Greek Civilization

N R Mandal
 Greek Civilization – A Timeline
Greek Dark Ages Characterized by the geometric & proto-geometric styles
(1200 –800 BC) of designs on pottery. Ends with the year of the
first Olympic Games [776 BC]
The Archaic Orientalizing Period during which: strong influence of Syro-
period Hittite, Assyrian, Phoenician & Egyptian cultures. Ends with
the start of Athenian Democracy in 508 BC. Artists made
(800 –500 BC)
larger free-standing sculptures.
The Classical Characterized by a style which was considered by later
period (500 – 323 observers to be exemplary [Classical]
Period ends with the death of Alexander. [conquests / wars
BC)
up to Egypt, Afghanistan & Pakistan]
Hellenistic period Ends with the annexation of Greece by the Romans in 146
(323 –146 BC) BC. [It did not break the continuity of Hellenistic culture, -
continuity until the advent of Christianity].
Importance of "Greece proper“ declined: great centers of
Hellenistic culture – Alexandria Ptolemaic Egypt] & Antioch
& [Seleucid Syria]. Influence spread as far as what are now
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Political geography of ancient Greece in the
Archaic and Classical periods
"ArchaicGr" by
User:Megistias -
Own work data
fromGrece
Archaice (620-480
Avant J.C.),ISBN
978-960-6709-90-
6Blank map from
Image:Map greek
sanctuaries-fr.svg..
Licensed under CC
BY-SA 3.0 via
Commons -
https://commons.
wikimedia.org/wi
ki/File:ArchaicGr.j
pg#/media/File:Ar
chaicGr.jpg
 A map showing the Greek territories and colonies
during the Archaic period.

"Greek Colonization Archaic Period" by Regaliorum -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_Colonization.png. Licensed under CC0 via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greek_Colonization_Archaic_Period.png#/
media/File:Greek_Colonization_Archaic_Period.png
"Athenian Empire“ in 431 BC
"Map athenian
empire 431 BC-en"
by
Map_athenian_empi
re_431_BC-fr.svg:
Marsyasderivative
work: Once in a Blue
Moon (talk) -
Map_athenian_empi
re_431_BC-fr.svg.
Licensed under CC
BY-SA 3.0 via
Commons -
https://commons.wik
imedia.org/wiki/File:
Map_athenian_empi
re_431_BC-
en.svg#/media/File:
Map_athenian_empi
re_431_BC-en.svg
 The major Hellenistic realms

"Diadochen1" by Captain_Blood - Own work.

Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - Kingdom of Seleucus I Nicator
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dia
dochen1.png#/media/File:Diadochen1.png
 Territories
and
expansion of
the Indo-
Greeks
"IndoGreekCompromiseMap"
by PHGCOM - self-made,
2007. Licensed under CC BY-
SA 3.0 via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.o
rg/wiki/File:IndoGreekCompro
miseMap.jpg#/media/File:Ind
oGreekCompromiseMap.jpg
Early Athenian coin, depicting the
head of Athena on the obverse and
her owl on the reverse—5th c. BC
"EarlyAthenianCoin" by I, PHGCOM. Licensed
under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Earl
yAthenianCoin.jpg#/media/File:EarlyAthenian
Coin.jpg

Attic red-figure pottery, 480 BC

"Cup Apatouria Louvre G138" by English:
Triptolemos Painter - User:Bibi Saint-Pol, own
work, 2007-07-21. Licensed under Public
Domain via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cup_
Apatouria_Louvre_G138.jpg#/media/File:Cup_
Apatouria_Louvre_G138.jpg
At a glance [source: ITPI Reader]
At a glance [source: ITPI Reader]
 At a glance
Economy At its economic height, in the 5th and 4th centuries BC,
ancient Greece was the most advanced economy in the
world.
Warfare Athens owned one of the largest war fleets in ancient Greece.
In Sparta all male citizens were trained to be soldiers.
Philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason &
inquiry. [Pericles, Herodotus, Plato, Socrates]
Literature and Emphasis upon literature &
theatre epic poems [The Iliad & The Odyssey], built many theatres [eg.,
theatre of Epidauros, 4th century BC], Invented "drama“
[playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides]
Music and Music during marriages and funerals to religious ceremonies,
dance theatre, folk music and the ballad-like reciting of epic poetry
Science and Mathematics, Geometry, Astronomy, [Pythagoras, Euclid]
technology Medicine [Hippocrates]
 Religion
• The Greeks were POLYTHEISTIC and did not all worship
the same gods.
• Some small villages worshiped the main gods and their
own village gods.
• There were hundreds of Greek gods (perhaps around
1,000). Some of the most famous gods were Zeus,
Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena,
Demeter, Hermes, Ares, and Hades.
• ZEUS surpassed all other gods in spirit, wisdom and
justice and his wife HERA was the queen of the gods.
• Greeks built temples for their Gods
Dating back to 1200 BC, the Oracle of Delphi was the most important shrine in all
Greece. Built around a sacred spring, Delphi was considered to be the omphalos - the
center (literally navel) of the world.
 Temple of Hera [at Sicily]

"Sicily Selinunte Temple E (Hera)". Licensed under CC BY 2.5 via Commons -

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sicily_Selinunte_Temple_E_(Hera).JPG
#/media/File:Sicily_Selinunte_Temple_E_(Hera).JPG
 Art & Architecture
• The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous
influence on the culture of many countries from
ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas
of sculpture and architecture.
• In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely
derived from Greek models.
• In the East, Alexander's conquests initiated several
centuries of exchange between Greek, Central Asian
and Indian cultures, resulting in Greco-Buddhist art,
with ramifications as far as Japan.
Parthenon
"Parthenon from west" by
User:Mountain - Own work.
Licensed under Public
Domain via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.
org/wiki/File:Parthenon_fro
m_west.jpg#/media/File:Part
henon_from_west.jpg
 • Ordinary Citizens built private houses along
NARROW STREETS; crowded up against one
another
• Unlike the luxurious public buildings, houses
were built in a simple manner. They were
made up of TWO OR THREE ROOMS, around
an open air COURTYARD and were made of
STONE, WOOD, OR CLAY BRICKS.
• LARGER HOMES might also have a KITCHEN,
a ROOM FOR BATHING, a MEN’S DINING
ROOM, and perhaps a WOMAN’S SITTING
AREA.
• MEN spent most of the time in the Agora or
abroad - only returning home to EAT AND
SLEEP.
• WOMEN were SEGREGATED in their own
quarters - on the ground floor or second
GREEK HOUSING: level of a two storey home
Town Planning of the Greeks [ITPI Reader]
Town Planning of the Greeks [ITPI Reader]
Layout of Miletus city [Rebuilt in 5th Cent. BC]
Miletus city
Amphitheatre in ruined Greek city of Miletus.
Athens
Acropolis at Athens
 The Acropolis of Athens
Erechtheion
Erechtheum King’s
Pinakotheke Shrine Theater of
Parthenon Dionysius

Stoa of
Odeum of Herodes Eumenes Sanctuary of
Atticus (Roman) Asclepius
 Greek Agora
• The word Agora is Greek for 'open place of assembly’
• Area designated in the city where free-born citizens
could gather to hear civic announcements, muster for
military campaigns or discuss politics.
• Later the Agora defined the open-air, often tented,
marketplace of a city (as it still does in Greek) where
merchants had their shops and where craftsmen made
and sold their wares.
• The original Agora of Athens was located below
the Acropolis near the building which today is known
as The Thesion and open-air markets are still held in
that same location in the modern day.
Agora of Tyre

Ruins of Agora

Agora of Athens with Hephaestus

Temple at the left & Stoa of Attalus
on the Right