Dominant City States

• After the Greek dark ages, exciting things began to happen in ancient Greece.

• Villages started to band together to form strong trading centers. These groups of villages that banded together were called city-states. Soon, hundreds of city-states had formed in ancient Greece. 

City built around a defensible fortification called an acropolis

• Average polis covered between 30 to 500 square miles. Athens covered 1,000 square miles

• No professional bureaucracy, no professional army, no professional politicians

Argos• Argos lies four miles distance from the Argolic gulf,

at the north eastern Peloponnese. It is the second oldest city after Sikyon – Sikyon was the first settlement of Achaeans, therefore

the most ancient city state of Greece. – According to the old common belief it was here that

Prometheus brought the fire to mankind. • Prior to the Greek Dark Ages, Argos became

dependant to the nearby city of Mycenae.

Argos• Argos was actively

involved in the arts. – Their magnificent stone

sculptures of athletes, rippling with stone muscles, were the envy of many a Greek city-state.

• Argos was famous for their wonderful musicians and poets.

• Drama reached new heights in their polis

The Theater at Argos• The capacity of the theater

was about 20,000 people • The sound control is

excellent. • Greek theater normally

has no roof but this theater should have had a roof. – There is a hole on every

13steps which seems to the hole for pillars to support a roof

Megara• Megara was a highly respected city-

state in ancient Greece.

• As a coastal city-state, their history was similar to Corinth's, their neighbor.

Megara• Like Athens, Megara

offered its citizens a great deal of freedom.

• Like nearly all Greek city-states, Megara had beautiful temples, gorgeous statues, and open-air theatres.

• They were famous for their glorious textiles, which were the envy of other Greek city-states.

Megara• As a coastal town,

Megara did a great deal of trading.

• They had their own coinage,– an idea they

copied from Corinth – (who copied it from

Argos.)  

Byzantium• They were also

explorers. – The city-state of

Megara founded the city of Byzantium,

– It was mainly a trading city due to its strategic location at the Black Sea's only entrance.

• Another advantage was the Golden Horn

– a deep inlet that offers excellent protection to the city:

– an army can only approach it from the west.

Megara• Coastal City-State• Famous for textiles• Own coinage• Founded city of

Byzantium (Constantinople, Istanbul) in 630 B.C.E.

Corinth

Corinth• Founded in the 10th

Century B. C.– Strategically located

• Guards the narrow isthmus that connects the Peloponnesus to the mainland and hosts the important harbors of Lechaion and Kenchreai

– Became the richest port and at one time the largest city in Ancient Greece

Temple of Apollo

Corinth• The two seaports were

only four miles apart– Lechaion, the western

harbor in the Corinthian Gulf was the trading port to Italy and Sicily

– Kenchreai, the eastern harbor in the Saronic Gulf, was the port for the eastern Mediterranean countries

Corinth: Diolkos

• The diolkos was an ancient paved path that enabled ships to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth from sea to sea.

• Periander constructed the five foot wide rock-cut tract for wheeling small ships and their unloaded cargo from one gulf to the other.

Corinth: Government• With increased wealth and more

complicated trade relations and social structures, some city-states overthrew their traditional hereditary kings– Corinth, the richest city-state, led the way – Instead of developing long-term solutions

to the societal and economic problems, ambitious politicians or generals called “tyrants” seized power by irregular means and ruled without being subject to the law

Periander, second tyrant of Corinth

Corinth: Government• Tyrants were usually members of the ruling

aristocracy who either had a personal grievance or led an unsuccessful faction

• They were generally supported by the politically powerless new wealthy and by poor farmers

• Once in power they often seized land from the aristocrats and divided it among their own supporters

Corinth: Government• Tyrants were not necessarily oppressive

despots– Many were quite popular, in part due to the

public works programs they established and the debts they cancelled

– The word “tyrant” comes from how they gained power rather than how they governed

Corinth• Coastal City-state that

became cultural and trade center

• Well-educated• Famous bronze

statues, pottery, and vase paintings

Sparta• Covered by hills and mountains, isolation

contributed to the Spartan’s desire to be left alone.

• Education focused entirely on physical fitness and military training (men were full time soldiers from 20 to 30 years of age)

• Women were to bear children, but were also known for their wealth and indepence

• Almost no interest in the arts or philosophy

Sparta• The Spartan citizens were, in fact, the

descendants of 9th century BC Doric invaders to the Peloponnese. – Rather than exterminating or enslaving the native

population, – the Spartans had—for whatever reason—managed

to come to a unique arrangement with the conquered inhabitants.

• These continued to live and work in Laconia, enjoying distinctly different status and privileges from the Spartan citizens, or Spartiates, but far better than that of chattel slaves. 

Sparta: Perioikoi• These peoples were divided into two broad

categories:– The residents of the pre-Doric towns, who enjoyed a

free but dependent status as "Perioikoi," – and the peasants, who enjoyed a far more restricted

status as "helots." • The Perioikoi had their own laws and customs,

could pursue any profession or trade they liked, and had their own local officials and dignitaries.

Sparta: Helots• The "helots" were tied to the land and were

officially the property of the Lacedaemonian government.

• By the 6th Century B.C., helots probably outnumbered Sparta citizens by 10 to 1

• The large number of helots allowed the Spartans to cultivate their region efficiently, but also posed the threat of constant rebellion

Sparta: Helots• The Spartan helots—if compared to slaves in

other Greek city-states—were very privileged indeed.

• Helots were not chattels. – They could not be bought and sold by their "masters." – They could marry who and when they willed. – They even legally had parents and children.

• (In other Greek states, a slave was not allowed to marry, and offspring of sexual intercourse, regardless of the partner, "belonged" to the owner of the slave; parenthood was not recognized.)

Sparta: Spartiates• In theory, all Spartans citizens were equal

– To discourage economic and social distinctions, Spartans observed an extraordinarily austere lifestyle as a matter of policy

• No jewelry, elaborate clothes, luxuries, or accumulation of great private wealth

– Even today, “spartan” means• Practicing great self-denial• Unsparing and uncompromising in discipline or

judgment • Resolute in the face of pain or danger or adversity

What was it like to be a Spartan?

• Taken away from your parents at age 7, you lived a harsh and often brutal life in the soldiers barracks.

• You were beaten by older children who started fights to help make you tough and strong.

• You were often were whipped in front of groups of other Spartans, including your parents, but never cried out in pain.

• You were given very little food, but encouraged to steal food, instead. If caught stealing, you were beaten.

• To avoid severe pain, you learned to be cunning, to lie, to cheat, to steal, and how to get away with it!

Sparta: Education• What distinctions did exist in Spartan society

were based not on wealth or social status, but on prowess, discipline, and military talent

• Spartan educational system cultivated such attributes from an early age– Boys left their homes at age seven to live in military

barracks under a rigorous regime of physical training

– At age 20 they took a test of Athletics and Leadership

• If they passed, they went into the military as citizens where they served until retirement

• If they failed, they became part of the Perioikoi

Sparta: Spartiates• Women married at age

18 or 20 but did not live with their husbands– The men stayed in the

barracks until about age 30 when they began to set up households with their wives and children

– Women maintained strict physical regimes in the hopes of bearing strong children

• Even after they were married, the men did not live with their wives and families. They lived in the barracks.

• Military service did not end until a Spartan male reached the age of 60.

• Only then could a Spartan soldier retire and live in their home with their family.

Sparta: Spartiates

Sparta: Government• Highly unusual

government that contained elements of democracy, timocracy, monarchy, and oligarchy

King Leonidas ca. 530 BC-480 BC

Sparta: Government• Oligarchy

– Rule by a few– Power was in the

hands of five men called Ephores who were elected annually by the Council of Elders

• Timocracy– Government by

people of honor– All Ephores were over

the age of 60 and had completed their military career

– The Ephores controlled all daily life in Sparta

Sparta: Government• Monarchy

– Rule by a hereditary sovereign

– Under the five Ephores there were two Kings that came from the two noble families of Sparta

– With divine approval, shown in an oracle or an omen, the Ephores had the power to force the Kings’ abdication

• Democracy– Election based on

numerical majority– Under the Kings were

the Council of the Elders. – The council passed laws

and elected the five Ephores

– Beneath them were the rest of the free Spartan men who voted for the Council of Elders

Sparta• Oligarchy is dominant

government• Military strength most

important• Harsh treatment of their

slaves• Farming Economy

Life in the Polis• Life centered around agora (marketplace)• Divided into three groups

– Adult men: citizens with political rights– Free people (women, children and resident

foreigners: no political rights– Slaves: prisoners of war or for debt

• Girls were considered economic liabilities since they had to be provided with dowries before they could get married

Law codes • Laws were enforced by aristocrats and

ruled as they saw fit• Demands grew to force the aristocrats to

codify, or write down, the customary laws and procedures governing the cities

• As the laws were made public for all to see the rule of the aristocrats was brought to an end

Tyrrany: Solon the Lawgiver • Social unrest leads to

new system• Solon canceled debts and

abolished enslavement for debt.

• Citizenship based on wealth– Public office was open to

the three upper classes– Fourth class was ineligible

for public office• Problems for poor

farmers continued

Peisistratus & Cleisthenes• Peisistratus the Tyrant

– Wielding sole political power in violation of the established law, but with the support of the people

– Beautified the city and increased the sense of being a Athenian by civic festivals

• Cleisthenes democracy– Mixed different tribes in hope to destroy the regional power of the

aristocracy – Created Council of Five Hundred– Direct democracy: all legislative and electoral power remained with the

popular assembly, made up of all voting citizens

Women in Athens • Women did not have citizen rights.

• They could only go out to weddings, funerals, religious festivals and to visit female friends.

• In wealthy families girls were educated to run the household of servants and slaves, and were usually married by the age of 13.

• In poorer families women worked alongside men, farming in the fields or running the family business.

Education in Athens • Until age 6 or 7, boys were taught at

home by their mother or by a male slave.

• They boys learnt the poetry of Homer and how to play the lyre.

• Their teacher, who was always a man, could choose what other subjects he wanted to teach.

• He might choose to teach drama, public speaking, government, art, reading, writing, maths and the flute.

• Books were expensive and rare, so lessons were read out-loud, and the boys had to memorize everything.

• They were taught to read and write the Greek alphabet. • They didn’t have books to write in. Instead, they use a wax tablet, and wrote

on this with a metal 'pen'. The pen had a sharp end and a rounded end. • They wrote with the sharp end, and then rubbed out the work with the

rounded end.

• At 14 boys attended a higher school for four more years. • When they turned 18, they entered military school for two

additional years.• At age 20, they graduated. • Girls were not educated at school, but many learned to read

and write at home.

What it was like to be an Athenian

• Be polite.

• You have had a good education.

• Until age 6 or 7, you were taught at home by your mother, or by a male slave.

• From age 7-14, you attended a day school in the neighborhood where you memorized poetry and learned to play the lyre.

• You learned drama, public speaking, reading, writing, math, and perhaps even how to play the flute.

• You attended four years of higher school, and learned more about math and science and government.

• At 18, you attended military school for two additional years!

• You believe you are better than any other city, and are proud to be an Athenian!

Athens

• Democratic government

• Education valued• Trade Economy

How was order maintained in Greece?• GovernmentGovernment

– SpartaSparta• Military meansMilitary means

– AthensAthens• Democratic meansDemocratic means

– CorinthCorinth• TyrantsTyrants