Unit 2 Study Guide

Crete

- 4000 years ago, the Mediterranean islands of Santorini and Crete were home to a brilliant civilization known as the Minoans. - Crete had a nice climate and terrain suitable for pasturing and growing orchard crops, which freed the Minoans from heavy reliance on labor intensive agriculture. - Minoan Crete had female priests, female bullfighters and even female boxers. - The Greeks, who called the island Crete, believed that a powerful king named Minos had come to power in Knossos in the days of the Second Palace

Mycenaean story of the Minotaur Aegeus Theseus

- According to one story, one of Minos's sons, wandering around on the northern peninsula for some reason, was killed by Mycenaeans. - As blood price for his son, Minos ordered the Mycenaean cities to supply live boys and girls for the upkeep of the bull man beneath the Knossos palace. - According to Plutarch, this burden was borne by the city of Athens. - For 2 years, the people of Athens sent their sons and daughters to the Minotaur. - By the third year, the Athenian parents were muttering with increasing bitterness against their king Aegeus who seemed helpless against the Minoan tyrant. - In the face of their swelling rage, the prince Theseus - eldest son of Aegeus - volunteered to join the third shipful of tribute to try to fight the Minotaur. - Aegeus, without hope that his son would return, gave the black-sailed tribute ship an additional sail of white. - Theseus promised to hoist the white sail if he overcame the Minotaur and came back unharmed. - If he fell, like the others to the Minotaur's appetite, the pilot would unfurl the black sail so Aegeus would know before the ship reached port. - Once in Crete, Theseus and the other victims were sent into the Labyrinth to be hunted down by the Minotaur until they were eaten or died of exhaustion. - Theseus caught the eye of Minos's daughter, Ariadne. - She gave him, in secret, a ball of string. - When he was taken to the maze, he placed the ball on the ground at the Labyrinth's gate and followed it as it rolled slowly towards the sunken center. - He reached the monster's lair, killed the Minotaur then traced the string back out (having had the forethought to attach the end of it to the doorpost). - He then collected the other prisoners and fled back towards home, having first bored holes in the bottom of the Cretan ships to hinder their pursuit. - In the flush of triumph, Theseus forgot to change the ship's sail. - Seeing the ominous black triangle on the horizon, Aegeus threw himself off the cliff near Athens into the sea. - Theseus arrived, in victory, to a weeping city. - The emerald sea just beyond Athens was known as the Aegean afterwards in his father's memory, according to stories.

Myth of Aeneas

- According to their legend, Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, fell in love with Anchises, a member of the Trojan royal family. - The result was a son named Aeneas. - After the Greeks set Troy ablaze, the story went, Aeneas climbed through the ruins and fled Troy, which was in Asia Minor. - In his journeys that followed, Aeneas learned of a prophecy that he would found a great new kingdom in central Italy, a place called Latium. - After a series of adventures, Aeneas reached Latium and brought the region under his control. - He did not found the city of Rome himself. - That was the work of two much later descendants of Aeneas, the twin brothers Romulus and Remus.

Greek revival after 850 B.C.

- After about 850 BC, the Greek cities had coalesced into three distinct clusters. - The Mycenaean cities of the mainland had buckled three hundred years earlier under the Dorians but they had not entirely disappeared. - What remnants of Myenaean civilization survived lay in the area known as Arcadia, in the center of the southern Greek peninsula, the Peloponnese. - Migrating Mycenaean Greeks had also sailed across the Aegean Sea over to the coast of Asia Minor. - They settled along the shore in villages that grew into cities such as Ephesus. - The mixture of Mycenaean and Asian languages and ways resulted in a distinctive culture which we now call Ionian. - The Ionian Greeks spread back across nearby islands during the Dorian occupation occupying islands of Lesbos, Chios, and Samos among others, before finally returned to Greece itself. - As the Dorian disruption receded into the distant past, the cities of the Greek peninsula entered a period of relative peace. - The cities exchanged culture and language and also fought wars against each other. - Sometime around 800 BC - a very vague, general estimate - this growing sense of a single cultural identity led to the weaving together of a number of different historical traditions into two related epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. - According to later Greek tradition, the composer of these poems was an Ionian named Homer who came either from the Asia Minor city of Smyrna or from the island of Chios - There is ongoing debate about who Homer was. - Theories encompass a single genius to a whole school of poets writing under a single name. - Homer's stories would have begun as oral history and no one is sure when they were written down. - The stories clearly reflect a pre-800 BC world. - The stories of Troy and the heroes who fought against it offered the Dorians, Arcadians and Ionians a mythical shared past. - The stories express the beginnings of a growing identification between Greek cities that separated them from other people - the beginning of a Greek identity.

Roman conquest of the Mediterranean

- After their conquest of the Italian peninsula, the Romans found themselves face to face with a formidable Mediterranean power - Carthage. - Founded around 800 BC by Phoenicians from Tyre, Carthage in North Africa was located in a favorable position for commanding the Mediterranean trade routes and had become an important commercial center. - It was first settled by traders, founded in 814 BC before Rome was even a collection of mud huts - Carthage was called the jewel of the Mediterranean, it was rivaled by no other city on earth. - Little is known about the Carthaginians - they left know written record. - What is known comes from archeology and stories passed down by the Greeks and Romans. - Carthage's god Bal Hamon demanded human sacrifice from African populations. - Carthage gave him its children. - In a sacred ceremony, a priest lifted up a child, strangled it and burned it in a ritual fire. - There are thousands of stones marking the graves of sacrificed babies near Carthage. - Hundreds of children at a time were killed in times of drought or in times of war to repulse an enemy. - Romans claimed that child sacrifice was the root of Rome's hatred for Carthage. - More likely the African empire was in Rome's way - it challenged Rome's power. - By the 3rd century BC, the Carthaginian empire included the coast of northern Africa, southern Spain, Sardinia, Corsica and western Sicily. - Carthage was the largest and richest state in the area. - Romans worried about Carthaginians encroachment on the Italian coast. - In 264 BC, mutual suspicions drove the 2 powers into a lengthy struggle for control of the western Mediterranean.

Alexander the Great

- Alexander was only 20 when he became king of Macedonia. - He was Philip's only legitimate heir - Philip had an illegitimate son but rumor had it that Philip's crazy wife poisoned the child to make him feebleminded - there is no proof of this, but given the nature of the Macedonian court, it's not unlikely. - In 343 BC, he invited the Greek philosopher Aristotle to come to Macedonia to act as Alexander's tutor - a well-paid post that Aristotle accepted. - Alexander was a very smart child, and he gained military experience fighting in Greece as a teenager. - In 337, before Philip could remarry, he was killed by an ex-male lover who was angry at being rejected. - Lots of people suspected that Alexander, who hated his father, was involved in the assassination. - The assassin was killed by the king's bodyguards immediately after the attack so no proof existed of Alexander's involvement, but it was all very convenient for him. - Alexander inherited a kingdom divided by resentment and hatred. - After his father's assassination, Alexander moved quickly to assert his authority, securing the Macedonian frontiers and smothering a rebellion in Greece. - Various Greek cities had declared their secession from the Corinthian League. - Athens even had an ill-judged festival day in celebration. - Alexander marched straight for the rebels with his Macedonian troops, reconquering Greece as he went. It didn't take long to reconquer Greece. - Alexander was now king of the Greeks, something that no Spartan or Athenian hero had ever managed to pull off. - He then turned his attention to the Persian Empire in Asia Minor {present day Turkey} and the Middle East.

Horace

- Another prominent poet was Horace 65-8 BC a friend of Virgil's. - Horace was a very sophisticated writer whose overriding concern was to point out to his contemporaries the "follies and vices of his age." - In the Satires, a medley of poems on a variety of subjects, Horace is revealed as a detached observer of human weaknesses. - He directed his attacks against movements, not living people, and took on such subjects as sexual immorality, greed, and job dissatisfaction.

Decline of Mycenaean Civ. Dorians

- Around 1200 BC, a rash of fires spread across the Greek peninsula. - The Mycenaean city of Sparta burned to the ground. - The city of Mycenae itself fought off an unknown enemy. - The fortresses survived damaged, but the houses outside the walls were left in ash. - The city of Pylos was swept by fire and a score of other towns were shattered by some other disruption. - Archeology suggests that the cities were resettled by new people who had no knowledge of writing (none appears in their remains}, no skill in building with stone and no gasp of bronze working. - These new settlers came from the northern part of the peninsula and were moving south - Historians call them Dorians. - Both Thucydides and Herodotus credit the Dorians with a massive armed takeover of the Mycenaean cities. - The actual historical records provide a slightly different story. - Pylos and Mycenae burned as much as 90 years apart, which means that the Dorina influx spread slowly over the peninsula over the course of a century. - It's not clear why Mycenaean defenses were unable to repel the attacks. - It appears that the population of cities like Athens and Sparta had already shrunk dramatically before the Dorians arrives, the populations were already weak and disorganized. - There could have been years of bad weather and low harvests, drought or some other natural disaster like illness that wiped out the populations and allowed the Dorians to walk in. - There is some evidence to suggest that an outbreak of bubonic plague might have decimated populations. - In any case, a dark age occurred in Greek civilization.

Barbarian invasion

- Barbarian was the Roman word for people with no written language. - By the 2nd century AD, barbarians poured into southern Europe - no one knows why - and they wanted a place for themselves in the empire. - Tribe after tribe came into Roman territory putting pressure on every Roman frontier. - When German tribes attacked Rome's borders in 167 AD, it marked a bleak milestone. - For the first time since Hannibal's invasion, Rome was on the defensive. - For the next century, wave after wave of migrating people flowed into Roman territory, Goths, Franks, Persians, Visigoths and more. - The edges of the empire would gradually crumble until there would be no more Roman empire.

Julius Caesar Marcus Crassus Naius Pompey

- By 79 BC, Roman history would be characterized by 2 important features: jostling for power by a number of powerful individuals and the civil wars generated by their conflicts - Three powerful individuals came to hold enormous military and political power, Marcus Crassus, Niaus Pompey, and Julius Caesar. - Marcus Crassus, who was known as the richest man in Rome, had successfully put down the major slave rebellion held by Spartacus. - Pompey had returned from a successful military command in Spain in 71 BC and had been hailed as a military hero. - Julius Caesar had been a spokesman for the popular classes from the beginning of his career and had a military command in Spain. - In 60 BC, Caesar joined with Crassus and Pompey to form a coalition called the First Triumvirate. - The combined wealth and power of these men gave them enormous political power. - In 53 BC Crassus was killed in battle and soon after Caesar and Pompey ended up in a civil war for power of Rome

Etruscans

- By about 1OOO BC, about the same time as the Romans arrived in Italy, a more highly developed people known as Etruscans had settled in Italy bringing their culture with them. - In their earliest development, the Romans were influenced most by the Etruscans. - The Etruscans were a literate people who left behind a considerable body of writing. - Their language is poorly understood, so most of what we know about them derives from archeological remains plus whatever the Romans wrote about them. - The Etruscans were excellent metal smiths and builders - much of their wealth came from iron ore, copper and tin - they had rich underground deposits. - As early as 7OO BC, they had developed deep mine shafts and were trading metal work as far as Syria and Portugal. - The Romans appear to have learned the techniques of building arches from them. - Etruscans were incredible artists and sculptures as well. - They portrayed open affection between men and women in art - and a greater position for women than the Greeks provided. - The Romans grew up in shadow of the Etruscans. - The first Romans were primitive, trough backwoodsmen who resented the Etruscans but learned from them. - Etruscans were rigidly divided by class and brutal games reinforced class boundaries - The Etruscans introduced the Romans to the blood sport of gladiatorial contests. - They staged games at funerals of important men - the losers of these games were killed - their blood symbolized the prestige of the dead man and was an offering to his spirit. - Wrestlers were slaves captured in war - their lives were worth nothing - only their deaths were significant. - Human sacrifice was common through the region in that era. - Romans inherited taste for sacrificial blood - their later gladiatorial games reflected this

Servius Tullius Tarquinius

- By the 500s BC, Rome was a thriving province of the Etruscan world - ruled by Etruscan kings. - It was a city of brick now and absorbed people from surrounding lands making it grow quickly. - What set Rome apart from other similar cities was its ability to organize itself. - The man who reshaped Roman society was an Etruscan king named Servius Tullius. (578-535 BC). - Tullius never became as famous as other Roman rulers but was very important to Roman development. - He carried out Rome's first census and graded Roman citizens according to status and prestige. - He laid out detailed obligations of every Roman citizen to the city but also gave Romans rights. - Romans were given a say in how city was run depending on their contribution to the city. - He laid groundwork of representational government, and formed a Senate so people could contribute to politics. - All social classes contributed soldiers to Rome's defenses. - Tullius didn't create equality or democracy but he created a level or organization unheard of in ancient world. - He did more for Rome than anyone else, but he was brought down by intrigue. - Tullius' own daughter wanted her husband Tarquinius on the throne. - Her henchmen murdered Servius Tullius. - After this, power and paranoia when hand and hand in Rome. - For almost two centuries, Rome had been ruled by Etruscans kings and nobles and things had gone pretty well. - However, under Tarquinius brutality and decadence spread - political murder became the norm to eliminate opposition. - Romans came to hate the Etruscans

Commodus

- Commodus epitomized the problems Rome faced. - Commodus succeeded his father Aurelius in 18O AD. - He had been traumatized by an early attempt on his life, so he shunned all public appearances and left Rome in the hands of his closest advisors. - As they terrorized Rome, Commodus amused himself in the palace. - He maintained a harem of hundreds of young girls and boys and abused them at his whim. - His lifestyle was funded by bribes and corruption. - Resentment developed throughout the empire. - In 19O AD, the poor rioted - they believed Commodus had deliberately hoarded grain to increase his profits. - After 9 years as a recluse, he was forced to play a more public role in the empire and the results were disastrous. - He demanded that he be made a living god and took the title Hercules. - He appeared in a lion skin wielding a club on all public occasions. - When a huge fire consumed Rome in 191 AD, he proposed the rest of the city be destroyed and a new one be built in his honor. - On Nov. 17 192 AD, people flocked to the Colosseum in Rome for traditional games. Commodus decided to fight as a gladiator, something that was completely unacceptable for a Roman Emperor. - Commodus decided the join the slaves and criminals who usually fought in the Colosseum - an emperor would appear in the arena as a gladiator. - Commodus won but his victory was short lived. - He was assassinated Dec. 31, 192 because he planned to be inaugurated as a Consul the next day dressed up as a gladiator. - It was an affront to everything Roman. - It would be like if an American president wanted to be inaugurated wearing a football uniform. - It was an insult to Roman's political way of life. - His assassination did not help things - problems were deeper in the foundation of Roman society

Greek Drama

- Drama as we know it was created by the Greeks and was clearly intended to do more than entertain. - It was used to educate citizens and was supported by the state for that reason. - Plays were presented in outdoor theatres as part of religious festivals. - The form of Greek plays remained rather stable - three male actors who wore masks acted all the parts - a chorus (also male) spoke the important lines that explained what was going on. - Action was very limited because the emphasis was on the story and its meaning. - Content generally based on myths or legends that the audience already knew. - The first Greek dramas were tragedies, plays based on the suffering of a hero and usually ending in disaster. - Aeschylus (525-456 BC) is the first tragedian whose plays are known. - Although he wrote 90 tragedies, only 7 have survived. - Plots were simple - entire dramas focused on a single tragic event and its meaning. - Another great Athenian playwright was Sophocles (496-406 BC) whose most famous play was Oedipus the King - the oracle of Apollo foretells how a man (Oedipus) will kill his own father and marry his mother. - The third Athenian tragedian was Euripides (485-406 BC) tried to create more realistic characters - his plots became more complex and reflected a greater interest in real-life situations. - The greatest of his plays was The Bacchae which dealt with the introduction of hysterical rites associated with Dionysus, god of wine. - Euripides is often seen as a skeptic who questioned tradition and religious values - he was especially critical of traditional view that war was glorious. - He portrays war as brutal and barbaric and expressed deep compassion for the women and children who suffered from it. - Greek tragedies deal with universal themes still relevant today. - They explored problems such as the nature of good and evil, the conflict between spiritual values and the demands of the state or family, nature of divine forces, rights of the individual. - Humans were free and yet could operate with only limitations imposed by the gods - the real task was to cultivate the balance with moderation that led to awareness of one's true position. - Pride in human accomplishment and independence was an important theme. - Greek comedy developed later than tragedy. - Aristophanes (450-385 BC) was one of the most famous creators of comedies. He usually savagely satirized both politicians and intellectuals.

Epicureans Epicurus

- Epicurus {341-270}was the founder of Epicureanism and established a school in Athens near the end of the 4th century BC. - Epicurus famous belief in doctrine of pleasure began with his view of the world. - He did not deny the existence of gods, but believed they played no active role in the world - the universe ran on its own. - This left humans free to follow self-interest as a basic motivating force - happiness was the goal of life and the means to achieving it was the pursuit of pleasure, the only true good. - But the pursuit of pleasure was not meant in a physical hedonistic sense. - Epicurus wrote: "We, therefore, maintain that pleasure is the end, we do not mean the pleasures of profligates and those that consist in sensuality, as is supposed by some who are either ignorant or disagree with us or do not understand, but freedom from pain in the body and from trouble in the mind. For it is not continuous drinkings and revellings, nor the satisfaction of lusts, not the enjoyment of fish and other luxuries of the wealthy table, which produce a pleasant life but sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and avoidance and banishing mere options to which are due the greatest disturbance of spirit." - Pleasure was not satisfying one's desire in an active gluttonous fashion but rather freedom from emotional turmoil, freedom from worry, the freedom that came from a mind at rest. - To achieve this passive pleasure, one had to free oneself from public activity: "We must release ourselves from the prison of affairs and politics" which were too strenuous to give peace of mind. - But this was not a renunciation of all social life, for to Epicurus, a life could only be complete when it was centered on the basic ideal of friendship: "of all the things which wisdom acquired to produce the blessedness of the complete life, far the greatest is the possession of friendship." - Epicurus own life in Athens was an embodiment of his teachings - he and his friends created their own private community where they could pursue their ideal of true happiness.

Minoan Religion

- For the Minoans, human fate rested in hands of gods - the gods influenced everything from crop failure to earthquakes and had to be appeased every day. - Although Minoan culture was relatively peaceful, there is some evidence of human sacrifice. - Hidden under a mountain is an underground building with a cripte with human remains - In underground chambers, art depicts sacrifices although usually animals. - Priestess presided over these religious rites in spaced not available to anyone else.

Problems faced by the poor

- For the poor, there were overcrowded streets, high rent so families all in one room apartments, and travel at night could be dangerous. - The poor lived in apartment blocks where apartments might be 6 stories high and poorly constructed from concrete - they were prone to collapse. - The use of wooden beams in floors in addition to movable stoves, torches, candles and lamps within rooms for heat and light made the danger of fire a constant threat. - Once fires started they were extremely difficult to put out.

Blood sports Gladiator games

- Gladiatorial games came to be an integral part of Roman society. - They took place in amphitheaters. - In most cities and towns, amphitheaters came to be the biggest buildings - where a society invests its money indicates its priorities. - Since the amphitheater was the primary location for gladiatorial games, it's safe to say that public slaughter was an important part of Roman culture. - Arenas were true heart and soul of empire - the emperor controlled everything and could take animals from all over the empire. - Enormous resources were invested in the capture and shipment of animals for slaughter and whole species were hunted to extinction in parts of the empire. - In a single year, 8O AD, the emperor Titus staged the slaughter of 9,000 wild animals tarenas for frenzied crowds. - In the morning would be an animal hunt - at midday criminals would be executed - crucifixion and burning at the stake were common - crowds preferred to have prisoners attacked by wild animals - gladiator games took place in the evening. - Most gladiators were criminals, slaves or POWs specially trained to fight in the arena. - If they fought bravely and won they might gain freedom. - The stench of death was so powerful in the arena that specially installed sprinkler systems sprayed perfume into the audience. - The games were considered successful more brutal they were, and the public became addicted to the games. - Some Roman intellectuals worried about influence of so much violence on the viewers - it made people cruel and greedy and devalued life.

Problems caused by slavery

- However, most work was done by slave labor. - By the 1st century AD, the number of slaves had skyrocketed - 1 in 3 inhabitants in Roman empire were slaves - they did everything and their owners feared them. - Slaves were treated really badly - most had no real hope of liberty. - Their only option was organized rebellion, which happened periodically - Slaves probably made up 20 to 30 percent of the population.

Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus

- In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus a member of the aristocracy and a new tribune came to believe that the underlying cause of Rome's problems was the decline of the small farmer. - He decided to sponsor a land reform bill. - Tiberius bypassed the Senate where he knew his rivals would oppose the proposal and had the council of plebs pass the land reform bill that authorized the government to reclaim public land held by large landowners and distribute it to landless peasants. - Many Senators themselves large landowners whose estates included large tracts of public land were furious and a group of senators had Tiberius assassinated. - His efforts were continued by his brother Gaius who also pushed for land re-distribution - he was also murdered by senators in 121 BC. - The attempts of the Gracchus brothers to bring reforms had opened the door to more instability and further violence.

Knossos

- In 1899, an Englishman, Arthur Evans began looking for Minos by excavating on the Greek Island of Crete. Legend had identified the city of Knossos on Crete as the capital of the mighty empire ruled over by a ruler named Minos. - The civilization Evans found at Knossos dated back even earlier than Greek civilizations uncovered by Schliemann - They eventually built a palace at Knossos, a settlement just inland from the center of the northern coastline, a strategic place to keep tabs on the east and west ends of the island - Sometime around 1720 BC, an earthquake knocked down the early palace at Knossos. - The Greeks, who called the island Crete, believed that a powerful king named Minos had come to power in Knossos in the days of the Second Palace

Emperor Augustus (31 BC-14 AD)

- In 27 BC, Octavian proclaimed the "restoration of the Republic." He understood that only traditional republican forms would satisfy the senatorial aristocracy. - He was also aware that the Republic could not be fully restored and managed to arrive at a compromise that worked at least during his lifetime. - In 27 BC, the Senate awarded him the title of Augustus - "the revered one." - He preferred the title Princes meaning "chief citizen" or "first among equals." - In the new constitutional order that Augustus created, the basic governmental structure consisted of the princes (Augustus) and an aristocratic Senate. - Augustus retained the Senate as the chief deliberative body of the Roman state - its decrees, screened in advance by the Augustus, now had the effect of law. - Augustus gradually took over more power always maintaining legal forms, which made him very popular. - The army took an oath of allegiance to the Augustus and the he provided pay and land to the army. This bound the army to the Emperor. - The army had a single leader and Rome finally had peace. - The Roman historian Tacitus commented "Indeed, he attracted everybody's goodwill be the enjoyable gift of peace... Opposition did not exist." - Augustus inaugurated a new system for governing the provinces. He assigned legates to govern them rather than appointing provincial governors. - Legates were from the senatorial class and held office as long as the emperor chose to keep them. - The Senate continued to designate governors for some provinces but the authority of Augustus enabled him to overrule the senatorial governors and establish a uniform imperial policy. - Augustus also stabilized the frontiers of the Roman Empire - He conquered the central and maritime Alps then expanded Roman control of the Balkan Peninsula up to the Danube River. - His attempt to conquer Germany failed when three Roman legions were massacred in 9 AD in the Teutoburg Forest by a coalition of German tribes. - This defeat severely dampened Augustus' enthusiasm for continued expansion and the Romans became content to use the Rhine River as the frontier between the Roman provinces of Gaul and the German tribes to the east

Attack by the Gauls

- In 386 BC, the Celts from Gaul attacked Rome from across the alps. The Romans considered them barbarians. - The Gauls had been pushed out of their own territory and wanted a new place to live. - The Romans refused to give them land and Roman leaders insulted the Gauls. - The Gauls descended on Rome and the Romans were unprepared to fight against the savagery of the Gauls. - The Romans had to barricade themselves inside Rome and hope the Gauls would go away. - The Gauls eventually ransacked Rome and forced the Romans to pay the Gauls everything they had to get the Gauls to leave and find a home somewhere else. - Rome rose from this devastation stronger and more determined than ever not to let that happen again.

Lucretia

- In 510 BC, a woman named Lucretia was spark that set everything on fire. - She was well loved for kindness, beauty and loyalty - she represented everything Romans thought they had and the Etruscans didn't - honor, virtue and bravery. - One day, Tarquinius' son decided to spy on upper class women. - The found their own wives partying, but Lucretia was hard at work. - The next night, when he knew Lucretia's husband was away, one of Tarquinius' sons raped her and threatened to kill her if she told. - Next day, she killed herself after revealing what happened to her husband. - The Romans went wild and mobs tore through the streets and attacked the Etruscans wherever they found them. - The Romans overthrew the Etruscans and vowed that they would never again live under a king again.

Tiber River

- Located 18 miles inland on the Tiber river Rome had access to the sea and yet was far enough inland to be safe from pirates. - It was built on famous seven hills, so it was easily defended

Aegean Sea

- Migrating Mycenaean Greeks had also sailed across the Aegean Sea over to the coast of Asia Minor. - The Greeks were excellent traders and Greek merchant ships would have been common sights across the Aegean Sea and eventually made their way to Italy. - By 477, under the leadership of the Athenian aristocrat Aristides, Athens allied with city states exposed to possible Persian retaliation - in northern Greece, on the islands of the Aegean Sea and along the western coast of Anatolia

games - Minoan

- Minoans had sufficient leisure time to engage in communal games and sports - dancing, foot racing and boxing. - They were also gifted innovators and engineers, building excellent stone roads and indoor running water, which was not available to western royalty until the 17th century AD. - They used knowledge of water pressure to build drainage and sewage systems, and their building included massive columns and staircases. - Minoan art was unequaled in the ancient world with fantastic paintings - mostly murals - and incredible sculptures.

Livy - Historian

- Most of what we know about the birth of Rome comes decades later from one of its greatest historians, Livy {59 BC-17AD} - Livy lived at a time when the glory of Rome at height but Rome on verge of decline. - He set out to write a history of early Rome with stories handed down through the centuries - a mixture of facts and fiction. - Livy believed Rome's mythological origins would reveal stories of heroism and nobility that Romans needed to clean up their act. - The stories he actually found about Rome's origins were short on stoic virtues and long on murder, rape, fratricide. - Livy discovered that older stories sounded a lot like his present times. - The violence of early Romans was born of desperation. The Romans were shunned by other people, but they welcomed outcasts. - When Livy died, he had written 142 volumes - all written in wax. His series was a bestseller but it had no effect on moral chaos of the empire.

Olympic Games

- Most remarkable, the Greek cities joined together in a single festival to honor the god Zeus. - The first of these festivals was held {at least according to tradition} in 776 at Olympia. - Olympia had been a religious center for centuries and races of various kinds had long been part of the sacrifices and rituals there. - In 776, the king of Elis, a small city just northwest of Olympia was said to have journeyed to the oracle at Delphi to ask how battles between Greek cities might be brought to an end. - The oracle told him to make the games at Olympia into an official festival during which a truce must be declared. - From then on, according to the oldest sources, official games were held at Olympia once every 4 years. - During the games, an Olympic truce was declared throughout the Greek world. - It lasted first a month then extended to 3 months so that Greeks from farther away could travel to Olympia and back safely. - The games never actually brought peace, but they did remind Greek cities that they were united not only by the same language but by the worship of the same gods and that war was not the only possible relation between them

Plato

- One of Socrates disciples, Plato, is considered by many to be the greatest philosopher of Western civilization. - Unlike his master Socrates, who wrote nothing, Plato wrote a great deal. - In his dialogues, he used Socrates as his chief philosophical debater. - Plato's philosophical thought focused on the essence of reality and was centered in the concept of Ideas or ideal Forms. - According to Plato, a higher world of eternal, unchanging Ideas or Forms has always existed. - To know these Forms is to know truth. - These ideal Forms constitute reality and can only be apprehended by a trained mind which is the goal of philosophy. - The objects that we perceive with our senses are simply reflections of the ideal Forms. - Hence they are shadows while reality is found in the Forms themselves. Government: - Plato's ideas of government were set out in his dialogue titled The Republic. - Based on his experiences in Athens, Plato had come to distrust democracy - it was obvious to him that individuals could not attain an ethical life unless they lived in a just and rational state. - Plato's search for the just state led him to construct an ideal state in which the population was divided into three basic groups - Upper class at the top would become the ruling elite. From this group, philosopher-kings would be chosen to rule - Plato said:"Unless either philosophers become kings in their countries or those who are now called kings and rulers come to be sufficiently inspired with a genuine desire for wisdom; unless, that is to day, political power and philosophy meet together...there can be no rest from troubles...for states, not yet, as I believe, for all mankind. - The second group consisted of citizens who showed courage, the warriors who protected society. - All the rest made up the masses, essentially people not driven by wisdom or courage but by desire - they would be the producers of society, the artisans, tradesmen, and farmers. - In Plato's ideal state, each group fulfilled its assigned role, creating a society that functioned harmoniously. - The needs of the community rather than the happiness of the individual were Plato's concern, and he focused on the need for the guardians or rulers above all to be removed from any concerns for wealth or prestige so that they could strive for what was best for the community. - Plato wanted rulers to give up private property and family life so they would be free to serve. - He thought women could be rulers as well, which was a sharp break from actual practices in Greece.

Socrates

- One of the critics of the Sophists was Socrates (469-399 BC). - Because he left no writings, we know about him only from his pupils, especially his most famous one, Plato. - By occupation, Socrates was a stonemason but his true love was philosophy. - He taught a number of pupils but not for pay because he believed that the goal of education was only to improve the individual. - He used a method of teaching based on questions and answers to lead students to see things for themselves by using their own reason - Socratic Method. - Socrates believed that all real knowledge is within each person only critical examination was needed to bring it out. - Socrates questioning of authority and public criticism of others lack of knowledge led him into trouble with the authorities in Athens. - Athens had a tradition of inquiry but its defeat in the Peloponnesian War {against Sparta} had created an environment intolerant of open debate and soul-searching. - Socrates was accused and convicted of corrupting the youth of Athens by his teaching and an Athenian jury sentenced him to death.

Nero (54-68 AD)

- One of the worst examples of corruption and abuse of power happened under the reign of Nero 54-68 AD. - Nero freely eliminated people he wanted out of the way including his mother who he had assassinated - Nero was adopted by his grand-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded him to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death. - Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire, but according to the historian Tacitus, he was viewed by the Roman people as compulsive and corrupt. - He ordered theatres built and promoted athletic games. In 64 AD, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex. - Nero was rumored to have had captured Christians dipped in oil and set on fire in his garden at night as a source of light. This view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Nero's reign. 92 Some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's tyrannical acts, but a few surviving sources paint Nero in a more favorable light. - In 68, the rebellion in Gaul drove Nero from the throne. He was denounced as a public enemy who was to be executed, so he committed suicide on 9 June 68 (the first Roman emperor to do so). - His death sparked a brief period of civil wars

Ovid

- Ovid {43 BC - 18 AD} was the last of the great poets of the golden age. Ovid belonged to a young, privileged social group in Rome that ridiculed old Roman values - he wrote a frivolous series of love poems known as the Amores intended to entertain and shock - they achieved their goal. - He also wrote The Art of Love, also poems, -they served as a handbook on the seduction of women.

Macedonians

- Peloponnesian War {431-4O4 BC } severely weakened Greece and destroyed Athens - it opened way for new conquerors in the North to take over. - The Macedonians were viewed as barbarians by their Greek neighbors to the south. - Early in their history, the Macedonians were mostly rural folk and were organized in tribes, not city-states. - Not until the end of the 5th century did Macedonia emerge as an important kingdom.

Greek Philosophy

- Philosophy is a Greek word that literally means "love of wisdom." - Early Greek philosophers were concerned with the development of critical or rational thought about the nature of the universe and the place of divine forces in it. - The Sophists however, were a group of philosophical teachers in 5th century Athens who rejected such speculation as foolishness; they argued that understanding the universe was beyond the reach of the human mind - it was more important for individuals to improve themselves. The only worthwhile object of study was human behavior. - Sophists were wandering scholars who sold their services as professional teachers to the young men of Greece, especially those of Athens. - Sophists stressed the importance of rhetoric (art of persuasive speaking) in winning debates and swaying an audience - a skill especially valuable in democratic Athens. - To the Sophists, there was no absolute right or wrong - what might be right for one person, might be wrong for another. - True wisdom consisted of being able to perceive and pursue one's own good. - Because of these ideas, many people viewed the Sophists harmful to society and especially dangerous to the values of young people

Aristotle

- Plato established a school at Athens known as the Academy. - One of his pupils who studied there for 20 years was Aristotle (384-322 BC) who later became a tutor to Alexander the Great. - Aristotle differed from Plato's theory of ideal form. - Aristotle believed that form and matter were inseparable. - Aristotle wished to analyze and classify things based on thorough research and investigation. - His interests were wide ranging, and he wrote treatises on enormous number of subjects: ethics, logic, politics, poetry, astronomy, geology, biology, and physics. - Like Plato, Aristotle wished for an effective form of government that would rationally direct human affairs. - Unlike Plato, he did not seek an ideal state based on the embodiment of an ideal form of justice but tried to find the best form of government through a rational examination of existing governments. - For his book Politics, Aristotle examined the constitutions of 158 states and arrived at general categories for organizing governments. - He identified 3 good forms of government: monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government. - He warned that monarchy could easily turn into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and constitutional government into anarchy. No system was perfect. - He favored constitutional government as best form for the most people. - Aristotle's philosophical and political ideas played an enormous role in the development of Western thought during the Middle Ages. - So did his ideas on marriage. - Aristotle believed that marriage was meant to provide mutual comfort between man and woman and contributed to the overall happiness of a community: "The community needs both male and female excellences or it can only be half-blessed." - Nonetheless, Aristotle maintained that women were biologically inferior to men - women were female because of inadequacy. Being female meant you had been badly/inadequately made. - Therefore, women must be subordinated to men not only in the community but also in marriage.

Roman army

- Roman legions were a formidable fighting league. - The Roman army was a citizen army and the best trained forces the world had ever seen. - In the early part of their history, Romans claimed that warfare was mostly defensive - to protect themselves against enemies. They insisted that expansion was not their primary goal even though they gained territory. - If Romans thought there might be an attack, they attacked first and took territory. - In this way, they continually advanced their borders. - Romans engaged in almost constant warfare and won most battles. - In the 5th century, Rome was a small city state - two centuries later the Romans had conquered most of Italy - The genesis of their war machine was stealing innovations of others. - The Romans also used many different tactics, and the Roman army was well fed and healthy - this was very important. - Roman soldiers also had extreme, unflinching discipline - if anyone deserted or fled in battle, his entire battalion was severely punished - 1 in 1O men were beaten, stoned, or flogged to death to make an example. - Every Roman soldier knew that retreat was never an option. - In ancient world, retreat was almost always the wrong move. - Bloodiest slaughters occurred when one army turned in panic and ran. - Roman legions did not panic and run. - By 26O BC Rome controlled almost the entire Italian peninsula.

Daily Life in Rome

- Romans valued simplicity. Their clothing was coded for social classes and was relatively simple for everyone. - Their diets consisted of bread, simple vegetable dishes, fruit, roasted meat and wine. - Education was minimal for most people. - Boys received basics of reading, writing and math and learned stories filled with moral tales of figures from Roman history. They also began physical training to prepare for military service. - Girls learned home crafts like spinning, weaving, and sewing

Myth of Romulus and Remus Rhea Silvia

- Romulus and Remus' mother was a priestess named Rhea Silvia in the city of Alba Longa - as part of her job, she was supposed to remain a virgin. - There is much debate and variation as to who was the father of Romulus and Remus. - Some myths claim that Mars appeared and lay with Rhea Silvia; other myths attest that the demi-god hero Hercules was her partner. - In any case, Rhea Silvia was discovered to be pregnant and gave birth to her sons. - It was custom that any Vestal Virgin betraying her vows of celibacy was condemned to death; the most common death sentence was to be buried alive. - However, King Amulius, fearing the wrath of the paternal god (Mars or Hercules) did not wish to directly stain his hands with the mother's and children's blood. - So, King Amulius imprisoned Rhea Silvia and ordered the twins' death by means of live burial, exposure, or being thrown into the Tiber River. - He reasoned that if the twins were to die not by the sword but by the elements, he and his city would be saved from punishment by the gods. - He ordered a servant to carry out the death sentence, but in every scenario of this myth, the servant takes pity on the twins and spares their lives. - The servant, then, places the twins into a basket onto the River Tiber, and the river carried the boys to safety. - The river god Tiberinus ensured their safety by calming the river, and he caused their basket to catch in the roots of a nearby fig tree. - The twins were first discovered by a she-wolf or lupa, who suckled them, and they were fed by a wood-pecker. - Eventually, they were discovered and cared for by a shepherd and his wife: Faustulus and Acca Larentia. - The two boys grew up to be shepherds like their adoptive father. - One day while they were herding their sheep, they were met by shepherds of King Amulius. - These shepherds started a fight with Romulus and Remus in which Remus was captured and taken before King Amulius. - Romulus gathered and incited a band of local shepherds to join him in rescuing his brother. - King Amulius believed that Rhea Silvia's children were dead; he did not recognize Remus or Romulus. - Romulus freed his brother, and in the process killed King Amulius. - People offered them the crown but they refused. - They left Alba Longa seeking to found their own city, and each set out to find the best locale. - The brothers quarrelled over the location of the foundation of their new city. - In order to settle their disagreement, they agreed to consult augury; augury is a type of prophecy in which birds are examined and observed to determine what actions or persons the gods favour. - Each brother prepared a sacred space on their respective hills and began to watch for birds. - Remus claimed to have seen six birds, while Romulus said he saw twelve birds. - Romulus asserted that he was the clear winner by six birds, but Remus argued that since he saw his six birds first, he had won. - The brothers remained at a standstill and continued to quarrel until Romulus began to dig trenches and build walls around his hill: the Palatine Hill. - In response, Romulus killed Remus - first king of Rome was bathed in his brother's blood. He would not be the last. - According to legend, these brothers laid the city's foundations in 753 BC

Mycenae

- Since Schliemann's dig of 1876 was located in a deserted Greek site called Mycenae, he felt vindicated because the Iliad stated that Mycenae was Agamemnon's place of residence. - While the Minoans of Crete were descending into increasing shabbiness and disorder, the cities on the Greek peninsula north of the island were growing greater. - By 1600 BC, the people of Mycenae (an early Greek city) had begun to bury their rulers in graves well stocked with treasure high on a central hill. - Whoever these kings were, they had gained enough power over their subjects to be treated with honor in death - Their authority didn't extend far beyond Mycenae's walls. - The royal palace at Mycenae was matched by another that dominated the city of Thebes in the northeast. - A third palace stood at Pylos on the southwest coast and a 4th was built at Athens. - The cities on the Greek peninsula, divided from each other by mountain ridges, ruled over themselves. - Despite this independence, the cities shared trade, language, and a culture. - It is from the city of Mycenae, the largest city on the peninsula, that the culture takes its name - all cities were considered inhabited by Mycenaeans by historians. - A tradition preserved by the Greek historian Plutarch (among others tells us that the Minoans and the Mycenaeans fell out with each other very early).

Thera

- Sometime around 1628 BC, the earthquakes around the nearby island of Thera, grew more frequent. - Thera had an active volcano at the center and previous eruptions had taken place. - Shortly afterward, the volcano at the center of the island began to spew pumice. - Two years later, the volcano exploded, turning the island inside out and hurtling 15 ft of ash over the Island. - Enormous boulders flew from the depths of the volcano and rained down like hail. - A gash opened in the side of the island allowing the sea to pour into the crater left by the volcano. - When the eruption finally ended the island was totally destroyed

Myth of Minos Minotaur Daedalus Pasiphae Labyrinth

- Sometime around 1720 BC, an earthquake knocked down the early palace at Knossos. - A new better one was built that seemed to be inhabited by a more powerful king than the Minoans had before. - The Greeks, who called the island Crete, believed that a powerful king named Minos had come to power in Knossos in the days of the Second Palace. - Wishing to rule over the country, King Minos told the people of Crete that he could prove he was divinely chosen for the kingship. - Whatever he prayed for would be given to him by the gods. - The people challenged him to prove his boast so Minos asked Poseidon, god of the ocean, to send him a bull for sacrifice. - Immediately a magnificent bull walked up out of the sea onto the Cretan shore. - It was so magnificent that Minos couldn't bring himself to sacrifice it. - He herded it into his own flock and sacrificed a lesser bull instead. - The Cretans claimed Minos as king but Poseidon was displeased by Minos greed. - Poseidon cursed his wife Pasiphae with lust for the bull. - With the help of the legendary architect Daedalus, Pasiphae and the bull managed a coupling with the help of a wooden cow on wheels. - Pasiphae gave birth to a horrible deformed child, a human figure with the face of a bull. - Minos shut the baby in a prison beneath the Knossos palace. - The prison, which was also designed by Daedalus as punishment for helping Pasiphae, was made of many winding passages that the child - named Asterius by his mother but known as the Minotaur - could never escape. - In this prison, the Labyrinth, the Minotaur grew to adulthood, and Minos fed it human flesh. - After a battle with the inhabitants of the Greek mainland, Minos ordered the Greeks to send seven young men and 7 young women each year to be eaten by the Minotaur.

Sparta - know culture, government and society

- Sparta was no longer simply a Greek city, it was a little kingdom. - In this Spartan kingdom, the conquered Messenians became a whole class of slaves who grew food for their captors. - The Spartans became the aristocracy, a master race of warrior men and mothers of soldiers Power in Sparta: - The Spartan state had a peculiarity not found anywhere else in the ancient world. - It had two kings, descendants of legendary twin brothers who had ruled Sparta generations before. - The Spartan people preferred two kings at odds rather than one directing affairs with unchallenged power. - Kings did not have unlimited power. - There were the priests of Zeus who received oracles from the gods. - Kings could not ignore evil omens without the knowledge of the people. - Kings had the unilateral right to declare war, but they were required to be first in the charge and last to retreat, which undoubtedly kept them from sending the army out into needless battles. - There was a lawmaking council of 28 elders. - A council of citizens over the age of 60 decided on issues that would be presented to an assembly - this assembly of all male citizens did not debate but only voted on the issues put before it be the council of elders. - To make the new military state secure, the Spartans tried to shut out the rest of the world - foreigners who might bring in new ideas were discouraged from visiting Sparta and Spartans were discouraged from travel except for military reasons - the Spartan government did not want foreign ideas that might be dangerous to influence people. - Spartan citizens were discouraged from studying philosophy, literature, or the arts - subjects that might encourage new thoughts. - Real power in Sparta was a strict and unwritten code of laws that governed every aspect of Spartan existence. - Our knowledge of most of the laws comes from the historian Plutarch who lived centuries later. Spartan Men and Military: - At birth each Spartan child was examined by state officials who decided whether it was fit to live. - Infants judged unfit were exposed to die. - Boys were taken from their mothers at the age of seven and put under control of the state. - They lived in military-like barracks and were subjected to harsh discipline to make them tough and given an education that stressed military training and obedience to authority. - At 20, Spartan men enrolled in the army for regular military service. - Although allowed to marry, they continued to live in the barracks and ate all their meals in public dining halls with their fellow soldiers. - Meals were simple, the famous Spartan black broth consisted of a piece of pork boiled in blood, salt, and vinegar causing a visitor who ate in a public dining hall to comment that he now understood why the Spartans were not afraid to die. - Girls who were the future mothers of Spartan warriors were required to dance naked in front of crowds of young men which gave them additional motivation to stay slim. - At 30, Spartan males were allowed to vote in the assembly and live at home, but they stayed in the army until the age of 60. Women: - While their husbands lived in the military barracks until age 30, Spartan women lived at home. - Because of this separation, women had greater freedom of movement and greater power in the household than was common for women elsewhere in Greece. - They were encouraged to exercise and remain fit to bear and raise healthy children. - Many Spartan women upheld the strict Spartan values expecting their husbands and sons to be brave in war. - There is a story that as a Spartan mother was burying her son, an old woman came up to her and said, "you poor women, what a misfortune," "No" replied the mother, "because I bore him so that he might die for Sparta and that is what happened, as I wished" Another Spartan woman, as she was handing her son his shield told him to come back carrying his shield or being carried on it.

Pax Romana

- The Brilliant statesmanship of Augustus inaugurated Rome's greatest age. - For the next 200 years, the Mediterranean world enjoyed the blessings of the Pax Romana, the Roman peace. - The ancient world had never experienced such a long period of peace, order, efficient administration and prosperity.

Marcus Aurelius

- The Emperor Marcus Aurelius presided over the first signs of decline in the Roman world. - Born in 121 AD, Aurelius was groomed from an early age to be Rome's next emperor. - He had 2O years to think about what kind of emperor he wanted to be. - Aurelius believed there was a divine order to things, and as emperor, he wanted to recreate that order in the Roman world. - In 161 AD, Aurelius became emperor - he wanted a peaceful rule. - Later that year, war broke out in the east when barbarians attacked a Roman province. - A deadly plague also broke out in the empire, killing a quarter of Rome's population. - Barbarian invaders exploited the disaster and attacked from the north. - Aurelius spent 8 years on the frontiers fighting for Rome's survival. - He feared it was the beginning of the end - empire might fall to an invading army. - His fears were misplaced - Rome's greatest problems were within. - Aurelius had cancer - he took daily doses of a drug that he hoped would alleviate his suffering. - It didn't and in 18O AD, he died. ● - Aurealius' painful death foreshadowed the painful death of Rome. - Rome suffered from cultural decay - erosion of traditional Roman values. - The Roman empire had been famous for both vices and virtues, but it had been corrupted by wealth and power - its image tainted by images of indulgence and excess.

Carthage Hannibal

- The First Punic War (264-241 BC) began when the Romans decided to intervene in a struggle between two Sicilian cities by sending an army to Sicily. - The Carthaginians who considered Sicily within their sphere of influence considered this just cause for war. - The Romans realized that the war would be long and drawn out if they could not supplement land operations with a navy and promptly developed a substantial navy. - They happened to find a Carthaginian warship that had been abandoned so copied the design and build hundreds. - Roman soldiers figured out how to maneuver their ships close to an enemy ship, build a bridge and board enemy ships - this worked better than trying to fight from a distance. - Romans were good at hand to hand combat. - Carthage had difficulty finding enough mercenaries to continue fighting. - After the long struggle in which both sides lost battles in northern Africa and Sicily, a Roman fleet defeated the Carthaginian navy off Sicily and the war quickly came to an end. - Took 23 years of fighting but 241 BC Romans won the First Punic War. - Romans forced king of Carthage to sign a crushing treaty forcing Carthage to give its entire treasury to Rome - It's said that a young boy witnessed the humiliation of his people that day. He was the son of a Carthaginian general and he vowed revenge - his name was Hannibal. - After the war, Carthage made an unexpected recovery and extended its domains in Spain to compensate for territory lost to Rome. - Carthaginians proceeded to organize a formidable land army in the event of a second war with Rome because they realized that defeating Rome on land was essential to victory. - When the Romans encouraged one of Carthage's Spanish allies to revolt against Carthage, Hannibal, the greatest of the Carthaginian generals struck back beginning the Second Punic War (218-201 BC).

Trading posts throughout the Mediterranean

- The Greeks were excellent traders and Greek merchant ships would have been common sights across the Aegean Sea and eventually made their way to Italy. - The Greek ships that landed on the southern Italian shores traded for metal and grain. - The Greeks gradually established trading posts where Greek merchants often lived for at least part of the year. - Greeks and Greek culture gradually began to spread up the Italian peninsula. - At about the same time, Greek cities began cooperating more fully on religious projects. - The temples of Zeus and Hera at the Greek city of Olympia began to grow in size thanks to pilgrimages made by Greeks from much further away. - Farther north at Delphi, a slightly different kind of shrine, an oracle where a priest or priestess consulted the gods on behalf of Greeks seeking guidance, also attracted distant visitors. - On the Island of Delos, the temple of Apollo and the martial goddess Artemis expanded. - These sacred sites were rapidly becoming "pan-Hellenic", belonging not just to the nearest city but to all speakers of Greek. - They helped create the first Greek alliances as well. - Cities joined together into associations which shared the responsibility for the upkeep of a temple or shrine. - Most remarkable, the Greek cities joined together in a single festival to honor the god Zeus

Greek art

- The arts of the Western world have been largely dominated by the artistic standards established by the Greeks of the classical period. - Greek art generally focused on humans presented as an object of beauty. - Classical style, based on the ideals of reason, moderation, balance, and harmony was meant to civilize the emotions. - In architecture, the most important structure was the temple dedicated to a god or goddess. - Because Greek religious ceremonies were held at altars in the open air, temples were not used to enclose the faithful. - At the center of Greek temples were walled rooms that housed the statues of deities and treasuries in which gifts to the gods and goddesses were safeguarded. - These central rooms surrounded by a screen of columns that make Greet temples open structures rather than closed ones. - Columns were originally made of wood but changed to limestone in the 7th century then to marble in the 5th century. - The most famous building regarded as the greatest example of the classical Greek temple, is the Parthenon built between 447 and 432 BC in Athens - consecrated to Athena the patron god of Athens. - Greek sculpture also developed a classic style that differed significantly from the artificial stiffness of earlier periods. - Statues of the male nude, the favorite subject of Greek sculptors, exhibited more relaxed attitudes and more realistic positions - more lifelike. - Greek sculptors sought to achieve not realism but a standard of ideal beauty. - Polyclitus a 5th century sculptor argued that the use of ideal proportions based on mathematical ratios found in nature, could produce an ideal human form, beautiful in its perfected and refined features.

Herodotus - Historian

- The central theme of Herodotus work is the conflict between the Greeks and the Persians, which he viewed as a struggle between Greek freedom and Persian despotism. - Herodotus traveled widely for his information and depended on oral history for his sources. - Sometimes he included fanciful material and used the book to tell a fictional story, but also he was also capable of taking a critical attitude toward the sources he used. - He provides an important source of information about the Persian War

Homer Iliad and Odyssey

- The cities exchanged culture and language and also fought wars against each other. - Sometime around 800 BC - a very vague, general estimate - this growing sense of a single cultural identity led to the weaving together of a number of different historical traditions into two related epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. - According to later Greek tradition, the composer of these poems was an Ionian named Homer who came either from the Asia Minor city of Smyrna or from the island of Chios - There is ongoing debate about who Homer was. - Theories encompass a single genius to a whole school of poets writing under a single name. - Homer's stories would have begun as oral history and no one is sure when they were written down. - The stories clearly reflect a pre-800 BC world. - The stories of Troy and the heroes who fought against it offered the Dorians, Arcadians and Ionians a mythical shared past. - The stories express the beginnings of a growing identification between Greek cities that separated them from other people - the beginning of a Greek identity.

Importance of Roman Law during the Empire

- The early Roman Empire made especially significant progress in study and codification of law. - A number of jurists classified and compiled basic legal principles that proved extremely valuable to western world. - The Romans developed the concept of natural rights - the idea that all men born equal before the law. - In practice this principle was not applied, especially in the later centuries of the empire, but the idea was important. - The Romans also established standards of justice applicable to all people - a person was regarded as innocent until proven guilty - people accused of wrongdoing were allowed to defend themselves before a judge and judges were expected to weigh evidence carefully before arriving at a decision

Persian Empire

- The first confrontation with the Persians in the battle at Granicus River in 334 BC almost cost Alexander his life but resulted in a major victory for the Macedonians. - By the spring of 333, the entire western half of Asia Minor was in Alexander's hands and the Ionian Greek cities of Western Asia Minor had been as Alexander stated "liberated" from the Persian oppressor, which meant they were now under Alexander's control. - The Persian king, Darius III mobilized his forces to stop Alexander's army. - Although the Persian troops outnumbered Alexander's, the battle of Issus resulted in another Macedonian success. - By the winter of 332, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt were under his domination. - He took the traditional title of pharaoh of Egypt and founded the first of a series of cities named after him, Alexandria. He chose his new city as the Greek administrative capital of Egypt - it became and remains one of Egypt's most important cities. - The next year, Alexander moved into the territory of ancient Mesopotamia fighting a decisive battle with the Persians not far from Babylon. - After his victory, Alexander entered Babylon and proceeded to the Persian capitals at Susa and Persepolis where he acquired the Persian treasuries and took possession of vast quantities of gold and silver. - By 330 Alexander was again in pursuit of Darius and after Darius was killed by one of his own men, Alexander took the title Great King of the Persians. - He was still not content with this, so for the next 3 years, his army moved east and northeast as far as modern Pakistan. - By the summer of 327, he had entered India. - After 2 more years of fighting in exotic and difficult terrain, his exhausted his troops mutinied and refused to go on any further. - Reluctantly, Alexander surrendered to their demands and agreed to return, leading his troops through southern Persia across the Gedrosian Desert where they suffered heavy losses from desert conditions. - Out of an army of 120,000 and 15, 000 cavalry, barely 30, 000 returned home. - Alexander and the remnant of his army went to Susa and then Babylon where he planned still more campaigns but in June 323, weakened from wounds, fever, and probably excessive alcohol he died at the age of 33

Virgil Aeneid

- The high point of Latin literature happened under Augustus. - The most distinguished poet was Virgil 70-19 BC who wrote his greatest works in the Emperor's honor. - Virgil's masterpiece was the Aeneid, an epic poem clearly meant to rival the work of Homer. - The connection between Troy and Rome is made explicit. - Aeneas, the son of Anchises of Troy, survives the destruction of Troy and eventually settles in Latium - hence Roman civilization is linked to the Greeks. - The character of Aeneas is portrayed as the ideal Roman - virtues are duty, piety, and faithfulness. - Virgil's overall purpose was to show that Aeneas had fulfilled his mission to establish the Romans in Italy and thereby start Rome on its divine mission to rule the world.

Valerian

- The low point came in 26O AD with the emperor Valerian. - Valerian had spent entire career fighting Persians to the east with limited success. - With troops ravaged by war and disease, he was forced to negotiate - no other Roman emperor had to do that. - When Valerian arrived in modern day Iraq to the peace talks with the Persians, he was taken prisoner. - He was made to kneel before the Persian emperor so he could step on Valerians neck - it was a devastating blow to Roman pride. - Valerian died in prison and when he died, the Persian king had him flayed, his skin dyed red and his body stuffed and put on display in chief temple. - For Romans it was a symbol of utter military humiliation at hands of foreign power

Livy

- The most famous Latin prose work in the golden age was written by the historian Livy {59 BC - 17 AD} - His masterpiece was the History of Rome from the foundation of the city to 9 BC. - Only 35 of the original 142 books have survived although brief summaries of the whole work from other authors do exist. - Livy perceived history in terms of moral lessons. - He stated: "the study of history is the best medicine for a sick mind; for in history you have a record of the infinite variety of human experience plainly set out for all to see; and in that record you can find for yourself and your country both examples and warnings: fine things to take as models, base things, rotten through and through to avoid." - For Livy, human character was the determining factor in history. - Livy's history celebrated Rome's greatness - it revealed the character of the chief figures but also demonstrated the virtues that had made Rome great. - Livy had serious weaknesses as a historian - he was not always concerned with factual accuracy of his stories, but he was an excellent storyteller and his work remained the standard history of Rome for centuries.

Patricians Plebeians

- The patrician class in Rome consisted of families who were descended from the original senators appointed during the period of the kings. - Their initial prominence was probably due to wealth and great landownership. - Patricians constituted an aristocratic governing class - only they could be consuls, magistrates, and senators. - Through their patronage of large numbers of dependent clients, they could control the centuriate assembly and many other facets of Roman life. - Plebeians constituted the considerably larger group of "independent, unprivileged, poor and vulnerable men" as well as large non-patrician landowners, less wealthy landholders, craftspeople, merchants and small farmers. - Although they were citizens, they did not possess the same rights as the patricians. Both - Both patricians and plebeians could vote but only the patricians could be elected to governmental offices. - Both had the right to make legal contracts but intermarriage between patricians and plebeians was forbidden. - At the beginning of the 5th century BC, the plebeians began a struggle to seek both political and social equality with the patricians. - The first success of the plebeians came in 494 BC when they withdrew physically from the state. - Patricians who could not defend Rome and were forced to compromise - they created 2 new officials called tribunes of plebs - the number of these gradually rose to 10. - These tribunes were given the power to protect plebeians against arrest by patrician magistrates. - In 471 BC, a new popular assembly for plebeians called the Council of the Plebs was created. The tribunes became responsible for convoking it and placing proposals before it. - If adopted, these measures became plebiscita (it is the opinion of the plebs), but they were binding only on the plebs and not on the patricians. - Council of Plebs gave the plebeians considerable political leverage. - After 445 BC when a law allowed patricians and plebeians to intermarry, the division between the two groups became less important. - In the 4th century BC the consulship was opened to plebeians. - The climax of the struggle between the orders came in 287 BC with the passage of a law that stipulated that all plebisciat passed by the council of the plebs had the force of law and were binding on the entire community including patricians. - Theoretically by 287 BC all Roman citizens were equal under the law and all could strive for political office - in reality, as a result of the right of intermarriage, a select number of patrician and plebeian families formed a new senatorial aristocracy that came to dominate political offices. - The Roman Republic had not become a full democracy, but had moved significantly in that direction.

What was Minoan Society like?

- These early people left no writing behind so we don't know exactly who lived in these palaces. - They stood at the center of sprawling towns, and the people of these towns traded with civilizations across the water. - Their brightly painted pottery jars have been uncovered on surrounding islands and along the Nile River and the Mediterranean coast. - Eventually, the Minoans develop a unique form of writing. - The Minoans were relatively peaceful people with cities that had no walls - One of their biggest problems was earthquakes that periodically destroyed everything. - Minoans were good at rebuilding and highly advanced in stonework and painting. - Palaces lacked fortifications, art lacked warlords, and women's clothing was incredibly elegant - It seems to have been a world of peace and prosperity. - Crete had a nice climate and terrain suitable for pasturing and growing orchard crops, which freed the Minoans from heavy reliance on labor intensive agriculture. - People had more leisure that other societies but produce was more diverse, providing greater hedge against famine and allowing for long-distance trade in goods that were less easily produced elsewhere. - Minoans had plentiful wool and various kinds of natural dyes. - They used natural pigments to color wall paintings that have lasted thousands of years. - They exported exotic multi-patterned cloths to Egypt as early as 2000 BC. - Their rulers seem to have gotten along well, and there seems to have been little slavery. - Women took part in public activities - in this regard they were the exception in the ancient world. - Women are frequently depicted in images, shown taking an active part in everything from administration to metal work and especially in religious ceremonies. - Minoan Crete had female priests, female bullfighters and even female boxers. - Men wore simple loincloths but women dressed extravagantly with flaring skirts and plunging necklines - cloths were woven out of brightly contrasting colors. - Minoans had sufficient leisure time to engage in communal games and sports - dancing, foot racing and boxing. - They were also gifted innovators and engineers, building excellent stone roads and indoor running water, which was not available to western royalty until the 17th century AD. - They used knowledge of water pressure to build drainage and sewage systems, and their building included massive columns and staircases. - Minoan art was unequaled in the ancient world with fantastic paintings - mostly murals - and incredible sculptures

Thucydides - Historian

- Thucydides, who followed Herodotus, was by far the better historian; in fact, modern historians consider him the greatest historian of the ancient world. - Thucydides was an Athenian and a participant in the Peloponnesian War {with Sparta} and he had been elected a general. He was defeated in battle and the Athenian assembly sent him into exile, which gave him the opportunity to write his History of the Peloponnesian War. - Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides was not concerned with divine forces or gods as causal factors in history - he saw war and politics in purely rational terms as activities of humans. - He examined the causes of the Peloponnesian War in a clear and objective fashion placing much emphasis on accuracy of his facts. - Thucydides also provided remarkable insight into the human condition - he believed that human nature was a constant but he was not so naïve as to believe in an exact repetition of events. - He noted that similar political situations did recur over the years and felt that the study of history was therefore of great value for understanding the present

Religion in the Dark Ages

- To Greeks, religion meant chiefly polytheistic system for explaining the workings of the physical world and for obtaining earthly benefits such as health, offspring, and abundant harvests. - The Greeks did not expect that their religion would endow them with virtue or grant them everlasting rewards. - Since piety was only a matter of pleasing the numerous gods by means of gifts and sacrifices, modes of worship varied greatly, Greek religion lacked commandments, dogmas, or sacraments. - The multiplicity of gods and goddesses in early Greek religion arose from 2 circumstances. - First, all deities originally were associated with certain regions or cities. - The goddess Pallas Athena, for example, was thought to take a special interest in the well-being of Athens. - Second, the gods and goddesses who continued to be worshipped as regional patrons also became associated with specific blessings that all Greeks could obtain by appropriate invocations. - Zeus, the mightiest of the gods, gathered the storms. If one wished to bring rain or end rains, one gave him gifts. Poseidon might calm the waves, Aphrodite might bring success in love or marriage, Hermes might keep evil spirits away from doorways. - The gods of Greece behaved much like humans. - Individual believers could not rely on the gods' benevolence but had to take divine jealousies and anger as part of the game. - Individuals could only hope to ingratiate themselves with the gods by offering sacrifices and prayers as often as possible. - However, the Greeks perceived no need for a professional priesthood or houses of worship. - Venerable members of a clan or community often presided over collective rites but only as a part time duty. - As for the well-known Greek temples, these were places where the gods were supposed to take up temporary residence rather than locations for human religious assemblages. - Religious rites were usually performed out of doors or at home. - Greeks were largely indifferent to their fate after death. - They assumed that ghosts survived for a while after death but ultimately everyone ended up in Hades, a murky realm beneath the earth - not paradise or hell, no one was rewarded for good deeds or punished for sins.. - The only true hope for immortality was earthly remembrance for one's earthly accomplishments. - Human accomplishments were very important for the Greeks - life should not to be lived in self-abasement but in practicing human virtues such as bravery, wisdom (in the sense of cunning), and service to one's community and family. - Human beauty was also valued. - Other neighboring early civilizations saw humanity as contemptible in comparison to the gods. The Greeks were well aware of forces beyond their control but did what they could to strike a balance between awe of their gods and pride in themselves. - This confidence in human greatness was to characterize Hellenic civilization for centuries to come.

Philip II

- When Philip II (359-336 BC) came to the throne he build an efficient army and turned Macedonia into the chief power of the Greek world, eventually conquering the Greek Peninsula. - The Greeks had mixed reactions to Philips growing strength - Some viewed Philip as a savior who would rescue the Greeks from themselves by uniting them. - Others, especially Athenians portrayed Philip as a ruthless, deceitful, treacherous, and barbaric and called on the Athenians to undertake a struggle against him. - Athens was finally spurred into action - it allied with a number of other Greek states and then waged war against the Macedonians at the Battle of Chaeronea near Thebes in 338 BC. - The Macedonian army crushed the Greeks, and Philip was now free to consolidate his control over the Greek Peninsula. - The independent Greek polis, long the basic political unit of the Greek world, came to an end as Philip formed an alliance of the Greek states in what is called the Corinthian League because they met at Corinth. - Although Philip allowed the Greek city-states autonomy in domestic affairs, he retained the general direction of their foreign affairs. - Many Greeks still objected to being subject to the less civilized master from the north, but Philip insisted that the Greek states end their bitter rivalries and cooperate with him in a war against Persia. - Before Philip could undertake his invasion of Asia to fight the Persians, he was assassinated leaving the task to his son Alexander.

Marc Antony Octavian (Augustus) Cleopatra Battle of Actium

- Within a few years of Caesar's death, two men had divided the Roman world between them - Octavian, Caesar's heir and grandnephew taking the west and Marc Antony, Caesar's ally and assistant the east. - Eventually conflict arose between these two - Antony allied himself with Cleopatra VII, the queen of Egypt, with whom, like Caesar before him, he fell deeply in love. - Octavian began a propaganda campaign accusing Antony of catering to Cleopatra giving away Roman territory to this "***** of the east." - Finally, at the Battle of Actium in Greece in 31 BC, Octavian's forces smashed the army and navy of Antony and Cleopatra. - Both fled to Egypt where according to the account of the Roman historian Florus, they committed suicide a year later. - Octavian at the age of 32 stood supreme over the Roman world - civil wars ended and so did the Roman Republic

Place of women - Minoan

- Women took part in public activities - in this regard they were the exception in the ancient world. - Women are frequently depicted in images, shown taking an active part in everything from administration to metal work and especially in religious ceremonies. - Minoan Crete had female priests, female bullfighters and even female boxers. - Men wore simple loincloths but women dressed extravagantly with flaring skirts and plunging necklines - cloths were woven out of brightly contrasting colors.

Punic Wars Hannibal Publius Cornelius Scipio (Scipio Africanus)

1st Punic War - with Carthage and Rome won taking their land - navies were a big deal 2nd Punic War - This time the Carthaginians decided to bring the war home to the Romans by fighting them in their own back yard. - Two decades after Rome won the first Punic War, Hannibal was a soldier, leader of his nation's military - he was 25 and already a great warrior. - Hannibal had just conquered Spain and was determined to conquer Rome as well. - Attacking Rome would not be easy. - Since Carthage no longer controlled the Mediterranean, Hannibal would have to make the journey by land through Spain and over the Alps with 40,000 men and 37 elephants. - In autumn 218 BC, Hannibal's army worked to cross the Alps - he had extremely well trained troops but the trip over the Alps took a huge toll - by the time they made it over the Alps, 1/3 of army was dead - most of the horses and all but 1 elephant had also died. - Rome still saw Hannibal as a formidable threat - Romans feared that Carthage would bring Spanish and Gauls who also wanted to fight Rome. - The Roman Senate raised 6 new legions, 30,000 men, beginning the Second Punic War. - This time, the deciding factor was not manpower but strategy. - Most Roman commanders at this time were political appointees - had little battle experience - were no match for a man like Hannibal. - Hannibal was a military genius, he could read an enemy and find weaknesses. - In battle after battle, Hannibal humiliated the Romans. - He could win battles even when severely outnumbered. - He gave Rome the worst defeats it had ever suffered. - For 15 years, war against Hannibal dragged on and large areas of Southern Italy defected to him. - Hannibal never lost a single battle - everyone expected him to take Rome - but Rome was heavily fortified and Hannibal didn't have appropriate siege equipment. - Tide didn't turn against Hannibal until the Roman Senate called up a military leader in the same league as Hannibal. - Publius Cornelius Scipio had skills to match Hannibal. - He was the son of a general and survival of earlier battles, and he had studied Hannibal's tactics carefully. - In 2O4 BC, rather than confront Hannibal directly in Italy, Scipio developed a risky plan. - He sailed to Africa and invaded the empire of Carthage forcing Carthage to recall Hannibal from his 17 year torment of Italy. - Scipio and Hannibal would fight Battle of Zama to decide fate of Second Punic War. - The two armies gathered in countryside outside of what is now Tunisia. - It's believed the two men met face to face before the battle in an attempt to make peace, but Scipio refused Hannibal's terms. - Two sides were well matched - 34,000 troops each - Hannibal had elephants but Scipio had new tactics and African cavalry who defected from Hannibal. - Scipio defeated Hannibal at Zama. - Carthage was forced to hand over all warships, elephants and pay reparations so great it would take 2O years for them to pay all the money. - The once great empire was impoverished and stripped of power. - Hannibal escaped and spent several years trying to raise a new army and bring back Carthage but failed. - He eventually went into exile in Greece. - Although he posed no threat, Rome sought him out, determined to capture him - they never found him but Hannibal eventually killed himself. - In 149 BC, Carthage broke the peace agreement with Rome by attacking one it its allies, beginning the Third Punic War. - In 146 BC, Rome destroyed the African empire completely, slaughtering half a million people and razing the city of Carthage. - With Carthage gone, Rome controlled the entire Mediterranean, parts of North Africa, southern Spain and Southern France.

Spread of Greek Culture

- Although the Hellenistic kingdoms encompassed vast areas and many diverse peoples, the Greeks provided a sense of cultural unity as a result of the spread of Greek culture. - Hellenistic era was a period of considerable cultural accomplishment in many areas - literature, art, science, and philosophy. - Although these achievements occurred throughout the Hellenistic world, certain centers, especially the great Hellenistic cities of Alexandria and Pergamum stood out - rich kings there patronized culture. - The Ptolemies in Egypt made Alexandria an especially important cultural center - the library became the largest in ancient times, housing more than 500,000 scrolls and the museum (literally "temple of the Muses") became home to poets, writers, philosophers, scientists, and scholars of all kinds. Art and Literature - The Hellenistic age produced an enormous quantity of literature, most of which has not survived. - Monarchs subsidized writers on a grand scale and the Ptolemaic rulers were especially lavish. - If Alexandria was the center for study, Athens remained the theatrical center of the Greek world - Athenians gradually moved away from tragedy and created new comedy which rejected political themes and sought only to entertain. - The Hellenistic period saw a great outpouring of historical and biographical literature. - Also much work in architecture and sculpture - beautiful cities built - imported Greek structures all over the world - cities included gymnasia, baths, theatres, and temples. - Sculptors traveled throughout the Hellenistic world searching for patrons - they moved away from idealism toward emotionalism and realistic art. Hellenistic Science - The Hellenistic era witnessed a more conscious separation of science from philosophy. - In classical Greece, physical and life sciences had been divisions of philosophical inquiry. - By the time of Aristotle, the Greeks had already established an important principle of scientific investigation - empirical research or systematic observation as the basis for generalization. - In the Hellenistic Age, the sciences tended to be studied in their own right. - One of the traditional areas of Greek science was astronomy and 2 Alexandrian scholars continued this exploration. - Aristarchus of Samos (310-230 BC) developed a heliocentric view of the universe contending that the sun and the fixed stars remained stationary while the earth rotated around the sun - this theory was not widely accepted and most scholars continued to accept a geocentric theory. - Another astronomer Eratosthenes {275-194 BC} determined that the earth was round and calculated the earth's circumference at 24,675 miles within 200 miles of the actual figure. - A third Alexandrian scholar, Euclid, who lived around 300 BC established a school in Alexandria but it primarily known for his work Elements - the standard textbook for plane geometry used up to modern times. - The most famous scientist Archimedes (287-212 BC) was especially important for his work on geometry of spheres and cylinders and for establishing the mathematical constant pi, as well as for creating the science of hydrostatics. - Archimedes was also a practical inventor. - He probably devised the Archimedean screw used to pump water out of mines and lift irrigation water as well as the compound pulley for transporting heavy weights. - During the Roman siege of his native city of Syracuse, he constructed a number of devices to thwart the attackers. Hellenistic Philosophy - Athens remained the home of philosophy and attracted many philosophers from around the Greek world in the decades after Alexander the Great's death. - Two new schools of philosophical thought emerged: Epicureanism and Stoicism.

Stoicism Zeno

- Epicureanism was eventually overshadowed by another school of thought, Stoicism, which became the most popular philosophy of the Hellenistic world and later flourished in the Roman Empire. - It was the product of a teacher named Zeno (335-263 BC) who came to Athens and began to teach in a public colonnade known as the Painted Portico. - Like Epicureanism, Stoicism was concerned with how to find individual happiness but Stoics took a radically different approach to the problem. - To them happiness, the supreme good, could only be found in virtue which meant essentially living in harmony with the divine will. - One achieved happiness by choosing to follow the divine will through the free exercise of one's own will. - To the Stoics, the divine will was the same thing as the will of nature because nature was simply a manifestation or expression of the gods. - "Living according to nature" meant following the divine will or the natural laws that the gods established to run the universe. - Virtuous living then was living in accordance with the laws of nature or submitting to the divine will. - This led to the acceptance of whatever one received in life since the divine will for us was by its nature good. - All contradictions resulted for ultimate good so misfortunes that befall humans are but necessary incidents to the final perfection of the universe. - Everything that happens is rigidly determined in accordance with rational purpose. - No individual is master of his fate - people are only free in the sense that they can accept their fate or rebel against it - either way they can't overcome fate. - Their supreme duty is to submit to the order of the universe and through such an act of resignation the highest happiness will be attained - tranquility of mind follows. - Those who are most truly happy are thus the ones who by the assertion of their rational natures have accomplished a perfect adjustment of their lives to the cosmic purpose and purged their souls of all bitterness and protest against evil turns of fortune. - By accepting divine law, people mastered themselves and gained inner peace. - Life's problems could not disturb such individuals and they could bear whatever life offered - hence the word stoic. - Unlike Epicureans, Stoics did not believe in the need to separate from the world and politics. - Public service was regarded as noble. - The real stoic was a good citizen and could even be a good government official. - Because Stoics believed that a divine principle was present throughout the universe, each human being also contained a divine spark. - This led to a belief in the oneness of humanity. - The world constituted a single society of equal human beings. - Although they were not equal in the outer world, because each contained the divine spark, all were free to follow the divine will. - All people even slaves were equal at the level of the soul. - Epicureanism and especially Stoicism appealed to large numbers of people in the Hellenistic world. - Both of these philosophies focused primarily on the problem of human happiness. - Their popularity would suggest a fundamental change in the character of Greek lifestyle. - In the classical Greek world, the happiness of individuals and the meaning of life were closely associated with the life of the polis. - One found fulfillment within the community. - In the Hellenistic kingdoms, although the polis continued to exist, the sense that one could find satisfaction and fulfillment through life in the polis had weakened. - Not only did individuals seek new philosophies that offered personal happiness, but in the cosmopolitan world of the Hellenistic states, with their mixtures of people, a new openness to thoughts of universality could also emerge.

Athens - culture, government and society

- While Sparta was becoming a bastion of military repression, Athens was evolving in the direction of democracy. - The word democracy is a Greek coinage meaning "power of the people" - Athens was the city-state that cultivated democracy to the fullest. - By 700 BC Athens had established a unified polis on the peninsula of Attica. - Although early Athens had been ruled by monarchy, by the 7th century, it had fallen under the control of its aristocrats. - Near the end of the 7th century BC Athens faced political turmoil because of serious economic problems. - Many Athenian farmers found them themselves sold into slavery when they were unable to repay the loans they had borrowed from their aristocratic neighbors, pledging themselves as collateral. - Many cried for the cancellation of debts and to give land to the poor - Athens seemed on verge of civil war. - The ruling Athenian aristocrats responded to this crisis by choosing Solon, a reformminded aristocrat as leader in 594 BC and giving him the power to make changes. - Solon canceled all current land debts, outlawed new loans based on humans as collateral. - He refused to carry out redistribution of land and therefore failed to deal with the basic cause of the economic crisis. - A series of rebellions that brought new leaders to power gradually moved Athens toward democracy - citizens gradually got more say in the government through the creation of citizen councils. - After 478 BC sovereign power rested in an assembly of all the male citizens. - When matters of the greatest magnitude such as going to war or raising emergency financial levies had to be settled, the assembly would decide on a course of action. - Since the assembly was extraordinarily large including all male citizens (40,000), measures were submitted to it by a council which had supreme control over executive and administrative activities. - Membership in the council was established annually by lot from nomination lists prepared in the tribal meetings - Athens was divided into 10 tribes based on regions not on family attachments and every free man had a vote in the tribes - members of tribes voted to serve in Athenian government. - Service in the council was limited to a year so many Athenian men gained governmental experience. - Other smaller committees were given certain administrative tasks also based on democratic election. - Citizens were always free to vote politicians out of office. - Women, resident aliens, and slaves were all excluded from the political process. - Poor people participated like the rich - Athenians were confident in political capacities of all male citizens. - Every important political decision was made by majority vote of all citizens who decided to attend the general assembly. - Some Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle considered democracy no different from mob rule - They worry about demagogues who could sway public opinion through effective speeches. - The system worked really well for about a century and brought Athens to its greatest triumphs in foreign affairs and cultural achievements.

Greek inventions

Alarm clock - The first alarm clock was conceptualized in ancient Greece. It was thought up by Ctesibus, a Hellenistic engineer and inventor. During those days, time was usually indicated using a water clock. Ctesibus used an elaborate system comprised of dropping pebbles onto a gong to make a sound. This sound was set to happen at specific time intervals, giving rise to a rather crude yet effective version of the modern alarm clock. - Plato himself is also credited with creating a version of an alarm clock that combined water filling up a vessel and making pebbles drop to make a sound. Odometers - Odometers are measuring tools that help quantify distance. They were originally used to figure out how much distance has already been travelled by a vehicle. Although there is still a dispute around the original Greek inventor of the odometer (some say it's Hero of Alexandria while others point out to Archimedes), there's no doubt that the invention of the odometer has helped the ancient Greek civilization. It helped the Greeks to create roads and bridges for travelling, set milestones at specific distances, and helped develop their empire, boosting their economic standing. Central heating - In ancient Greece, the Temple of Ephesus was kept heated through flues planted on the floor. The flues circulated the warm air generated through a fire, providing a comfortable temperature throughout. The concept was mostly forgotten by the following generations but was rediscovered during the Industrial Revolution and continuously developed until it reached the product we are familiar with these days. Showers - The ancient Greeks were the first people to have showers. Their aqueducts and sewage systems made of lead pipes allowed water to be pumped both into and out 65 of large communal shower rooms used by elites and common citizens alike. These rooms have been discovered at the site of the city Pergamum and can also be found represented in pottery of the era. The depictions are very similar to modern locker room showers, and even included bars to hang up clothing. The ancient Romans also followed this convention; their famous bathhouses can be found all around the Mediterranean and as far out as modern-day England. The Romans not only had these showers, but also believed in bathing multiple times a week, if not every day. The water and sewage systems developed by the Greeks and Romans broke down and fell out of use after the fall of the Roman Empire. Vending machine - In the 1st century BC, the first vending machine was described by Heron of Alexandria. His machine accepted a coin and then dispensed a fixed amount of holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened up a valve, which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would snap the lever back up and turn off the valve. Urban planning - Around the 5th century BC, Miletus became one of the first known towns in the world to have a grid-like plan for residential and public areas. It accomplished this feat through a variety of related innovations in areas such as surveying. Astrolabe - Around 300 BC Astrolabes were first used around by astronomers in Greece. They were used to determine the altitude of objects in the sky.

Julius Caesar

- Julius Caesar was cunning, intense and understood that only by victory on battlefield could a politician hope to be taken seriously in Rome. - At age of 4O, the Senate named Caesar governor of the Southern parts of Gaul, Northern Italy into northern Greece. - Caesar wanted all of Gaul. - The Gauls had long been most powerful and successful people in Northern Europe - by Caesar's time, they dominated the land of France, England and Ireland. - The Romans considered them barbarians but Gaelic culture was quite advanced. - The Gauls were famous for bloodlust in battle - They excelled in psychological warfare, wearing body paint and caking their hair with lime and mud to seem more fierce. - Five million Gauls stood between Caesar and land he wanted - if he could add land of France to Roman territory he would hugely increase his status and prestige. - In 58 BC with the excuse of stopping a Gaelic tribe from moving into Roman territory, Caesar moved his Roman legions into Gaul. - For the next decade, he conquered what is modern France. - It was a slaughter and Caesar was proud of the fact that he killed 1 million Gauls. - Caesar was not a tactical genius on the battlefield but could inspire others and motivate them to keep fighting. - Caesar won incredible devotion of his soldiers by marching with them, eating the same food and sleeping on the ground like them. - His troops were fanatically loyal to him. - In 52 BC, the Gauls united and Caesar ended up fighting two armies at once. He had to conduct a siege in two directions. - Caesar was outnumbered 5 to 1 but he managed to win the battle anyway. - It was the last stand for the Gauls and made Caesar one of two most powerful men in Rome and the world. - The other was a general and politician named Niaus Pompey. - Their rivalry would launch Rome into civil war. - After this success over the Gauls, the Roman Senate recalled Caesar to Rome but ordered him to leave legions in Gaul. - He had to go to Rome, but if he went unprotected he almost certainly be murdered by Pompey's supporters. - Caesar believed he had no choice but to call on the loyalty of his men. - He told his troops he was being insulted by the state and asked them to protect him. - It was a high stakes game of chess, but his soldiers agreed. - In 49 BC Caesar took his army out of Gaul and crossed the Rubicon River with them - the Rubicon was the boundary between his territory in Gaul and the Roman Republic. - It became clear that he was marching Rome into civil war. - Caesar defeated Pompey in 48 BC and returned to Rome and became sole ruler. - In 46 BC, he declared himself dictator for life. - Caesar was actually not a terrible ruler. He pardoned lots of people who had opposed him, instituted reforms and planned others, planned building projects. - However, he was assassinated in 44 BC by a group of Senators who resented his domination and wished to reinstitute republican liberty. - Caesar's assassination resulted in another civil war that killed all hopes for a renewed republic.