➊ Classical Greece And Its Influence On Greek Society

Despite the objections of his officers, he incorporated into his army forces from the conquered lands, adopted local customs, and married a Bactrian woman, Roxane. In the 3rd century BC, Aristarchus of Samos was the first Classical Greece And Its Influence On Greek Society suggest a heliocentric system. Sparta's initial strategy was to invade Attica Classical Greece And Its Influence On Greek Society, but the Athenians were able to retreat behind their walls. Ancient Greek mathematics contributed many important developments to the field of mathematicsincluding the basic rules of geometryCauses Of Serial Killers idea of formal mathematical proofand discoveries in number theorymathematical analysisapplied mathematicsand approached close to establishing integral calculus. In BC, The Refugee Crisis city-states, including Sparta, massacre of the innocents rubens in the first of a series of "congresses" that strove to unify all the Greek city-states against the danger of another Persian invasion. By BC chattel slavery had spread in Greece.

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Later, in the Classical period, the leagues were fewer and larger, and dominated by one city particularly Athens , Sparta and Thebes. Often cities would be compelled to join under threat of war or as part of a peace treaty. After Philip II of Macedon 'conquered' the heartlands of ancient Greece, he did not attempt to annex the territory, or unify it into a new province. However, he did force most of the cities to join his own Corinthian League. Some cities were democratic, some were aristocratic , and some were monarchies. Some had many revolutions in which one kind of government replaced another.

One famous Greek kingdom is Macedon , which became briefly the largest empire the world had seen at the time by conquering the Persian empire including ancient Egypt and reaching into modern-day India. Other famous kingdoms are Epirus and Thessaly. Monarchies in ancient Greece were not absolute because there was usually a council of older citizens the senate , or in Macedonia the congress who gave advice to the King. These men were not elected or chosen in a lottery like they were in the democratic city-states. Citizens that could participate in government in Ancient Greece were usually men who were free-born in that city. Women, slaves and usually residents born elsewhere, did not have the right to vote. Details differed between cities.

Athens is an example: The residents of Athens were of three groups: citizens, metics resident aliens and slaves. Male citizens had the rights of free men and could be chosen to fulfill any official state position. The number of Greeks grew and soon they could not grow enough food for all the people. When this happened, a city would send people off to start a new city, known as a colony. Because the terrain was rough, most travel was by sea. For this reason, many new cities were established along the coastline. They even started a city, Naucratis, on the river Nile in Egypt. By the 6th century BC some cities became much more important than the others. They were Corinth , Thebes , Sparta , and Athens. The Spartans were very well disciplined soldiers.

They defeated the people who lived near them and those people had to farm the land for the Spartans. These "helots" had to give the Spartans part of the food they grew and so the Spartans did not have to work. Instead, they learned how to be better soldiers. There were not many Spartans but there were many helots. Spartan military strength controlled the helots. The Spartans had two hereditary kings who led them in war. At home they were also ruled by a group of old men called the Gerousia the senate. Athens became a democracy in BC. The men came to a place in the center of the city and decided what to do. It was the first place in the world where the people decided what their country should do. They would talk and then vote on what to do at the Boule the parliament.

But the women did not vote. Athens had slaves. These slaves were owned by their masters and could be sold to someone else. The Athenian slaves were less free than the Spartan helots. Every year, Athenian citizens elected eight generals who led them in war. In BC, the Greek cities in Anatolia rebelled. They did not want Persia to rule them anymore. Athens sent 20 ships to fight the Persians on the sea. The Greeks in Anatolia were defeated. The Persian King, Darius decided to punish Athens. He sent soldiers and ships to fight Athens. Athens asked for help from Sparta. Sparta wanted to help but could not; they had a religious festival at that time. Then the help from Sparta came.

After a couple of days, a traitor called Ephialtes led the Persians around the pass behind the Greek army. Realising that defeat was inevitable, Leonidas released many of his men. Those who stayed knew it would be a fight to the death. Leonides kept elite hoplites foot soldiers who had living sons at home. On the third day, Leonidas led his Spartan hoplites and their allies against Xerxes and his mighty army. The Spartan-led forces fought this Persian force to their deaths in order to block the pass long enough to keep Xerxes and his army occupied while the rest of the Greek army escaped.

After Thermopylae many Greeks wanted to go south to the Peloponnese. Because the Isthmus of Corinth , the way into the Peloponnese, is very narrow, many wanted to fight the Persians there. Athens was north of Corinth and she had a navy. Athens' leader Themistocles wanted to fight the Persians by the island of Salamis. Xerxes decided to send his fleet against the Greek fleet before the Greek ships could go to the Peloponnese.

The Greek fleet defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. Xerxes then went home with many of his soldiers but a Persian army stayed in Greece. This army was defeated at the Battle of Platea in BC. After the Persians were defeated at Platea, the Spartans did very little. However, Persia was still dangerous. Athens asked the Greek cities on the islands in the Aegean and in Anatolia to join her. The cities agreed because they were afraid of Persia. These cities formed the Delian League and Athens was their leader. Many of the cities of the Delian League had to pay Athens tribute money. Athens used the money to build many ships and the Parthenon. Sparta was still strong on land, but Athens was stronger on the sea.

Several times there was war between Athens and Sparta. Then Athens decided to send many ships to Sicily to fight against the city Syracuse. Sparta sent help to Syracuse, and Athens was defeated. None of the Athenian ships came back. Now Sparta wanted to build ships to fight Athens. It took a long time for Sparta to defeat Athens, but then at the Battle of Aegospotami the Spartans destroyed most of Athens's ships. The Athenians used an advanced type of ship called triremes. These ships had their combat systems, and were propelled by oarsmen. On the front of the Trireme was a large bronze battering ram. Historians also point to the widespread availability of edged iron weapons as an exasperating factor.

Despite this, no single explanation fits all available archaeological evidence in explaining the fall of the Mycenaean culture. Many large-scale revolts took place in several parts of the eastern Mediterranean during this time, and attempts to overthrow existing kingdoms were made as a result of economic and political instability by peoples already plagued with famine and hardship. Some regions in Greece, such as Attica, Euboea, and central Crete, recovered economically quicker from these events than other regions, but life for the poorest Greeks would have remained relatively unchanged.

Farming, weaving, metalworking, and potting continued at lower levels of output and for local use. Some technical innovations were introduced around BCE with the start of the Proto-geometric style. However, the overall trend was toward simpler, less intricate pieces with fewer resources being devoted to the creation of art. None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age survived, with the possible exception of the Cyclopean fortifications on the Acropolis of Athens. The archaeological record shows that destruction was heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. The Linear B writing of the Greek language used by Mycenaean bureaucrats ceased, and decorations on Greek pottery after about BCE lacks the figurative decoration of the Mycenaeans, and was restricted to simpler geometric styles.

Greece was most likely divided into independent regions according to kinship groups and the oikoi, or households. Archaeological evidence suggests that only 40 families lived in Nichoria and that there was abundant farming and grazing land. Some remains appear to have been the living quarters of a chieftain. High status individuals did exist during the Dark Ages; however, their standards of living were not significantly higher than others in their village.

By the mid- to late 8th century BCE, a new alphabet system was adopted by the Greek, and borrowed from the Phoenician writing system. This writing system introduced characters for vowel sounds, creating the first truly alphabetic as opposed to abjad writing system. The new system of writing spread throughout the Mediterranean, and was used not only to write in Greek, but also Phrygian and other languages. It was previously believed that all contact had been lost between mainland Hellenes and foreign powers during this period; however, artifacts from excavations at Lefkandi in Euboea show that significant cultural and trade links with the east, especially the Levant coast, developed from approximately BCE onward.

The archaeological record of many sites demonstrates that the economic recovery of Greece was well advanced by the beginning of the 8th century BCE. Many burial sites contained offerings from the Near East, Egypt, and Italy. The decoration of pottery also became more elaborate, featuring figured scenes that parallel the stories of Homeric tradition. Iron tools and weapons also became better in quality, and communities began to develop that were governed by elite groups of aristocrats, as opposed to singular kings or chieftains of earlier periods.

The Archaic Period saw the increasing urbanization of Greek communities, and the development of the concept of the polis. The period began with a massive increase in the Greek population and a structural revolution that established the Greek city-states, or polis. The Archaic period saw developments in Greek politics, economics, international relations, warfare, and culture. It also laid the groundwork for the classical period, both politically and culturally.

During this time, the Greek alphabet developed, and the earliest surviving Greek literature was composed. Monumental sculpture and red-figure pottery also developed in Greece, and in Athens, the earliest institutions of democracy were implemented. Some written accounts of life exist from this time period in the form of poetry, law codes, inscriptions on votive offerings, and epigrams inscribed on tombs.

However, thorough written histories, such as those that exist from the Greek classical period, are lacking. Historians do have access to rich archaeological evidence from this period, however, that informs our understanding of Greek life during the Archaic period. The Archaic period saw significant urbanization and the development of the concept of the polis as it was used in classical Greece. However, the polis did not become the dominant form of sociopolitical organization throughout Greece during the Archaic period, and in the north and west of the country it did not become dominant until later in the classical period. Both Athens and Argos, for example, coalesced into single settlements near the end of that century. In some settlements, physical unification was marked by the construction of defensive city walls.

The increase in population, and evolution of the polis as a sociopolitical structure, necessitated a new form of political organization. The most popular explanation dates back to Aristotle, who argued that tyrants were set up by the people in response to the nobility becoming less tolerable. Because there is no evidence from this time period demonstrating this to be the case, historians have looked for alternate explanations. Some argue that tyrannies were set up by individuals who controlled privates armies, and that early tyrants did not need the support of the people at all.

Others suggest that tyrannies were established as a consequence of in-fighting between rival oligarchs, rather than as a result of fighting between oligarchs and the people. In the Archaic period, the Greek word tyrannos did not have the negative connotations it had later in the classical period. The Homeric Question concerns the doubts and consequent debate over the identity of Homer, the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey ; it also questions the historicity of the two books. The Iliad , however, has been placed immediately following the Greek Dark Age period. Classical Greece was a year period in Greek culture lasting from the 5 th to the 4 th centuries BCE.

This period saw the annexation of much of modern-day Greece by the Persian Empire, as well as its subsequent independence. Classical Greece also had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, and greatly influenced the foundations of Western civilization. Much of modern Western politics, artistic and scientific thought, literature, and philosophy derives from this period of Greek history. The classical period was preceded by the Archaic period, and was succeeded by the Hellenistic period. Poleis were different from ancient city-states in that they were ruled by bodies of the citizens who lived there. Many were initially established, as in Sparta, via a network of villages, with a governance center being established in a central urban center. As notions of citizenship rose to prominence among landowners, polis came to embody an entire body of citizens and the term could be used to describe the populace of a place, rather than the physical location itself.

Basic elements of a polis often included the following:. Polis were established and expanded by synoecism, or the absorption of nearby villages and tribes. Most cities were composed of several tribes that were in turn composed of groups sharing common ancestry, and their extended families. Territory was a less helpful means of thinking about the shape of a polis than regions of shared religious and political associations. Free adult men born of legitimate citizens were considered citizens with full legal and political rights, including the right to vote, be elected into office, and bear arms, with the obligation to serve in the army during wartime.

Others suggest that tyrannies were established as a consequence of in-fighting between rival oligarchs, rather than as a result of Classical Greece And Its Influence On Greek Society between oligarchs and the people. As the Persians pursued what they thought was a fleeing foe, the Greck triremes turned and engaged the surprised Persians inflicting massive casualties and decimating the Persian navy. To Polybius, the Roman Republic was the mixed government described by Plato and Aristotle, the one government that what makes a good entrepreneur resist the seemingly inevitable cycle from monarchy to anarchy.