GREECE

Language groups

– Indo-European – Indo-Aryans, Hittites, Greeks

– Semite
– Others – Hurrians in Iraq
Childe’s Diffusion Theory

– Childe's diffusionist model dominated the study

of European Neolithic and bronze age societies
for most of the twentieth century.
– Colin Renfrew
 The Minoan civilization

The first Bronze

Age civilization
in Europe
Discovery

– By Sir Arthur Evans

– Not much of information on the political
history
– Important discoveries in Crete and Knossos
– Civilization came to an end in 1400 B.C.
Palace of
Knossos
– The walls were decorated
with frescoes (paintings or
designs made while the
plaster on the walls was still
wet).
– The palaces had large store-
rooms and workshops.
– However they were not
fortified.
The Mycenaean civilization (c. 1600-
1200 BC)
– Greece was being occupied by groups of Indo-European people who spoke an
early form of Greek, or a proto-Greek language
– Heinrich Schleimann discovered
– the first bronze age civilization on mainland Greece is named after the site of
Mycenae
– The Mycenaens borrowed many elements of Minoan civilization
– Extensive foreign trade – oil, pottery and textiles were
exported
– Gold, copper and tin was imported
– There were independent states ruled by warrior chiefs
– Chiefs were known as zvanax or anax
– Cities were heavily fortified – violent struggles with
neighbours
– The Mycenaean civilization lasted till c. 1200 BC
 DARK AGES
– four centuries from 1200 to 800 BC are denoted as the
'dark ages’
– i) 1200 to 1050 BC : centres of Mycenaean power were
overrun by tribal invaders. Urban habitations disintegrated
and the development of writing received a setback.
– ii) 1050 to 800 BC. In the first subperiod From 1050 BC
onwards there were some signs of recovery.
Iliad and Odyssey

– The 'dark ages' of Greece are supposed to have come

to an end c. 800/750 BC when two great Greek epics,
The Iliad and The Odyssey, were written. These epics
mark a turning point in Greek history.
– Iliad is a long poem of nearly 16,000 lines. Odyssey is
a slightly shorter poem of about 12,000 lines.
 Iliad and Odyssey
– Iliad is the war of a coalition of Greek states against the state of Troy.
– The members of this coalition are collectively called 'Achaians' in the epics.
– led by Agamemnon (ruler of Mycenae), carried out a ten-year long campaign against the city of
Troy.
– Iliad presents a detailed account of the last few days of the Trojan war.
– Odyssey recounts the adventures of one of the heroes of the war Odysseus on his homeward
journey after the conclusion of the campaign.
– In the narratives almost every aspect of society, economy, religion, mythology, beliefs, and food
habits is touched upon.
IRON AGE

– important achievement of the later 'dark ages' was the shift from bronze to
iron.
– Between 1050 and 800 BC iron technology was disseminated in Greece and the
Aegean.
– Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia pioneered the use of this metal
– IMPORTANCE OF IRON
ARCHAIC AND
CLASSICAL
GREECE
 a form of government controlled by the citizens of a state; in
Athens, citizens were randomly chosen to serve in some
democracy government roles, while other positions were chosen by fellow
citizens by election.

a form of government where power rests with a small number

oligarchy of people; in Ancient Greece, oligarchies were made up of
wealthy and influential citizens.

a ruler who was not subject to the law; many tyrants in ancient
Greece were actually aristocrats who challenged the ruling
tyrant oligarchies in their cities; a government led by a tyrant was
called tyranny.
 another name for the Greek city-state; the polis was the typical
polis political unit in Greece and citizenship was associated with a
particular polis.

helots a class of unfree laborers forced to work in Sparta

one of the most powerful Greek city-states, ruled by two kings and
Sparta a council of oligarchs; famous for its military, all Spartan citizens
trained as soldiers. Sparta relied largely on helots to produce food.

one of the most powerful Greek city-states; classical period Athens

Athens used a democratic system of government. Participation in
democratic processes was limited to citizens.

alliance of Greek cities to defend against Persia; led by Athens,

Delian League many historians see this as essentially an Athenian Empire.

conflict between Sparta and Athens and their allies for control over
Peloponnesian War Classical Greece; Sparta won after nearly three decades of fighting.
 period when philosophical thinking, writing, art,
and science flourished in Athens; thinkers like
Golden Age of Athens Socrates, playwrights like Aristophanes, and
historians like Herodotus and Thucydides lived
during this period.

another word for Greek culture; Greeks called

Hellenism Greece "Hellas".

king of Macedon, a region north of Greece that

shared many cultural characteristics with Greece.
Alexander the Great Alexander the Great conquered Greece and the
Persian Empire and spread Hellenistic culture.
 Polis

– Greek city-states developed different forms of governance with very different political
structures and strengths.
– Greek colonization led to the spread of the Greek language and Greek culture, but it also
resulted in tensions with the neighboring Persian empire, culminating in the Persian Wars.
– Athens developed democratic institutions and a culture of philosophy, science, and culture;
it emerged as a powerful state and allied with other city-states, forming the Delian League.
– Resistance to Athens’ power among the other Greek city-states, particularly Sparta,
prompted the Peloponnesian War.
 GREEK
RELIGION
Greek Religion

– Pantheistic - 'readiness to believe in all or many

gods’
– 12 Gods
– The Greeks believed that these gods lived on
Mount Olympus located in Thessaly. Hence they
are called Olympian gods.
 OLYMPIAN GODS

– The twelve Olympian deities mentioned in Homer are

Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus,
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Athena. Aphrodite, and Artemis.
– Of these Hephaestus, Hestia. Demeter, Hera, Athena,
Aphrodite, and Artemis were female deities.
– Zeus was the head of the pantheon, the king of gods. His weapon was a thunderbolt.
– Poseidon was the elder brother of Zeus and the god of the sea.
– Apollo was the son of Zeus and was considered to be extremely handsome. Apollo
was associated with archery, prophecies, song and music.
– Hera was the wife of Zeus. Originally she had been a mother-goddess.
– Demeter had also been a mother-goddess and was later worshipped as the goddess
of grain, especially wheat.
– An important festival, the Eleusinian Festival, was celebrated in her honour in Attica.
Eleusis, near Athens, had a large temple of Demeter.
 Patron Deities

– The Greek cities adopted particular gods or goddesses as their patron

deities. Athena was the patron goddess of Athens. This does not mean
that the worship of Athena was confined to Athens alone.
– The patron deities might enjoy a special status in the respective cities
which had chosen them, but they were worshipped in other states also.
– Homer portrayed the Olympian divinities as having almost human
characteristics and emotions.
– Greek religion was not dominated by a priestly class.
– There were priests, but they did not monopolize religious rituals and ceremonies.
– Public worship took on the shape of festivals in which people from the entire polis, or from an
entire region, would Participate.
– There would be sacrifices of animals and the meat would be distributed among the
participants.
– Music, theatre, poetry-recitation, and sports were an integral part of these festivals. Greek
drama owes its origin to some of these festivals where plays were enacted in the course of the
celebration.
– The Homeric epics were recited at the festival of Athena (called 'Panathenaea') in Athens.
– the Olympic games were organized at the time of the festival of Zeus held
in Olympia (the Olympian plain where this festival was held is in the
Peloponnese and should not be confused with Mount Olympus in
Thessaly).
– The Olympian festival was held every four years and was probably well
established by the beginning of the Archaic Period (776 BC is the
traditional date of the first Olympiad). Athletic competitions took place at
this festival and attracted contestants from all over Greece.
Temples

– The Greeks constructed temples dedicated to their gods

and goddesses.
– The construction of elaborate temples stimulated Greek
architecture. Some of the finest examples of classical
Greek architecture are the temples of this period.
 Parthenon

– A huge temple dedicated to the Olympian deities was built at this time.
– This temple, called the Parthenon, is a vast structure with a high roof resting
on numerous pillars. The Parthenon was decorated with beautiful sculpture.
– heavy roofs of large buildings had to be supported by pillars which were
placed close to each other.
– Distinctive styles of pillars came to denote architectural styles, e.g.
Corinthian, Doric and Ionic.
 Macedonia

– The Macedonian triumph at Chaeronea under Philip II (338 BC) wiped out the
independence of the Greek states.
– As a political entity the polis ceased to exist after 338 BC. The Greek states were
absorbed within the Macedonian empire.
– Philip was assassinated two years after this event. In 336 BC Alexander succeeded his
father as the ruler of Macedonia.
– Unlike the rest of Greece, Macedonia had a strong monarchical state which could
mobilize the resources for a highly efficient standing army.
 Alexander the Great

– His primary aim was to destroy Persian power in West Asia so as to consolidate
Macedonian rule over the entire region.
– By 330 BC Alexander had conquered the Persian empire after defeating Darius III
(last of the Persian emperors), and had annexed Mesopotamia and Egypt to his
territories.
– His subsequent campaigns brought him to the banks of the Indus.
– Alexander died at Babylon in 323 BC.
– Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan and some parts of Central
Asia and north-west India Greek ruled territories.
 Hellenistic kingdoms

– The period from the death of Alexander and the founding of the Seleucid,
Ptolemid and Antigonid empires down to the time when Rome became the
supreme power in the eastern Mediterranean (c. 300 to 30 BC) is referred to as
the Hellenistic age.
– The successor states which came into existence as a result of the division of
Alexander's empire are called Hellenistic kingdoms.
– The Hellenistic kingdoms were governed by a Greek ruling elite and Greek became
the official language of Persia, West Asia, Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean.
Hellenistic civilization

– This gave rise to a dynamic cultural tradition which may be conveniently

labelled as Hellenistic civilization
– Gandhara and Mathura schools
– Literary evidences for history