Midterm 1 Lecture Notes Flashcards
1
Q
Where is Greece?
A
peninsula along the Mediterranean, surrounding the Aegean Sea, bordered by Ionian cities along the western coast of Asia Minor
2
Q
Greek climate
A
- good for rain, so can easily dry arm without need to transport large amounts of water
- quite mountainous; serve as physical boundaries to terrestrial movements, limits farming to river valleys and coastal strips
- because of mountainous regions, vines grow easily in region; becomes a hub for wine production and olive trees
- massive coastline, so sea becomes a natural route of transport
3
Q
hellas/hellenes
A
Greece/Greeks
4
Q
polis
A
the city(-state)
5
Q
astu
A
urban center
6
Q
chora
A
rural peripheries
7
Q
oikoumene
A
inhabited world
8
Q
the world according to the Greeks
A
- single massive continent, eventually determined it to be an inhabited world at the center with other uncivilized life across the ocean
- divided the world into three (Europe, Asia, Libya) surrounded by a single ocean
9
Q
threats to the west and east
A
east - Achaemenid Persian Empire
west - Rome, Carthage
10
Q
apoikia
A
home away from home
11
Q
caveats of Classical textual evidence
A
- literacy was never equally distributed in ancient society; far more languages were spoken than written
- more writing on stone and objects in this period (graffiti, epigraphy)
- fallibility of text - decay, fragmentation, quotation, destruction; leads to editorial license in determining what is important and what is not (kept around so long as deemed “valuable”)
- authors are almost always biased, sometimes can be speaking as if myth is actual history
- some authors spoke about events centuries after they occurred; have to trust them
- tends to exclude subaltern and marginalized voices
- Athenocentrism - most textual primary evidence comes from Athens/Athenians, leading them to be the central viewpoint of classical Greek history
12
Q
epigraphy vs. graffiti
A
epigraphy: official, often looks better and is written in more formal language
graffiti: unofficial/illegal, often written in chicken scratch with crude language
13
Q
primary historians of classical Greece
A
Herodotus (484 - 425 BC, wrote about Persian War) and Thucydides (460 - 400 BC, wrote about Peloponnesian War)
14
Q
literary corpus of Greek history
A
Greek literary sources hold supreme place in the study of that history, being preserved thanks to copying efforts through the medieval period and Renaissance
15
Q
archaeology
A
the systematic (layer-by-layer) recovery of material evidence from the past
16
Q
site
A
area of human settlement, cultivation, deposition, or exploitation
17
Q
artifacts
A
objects made by human being
18
Q
forms of material evidence from Greek world
A
epigraphy, ostrakon, coins, pottery
19
Q
demos
A
“the people”
20
Q
forms of intangible evidence from Greek world
A
democracy, archaeological style, virtues of war
21
Q
problems with classical historiographers
A
- had ambiguous sources
- would often paraphrase or use fragments from original authors
- relied on conversations and anecdotes
22
Q
periods of Bronze Age Aegean
A
Cycladic Period (3000 - 1600 BC)
Minoan Palatial Period (2000 - 1450 BC)
Mycenaean Period (1750 - 1200 BC)
23
Q
Knossos
A
- Crete; center of information about Minoan period
- palace was center of a palatial economy
- home of mythical King Minos
24
Q
Linear A
A
Minoan writing; logographic
25
Minoan culture
- palatial economies
- believed in society where men toiled and women stayed inside
- religious rituals centralized around bulls
26
Thera eruption
1600 BC; volcanic eruption on island of Thera that sunk the island and destroyed large chunks of Minoan society
27
Mycenaean Culture
- horse and chariot were principal tool of status and warfare
- built cities around acropolis on hill surrounded by public and palatial buildings
- protected cities with massive walls (Cyclopean)
- command economy centralized around castles, used bronze ingots as signs of wealth
28
tholos
beehive tomb used by Mycenaeans, places for notable dead with long ceremonial concourse for precessions to enter and depart
29
palatial economy
system of economic organization in which most of the wealth flows into a central point (palace) and is redistributed to the general population
30
the Greek Dark Age
~1200 BC; Mycenaean Greek world rapidly breaks down as palatial economies end in certain locations, causing a domino effect
31
Homer
- author of the Iliad, Odyssey, etc.; may not have been a real person
- dealt in oral tradition
- likely he exaggerated to add a sense of grandeur to the "last battle of the age of heroes"
32
Arthur Evans
British archaeologist who excavated Knossos looking for palace of King Minos; would "recreate" Minoan culture based on miniscule fragments
33
Heinrich Schliemann
archaeologist who rediscovered Troy; destroyed untold evidence with dynamite blasts in search for Homeric artifacts
34
Troy
city at the center of the Trojan War as depicted by the Iliad; likely existed from 1750 - 1180 BC and was a sizeable citadel
35
Tawagalawa Letter
written by Hattusili III (Hittite king) to an unnamed Ahhiyawa (Achaean) king; incredibly fragmented but some believe refers to Homeric figures Priam and Paris
36
dactylic hexameter
how Homer "wrote"; established as "epic meter" for centuries
37
arete
excellence
38
timé
honor
39
kleos
glory
40
agathoi/aristoi
the good
41
kakoi
the bad
42
xenia
guest-friendship
43
Hesiod
- 750 - 650 BC; author of the Works and Days (didactic poem addressed to his brother teaching him how to properly run an oikos) and Theogony (genealogy of gods)
- son of an immigrant from Aeolia, who moved to Boeotia near Mount Helicon
- name means "he who sets forth his voice"; may have been a tongue-in-cheek persona
44
Myth of Pandora and Five Ages of Men
- represented Greek belief in Iron Age that they live in the worst era; problems have been caused
- Pandora --> women caused the world's problems
- Five Ages of Men --> era of toil and suffering
45
dike vs. eris vs. agon
dike - judgement/justice
eris - strife
agon - contest
46
hoplites and the phalanx
- more people have access to valuable material, so can buy your own weapons and become responsible for them
- become instruments of nation/city-states
- phalanx is symbol of community; work with brothers-in-arms to defend each other
47
Achilles' Shield
- depicts two cities, one at peace and one at war (Hesiod's two kinds of strife)
- depicts the leaders and wise are older people
48
Phoenician colonization
- rivals to the Greeks in colonizing Greek world
- known for ship-building efforts and mercantile prowess; most colonies are located along north Africa and Iberian coast
- competition leads Greeks to adopt Phoenician alphabet
49
Nestor's Cup
- first iteration of Greek writing using a proto-Greek alphabet
- found on an island off the Bay of Naples
- proves that Homer is a cultural staple, wine-drinking and humor are part of world culture
50
Magna Graecia
- means "big Greece"
- refers to a region long southern Italy and Sicily where large portions of the Greek population end up
- largely divided by dialect; now living in a time where languages have become differentiated
- contentions between new arrivals and indigenous populations
51
emporion
a possible trading place; could be a gradual meeting place turned trade place; a formal mercantile hub or a pirate hovel? fuzzy defintion
52
Naukratis
- discovered by Flinders Petrie in late 1880s, plays up his findings to make Naukratis seem like a location of immense importance
- Herodotus depicts it as a multi-Greek origin city with worship in a common panhellenic structure, evidence is rather slim
- site of proof that Herodotus isn't infallible, can't treat works as a treasure map
53
ktsis vs. synoecism
ktsis - "foundation"; implies putting in the groundwork to create a city from scratch
synoecism - "together house"; group of small cities/villages/houses (chora) synthesize together into a single, larger settlement with astu at center
54
formation of polis
- usually first formed in times of conflict
- agreement between elites and peasantry; elites keep their stuff and protect peasants in exchange for no revolts
- benefits of synoecism can lead to more permanent arrangements after times of conflict
55
athletic competition
- forms of competition between polis
- way of gaining kleos without going to war; no longer glory for self but for family/community
- early instance of pan-Hellenism
56
influence of the East on 7th century BC art
increasing Mediterranean globalization; eastern cities like Lydia and Egypt expand their influence after their fall during Bronze Age
57
Herodotus and women-stealing
sees war between west and east as a consequence of generations of women-stealing:
- Phoenicians steal Io from Crete
- Jason steals Medea from Colchis
- Paris steals Helen
- Gyges and Candalues’ wife conspire against Canadules, establishing Lydia
58
Croesus
- a descendant of Gyges and king of Lydia known for his immense wealth
- believed that wealth = fortune
- told by the Oracle that by fighting the Persian Empire that a "great empire would fall"; assumes it would mean Persians but instead loses and becomes a pauper --> fable from Herodotus
59
three forms of government
tyranny - one rules many
oligarchy - few rules many
democracy - many rules many
60
notable tyrannies
- Peisistratids (Peisistratus and Hippias); ruled Athens 561 - 556, 546 - 510 BC
- Cypselids (Cypselus and Periander); ruled Corinth 657 - 587 BC
- Polycrates; ruled Samos 538 - 522 BC
- Gelon; ruled Syracuse 491 - 478 BC
- Dionysius I; ruled Syracuse 405 - 367 BC
61
thalassocracy
- "rule over sea"
- first form of political organization according to Thucydides; way of keeping pirates in line in a coastal society
- control over sea lanes = control over wealth, can strong-arm poleis and trade vessels
62
Polycrates of Samos
- famous tyrant and first historically-attested thalassocrat
- goal of ruling over Ionia and the Aegean Sea
- cautionary tale about luck --> able to cast away a ring at sea and have it return to him, too lucky for too long
- reputation as man of the arts; reinforces his power and status and gave him bargaining chip for buying off fellow rulers and other threats
- relies on wealth and military power to justify rule
63
effects of Asia Minor on Greek economy
- ivory work and dye for fabrics from Phoenicia --> signs of status and power
- form coinage
64
coinage and tyranny
- begins to appear in 6th century in Lydia
- centralized authority of tyrants = centralized economy
- coinage makes taxation, paying wages (especially mercenaries) easier
