Greek Terms Lectures 13- on
Egyptian VS. Greek
-a distinguishing feature of Greeks: acceptance of male nudity in sport and art Thucydides: "in ancient times even at the Olympic games the athletes used to wear loin cloths ... indeed one could point to a number of instances where the manners of the ancient Hellenic world are very similar to the manners of foreigners today" individual features in the face of Egyptian sculptures vs. idealized kouros in Greek art -until later, no attempt to render individuality. Quest for ideal beauty
Attendance of Games
-about 50,000 people could camp and sit in the stadium -games ended with a great communal feast and were an important social event: treaties were signed or their texts put on display to inform all visitors to the festival, traders came to do business, politicians made speeches to the crowds, jugglers and acrobats performed
Solon's Political Reforms
-attempted to formalize the privileges of each class according to its wealth (not birth) -four census ratings were created based on the produce of the citizens land 1. Pentakosiomedimnoi > 500 measures 2. Hippeis (Knights) > 300 3. Zeugitai (yeomen) > 200 4. Thetes (Labourers) < 200
Athletic Kleos
-considered as heroes and role models, great athletes were celebrated even after their death -Pindar, Isthmian 7: a "varsity letter" for Srepsiades -side note: no amateur level
Selection for Games
Criteria for participation: one had to be a free man of Greek origin, not polluted by blood guilt -Participants came to Elis, a city close to Olympia, four weeks before the games: final selection was made to determine who could go to Olympia -The athletes took an oath, promising to compete in an honorable way
Achilles
Hero with flaws -driven by his emotions (anger, vengeance), he ends up missing his heroic impulse: the strife among the Greeks is not the work of the gods or the Trojan enemy, but is caused by two powerful egos in an unfortunate juxtaposition and relative rank order -returns to battle after the death of Patroclus, dearest friend and alter ego. -In revenge, he mutilates Hector's body -reconciles with Priam in Iliad 24: Remember your father, god-like Achilles". Achilles weeps for his own father
Klea Andron
"Glory of men" is inherited and passed from father to son: one's lineage and relationship with one's father and ancestors is continually stressed
Pythagoras
"I dont teach wisdom, I heal ignorance" "Number is at the origin of everything: one is a dot, two is a line, three is a plane, four is a body..." -"a pyramid symbolizes fire, a cube-earth, an octahedron-air, a dodecahedron-water" -the properties of any object can be conveyed through its structure, viz. through numbers, hence his obsession with numbers -"Let no one ignorant of geometry enter" -"He started an academy which gradually formed into a society or brotherhood called the Order of the Pythagoreans
Pythagoras Best Friend
"It is like 220 and 284" -Two positive integers are amicable or friendly if each of them is equal to the sum of all the natural proper divisors of the other, including 1 284= 1 + 2 + 4 + +71 + 142=220 do reverse for 220 and you get 284 -Euler, Fermat, Descartes
Solon
-600s BCE, political tension arose -Aristocratic leader (SOLON) attempted in 594 (as an arhon) a series of laws to ease tensions -self described shield between rich and powerful and common people -freed all citizens made slaves by debt -canceled much of the debt held by common people -widened the eligibility for public office to citizens of wealth, even if they were not of noble blood
Sex and Love
-A boy who chose to 'gratify' the passion of his lover did so for a variety of motives, for instance: -material gain or social climbing -affection, esteem, respect, and non-passionate, non-romantic love (philia) But sexual desire or sexual pleasure was not an acceptable motive -Emotional and erotic asymmetry indicated by the language: the lover's eros (passionate desire or 'being in love') vs. the beloved's philia (non-erotic, non-passionate love) -by contrast, women were believe capable of returning their male lovers' sexual passion
Solon's Legal Reforms
Old law: "Whoever suffers injustices may go to court" Solon: "whoever observes injustice, may report to court" "whoever joins neither faction during a political discord, becomes disenfranchised" "whoever cannot explain the profits, becomes disenfranchised" -Solon was asked , why there was no law about patricide. "So that we would never use it" -Solon supported the manufacturing sector by offering citizenship to foreign craftsmen who moved to Athens -Adopted the Euboean system of weights and measures, making it easier for Athens to trade throughout the Aegean
Racing in Armor
One of toughest events was the two laps long race for HOPLITES, men wearing armor and carrying shields
Other Games in Greece
The Games at Delphi: Pythian Games, from 582 B.C.: every four years, celebrated in honor of Apollo The games at the Isthmus of Corinth (Isthmian Games), from 580 B.C.: every two years, celebrated in honor of Poseidon The games at Nemea: Nemean Games, from 573 B.C.: every two years, celebrated in honor of Zeus
Body Care
before competition or training an athlete would cover his body with olive oil and then dust it with fine sand: this combination helped to regulate his body temperature and provided protection from the sun -after training, the athlete would take his strigil, a curved instrument, and scrape the sweat, oil and sand off his skin. He then finished cleaning himself with water and a sponge
The City of Athena
Athens-"The city of Athena" (Athena=patron deity) -Parthenon- 'temple of the Maiden' -Gods competed for the polis: Poseidon grants saltwater spring Athena grants olive tree and wins
Solon Economic Reforms
"in great things it is hard to please everybody" Abraham Lincoln "You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time"
Pankration
"total domination"
Doxa
'accepted teaching, received opinion' same root as Gk. dogma, Latin doc-as in doctor, document, docile, but also disciple
Wrestling
(16) -one had to throw the opponent to the ground three times -great weight increased the chances of winning: no weight classes -Rules: no biting, eye gouging, but breaking opponent's limbs was legal
p(a)ederastic
(paid-'boy, adolescent' + erastes 'lover') relationship between free men who differed with regard to their age. The active partner (erastes) was older than 30 and took on the role of educator in his relationship with the 13-18 year-old passive partner (eromenos) erotically colored mentoring? -sexual relationship disguised as educational
Memorian Coinage
-Most ancient Greek city states minted their own coins, including Elis, where the sanctuary of of Olympia was -Many of the coins' designs included olive wreaths or symbols related to the god Zeus of Nike, the goddess of victory: perhaps they were struck to celebrate each Games
New Official Body- Solon
Solon's "Council of 400" (Boule"): "the new Boule and the old Areopagus are the two anchors to keep the ship of the state safe during a storm
World Records?
-Greeks did not keep track of actual achievements (record times/weights), they only recorded name of winners -Stone weighing 316 lbs has a carved inscription "Bybon son of Phola, has lifted me over -ATHLETES HAD TO SWEAR THAT THEY HAD BEEN TRAINING FOR 10 MONTHS
Nudity of Games
-Men had to compete in the nude (Greek gymnos "naked") -uncertain why. Maybe artistic convention: emphasis on the beauty of the body? Or burgeoning democracy and emphasis on equality of all
Olympic Flame
A flame was lit and kept burning until the end of the game
The Birth of Philosophy
-The Western philosophical tradition began in the Greek city states along the coast of Asia Minor around 600 BC. Why there? -not as bound by tradition as city-states on mainland Greece -constantly in touch with the ancient science of the middle east --> more open to intellectual innovation and speculation then the mainland
Panhellenic Games
-These Games brought the Greek world together at a time when Greece was not a single state, but a series of politically and economically independent communities -People traveled to take part in or attend these Games from all around Greece -Every polis celebrated its local cult festival in connection with an athletic program: the whole country was covered by a close network of sporting festivals, which were held at regular intervals down to the level of the smallest polis communities -Agons continued for more than a millennium as an expression of a Greek way of life
Gender of Participants
-Women not allowed to compete -Only priestesses were allowed to watch them -Greek women had their own games called Heraia held in honour of Hera
Tensions in Athens and Attica
-early on wealth starts to play a large role. Tensions of the period operated not just horizontally (between competing factions of aristoi "the nobles), but also vertically (between different social classes -inequality in the distribution of wealth led to conflicts between rich landowners and poorer citizens, who had to sell out -many poor farmers became tenant-farmers, owning a share of their produce to wealthy land-owners to whom they were in debt -land was probably inalienable and the poor secured their debts wit their own person, and were subject to seizure if they defaulted (system of serfdom and debt-bondage)
End and Revival of Olympic Games
-end is 394 AD by the Roman Emperor THEODOSIUS, who was a Christian, considered the games pagan -The site of Olympia was abandoned and destroyed by Earthquakes. Games were known to have existed, but knowledge of exact location had been lost until their rediscovery in 1776
Athens: From Monarchy to Oligarchy
-first archons elected for life and only from Kodrus lineage. Then for ten years, and then for only one year -Originally: single archon, then three: archon priest, archon general and archon judge, later nine. -Upon completing tenure, archons joined Council of the Elders which met on the hill Areopagus
Why Water(Thales)?
-influence of ancient myth about Ocean? Iliad 14.201: "Oceanus, the origins of the gods, and mother Tethys" Tethys-Babylonian Tiamat 'the sea' or the observation of changeable state of H20
Pythagoreans and Music
-love of numbers -built up this elaborate number lore, but it may be that the numbers that impressed them most were those found in the musical ratios -Octave, Fourth, Fifth, Tone -These were the only intervals considered harmonious by the Greeks -They found them by experimenting with a single string with a moveable bridge -found these pleasant intervals could be expressed as the ratio of whole numbers
Solon Aftermath
-reforms were a failure in the short term, since in the immediate aftermath Athens underwent a further period of faction-fighting, anarchy, and eventually tyranny -long term, Solon's reforms set Athens on the road to democracy by strengthening the rule of law, making possible the emergence of a strong Athenian state, and finally, the Athenian democracy
The Presocratics
-the first philosophers, which designates that they came before Socrates -were from either the eastern or western regions of the Greek world -Athens-the home of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle-was late in joining the philosophical game -Presocratics emphasis on questions of physics; Aristotle called them "Investigators of nature" (Greek physis "nature") -they are the first philosophers, since they emphasized the rational unity of things and rejected mythological explanations of the world
Why Fire (Heraclitus)
-the most changeable thing, different every minute -Note Heraclitus' focus on constant change: "One cannot enter the same river twice") Heraclitus: "weeping philosopher" -The first philosopher known to use the word cosmos "world order", which he says ever was and ever will be, not created by god or man
Long Jump
-two-legged standing jump with stone or metal weights -certain Phaillos jumped at fifty five ancient feet: clearly a series of jumps -The event was probably made up of five consecutive standing jumps, which required a sense of rhythm, and so a flute player was often present
Funeral Entertainment
15 Funeral athletic competitions (agon) -games celebrate the deceased (for instance, Patroclus) by reenacting his athletic prowess) -besides funeral games, also games in honor of heroes, e.g. the Aianteia (for Aias/Ajax), held in Athens by young men (ephebes)
Homosexuality in Homer?
17 Homer is not explicit about Achilles and Patroclus, but is otherwise aware of the custom: Iliad 20.232: Tros had three noble sons, Ilos, Assarakos, and Ganymede who was comeliest of mortal men; wherefore the gods carried him off to be Zeus' cupbearer for his beauty's sake, that he might dwell among the immortals
The Symposium
18 Post eating stage of a banquet. Drinking for pleasure was accompanied by entertainment in the form of recitation, music, dancing, conversation, and sex Heyday: 7th to 5th century -had social and cultural significance: it was the organizing principle and the focus of life for Greek male aristocrats -The symp. of the archaic period was a private club: men who attended formed the political and sometimes military leadership of the early polis -featured an MC (SYMPOSIARCH) and oboe/lyre players -important for the history of literature: symposium songs were bound by a less rigid code of what is appropriate than the epics and admit a wider range of material. Individual voices of poetic personalities
Pheidias
19 Best statues of Gods (model of the lost statue of Athena, 36. ft tall)
Polykleitos
19 Best statues of people
Paramenides
20 -While for Heraclitus everything was in flux, Paramenides of Elea argued that change and motion are only delusions -Paramenides argued against the existence of a void, a theory used by later philosophers in the expression "nature abhors a vacuum"
Polis
21 CITY-STATE -over 200 independent city-states in Greece, each with its own government and laws -average size was from 5,000-10,000 citizens, 700-2000 mi2 (but many much smaller, -30 mi2) -workers born outside of Greece, women, children, and slaves were not citizens (POLITAI) -only citizens could vote, own property, hold public office, and speak for themselves in court -in return, they were expected to participate in the civic service, and defend the polis in time of war -For greek citizens, civic and personal honor were one and the same (poetry of Solon, Calinus, Tyrtaeus -T. 10: "For it is fine to dine in the front line, a brave man fighting for his fatherland, and the most painful fate's to leave one's town" -the good of the polis was put above everything else -Two of the greatest city-states were Sparta and Athens. Each developed with a different kind of government and a different way of life
abstract theories
Anaximander "the origin of all things is limitlessness/boundless" "boundless" contains powers of heat and cold; heat and cold produced nucleus 'seed of world' -Leukipp, Democritus: early atomists Greek atomos "indivisible"
Attica
Asty "citadel" -home to political, military, religious and trading institutions -Chora: countryside farms and villages -The economy of Athens was based upon farming, manufacturing and trade -Athens and other cities derived much of their wealth in the trade of woolen goods, wheat, olive oil, grapes, and wine throughout the greek mediterranean world -No military conquest of attica; rather consolidation of DEMES around Athens as the urban center -Athens never faced problem of trying to control a large population of angry and violent subjects
Truce
Before the games, messengers or heralds travelled across Greece to remind everyone that there was a month's truce to ensure people could travel and perform safely. All fighting stopped until 7 days after the games ended
Diagoras
Boxer from Rhodes -Champion in all four Panhellenic games; his children and grandchildren, too, were victors "You might just as well die now, Diagoras - you will not ascend to Olympus anyway"
Metempsychosis
Soul (psyche) travels to another body and is able to retain memories -travel of the soul is called this -a spiritual element of his doctrine
The Order of Pythagoreans
Disciplines of the Pythagoreans included -silence, music, incenses, physical, and moral purifications, rigid cleanliness, a mild asceticism, utter loyalty, common possessions, secrecy, daily self-examination (whatever that means), pure linen clothes -We see here the roots of later monastic orders
Draco's Draconian Laws
Draco "Drakon" (archon in 624 BCE) -written Laws carved in marble placed in agora so all can see them -Laws written with blood: all crimes, big or small, penalized by death
Culture of Shame
E.R. Dodds: culture of guilt (e.g. Christianity) vs culture of Shame (e.g. Greece) -the worst thing that can happen is losing one's face, not losing one's life
Sculpture
Early 5th century: first idea to render movement in sculpture -emphasis on the mathematical system of proportions -nearly all famous sculpture are known to us in late copies -Greek statues were painted -at the beginning: following Near Eastern / Egyptian model, but during Archaic period developing the particularly Greek canon of beauty
Near Eastern Parallel of Gilgamesh
Epic hero gilgamesh is a great fighter, but alienated from Uruk because of his arrogance and outrageous behavior. Befriended by Enkidu, a feral creature. They fight together. Gilgamesh' selfish pursuit of glory alienate the gods who cause death of Enkidu -Gilgamesh learns and returns to Uruk, becomes a reformed ruler
Theagenes of Thasos
Famous boxer and pankratist: after his death, a man who never won a match against Theagenes came every night to the statue and whipped it. Statue came loose, fell on the angry opponent and killed him. -His sons prosecuted the statue for murder and the Thasians dropped the guilty statue of Theagenes into ocean, then famine and plague struck city
Penntathlon
First ever multi-discipline event in the history of sport: discus throwing, long-jump, javelin throwing, running over one length of the stadium and wrestling
Social Norms of conduct
For a male sexually normal to be a penetrator of someone socially inferior (age, gender, status) -to be penetrated was always a potential source of shame
Hybris
Greek word for "outrage, transgression, violence" caused mostly by excessive pride Examples of god-hero antagonism: Hera and Heracles, Apollo and Achilles
Athens
In the bronze age ruled by a king (BASILEUS) -last legendary king: KODRUS who gave his life for the city -in the 8th cent, replaced by civic officials, ARCHONS, elected from a small group of wealthy aristocrats, EUPATRIDS
Columns
Innovative designs of columns (Gk. stylos): Ionic, Doric, Corinthian orders The best way to distinguish between the different orders is to look at the capital (top part of the column)
Cheating-Athletics
Judge punished them with a whip or a fine -With this money, statues of Zeus were erected, and names of the cheats were inscribed on their base; these statues were placed along the passageway that led to stadium -worst fine: infamy
Epic Themes
Main themes of mythological and historical epic (such as the Iliad): heroism and hero -Central for understanding of hero is the idea of glory (kleos) that is preserved in form of a song
Pythagoras Numbers
Masculine and feminine numbers -Odd numbers were considered masculine -even numbers feminine because they are weaker than the odd -when divided they have, unlike the odds, nothing in the center -the odds are the master, because odd + even always give odd, 2 odds produce an even -Virgil: "The gods delight in odd numbers"
Greek Hero
Someone who has lived earlier (glorification of mythical past); a person of superior social station and physique, preeminent in courage and perhaps intelligence; someone who is disposed to over-confidence and transgressing by presuming himself almost a god and thus alienates gods -greek hero is disposed to over-confidence and antagonizing behavior
Why pederasty?
Pederasty: homosexual relationship -women not available as sexual objects in the context of symposium(drinking party); seclusion and enforced intellectual impoverishment of women - a trace of earlier male initiation rituals which featured sexual contact between men and boys
Olympic Games
Pelops became the king of Pisa located in the Peloponesus ("island of Pelops" ) -His victory was celebrated (reenacted) by athletic competitions in Olympia -Whatever the truth, the Games clearly started off a cultic festivals, whether in honor of a hero or a god -First Panhellenic sports competitions were organized at Olympia in Peloponnesus and were named Olympic Games after their locations -first written mention of them is back to 776 BC -Games were dedicated to Zeus and on the third day one hundred cows were sacrificed to Zeus (meat shared amongst community)
The Origins of Matter
Presocratic quest for the primeval element -Thales of Miletus (7th cent.): "everything is ultimately made of water" -Student, Anaximenes "Everything is made of air" Heraclitus of Ephesus (the cent): everything is made of fire
Apelles
The best of the painters Pliny the Elder: "It was a custom with Apelles, to which he most tenaciously adhered, never to let any day pass, however busy he might be, without exercising himself by tracing some outline or other; a practice which has now passed into a proverb." Nulla Dies Sine Linea no day without a line
Chariot-Racing
The earliest clear evidence for races on light, two-wheeled chariots only dates back to the very end of the Mycenaean period. From the 7th cent. BC onwards chariot races experienced a great boom -Winners in equestrian events were not the jockeys, was the owner of a horse -Kyniska of Sparta (woman who owned a stable of horses) became an Olympic champion
Olympiad
The system was based on a count for Olympic Games, which were held every 4 years. The for years between successive games constituted an Olympiad -system was established by Greek historians in order to provide a common chronological framework acceptable to all Greeks -Greek cities each operated their own independent calendar -Greek years were usually accounted EPONYMOUSLY: by names of archons in Athens, ephors in Sparta
Bridal Agons
The winner marries a woman
Gymnasium and Palaestra
There was a gymnasium and a palaestra in ever Greek city: these places were where athletes trained and young boys were educated -an all-round education, including exercise for the body as well as the mind. Physical education, music, arithmetic, grammar and reading were all part of the program -A Greek POLIS without a gymnasium is unthinkable: a cultural center
Stadium
Two meanings of the word 1. Distance of 600 feet: one length of the stadium is roughly 192 m 2. place for running competitions
Nike
Victory was granted to an athlete by the Gods: winged female messenger Nike ("Victory") flew down to the chosen person, to bring them their divine reward
The Presocratic's Questions
What is the basic substance of the world Is the Universe one or many Is change possible or an illusion
Dromos: Running
When the Olympic Games first started, there was only one event: sprint
Cost of Kleos
Without killing there can be no kleos -inherent in Greek heroic code was acceptance of bloodshed and carnage
Prize for Winners
Wreath on winners head -no second place -Money and commodities were also used a prize, but the wreath was retained at the most prestigious festivals -At Olympia, it was a wild olive leaf crown (branches taken from a sacred bush in the temple of Zeus) -at Delphi, a laurel crown, at Corinth, a pine crown and at Nemea, a wild celery crown -Olympic champions became important figures in their town: the glory of the victorious athlete brought glory to all the inhabitants of his home town -when victor returned, received benefits for rest of life : free meals, statues, poems, coins with his effigy, exemption from military service or tax exemption
Zeno V. and Paradox
Zeno of Elea (a student of Parmenides) Quest against infinite change and infinity itself "In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead." As retold by Aristotle Zeno Paradox designed to show two things 1. Motion and change are illusory 2. Not everything which seems self-evident (e.g. that Achille is going to win in a running contest against a turtle) is true -According to quantum mechanics, "observables" , such as the position and the momentum of a particle, cannot simultaneously be known with infinite precision. -However, the distance between them is soon becoming so small that even taking a measurement would be pointless: uncertainty would be too prominent
Contrapposto
a pose which one part of the body is turned in the opposite direction from another
Kleos
glory -preserved in form of a song: one's glory will outlive oneself; immortality is granted through song -Kleos aphthiton: "unwilting, imperishable glory" -kleos is posthumous: during one's lifetime one has time "prestige/respect" which rests upon one's martial excellence
Parthenon
home of Athena parthenos "maiden"
Olympia
not a town or city, but rather a sanctuary -The site consisted of two areas -Sacred Area: temples, altars and the treasuries built by individual city-states (thesauros) -Secular Area: competition sites, training areas, administrative building
Empedocles
of Acragas (5th cent): poet, statesman, physician, miracle worker as well as philosopher -4 primeval elements: FIRE AIR WATER EARTH
Paradox
something that is contrary to received opinion or expectation
"Homosexuality"
the term is barely 100 years old (Gk. homo 'same' + Lat. sex 'gender') -No Greek or Latin word corresponds to the modern term homosexuality -the ancients did not classify kinds of sexual behavior according to whether the participants were the same or different sex; rather they evaluated sexual acts according to the degree to which such acts either violated or conformed to social norms of conduct -is not as viewed as characteristic of an individual -rather, we find polarization of sexual roles into 'active' and 'passive' correlated with superordinate social status, and with adulthood and adolescence -penetration important symbolically, but not necessary in practice: often intercrural intercourse (lit. "between the things"
