Ancient Greek Society and Governance Notes

Life in Ancient Greek Cities (Polis)

• Economic Hubs: Cities, known as the "Poles," served as the primary centers for economic activity, irrespective of their origin.

• Political Power Structure:

  • Male Dominance: Political power was overwhelmingly concentrated in the hands of adult men. This was a recurring theme throughout ancient history, with very few exceptions until more modern times.
  • Exclusion from Rights: Various groups lacked voting rights and community responsibilities, including:
    • Immigrants and Traders: People from afar who came for business purposes.
    • Mercenaries: Individuals joining Greek mercenary outfits.
  • Limited Interaction: There was very limited, if any, political interaction between these excluded groups and the committees or urban governments.

• Hygiene and Sanitation: Life in ancient cities was significantly uncomfortable by modern standards, particularly concerning hygiene.

  • Dirtiness: Cities were inherently dirty places.
  • Cleaning Practices: Even with methods like rubbing and scrubbing bodies with olive oil, maintaining cleanliness was challenging.
  • Sanitation Deficiencies: Sanitation was severely lacking.
    • Lack of Sewage: Significant attention to sewage systems only emerged later during the Hellenistic period, primarily in more developed cities on the Asiatic Coast (e.g., Rome).
    • Street Filth: Streets were commonly clogged with all manner of waste, including human excrement, slaughterhouse refuse, and food remains.
    • Waste Removal: Gangs of slaves were responsible for moving this mass of filth to collection points.
    • Consistency: These poor sanitary conditions were consistent across most cities during this period.

• Public Safety and Infrastructure:

  • Lack of Police Force: There was no organized police force until the Roman period, specifically during the era of Augustus Caesar.
  • Constables: Most cities, especially larger ones, had mounted constables whose duties were limited to keeping marketplaces clean and driving away brigands or vagrants.
  • Street Conditions: Streets were often dirty, dangerous, and poorly lit in the evenings.
  • Fire Hazards: Virtually every ancient city was a severe firetrap due to:
    • Cooking: People cooked indoors, often using heated coals brought up to apartments.
    • Heating: Warming practices also contributed to fire risks.
    • Weaving Lint: Widespread weaving activities generated highly combustible lint.
    • Frequency: Consequently, fires were constant occurrences in ancient cities, with the Great Fire of Rome in $64$ AD being a notable devastating example.

• Health and Disease:

  • Limited Medical Knowledge: Medical practices were rudimentary, often relying on magic and various talismans for curing.
  • Medical Professionals: Typically, only one person in an urban area possessed some form of medical knowledge.
  • Disease Spread: Greece, situated on a major "through-way," was susceptible to diseases originating from Asia and the Far East, which would later severely impact Rome.

The End of the Dark Age and Greek Expansion

• Agricultural Renewal: The so-called Dark Age concluded around $800$ BCE, marked by an increase in farmed agricultural land.
• Population Growth: This led to a significant rise in population, potentially creating "population pressure" – too many people for the available arable land to support (unable to grow enough millet, barley, or wheat).
• Greek Adventurism and Trade:
  • Mercenary Activities: Greeks increasingly became adventurous and served as mercenaries.
  • Commercial Interest: Mirroring the 17th-century Dutch, Greeks became highly interested in trade and maximizing wealth.
  • Trading Posts: They established widespread trading posts across the Mediterranean, including:
    • Spain
    • Southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece, where Greek temples still stand today).
    • Other various locations.
  • Competition: These trading ventures brought them into competition with other maritime powers, notably the Carthaginians.
  • Major Commodity: Olive oil was a key commodity, utilized for a multitude of purposes.

Forms of Government in Ancient Greece

• Political and Cultural Change: Political systems evolved over time, sometimes influenced by external ideas.
• Kings: Some Greek city-states had kings, occasionally two (as in Sparta), who often served as war leaders. Early Romans were also wary of kings.
• Democracy:
  • Etymology: Derived from "demos," meaning "the people."
  • Definition: In ancient Greece, democracy meant that adult men were in control, specifically excluding immigrants and other non-citizens.
  • Athenian Model: Athens is recognized as the birthplace of democratic political ideas and practices, though it differed significantly from modern Western democracies.
• Tyrants:
  • Connotation: While the modern word "tyrant" implies a bad ruler, historically, they were not always seen negatively and often operated outside the law.
  • Role: Oligarchies (groups of wealthy men) might hire tyrants, who often commanded a private army, to govern.
  • Objectives: Their primary aims were to maintain the status quo, minimize chaos, ensure economic stability, and sometimes undertake public works (a form of "showcasing," similar to figures like Boss Tweed).
  • Beneficial Aspects: Tyrants could be beneficial, particularly for merchants and traders whose interests they often favored.
  • Nature of Rule: Their rule could resemble a police state, where they made or enforced their own laws.
• Oligarchy: A form of government where power is concentrated in a small group of wealthy individuals, often focused on economic gain.

Significant Reforms in Athenian Government

• Solon's Reforms:
  • Context: Addressed severe agricultural problems, including crop failures and the practice of farmers signing themselves over to creditors, leading to debt-slavery.
  • Debt Cancellation: Solon implemented an economic reform plan that notably canceled all debts. While beneficial for small farmers, this caused dissent among moneylenders.
  • Political Restructuring: He removed aristocrats from governing positions and military contingents, elevating non-aristocrats (analogous to a "middle-class bureaucracy") to public office.
• Cleisthenes' Reforms:
  • Transition to Democracy: Cleisthenes' changes marked a significant step towards what could be termed "primitive democracy" in Athens.
  • Tribal Reorganization: He created $10$ new tribes, which were not tribal in an anthropological sense but rather cross-sections of the overall population, designed to represent a broader segment of society.
  • Council of $500$: A council was formed consisting of $500$ individuals, with $50$ members drawn from each of the $10$ tribes. This system aimed to incorporate a larger sample of the population based on their wants and needs, moving away from a purely military-focused or aristocratic system.

Spartan Society and Economy

• Slave State Economy: Sparta functioned as a slave state, heavily reliant on a class of enslaved people known as Helots.
• Role of Helots:
  • Labor: Helots performed all the "grunt work" – farming, plowing, growing, and storing cereals.
  • Support System: Their labor directly benefited the Spartan upper stratum.
  • Control: Helots were kept in place through constant terror and indoctrination, as they were essential to the Spartan economy.
• Isolationism and Indoctrination:
  • Total Devotion to the State: Sparta was entirely dedicated to the brainwashing and indoctrination of its individual citizens from a young age.
  • Suppression of Individuality: Personal choice, freedom of opportunity, employment, or intellectual study were non-existent. Individual wants, desires, and comforts were suppressed, with the state's continuity being the sole priority.
  • Youth Education: Ephors (magistrates) meticulously oversaw the indoctrination of youth, paying close attention to morals as defined by the state and educating them to established cultural norms.
  • Cultural Resistance: Sparta actively emphasized isolationism to prevent the infiltration of external ideas regarding art, philosophy, or democratic politics from other Greek city-states, aiming to maintain a tough, rigorous society that was respected and feared without cultural change.
  • Lack of Arts/Philosophy: Consequently, the art and philosophy typically associated with classical Greece did not originate from Sparta.

Greek Colonization and Competition

• Widespread Settlements: Greeks established colonies extensively, including:
  • The coast of France (Gaul, later a Roman province).
  • Throughout Southern Italy and Sicily.
• Archaeological Evidence: Archaeological ruins of Greek settlements from this period are still found across much of Southern Europe today (e.g., Italy, Southern France).
• Rivalry: These expansions led to significant competition with the Phoenicians.

The Persian Wars and Cultural Zenith

• Cultural Significance: The period following the Persian Wars is considered a high point of Greek civilization.
• Conflict with Persia:
  • Background: Greeks were living on the Asiatic Coast (modern-day Turkey), an area occupied by the Persian Empire.
  • Invasions: The Persians launched invasions, at one point burning Athens.
  • Greek Victory: The Persians were ultimately defeated multiple times in major battles. The description mentions a "bridge of ships," referring to Xerxes' famous bridge across the Hellespont during his invasion.