Midterm 2 Lecture cards Flashcards
What Happened 1000-800 BCE?1.)Traditional Argument/Pomeroy:
2.) why it’s wrong
1.) The traditional argument
Greece developed rapidly due to population expansion in the 9th and 8th centuries BCE
Politics was organized around a king (generally the largest land holder) and his retinue (a band of armed warriors).
Because of population growth, elites came to have a certain amount of trouble retaining pasture lands, leading to larger social and economic changes.
2.) why it’s wrong:
The Greeks have nothing to do with this.
They are again a periphery of near eastern development
Population growth is not the causal factor
Rather, trade is what ultimately creates population growth (though not on the scale envisioned by some).
Scholars conjecture a population growth rate of 66% over a century, 8th to 7th century BCE
This is not possible in pre-modern societies.
No vaccines, no antibiotics, no antiseptics.
The average female is not fertile until 20 in this period and most are infertile by 35.
To create 66% population growth, Greek women would have need to produce at minimum six children in this span, 40-50% of whom died before age 6. While theoretically possible, this assumes a total absence of warfare, epidemic disease and other factors limiting population growth.
What REALLY Happened 1000-800 BCE (prof’s argument)
Core-State Periphery.
As the Itinerary of Wenamun reveals, new polities had become powerful by the 11th century.
The Phoenician lead the resurgence of trade and expansion through colonization.
Phoenicians
-Solidly Monarchical
-Developed Religion
-Worship of El, Baal, and Astarte and Hadad
Agriculture
Plant Grafting
Exportation of Viticulture and Olive Cultivation
Colonization: Phoenician Colonies appear on Cyprus c. 1000 BCE (Kition)
Phoenician Colony in Greece
- Thasos: on Greece. Guys living in Thatch huts sitting on gold
a. Phoenicians arrive 950. Built temple to Melqart (TYRE GOD)
b. THis place has lots of timber, access to black sea, and gold veins. super good spot for trade colony
c. Viticulture is old, but Phoenicians create new growth and huge local demand
i. eventually locals break phoenician monopolies on wine
d. evidence for core-state periphery interaction
Phoenicians and Wine
- Viticulture is old, but the Phoenicians managed to create new markets with huge local demand.
- Colonies became the center of native and indigenous interaction.
- Begin on islands and expand inland in lots of cases
characteristics of Phoenician Colonies
- Were independent city-states. Generally began with 1000-2000 members
- In many places, they blended ultimately with nearby native populations
- This allowed for trade increases and huge wealth.
- Coastal land, due to piracy was unsettled, so the Phoenicians took advantage.
- Phoenician Colonies go all the way West in Europe and North Africa (Carthaginians are Phoenicians)
Phoenician Script & currency:
g. LANGUAGEL north-west semitic canaanite
i. circa 800: group of Phoenicians separate off as jews, We worship Yahweh not Baal. Oldest Jewsih scripts written in Phoenician/Canaanite script
iv. NOT LIKE LINEAR B redistribution, but rather TRADER tablets. Specialization of labor within small colonies.
v. NO MONEY: but bullion exists. its a coin-like thing
Phoenician effects on Greece:
- Unlike Sicily, Sardinia or Iberia, Greece had more developed institutions.
- The arrival of the Phoenician reignited trade and specialization.
- Proto- Geometric and Geometric pottery indicate the recovery of lost skills.
- Pottery techniques only matter if you have something to trade
- apparently Greek wine is shitty but they traded it anyway
- Phoenicians Ultimately have to abandon their colonies in the area by 850 BCE.
- More Greeks in Italy than Greece by 650
State formation V1 (Sparta):
characteristics and development process
Defensive Agricultural, Territorial, Domestic (Sparta):
Step 1: A group of local Basileis agree to unite their various holdings under a central government.
Step 2: The Basileos with the most land becomes the highest official. The other basileis agree to his JUDICIAL rule in order to establish Private Property holdings
Step 3: Retainers and dependents of the basileis form the original demos of the new state.
Step 4: Any nearby groups not agreeing to unite become subjected to the power of the newly united state and will be acquired violently.
Step 5: New city-state grows as neighbors are subjugated.
Step 6: A dominant class of original members of the city-state rules over those who join later.
State formation V2 (Corinth):
- ) Formation
- ) Political Developments
- Trade, Overseas, International (Corinth)
FORMATION
- Certain areas of Greece are not large agricultural territories.
- Although there may be large land possessors, there are not enough of them to unite interests over land.
- In these places, a merchant class develops over the 9th century BCE.
- Merchants and Land possessors ultimately work out a mutually beneficial deal.
- Land owners need exports to deal with any surplus, merchants need products and safety.
- A third class of skilled laborers develops to support the exchanges between these classes.
- Corinth has a cool Canal (shore of peloponnese very dangerous, easier to cut through Corinth)
2.) POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS
Begin similarly to agricultural states.
Basileos is retained, etc…
However, the class of skilled laborers and merchants grew quickly.
Puts pressure on elite to open up,
Aristocracies displace hereditary kings quickly
Eventually will lead to democracy in many of these states.
Boule
An aristocratic tool of control and consensus building. Characteristic of Trade and International Greek polities (IE Corinth model). Especially pre-stasis.
In the 8th century, it ruled many Greek states
Often accompanied by an annual series of magistrates, who have designated powers that we once all exercised by a single basileos.
Property restrictions prohibit anyone not rich from joining the club BUT also provide a method for the newly rich to be heard if enrolled.
annual magistrates
-after they get rid of the basileus and set up boule, one guy will be general, one chief priest, one ruleer of year, one in charge of weights & measures all for a year
Stasis
- A particular condition of Greek city-states.
- A form of internal civil war, though not always violent.
- Occurs regularly in most Greek city-states, particularly during times of rapid economic or political development.
- Can become dangerous: Massacres, expulsions, mercenary armies.
Colonization
2.) boule and colonization
- Movement of the rich.
- More than one son.
- Not enough land/material wealth to divide and maintain status.
- Colonization is a pressure valve/opportunity for these men, not some great mass of population, as envisioned by your textbook.
BOULE &
- Allows domestic aristocracy to preserve their positions while trying to provide for descendants. (IE dont have to split up your land if you send your sons to a colony. Thereby your family can stay in Boule indefinitely)
- allows development of a wider governing class.
Why travel to a colony?
risky, but if successful, you have a chance of getting really rich nd really influential in new colonies
-for rich men interested in preserving family status/boule land reqs. Not just preservation. Also the hope of advancing your family even further! Get riches in foreign lands and rule those lands
Corinth as Colonizing power
Corinth
Founds Corcyra
Founds Syracuse
Dominates trade with Italy.
Corinthian Pottery: 730-600 BCE (black figure). Dominant in Meditteranean by 630
(Athenian Pottery comes to life c. 650) red figure not until later though. Black figure dominant hella
Corinth is Real spark that ignites the rest of the Greek mainland
Developed rapidly
United trade across the Eastern and Western Mediterranean.
Sparta Formation:
- Developed in the 9th century BCE
- Four villages, later a fifth
- Two Kings (Basileis)
- Example of V.1 of Greek State Formation
- Driven by agriculture
- pottery (like athens) by 650 in black figure style
Sparta Empire Formation
-Sparta landlocked so in conflict with south for sea access
-9th century conflicts over access to the sea caused the villages at the top of the Laconian Plain to synoikize into Sparta.
-The newly formed city-state was vastly more powerful than those city states in its vicinity.
This led to a series of military campaigns against its neighbors, hardening its army but also establishing imperial control over defeated city-states in its vicinity.
-Any remaining free city-states choose to make a deal with Sparta to accept Spartan dominance in exchange for protection. These people become the Perioeci (those who live around).
Perioeci
- 8th century
- The Perioeci constitute a dependent class that provides certain functions to the new state.
- Most likely this is a form of agricultural tax in the earliest period. In exchange, the perioeci gain freedom from invasion as Sparta provides a professional and permanent army.
- It is essentially a mafia-type power dynamic and thus mutually beneficial
- Greeks like any others. Live in their own cities, conduct their own local business.
- May act as retainers to Spartan warriors.
- Most are Craftsman and Agriculturalists.
- Eventually form their own military units and serve in Spartan Army
First Messenian War & resultant class
- (740-720 BCE)
- Helots
- The sources allege that it was continuation of the Dorian Invasion (BS)
- Most likely it has to do with a need for land for exports. Messenia is very fertile as well.
- It is in this moment that Sparta becomes a true Empire.
- Messenia had city-states, Messene being the primary example.
- These are obliterated.
- WAR DID NOT HAPPEN DUE TO POP GROWTHRather, Empires acquire land because they have the ability.
- All Empires are nothing more than supremely aggressive states that successfully prosecute wars and learn how to manage subject populations.
Spartan Kings and Senate(spartan name?)
- The Spartans had dual kingship.
- This was mediated by a -Gerousia -(the Greek version of Senate).
- Kings were expected to command in war and be judicial officials. The Gerousia acted as their advisors and were elected by citizens to the office. In reality, there could have been very few men over sixty (so it was almost a fait accompli).
- However, the Spartans also always seem to have possessed an ekklesia. If you were a Spartan citizen, you had a responsibility to attend.
- Spartan Ekklesia
2. Spartan “Dining halls”
- ASSEMBLY OF ALL CITIZENS decide war and invasion decisions by shouting suggestions basically
- Because decisions were mediated by the demos at large, decisions about war and peace were collective from a early period.
- This breads military unity and a military ethos amongst soldiers (organically at first).
- Success in war then reinforces institutional design and leads to entrenchments.
- Thus the early Spartan warriors likely met for dinner because they were professional soldiers and these were their drinking buddies. - SYSSITION: -Over time this became the formal SYSSITION or all male dining club
Other Spartan Institutions
- ) Govern children
- ) State land structure
- ) State police
SPURRED BY RESOURCES ACQUIRED 740-720 in FIRST MESSENIAN CONFLICT
Agoge to govern children
Kleros structure of state land
Krypteia or secret police.
-AGOGE: Spartan system of raising children
-formal system of military education. all that matters is military discipline!
-for a phalanx to succeed “everybody has to be a big boy” lol
kleros/kleroi: state laand. Spartans extract a percentage of kleros surplus
-After completing AGoge and getting assigned to Sysstition you get a parcel of kleros rights
Klepteia: secret police
Slave class in sparta (name and description)
HELOTS:
-Fully subjugated Greeks.
-Destruction of urbanization
Division of land
-Assignment of state slaves and land to individual Spartans.
-Supervision by state police and also the owners.
-No justice, just violence (hence the crazy myths about killing helots).
-Did have families, could have stuff but not land.
Spartan Empire by 700 and only colony name
- Fully developed around 700 BCE
- Seventh Century is a period of expansion.
- Colonization in Italy and the -Foundation of TARENTUM occurs around 700
- It is the only colony, and clearly a tool of the perioeci to expand their economic horizons.
- Its also a reward for the help in the Messenian War. Tarentum allowed those who wished to escape the Perioeci status. (I.e. not the myth).
Limits of Spartan Growth:
- ) a lost war
- ) a revolt that takes resources
Sparta attempts to move east.
Loses the battle of Hysiae c. 670 BCE to Argos.
650 Messenians Revolt leading to second Messenian War
Peloponnesian League
- PELOPPONESIAN LEAGUE forms 7th century. hella big
- convinces lots of DORIAN neighbors to join
- Sparta is only one who can declare war
- Corinth can’t declare war
- allows Sparta to intervene in affairs of other cities outside their previous control
- gives Sparta extensive knowledge as well. League is information center and Sparta is decisionmaker
- congress of league at Sparta. delegates get vote
- Sparta never makes the leap to making this into a true empire. This is like an informal empire
- conflic limitation mechanism. dorians shouldn’t kill dorians. cultural unity
Sparta by 650
-The Spartan Empire has begun its conversion into a settled state.
-Institutions are fully developed
Repression of helots is guaranteed by a professional army
-Resources are guaranteed by trade through the Perioeci.
-Spartan citizens live a life of relative peace and luxury at the center of the new forming territorial state.
-It becomes a developed apartheid state by 600 BCE.
ARCHAIC PERIOD
dates and general qualities
Archaic
750-500BCE
Greece reaches a period of general prosperity by 700
Trade with Phoenicians had led to widespread economic and intellectual developments.
Many Greeks were now literate.
Many Greeks were also now master craftsman
Archaic Poetry
a: famous dude
b girl from Lesbos
c poetry development
From Epic to Lyric
a: Archilochus of Paros: c. 650
Archilochus of Paros
-poem about running away from a battle mercenary lol
-blase attitude towards fighting
Archilochus is one of the founders of lyric /epic (?) poetry form
-Sappho of Lesbos: first female writer. Lesbian
sexuality in ancient Greece very different from modern sexuality
8th century only Homer and Hesiod Now we have hundreds of travelling bards Singing songs of love, death, and war Ancient Rock Music Ancient Rock Stars Developed in the early to mid 7th century BCE
Symposium
“Greek drinking parties” sort of like Spartan sysstetion
- come to my house for dinner! listen to lyric poetry! - descends into flute girls and prostitutes? lolol - kylix "red solo cups." Always something weird at the bottom. Massive goblet of wine lol - in later Greecethey are pictures of people vomiting - Greeks drink mixed wine. Alcohol mixed with water good for water purity - also drink pure wine for drunkenness
Lydian Empire
- Developed c. 700. United old Hittite Lands in Western Turkey
- Capital at Sardis
- HAVE COINAGE FOR FIST TIME
- Herodotus, Book 1 gives the history of a line of kings.
- EVENTUALLY fight greeks at Ephesos in 560: first important military contact bw near east & Greeks
- Developed Orthogonal city planning (like manhattan)
Ionian Philosophical Revolution & first important “pre-socratic” philospopher
Thales of Miletus
-c600
(The earth rests on water. (De Caelo 294a28)
Water is the archê of all things. (Metaph. 983b18)
The magnet has a soul. (De Anima 405a19)
All things are full of gods. (De Anima 411a7)
Natural phenomena can explain questions of “why”
also Pythagoras: not just a theorem, also a sort of cult of math and order
PROFESSOR SAYS THESE PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS COMBINED WITH OTHER SOCIAL PRESSURES EVENTUALLY LEAD TO TYRANNY AND DEMOCRACY BC OF THOUGHT REFORMS
Tyrants and features of tyranny
Often a step towards democracy.
Used by the people to oust the old guard
Commonly also put an end to debt bondage to the rich, which seems to have afflicted many Greeks in the mid to late 7th century
Period of wealth redistribution
Leads to rise of the citizen driven polis.
Cypselus
657-628: Corinthuian early and famous tyrant. Exiles members of the boule and aristocracy. Populist?
Etruscans
- Spread Greek cultural developments throughout Italy.
- Gave rise to Rome in the end, which was conquered c. 700 by Etruscans.
- Rome becomes a republic by expelling Etruscan overlords. -This will set it on a path that ultimately leads to the world’s largest empire and the conquest and destruction of Greece.
Attica and Importance to Athens development
For it is clear that the classical Athenian polis was of a scale wholly untypical of such entities.
Indeed, small as the territory of Attica may seem to us today, with a total area of around 2,650 km2 it was perhaps as much as fifty times larger than the average Greek polis.
Athenian Unification date as suggested by myth vs archeology
MYTH: synoikism in dark ages leads to Theseus
Mythical king Theseus, Athenian legend, not accepted by scholars
Some have argued that synoikism could have occurred in the Mycenaean period and was simply resumed on the other side of the Greek Dark Age. Derivation of Theseus legend.
Most have posited a date in the 9th or 8th centuries BCE based on the development of late geometric pottery.
Support for 8th century argument is limited to a few texts and the evidence of unified art and language in this period
ARCHEOLOGICAL REALITY
Unification of Attica under the power of Athens over the 7th and 6th centuries
How is this achieved?
Naturally, through Civil War between leading families, who through periods of exile managed to draw the entire region into Athenian affairs.
Archons and function:
their council called:
The Archons
Chiefs of Athens in this period
Originally three, then expanded to nine
Gradually limited from life time appointments to ten year appointments to one year appointments
The list of yearly archons begins in 682 BCE
Former Archons became members of the Areopagus Council, which served as an advisory body to ruling archons. Important because they chose the next year’s archons
DRACO and first law codes in Athens
Draco, also spelled Dracon (f621 BCE), Established some of the first “truly athenian” state characteristics
Athenian lawgiver whose harsh legal code punished both trivial and serious crimes in Athens with death—hence the continued use of the word draconian to describe repressive legal measures.
-formalized archonship and areopagus council which had been introduced in 683
debts could be punished by debt bondage (slavery).
Draco’s code was later regarded as intolerably harsh, punishing trivial crimes with death; it was probably unsatisfactory to contemporaries, since Solon, who was the archon in 594 bc, later repealed Draco’s code and published new laws, retaining only Draco’s homicide statutes. A
Later authors refer to other laws of Draco, which may be genuine; but the constitution ascribed to Draco in chapter 4 of the Constitution of Athens by Aristotle is certainly a later fabrication.
Solon and reforms:
Born 638. Athens
Appears to have been appointed to an extraordinary archonship in 594
Given powers to reconstitute the state on new terms.
Why? The Late 6th century had not been prosperous.
Aristocrats were also expelled and likely agitating from outside after Draco?
Many families were located in the far south and far north east of Attica.
There, they begin to develop new power bases and new armies for themselves.
REFORMS
- *Created property classes based on income. Determined if you were eligible to hold certain high offices
- although also established some means of elevating yourself
Abolished debt bondage (allowed under Draco)
Instituted council of 400 (boule) which prepared what was to be voted on by the assembly. Alternative to Areopagus council.
balance between keeping old families in power (areopagus and property restrictions on class designations) and allowing more democraticy reforms (boule/council of 400 have great power over ekklesia) also people can rise in class by getting more wealth, enfranchising entrepreneurs and hoplite class
Athens immediately after Solon (600)
Attica/Athens? begins to move to unite the whole peninsula under its power.
However, previously exiled families remained strong in these areas and encouraged the development of factions, identified by land holding type
Certain parts of Attica are advantageous for certain forms of production.
Specialization in agriculture combined with an expanding Athenian State led to new forms of unrest
Athens From 575-25
Attica goes through a period of civil war and tyranny. Moderates vs oligarchs vs Pesistratos and democrats. Although Pesistratos also helps bring about Athenian stability and establishes many lasting institutions
Peisistratos: 561- 527 BCE
and sons
Athenian Tyrant
Responsible for the much of the important developments in Attica, and its continued democratization.
Peisistratos brought a lot of unused land in Attica into Olive and Grape cultivation.
some don’t like him bc he’s a tyrant
SONS
His Sons tried to hold power. I guess they failed?
Kleisthenes and reforms:
Complicated slide on organization of athens under his reforms
after 509/508: expulsion of peisistrtos’ Tyrant sons
period of aristocratic weakness. Pesistratids had filled areopagus with their cronies, which was fine until they got kicked the fuck out. Therefore, Kleisthenes empowets boule/ekklesia more. Also tries to limit aristocratic drama/bitchiness through tribal reforms (see below)
REFORMSL council (boule) now consists of 500 members, 50 from each of ten tribes
ORGANIZATION:
-traditional tribes tried to be replaced by demes/locality organizations
INTO DEMES (like towns/provinces) as opposed to local phratries (tribal fraternities) with the goal of MIXING TRIBES to limit conflict and civil war grouped by tribes and trytyes which eventually constitute the council of 500
MEDES and PERSIAN EMPIRE ORIGINS
7th C A little known people, the Medes expand, including conquering Persia
Archaeologically, they are extremely hard to find.
Sometime in the 7th century BCE, a group of tribes with similar language and religion allied with one another to create a kingdom. This was likely a result of the fact that their western boarder consisted on the Neo-Assyrian Empire.
Cyrus the Great:
AAccount from Herodotus
Founder of Persia
Ruled 560-530 BCE
Established the Persians as the ruling clans of the Median Empire
Revolted against the Median Empire in the period 553-549 BCE
The Median Empire ended when Cyrus captured the Median Capital at Ecbatana.
Between 550- 539 BCE, he destroyed the Lydian and Neo-Babylonian Empires
early persia Depends on the figure of Cyrus to a great extent.
His death leads to years of confusion over who would be emperor and establish a dynastic line
Persians as Imperial Rulers. How are they?
Conquest is not consolidation
When you conquer quickly, you then have to administrate what you conquer.
This is harder than conquest
Persians are generally quite good at it.
Taxation in exchange for peace and prosperity.
Religious freedom, respect for local customs.
One problem: local forces are kept in local arms…This will be a huge concern
DARIUS
Seized power (522).
Introduced Old Persian as the ceremonial, written language of the Empire and Aramaic as its lingua franca.
Developed new palaces and the royal road
Developed Satrapies
HERODOTUS gives an extended story on the rise of Darius in 522 BCE, in book 3.61 and following.
He argues that a Magian usurped the throne claiming to be the legitimate heir, Smerdis, who was already dead.
This is actually nearly the same story told by Darius himself in the Behistun Inscription
Darius actions 521 (after rising to power)
Nearly the whole year had to be spent reconsolidating previous Persian conquests.
Darius or his generals were nearly always successful. His army was composed primarily of loyal Persians and Medes at this time.
So what happened when he captured a usurper? He kills the shit out of them and tortures them like a total badass
Darius’ Reforms & Satrapy System
2.) ionians
Darius created the Satrapy system of the Persian Empire. He imposed a regular system of Tribute as well (given in Herodotus 3.90), something on the order of 830, 000 lbs of silver
Formal Divisions of the Empire. Think of them as provinces
They grow in number over time
Each Satrapy has a Satrap, who is the appointed governor of the land in the territory.
Satraps are Persian Nobles
- ) The Ionians were now subjects of the Persian Empire
- (had been since cyrus the great but now. Formally forced to pay tribute and render other services.)
- Leads to desire for a revolt against Persian power.)
