Week 4 Flashcards
Greek Colonizations (700-400s BC)
-Resources
-Metropolis
-Early as 700s BC, Greek poleis started to grow too large
~The economic expansion that eventually led to the military revolution, meaning more people were living in the Greek poleis
However, the poleis we’re not producing more food, and there was some difficulty producing enough food and resources to meet the demands of growing population
This is one of the factors that resulted in the social upheaval and development of various governments
*However, fairly early in their history, the Greeks came up with a solution that helped to ease these pressures and which had an enormous influence on world history: colonization
**When poleis grew too large and there were too many mouths to feed, of when there were groups of men-such as illigitimate sons for example -causing problems for society, small groups were simply sent out into the world and told to go found their own poleis
-Early 700s BC, these colonists usually sailed across the Aegean Sea and settled in Ionia, the Western coast of modern Turkey, but by the 700s and 600s BC, most of the prime areas for settlement in Ionia were filled up, and colonists were forced to go further a field
~These expeditions would sail away to North Africa, the area around the Black Sea, or the Western Mediterranean (coasts of modern France, Italy, Spain), where they would find a likely spot and crate a new poleis
*Usually they were attracted to these regions due to the need to find new natural resources that could be shipped back to Greece
Thus Sicily, southern France, and the area around the Black Sea were prime farmland
***Grain and other agriculture products could be grown in these areas, and the excess was sent to support poleis in Greece
**Italy and Spain had rich mines that produced silver and other metals, and so refined metallic ingots could be shipped back to Greece
***These new poleis we’re expected to maintain their relationship with their old poleis (“mother city”) via trade, military alliances, and support
**They kept the gods, culture, and traditions of their Greek homeland, and they continued to identify as Greek
**They would return to Greece for religious festivals, to compete in the Olympics which honored Zeus or consult with oracles and other religious leaders
**Initially, they were essentially on their own and settlers quickly began to intermarry with locals
**These expeditions were usually only male, so typically settlers kidnapped women from the surrounding areas or arranged for more peaceful marriage alliances
-Mayn of these expeditions failed and the young men involved either died or returned home in disgrace
~However, succeeded and you can tell that Naples, Marseilles, Syracuse, Istanbul, and other great cities of the modern world originated as Greek colonies
The Persian War (early 400s BC)
-Ionian Revolt (499-493 BC)
-These colonies that helped support the development of Classical Greek culture, and they are also what drove the Greeks into conflict with the Persian Empire
~In the 500s BC, the Persians conquered the Greek colonies of Ionia
In 499 BC, a group of Ionian poleis sent representatives to Greece asking for air in a revolt against Persians
**Athens agree to help, and the Ionians launched a revolt that was crushed by the superior military capabilities of the Persians
**However, this led to the Persians seeing the Greek poleis as a potential threat to the security of their empire
**As a consequence, Persia launched two major attempts to conquer Greece- the first in 490 and the second in 480 BC- known and the Persian Wars, both of which were defeated
-The Persians lost due to the operation at the limit of their operational effectiveness and did not think that Greece was worth the effort to launch a third invasion
~Instead, by funding various poleis, they were able to keep the Greeks disunited and focused on their own internal struggles
Kingdom of Macedon
-Phillip II (reigned 359-336 BC)
-Internal struggles also blinded the Greeks to the imminent threat building to their north
~The Kingdom of Macedon was located in a frontier area to he north of the Greek poleis
*While Macedon had close ties to the poleis, the Greeks did not necessarily regard the Macedonians as being Greek
**When Alexander the Great wanted to participate in the Olympics, which were only open to Greeks, he was forced to definitely prove his Greek heritage by citing a story that Macedon was originally founded by settlers from a Greek poleis
-In 359BC, Philip II ascended to the throne of Macedon and proceeded to remake the Macedonian army
~He took the traditional phalanxes, but instead of arming them with the short, 8-15 foot, spears used by Greek hoplites, he equipped them with spears that were 13-20 feet long and provided heavier armor
He developed a heavier armored cavalry force that could overwhelm lightly armored opponents
**With this revamped military force, Philip was able to expand to dominate the region, and in the early 330s he was able to defeat the Greek armies in the field and formed them into an alliance (The League of Corinth)
**The poleis we’re certainly aware that all of this was leading up to them being absorbed into the Macedonian kingdom, but they were so consumed with their internal problems that they were unable to decide on a unified course of action
-In 336 BC, Philip II was assassinated, which led to rebellions as poleis such as the city of Thebes thought it was time to throw the Macedonian yoke
~However, under the leadership of Philip’s twenty-year-old-son, Alexander, the Macedonians were able to restore control over Greece, leveling Thebes as an example to the rest
Alexander the Great (reigned 336-323 BC)
-Alexander was able to unite the Greeks behind him, because his announced intention was to invade Persian in an attempt to avenge the previous Greek losses during the Persian Wars
~He was able to assemble an army of about 37,000 which consisted mainly of Macedonians l, but also a sizable number of Geeks who were brought along, as hostages to ensure the loyalty of their poleis back in Greece
Over the course of there major battles, Alexander was able to defeat the main body of the Persian army, and by the 330s he had conquered everything west of modern Iran
**Over the next four years he conquered large chunks of central Asia and crossed the Indus River, defeating an Indian King
**He wanted to press further into India, his troops mutinied and instead of pressing east, they traveled down the Indus and returned to Mesopotamia vis the Persian Gulf where Alexander died in 323 BC after an extended drinking bout
The Hellenistic World (323-30 BC)
-Even though Alexander the Great did not create anything particularly meaningful himself, the long-term result of his conquest is the expansion and development of Greek culture throughout the Middle East and central Asia, during the Hellenistic Age, which lasted until 30 BC
~During this age, Greek culture, art, and philosophy was taken to new heights and expanded across the globe
-The individuals responsible for this are Hellenistic monarchs who established kingdoms across the region
~These kings started as Alexander’s generals who, once he died, began to seize chunks of it to rule on their own
This involved a series of wars between his generals in order to see who could seize the most territory
**In the end, two major empires developed in Asia and North Africa
**In Egypt, general Ptolemy seized control, and general Seleucus seized control of Mesopotamia and Alexander’s central Asian possessions
-In Greece and Anatolia a series of kingdoms developed
~In Macedon and Greece, general Cassandra ruled while general Antigonus ruled Syria and Anatolia
*When Antigonus died in battle and was replaced by general Lysimachus
**Antigonus’ descendants eventually seized control of Macedon and Greece
**Lysimachus’ empire also feel apart after his death and as a result, easter Anatolia and Greece turned into a series of Kingdoms that slowly collapsed into smaller and smaller states
Ptolemaic Egypt
-Alexandeia
-Lighthouse and Liberty
-The most important of these kingdoms was Ptolemaic, which became one of the wealthiest and most important states in the Mediterranean
~Ptolemy and his descendants ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria, which had been founded by Alexander at the mouth of the Nile River
They do not attempt to change Egyptian society substantial
**They collected taxes, raising them dramatically in many cases and developed trade connections to Arabia, east Africa, and India
**They used the immense wealth that this brought to turn Alexandria into one of the first true megalopolises of the ancient world
**The harbor was guarded by one of the seven wonders of the world, the Lighthouse of Alexandria
-The Library of Alexandria houses a massive collection of scrolls, perhaps as many as 400,000, and financed scholarships and early scientific efforts for centuries
Seleucid Empire
-Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms
~Colonies
~Ai-Khanoum (Alexandria on the Oxus)
-Seleucid Empire that Greek culture reached it’s greatest height
~The Seleucid ruled a vast swath of territory that extended to the Indus River
While they managed to hold it together for a century or so, it began to break apart due to the size of the realm
**Seleucus himself lost significant eastern portions of the empire to Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty in India
**Those chunks that split away continued to preserve and spread Greek culture
-In central Asia, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom split away around 250 BC and became an independent state
~Led by rulers such as Demetrius I of Bactria in the 100s BC they and the association Indo-Greek Kingdom managed to conquer large portions of northern India and engaged in trade with China
*Greek culture spread throughout this area because Alexander established cities and colonies as he conquered this region
-Seleucus continued this tradition by controlling territory via colonies that he founded as administrative centers
~In order to populate these new cities, the Seleucids sent out Greek and Macedonian solders as colonists
*While the occasionally moved voluntarily, occasionally the Seleucids sent out unwilling colonists in order to staff the more remote regions
**Because these colonists demanded that they have the normal staples of Greek life, this resulted in the expansion of overland trade between the Mediterranean and central Asia
-Greek colonists an Ai-Khanium in modern Afghanistan built temples and other buildings using the latest Greek styles that they blended with local styles, they dined on olive oil from Greece, dressed in the newest Greek fashions, and preformed new Greek plays in calssical theaters
Urbanization and Rule
-Resistamce
-The Maccabees (160s BC)
-Divine Monarchs
-Hellenistic culture was primarily confined to cities, and it did not spread far into areas
~This was because Greek colonists did not want to mix with local people who they help in some distain because they were not Greek
They did not learn local languages, and generally viewer them as barbarians
**Local people particularly in rural areas, saw the Greeks as conquerors that were suppressing traditional culture and traditions
**Resistance popped up around the Hellenistic World as a result
-In Mesopotamia, Zoroastrians wrote works arguing that Alexander had been an agent of Angra Mainly
-Egypt people began to argue for the return of traditional pharaohs who could return Egypt to it’s past glories
-The Maccabean Revolution against the Seleucids in 167 BC
~When the Seleucids and their allies in the Jewish priesthood tried to Hellenize Jerusalem and restrict Jewish worship, they provoked a revolt led by Judah Maccabee that eventually resulted in independence and the creation of a new Jewish Kingdom
-These Hellenistic Kingdoms, notions of Greek government and society underwent some dramatic and drastic changes
~Hellenistic monarchs started to absorb eastern styles of kingship and rule, which in part turned monarchs into semidivine figures
-Egyptian pharaohs and others had long been seen as divine, and while Hellenistic kings and queens did not claim to be gods per SE, they were seen as having a status similar to the gods
~Public images of them, statues, often portrayed them with divine characteristics and symbols, and in public ceremonies they were honored using the same language and symbols as the gods
This was not necessarily because people believed the rules were gods, but it was a particle way for them to demonstrate their loyalty and respect in a time when monarchies could be quite fragile and the rural people resisted the control of foreign monarchs
Example
**In 291 BC, the son of Antigonus, Demetrios-pictured wearing a diadem and horns which were common Hellenistic symbols of monarchy-conquered Athens by besieging the city and cutting off food supply
**When he entered the city, the people of Athens sang a hymn that included the following lines
****How the greatest and dearest of the gods have arrived to the city! For the hour has brought together Demeter and Demetrios… Hail son of the most powerful god Poseidon and Aphrodite! For the other gods are either far away, or they do not have ears, or they do not exist, or do not take any notice of us, but you we can see present here, not made of wood or stone, but real. So we pray to you: first make peace, dearest; for you have the power
**Honoring Demetrios as a god was a practical way for the citizens of Athens to show respect to the individual who has conquered the city
***The general sense of religious skepticism about the gods and their role in the universe
Foundation of Rome (900-800s BC)
-Trade
-Etruscan Monarchy
~Overthrow (509 BC)
~Brutus
-The city of Rome developed on a series of low hills that stood on the banks of the Tiber River in central Italy sometime in the 10th or 9th centuries BC
~The original inhabitants we’re members of the Latin tribes, an Indo-European language-speaking people who migrated to the region in the first millennium BC
Archaeologists are unsure if Rome developed out of a single original settlement, or if there were multiple villages that slowly developed into a city, but regardless, it was a prime location
The hills were defensible sine they were surrounded by rather swampy ground, and the location was on north-south as well as east-west trade routes
-As Greek colonization took place in southern Italy, the Greeks established in metals and other goods with the Etruscan civilization to the north of Rome, and this trade passed through the city, bringing both wealth and Greek and Etruscan influence
-This Etruscan influence eventually became conquest
~According to Roman tradition the Etruscans conquered the city and established a monarchy over it sometime in the 600s BC
*During this time the city continued to develop and grow
Late 500s BC, the city had grown to the point where they embarked on civil engineering projects to control the flow of the Tiber and eventually drain the swamps surrounding the hills
***At this point that the city entered one of the main phases of it’s historical development
**According to Roman legend, in 509 BC the aristocrats of Rome , led by an aristocrat named Brutus, overthrew the last Etruscan king and his son’s and established a new form of government that was designed to prevent the establishment of another monarchy
**Known as the Roman Republic
The Roman Republic
-Three Main Bodies
~Magistrates
~Senate
~Assemblies
-Patricians and Plebeians
~Tribunes of the Plebs
-The structure of the Republic was designed to prevent a kind or other single authority from gaining control of Rome
-Three main bodies dominated the Republic
~The magistrates
*Who were elected every year
~The Senate
*An advisory body that was made up of exmagistrates
~The Assemblies
Which were made up of male citizens
**There were multiple assemblies, but men who owned property and served in the army dominated the most important of the assemblies
**In order to ensure that the Magistrates could not dominate society, more than one individual held office, and they only held for a single year, again, to ensure that an individual could not develop too much power
-Three were also checks and balances on each branch of government since the Magistrates, Senate, and Assemblies could overrule one another if they thought that someone was becoming too powerful
~It is important to note that the aristocrats and elites, known as patricians, dominated the Republic
~The poor, or Plebeians, had very little actual power, and it was only through an extended struggle that they were eventually given assembly and magistrate positions that could give them a voice in government
According to Roman tradition, they did this basically, by blackmailing the patricians
**They refused to fight unless they were granted the right to elect their own magistrates who could check the power of the elites
**These figures became known as the Tribune’s of the Plebs
Expansion of the Roman Republic
-Expansion of the Roman Republic
~Latin Tribes
~Roman Army
*Citizenship
*Manpower
*Pyrrhus (289-70 BC)
-The Plebeians were able to blackmail the patricians in this way because, in it’s early years, the Roman state was in an almost constant state of war as they attempted to subdue the surrounding Latin tribes
~This expression was driven by a fear of being conquered and having a foreign king placed in charge of the city
*Over the course of the 400s BC, the Roman state was able to conquer or ally with many of the surrounding Latin tribes
Over the course of the 300s BC, Rome expanded through central Italy and began to expand against the Greek poleis within the heel and toe of the Italian peninsula
**In order to protect their state, the Roman needed to pacify or ally with neighboring people that possessed threats
**However, this brought them into contact with new potential allies who needed to be protected, or new hostile groups who need the be pacified, which simply resulted in new enemies and new problems.
**Modern popular culture really only depicts the armies of the very late Republic and the Roman empire
-The army of the early Republic was actually a poorly armed, poorly trained, and poorly led city-state militia
~They were heavily armored, but their main advantage was their numbers
*When the Roman conquered a tribe or city, they offered or imposed alliances of various types
**Occasionally, the Romans would directly annex territory, thus turning the people who live there into citizens of Rome with all the duties and obligations of a Roman citizen, including the need to serve in the army
**More often, Rome offered their annexed territories citizenship without associated rights, meaning they did not have the right to vote it be elected as magistrates, but they were able to trade and travel, and were protected by Roman law
-The main requirements was that they were required to supply troops when asked
~This meant by the 200s BC, when Romans had allied with or conquered most of the states in the Italian peninsula, they had access to an immense pool of manpower that allowed them to overcome almost all setbacks and military disasters
-In the 289-270s BC, a Greek adventurer named Pyrrhus invaded the southern portion of the Italian peninsula
~While he defeated the Romans in several battles, he lost so many men that he was eventually forced to retreat
*Its from him that we get the term a Pyrrhic victor, which is a victory in which the victor’s losses are as great as those of the defeated
**According to the great classical historian and biographer Plutarch, Pyrrhus became so dismayed at the Roman ability to repair their losses that he began to wonder if he was fighting a Hydra
Expansion in the Mediterranean
-Carthage
~The Punic Wars (264-146 BC)
*Hannibal
-The Eastern Mediterranean
-In the late 200s BC, it was seemingly endless supply of manpower that allowed the Romans to defeat the great superpower of the Western Mediterranean, the North African city-state of Carthage
~Canaanite merchants had founded Carthage, and it was the last surviving bastion if Canaanite culture and power
*Was extremely wealthy had an expansionist foreign policy, and a very powerful navy
-In 264 BC Rome and Carthage went to war over Sicily, and the safe bet would probably have been on Carthage
~The Romans had no navy or naval tradition, and yet they were attempting to conquer an island
20 years later, it was the Romans who emerged victorious conquering Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica
**They managed to develop a navy by, according to legden, copying captured Carthaginian ships
**Even though whole Roman fleets sank in storms due to their inexperience, the Romans were able to simply replace the men and ships that they had lost
-In 218 BC by the great general Hannibal, the Carthaginian launched an attempt to avenge their losses by invading the Italian peninsula directly in the Second Punic War
~By 216 BC, Hannibal defeated the Romans in three major battles, killing perhaps 100,000 men, and then spent the next fifteen years marching around the peninsula in an attempt to separate Rome’s allies from their control
*Again, Romans were able to use their reserves of manpower to raise more armies, and in the end annulled Hannibal’s military genius via their superior resources
-201 BC Rome had defeated the Carthaginian, conquering large chunks of Spain as a result
~Despite the fact that they had defeated the Carthaginian in two major wars, the Romans were always afraid that the Carthaginians would became a threat again
-In 149 BC, they besieged the city of Carthage in order to destroy them once and for all
~When they finally breached the walls in 146 BC, they leveled the city, sold the survivors into slavery, and according to an undoubtedly apocryphal legend, salted the earth in order to ensure that on one would live there again
-Over the course of the 100s BC, Rome also began to expand into Greece and the Hellenistic World of the Eastern Mediterranean in a similar manner to what had occured in the Italian peninsula centuries earlier
~During the Second Punic War, the Macedonians allied themselves with Carthage in an attempt to weaken Rome
*Wars and alliances gradually drew the Romans further into Greece as, in order to protect their allies and to create stability on their eastern border, the Romans started to simply conquer and occupy troublesome regions
**This caused further instability in the already fragile Hellenistic Kingdoms, which meant that the Roman kept getting dragged further and further east
Hellenistic Culture and Domestic Problems
-Greek Teachers and Slaves
-Problem
~Displacement of the Poor
~Provinces
~panem et circenses
-Histories of Polybius (200-118 BC)
-During this time the Hellenistic culture begin to be brought into Rome
~This is a vast generalization l, but while the Romans were brilliant engineers and tacticians, they were never particularly interested in developing philosophy and the arts in the same manner as the Geeks
Instead of developing it themselves, they simply absorbed, copied, And occasionally improved upon Greek traditions
As the Romans conquered the east, they improved vast numbers of Greek slaves to serve as tutors and educators and they imported Hellenistic art, culture, literature, science, and religions
*This took place on a vast scale
**Entire libraries and art collections were shipped west where they were preserved in Rome
***Educated Romans spoke Greek as their second language, and began to read and adopt Hellenistic philosophy
**They also commissioned copies of Hellenistic sculptures
***The three graces, which was originally produced in the 2nd century BC
**This is one of the 16th surviving Roman copies, and this particular statue is from the 2nd century CE
**While there were Romans who protested against these cultural changes, and sought to preserve traditional Roman religion and traditions, this was a tide that they were nevrr able to defeat or turn back
-The Romans were the true inheritors of Hellenistic culture and helped preserve and spread it throughout Western Europe during the early centuries CE
~While these conquests allowed the Romans to absorb the intellectual and cultural brilliance if the Hellenistic world, they also caused significant problems in Roma
The countryside had been devastated in the Second Punic War
Men were needed to serve in the army for extended periods of time, and their families were forced to flee to cities to escape the chaos
*The population of cities like Rome exploded, but the infrastructure of these cities were not equipped to actually deal with the rapidly expanding population
**There were few jobs, resources, and not many opportunities
***Once the wars were won, soldiers did not necessarily return to their homes, since they were required, for years on end, to garrison the newly won territories across the Mediterranean
**In order to support themselves, their families started to sell their land to wealthy participants
***To run these new estates, the participants did not hire free men; instead, they imported vast number of slaves who were cheaper and easier to control
**This led to increased unemployment and displacement of the poor from the countryside t the cities
**In addition, the Romans were faced with the problem of how to govern their new territories
**To do this, they established provinces
-To govern them, they sent out proconsul’s who controlled the legions in their appointed provinces collected taxes and managed the day-to-day affairs
~While this might seem nice and orderly, all of this was actually a recipe for chaos and disorder
To get elected, patricians needed to appeal to the crowds of the urban poor by putting on entertainments and distribution free grain and other staples
This is a governing strategy known as panem et circenses, or bread and circuses
*The required vast sums of money
**To get that cash, participants used their positions as proconsul’s to loot as much money as they could from the provinces
***One of the best things that could happen to a proconsul is if they were so terrible they provoked a revolt
**Doing so would allow them to pull the legions out of their barracks and go to war with the provinces since that would allow the proconsuls to conquer and loot the countryside, turning anyone they captured into slaves
***This loot, particularly from the slave trade, is where the true money could be found
**Getting elected to new offices was particularly important since it allowed them to avoid being prosecuted for the crimes they committed while proconsuls
**It began an endless cycle of corruption
Polybius’ Histories
-Polybius
-Histories
~Justification and intention of writing
~Influence of American Founding Fathers
-Polybius was Greek, born around 200 BC in western Greek poleis that was an ally of Rome
~He was an aristocrat who received an elite education, but in 167 BC he, along with a number of other aristocrats, were sent to Rome as hostages in order to ensure the loyalty of his polis
Because e of his elite background, he lived among the Roman patricians, traveled with them around the Mediterranean, and he wrote a history of the Roman Republic in an effort to explain to the Geeks why the Romans had managed to conquer so much of the Mediterranean
Because Polybius was an admirer of Rome and was defending their system, his depiction of Rome is open to critique, but he did attempt to base his history off an unbiased study of the historical record, and so he is offended regarded as one of the founders of modern History as a discipline
*This work has had an enormous impact on the history of the world
**While Polybius is not read as widely as he once was, two or three hundred years ago, most educated individuals knew of his work
**The Founding Fathers of the United States would have been quite familiar with the text
Epicureanism
-Epicurus (341-271 BC)
~Ration Pleasure
*Diet
*Friends
*The World
-Atoms
~Gods and Death
-Epicureanism has something of a bday rap today
~Generally we tend to think of an epicurean as an individual who enjoys fine food and drink, and the pleasures of life
*Epicureanism is often thought of as a philosophy that focused just on material pleasures of existence
-Epicurus, who was born sometime around 341 BC on the island of Samos, found Epicureanism; he was actually an Athenian citizens since both of his parents were from Athens, and so he eventually settled in the city where he taught until his death in 271 BC
~He did not found a school but instead taught his friends and followers in his house’s garden, and thus his community was known as the Garden
*Here he taught who was interested, accepting men, women, and slaves
**According to ancient historians, he wrote an enormous number of letters and books, but very little has survived
Portions of some books and a few of his letters have been preserved, and there are a number of other works from his students, which is actually better than many kf the other Hellenistic philosophers
****However, he did not seek to attract students or to become famous; instead, he preferred the company of a few close friends
-Epicurus focused on two main ideas
~How to create a peaceful and enjoyable life
~How to understand the nature of the universe
These two ideas were intertwined since he belief that people could live truly happy lives if they understand the true nature of the universe
**He argued that humans should rationally seek pleasure over pain
**This does not mean that one should simply indulge in the pleasures of the flash without thoughts or care for the future
-Epicurus recognized that overindulgence could lead to problems and pain in the future
~If you eat to much today then you may suffer future health problems that will damage your long-term happiness
If you are the sort of person who is obsessed with eating fine food prepared to your exacting specifications, you may wind up being disappointed when a meal does not meet your expectations, thus causing pain and anxiety tha destroys your happiness
**As a result, Epicurus advocated living on a basic diet in order to avoid overindulgence and becoming obsessed with particular foods or methods of preparation
**An individual who seeks pleasure will also attempt to aid other so that they feel the pleasure of helping people and developing close connections that will benefit them in the long term
****If you are selfish person who does not care about others, you will not have close friends, and you will lack the sort of connections that give people long-term pleasure
**He argued that the sort of pleasures that people seek should not be the sort that overly excite one’s emotions and create stress as a result
****Instead, we should seek pleasures that provide the minimum of turmoil for the maximum amount of time
-Epicurus and other Epicureans also argued that people should withdraw from the chaos of the world and politics wherever possible
~The world of public life and politics was extremely uncertain, and as a result that world simply caused pain and disorder that needed to be avoided
*One should instead try to seek pleasures through enjoying a rational, healthy, private life unconcerned with the desires or troubles of the broader world
-Epicurus argued that one way one could free yourself from pain and maximize your long-term pleasures was to recognize that the universe was formed not by gods or some other divine creature but rather through the random movement of atoms that have combined to create this universe and indeed all other universe in existence
-Atoms are tiny particles that zoom around the universe
~Occasionally, these atoms collide with one another; those collisions result in the creation of the material world
*According to this line of thinking, the universe was infinite and populated by a variety of other worlds like our own that has also been formed by the movement of atoms
**Epicurus was not the first atomist in Greek philosophy, the theory originated in the 5th century BC, but had been dismissed by Aristotle and thus by majority of Greek philosophers
-Epicurus argued that, if we recognize that the universe was created by the movement of atoms that we cannot predict, then we would be free of fear of not the gods and death
-Epicurus argued that the gods might or might not exist, but if they do, they live so far away in a state of joy and happiness to the point where they do not care about us and they do not intervene in worldly affairs
~Being afraid of the gods and worrying about worshipping them was a waste of time
*Instead we should take their distant, pleasant existence as an example of the life that we should lead in this world
Similar, worrying about death was a waste of time
**We are collections of atoms that have come together temporarily, and when we die, we die; there is no next world where we will be going
**Instead of grieving when someone does, we should accept it as a natural part of existence and not worry about the afterlife that individuals may be experiencing
**If we accept this, we can maximize our long-term pleasures and cease the pain we experience from fearing death and it’s aftermath
-While Epicurus himself advocated for rational pleasures, later Epicureans strayed from that idea and became known for their overindulgence
