Ancient Medieval Midterm

Thermopylae:

- Who: Greek poleis and Persians - What: Under the leadership of Sparta, many Greek poleis united to fight the Persians - The larger Persian army was successful and occupied Athens, but only for a month before being defeated at Salamis - Where: Greece - When: fifth century BCE - Why: All of Greece was in fear, knowing that the army of the Persian king Xerxes had begun its invasion of Greece. Already the Thessalians had gone over to the Persian side, but some Greek cities had come together and forgotten their usual rivalries, determining to stop the Persian invasion. - These cities agreed that Sparta would lead the Greek army, as her reputation in war was unmatched by any other Greek state

Boulé:

- Who: Greeks - What: was a council of citizens appointed to run daily affairs of the city. - a council of 500 members who were one of two bodies responsible for law making - representative tool; served single year terms, people voted with black and white stones - Where: Athens - When: fifth century BCE - Why: in oligarchies boule positions might be hereditary, while in democracies members were typically chosen by lot, and served for one year. Little is known about the workings of many boulai, except in the case of Athens, for which extensive material has survived. - guided Athenian political life

Salamis:

- Who: Greeks and Persians - What: a naval battle fought between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles and the Persian Empire under King Xerxes in 480 BC which resulted in a decisive victory for the outnumbered Greeks. - Where: The battle was fought in the straits between the mainland and Salamis, an island in the Saronic Gulf near Athens - When: 480 BCE - Why: marked the high-point of the second Persian invasion of Greece.

Xerxes:

- Who: Persian king who personally led a massive invasion of Greece - What: He is notable in Western history for his invasion of Greece in 480 BC. - Where: Persia - When: fifth century BCE - Why: Like his predecessor Darius I, he ruled the empire at its territorial apex, although Xerxes I would briefly manage to conquer even more land of mainland Greece than Darius I through the battles at Thermopylae and Artemisium, overrunning Attica, Boeotia, Euboea, Thessaly, and the rest of mainland Greece to the north of the Isthmus of Corinth - the losses at Salamis and Plataea reversed these gains and would eventually end the second invasion decisively

Delian League:

- Who: allied military alliance with members numbering between 150 to 173, under the leadership of Athens - What: an association of Greek city-states - intended to liberate Ionia from Persia and keep Persians out of Greece - Athens turned the league into an Athenian empire, and reduced the status of their allies to subjects - Athenian ideas of freedom and democracy did not spread to citizens of other city-states, and cities that revolved were put down - Where: Greece - When: 477 BCE - Why: purpose was to continue fighting the Persian Empire after the Greek victory in the Battle of Plataea at the end of the Second Persian invasion of Greece.

Cleisthenes:

- Who: an Athenian aristocrat frustrated with the greed of his fellow asristocrats - What: noted for reducing the power of the aristocracy and expanding the power of the citizen's assembly, allowing for a more democratic Athens - Where: ancient Athens - When: 500 BCE - Why: historians refer to him as "the father of Athenian democracy." - He is credited with reforming the constitution of ancient Athens and setting it on a democratic footing in 508/7 BCE

Solon:

- Who: an aristocrat and poet - What: - reforming including: freed all people enslaved for debt, recalled all exiles, canceled all debts on land, made enslavement for debt illegal, allowed non-nobles into the old aristocracy assembly (where they could vote in the election of the magistrates) - angered by the aristocracy's governing of Athens oppressively. Under Draco's codes, noble landowners continued to force small farmers and artisans into economic dependence , many families were sold into slavery for their economic debts, and others were exiled and their land mortgaged to the rich - recited his poems in the Athenian agora to call for justice and fairness - condemned his fellow aristocrats for their greed and dishonesty - gained the trust of the common people - in 594 BCE, the nobles elected him to archon, chief magistrate of the polis and gave him power to reform the state - Where: Athens - When: sixth century BCE

Cave Allegory:

- Who: by Plato - What: people only see the shadows on the fall as reality, so they do not know the truth or what is best for them; thus the philosopher, the man who escaped and learned the truth, should rule over them to give them the best possible outcome - Where: Athens - When: fourth century BCE - Why: believed true knowledge and the possibility of living a virtuous life came from contemplating ideal forms, not from observing the visible world - oligarchy of philosophers

Aristotle:

- Who: first political scientist - What: Use of the telos. Studied how one could live a good life - believed true knowledge was possible, and that such came from observation of the world, analysis of phenomena, and logical reasoning, not contemplation - studied logic, ethics, natural science, metaphysics, politics, and the arts - Where: Athens - When: fourth century BCE - Why: studied humanities - favored a polity - had a great influence in the western world, as well as the Muslim world - He was the author of a philosophical and scientific system that became the framework and vehicle for both Christian Scholasticism and medieval Islamic philosophy. - Even after the intellectual revolutions of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment, Aristotelian concepts remained embedded in Western thinking. - He was the founder of formal logic, devising for it a finished system that for centuries was regarded as the sum of the discipline

Hoplite reform:

- Who: hoplites were heavily armed infantrymen and made up the backbone of the army - What: the decisive military fighting was done by "heroes", encountering one another on the battlefield in a manner similar to "showdowns" in lore of the American west. - hoplites wore bronze helmets and leather and bronze bodily armor - When: Archaic Greece - Why: as the heroes did the critical fighting, they monopolized political authority as well. - the more stable and prosperous archaic age encouraged the development of a new and superior military system, the heavily armed and trained band of soldier called hoplites. As hoplites had to provide their own armor and find time to train with the army, they tended to belong to the more well to do in the community. - as the military power to defend the city depended on the cooperative efforts of the hoplites they were able to gain control of the political system. - demanded a greater say in their government

Mystery religion:

- hellenistic period of the Greco-Roman world - any of various secret cults of the Greco-Roman world that offered to individuals religious experiences not provided by the official public religions. - They originated in tribal ceremonies that were performed by primitive peoples in many parts of the world. - Whereas in these tribal communities almost every member of the clan or the village was initiated, initiation in Greece became a matter of personal choice. - Sarapis: deity of the Sun first encountered at Memphis, where his cult was celebrated in association with that of the sacred Egyptian bull Apis. He was thus originally a god of the underworld but was reintroduced as a new deity with many Hellenic aspects - cult initiation right - contact priest, come to his house, led into room with pit, sit in the pit, priest butchers bull and trickles blood on person - Baptism by blood - Dionysus, the god of wine and powerful emotions, became the center of a mystery religion offering rebirth - Osiris was thought to come back to life in the Egyptian cult by Isis, who promised to save any mortal who came to her

5) Be familiar with the structure and culture (including the religion) of the Persian Empire. Reasons for the Persian War and explanation of their outcome?

- structure of Persian Empire: - 2000 BCE - Did not consolidate power like the Hittites did - Agrarian base, so they developed more slowly than other civilizations - Cyrus the Great (559-530) creates large Persian empire, larger than Egypt, is the great liberator of the Hebrews, conquered Lydia, Mesopotamia (South, Babylonia), Asia Minor - in the East Persian Empire, Cyrus establishes overlord role - Darius the Great (522-486) succeeds Cambyses, Establishes an absolute monarchy in the region, Makes the kingship hereditary, No system of primogeniture (Primogeniture is the idea of the rule of the first born male), Xerxes establishes structure in the Persia Empire. Under him, the Persians reach their height - Persian born people paid no taxes - Xerxes created these provinces ruled by leaders, established a uniform law code, established a system of coinage - Economic system, so people began to trade, established a system of weights and measures - The head of the Persian government was the king whose word was law. His authority was extended by a bureaucracy led by Persian nobles, scribes who kept the records, a treasury that collected taxes and funded building projects and armies, and a system of roads, couriers, and signal stations that facilitated mail and trade. In the early years when the army was predominately Persian, it capably preserved the internal and external peace.Much of the empire was divided into provinces called satrapies, ruled by a satrap. All of Egypt was usually a single satrapy, for example. The satraps were normally Persians or Medes to help ensure their loyalty. They ruled and lived like minor kings in their own palaces. Some satraps became strong enough to threaten the king. Strong kings kept their satraps in check by holding close the reins of the armies and the treasury. - The early Persian economy was based on herding because the land was so poor for agriculture. The Persians attributed their toughness to the meager lifestyle to which they had been acclimated for generations.The sudden acquisition of the Median Empire, Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, and gold-rich areas in India made Persia an economic powerhouse. It controlled the rich agricultural areas of Mesopotomia, the grasslands of Anatolia, the trade routes in every direction, and rich deposits of metals and other resources. Great King Darius instituted many economic innovations and reforms: systematized taxation; standardized weights, measures, and monetary units (the first successful widespread use of coins); improved transportation routes, including the 1600-mile Royal Road from Susa to Sardis and an early Suez Canal; royal trading ships; promotion of agriculture; a banking system; and promotion of international trade. - Culture of Persian Empire: - The Persian kings and nobility were Zoroastrians, a religion named after its founder, Zarathustra, called Zoroaster in Greek. Zarathustra conceived his religion around 600 BC, and it had great influence later on Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.Zoroastrianism was monotheistic, centering on one supreme god who created everything material and spiritual. The powers of good and evil worked on humans who had to choose constantly between the two. An eternal afterlife of pleasure or torment were the possible results of god's judgment after death. These concepts of monotheism, good versus evil, free will, and posthumous reward or punishment were a departure from the polytheistic religions prominent in the area previously. These concepts greatly influenced religions that followed - Reasons for the Persian War: - After the Ionian Revolt of 499 BC, the Persians and their king Darius wanted to conquer Greece more than ever. Persia wanted to extend its territory. Also, the Greeks had helped the Ionians to revolt against the Persians, and had marched to Sardis and burned the city. The Persians condemned the Greeks as invading terrorists. - But what was the best way for the Persians to take over Greece? By land or by sea? The Persians had tried the land way in 514 BC when they attacked the Scythians. But they had lost. So this time the Persians decided to attack by sea. They decided to start from Ionia (modern Turkey) and try to conquer Athens. The Persians were especially mad at the Athenians because the Athenians had invaded Anatolia during the Ionian Revolt. Plus, it seemed like Athens might be weak, with their new democracy. Then, if the Persians got Athens, they could use Athens as a base to attack the rest of Greece. - The Persians knew a lot about Athens and the best way to attack Athens from the exiled Athenian tyrant Hippias, who was living at the court of Darius now. Hippias was angry that the Athenians had thrown him out, and he was hoping to get back into power in Athens with Persian help. - By the fall of 490 BC the Persians were ready. The Persian ships, carrying the cavalry, sailed over to Greece, looting islands on the way. Their first stop was to take Eretria, on the island of Euboea (you-BEE-ah). When the Persians got to Eretria, the people all went inside their walls and shut the big city gates. Usually at this time people were pretty safe once they were inside their walls. The Persians didn't have any weapons that could break down strong stone walls. But some of the Eretrians were afraid of the Persians anyway, and one of them opened a back door for the Persians in the middle of the night, and so the Persian army got in and took over Eretria through this treachery. - Now that the Persians had a good base at Eretria, they sailed over to Attica (the territory of Athens). Hippias advised them to land at Marathon, 25 miles from Athens. This is where Hippias' father Pisistratus had landed in 546 BC. Hippias may have hoped that the people who lived near Marathon would help him get back into power. But in any case Marathon was one of the few places in Attica where there was pasture for the Persian horses in the fall - outcomes of Persian War: - In the first stage of the war between Persia and Greece the Persian armies were led by king Darius I (550-486 B. C.). The Persians lost to the Athenians and their Greek allies. In the famous land battle of Marathon in 490 B.C. the Persians were defeated by the Athenians and the Plataeans. News of the victory was delivered by a messenger who ran the 26 miles from Marathon to Athens, and who died afterwards. This is the origin of the modern Olympic event of the marathon. - The second stage of the war saw the Persians arrive on the Greek shore with perhaps as many as 2,000,000 men, between their army and navy, under the command of king Xeres I (519-465 B.C.), son of the deceased Darius I. An advance party of only 5,000 Greeks, including Spartans, Phocians and Locrians, under the command of one of the Spartan kings, Leonidas (a descendent of Hercules), held off the advancing Persian forces at the narrow pass between the cliffs and the sea at Thermopylae (the famous "Pass of Thermopylae"). They were eventually defeated after the Persian soldiers were shown a secret mountain way around the pass, although every last Spartan fought until he was killed. However, the in naval battle at Salamis in 480 B.C., which was masterminded by the Athenian general Themistocles, the superior Athenian navy defeated the Persian navy. Then, in the land battle at Plataea in 479 B.C., the Spartan-led army defeated the Persian army. The Persians were driven from Greece. Insofar as Athens had masterminded the naval victory of Salamis, which was the decisive victory in the war, the Athenians could rightly be said to have saved all Greece from Persian domination.

2) What role did religion play in early civilizations? To what extent were the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Palestine indigenous developments? Can one make an argument for cultural transmission between these regions?

- religion play in early civilizations: Organized religion had its beginnings in ancient Mesopotamia (in what is now modern Iraq) and in Egypt more than five thousand years ago. The religious systems in these areas blended political with spiritual elements in a type of government known as a theocracy, or rule by divine guidance. In such a government, deities (gods and goddesses) are the supreme religious and civic leaders. Their will is carried out by a priestly class or by a divine king. Mesopotamian theocracies took the form of city-states ruled by patron gods or goddesses. The god's desires and wishes were interpreted by political leaders called ensi and by a priestly class. In Egypt religion and the state were also bound together. The national leader, the pharaoh, was considered a living god and was the vital link between humanity and the rest of the gods. A major difference in outlook, however, marked the two religions. In Mesopotamia the forces of nature were more chaotic, more likely to cause catastrophes, such as disastrous flooding. As a result, the gods were seen as unpredictable beings of extraordinary power who had to be kept content by priests. People were at the mercy of the gods, so the job of humanity was to carry out their wills and make them happy. In Egypt, where nature was less destructive, the gods were seen as kind and generous and generally well-disposed toward humanity. Egyptians believed that their gods had created Egypt as a sort of refuge of good and order in a world filled with chaos and disorder. - extent the religions of ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Palestine were indigenous developments: - an argument for cultural transmission between these regions(?): There is a great deal of Zoroastrian influence on Judaism and Christianity. n 586 BCE, the forces of the Babylonian Empire conquered the Jews, destroying their Temple and carrying off a proportion of the Jewish population into exile. The captives consisted especially of educated and upper-class people as well as the royal family. This "Babylonian captivity" lasted almost fifty years. In 539 BCE the Persians, under the leadership of the Achaemenid King Cyrus, conquered Babylon, and in 538 Cyrus issued a decree stating that the Jews would be allowed to return to their homeland. Not only were the Exiles released, but Cyrus, and to some extent his Achaemenid successors, also supported the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. Cyrus' policy was motivated not only by his religious tolerance (he also encouraged other, pagan peoples to maintain their own religions) but by statesmanlike wisdom; people treated generously are less likely to rebel. But not all the Jews wanted to go home. In the years of Exile, the adaptable Jewish people had established themselves in Mesopotamia, settling there and engaging in business and even politics. Many Jews, while remaining devout Jews, did not go back to their homeland. They carried on their lives in their new home, and as the Persian Empire consolidated its rule, some Jews even rose to high positions of service in the imperial court. It was during the end of the Exile, among the Jews now living in the Persian Empire, that the first significant contact was made between the Jewish and Iranian cultures. And it is evident in the Bible that Jewish thinking changed after the Exile. There are some venturesome scholars who say that the Jewish idea of monotheism was inspired by contact with Zoroastrian monotheism. While it is true that Jewish monotheistic ideas did change after the Exile, I do not believe that it was Zoroastrian contact which inspired this change. Rather, it was the fact of the Exile itself. Jewish thinkers and prophets even before the Exile were hinting at a concept of One God who was greater than just an ethnic divinity. When the Captivity threw these thinkers into a foreign culture, away from their divinely appointed homeland, it was necessary to broaden their idea of God to a more universal and abstract deity, who could be worshipped with praise and moral actions rather than animal sacrifices and liturgies. The concept of a single God whom all nations would eventually worship evolved among a conquered and exiled people no longer assured of their divinely protected status. - Externally, Syria-Palestine formed a land bridge between the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt and faced westward across the Mediterranean Sea toward the cultures of the Aegean. Syria and Palestine were subject to influences from these cultures and in turn contributed to them. As a result, the official religions of the area were often syncretistic and sometimes cosmopolitan. Particular cults and myths were carried westward and adopted by the Egyptians of the New Kingdom (1539-1075 bce), by the Greeks, and later by the Romans. Despite their many different outer forms, and the individual stamp given them by the various political powers, the religions of Syria and Palestine appear to have been typologically similar. Out of them, however, emerged the ultimately quite distinctive religion of Israel, from which in turn Judaism, Christianity, and, less directly, Islam were formed. - Zoroastrian influence on Judaism is also evident in the evolution of Jewish ideas about good, evil, and the End of Time. The original statement of the famous Zoroastrian dualism of good and evil is found in the Gathas, where Zarathushtra describes the two conflicting principles of good and evil in what might be called psychological, or ethical terms. Human beings are faced with the existence of good and evil within themselves - he describes these principles as the "beneficent" and the "hostile" spirits - and everyone must make the choice for Good in order to follow God's will. But by the Hellenistic era, Zoroastrianism had already developed its doctrine of "cosmic dualism" - the idea that the entire Universe is a battlefield between the One Good God, Ahura Mazda, and the separate Spirit of Evil, Ahriman. This view of dualism is a symbolic transformation, and an expansion, of the more psychologically based teaching of Zarathushtra that good and evil are ethical choices and states of mind.

Deme:

- Who: Athenians - What: was a suburb of Athens or a subdivision of Attica, the region of Greece surrounding Athens - Where: Greek - When: sixth BCE - Why: Demes as simple subdivisions of land in the countryside seem to have existed in the 6th century BC and earlier, but did not acquire particular significance until the reforms of Cleisthenes in 508 BC. In those reforms, enrollment in the citizen-lists of a deme became the requirement for citizenship; prior to that time, citizenship had been based on membership in a phratry, or family group. - At this same time, demes were established in the city of Athens itself, where they had not previously existed; in all, at the end of Cleisthenes' reforms, Attica was divided into 139 demes

Noah and Gilgamesh differences:

- Christianity / Religion - Gilgamesh includes polytheistic myths - Gilgamesh is more poetically written/recorded - Contact with the gods: - Noah is in direct contact with God - Utnapishtim is in contact with the gods through dreams - Ark size - Genesis ark: Rectangular (300X50X30 cubits) - Gilgamesh ark: Square (120 cubits) - People on ark: - Genesis included only family - Gilgamesh had family, but also other individuals - Flood duration: - Genesis: 40 days and nights - Gilgamesh: 6 days and nights - Gilgamesh released a swallow in addition to a raven and dove - Landing location (both mountains): - Genesis: Mt. Ararat - Gilgamesh: Mt. Nisir - Differences between religions • Mesopotamians not monotheistic o Multiple gods in the beginning of Gilgamesh • Explain religious differences about things like why animals went in two-by-two in Noah o Male/female each to rebuild society o Not like this in Mesopotamia because they were polygamous • Outcomes: o Noah lived to be 600 and died (so long no one can remember the actual time span) ♣ He lived a long a prosperous life ♣ Numbers are simply conventions o Gilgamesh man became immortal o Gilgamesh ends Istar throwing her necklace into the sky and it turns into a rainbow ♣ No covenant o Noah ends with Noah recharging and replenishing the earth ♣ The covenant: God will not flood the earth again and ends with a rainbow • About God ultimately protecting the Hebrews

4) Differences between the Greek world before and after 1200 BC? How did the Greeks restructure their society after the Dark Age? Be familiar with the political, military, economic, and cultural aspects of the Archaic period!

- Differences between the Greek world before and after 1200 BC: - The Dark Ages of Greece dramatically illustrate the historical principal that cultures can decline and the future may not be as prosperous as the past. The period from 1100 to 800 B.C. is known as the Dark Age of Greece. As described in the Ancient Greek Thesaursus: Throughout the area there are signs of a sharp cultural decline. Some sites, formerly inhabited, were now abandoned. Pottery was much less elegant; burials were made without expensive ornaments; and the construction of massive buildings came to a halt. Even the art of writing in Linear B vanished. The palace-centered bureaucracies no longer existed, but of the political machinery that replaced them we know almost nothing. - Still, the cultural decline was not quite a cultural break. Farming, weaving, and other technological skills survived; pottery, though it was for a while much less gracious, revived and developed the so-called Geometric style. Nor was the Greek language submerged. Many Greeks, displaced from their homes, found safety by settling in other parts of Greece. - In a larger sense, the shattering of the monarchic pattern in the Mycenaean Age can be viewed as a liberating and constructive event. We cannot show that the kings and dynasties in Greece were dependent on or were imitating kings in the ancient Near East, but the two systems of monarchy resembled each other. If the Mycenaean kings had survived, mainland Greece might have developed as Anatolia did, with strong monarchies and priests who interpreted and refined religious thought in ways that would justify the divine right of kings. Self-government within Greek states might not have emerged for centuries if it appeared at all. But the invasions of the twelfth century, in which the Dorians at least played a part, ended forever the domination of the palace-centered kings. - The civilizations that flourished during the Bronze Age ended in an abrupt way during the 12th century B.C. when a Greek speaking civilization, the Dorians, came from the North of Greece. - They scattered the Mycenaean population and decentralized the Mycenaean established control system. Agriculture, industry and trade activities were divided in some hundred of villages. - The disruption that followed was of great importance. The economy, the politics and the culture declined and all the trade networks with the Near East collapsed. The art of writing also disappeared and the only literary work of that period is the amazing Trojan War epic poem, the Iliad, written by the famous Homer. - Greeks restructured society after the Dark Age: - During the Dark Ages of Greece the old major settlements were abandoned (with the notable exception of Athens), and the population dropped dramatically in numbers. Within these three hundred years, the people of Greece lived in small groups that moved constantly in accordance with their new pastoral lifestyle and livestock needs, while they left no written record behind leading to the conclusion that they were illiterate. Later in the Dark Ages (between 950 and 750 BCE), Greeks relearned how to write once again, but this time instead of using the Linear B script used by the Mycenaeans, they adopted the alphabet used by the Phoenicians "innovating in a fundamental way by introducing vowels as letters. The Greek version of the alphabet eventually formed the base of the alphabet used for English today." (Martin, 43) Life was undoubtedly harsh for the Greeks of the Dark ages. However, in retrospect we can identify one major benefit of the period. The deconstruction of the old Mycenaean economic and social structures with the strict class hierarchy and hereditary rule were forgotten, and eventually replaced with new socio-political institutions that eventually allowed for the rise of Democracy in 5th c. BCE Athens. Notable events from this period include the occurrence of the first Olympics in 776, and the writing of the Homeric epics the Iliad and the Odyssey - political aspects of the Archaic period: - The politics of Athens underwent a series of serious changes during the archaic period, and the first change was quite possibly for the worse, with the laws of Draco, in around 622/621 BCE (the semi-legendary nature of these laws and its namesake should be noted, and secondly the semi-legendary nature of most occurrences during the first couple of hundred years of the period). As Aristotle says of Draco "there is nothing peculiar in his laws that is worthy of mention, except their severity in imposing heavy punishment" (Politics 2.1274b). The legacy of their infamy (loans could be made on the security of one's own person), still exists in the modern word 'draconian'. Most brutal of all however were the death penalties; Plutarch relates that "it is said that Draco himself, when asked why he had fixed the punishment of death for most offences, answered that he considered these lesser crimes to deserve it, and he had no greater punishment for more important ones". Whilst Aristotle comments that there was nothing particular about the laws, what is important is that the laws, for the first time in Athens, were written down for all to see, and to read (for those who were literate). The next major changes that came were brought about by Solon (c. 594 BCE), whose historical authenticity is more certain than Draco's due to fragments of his poetry that Plutarch relates as still existing in his time. His changes to Athenian law were the first to give the lower classes a fairer chance -- however, the positions of power were still only available to those of wealth. It was the effects of class inequality that Solon tackled, not the causes of them. The most notable change implemented by Solon was the seisachtheia, the 'shaking-off-of-burdens'. This decree cancelled debts, banned the use of one's own person as security for a loan, and recalled all of those who had been sold as slaves and those who had fled to escape such a fate. There were also Solon's reforms of weights and measures, the right of third party appeal was introduced among other developments. In order that he might not be pressured into changing these laws, Solon left Athens for ten years (according to Herodotus) and went to Egypt where he wrote political poems. Cleisthenes came to power in the political gap that was left after the tyrannicides and is famous for introducing isonomia (equal laws) in Athens. He achieved this through various reforms which meant that less importance was given to aristocratic background. The biggest reform that Cleisthenes made was to the tribal system of Athens. Previous to his reform there had been four tribes (based on family ties), Cleisthenes changed this to ten tribes, each formed by a slightly complicated subsystem. - military aspects of the Archaic period: - The exceptional success of the move to colonize the rest of the Mediterranean happened in harmony with a consolidation of the Greek poleis into cohesive city-states with social and political order. This process was frequently interrupted between the 6th and 7th centuries BC by numerous aristocrats. These tyrants, a Greek word meaning "ruler of the polis", tended to set up dictatorships within the poleis, raise armies, and attack other poleis to expand their influence. Tyrants were not social reformers, but while ruling they were forced to make laws and arbitrate disputes. A rising Greek distaste for tyrants led to the creation of alternative systems of self-government, which eventually led to the Athenian democracy. Tyrants were never directly followed by pure democracies; however, their behaviour created the political will among the Greeks to develop a more efficient and fair system of governance. - the more stable and prosperous archaic age encouraged the development of a new and superior military system, the heavily armed and trained band of soldier called hoplites. As hoplites had to provide their own armor and find time to train with the army, they tended to belong to the more well to do in the community. - as the military power to defend the city depended on the cooperative efforts of the hoplites they were able to gain control of the political system. - economic aspects of the Archaic period: - The economic structures of the Hellenic world underwent major changes during the three centuries of the Archaic period (800-ca.480 BC). By the end of this period the Greek peoples inhabit an area extending from Near East to the furthermost coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and exploit natural sources using more and more specialized methods. That way, they were now able to satisfy their needs, increase gradually in number and produce a considerable surplus of goods. - However, it is possible to isolate and study certain elements that determine the economic character of Archaic Greek communities. Basically, it is ownership and land cultivation that constitute the main prerequisites in order to gain power. Property that was based on agriculture was of a primordial importance for the political as well as for the social status of a Greek citizen. - cultural aspects of the Archaic period: - During the Archaic period the fundamental changes that determined the face of Greek culture took place. The reacquisition of writing combined with social developments gave a new boost to literature. The epic underwent a second flourishing, whereas at the same time the systemization of ideas regarding the world and man created Ionic philosophy. However, the understanding of the world could now have a subjective or experimental character, a fact which can be seen in the various and vivid -even for the contemporary reader- works of lyric poetry. - The contacts with Anatolia enriched the shaping of Greek art, inspired original compositions and liberated the imagination of the Greek artists and craftsmen. Pottery and metalwork, as practical arts, were the first to benefit from the prolific moulding with eastern elements and very soon they developed an iconographic repertoire magnificent both in size and in variety. The study of the human form became the centre of sculpture, thus reflecting the decisive transposition of Greek thought from the theoretic to the anthropocentric perception of the world. - Many rituals and forms of worship were born or crystallized during the Archaic period. The religious practices were closely connected to the social developments and needs, which were very often codified or interpreted. Through sacrifices, purifications, oblations, initiations and festivals, the Hellenes tried to harmonize the primitive fear of the divine with the rational approach and trust in the human experience. This view, which was not greatly altered until the prevalence of Christianity, is probably the most important accomplishment of Archaic Greeks and continues, up to today, to form one of the poles of inner contradiction of Western civilization.

8) Compare Greek society in the classical and Hellenistic periods. Know the political, economic, and cultural differences!

- Greek society in the classical period: - Besides the Parthenon and Greek tragedy, classical Greece brought us the historian Herodotus, the physician Hippokrates and the philosopher Socrates. It also brought us the political reforms that are ancient Greece's most enduring contribution to the modern world: the system known as demokratia, or "rule by the people." - Architecture and Art: Search for ideal: lack of realism. Art moves towards more realistic works, to a most perfect form. Perfection in classical art. Need to show the spirit of someone's whole inward existence. Depict symmetry . At the height of people's development, not when they are old because of frailty - Philosophy. Archaic period: The Ionians were the first group of philosophers. Philosophy directed towards nature. Science and religion are intertwined. -Thales of Miletus (640-546) asked, "Where do we come from?" / "What is the first substance". Believed water was the first substance of the universe. Wasn't too far off (hydrogen) - Anaximander (611-547) suggested that the first substance is divine rather than a physical thing. Unending succession of worlds. When this world dies, there is another. Science and religion could be intertwined - Anaximenes (600). Suggests that air is the first substance - People should respond to logic more through time - Heraclitus (500) Believed in a fundamental essence. "One not cannot step into the same river twice". Invented the theory of evolution - change over time. Guided by logos (reason) - Parmenides (480-450) Attacks theory of evolution or change over time - Empedocles (495-440) believes in Fire, air, earth, and water as basic elements of life. Come in three states: gas, liquid, solid. Says love binds these together and strife tears them apart. Invents chemistry - Sophists (450-__). Tend to be agnostic. Focus on human wisdom not the divine. - Socrates (470-399) Thought men needed to become better and more just. Went around talking and teaching. Was patriotic and thought he was doing good. Asked people to explain their opinions. Persecuted by the establishment. Influencing and corrupting the youth. Said he was like a fly or midwife of knowledge . Says he doesn't create anything, but allows people to - Plato (427-347) • Much more theoretical and abstract • idealist • Cave allegory o A philosopher knows the truth and must help other people to gain knowledge • Utopian republic o Not a democratic society o A republic ran by philosophers • Reality what was what could not die/eternal o Concepts are reality, not material items - Aristotle • First political scientist • Student of Plato • Interested in classification • Classification of philosophy o Speculative (Metaphysics, math, physics, biology) ♣ Deals with the truth o Practical (How to be happy, etc. - Ethics, politics, economics) o Creative (The Arts - True artistry, poetry, painting) • Realist, materialist • Believes in evolution • Does not democracy - too many demagogues • Aristocratic ruling, but not entirely - A polity government END OF CLASSICAL AGE - Greek society in the Hellenistic period: - The Hellenistic Age marks the transformation of Greek society from the localized and introverted city-states to an open, cosmopolitan, and at times exuberant culture that permeated the entire eastern Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia. While the Hellenistic world incorporated a number of different people, Greek thinking, mores, and way of life dominated the public affairs of the time. All aspects of culture took a Greek hue, with the Greek language being established as the official language of the Hellenistic world. The art and literature of the era were transformed accordingly. Instead of the previous preoccupation with the Ideal, Hellenistic art focused on the Real. Depictions of man in both art and literature revolved around exuberant, and often amusing themes that for the most part explored the daily life and the emotional world of humans, gods, and heroes alike. - The autonomy of individual cities of the Classical era gave way to the will of the large kingdoms that were led by one ruler. As Alexander left no apparent heir, his generals controlled the empire. They fought common enemies and against each other as they attempted to establish their power, and eventually, three major kingdoms emerged through the strife that followed the death of Alexander in 323 BCE and persisted for the most part over the next three hundred years. - Egypt and parts of the Middle East came under the rule of Ptolemy, Seleucus controlled Syria and the remnants of the Persian Empire, while Macedonia, Thrace, and parts of northern Asia Minor came under the hegemony of Antigonus and his son Demetrius. Several smaller kingdoms were established at various times, in Hellenistic Greece. Notably, the Attalid kingdom was formed around Pergamum in eastern Asia Minor, and the independent kingdom of Bactria was created after Diodotos led a rebellion of Greeks there against Seleucid rule. Most of the classical Greek cities south of Thessaly and on the southern shores of the Black Sea remained independent. - Alexandria ♣ Egypt • Flourishing • Trading - Very different from the individualism of poleis - Disconnect between ethnic people and kings - Country-side is not very Hellenized - No democracy - People were often enslaved or suffered excessive taxation - Not necessarily a peaceful place in what was the Persian Empire - Koine: A kind of Greek that could be understood everywhere, not the Greek of the classical period used in philosophy. New Testament written in this language because it comes from this cultural background - No greek-ness to this area anymore - Philosophy: two new schools of philosophy - Individuals are on their own - Stoicism: Has the idea that there is a deity, but it doesn't influence your individual life. Abstract god. The way to live a good life is to let your mind control your emotions and do the best that you can to live a virtuous life. Emotions get people off track - Epicureanism. Epicurous. Gods are not concerned about human beings. People basically just live and then die, no afterlife. People should live as comfortably as possible without excess. More emotional - Religion: People could choose their own religion and several cults - Individualism only in Hellenistic period - Greater emphasis on emotion - Mystery religions ♣ Sarapis: Initiation right - contact priest, come to his house, led into room with pit, sit in the pit, priest butchers bull and trickles blood on person (Baptism by blood) - Literature and art: Tragedies disappear. Emphasis on comedy and emotions. Becomes more homogeneous because everyone could speak Koine - Art: Becomes more emotional and nationalistic. Shows emotion. More movement, not so static. More naturalistic art. No ideal of man, just subjects and rulers - No longer bound to the idea of a polis

6) Compare the Greeks during the Persian War and the Peloponnesian War!

- Greeks during the Persian War: - The Persian Wars began in 499 BCE, when Greeks in the Persian-controlled territory rose in the Ionian Revolt. Athens and other Greek cities sent aid, but were quickly forced to back down after defeat in 494 BCE. - The following decades in the Persian Wars saw various Persian defeats at the hands of the Greeks, led by the Athenians. Silver mining contributed to the funding of a massive Greek army that was eventually able to rebuke Persian assaults and eventually defeat the Persians entirely. - The end of the Persian Wars led to the rise of Athens as the leader of the Delian League. - Athens enrolled all the island states and some mainland ones into an alliance called the Delian League, so named because its treasury was kept on the sacred island of Delos. The Spartans, although they had taken part in the war, withdrew into isolation afterwards, allowing Athens to establish unchallenged naval and commercial power. - Greeks during the Peloponnesian War: - The Peloponnesian War can be divided into three phases: a period of Athenian raids on the Peloponnese, the failure of an Athenian attack on Syracuse and the destruction of its entire fleet, and the eventual defeat of the Athenians at the hands of the Spartans in the Decelean War. - The Peloponnesian War saw the decline of Athens and the rise of Sparta in the Greek Classical world. It also brought widespread poverty to Greece and made civil war a common occurrence. - The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece prior to the war's beginning, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece. The economic costs of the war were felt all across Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity. The war also wrought subtler changes to Greek society; the conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, each of which supported friendly political factions within other states, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world. - Greek warfare, meanwhile, originally a limited and formalized form of conflict, was transformed into an all-out struggle between city-states, complete with atrocities on a large scale. Shattering religious and cultural taboos, devastating vast swathes of countryside, and destroying whole cities, the Peloponnesian War marked the dramatic end to the fifth century BCE and the golden age of Greece.

Classical art:

- Search for ideal because their was a lack of realism prior to the classical period - Art moves towards more realistic works, to a most perfect form - aims for perfection in classical art - showed the spirit of someone's whole inward existence - Depict symmetry - from the height of people's development, not when they are old because of frailty

Heraclitus:

- Who: Greek philosopher remembered for his cosmology, in which fire forms the basic material principle of an orderly universe. - Though he was primarily concerned with explanations of the world around him, Heraclitus also stressed the need for people to live together in social harmony - Believed in a fundamental essence - guided by logos (reason) - Where: Greece - When: sixth century BCE / Classical Greece - Why: "One not cannot step into the same river twice" suggests his invention the theory of evolution - change over time

Melian Dialog Negotiations:

- The Athenians offer the Melians an ultimatum: surrender and pay tribute to Athens, or be destroyed. The Athenians do not wish to argue over the morality of the situation, because in practice might makes right (or, in their own words, "the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must"[3]). - The Melians argue that they are a neutral city and not an enemy, so Athens has no need to conquer them. The Athenians counter that if they accept Melos' neutrality and independence, they would look weak: people would think they spared Melos because they were not strong enough to conquer it. - The Melians argue that an invasion will alarm the other neutral Greek states, who will become hostile to Athens for fear of being invaded themselves. The Athenians counter that the Greek states on the mainland are unlikely to act this way. It is the independent island states and the disgruntled subjects that Athens has already conquered that are more likely to take up arms against Athens. - The Melians argue that it would be shameful and cowardly of them to submit without a fight. The Athenians counter that the stakes are too high for the Melians to worry about shame. - The Melians argue that though the Athenians are far stronger, there is still a chance they could win. The Athenians counter that hope is an irrational emotion when one faces poor chances of victory and utter ruin in defeat. - The Melians believe that they will have the assistance of the gods because their position is morally just. The Athenians counter that the gods will not intervene because it is the natural order of things for the strong to dominate the weak. - The Melians argue that their Spartan kin will come to their defense. The Athenians counter that the Spartans are a practical people who never put themselves at risk when their interests are not at stake, and rescuing Melos would be particularly risky since Athens has the stronger navy. - The Athenians express their shock at the Melians' lack of realism. They say that there is no shame in submitting to a stronger enemy, especially one who is offering reasonable terms. The Melians do not change their minds and politely dismiss the envoys.

Hellenistic art:

- Tragedies disappear - Emphasis on comedy and emotions - Becomes more homogeneous because everyone could speak Koine - Popularization - Secularization - No longer bound to the idea of a polis - Becomes more emotional and nationalistic - Shows emotion - More movement, not so static - More naturalistic art - No ideal of man, just subjects and rulers

Noah and Giglamesh similarities:

- Utnapishtim and Noah were both considered righteous and acted in accordance with their gods wishes, though both complained - Both arks contained all species - Earth is seen as corrupt and wicked from the gods perspectives - Both instructed to build arks - God and Enlil seem to fill similar roles, flooding earth to destroy mortal beings due to their sinful nature - Emphasis on the number 7; Perhaps something to do with the idea that earth was created in 7 days - The heavy rain seemed to open earth to the heavens - Both released a raven and dove after the floods - In both, the dove initially returned because it couldn't find land; however later never returned, symbolizing the finding of land - Utnapishtim and Noah use sacrifice/burnt offerings to appeal to the gods - Both end in being blessed by god

Corinth:

- What: a city-state (polis) - Where: the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece - When: its history is obscure until the early 8th century bc, when the city-state of Corinth began to develop as a commercial centre - Why: Corinth's political influence was increased through territorial expansion in the vicinity, and by the late 8th century it had secured control of the isthmus. - The Corinthians established colonies at Corcyra and Syracuse, which would later assure them a dominant position in trade with the western Mediterranean - Corinth was subsequently involved in most of the political conflicts of Greece, but chiefly as a pawn in the struggles of more powerful city-states because of the strategic value of its citadel.

Epicureanism:

- What: a practical philosophy of serenity in an often disorderly world. - Epicurus used observation and logic to study the world and examine the human condition - focus on personal feelings - pursuit of happiness without excess - Where: Greece - When: Hellenistic period - Why: devotion to pleasure, comfort, and high living, with a certain nicety of style

Koiné:

- What: means "common" or "shared" and was the common language spoken by Greeks - Where: Greece - When: fourth century BCE - Why: became the spoken language of traders, the royal court, the bureaucracy, and the army across the Hellenistic world - those who could speak it experienced social mobility - helped standardize business customs - facilitated trade

Stoicism:

- Who: - What: a school of Hellenistic philosophy - The Stoics taught that destructive emotions resulted from errors in judgment, and the active relationship between cosmic determinism and human freedom, and the belief that it is virtuous to maintain a will (called prohairesis) that is in accord with nature. - Because of this, the Stoics presented their philosophy as a way of life, and they thought that the best indication of an individual's philosophy was not what a person said but how that person behaved. - To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they taught that everything was rooted in nature - Where: Hellenistic Greece - When: founded in Athens by Zeno of Cyprus in the early 3rd century BC. - Hellenistic period - Why: stressed the unity of people and the universe, stating that people are obliged to help one another - lasting practical achievement was the creation of the concept of natural law - they concluded that as all people were kindred, partook of divine reason, and were in harmony with the universe, that one natural law governed them all

Zoroastrianism:

- Who: Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian Prophet Zoroaster (or Zarathustra), its Supreme Being is Ahura Mazda - What: one of the world's oldest monotheistic religions. It was founded by the Prophet Zoroaster in ancient Iran - Zoraster introduced new spiritual concepts, stressing devotion to Ahura Mazda alone and emphasizing the individual's responsibility to choose between the forces of creation, truth, and order and those of nothingness and disorder - Where: Persia - When: seventh century BCE - Why: combining a cosmogonic dualism and monotheism and remains among the major religions of the world - influenced Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. - Good behavior would be rewarded in the afterlife - Still exists as a religion

Pythagoras:

- Who: Greek philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the Pythagorean brotherhood - What: although religious in nature, formulated principles that influenced the thought of Plato and Aristotle and contributed to the development of mathematics and Western rational philosophy - believed in reincarnation and that the earth is spherical - Where: Egypt - When: sixth century BCE / Classical Greece - Why: Famous for A^2+B^2=C^2

Peloponnesian War:

- Who: Sparta and Athens - What: was an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta. Historians have traditionally divided the war into three phases. - In the first phase, the Archidamian War, Sparta launched repeated invasions of Attica, while Athens took advantage of its naval supremacy to raid the coast of the Peloponnese attempting to suppress signs of unrest in its empire. - This period of the war was concluded in 421 BC, with the signing of the Peace of Nicias. That treaty, however, was soon undermined by renewed fighting in the Peloponnese. - In 415 BC, Athens dispatched a massive expeditionary force to attack Syracuse in Sicily; the attack failed disastrously, with the destruction of the entire force, in 413 BC. - This ushered in the final phase of the war, generally referred to either as the Decelean War, or the Ionian War. In this phase, Sparta, now receiving support from Persia, supported rebellions in Athens' subject states in the Aegean Sea and Ionia, undermining Athens' empire, and, eventually, depriving the city of naval supremacy. - The destruction of Athens' fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, and Athens surrendered in the following year. - Where: Greece - When: 431-404 BCE - Why: the war brought in its wake disease, widespread civil wars, destruction, famine, and a huge loss of life - in 404, Athenians surrendered and Sparta stripped it of its empire - happened because of Athenian control of the Delian League, the vast naval alliance that allowed it to dominate the Mediterranean Sea

Ostracism:

- Who: The Athenians - What: political practice in ancient Athens whereby a prominent citizen who threatened the stability of the state could be banished without bringing any charge against him. - Where: Greek - When: the first use of it seems to have been made in 488-487 bc, when Hipparchus, son of Charmus of Collytus, was ostracized - Why: It was used as a way of neutralizing someone thought to be a threat to the state or potential tyrant

Herodotus:

- Who: a Greek historian - What: widely referred to as "The Father of History" - Where: Greece - When: fifth century BCE - Why: he was the first historian known to have broken from Homeric tradition to treat historical subjects (people in the war) as a method of investigation—specifically, by collecting his materials systematically and critically, and then arranging them into a historiographic narrative - traveled the Greek world to piece together the course of the Persian wars - coined historia to describe his inquiry of the past - called Egypt the "gift of the Nile" - In his Histories, Herodotus pays primary attention to the Persians and the Greeks, both of whom had writing and states, but he also discusses many peoples who had neither

Empedocles:

- Who: a Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. - Where: Greece - When: fifth century BCE - Why: Empedocles is generally considered the last Greek philosopher to record his ideas in verse. - Empedocles' philosophy is best known for being the originator of the cosmogenic theory of the four Classical elements. - He also proposed powers called Love and Strife which would act as forces to bring about the mixture and separation of the elements. - These physical speculations were part of a history of the universe which also dealt with the origin and development of life. - Influenced by the Pythagoreans, he supported the doctrine of reincarnation. - Aristotle reputedly hailed him as the inventor of rhetoric

Sophists:

- Who: a group of allied thinkers who applied philosophical speculation to politics and language, questioning the laws and beliefs of the polis to understand their origin - What: The early sophists' practice of charging money for education and providing wisdom only to those who could pay resulted in the condemnations made by Socrates through Plato in his Dialogues - criticized for charging fees or using rhetoric rather than presenting the truth - Where: Athens - When: fifth century BCE - Why: they believed that excellence in politics and language could be taught, and they provided lessons for the young men of Athens who wished to learn how to persuade others in Athenian democracy - Many sophists specialized in using the tools of philosophy and rhetoric, though other sophists taught subjects such as music, athletics, and mathematics. In general, they claimed to teach arete, predominantly to young statesmen and nobility

Sparta:

- Who: a military people of their own Greek polis - When: Sparta grew during Archaic Greece - What: a prominent city-state in ancient Greece - all citizens became legally equal - two kings were their primary military leaders, a council of nobles shared executive power with five ephors, helots worked their land - citizens became lifelong soldiers - women in citizen families ran estates and land in their right, and they were not physically restricted or secluded - Where: situated on the banks of the Eurotas River in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. - Around 650 BC, it rose to become the dominant military land-power in ancient Greece. - Given its military pre-eminence, Sparta was recognized as the overall leader of the combined Greek forces during the Greco-Persian Wars. - Why: Sparta's single-minded dedication to rule by a militarized oligarchy precluded any hope of a political unification of Classical Greece, but it performed a great service in 480 bce by its heroic stand at Thermopylae and its subsequent leadership in the Greco-Persian wars. - The Battle of Salamis (480) revealed the magnitude of Athenian naval power and set in motion the deadly struggle between the two powers that ended in Athenian defeat at the close of the Peloponnesian War in 404 and the emergence of Sparta as the most powerful state in Greece

Alcibiades:

- Who: a prominent Athenian statesman, orator, and general. - Where: Athens - When: fifth century BCE - provoked the sharp political antagonisms at Athens that were the main causes of Athens' defeat by Sparta in the Peloponnesian War - During the course of the Peloponnesian War, Alcibiades changed his political allegiance several times. - In his native Athens in the early 410s BC, he advocated an aggressive foreign policy and was a prominent proponent of the Sicilian Expedition, but he fled to Sparta after his political enemies brought charges of sacrilege against him. - In Sparta, he served as a strategic adviser, proposing or supervising several major campaigns against Athens. - In Sparta too, however, Alcibiades soon made powerful enemies and felt forced to defect to Persia. - He then served as an Athenian general (Strategos) for several years, but his enemies eventually succeeded in exiling him a second time. - Why: Alcibiades was best known for his personal extravagance and his courage in battle; but he had also become a recognized speaker in the Ecclesia (assembly), and as Athens moved toward peace, he hoped that the ties that had once existed between his family and Sparta would enable him to secure the credit for bringing peace to Athens - Alcibiades could not practice his master's virtues, and his example of undisciplined and restless ambition strengthened the charge brought against Socrates in 399 of corrupting the youth of Athens

Assurbanipal:

- Who: last of the great kings of Assyria - What: was the ruler of ancient Assyria at the height of Assyrian military and cultural accomplishments. - He is known in Greek writings as Sardanapalus and as Asnappeer or Osnapper in the Bible. - Through military conquests Ashurbanipal also expanded Assyrian territory and its number of vassal states. - However, of far greater importance to posterity was Ashurbanipal's establishment of a great library in the city of Nineveh. - The military and territorial gains made by this ruler barely outlived him but the Library he established has survived partially intact. - A collection of 20,000 to 30,000 cuneiform tablets containing approximately 1,200 distinct texts remains for scholars to study today. - Ashurbanipal's library was not the first library of its kind but it was one of the largest and one of the ones to survive to the present day. - Most of it is now in the possession of the British Museum or the Iraq Department of Antiquities. - Where: Assyria - When: seventh century BCE - Why: Despite being a popular king among his subjects, he was also known for his cruelty to his enemies - Though this library was not the first of its kind, it was one of the largest and the first library modern scholars can document as having most or even all of the attributes one expects to find in a modern library. - Like a modern library this collection was spread out into many rooms according to subject matter. - Some rooms were devoted to history and government, others to religion and magic and still others to geography, science, poetry, etc. - Ashurbanipal's collection even held what could be called classified government materials. - The findings of spies and secret affairs of state were held secure from access in deep recesses of the palace much like a modern government archive.

Pericles:

- Who: prominent and influential Greek statesman - What: orator and general of Athens during the Golden Age— specifically the time between the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. He was descended, through his mother, from the powerful and historically influential Alcmaeonid family - Where: Greece - When: fifth century BCE - Why: Pericles had such a profound influence on Athenian society that Thucydides, a contemporary historian, acclaimed him as "the first citizen of Athens" - Pericles turned the Delian League into an Athenian empire, and led his countrymen during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War - Pericles promoted the arts and literature; it is principally through his efforts that Athens holds the reputation of being the educational and cultural center of the ancient Greek world. - used Delian League funds to pay for a huge building program to rebuild the city that had been distroyed during the Persian occupation in 480 BCE and to display to all Greeks the glory of the Athenian polis - He started an ambitious project that generated most of the surviving structures on the Acropolis (including the Parthenon). This project beautified and protected the city, exhibited its glory, and gave work to the people. - Pericles also fostered Athenian democracy to such an extent that critics call him a populist - Under his leadership, Athens grew so powerful and aggressive that they alarmed Sparta and its allies

Helots:

- Who: serfs or unfree residents forced to work state lands - What: enslaved in Sparta, who conquered Messenia to expand their polis, turning the Messenians into helots - helots revolted in demand of rights equal to those of nobility and a voice in government, which took the Spartans 30 years to crush - Where: Sparta - When: eighth century BCE - Why: Owing to their own numerical inferiority, the Spartans were always preoccupied with the fear of a helot revolt. - The ephors (Spartan magistrates) of each year on entering office declared war on the helots so that they might be murdered at any time without violating religious scruples. - It was the responsibility of the Spartan secret police, the Krypteia, to patrol the Laconian countryside and put to death any supposedly dangerous helots

Plato:

- Who: student of Socrates - What: Idealist philosophy striving for the most perfect form - believed true knowledge and the possibility of living a virtuous life came from contemplating ideal forms, not from observing the visible world - Where: Greece - When: fourth century BCE - Why: Favored an oligarchy of philosophers because the people didn't know the truth - allegory of the cave - profoundly shaped Western philosophy

Socrates:

- Who: the first philosopher - What: went around asking people difficult and sometimes unwanted questions to act as a midwife of knowledge and pull wisdom from them - Where: classical Athens - When: fifth century BCE - Why: credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy. - He is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of classical writers - Plato's dialogues are among the most comprehensive accounts of Socrates to survive from antiquity, though it is unclear the degree to which Socrates himself is "hidden behind his 'best disciple', Plato" - his ideas are only known through the works of others - never charged fees, but some Athenians saw him as a sophist because he questioned Athenian traditions - Socratic method: questioning participants in a discussion to narrow down the argument rather than lecturing - hard to know what he believed, but he openly criticized Athenian government and their leadership through greed; thus, he was executed

Ahriman:

- Who: the god of evil and darkness in Persian mythology and in Zoroastrianism - What: the force behind anger, greed, envy, and other negative and harmful emotions. - Where: Persian Empire - When: - Why: Ahriman created a horde of demons embodying envy and similar qualities. - Despite the chaos and suffering effected in the world by his onslaught, believers expect Ahriman to be defeated in the end of time by Ahura Mazdā. - Confined to their own realm, his demons will devour each other, and his own existence will be quenched.

Ahura Mazda:

- Who: the god of light and good, a transcend to something like heaven - What: God of Zoroastrianism - Where: - When: Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period (c. 550 - 330 BCE) under Darius I's Behistun Inscription - Why: is not the only god in the universe of Zoroastrianism, and he is not the sole creator of the world

Pisistratus:

- Who: tyrant of ancient Athens - What: unification of Attica and consolidation and rapid improvement of Athens' prosperity helped to make possible the city's later preeminence in Greece - Peisistratus was master of Athens by the use of force - He maintained a mercenary bodyguard, composed in part of Scythian archers; he may have disarmed the citizens; and he certainly placed hostages from major families in safekeeping on the island of Naxos. - he preserved the constitutional forms of government and made them operate more efficiently. - Where: Greece - When: sixth century BCE; archaic period - Why: no more democracy in Greece

Alexander the Great:

- Who: was a King (Basileus) of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon and a member of the Argead dynasty, an ancient Greek royal house. - Born in Pella in 356 BC, Alexander succeeded his father, Philip II, to the throne at the age of twenty. - was tutored by Plato - What: He spent most of his ruling years on an unprecedented military campaign through Asia and northeast Africa, and by the age of thirty he had created one of the largest empires of the ancient world, stretching from Greece to Egypt into northwest India and modern-day Pakistan. - Alexander was awarded the generalship of Greece and used this authority to launch his father's Panhellenic project to lead the Greeks in the conquest of Persia. - In 334 BC, he invaded the Achaemenid Empire, ruled Asia Minor, and began a series of campaigns that lasted ten years. - Alexander broke the power of Persia in a series of decisive battles, most notably the battles of Issus and Gaugamela. - He subsequently overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the Achaemenid Empire in its entirety. - At that point, his empire stretched from the Adriatic Sea to the Indus River. - Where: of Greece, conquest stretching from Greece to Egypt into northwest India and modern-day Pakistan - When: fourth century BCE - Why: He was undefeated in battle and is widely considered one of history's most successful military commanders

Thucydides:

- Who: was an Athenian historian, political philosopher and general in the Peloponnesian War (but was banished early in the conflict because of a defeat - What: traveled throughout Greece seeking information about the war from all sides - His History of the Peloponnesian War recounts the 5th century BC war between Sparta and Athens to the year 411 BC. - Where: Athens - When: fifth century BCE - Why: He has also been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcome of relations between states as ultimately mediated by and constructed upon the emotions of fear and self-interest - Thucydides has been dubbed the father of "scientific history" because of his strict standards of evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work - his account of the war saw human greed and desire for power as the root of conflict and viewed the war itself as a disaster

Hippias:

- Who: was one of the sons of Peisistratus, and was tyrant of Athens - What: Hippias' cruelty soon created unrest among his subjects. As he began losing control he sought military support from the Persian kingdoms to the East - In 510 BC Cleomenes I of Sparta successfully invaded Athens and trapped Hippias on the Acropolis.[4][5] They also took the Pisistratidae children hostage, and Hippias was forced to leave Athens in order to have them returned safely. He was expelled from Athens in 510 BC - Where: Athens - When: sixth century BCE - Why: The Spartans later thought that a free, democratic Athens would be dangerous to Spartan power, and attempted to recall Hippias and reestablish the tyranny.

3) Be familiar with the changing relationship between the political history of the Hebrews and the evolution of their religious beliefs. What was unique about Judaism?

- changing relationship between the political history of the Hebrews and the evolution of their religious beliefs: - Early Hebrew religion was polytheistic; the curious plural form of the name of God, Elohim rather than El, leads them to believe that the original Hebrew religion involved several gods. This plural form, however, can be explained as a "royal" plural. Several other aspects of the account of Hebrew religion in Genesis also imply a polytheistic faith. - The earliest Hebrew religion was animistic, that is, the Hebrews seemed worship forces of nature that dwelled in natural objects. - As a result, much of early Hebrew religion had a number of practices that fall into the category of magic: scapegoat sacrifice and various forms of imitative magic, all of which are preserved in the text of Genesis . - Early Hebrew religion eventually became anthropomorphic, that is, god or the gods took human forms; in later Hebrew religion, Yahweh becomes a figure that transcends the human and material worlds. Individual tribes probably worshipped different gods; there is no evidence in Genesis that anything like a national God existed in the time of the patriarchs. - The most profound spiritual and cognitive crisis in Hebrew history was the Exile. Defeated by the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC, the Judaean population was in part deported to Babylon, mainly the upper classes and craftsmen. In 586, incensed by Judaeans shifting their loyalty, Nebuchadnezzar returned, lay siege to Jerusalem, and burned it down along with the Temple. Nothing in the Hebrew world view had prepared them for a tragedy of this magnitude. The Hebrews had been promised the land of Palestine by their god; in addition, the covenant between Yahweh and Abraham promised Yahweh's protection. The destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the deportation of the Judaeans, shook the Hebrew faith to its roots. - But Hebrew religion shifted profoundly in the years of Exile. A small group of religious reformers believed that the calamaties suffered by the Jews were due to the corruption of their religion and ethics. These religious reformers reoriented Jewish religion around the Mosaic books; in other words, they believed that the Jews should return to their foundational religion. While the Mosaic books had been in existence since the seventh or eighth centuries BC, they began to take final shape under the guidance of these reformers shortly after the Exile. Above everything else, the Torah, the five Mosaic books, represented all the law that Hebrews should follow. These laws, mainly centered around cultic practices, should remain pure and unsullied if the Jews wished to return to their homeland and keep it. - So the central character of post-Exilic Jewish religion is reform, an attempt to return religious and social practice back to its original character. This reform was accelerated by the return to Judaea itself; when Cyrus the Persian conquered the Chaldeans in 539, he set about re-establishing religions in their native lands. This included the Hebrew religion. Cyrus ordered Jerusalem and the Temple to be rebuilt, and in 538 BC, he sent the Judaeans home to Jerusalem for the express purpose of worshipping Yahweh . The reformers, then, occupied a central place in Jewish thought and life all during the Persian years (539-332 BC). - Beneath the surface, though, foreign elements creeped in to the Hebrew religion. While the reformers were busy trying to purify the Hebrew religion, the Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, creeped into it among the common run of people. Why this happened is anyone's guess, but Zoroastrianism offered a world view that both explained and mollified tragedies such as the Exile. It seems that the Hebrews adopted some of this world view in the face of the profound disasters they had weathered. - Zoroastrianism, which had been founded in the seventh century BC by a Persian prophet name Zarathustra (Zoroaster is his Greek name), was a dualistic, eschatological, and apocalyptic religion. The universe is divided into two distinct and independent spheres. One, which is light and good, is ruled by a deity who is the principle of light and good; the other, dark and evil, is ruled by a deity who is the principle of dark and evil. The whole of human and cosmic history is an epic struggle between these two independent deities; at the end of time, a final battle between these two deities and all those ranged on one side or the other, would permanently decide the outcome of this struggle. The good deity, Ahura-Mazda, would win this final, apocalyptic battle, and all the gods and humans on the side of good would enjoy eternal bliss. - Absolutely none of these elements were present in Hebrew religion before the Exile. The world is governed solely by Yahweh; evil in the world is solely the product of human actions—there is no "principle of evil" among the Hebrews before the Exile. The afterlife is simply a House of Dust called Sheol in which the soul lasts for only a brief time. - unique about Judaism: - The fundamental teachings of Judaism have often been grouped around the concept of an ethical (or ethical-historical) monotheism. Belief in the one and only God of Israel has been adhered to by professing Jews of all ages and all shades of sectarian opinion. By its very nature monotheism ultimately postulated religious universalism, although it could be combined with a measure of particularism. - The Hebrew religion gave us monotheism; it gave us the concept of rule by law; it gave us the concept that the divine works its purpose on human history through human events; it gave us the concept of the covenant, that the one god has a special relationship to a community of humans above all others. In the West, in the Middle East, in most of Africa and Asia, the legacy of Hebrew religion permeates nearly everything you see.

Flood myth in Old Testament:

- content of the source: As one of many flood myths found in human cultures, the narrative recounts God's intent to return the Earth to its pre-creation state of watery chaos by flooding the Earth because of humanity's misdeeds and then remake it using the microcosm of Noah's ark. Thus, the flood was no ordinary overflow but a reversal of creation.[6] The narrative discusses the evil of mankind that moved God to destroy the world by the way of the flood, the preparation of the ark for certain animals, Noah, and his family, and God's guarantee (the Noahic Covenant) for the continued existence of life under the promise that he would never send another such flood. - historical interpretation: In the Genesis account, the flood occurs because God judges humanity. In Genesis 6:5-8, the LORD judged "man" for being wicked and evil. In verses 6:11-22, God judged "all flesh" for being corrupt and violent. The judgment in verses 6:5-8 is thought to have been written earlier and later combined with the second. This element of judgment makes the flood story different from the flood in the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Gilgamesh story, the flood is mentioned only in passing as part of the Epic tale itself, and appears to have been the result of polytheistic caprice, not the supreme God's moral judgment. However, in the Atrahasis version of the Babylonian flood story (which deals directly with the flood), it is made clear that the flood was sent by the gods to reduce human over-population, and after the flood other measures were introduced to prevent the problem recurring - significance of the piece: The story of the flood to encourage moral conduct. For example, Noah can also be used as an example of Christian perseverance, since he had great faith to build the Ark that God commanded. Origen, Jerome, Augustine and others also employed other allegorical methods to illustrate Christian principles. Being conversant with other flood stories from ancient Mesopotamia as well as the general theology of Genesis will also help us understand the point of this story. The biblical flood is a response by God to the corruption of humanity, save Noah. The flood waters are not a random punishment, however, but an undoing of creation — a return to the state of chaos that existed before God gave order. The waters of chaos had been kept at bay by the firmament, the raqia, which is a solid dome above, and by the earth below. That is how Earth became habitable. When we read that the "fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened", it means that God is letting the barriers give way so that the waters of chaos can crash back down upon the Earth, thus making it uninhabitable again. In other words, God's intention in this story is to bring Earth back to its state of chaos and start over again, with a new "Adam" (Noah). We will read throughout scripture that God's plan of "starting over" will culminate in Jesus, the "last Adam"

Flood myth in Gilgamesh Epic:

- content of the source: The Epic was composed in the form of a poem. The main figure is Gilgamesh, who actually may have been an historical person. The story starts by introducing the deeds of the hero Gilgamesh. He was one who had great knowledge and wisdom, and preserved information of the days before the flood. Gilgamesh wrote on tablets of stone all that he had done, including building the city walls of Uruk and its temple for Eanna. He was an oppressive ruler, however, which caused his subjects to cry out to the "gods" to create a nemesis to cause Gilgamesh strife. In brief, Utnapishtim had become immortal after building a ship to weather the Great Deluge that destroyed mankind. He brought all of his relatives and all species of creatures aboard the vessel. Utnapishtim released birds to find land, and the ship landed upon a mountain after the flood. The story then ends with tales of Enkidu's visit to the underworld. - historical interpretation: The cause of the flood as sent in judgment on man's sins. At first the gods enjoy the leisure the human workers afford them but, in time, the people become too loud and disturb the gods's rest. Enlil, the king of the gods, is especially annoyed by the constant disturbance from below and so decides to lessen the population by sending first a drought, then pestilence and then famine down upon the earth. After each of these plagues, the humans appeal to the god who first conceived of them, Enki, and he tells them what to do to end their suffering and return the earth to a natural, productive state. Enlil, finally, can stand no more and persuades the other gods to join him in sending a devastating flood to earth which will completely wipe out the human beings. Enki takes pity on his servant, the kind and wise Atrahasis, and warns him of the coming flood, telling him to build an ark and to seal two of every kind of animal within. After the waters subside Enlil and the other gods realize their mistake and regret what they have done; yet feel there is no way they can un-do it. At this point Atrahasis comes out of his ark and makes a sacrifice to the gods. Enlil, though only just before wishing he had not destroyed humanity, is now furious at Enki for allowing any one to escape alive. Enki explains himself to the assembly, the gods descend to eat of Atrahasis' sacrifice, and Enki then proposes a new solution to the problem of human overpopulation: create new creatures who will not be as fertile as the last. From now on, it is declared, there will be women who cannot bear children, demons who will snatch infants away and cause miscarriages, and women consecrated to the gods who will have to remain virgins. Atrahasis himself is carried away to paradise to live apart from these new human beings whom Nintu then creates. The story would have served, besides simply as entertainment, to explain human mortality, those misfortunes attendant on childbirth, even the death of one's child. Since overpopulation and the resultant noise had once brought down the terrible deluge which almost destroyed humanity, the loss of one's child could, perhaps, be more easily borne with the knowledge that such a loss helped to preserve the natural order of things and kept peace with the gods. The myth would have served the same basic purpose which such stories always have: the assurance that individual human suffering has some greater purpose or meaning and is not simply random, senseless pain. The Atrahasis, like the story of Noah's Ark, is finally a tale of hope and of faith in a deeper meaning to the tragedies of the human experience. - significance of the piece: it concerns typical polytheistic myths associated with the pagan peoples of the time. However, some Christians have studied the ideas of creation and the afterlife presented in the Epic.

The Melian Dialog:

- content of the source: The people of Melos were Dorians and kin to the Spartans, but were independent of any of the mainland empires. For years, the Athenians had desired to incorporate Melos into their empire for its wealth and strategic location in the Aegean Sea. In 431 BC, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies went to war. In 427 BC, some Melians may have made donations to the Spartan war effort, but otherwise the island remained neutral in the war. In 426 BC, the Athenians sent a small force to ravage the Melian countryside. In 425 BC, the Athenians formally demanded a tribute of fifteen talents (equivalent of 6,000 drachmae), but Melos refused to pay. In the summer of 416 BC, during a truce with Sparta, Athens sent a fleet of 38 ships carrying an army of 3,000 men, led by the generals Cleomedes and Tisias, to conquer the island. After setting up camp on the island, the Athenians sent emissaries who met in private with the rulers of Melos. The emissaries demanded that Melos join the Athenian-dominated Delian League and pay tribute to Athens or face destruction. The Melians rejected the ultimatum. The Athenians laid siege to the city and withdrew most of their troops from the island to fight elsewhere. For months the Melians withstood the siege, but with reinforcements from Athens and the help of traitors within Melos, the Athenians took the city that winter. The Athenians executed all the adult men they caught and sold the women and children into slavery. They then settled 500 of their own colonists on the island. In 405 BC, with Athens losing the war, the Spartan general Lysander expelled the Athenian settlers from Melos and restored the survivors of the original Dorian colony to the island. - historical interpretation: The Melian Dialogue is a dramatic set-piece debate inserted by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides in his History of the Peloponnesian War concerning the invasion of the island of Melos by Athens in 416 BC. It dramatizes the negotiations between the emissaries of the Athenian invaders and the rulers of Melos. The Athenians demanded that Melos submit and pay tribute or be destroyed. The Athenians appealed to the Melians' sense of pragmatism, citing the overwhelming odds, whereas the Melians appealed to the Athenians' sense of decency and fear of the gods. Neither side was able to sway the other and the negotiations failed. The Athenians subsequently conquered Melos and mercilessly slaughtered or enslaved its inhabitants. - significance of the piece:

*** 1) Know how scholars define the concept of myth and how they use myths to gain a better understanding of the cultural values and social attitudes of peoples of the past. Be familiar with what role myths played in the primal civilizations of the ancient Near East. Be able to give examples of specific myths. To what extent do myths represent the experience of specific civilizations or reflect common human concerns?

- definition of myth: A symbolic narrative, Myths are specific accounts of gods or superhuman beings involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a time that is unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience - use of myths: 1. A story that is or was considered a true explanation of the natural world (and how it came to be). 2. Characters are often non-human - e.g. gods, goddesses, supernatural beings, first people. 3. Setting is a previous proto-world (somewhat like this one but also different). 4. Plot may involve interplay between worlds (this world and previous or original world). 5. Depicts events that bend or break natural laws (reflective of connection to previous world). 6. Cosmogonic/metaphysical explanation of universe (formative of worldview). 7. Functional: "Charter for social action" - conveys how to live: assumptions, values, core meanings of individuals, families, communities. 8. Evokes the presence of Mystery, the Unknown (has a "sacred" tinge). 9. Reflective and formative of basic structures (dualities: light/dark, good/bad, being/nothingness, raw/cooked, etc.) that we must reconcile. Dualities often mediated by characters in myths. 10. Common theme: language helps order the world (cosmos); thus includes many lists, names, etc. 11. Metaphoric, narrative consideration/explanation of "ontology" (study of being). Myths seek to answer, "Why are we here?" "Who are we?" "What is our purpose?" etc. - life's fundamental questions. 12. Sometimes: the narrative aspect of a significant ritual (core narrative of most important religious practices of society; fundamentally connected to belief system; sometimes the source of rituals) *** - role myths played in the primal civilizations of the ancient Near East: There are no specific written records explaining Mesopotamian religious cosmology that survive to us today. Nonetheless, modern scholars have examined various accounts, and created what is believed to be an at least partially accurate depiction of Mesopotamian cosmology. In the Epic of Creation, dated to 1200 BCE, it explains that the god Marduk killed the mother goddess Tiamat and used half her body to create the earth, and the other half to create both the paradise of šamû and the netherworld of irṣitu.[16] A document from a similar period stated that the universe was a spheroid, with three levels of šamû, where the gods dwelt, and where the stars existed, above the three levels of earth below it. Representation of the Goddess Ishtar, winged and wearing a version of the horned cap of divinity. Detail of the so-called "Ishtar vase", early 2nd millennium BCE. Mesopotamian religion was polytheistic, thereby accepting the existence of many different deities, both male and female, though it was also henotheistic, with certain Gods being viewed as superior to others by their specific devotees. These devotees were often from a particular city or city-state that held that deity as its patron deity, for instance the God Enki was often associated with the city of Eridu, the God Ashur with Assur and Assyria, Enlil with Nippur, Ishtar with Arbela, and the God Marduk was associated with Babylon. Though the full number of gods and goddesses found in Mesopotamia is not known, around two thousand four hundred that we now know about, most of which had Sumerian names. In the Sumerian language, the gods were referred to as dingir, while in the Akkadian language they were known as ilu and it seems that there was syncreticism between the gods worshipped by the two groups, adopting one another's deities. The Mesopotamian Gods bore many similarities with humans, and were anthropomorphic, thereby having humanoid form. Similarly, they often acted like humans, requiring food and drink, as well as drinking alcohol and subsequently suffering the effects of drunkenness, but were thought to have a higher degree of perfection than common men. They were thought to be more powerful, all-seeing and all-knowing, unfathomable, and, above all, immortal. One of their prominent features was a terrifying brightness (melammu) which surrounded them, producing an immediate reaction of awe and reverence among men. In many cases, the various deities were family relations of one another, a trait found in many other polytheistic religions. Initially, the pantheon was not ordered, but later Mesopotamian theologians came up with the concept of ranking the deities in order of importance. - extent myths represent specific civilizations and concerns: Akhenaton worshipped Aten rather than Amon-Ra, which made his civilization more monotheistic, though it did not last. The deities provided a higher being to obey in order to maintain order and civilization. The gods were not viewed mystically, but were instead seen as high-up masters who had to be obeyed and feared, as opposed to loved and adored. Nonetheless, many Mesopotamians, of all classes, had names that were devoted to a certain deity; this practice appeared to have begun in the third millennium BCE among the Sumerians, but also was later adopted by the Akkadians as well. The myths further enabled the polytheistic society and shaped society's manner of actions. Their mythology also gave them answers to the natural world and cosmological forces.

7) To what extent was Athenian democracy a successful experience? How can you explain its eventual demise?

- extent Athenian democracy a successful experience: - Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century B.C. in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica and is the first known democracy in the world. Other Greek cities set up democracies, most following the Athenian model, but none are as well documented as Athens. - It was a system of direct democracy, in which participating citizens voted directly on legislation and executive bills. Participation was not open to all residents: to vote one had to be an adult, male citizen who owned land and wasn't a slave, and the number of these "varied between 30,000 and 50,000 out of a total population of around 250,000 to 300,000."[1] - The longest-lasting democratic leader was Pericles. After his death, Athenian democracy was twice briefly interrupted by oligarchic revolutions towards the end of the Peloponnesian War. It was modified somewhat after it was restored under Eucleides; and the most detailed accounts of the system are of this fourth-century modification rather than the Periclean system. Democracy was suppressed by the Macedonians in 322 BC. The Athenian institutions were later revived, but how close they were to a real democracy is debatable. Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508/7 BC), an aristocrat, and Ephialtes (462 BC) contributed to the development of Athenian democracy. - The political history of Athens in the classical period is the story of the rise of its Athenian power, the establishment of democracy, and its final destruction as a great power at the hands of the Spartans. If you read Thucydides, you might concluded that there is a moral somewhere in this great tale. The politics of Athens centered on the conflict between the aristocrats who ruled Athens, and the common people. As small farmers began to sell out and lose out to rich landowners in the 600s BCE, political tensions rose, and an aristocratic leader by the name of Solon attempted in 594 a series of laws to ease those tensions. These laws freed all citizens made slaves by debt, canceled much of the debt held by common people, and widened the eligibility for public office to citizens of wealth, even if they were not of noble blood. Solon's efforts helped, but did not end the conflict of the classes. In 546 BCE, another nobleman named Pisistratus, with the support of commoners and rich non-nobles, established a "tyranny" a personal rule over Athens. Under the Pisistratus, Athens expanded its army and navy and invested in building projects in Athens and its colonies. All these policies were of direct benefit to the common Athenian. An aristocrat named Cleisthenes came to rule in 508 BCE after Pisistratus' son was overthrown. Cliesthenes then established the democratic system. He divided the population into "tribes" made up of smaller divisions drawn from different regions. Because the different regions were mixed together, regional or class factions were prevented in elections. Each of the ten tribes elected 50 representatives to make up the ruling Council of 500. Male citizens over the age of 18 was eligible to vote, who numbered about 30,000 (One tenth of the total population.) It was also established that on important matters the entire assembly of citizens would meet to decide. These assemblies usually consisted of about 6000 citizens, which was the quorum required. Citizens over the age of 30 were eligible to sit on juries of 1000 to sit in judgment on criminal or legal matters. - explanation of its eventual demise: - The policy of Athenian expansion and dominance was challenge by Sparta, which formed its own Peloponnesian League to defeat Athens. The narrative of this long, drawn-out war are described in the textbook. In the end Athens is defeated. Its democracy was temporarily dissolved, and its imperial ambitions were ended forever. Thucydides, who wrote a famous history of this war, was an Athenian general in the early phase of the conflict. He is the first great historian of the classical period. He wrote his history of the war because he thought that history might have lessons about what human beings are capable of, and what went wrong in this war. His history was not factual in every detail. The speeches you read in your selections are not literal recordings, but imaginative renderings designed to give an impression of what was said and meant by the actors in the events. When you read Thucydides, consider what lessons Thucydides is drawing from his story, and compare in your mind this history with the history written by the Hebrews about King David. - he golden age of Greek philosophy emerged precisely at the moment that the Athenian Empire was defeated. The defeat seems to have been a stimulus to new questions. Pericles' Athens is destroyed. Has the polis failed? Has humanity failed? What is true politics? What is the human ideal? What is the good? The fundamental concern of Greek philosophy after Socrates might be summed up in one of Socrates's own questions in the Apology: "Who understands the excellence which belongs to men and to citizens?"