Classical Greece was shaped by migrations into the region starting around 2000 BCE, including the Minoans and Indo-European groups like the Dorians and Ionians. Greece's mountainous geography promoted coastal trade and cultural diffusion but lacked good farmland, leading to Greek and Phoenician colonization across the Mediterranean from 750-550 BCE. Notable city-states like Athens and Sparta developed different political systems, with Athens becoming a direct democracy in the 6th century BCE. The Persian Wars of the 5th century BCE resulted in a Greek victory that increased Athenian power and cultural influence. However, tensions between Athens and Sparta later erupted into the Peloponnesian War, weakening both and allowing Macedon

1. Classical Greece
Including CULTURE

2. 1. Migration INTO Greece
 *Indo-European Invasions*
2000 – 1000 BCE
 Minoans
 Anatolian Invaders
included:
– Dorians  Sparta
– Ionians  Athens

3. 2. Greece: Product of its Geography
 Peninsula
 Dry rocky soil
 Steep high
mountains, low
valleys; not much flat
terrain or rich soil
 Almost no rivers –
none navigable

4. The Mediterranean Sea…

5. Geography
 Coastal Location 
– Sea trade
– Cultural Diffusion
 Exports: Ag. Products:
– Wine, Olive oil, Wool.
 Imports:
– GRAIN!!
– Metals!
– Wood!

6. THE MAP

7. Greek & Phoenician Colonies
due to :
- Shortage of Land for Agriculture
- Demand for Raw Materials
- Markets for their goods.

8. More Effects of Geography
  COLONIES
– Excess population
– Plantations to raise grain to
sell in Greece
– Political time out!
– Markets for Greek goods
– Access to raw materials
 Trading alliances necessary!
– To be able to count on trade.
  Powerful Military!
– Just in case.

9. Significance of Colonization
 Cultural Diffusion
– Mediterranean
Rise of non-aristocrats
to
power !!
– Trade led to wealth, and
wealth began to rival birth
as basis of political power…
Plaka, Athens
750- 550 BCE

10. Archons
Archons – noblemen
 Draco (c. 622 BCE)
 Draconian (harsh) Laws
 Solon (594 BCE)
 Cleisthenes - “one Greek is as capable
as another”
– Citizen=all natural born males over 18
(10%)
– Constitution- 508 BCE- Much power in hands of citizens:
– Ostracize one man per yr by popular vote (ten year period).
– Legislative Council - 500 citizen - administrative officials chosen by
lot for 1 yr terms
– Popular court of 6000 citizens- rotation in office.
– Army - board of 10 generals elected by citizens.
Ostraka

11. 600- 500 BCE
Tyrant: sole ruler in a Greek
polis, who came to power illegally.
 First step toward democracy!
– Opposition to power of nobility
 Merchants and others in rising middle class
– extended social rights,
– patronized the arts,
– encouraged development of law,
– Encouraged trade.

12.  Monarchy – rule by “one” (mono);
in usage, by a king
 Aristocracy – rule by aristocrats; nobility
 Oligarchy – rule by a “group”; in practice, by an
elite, either military or wealthy
 Democracy - rule by the “people” (demos)
Amphora

13. (Poleis, plural)
 Small, informed population
NECESSARY:
– Debate & decisions by
assembly of ALL citizens.
– 500-5,000 / polis
 “All”…“Greeks:”
FREE & RATIONAL:

14. 750 – 500 BCE
 Government DECENTRALIZED
– never unified
 Frequent competition /
conflict with other poleis

15. Still, A Sense of Greek Unity…
Arete…
Greek Language
 Oracle at Delphi
 Festivals & Meetings

16. Greek Religion
 Polytheistic
 Humanlike gods with
human emotions.
 Immortal.
 12 most powerful “lived”
on Mt. Olympus
Each Polis had its own
god/goddess: Athena…
Also thematically-based
deities: Eros, Aphrodite…

17. Mountains in Northern Greece

18. Social Hierarchy of the Polis
1. Citizens = STAKE HOLDERS – 10%
– Adult males, NOT WOMEN!
– Stake holders engaged in commerce, agriculture
– NOT foreigners!!
2. Free People with no rights
– Underage men
– Women
– Men without a “stake” in the politics
– and future of the polis
3. Non-citizens
– Slaves, who accounted for about 1/3 of people in
Athens
– Foreigners

19. Slavery in Athens
 How did one become a slave?
– Born to slaves
– POW
– Criminal  mines, ship’s crew
– Exposed as an infant
– Sold by a parent in debt
(daughter, usually)
– Kidnapping
Aphora: Slave nanny
takes baby from
her mistress

20. Slavery in Athens
How did it differ from slavery of helots in Sparta?
Private property - “Chattel”
– Unskilled
– Skilled and educated
– Some bought their own freedom
– Publicly owned slaves
– Professionals / Specialists:
Lived separately

22. Sparta
 Dorians conquered and enslaved
inhabitants “helots” for hard
labor.
 Spartan citizens = 10%
of pop!
 Militarist/physical training from
young age
 Little literature, art, architecture
 Totalitarian Government

23. THIS IS Sparta!
 Military Oligarchy
 Political organization:
– 2 figurehead kings
– An aristocratic council
– Assembly of citizens over the age of 30
– 5 “ephors” elected annually by the assembly
and were the actual rulers of Sparta.
– No discord/political revolution allowed
– Commerce & outside contact discouraged - to
guard against corrupting influence of wealth &
new ideas

24. Comparing Sparta & Athens
 Education- state
controlled
– emphasized physical training
& military discipline.
– Children of 7 selected for
army and left homes
 Women had all rights
except voting
– Physical training
– Purpose: raise strong boys to
be future soldiers
 Little trade, contact with
outside world- mostly
agricultural & militaristic
 Education private -
emphasized personal,
intellectual, & physical
development:
– Music, literature, art
– 2 years mandatory military
service at age 18
 Women not citizens and
had few rights.
– Educated in household duties
only
 Active in trade &
commerce with colonies,
other countries.

25. Art & Architecture
Culture
Athens - Acropolis

26. Athens today

30. Persian Wars
550- 400 BCE
 Reported by Herodotus
 Greek Ionians Revolted
against Persian overlords in
Asia Minor (now Turkey).
 Athens supported the
revolt.

31. Greek War Technology
 Battle of Thermopylae Pass- 300
Spartans slaughtered. Athenians
evacuated while city burned.
 Brilliant Athenian naval victory at
Straits of Salamis
 Battle of Platea- combined Greek force
defeated Persians, forcing Persia to
retreat, and liberation of Ionia.

32. Significance of Greek Victory
over Persians
 Aegean Sea controlled
by Athens 
 Spread of Athenian
commerce 
 Spread of Athenian
culture 

33. Golden Age of Pericles – “Classical”
(461- 429 BCE)
Pericles dominated
Athens for 30 years
– Strengthened democracy
in Athens
– Built a Commercial
Empire
– Glorified & Beautified
Athens (ie: built
Parthenon)

34. The Beginning of the End for the Athenian Empire…
 Delian League 477 BCE
– 140 eastern city-states
 Defensive measure
 Ships & money from member city-states
 became foundation of Athenian
Empire (treasury moved to Athens)...
 Athens forcibly prevented secession
from League…

35. Delian League

36. A Question of POV
Sparta
 Militaristic POV
– Saw Athens spreading
commercially
– Saw Athens control dependent
states
 Government by elites – “old
world view” – security,
isolation…
– Concerned that Athens was
strong enough to beat
Persia…
 SUSPICIOUS!
Athens
 Trade, Cultural Interests
– Building military might for
defense against
Persia…and…squelching
uprisings….
 Government by Popular
Democracy
– Concerned about
GROWTH! for trade…
 Naïve - spreading colonies
& military / trade alliances
even around areas Sparta
considered its sphere of
influence.

37. • Peloponnesian League
Sparta &
Corinth-
Rivals of
Athens.
431 BCE-Wars
began

38. Athens Lost Hegemony!
The Four P’s
 Plague - killed ¼- 1/3 Athens population,
including Pericles  Power Vacuum  Panic,
lawlessness, terror in Athens 421- 415 BCE-Temporary
Peace
 Poor Judgement- 415 BCE- Under new
leadership, Athens attacked Sicily  escalation
of war during time of temporary negotiated peace
Persia allied with Sparta - Athens surrendered,
becoming a puppet state of Sparta.

 Phillip of Macedon, 338, BCE, with the assistance of
his son, Alexander. Defeated the exhausted Greeks.

39. Legacy of Classical Greece
Culture

40. 1. Philosophy
Philosopher= One who
Loves Wisdom
Based on two assumptions:
– The universe is orderly
with unchanging laws
– People can understand
these laws through
REASON

41. Sophists (arrived from Ionia during Peloponnesian War)
 Brought skeptical humanism:
Elevated mankind to a central place in the Universe.
“Man is the measure of all
things.”
 Made a living teaching discourse & rhetoric to wealthy
young men - important skills in a democracy.
 Questioned supremacy of the gods during the stalemated
Peloponnesian war

42. Plato (427- 347 BCE)
Established the basis for Western philosophy.
The Republic
State’s function: to satisfy the common good.
Common man is unfit to govern himself.
Outlined a Utopia founded on justice, with:
– workers providing the necessities of life,
– warriors acting as guards,
– Philosophers as kings.
– No private property or family organization
– education regulated by the state.

43. Aristotle (384- 322 BCE)
 Helped develop rational, scientific
thought… Scientific Method: based on
OBSERVATION
 The Politics - the first analytical examination of
politics as a social science.

44. Plato
Aristotle
School of Athens
Raphael

45. Socrates (from Athens)
To Define, through ceaseless
questioning, what was good in the
soul.
–Socratic Method

46. Death of Socrates
by Jaques Louis David
Brought to trial for
corrupting the minds of
the Young.
501 jurors heard the case.
Defense: his teachings were
good as they encouraged
people to think about their
values and actions.
Condemned to either
ostracism or death by poison.

47. 2. Drama
 Religious festivals…
 Moved into entertainment
realm…

48. Drama
Public Education
– Power of the people, and of the leaders
– Justice, morality, War & Peace, Duty to the
Gods, Family
– Importance of the Polis
Festivals like Olympics for Drama-
– Aeschylus (525- 455 BCE) –
won 13x, wrote over 30 plays (only 7
survived). Tragedies. Favored by Pericles.
– Sophocles (497- 405 BCE) –
wrote 100 plays- “Oedipus” most
famous. (Antigone is Odeipus’
daughter)

49. Euripides
 Tragedies
 Euripides' greatest works include
Alcestis, Medea, Trojan Women, and
the Bacchae.
 Strong female characters,
intelligent slaves.
 Satirized many heroes of Greek mythology. His
plays seem modern by comparison with those
of his contemporaries, focusing on the inner
lives and motives of his characters in a way
previously unknown to Greek audiences.

50. Amphitheatre at the Acropolis

51. Amphitheatre at Delphi

52. 3. Literature
– Aristophanes- first
comedic play: political
satire
– Sappho- female poet
4. Visual Arts
– More natural, life-like, and
beautiful
– Classical Art = order,
balance, proportion
Winged Victory
of Samothrace

53. Classical Greek Sculpture
 Goal:
Portrayal of
perfect
balance &
harmony -
mirrors Greek
philosophy.

54. Contraposto
 Most significant change
in sculpture to that date.
–Counterbalance /
s-curve of the body.
– Perfect Ideal of the
Human Body

55. Archaic
“Contraposto”
Classical Period: IDEALIZATION
the Eternal Pose & Aloof Expression = reasoned control

56. 430-323 BCE
Late Classical
 Thinner, more graceful,
sinuous
 Seen from all angles,
just as real, beautiful,
correct, and natural –
more 3-D…. they seem
to be alive!

58. Hellenistic
 Poses were
– Even less rigid & more fluid
– More lifelike
– More emotion exhibited
 Hellenistic period: so much
personality that they could be
whimsical, passionate…
 A single moment in
real time

59. Hellenistic
Almost classical in
serene expressions
Natural poses
& drape of
clothes

60. Laocoon and His Sons
Subject of a lost play by Sophocles
“Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” Punished for advising Trojans not to accept
Trojan Horse, and for having sons…
Classical topic,
Hellenistic treatment
Now in Vatican Museum

61. Quiz: Archaic, Early Classical, Late
Classical?
Eros Sleeping
The Charioteer
Mars
The Thorn
The Dying Gaul

62. 5. History
 Herodotus
(485- 425 BCE)
– The “father of history”
– Wrote “The History of the Persian Wars”
 Thucydides (460- 400 BCE)
– One of 10 generals of Athens exiled for 20 yrs
– Wrote about Peloponnesian Wars and was 1st
scientifically critical historian.
– Considered History utilitarian: one could learn
from study of the past.

63. 6. Mathematics
 Euclid & Pythagoras
– laid foundations of
mathematical sciences
– Worked out the
principles of Geometry
 Erastothenes-
– Earth is a sphere &
computed its size
 Strabo- Geography
 Ptolemy- astronomy
 Galen- medicine

64. Medicine
 Hypocrites
– Physician - Age of Pericles
– Medicine as disciplined
profession, not
philosophy or art
– Hippocratic Oath
– Borrowed heavily from
Egyptian medicine
- Professional tools

65. Greek Technologies
Water Technologies:
 Aqueducts
 Fire hoses
 Sewer & drainage
systems
 Fountains
 Baths & showers
 Sanitary facilities
 Water clock
 Water Organ
 Cranes, winches, levers,
fulcrum
 Torsion catapult
 Lighthouse
 Water / Steam-operated
machines and toys
 Automatic Door
 Central Heating
 Astrolabe
 The Gear, Screw, Rotary
Mills, Screw Press…

66. Archimedes
Mathematician, Physicist, Engineer,
Inventor, Astronomer
“Give me a place to stand on, and I
will move the earth!”

67. Architecture
 Moderation, Balance,
Proportion, Poise
– Themes of famous buildings
such as the Parthenon &
Erecthion.

68. Greek Columns
Doric
The Doric style is rather sturdy and its
top (the capital), is plain. This style was
used in mainland Greece and the
colonies in southern Italy and Sicily.
Ionic
The Ionic style is thinner and more
elegant. Its capital is decorated with a
scroll-like design (a volute). This style
was found in eastern Greece and the
islands.
Corinthian
The Corinthian style is seldom used in
the Greek world, but often seen on
Roman temples. Its capital is very
elaborate and decorated with acanthus
leaves.

70. The Golden Ratio
“Some of the greatest mathematical minds of all ages, from
Pythagoras and Euclid in Ancient Greece, through the medieval
Italian mathematician Leonardo of Pisa and the Renaissance
astronomer Johannes Kepler, to present-day scientific figures such
as Oxford physicist Roger Penrose, have spent endless hours over
this simple ratio and its properties.
But the fascination with the Golden Ratio is not confined just to
mathematicians. Biologists, artists, musicians, historians, architects,
psychologists, and even mystics have pondered and debated the
basis of its …appeal. In fact, it is probably fair to say that the
Golden Ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other
number in the history of mathematics.”
— Mario Livio, The Golden Ratio: The Story of Phi, The
World's Most Astonishing Number

71.  DaVinci’s Vitruvius Man “Divine Proportion”
…Art,
Architecture,
Math, Nature!

72. Listen to the “Music of the Spheres” for
yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BSGdX7eNn4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYq3g_zhbTo&feature=related

73. Emergence of
Hellenistic Greece

74. Emergence of Hellenic Greece:
Macedonian Ascendancy
Phillip II of Macedonia-
- 338 BCE- defeated forces of
Thebes/Athens
– Assassinated 336 BCE and
Alexander, his son, acceded to
throne.

76. Alexander the Great
 King at age 20
 Brilliant strategist
& inspired leader
 Conquered Greece
 Punished Thebes
by making slaves
of citizens 
other poleis did
not resist him.
Tutor – Aristotle
Carried Greek values , technology, culture everywhere he went: “Hellenizing”

77. Alexander the Great
– Freed Egypt from
Persian rule
– Married an
Egyptian
Princess and
became Pharaoh
 Alexander as pharaoh
on a relief in Luxor in the
temple of Amenhotep III

78. Alexandria, Egypt
 Light House
 Library with 500,000 papyrus
scrolls used for research
 Art Gallery
 Zoo
 Gardens
 Observatory
… the BEST of MANY Alexandrias!

79. Library of Alexandria

80. Defeat of Persia
 Continued East…conquering and
Helenizing and urbanizing as
he went… all the way to Bactria, in
Northern India.
 Defeated Persia
 Married Persian princess,
Roxane
 Wanted troops to intermarry with
conquered peoples to create a ruling
class combining Greek, Macedonian,
and Persian ancestry… to rule the
“world.”

82. Alexander
He and his soldiers
traveled 7 years, and
11,000 miles.
His goal was to
conquer all the way
to CHINA… Why?
What were his troops’
goals?

83. Death of Alexander
 On the way home, died of a
“fever”…or?... on June 10,
323 BCE at age 33.
Last words of Alexander: When
asked who should inherit his
empire he answered “..the
strong ones…”
His generals took his words to
mean that he intended them
to divide his empire among
themselves... What do YOU
think?

84. Dividing an Empire

85. Meanwhile, in Rome…
Roman Culture was
built on Greek Ideals