ANCS 2452 Greek History - Midterm 1

law

Archaic period dates

c. 600-480 BCE

Classical period dates

480-323 BCE

Cyclades

Group of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea arranged in a circle around Delos.

Ionia

Region of Asia Minor settled by Greek colonists.

• is conquered by Cyrus II in 6th c. BCE (under Persian control - loss of freedom & autonomy)

Persepolis

capital of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

Lydia (King Croesus)

A wealthy kingdom in Asia Minor that was conquered by Cyrus the Great, when it was ruled by King Croesus. 6th c. BCE

Hellespont

Narrow strait connecting the Aegean Sea to the Black Sea.

Black Sea

accessed via the Hellespont, critical for grain imports to mainland Greece.

Hellene

Term used by ancient Greeks to identify themselves as members of a shared cultural and linguistic group.

Panhellenic

The collective unity of the Greeks (blood/kinship, language, belief system, customs, etc)

• shown through Panhellenic sanctuaries or festivals

• Based on Hellas — the ancestral hero whom they view all Greeks as descendants of

Greek diaspora in the archaic period

Widespread colonization and establishment of Greek settlements across the Mediterranean and Black Sea during the Archaic period.

• Resulted in the creation of the Greek alphabet in the 8th c. BCE (intercultural contact with the Near East)

• New art styles (monsters and monster slayers, shipwrecks)

• Expanded trade and imports (exotic goods)

• Spread of the greek language to others

Apoikia

An independent Greek colony established overseas, maintaining cultural ties but political autonomy from its mother city.

• Would be sent out by a polis

Emporia/Emporion

Trading outposts established by Greeks in foreign lands to facilitate commerce.

Sanctuary

A sacred building dedicated to a deity, typically containing a temple and an altar.

Temple

A building that housed the cult statue of a god or goddess, distinct from places of congregational assembly.

Altar

An outdoor structure located in front of a temple where sacrifices and offerings were presented to the gods.

Piety/Impiety

Piety = proper respect and fulfillment of religious obligations toward the gods.

Impiety = disrespect, sacrilege, or failure to honor the gods, treated as a criminal offense in the polis.

Dionysos Eleuthereus

Epithet of Dionysus associated with freedom, whose cult statue was brought from Eleutherae to Athens for the Dionysia.

Greater Dionysia

Major Athenian festival honoring Dionysus, featuring dramatic and musical competitions

• 3 tragedies + 1 satyr play per day

• All citizens invited

• Actors were all male - wore masks

• usually tragedies from the heroic age/myth

Hubris

Excessive pride, arrogance, or insolence that provokes divine retribution from the gods.

Solon 6th c. BCE

Athenian nomothetes (lawgiver) who created the seisachtheia “shaking off burdens”

• canceled debts, ended debt slavery (only for Athenians), and brought back the Athenian slaves from outside Attica

• Established property classes.

Cleisthenes 6th c. BCE

• Reorganized Attica - created ten deme-based tribes.

• created 139 demes

• Revised the boule - now the council of 500 (under Solon, it was 400)

• isonomia - equality under the law

• Added a board of 10 magistrates

• Divided Attica into 3 regions (trittyes - coast, inland, city)

  • each tribe would have 1/3 of each region - access to all land

Ephialtes

Athenian reformer (462/1 BCE) who stripped the conservative Areopagus council of most political powers to empower democracy.

Persians

An Indo-European people who built a vast empire in the Near East under the Achaemenid dynasty.

• Originally made up of nomadic tribal groups that settled

Medes

An ancient people closely related to the Persians, frequently grouped together with them by the Greeks.

• Located in present-day Iran

• became the first satrapy (province) of Cyrus’s empire

Achaemenid

The imperial dynasty that ruled the Persian Empire, founded by Cyrus the Great and followed by Darius I

Cyrus II

Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire,

• had a marriage alliance with the daughter of the King of Medes

• 6th c. BCE

• defeats King Croesus of Lydia

Cambyses

Persian king who conquered Egypt, son of Cyrus II (the Great).

• 6th c. BCE - Cambyses dies without an heir

  • Darius I takes the throne (he was one of the 7 people that assasinated cambyses)

Darius I

Persian king who re-established Cyrus’s empire and expanded it, suppressed the Ionian Revolt, and whose forces were defeated at Marathon.

• He succeeded Cambyses (who had no heir); he was a distant relative

Xerxes

Persian king who launched the massive invasion of mainland Greece in 480 BCE.

• Second Persian War - battle of thermopylae and salamis

• was the son of Darius I

Persian kings

Monarchs of the Achaemenid Empire, including Cyrus, Cambyses, Darius, and Xerxes.

• The king often claims that he was chosen by divine right (by the gods)

Satrap and Satrapy

A governor (satrap) and province (satrapy) within the administrative system of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.

• They subdivided the empire into satrapies

• The Satrap collects the taxes of the satrapy for the king’s treasury

Medize

To submit to or collaborate with the Persian Empire during the Persian Wars.

'earth and water' custom

A symbolic demand for submission made by Persian kings, signifying surrender of land and sovereignty.

Herodotus

Referred to as the 'Father of History'; author of the Histories, which chronicled the Persian Wars.

• 5th c. BCE; discussed the Battles of Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis

• He was from Ionia, then moved to Athens.

• Methods: researched to provide context, used his own travel experiences, conducted interviews, used previous textual sources like Homer & Hesiod

  • Not all factual, as he believes Greek myths to be true (like Troy)

Thucydides

Athenian historian who wrote the analytical account of the Peloponnesian War.

• Discusses the story of Themistocles distracting the Spartans and building the fortification walls

Athenaion Politeia (Athenian Constitution)

The political system of ancient Athens

Aristoi vs Hoi Polloi

Aristoi = The 'best men'; the aristocracy of wealth in Archaic Greece.

Hoi Polloi = 'The many'; the common people or general populace

Oligarchy

'Rule by the few'; a form of government where political power is held by a small elite group.

• Common in the 8th c. BCE

Tyrannos (tyrant)

• A single ruler who lacks legitimacy

• made king by/through force and illegal measures

• a pre-classical form of government (used in 7th c. BCE)

• often had the support of the people, as he favoured the poor over the rich

• would make reforms to benefit the general pop., redistribute land, and create stability in the industry

• Tyranny created democracy (people tried to prevent another tyrant)

Isonomia

Equality of political rights and equality before the law; a cornerstone of Athenian democracy.

• created by cleisthenes

Demokratia

'Rule by the people'; the democratic political system developed in classical Athens.

Polis

The ancient Greek city-state

• Began to develop ca. the 8th c. BCE

• Self governing

Atimia

The loss of civic rights and public standing in Athens

• a new law under democracy

• due to public crimes, false testimony, in debt to the polis, treason, etc

Demos

The people; in democratic Athens, referring either to the entire citizen body or the common masses.

Polites

A term for a citizen:

• Pre-450 BCE = had to be male, at least one Athenian parent, and be registered in your birth deme

• After = you could only be a citizen if both parents were citizens

Oikos

The household, family, land, and property, serving as the fundamental socioeconomic unit in Greece.

Solons Property classes

• Pentakosiomedimnoi = highest property class; produced 500+ medimnoi of goods.

• Hippeis = second-highest; 'horsemen' class; 300+

• Zeugetes = third property class; could yoke a pair of oxen; 200+

• Thetes = lowest; -200

Ostracism

An Athenian political procedure where citizens could vote to exile a prominent individual for 10 years.

The 9 Archons of Athens

Chief magistrates of Athens:

• Eponymous Archon (oversaw administration of the state/conducted committees)

• Basileus (the high priest)

• Polemarch (in charge of war)

• six Thesmothetai.

Originally = only the aristoi

Under Solon = the top 2 property classes

Under Cleisthenes = top 3 property classes

Boule of 500

• Created by Cleisthenes

• The council of 500 citizens (50 from each of the 10 tribes) was responsible for setting the agenda for the Ecclesia.

• Chosen by lot

• Must be a polites (citizen) 30+ yrs old

• Met every day to discuss

Bouletai = members of the boule

Ecclesia

The popular assembly open to all property classes - had to be adult male Athenian citizens.

• met 40 times per year

Areopagus post-462 BCE

Former aristocratic council stripped of most political powers by Ephialtes in 462/1 BCE

• powers given to the assembly, but they still retained homicide jurisdiction.

Tribe (phyle)

Civic subdivision of the Athenian population; Cleisthenes created 10 territorial tribes.

Deme

Demes = political districts in Attica

• Serving as the base unit of Cleisthenic citizenship and administration.

• Determines citizenship (born into the deme)

Strategos

One of a board of ten military generals elected annually in Athens. Elected, not by lottery, they could be re-elected repeatedly

Hoplite

A heavily armored ancient Greek infantry soldier equipped with a spear and round shield (hoplon).

Trireme

The Greek warship

• paid sailors who were the thetes class

• 200 were built after the victory at Marathon to prevent the Persians from gaining power

• 2 banks of oarsmen so they don’t crush each other when rowing

• The prow has the head of a ram - ram into opponents’ boats

Ionian revolt, 499 BCE

• Tyrants Appointed by Persia: Persians ruled Ionian Greek cities by installing local tyrants who answered to the Persian satrap (governor).

• The Failed Naxos Expedition: Aristagoras, the tyrant of Miletus, launched a joint military expedition with Persia to conquer the island of Naxos in 499 BCE, which failed.

• Fear of Retribution: Fearing punishment or deposition from Darius for the failed Naxos venture, Aristagoras chose to rebel, inciting the Ionian cities to overthrow their tyrants and embrace democracies.

• Asked Greece for help. Sparta refused, but Athens sent 20 warships and Eretria sent 5 ships because they had ancestral kinship ties to the Ionians

• Greeks invaded Sardis - fire destroys city

• Persian fleet crushed the Ionian navy, and Miletus was captured and destroyed (ended the revolt)

>Ignited the Persian Wars

Battle of Marathon

• Persian troops set up camp under the control of generals Datis and Artaphernes, and were led by Hippias (former tyrant of Athens)

• Athens sends out runners (Phidippides) to other Greek city-states for help

  • No help from Sparta, but some hoplites from Plataea

• With Miltiades in charge, the Greek forces choose to fight instead of waiting; they run down the hill, and they flank the Persians

  • Heavy left and right wing, with a long line of center soldiers

  • The Persians are losing, so the remaining retreat to their ships

Athenian victory over Darius I's invading Persian forces in 490 BCE.

Significance of marathon

• showed the skill of the athenians - recognized power

• greeks who died at marathon became heroes

• The defeat of the persians gained respect from other states (spartans)

• Legend, that the patron deities (athena and Herakles) fought on the front lines with the Greeks - they had divine help

• plunder of the Persians became wealth for the greeks

Miltiades

Athenian general and strategos who secured the Greek victory at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE.

Phidippides

Athenian runner was dispatched to Sparta to request military assistance prior to the Battle of Marathon.

• Discovered Sparta was celebrating a festival and couldn’t leave for a week

Hippias

The final tyrant of Athens, son of Pisistratus, was overthrown and exiled in 510 BCE.

• became a refugee in the Persian Empire; led the troops to Marathon

Susa

The enslaved Eretrians, taken after the Persians fled the Battle of Marathon, were taken inland to Susa (a Persian state)

• Common practice of the Persians = relocating the captured enemy during wars

Aristides

• Athenian statesman

• Debate over what to do with the money gained from the Battle of Marathon - he suggested sharing the wealth with all citizens (less support than the other option)

• gets ostracised - can’t come back for 10 years

Later helped establish the Delian League and assess its initial tributes.

Themistocles

Athenian politician who suggested that the money from the Battle of Marathon be used to create a navy to prevent future Persian victories

• The idea was supported by the public (200 triremes)

Engineered the victory at Salamis in the Second Persian War - surprise naval attack

Later helped create the Delian League

Fortification long walls

Hellenic League

A defensive coalition of Greek city-states formed in 481 BCE in response to the Persian threat before the second Persian invasion

• spartans involved this time

Battle of Thermopylae - 480 BCE

• part of the second persian war

• Persians led by Xerxes, who aimed to invade Greece

• The Greeks combined forces — Athenians leading the naval forces and Spartans leading the land forces; they tried to block the Persians in the narrow mountain pass of Thermopylae, but they were shown a secret entrance by a Greek traitor

  • 300 Spartans led by King Leonidas

  • Greeks fall back to Athens

• Evacuation of Athens - Troezen decree

  • Result = Persian victory; Athens destroyed & looted by Xerxes

Troezen decree

An ancient inscription detailing the emergency evacuation plan of Athens

• used due to Xerxes' invasion in 480 BCE (Battle of Thermopylae).

Aeschylus

Prominent Greek tragic playwright who fought at Marathon and wrote the surviving play The Persians.

• 6th-5th c. BCE

• Only 7 out of his 79 plays survive

• Message of his Persian play = learning through suffering

• Describes the events at the Battle of Salamis

Battle of Salamis 480 BCE

• part of the second persian war

• Hellenic League meets, and Themistocles has an idea to fight them at sea

• A false messenger is sent to the Persians by Themistocles (telling them the Greeks were fleeing to sea - naval ambush)

• Greek fleet defeated the Persian navy (great loss of Persian soldiers and ships)

• Xerxes retreated/fled

Battle of Plataea

battle of the second Persian Wars in 479 BCE.

• Remaining Persians retreating from their loss at Salamis encamped at Plataea

• Persian army, led by Mardonius (who is eventually killed in battle).

• Persians did not wear heavy armour - not equipped for close fighting with hoplites (who did wear heavy armour)

• Spoils of war make the greeks rich

Mardonius

Persian general left in command of land forces in Greece; killed at the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE.

Battle of Mycale - 479 BCE

Greek naval victory on the same day as the Battle of Platea 479 BCE, destroying the remaining Persian naval forces

• marks the end of the persian wars

Delian League

A new league that replaced the Hellenic League

• Athenian-led maritime alliance formed by Themistocles, Aristides, and Cimon

• Each member state must contribute: ships or money

• 10 Hellenotamiai were elected to run the treasury (on Delos)

• oath to continue the war vs Persia until all Greeks are free

• took control of the coastline (made outposts)

Cimon

Athenian military leader and conservative politician who successfully led the Delian League before being ostracized.

• The son of Miltiades (hero of Marathon)

Hellenotamiai

'Treasurers of the Greeks';

10 Athenian officials who managed the finances of the Delian League.

Phoros

Tribute paid by member states of the Delian League to Athens.

Eion

A site with many gold and silver mines which were under control of the persians

• The Delian league then gets control of the mines (become wealthy)

• they enslave the local greeks (who maybe were seen as traitors)

Scyros

Island in the Aegean that gets conquered and colonized by Athens under Cimon (Delian League)

• Alleged pirates inhabiting the area; the league enslaves them

• Creates a port for the Athenian trade route

• The island where Theseus’s bones (mythical king of Athens) are said to be buried - and Cimon wanted to bring them to Athens

• They set up a cleruchy

Cleruchy

An Athenian colony whose settlers retained their Athenian citizenship while occupying foreign land.

Rebellion of Naxos

tries to leave the Delian league and rebell

• is forced to surrender after athens attacks

• forced to give up their ships and autonomy and pay a cash phoros

Carystus

City on Euboea coerced into joining the Delian League by Athens.

Thasos

Island in the northern Aegean with rich mines that revolted against Athenian hegemony in the Delian League.

Battle of the Eurymedon River - 466 BCE

Cimon's vs the Persians

• Double Greek victory (land and sea) over Persian forces

• Finishes off the Persian fleet - no longer a threat

Peloponnesian League

Spartan-led military alliance of Peloponnesian city-states.

Hegemon, hegemony

Political and military leadership or dominance exercised by one state over others.

Eleutheria

A motto of freedom

• ideological value emphasized by Greeks during the Persian Wars.

• free from persian rule

Barbaroi

Greek term for non-Greeks, originating from the sound of foreign languages ('bar-bar').

Piraeus

Main port of Athens, fortified and connected to the city by the Long Walls

• Themistocles was the main voice for building the fortification walls; he distracted the Spartans (who didn’t want the walls) while they were being built

• Why they maintained their power during the Peloponnesian Wars: they were able to keep bringing in supplies from the port