Chapter 5 section 3 notes for Victory and Defeat in the Greek world
492 BC Darius of Persia demands loyalty oaths – earth and water – from the Greek city-states
Sparta tosses his emissary into a pit, Athens into a well – so much for earth and water.
Herodotus tells us — they can’t get along with each other
don’t like outsiders even more
work together to get rid of Persians
By 500 BC Athens is wealthiest of Greek city-states
Persia wants control
Most of the Ionian states he had, but they weren’t happy campers
even though Persia had a tolerant rule
499BC Ionians rebel against Persia – Athens sends ships to support
Doesn’t work – Darius crushes the rebellion, and now he’s mad at Athens to boot
Bides his time, then in 490BC sends a huge force across the Aegean to punish Athens for defying him. Athens asks for help but gets none.
Athens outnumbered by Persian force and fight fiercely, breaking through the Persian lines and whupping the Persians in hand to hand fighting. Pheidippides runs 26.2 miles to bring the good news of the battle of marathon, delivers and drops dead. Persians go home…for now.
Themosticles knows Darius will be back – urges Athens to build a wooden wall of ships to prepare for the coming battle.
Darius doesn’t last for the next attack – but Xerxes does.
480 BC Xerxes is back with an even bigger force
Athens asks for help and this time gets it from Sparta and others.
Persians land in northern Greece, plan to march south to Athens.
Spartans hold them off at Thermopylae – Leonidas and co. – to give the others time to get organized. The Persians kill them all, after a very tough fight and march down and burn Athens – the Athenians were not there, and used their wooden wall to trounce the Persian navy at the straits of Salamis. They used their ships to ram the Persians until they sank them all.
The fight goes on for a time in Asian Minor, but the Greeks eventually drive the Persians home at Plantaea – Xerxes sends 35,000 men.
Spartans offer the helots freedom if they will fight – amass a huge army
Greek Phalanx shoulder to shoulder, shields all around, moves slowly like a huge armored tank. Heavy armour, and iron weapons. Persians not as heavily armed, wicker and linen (desert people).
The Persian commander dies by chance early in the battle and the Persian force falls apart. Greeks move in a trounce them, and the fight is over.
After the wars:
increased Greek unity – faith in uniqueness, gods had protected them from the Persians.
Create Delian League of city-states with a pledge for mutual assistance and defense.
Athens dominates league, moves treasury form Delos to Athens and uses the money to build it’s own city. When others cried foul and try to withdraw Athens uses force to maintain the league as one unit.
Athens in the age of Pericles: p. 112
460 to 429 BCE
Political life – direct democracy
assembly met several times a month
6000 members for a quorum
All citizens should take part – so began to pay a stipend for service – lets poor men also serve in government
Created a jury system where a panel of citizens (sometimes thousands!) would decide legal cases. Male citizens over 30 were chosen at random to serve on a jury for a year, and were paid a stipend.
one form of punishment was ostracism – or banishment. if someone was seen as a threat to the democracy a gathering would be held, and everyone would receive a piece of broken pottery – if there were more pieces with the name of the person than not that person might have to live outside the city for 10 years.
Thucydides – recorded a speech given by Pericles at a funeral for soldiers slain in battle
This “Funeral Oration” praised the Athenian form of government where power rested in the hands of not a minority but of the whole people – there were rights and duties of citizenship – a special responsibility – those who didn’t do their part were not harmless, but useless individuals.
Athens was very rich at this time from trade and their silver mines. Pericles rebuilt the Acropolis with fabulous new temples to honor their gods in a very short period of time – he made Athens see itself as a unique and special place favored by the gods.
Aspasia – foreign born and not conventional, was Pericles’ companion, (may have written his speeches) and helped him turn Athens into a center for culture – writers, philosophers, artists and thinkers of all kinds flocked to Athens – where they were appreciated.
The building program and the many public festivals meant jobs for workers and craftsmen for many years and set the stage and standard for culture for years to come.
Peloponnesian War –
Sparta forms Peloponnesian League against Athens – oligarchy
Athens Delian League – democracy
431 Fighting breaks out in earnest – Athens’ navy no good against inland Sparta
Sparta attacks – Pericles allows the people from the countryside to move inside city walls for protection – overcrowding and bad conditions mean
430 – big plague year in Athens, Thucydides tells us 1/3 of the people die, including Pericles
leaders who followed weren’t that good
Socrates forced to drink hemlock because he’s seen as undermining society with philosophical discussions distracting young men from the task of saving Athens
In the end Sparta hates Athens so much that it even allies with Persia to get Athens – finally captures Athens with Perisan navy in 404. Takes Athens navy but doesn’t destroy the city.
These wars end Athens’ influence in the Greek world. Athens recovers, but the golden days were gone for good, corruption and bad government replaces old democratic ideals.
Fighting goes on for a century between city states, Sparta gets it (defeated) from Thebes and while all this in fighting goes on there is a new power, Macedonia to the north – by 359BC its ambitious leader Phillip is ready to conquer these contentious Greeks.
Section 4 “the glory that was Greece” p. 115
Pericles claimed that Athens cultivated the mind, loved the beautiful and yet had simple tastes.
Not everyone is buying the gods as in total charge of the lives of men
Philosophers used observation and reason to link cause and effect – they explore everything from math to music to logic or rational thinking. They believed they could discover the laws that governed the universe if only they observed and reasoned about the things they saw.
Sophists – questioned accepted ideas – success was more important than truth – their rhetoric – or skillful speaking skills – allowed them to rise in social and political ranks. Some people thought they were detrimental to traditional Greek values.
Socrates didn’t like the sophists, he would seek the truth through questioning people and challenge them to consider their answers and the implications of what they said. He said he was seeking truth and self-knowledge, other people thought he was just undermining traditional values and beliefs and felt he was a menace. After Athens suffered defeat at the hands of the Spartans many people blamed Socrates for corrupting the city’s youth and weakening their society. He was tried in front of 501 jurors and condemned to drink hemlock. And he did.
Plato left Athens after Socrates execution for 10 years.
he distrusted democracy because of what happened to Socrates. His Academy (when he returns) teaches the ideas of his teacher and some of his own. People through seeking truth and rational thought should be able to discover unchanging ethical values, perfect beauty and the best way for people to live.
“The Republic” — Plato’s ideal state – should regulate every detail of citizen’s lives to provide for their best interests. Three classes – workers to produce necessities, soldiers for defense and philosophers to rule led by a philosopher-king. Talented women should be trained to serve the state in the military, training with men and children should be raised in a communal setting to assure their well-being and proper education for the good of the republic.
Cave dwellers/shadows – tell them the story….
Aristotle – Plato’s pupil – doesn’t like democracy either – thinks it leads to mob rule. Likes the idea of a strong virtuous leader.
Preaches the “golden mean” — moderation in all things. Reason is the basis for learning. But thinks that women have fewer teeth than men – never bothers to count.
His Lyceum has classes and study in all branches of knowledge and left writings on politics, ethics, logic, biology literature and other subjects. Later European universities were modeled on the work of Aristotle.
Architecture and Art –
Poetry and Drama – theater
chorus sings and actors recite in elaborate costumes
amphitheaters
tragedies – human suffering and disaster Sophocles, Euripdes
Antigone can’t bury brother
Dude marries his mom by mistake
Trojan Women suffer from war
comedies – Lysistrata – Aristophanes women of Athens make husbands end war
social criticism, mocked people and customs
History –
Herodotus – “father of history” – records the stories of his times and times before
Persian War documenter – travels and does research to tell the tale – notes conflicting accounts and biases in those he interviews.
Thucydides – Peloponnesian War documenter – lived through the war himself, tried to be an objective reporter of the story, fair to both sides.
Herodotus – research and comprehensive reporting of contemporary events
Thucydides – avoid bias and objectively report, though sort of a gossip