Thursday, March 21, 2019

All The Notes On Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece Geography
  • Surrounded by mountains, covered 3/4 of land.
  • Fertile valleys covered only 1/4 of land: very hard to make a living off of farming. Only 20% is suitable for farming ARABLE
  • Peninsula that juts into Mediterranean Sea.
  • 2000 islands within the surrounding seas.
  • Three major seas: Aegean, Ionian and Adriatic.
  • A major island called Crete in the south/southeast.
  • Poor and very limited natural resources.
  • Faster to get to the other side of Greece in the sea rather than the land due to mountains.
  • Geography allowed for skilled sailors, shipbuilders, farmers, metalworkers, weavers, and potters.
  • Developed small, independent communities called city-states to attempt to sustain a community.
  • Most valuable crop is olives.
VOCABULARY
Polis- Fundamental politic unit, made of city and countryside.
Monarchy- Rule by single person.
Aristocracy- Rule by a small group of noble, rich people.
Oligarchy- Wealthy groups, dissatisfied with aristocratic rule, seized power.
Tyrant- Powerful individual who gained control by gaining support from the common person, NOT aggressive like modern day tyrants.
Acropolis- Agora, marketplace on a fortified hilltop.
Democracy- Rule by the people.
Infantry- Soldiers who fought on foot
Tireme- Greek ships built specifically for ramming ships
Phalanx- Military formation of foot soldiers armed with spears and shields

RULERS
Draco (621BC)
-Rich or poor, Athenians were equal.
-Established a death punishment for nearly every crime.
-Debt slavery to repay the debts you could have from wrong doing.
-Draconian is unnecessarily harsh

Solan (594BC)
-Outlawed slavery.
-Established social classes.
-Allowed people to press charges on a wrongdoer.

Cleisthenes (500BC)
-Redid social class and based it off of geographical location and not wealth.
-Allowed citizens to submit laws that they wanted added (increased power of assembly).
-Ultimately allowed for a limited democracy.
-"Hoi Polloi".
-Aristocrat. 

 Hippias (527BC-510BC)
-Tyrant 
-Brother was murdered so he became very harsh.
-Eventually was ostracized from Athens.

 Isagoras (508BC)
-Archon Eponymous (tyrant).
-Ostracized Cleisthenes; his supporters revolt against his tyranny.
-Got trapped in acropolis for two days, on the third he fled and was banished.
-Aristocrat.

 MYCENAEANS
People who lived in Greece around 2000BC, invaded Greece and absorbed Minoan culture in 1400BC, lived in Mycenae which could withstand any attack due to their 20ft thick wall

 TROJAN WAR

  • 1200BC Mycenaeans fought a 12 year war against Troy.
  • Greek army destroyed Troy.
  • Henrich Schliemann proved war to be real.
  • Greeks hid the Trojan Horse.
  • Written about in the Iliad.
DORIANS
  • Overcame Mycenaean culture in around 1100BC.
  • No written records during their reign (1150BC-750BC).
  • Not very advanced at all.
HOMER
  • Homeric Question: Was Homer a real man or was he just made up through generations of stories?
  • Epics were narrative poems celebrating heroic deeds (750BC-700BC).
  • Wrote in dactylic hexameter.
  • Blind, old man who just wandered. 
  • Lliad and Odyssey dominated many generations.
GREEK VS. PERSIANS
Greek
-Iron weapons
-Foot soldiers (hoplites)
-Fought with spears, swords and shields 
-Phalanx formation
-Knew the environment
-Motivated to preserve democracy

Persians 
-Archers
-Used calvary to disrupt communication
-Lightly armored infantry
-HUGE numbers
-Long ways from home
-Professional, paid army (mercenaries)

 PHILOSOPHERS 
Socrates 
-Looked at science and logic to explain the world.
-Socratic Method: Ask questions upon other questions to deepen understanding.
-"The unexamined life is not worth living".
-Charged with impiety and corruption of youth. Didn't deny what he did, said he should be rewarder rather than punished.

 Plato
-Socrates student.
-Wrote about Socrates teachings and described his trial in Apology (explanation NOT "I'm sorry").
-His book Republic discussed what Socrates was planting regarding justice and ideal government.

Aristotle
-Student of Plato.
-Helped ideas that Athens is an intellectual destination.
-His school, Lyceum, focused on cooperative research to build knowledge across the entire world.

 ARISTOCRATS
-Members of the ruling class.
-Attend symposiums where men would get together in hopes of discussing problems but would normally dine over wine and food while dancers and musicians performed.

 Politics
-No women.
-No middle class.
-No slaves.
-Sometimes no aristocrats if they didn't have the right connections or fell out of favor.
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