HUM REVIEW

Geo-influences

• On a small peninsula, divided by steep mountains and valleys. This contributed to its political organization. (Lots of city-states)

Early Greek settlers and influence

• Drew from the legacy of the first civilizations(Egypt)

• Small settlements/City-states w/ a population of 500 to 5,000 free men.

• Deforestation and soil erosion because lots of wood is needed for smelting.

City-States

• Independent

• Had a lot in common(Language and Religion)

• Olympic Games - Every 4 years, stopped conflict but didn’t help end it.

• Examples - Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth

Political Structure

• Idea of “Citizenship” - Free people managing the affairs of the state and of equality for all citizens before the law

• Tyrants - Strong, benevolent rulers, support of poorer classes, challenges ideas of wealthy.

• Council of Elders - 28 men > the age of 60 with wealth and influence. They served for life

• Solon -  Reforming leader, aimed to push Athenian politics in more democratic direction, break hold of aristocrat families. 

  • Debt slavery abolished

  • Public office opened to wider group of men

  • All citizens allowed to take part in the Assembly

• Pericles - Extended rights of citizens more

• Athenian Democracy - Direct and only free men

Greco-Persian Wars

• Greek Settlements on Anatolian seacoast(Ionia) came under Pesian Control. 

• These cities revolted against Persia w/ support from Athens 

• Persia(twice in 10 years) launched major military attempts to punish the Greeks(mainly Athens)

• Greece won somehow, resulting in a huge source of pride.

• Radicalized Athenian

• Golden Age of Greek Culture - 50 years after win resulted in high point in Athenian Democracy, and high point in Greece

  • Parthenon - Temple to Athena

  • Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides made Theater

  • Socrates started

Peloponnesian War + a little bit of Athens V. Sparta

• Athens tried to have a dominant position, which led to resentment and civil war.

• Sparta defended the independence of the other Greek city-states

• Led to eventual take over from Macedonia(Frontier kingdom on Northern fringes of the Greek world)

Alexander the Great

• Son of King Philip II of Macedonia - Politically unified Greece

• Persia round 2, being prepared by Alexander the Great.

  • Accomplished in 10 years in his 20’s, is very “cool”

  • Created Greek empire from Egypt & Anatolia to Afghanistan and India

  • In this process, Persian Empire was destroyed, Persepolis was looted + burned.

• King of Asia

• In Egypt, was celebrated as a liberator from Persia and was anointed as Pharaoh and was declared by priests to be “The son of the gods”

• Died without coming back to Greece and the empire was divided into 3

Hellenistic Era

• Widespread dissemination of Greek Culture(The significance of Alexander’s conquests)

• Penetrated the lands of the 1st Civilizations (Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India)

Greek Contributions

• Alexandria(Egypt) - Greek learning flourished thanks to museum.

• Greek became the language of power and the elite

• Greek legacy viewed as a central element in Western Civilization

• Fostered Europe’s Scientific Revolution

Republic Vs Empire

• Republic

  • Patricians - wealthy men with power

  • Plebeians - poor ppl and were protected from abuse

  • Morals (see Patrician versus Plebeian Row)

  • Transition from Republic to Empire was very violent

• Empire

  • Defeated Carthage Autocracy

  • Augustus Octavian - first emperor after Civil War (which happened because groups of militaries under Caeser and other leaders had rivalries)

  • Pax Romana - Era of prosperity and peace of rome

Society

Early People of Rome- 

• Latins -- migrated to Rome around 800 BC; formed seven villages along the Tiber river which eventually became Rome

• Greek colonists-- settled in S. Italy

• Etruscans-- north of Rome; governed the Romans for a  

• time; influenced the Roman alphabet & Roman 

• building techniques (arches)  

Men had total control over their wives, children, and slaves

• This disappeared eventually due to shift in republic’s values and now women have rights in Rome

Patricians vs. Plebians

• Patricians

  • Men of wealthy class who dominated the Roman Republic

  • Exec Authority w/ 2 councils - Senate

• Plebeians

  • Poorer classes

  • Given protection from abuse + Office of Tribune = representation

  • These are the MORALS (Way of the Ancestors) republic had

Roman Expansion

• Victory in Punic Wars (Carthage) = control over Mediterranean

• Expansion in Eastern Mediterranean - Greece +Egypt +Mesopotamia under Rome

• Britain + Fr*nce

Roman Govt and Laws

Patricians 

• Senate→ most powerful governing body; made the laws; Made up of 300 patricians (landowners) who served for life

• Consuls→ two Senators elected each year to command armies.  Could only serve one term and had to consult the Senate before making decisions.  

• Dictators→person chosen in the event of war who had complete control of the government for only six months.  

Plebeians

• Tribunes

• 12 Tables

• Slaves

• Republic: the thing of the people→  It was created to prevent one person from gaining too much power.  

  • founded in 509 B.C.E. after the last Etruscan king that ruled Rome was overthrown.

• Basic principles of Roman Law

  • Innocent until proven guilty

  • Accused can face the accuser

  • Guilt proven through evidence

  • Judges make fair decisions   

Julius

Caesar

• Led “small” militias from ranks of poor whose rivalries cause a civil war

• Conquered Gaul of France

• Last Roman Dictator/Leader when they were a Republic

• Caesar’s Reforms:

• Roman Citizenship

• Expanded Senate

• Helped the poor

• Paid soldiers

• Stabbed to death

Augustus Octavian

• first emperor after Civil war (which happened because groups of militaries under Caesar and other leaders had rivalries) 

• Not same guy as Julius Caesar; he just took his name (his full name is Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Octavian) to make it harder for historians 2000 years later 😔

• Pax Romana= roman peace

• Reforms

• Paid workers more

• Postal Service

• Huge buildings

Diocletian

• Split the empire into East and West because it was getting to big to rule over

• Led to conflicts between each side

Constantine

Converted Rome to Christianity

• Christianity kinda held Rome together fr

• Theodosius - emperor who banned polytheistic ritual sacrifices, in contrast, Christian practices were being allowed more and more → Rome became Christian

• Perpetua was a martyr that spread Christianity

Bread and Circus

• Entertain poor people

• Gladiators, plebeians, etc. fight 

• Basically trying to make them forget about Roman problems by diverting their attention

Growth and Spread of Christianity

• It was hierarchical and women were low, some were leaders in chuch

• Spread thru pax romana and roman roads

• An orthodox (correct) position was sought

  • Anyone who disagreed was Anathema (wrong)

  • Caused a division of Ideas 

• Bishop of Rome(i think this is the pope) was found the dominant Leader in the West

  • East disagreed → split between Latin, Roman Catholic, Greek, Eastern Orthodox, etc. branches of Christianity

Fall of Rome

Internal Causes:

• Corrupted emperors

• Too big

• Bad economy

• Epidemics/Population decline

• Bread and Circuses

External Causes:

• Battles with Sassanid Empire

• Germanic Invasions

• Idk if you need to know the tribes but they are Visigoths, Goths, Vandals, and Huns 

• ... Marcus Nguyen

Contributions of Rome

• Latin influences many languages today

• Republics (Senate too)

• Roman laws

• Spread Christianity

• Architecture/Engineering

Oedipus:

• Made by Sophocles

                      FULL STORY

• Laius and Jocasta give birth to Oedipus and they hear that their son will kill Laius so because of this they send him to be stuck at the mountainside and die.

• The shepherd who was sent could not bring himself to do this so he gave him to the king and queen of Corinth.

• Oedipus grew up hearing rumors about how he wasn't their true son so he consulted the oracle who told him that he would kill his dad and marry his mother

• He got scared so he ran to a faraway land and killed some ppl who made him road rage (Laius) and eventually came to Thebes

• Saved them from a sphinx so he became king and married Jocaste but there was an immediate plague when he was king so he sent Creon (Jocastes brother) to the oracle to find out why - he says it because the man who killed Laius is in the kingdom. 

• Oedipus decides to try and find out who it is and eventually finds another oracle (Tiresias). Oedipus continues to ask him who killed Laius but he really doesn't wanna tell him but he eventually does. 

• Oedipus doesn't believe this and gets mad at Creon because he thinks he did this. Jocasta comes and separates the fighting and says that oracles are false anyway. 

• Oedipus finally realizes and he stabs his eyes. Jocasta hangs herself

THEMES

• Talks alot about eyes and being able to see and being blind

• Oedipus anger

• Hubris and Pride

Homer + The Iliad

• Tells the story about the Trojan War and Achilles

• Achilles has anger issues and pride

• Agamemnon took achilles girl and achilles got mad 

• Achilles friend dies to hector, achilles kills hector in a fight

• Godly intervention 

The odyssey

• About Odysseus and his journey home from Troy to get back to Ithaca (home)

• Themes of homecoming 

• Encounters a lot of stuff ie cyclops, circe (witch), wind god Aeolus, Scylla and charybdis

• His crew all dies lol

• When he returns home he pretends to be a beggar to not attract attention

• His wife penelope has many suitors (ppl tryna marry her)

• Odysseus kills them and the end i think

Sappho poetry

Lyrical poetry

• Lyric - Accompanied by a Lyre

• Emotionally Expressive

• First Person

• Originally set to music

Doric

• No base

• Tampered shaft

• Entasis: gets larger as it goes down

• Sturdy + Masculine

• 20 flutes

• :3

Ionic

• Slimmer

• Has a Volute at the top

• Tired base

• Slender + Feminine

• 24 flutes

Corinthian

• Hellenistic: peaceful and prosperous period

• Popular w/ roman architecture

• Acanthus leaves on bell-shaped capital at the top

Facade

• Entablature - a horizontal structure that sits above the columns

• Triglyph -  3 vertical grooves

• Metope - Sculptural space that depicts Roman and Greek designs

• Pediment - upper triangular part

• Cornice - Corner piece

• All together = Frieze

• High Relief: Pops out more; far from wall

• Low Relief: Stays in the wall; flat

Floor plan

• 1 - Stereobate ( Substructure)

• 2 - Stylobate

• 3 - Colonnade - row of columns

• 4 - Pronaos ( porch)

• 5 - Naos ( or Cella) - main room

• Facing East towards sunrise

• Active working temple with rituals and stuff in Naos

Dome, Arch, Oculus

• Dome: A round structure that can cover a large open space.

• Arch: Curved structure that supports weight.

• Oculus: Circular opening at the top of a dome - Allows natural light to enter a building. An example of an oculus is the Pantheon.

Parthenon

:3

• The ancient Greek temple in Athens was dedicated to the goddess Athena.

• Doric columns

Pantheon

• Built as a temple for all Roman gods 

• Used a large concrete dome with an oculus at the top of the dome

Colosseum

• Used for public events including gladiator battles and naval battles.

• A historical reminder of ancient Roman culture.

Epicureans

• Epicurus 

• How to live a pleasurable life while being happy and having less anxiety

Stoics

     “You have power over your mind -  Not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

      -  Marcus Aurelius

• Popular within the Roman Empire

• Founder: Zeno

• Followers: Marcus Aurelius, and So9

• Focus on controllable aspects of life - control emotions

Socrates

   “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”

      -  Socrates

• Constant Question

• Logic rather than emotion

• Was a rebel who “corrupted” the youth and was later sentenced to death by the Athenian government

Plato

   “Reality is created by the mind, we can change our reality by changing our mind.”

      -  Plato

• Started The Academy

• Student of Socrates

• Deductive reasoning

• Wrote The Republic - States how to run a gov/society; wanted philosopher kings

• “Allegory of the Cave” → Challenged whether perspectives were real

• Believed in philosopher kings

Aristotle

   “Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.”

      -  Aristotle

• The Lyceum

• Peripatetic way of teaching → walk and talk while teaching

• Inductive reasoning

• Wrote “The Poetics” → How to be a good critic 

• Loved Tragedies

The Allegory of the Cave

• 3 prisoners chained to a cave, only see the shadows

• They believe these shadows are real

• Make assumptions about shadows

• One prisoner breaks free and tells them about the real world but the 2 other people do not believe him

• “ Is our perspective real “?

• Plato

Devan shah goat

Greece

Rome

Sculpture/Pottery

• Geometric

• Used to put ashes of the dead

• Usually used for ritual vessels
  - heavy on abstraction

 Red Figure Pottery

• Red figures, clay, used to be able to overlap figures

Black Figure Pottery

• Originated in Corinth

• Shows Greek heroes playing dice, famous scene

Architecture

Kouros, Calf Bear, and Kroisos

• Hellenic depiction to gods and shows nude men

• Started shift toward male nude

• Kouros→ young man

Epic Poems

Literature/Drama

Timeline of Greek Art