greece

knossos

- wealthiest and most powerful city on minoan crete
- center of civilization
- surrounding area fell due to invasion by myceneaen’s from the
mainland (1450 - 1400)
- destroyed sometime between 1400 and 1200

aristotle

- 384 - 327 bc
- star pupil of plato
- tutored alexander iii
- founded his own school (the lyceum)
- overarching goal: to collect and test all availible information
- scientific method
- teleological doctrine
- formal cause + form and matter
- humans are animals that live in polis'
- thought a polis was the best system of government

trojan war

- 1193 - 1184
- paris (son of the trojan king prium) abducts helen (wife of
menelaus of sparta)
- agamemmnon (king of mycenae) assembles a group of greek
states to attack
- war fought between the myceneaen greeks and the city of troy

homer

- illiad (750) and odyssey (725)
- common stories
- horrific violence
- fluid authority
- gods portrayed as a closely connected family on olympus who
seldom work in unity
- mycenaean (bronze age) and contemporary (iron age) elements
- unknown identity
- wrote down oral poetry
- didactic

hesiod

- around 700 bc
- theogony
- act of creation
- primitive and tempestuous gods
- dark depths of human psyche
- works and days
- phases of history
- justice (dike) w zeus as its protector
- dawning of a new age

sappho

- 630-570 bc
- archaic greek poet from lesbos
- wrote lyrical poetry that was to be sung with music
- focus on sensuality
- only one complete poem (hymn to aphrodite)

archilochus

- 680-645 bc
- first poet to write on his own experiences and emotions
- described his life in a new colony
- dropped his shield in battle, but saved his own life
- unheard of humiliation
- old greek values challenged by a world that values initiative and
good luck

marathon

- 490 bc
- first persian war
- persians badly outnumbered the athenians, so pheidippedes was
sent to run for spartan help
- they were in the middle of a celebration for apollo, so they came
- one day after the battle
- still an athenian victory

philip ii

- 359-336 bc
- becomes king of macedon in 359
- father of alexander the great
- consolidation of macedonia in northern greece (359 - 357)
- took part in the third sacred war (355 - 346)
- battle of chaeroneia (338)
- created league of corinth (337)
- alliance w all of greece (below olympus) except sparta
- was assassinated at a macedonian royal wedding in 336

socrates

- 470 - 399 bc
- dialectic method
- no notes or writings
- wisest man ever according to the oracle
- ethics: virtue and knowledge
- trial and execution by hemlock (399)

polis

- community of several villages with the goal of self-sufficiency
- formation during 9th or 8th century
- unification of several pre-existing villages
- urban center w agricultural territory

dorian invasions

- 1200 - 800 bc
- explanation for the end of mycenaean culture
- destruction of all palace except athens

agoge

- training/discipline
- system of military education for youth of sparta
- began at age seven and lasted thirteen years
- used from 3rd century onward

helots

- lowest class in spartan society
- in bondage to spartans by 6th century
- slaves
- worked for spartan citizens

draco

- 621/0 bc
- first law giver
- appointed bc of severe civil unrest due to debt
- first written laws
- all laws except homicide were annulled by solon
- biased against aristocrats
- distinguished between intent
- lasted a generation
- didn’t actually end civil strife

solon

- 594/3 bc
- overhauled constitution/laws
- "shaking off of burdens"
- canceled all existing debt
- created four property classes based on land ownership
- timocracy: political power based on wealth
- new law code
- mediator

peisistratus

- 561/0 - 528/7 bc
- started the peisistratid tyranny
- "good" tyrant
- constitutional rule (but didn't actually follow the constitution bc
tyranny was punishable by death)
- followed and did not change the constitution
- comparatively low taxes
- coinage

cleisthenes of athens

- created reforms around 508/7 bc
- birth of athenian democracy
- tribal system
- created ten tribes instead of four
- council of 500
- second council
- annual office
- equal representation
- fifty members from each of the ten tribes
- ostracism
- voted on each year
- essentially a ten year exile that, if broken, results in kill on sight
orders
- anti-tyranny and anti-persian measure
- served as chief archon

herodotus

- 484 - 425 bc
- father of history
- divine and human causation
- focus on humans
- wrote his histories (440s) to explain why persian-greek conflicts
came to be
- why the persian war happened
- obtained info by inquiry

linear b

- contemporaneous w linear a but still slightly different
- pre-greek
- tablets (~1200 bc) show existence of olympic gods and worshipping of the majority of the later pantheon
- burned, therefore they survived

alexander iii (the great)

- 336 - 323 bc
- planned invasion and conquest of persian empire
- four stages of conquest
- darius iii (334 - 330)
- inland provinces of persian empire (329 - 327)
- failed attempt to conquer india (327 - 325)
- return and death (325 - 323)
- died from excessive drinking at babylon (june 323
- literally the end of an era
- end of classical, beginning of hellenistic

zeno of elea

- early 5th century
- series of paradoxes used to disprove pythagorean views

olympic games

- first olympiad occurred 776 bc
- only one event (footrace)
- only greek men could compete but anyone could watch
- cultural unity
- heavy events
- wrestling, boxing, pankration
- occurred every four years in the summer

magna graecia

- southern italy + sicily
- most popular place to colonize from 8th to 5th century

thermopylae

- 480 bc
- three day battle
- pass of thermopylae (very narrow)
- xerxes meant to have a coordinated land-sea attack
- the naval part was a disaster
- a greek informant told xerxes of a path above the mountain,
allowing his land attack to arrive quickly
- greeks surrounded and walls breached
- other greeks fled, but leonidas and the 300 spartans stayed
and fought (either spartan king dies or sparta dies)

salamis

- 480 bc
- naval battle
- themistocles vs xerxes
- decisive victory for the greeks
- turning point in the war, when it became a stalemate

pericles

- died during plague of athens (430)
- didn’t want to conflict with spartans in north attica
- ordered a retreat behind the walls
- athenian statesman during peloponnesian war and brilliant orator
- extended his influence, but never abused his power

sophocles

- 496 - 406 bc
- 193 plays, 7 survived
- won contest 24 times
- oedipus rex
- can’t escape fate
- antigone
- trapped by her own conscience
- focus on community ⇾ focus on individual
- earlier archaic world

thucydides

- 460 - 399 bc
- detailed plague and war
- societal breakdown
- no interest in society or culture
- no illusions of human behavior
- causes of war
- complaints and disputes: corinth, aegina, and megara
complained abt athenian influences
- truest allegation: athenian growth during inter-war period +
spartan fear

peace of nicias

- 421 - 413 bc
- named after an athenian general
- not a true peace, more of a cold war
- alcibiades and the sicilian expedition (415 - 413)
- absolute disaster

lycurgus

- 8th century
- came back from oracle with the great rhetra
- foundation of the spartan constitution
- council of elders
- contested existence
- all info abt him comes from the life of lycurgus by plutarch
- myth of sparta

oedipus

- bound to his fate
- first preformed around 429 bc

delian league

- 478 bc
- in the beginning, ionian cities would rather be lead by athens rather
than sparta
- soon becomes an athenian empire
- stated goal: revenge on persia
- named after the island of delos

plato

- 428 - 347 bc
- star pupil of socrates
- left athens after socrates' execution
- apology of socrates
- started an academy
- doctrine of forms
- the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute,
unchangeable ideas
- allegory of the cave
- also a metaphor for the life and death of socrates

ionian revolt

- 499 - 494 bc
- campaign to capture sardis
- burned the temple of cybele at sardis (498)
- ended with the garrison pushing ionians out
- uprisings in the ionian cities against persian rulers

oracle of apollo at delphi

- where apollo killed the python
- sanctuary was believed to be the center of the world
- messages of apollo relayed and interpreted by a priestess, the
pythia
- variety of questions brought forth
- answers needed interpretation
- consulted for colonization, and any other big political decision
- dates back to 1400 bc