biggest fish) takes over League
• Creates fear and mistrust in both allies and
  neighbors eventually resulting in Peloponnesian
  War
• Pericles oversees much of Classical Athens

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Peloponnesian War, 431-404 BCE

• Primarily driven by fear of Athens
• Goes on for over 25 years
• Spartans lay siege to Athens, plague kills
  thousands
• Alcibiades shamelessly plays both sides,
  eventually leading Athens in defeat

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Birth of Modern History

• Herodotus on Persian War
• Thucydides on Peloponnesian War
• Both extensively interview people who witnessed
  the events
• Writings are still original source documents
  read today

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Drama

• Tragedy
• Sophocles Oedipus Antigone
• Euripides Medea
• Aeschylus The Oresteia Trilogy about Agamemnons
  family
• Comedy
• Aristophanes Lysistrata, The Frogs
• Knew each other and competed at annual religious
  festivals
• Became model for Romans, Shakespeare

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Philosophy

• Pre-Socratics Heraclitus, Thales, Anaximander,
  Aesop (fables), et al
• Hippocrates Oath-First do no harm
• Socrates The truth-seeker, dialogs, executed for
  being a corrupting youth/being a nuisance
• Plato Documented Socrates. Wrote The Republic, a
  utopian model
• Aristotle Deduced taxonomy of everything, laid
  out the universe of knowledge

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Final Act

• Sparta humbles Athens
• Sparta strives to take over
• Thebans put Sparta down
• Totally exhausted, Philip of Macedon takes over

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Hellenistic Diffusion

• Philip assassinated 2 years after conquering
  Greece
• Alexander succeeds, conquers and spreads Greek
  culture across the world
• Dies at 32 in Persia
• Empire split into three soon thereafter
• Seleucid, Ptolemaic (Egyptian) and Macedonian

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Spread of Hellenism

• Roads, mail stations unite empire
• Greek cities with Greek garrisons, Greek
  administrators and Greek culture oversee
  everything
• Polis/monarchy conflicts
• Culture arts, architecture, language, etc.
  spreads, but local identities not subverted
  (e.g., Jews)
• Greek brain-drain fear of local talent leave
  stagnation opening for Romans

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Economic Scope

• Forged one, broad commercial network
• One currency
• Protected commerce
• Seaways drove navigation, mapmaking
• Slaves important
• Industry few breakthroughs
• Agriculture text booksgtscientific approach

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Religion

• Greek cults, mostly civic or social, not
  passionately believed in, not politically imposed
• Mystery religions, highly secretive, initiations,
  Tyche or fate-focused e.g., Cult of Isis

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Philosophy

• 3 major schools, each with adherents
• Cynics (Diogenes, Get out of my sun) Joy of
  the simple life
• Epicureans (Epicurus) Pleasure is chief good
• Stoics (Zeno) Importance of deeds well done. The
  stoic plays a part, but does not change the play.
  Natural Law. Roman adoption.

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Science

• Academic, applied to weapons
• Earth revolves around sun, circumference of earth
• Archimedes catapults, levers, screw, compound
  pulley, math, floating bodies
• Euclidean geometry
• Botany
• Medicine anatomy, surgery, drugs

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Rise of Rome

• Geographically ideally suited to take over
  Mediterranean
• In middle
• Bridging Sea to Africa
• Better agriculture than Greece
• Sheltered by mountains, near and far
• Sea access to everything
• Tiber provided water

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Etruscans, Italians Rome

• Etruscans neighbors to north, more culturally
  advanced. Conquered Rome and civilized them,
  Found Rome a collection of villages and made it a
  city.
• Romulus Remus (wolf-raised) founded Rome in
  Mid-8th Century BCE myth
• Begins to grow through sixth century

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Conquest of Italy 509-290 BCE

• Early history vague, til Livy (59BC17AD)
• Rome ejects Etruscans in 509 BCE, republic
• Period of war/diplomacy, built alliances with
  Italic tribes Cincinnatus, a stoic
  dictator-general
• Slow stewady progress until Gauls/Celts sack Rome
  in 390 BCE
• Rebuilt and conquer south Italy
• Extend treaties, citizenship quasi citizenship

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The Roman State

• The Senate, noble elders who council the consuls
  and other magistrates. Senate sat year after year
  while magistrates changed every year.
• As empire grew, former magistrates (consuls and
  praetors) governed provinces
• Roman law jus civilegtjus gentiumgtjus naturale
• Patrician (aristocracy)/Plebian (hoi polloi)
  struggles. Plebs literally walk out of Rome and
  army until rights are met. More victories won
  until all were equal under the law, yielding a
  stronger Rome.

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Overseas Conquest

• Did not deliberately set out to rule
• In west, conquered, in east patrons
• Pyrrhus in S. Italy (Pyrrhic victory)
• Punic Wars (with Carthage)
• 3 wars
• 1st fighting over Sicily
• 2nd, Hannibal and elephants almost win
• 3rd in Africa

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Old Values and New/Greek

• Sallust world is conquered, Romans soft
• Cato old values, paterfamilias
• Slaves impact economics
• Scipio Greek values, art, lit, drama, bathing,
  dinner. Civility, urbanity

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Late Republic (133-31 BCE)

• Republic not adequate to run an empire
• Roman generals commanded armies that were THEIRS.
  A temptation burden
• Farms, slaves, urban migration, slums
• Armies become professional, careers
• Generals start seeking political power
• Julius Caesar takes All Gaul then Rome
• Assassinated, great nephew Octavian/Augustus
  becomes emperor after beating Mark Antony and
  Cleopatra

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