Greece is a stark world of mountains and sea

• Only 10 percent of Greece is flat

• Climate is uncertain, constantly threatening farmers with failure

• Temperature remains fairly constant while rainfall varies year to year

Wheat, barley, and beans were staples of Greek life

• Farmers and townspeople ate chickpeas, lentils, and bread supplemented with olive oil, wine, and cheese

• Rare holidays supplied ordinary fold with fish or mutton

Archaeologists have recognized three distinct late Bronze age cultures since the late nineteenth century which flourished in the Mediterranean before the end of the 12th century B.C.E.

• The Cycladic

• The Minoan

• The Mycenaean

The Cyclades

• First culture appeared on the Cyclades (islands strewn across bottom of Aegean from the Greek mainland to coast of Asia Minor)

• Local perfected techniques of working metals; methods that traveled north to the mainland and south to Crete

• Most impressive remains of Cycladic culture are marble figurines, found in large numbers in graves on mainland

• Many of the largest Cycladic settlements weren’t fortified

• Cycladic religion focused on female deities

Knowledge of Minoan civilization surfaced in the modern world in 1899

• Minoan Crete was a strongly stratified system in which the peasantry paid tribute in olive oil and other produce

• Taxes flowed to local and regional palaces

• The system wasn’t militaristic

• Both men and women had important roles in religious and public life

• Wave of destruction engulfed all Cretan cities except Knossos around 1450 B.C.E. with cause of destruction being unknown

A new and powerful warrior civilization rose on the Peloponnesus at Mycenae around 1600 B.C.E.

• Mycenaean

  • Myceneans adopted artisanal and architectural techniques from neighboring cultures (especially Crete and Hittites)

  • Incorporated techniques into a distinctive tradition of their own

  • Palaces were strongly walled fortresses

  • Controlled production of bronze, weaving of woolen cloth, and the extensive maritime trade in agricultural produce regions

  • Adopted Linear A script of Crete; transformed it to their own language, known as Linear B

Mycenaean domination didn’t last long

• Several mainland and island fortresses and cities were sacked and destroyed around 1200 B.C.E.

• Centralized government, literacy, and urban life disappeared from Greece for more than 300 years

• Dark Age

Mycenaean Greece self-destructed

• Overpopulation

• Risks of overspecialization in cash crops

• Rivalry among states

• Disintegration of the Hittite Empire

• Near-collapse of Egyptian Empire

• Fragility of agrarian base

Bands of northerners moved into the Peloponnesus while other Greeks migrated out from the mainland to the islands and the cost of Asia Minor

• Tribal groups merged with indigenous population

Greeks established colonies in what is today Ukraine, Italy, North Africa, Spain, and France

Greeks began practicing cremation around the middle of the 11th century B.C.E.

Speakers of Greek inherited distant memories of an original highly organized urban civilization grafted onto the rural aristocratic warrior society of the Dark Age

• Gave all Greek-speaking inhabitants of Mediterranean world common myths, values, and identity

Descendants of the farmers and herdsmen of Homer’s Dark Age brought forth a revolution in political organization, artistic traditions, intellectual values, and social structures

Major increase in population was the first sign of radical change in Greece

Framework for first flowering of Greek culture was set by multiplicity of political and social forms developing in Archaic Age

Two forms of political organization developed in response to the population explosion in 8th century B.C.E.

Ethnos: large territorial units called in which people lived

• People lived in villages and small scattered across wide region

• Ethnos was governed by an oligarchy made up of major landowners

Polis: a more innovative form of political organization which developed on shores of the Aegean and on the islands

• Villages clustered around fortifications

• Both protective structures and cult centers for specific deities

Rapid population growth led to fusion of villages and formation of real towns

• Each town was independent

• Each ruled by a monarch or an oligarchy

• Each controlled surrounding region

• Inhabitants were on equal footing with townspeople

• Rulers might summon an assembly of free males of community to participate in or to witness the decision-making progress at times of political or military crisis

General model of polis might have been borrowed from eastern Mediterranean Phoenicians (merchant society responsible for much of the contact Greeks had with the outside world in 8th century B.C.E.)

• Phoenicians were the source of reintroduction of writing

Political power was not the monopoly of the aristocracy with the polis

• Gradual expansion of politically active population resulted mostly from the demands of warfare

Democratization of war led to democratization of political life

Growing demands of common people along with demographic expansion and economic changes created enormous social and political tensions

• Challenges that traditional forms of government failed to meet included rapid growth of urban population, increasing impoverishment of rural peasantry, and rise of a new class of wealthy merchant commoners

• Traditional aristocratic rule was being undermined with cities searching for ways to resolve this social conflict

Almost limitless variety of political forms elaborated in Greece's city-states

Two intertwined results of political and social turmoil of 7th century B.C.E.

• Colonization

• Tyranny

Greeks sought change externally through emigration and internally through political restructuring

• Due to changes in economy, population growth, and opposition to aristocratic power

New form of colonization began in western Mediterranean around 750 B.C.E.

Colonization relieved some pressure that population growth had on Greek communities

• Didn’t solve political conflict

Weakness of tyrannies was they depended on individual qualities of the ruler for success

• Tyrants tended to pass their powers onto their sons

• Tyrannies became hereditary

• Cities went on to resent incompetent or harsh heirs’ control of government

• New forms of government emerged

Military, political, and cultural life in city-states became more democratic

• Democratization didn’t extend to women

Women didn’t play a public role in the lift of the community except in a few cities and certain religious cults

• They were isolated

• Remained firmly under male control throughout their lives

• Women were to be good others and obedient wives

Women who were in public were mostly slaves, frequently prostitutes

• Many female slaves were acquired through collecting and raising infant daughters

• Greek society didn’t condemn or question infanticide, prostitution, and sexual exploitation of women and slave boys

The gods of Archaic Greece were the same as those of the Mycenaeans

• The Greeks and gods had an ambivalent, almost irreverent relationship

• Greeks made regular offerings to the gods, pleaded them for help, and gave them thanks for assistance

Greeks offered the gods sacrifices on altars which were raised everywhere

• Homes, fields, sacred groves

Festivals celebrated at sanctuaries honored the gods of the city with athletic contests, processions, and feasts on special occasions

Wars and conflicts were suspended temporarily every four years while athletes from Greek met at Olympia t o participate in contests in honor of Zeus beginning in 776 B.C.E.

• Initially sports included only footraces and wrestling

• Later, horse races and other events were added

• Games at Olympia grew in importance

In the 6th and 7th centuries B.C.E. Apollo was acknowledged as the expert on justice

Gods weren’t privileged or protected despite being petitioned, placated, and pampered

Religious cults weren’t under the exclusive control of any priesthood or political group

The gods belonged to everyone, much like literacy and government

Stories of gods and heroes were fashioned into months

• Explained and described the world as it was and as it should be

• Myths were told about every city, shrine, river, mountain, and island

• Myths explained origins of cities, festivals, and the world itself

These myths became more than simply explanations of how things came to be

• Myths supported the authority of social, political, and religious traditions

Archaic Greeks constantly reworked ancient myths

• Retold them

• Adjusted their content and their meanings

Greeks were urged to model themselves based upon the examples of ancients from the Iliad and the Odyssey

Ionian Greeks began to investigate origins and nature of the universe through observation by 6th century B.C.E.

New, open examination of traditional values extended in all areas of investigation

• Ionian philosophers went on to reach conclusions through observation and rational thought

• Religion and the gods didn’t play a direct role in their conclusions

• By 6th century B.C.E. much of Greek society was prepared to tolerate such nonreligious, rational teachings

• Archaic Greeks borrowed from everywhere

• Transformed what they borrowed

• Adopted and adopted Phoenician alphabet and Mesopotamian science

Lions, griffins, and other beast started to appear on vases , jugs, vials, and other pottery as Greek traders increased their contact with the Near East

Greek sculpture went through a dramatic development

The political, social and cultural transformations that took place in the Archaic Age took different forms across Greek world

Corinthian pottery appeared throughout western Greece and southern Italy

Corinthian trade led to colonization

• Settlers from Corinth founded Syracuse and other cities in Sicily and Italy

• Colonists reduced population pressure on city and provided markets for grain and manufactured goods

Corinth transported other cities’ products from east to west

• Increased prosperity

Corinth and its wealth were ruled in typical Dark Age fashion until the middle of 7th century B.C.E.

Tyrants in Corinth restructured taxes

• Relied primarily on its customs duties

Corinth led the Greek world in production of black figure pottery

• Spread through Mediterranean

Tyrants laid foundation for proper political participation

• Corinth was divided into 3 regions

• Population of each region was distributed song each weight tribes

• Prevented the emergence of political factions based on regional disputes

New government continued tribal and council system established by Cypsela

Corinth became a city more open to commerce and wealth than mot

• Moderate in political institutions

• Eager for stability

Population growth increased disparity between rich and poor

• Expanding economy created powerful tensions

War was the center of Spartan life

• War was at the origin of Spartans’ social and political organization

State was governed by two hereditary kings and council of elders

Central institution of Spartan government was the Gerousia

• Consisted of 30 men at least 60 years old including kings

• Directed all political activity especially foreign affairs, and served as the high court

• Members were elected for life

A radical social reform that placed everyone under direct supervision and service of state from birth to death was the key to the success of Sparta’s political reform

Spartan public officials examined infants and decided if they were strong enough to be allowed to live or should be exposed on a hillside to die

Much of the education of youths was entrusted to accomplished older warriors

• Said older warriors selected boys as their homosexual lovers

Youths were trained

• If they survived until 30, they could be incorporated into the rank of equals

Spartan women were allowed to train athletic competition

• Footraces, wrestling, and spear throwing

• Training was done on the desire to improve the physical stamina and childbearing ability of Spartan women

Total dedication to military life was reinforced by deliberate rejection of other activities

Legend made Sparta the birthplace of music

Athens was one of few Mycenaean cities to have escaped destruction t the start of the Dark Age

Athens united whole surrounding region of Attica into single polis

• Largest in the Greek world

• Athens followed general pattern of polis seen in Corinth and Sparta

Athens began to suffer from the same class conflict that had shaken other cities by late 7th century B.C.E.

• Newly rich merchants and artisans of middle class resented aristocratic monopoly on political power

• Poor farmers were angry due to them being forced into debt to the wealthy with them or their children being sold as slaves by their creditors when they were unable to pay their debts

• Violence between groups and families threatened to tear apart the community

Athenians who had been forced into slavery were restored to freedom

• A law forbade mortgaging free men and women as security for debts

Solon’s reforms established framework for a resolution of Athens's social tensions despite not succeeding completely

Athenian tyrants strengthened Solon’s constitution while further destroying the powers of aristocracy

Cleisthenes pushed a final constitutional reform that became the basis for Athenian democracy

Corinth, Sparta, and Athens weren’t typical Archaic Greek cities

Products of Greek experimentation were evident throughout the Mediterranean by the end of the 6th century B.C.E.

Persian Empire began process of conquest and expansion west into Asia Minor

Tyrants loyal to Persia ended up ruling over Greek communities

• Greeks revolted with the Persian Empire responding slowly but forcefully to Greek revolt

• War took place and lasted five years, and ended in Persian victory

Compared to the floodplains of the Near East, civilization developed much later in the Mediterranean

Earliest Bronze Age societies of Greece and neighboring islands were influenced by contact with Mesopotamia and Egypt, while developing distinctive societies and cultures that were tied closely to the sea around them

Archaic Age was an age of experimentation