Test no.2 Greek Culture

Protogeometric

Associated with the Greek Dark Ages. Decoration is restricted to purely abstract elements and is characterized by broad bands and concentric circles.

Geometric Characteristics

- bands and registers (of large mammals)

- Large vases were used as funerary markers

What were geometric pots made out of?

clay

What were the motifs on pottery in the 8th and 7th centuries?

- lions and griffins spread through the Mediterranean

- influences of Syria, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Egypt colliding with Greek culture

Black Figure Pottery

- black figures, etched silhouettes, lines, and contrast against a red background

- iconography frequently narrates mythological stories

- subject painted on the object with slurry

The Francois vase

Large, Attic Volute crater decorated in the black figure style

- one of the earliest pieces to depict multiple scenes

- 270 figures, 121 with inscriptions

Functions of the Francois vase

- interior shows scratching, which might have been used for mixing

- use in symposia or in a funerary banquet honoring the deceased.

- Kraters used for mixing wine with water

Archaic sculptures

- male and female funerary monuments and religious offerings called kouros and kore figures with frontal position hanging down

Phrasikleia Kore

- lotus imagery

- commissioned to be a grave marker

- polychromy

Greek Lyric or "Melic" Poetry

- associated with the 7th-5th century BCE

- product of social, political, and artistic environments

- what survives are fragments/lyrics

-

Sappho

Greek poet, she was one of the most famous lyric poets of Greece.

- from the city of Mytiline or Eresos on the island of lesbos

Mummy cartononage

- Ancient Egyptian mummies were covered with an outer casing made of linen, recycled plaster, and papyrus

Pindar

Lyric poet, best preserved work, wrote odes to victorious Olympians

- celebrates major religiously centered athletic events

The priamel

A literary device which focuses attention by presenting a list of items to compare, culminating with the item of interest

Peridios Circuit

Circuit of olympic, isthmian, delphic, and nemean games

Palaestra

exercise yard/room for gymnastics, wrestling, and more

Hellanodikai

judges or officials of the Ancient Olympic Games

Temenos

a sacred enclosure built to separate the ancient temple from the rest of the city

Hippodrome

An ancient Greek stadium used for horse and chariot racing

Stadion

foot-race

Pankration

an olympic event that combined wrestling and boxing

Hoplitodromos

A footrace where they wore armor while they raced

Heraia

Women had their own Olympics in non-Olympic years

- athletic events every 4 years for women only in honor of Hera

Epinicia

victory odes

Funeral Games

For Patroclus, Book 23 of the Iliad

Ritual Celebration of the Gods

Apollo and Zeus

Peridos Games

Olympia, Delphi, Isthmian (Corinth),

Nemea

Athletics as Religious (and Political) Festivals at

Panhellenic or local sanctuaries

Formal athletic competitions during religious festivals;

victory viewed as a favor of the presiding deity

▪ Sacrifices of animals, sacred processions, truces during

skirmishes and wartime, oaths by athletes

Olympic Games

Olympia was a sacred area (temenos)

surrounded by a wall containing several

temples and accommodations for sporting

events

Areas of competition (Olympics)

- Equestrian

- Pentathlon

- Combat Sports

Treasuries at Olympia

At the foot of Kronos Hill, eleven treasuries

formed the northern boundary of the

temenos (sanctuary)

• Built in 6th c. BCE by 11 Greek city-states

and this is where they are housed under the protection of a god, and they are given offerings

οἶκος/ οἶκοι

households

πόλις

city state

δῆμος

the people, the residents, and the collective body of the polis

τυράννος

An aristocratic ruler who appeals to the demos

κοῦρος, κόρη

male youth/young unmarried women

φύγας

exile

ὕβρις

violence

Major Bronze Age

Centers during the

Mycenean Period:

Mycenae, Tiryns,

Thebes, Athens, Gla,

Orchomenos, Pelos,

Knossos

Major Cultural Shifts during the 10th Century

- Loss of Linear B

- Collapse of urban centers

- widespread population decline

- no large-scale architecture

- development of iron-working

Technical Innovations during the 10th Century

- proto-geometric style of pottery using faster pottery wheels, and compasses to draw curvilinear designs

Usage of Iron

- Smelting of iron was learned from Cyprus and the Levant using local deposits of ores

- edged weapons used by warriors

Major cultural changes and innovations during the Archaic age (9th-5th century, early 5th century)

- rise of urban centers

- colonization and trade

- invention of currency

- rise of monumental architecture

- figurative art

City-state

politically independent and isolated urban centers that control the countryside

πόλις (polis)

transition from agriculture to a mercantile/trade-based economy

- rise of manufacturing (pottery)

- Non-aristocrats could gather in assemblies

Coinage/introduction of currency

- Before coinage, iron bars were the currency

- spread rapidly through polities and colonized territories

- Each polis mines its own coins

- monetization of trade

Phalanx

A military formation of foot soldiers armed with spears and shields

Attributes of Liberal Democracies

- governing system based on the will and consent of the governed

- adherence to the rule of law

- respect for universal human rights

Isogoria

equality of voice (freedom of speech)

Isonomia

equality before the law (all citizens are equal before the law)

Isotelia

All citizens contribute to political spending and the military according to their wealth and income

Isocracy

All eligible citizens have the same probability of being selected

Demokratia

The Greek word meaning rule, or power, by the people

- power broadly distributed

- Distinguished from the power exercised by an individual

- Distinguished from power exercised by an elite group (aristokratia/

oligarchia)

Demos

the people; the masses

Kratia

Power, constitutional authority

Aristos

"the best," the landed elite status

Oligos

"The few," power consolidated in the hands of the few privileged

Archia

The rule

Ekklesia

assembly

- during Pentecontaetia: 6,000 quorum of all male Athenians citizens

Council of Areopagos

Consisted of ex-archons, membership for life, and oversight over the laws

Thetes

Athenian citizens who did not own any land

Solon's Reforms

cancel debts, income tax, and more men could hold public office

Pisistratus

Son of Nestor, who accompanies Telemachus to Sparta

- formed allies with powerful families

The Tyrannicides

two Athenian citizens who murdered the son of Peisistratus helped bring about the downfall of Athenian tyranny and paved the way for democracy.

Hippias and Hipparchus

The 2 sons of Peisistratos who succeeded him after he died.

Strategoi

This was a military commander. There was 1 per tribe.

Areopagus

The governing council of Athens was originally open only to the nobility. It was named after the hill on which it met.

Demes

The political division of Attica in ancient Greece.

- they were self-governing units

Eleutheria

freedom

ison

equality

Limits to freedom (ison)

- Metics who exercised citizen rights were liable to prosecution ( if indicted, they were sold into slavery and their property was confiscated)

Role of women in society

- played no public role except in the case of religious rites

Cleisthenes

An aristocrat created a council of 500 and benefited from the Athenian democracy

- replaced tribal clans with 10 geographic demes

Themistocles

A Greek military leader who convinced the Athenians to build a navy. This helped Athens win a major battle against Persia, the Battle of Salamis. He was ostracized around 471 BCE.

Persian Wars

- Hellenic victory in the wars

- Athens + Sparta led roles in the defeat of the Persian invasions

Peloponnesian League

an allied, very loose

Confederation of Poleis was founded around 550 BCE

under the hegemony of Sparta

Rules of the League (Peloponnesian)

- No binding treaty or agreement between

poleis

b. Each polis negotiated its own terms with

Sparta

c. Each polis agreed to have "Common friends

and enemies."

d. Each polis agreed to provide reciprocal

military aid

Delian League

An alliance headed by Athens that says that all Greek city-states will come together and help fight the Persians

The Pentecontaetia

A 50-year period of peace between the Greco-Persian War and the Great Peloponnesian War

What is a key ideology of Athenian Democracy regarding citizens?

Protection of the Rights of Athenian Citizens, equality of citizens

Pericles

Athenian leader noted for advancing democracy in Athens and for ordering the construction of the Parthenon.

Qualities of Pericles

- a prominent, influential figure in Athenian politics with masterful oratorial skills

- Held a powerful position of strategos for more than 20 years

Strategoi (during Pentecontaetia)

Elected annually, oratorical and rhetorical skills, political leadership,

and military leadership, usually held by a major, politically influential figures

Kleroterion

Ancient Greek allotment machines that assigned jurors to the courts

Athenian Dramas

Annual festivals of the City Dionysia and the Lenaia, where dramatic competitions would take place

- Choruses and the cost of costumes would be paid through the city offices

Focusing Event

A major happening, often of crisis or disaster proportions, that attracts widespread media attention to an issue

Thucydides Trap

When a rising power causes fear in an established power, which escalates toward war

The dispute over epidamnus

Poleis (including Epidamnus) experience internal strife between democratic and

oligarchic factions.

• Athens and Sparta finally come to the precipice of war in 431 BCE over disputes among their allied cities, especially. Epidamnus, Corcyra, and Potidaea.

Mass Grave at Kerameikos Cemetery

Dated by pottery sherds to ~430 BCE

• Contained some 90 skeletons and possibly originally as many as 150

• Coincides with both the time of the siege of Athens by Sparta and the Plague

• Skeletons placed helter-skelter with no soil between them