ancient greece Flashcards
what types of colonies were there?
There were agricultural or independent colonies.
What triggered an economic crisis and triggered initial tensions between the aristocracy and the people?
The lack off land and the overflow of people was the reason.
What shift occurred in the social and political center of gravity with the appearance of a monetary system (700 BCE)?
Monetary capital became more important than land -> a new class of merchants and craftsmen started to form -> the new middle classes started to arm themselves to rival the military of the nobles
What options did the peasants have?
- emigrate
- borrow, and mortgage their land to the owners of large estates
- become a sharecropper-they would end up indebted and becoming a slave was the only option
Why did one noble become a dictator in a lot of cities?
The aristocracy realized that amidst growing social tensions (town-dwellers wanting more power and country-dwellers wanting fairer living conditions) it couldn’t retain its economic and political privileges without risking civil war.
What were the three main social reforms that Solon introduced?
- Debt cancellation: He abolished existing debts and freed those who had been enslaved due to debt.
- Abolition of debt slavery: Solon made it illegal to offer oneself as collateral for a loan.
- Retroactive ban on slavery because of debt
what concepts was timocracy based upon
- political rights were dependent on individual wealth
- divided into 4 classes ( Pentakosiomedimnoi, Hippei, Zeugits, Thetes)
- top offices (archons) were only reserved for the Pentakosiomedimnoi
creation of the people’s court (heliaia) and the Council of the 400
monarchy
rule of one being
aristocracy
rule of the nobles
democracy
rule of the people
timocracy
rule of the wealthy
What positive changes did Peisistratus introduce?
- deployment of local judges: undermines the remaining jurisdiction of the nobles
- supported small farmers by giving them loans
- founded new colonies
- enabled the building work to flourish
under whose rule did the evolution from monarchy to democracy reach its culminating point?
Pericles, the Tyrant
what caused a sense of community and equality?
the Persian Wars united Athens with its biggest rival Sparta. Within Greece’s city-states, slaves, nobles and peasants started taking part in defending their country
What did people do that didn’t have the financial means to support their city-states?
They were used as man-power in the galleys.
What did the Tyrant Pericles believe?
Poverty shouldn’t stop any Athenian man from taking part in government.
