ARH300 Quiz 1 Flashcards
Aegean
The advanced civilization that flourished from 2000-1200 B.C. It was an advanced civilization located on the lands surrounding the Aegean Sea
The longer Minoan phase came first and lasted until around 1450 B.C.
Two and a half centuries after 1450 B.C. came the Mycenean phase.
Developed through two major periods: the Minoans and the Mycenaeans.
Minoans
The brilliant Greek civilization that emerged around 2000 B.C. on the 160 mile long island of Crete where artistic and naval breakthroughs are credited.
The Minoans employed the first ships capable of long voyages over the open sea.
Their chief exports were olive oil, wine, metal ware, and magnificent pottery.
Records were written on clay tablets, first in a form of picture writing and later in Linear A.
Operated under a Thalassocracy
Myceneans
Warrior aristocracy of the Greek mainland
Extremely powerful from 1500-1200 BC
Had an alliance of independent city states in the eastern Mediterranean
The palace at Knossos was rebuilt by the Mycenaeans and the center of Aegean civilization shifted to the Greek mainland.
Unclear whether or not there were economic struggles or invaders from the North that caused Mycenae’s rain to come to an end
Sir Arthur Evans
English archaeologist that first brought to light the Minoan civilization.
He excavated and restored sites
Made them around 1901
Between 1900 and 1905 Evans unearthed the ruins of a great palace at Knossos
He uncovered evidence of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization.
Heinrich Schliemann
Heinrich Schliemann befriended Frank Calvert who had a theory about Troy
At the age of forty-eight Schliemann retired from business to put his persistent dream of ancient Troy to the test.
In 1870 Schliemann began excavations at the legendary site of Troy.
He amassed a fortune in the California gold rush and world-wide trade.
He unearthed nine buried cities, built one on top of another.
Troy
The city of Troy occupied a strategic position on the Hellespont that allowed them to command both sea traffic through the straits and land caravans going between Asia and Europe.
Excavations in the 1930s showed that Troy II had been destroyed about 2200 B.C.
The civilization that was at odds with Mycenae
Led by Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, the wrathful Achaeans besieged Troy for ten long years.
Troy VIIa, clearly destroyed by human violence about 1250 B.C., was probably the one made famous by Homer
polis
The famed Greek political unit
The nucleus of the polis, was the elevated, fortified site - the acropolis - where people could take refuge from attack.
The defensive center became the focus of political and religious life throughout time.
The two areas and the surrounding territory formed the polis.
Polis is from which our word “politics” is derived.
acropolis
The center of the polis where people took refuge from attack.
In time this defensive center took on added significance as the focus of political and religious life.
When commerce revived in the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., a trading center developed below the acropolis.
Where Gods are worshipped
Built upon an area of elevated ground.
oligarchy
Is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people.
Means ruled by a few
Arose when the aristocratic council ousted the king and abolished or restricted the popular assembly
This power is often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next
Relies on public obedience or oppression to exist.
Athens
Golden Age of Athens 500-400 B.C.
During the seventh century B.C., the council of nobles became supreme in Athens.
Women, slaves, and resident aliens were denied citizenship and had no voice in the government.
In fifth-century Athens it is estimated that one out of every four persons was a slave.
Athens is the place where theater began.
Solon
In 594 B.C. Solon was made sole archon.
Solon instituted middle-of-the-road reforms that have made his name a byword for wise statesmanship.
Very important figure in democracy from the Archaic Period.
His long-range solution to the economic problem was to seek full employment by stimulating trade and industry.
Solon required fathers to teach their sons a trade, granted citizenship to foreign artisans who settled in Athens, and encouraged the intensive production of olive oil for export.
Pericles
For more than thirty years (461-429 B.C.) the great statesman Pericles guided Athenian policy.
In Pericles’ time the actual executive power resided in a board of ten elected generals.
Pericles created the Persian defense fund and the Parthenon.
To enable even the poorest citizen to participate in government, Pericles extended payment to jurors (a panel of 6000 citizens chosen annually by lot) and to members of the council.
Pericles, justified Athenian imperialism on the ground that it brought “freedom” from fear and want to the Greek world.
Sparta
The Spartan system was designed to make every Spartan a professional soldier and to keep him in a constant state of readiness for war.
Sparta had not joined the other Greek cities in trade and colonization but had expanded instead by conquering and enslaving its neighbors.
To guard against revolts by the state slaves (helots), who worked the land for their conquerors, Sparta transformed itself into a militaristic totalitarian state.
The government included two kings, an aristocratic council, and an assembly of all 9000 Spartan citizens.
Trade and travel were prohibited because the city fathers feared that alien ideas might disturb the status quo.
Persian Wars
In 490 B.C. a Persian force about 20,000 strong sailed across the Aegean and debarked on the plain of Marathon near Athens.
Darius’ aim was to force the Athenians to accept the exiled son of Pisistratus as a pro-Persian tyrant.
The Athenian army, half the size of the Persian, won an overwhelming victory, killing 6400 of the foe while losing only 192.
300 Spartans and a few thousand other Greeks held back the Persians for three days at Thermopylae, until a Greek traitor led them over a mountain path to the rear of the Greek position
Persia and Greece were constantly at odds through the fifth century.
Erectheion
The Erechtheion was built to accommodate the religious rituals that the old temple housed.
Construction of the Erechtheion began in 420 B.C.
Pericles initiated its construction.
The temple faces east.
Its entrance is lined with six long Ionic columns.