Summary of Greek civilization. The formation of the Greek world, administration, culture, family, the role of women and more on Greek civilization
Greek Civilization, Summary. The Formation of the Greek World
Around 2000 BC, while the Cretan civilization was being born , some Indo-European populations invaded the Greek peninsula.
The Achaeans founded several fortified cities, including Mycenae . Due to politics, the Achaeans subjugated the entire Greek peninsula, the Aegean islands and Crete. Around the 13th century, a war broke out between the Achaeans and Troy; this was narrated by Homer in the Iliad .
With the arrival of the Dorians, the Mycenaean civilization ended, because it had difficulty controlling the conquered territories. They conquered much of the Peloponnese, many islands of the Aegean and Crete itself. Having defined the different Greek regions, the lineages of these created autonomous city states, governed by a king who was the head of the army and enjoyed particular privileges. Later, a class of noble warriors replaced the King in the leadership of the city.
On the road to a great Greece
Agriculture was also in crisis and farmers were forced to emigrate to the coasts of the Aegean, then the Black Sea and Italy. Thus the Greek colonies were born , which became important commercial centers. The political evolution of the city progressed, a class of rich merchants was formed who began to collaborate with the government; thus oligarchic governments were born. Written laws were founded that established the rights and duties of citizens. Thus the constitutions of Sparta and Athens , the two fundamental polis, were formed . Sparta, very powerful militarily, subdued the Peloponnese and formed the Peloponnesian League. Athens, on the other hand, moved towards achieving democracy. Its constitution was based on the division into social classes, according to wealth, thus allowing everyone to participate in the government. There were various struggles between the social classes, which favored the rise of the tyranny of Pipistratus. Thanks to Cleisthenes, Athens achieved democracy. While Athens and Sparta dominated, they continued to subjugate territories also Greek colonies in Asia Minor. The latter rebelled and asked for help from the mother country. Thus the Greeks were involved in a war and the Persian king Darius led his army by sea, but was defeated anyway at Marathon. Ten years later the Persians managed to defeat Sparta and burned Athens .
The Athenian fleet managed to defeat the entire Persian fleet in the waters of Salamis. In 479 BC the Persians marched against Athens and were once again defeated at Plataea and the Greeks liberated the colonies of Asia Minor. With the victory against the Persians its prestige increased and its democracy received a new impetus: all powers were in the hands of the people. In 478 BC Athens formed a league with the Greek colonies of Asia Minor and thus managed to control all the traffic in the Aegean. Sparta also created a league with the cities of the Peloponnese, sparking a league between the two polis (Sparta and Athens). Athens was besieged by a grave, but after a long period they reached a compromise and signed the Peace of Nicias.
The war resumed with a military expedition against Syracuse, an ally of Sparta. Following the failure of the expedition, Sparta allied itself with the Persians and defeated Athens both by sea and by land. At Leuctra the Spartan army was annihilated. Thus the Greek cities, which united had made their country invincible, destroyed its strength by fighting among themselves for dominance.
The greatness of Greek civilization
It is from the small country of Greece where our civilization began. Here, art, poetry and thought spread throughout the Mediterranean with the colonization movement. Greek civilization , carried forward by Alexander the Great , merged with local civilizations, giving birth to the Hellenistic civilization. The first message of equality was born in Greece, which gave birth to democracy. Greek art was one of the most important for its balance, serenity and sense of proportion between fantastic inspiration and reality. Religious architecture is expressed in small temples built in wood, soft stone and clay. In Athens, important temples were built in honor of the gods, such as the Parthenon and the Erechtheion. At the center of Greek sculpture was man; two great sculptors were Myron and Polykleitos. As for painting, nothing remains except some descriptions by writers and Greek ceramics. The Greeks were the first to try to solve the problems of knowledge. Thus, Aristotle and Plato gave rise to philosophy; Pythagoras and Euclid to mathematics and geometry ; to physics Archimedes and Aristotle; to medicine Hippocrates and Galen ; to geography Strabo; to history Herodotus and Thucydides . The theatre, on the other hand, was perfected by Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides and Aristophanes .
The Age of Alexander the Great
The unification of Greece , which neither Athens nor Sparta had succeeded in, was achieved by the Macedonians. In 359 BC Philip II became King of Macedonia and decided to invade Greece and triumphed over the Athenians and Thebans at Chaeronea. He later formed the League of Corinth between the Greek cities. Upon Philip’s death, his son Alexander, not yet twenty years old, ascended to the throne. Having demonstrated his exceptional qualities as a leader, Alexander headed east and conquered Tyre, Palestine and finally Egypt where he founded Alexandria. He also defeated the Persians followed by the death of Darius III who was killed by an assassin and Alexander also became King of Persia. Death surprised him in 323 BC while he was still young and his vast kingdom did not survive him. It was divided into three kingdoms: the kingdom of Macedonia, the kingdom of the Seleucids and the kingdom of the Ptolemies of Egypt. However, through various events, all three kingdoms born from Alexander’s empire ended up in Roman possession.
The cult
Greek worship is based on a set of deities that refer to the greatest god, Zeus . Each deity represents aspects of life: for example, Ares, the god of war; Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty; Athena, goddess of wisdom.
They become the protagonists of some legendary tales, the myths, which become educational factors. In this way, numerous religious celebrations also originate, open to all the people: the most important are the agricultural and pastoral ones. Libations were offered to the gods and animals were sacrificed such as: rams, oxen, cows, sheep. Subsequently, great religious festivals were born , with different recurrences, such as, in Athens the annual Athenèe and the quadrennial Panathee, in honor of Athens, protector of the city. In Olympia, one attended the Olympics , during which numerous sports competitions were held that acquired a particular importance in Greece for the formation of man.
The city
Greece is a mountainous country, with a dry climate and a clear atmosphere. Work was initially agricultural. People lived in small villages and laboriously cultivated the arid land, a fundamental means of survival. From the union of several villages the first cities were born , including Athens, one of the most famous. Initially, houses were isolated on heights to gain greater security; together with them, temples were also protected, which, dedicated to the cult of the gods, assumed an important role in their life.
Later, the city expanded especially in the lower part and consequently the upper part became a sacred place. In the 5th century the Acropolis was built in the upper part . In the lower part the Agora opened up, a large square that in the 2nd century would be delimited by two porticoes on the south and east sides. The rest of the square was filled with artisan shops and workshops. In the city, work was essentially based on trade and craftsmanship. The streets were generally narrow and winding. The neighborhoods grouped together the various commercial and artisan activities. Trade outside the city was carried out by sea. Athens had a port at Piraeus, directly connected to the city with a road protected by walls. To control public property, specialized colleges were established: the astìnomi and the agorànomi. The former had the task of supervising customs and the cleanliness of the streets, the latter had control over the villages, the measures adopted in the markets, and the regulation of prices. The method of building the houses was varied and random because they were dug into the rock and were extended at the front with a masonry wall. In the less steep areas, small one-story houses were built. The walls were made of wood or raw bricks, therefore, very fragile.
The windows were small and the roof was on the terrace. There were no kitchens: food was prepared on fireplaces, placed outside the houses. In the winter season, to heat the environment, embers were brought into the house. The most serious problem was the shortage of water, due to the lack of an adequate drainage network. Hygiene was very poor: it is no coincidence that the plague of the fifth century spread very quickly in Athens.
Urban planning
Despite the rational study of the organization of the cities, the streets of Athens, like those of all other Greek cities, were narrow and tortuous. The studied scheme was straight streets intersected at right angles according to the urbanistic conception of Hippodamus of Miletus , an architect of the 5th century BC, from which the name of the structure “Hippodamèan” derives.
The public administration
Athens is the first historical example of a city organized in a democratic form . This system included a general assembly formed by free men of Athenian origin who elected a Council, called Boule , formed by 500 citizens. This in turn nominated the chief magistrates (Prytanes) destined to preside over the assembly. There were many other magistrates, civil officials (archons) and military (the strategos). The archons who had played a decisive role during the transition from monarchy to oligarchy continued their powers until the fifth century AD.
In Athens there were three social classes: citizens, metics and slaves . Citizens are all Athenians of age. One became an adult at eighteen, but one could see one’s rights as a citizen exploited only after two years of military life.
The Metics, despite being foreigners, were granted the rights of citizens but could not own land or houses. Those that can be remembered are: Leipzig and Miletus. Citizens considered dangerous for democracy were subjected to Ostracism, that is, the sentence of being removed from their homeland. The Athenians were expelled from the country with a majority of at least 6000 votes. As for the Spartan public administration, the Constitution always remained aristocratic.
The government was constituted by the Gerusia, that is, a group of 28 noble elders. In addition to them, there were two kings who had a representative power and who could only command the army in war. The Helots (that is, the Spartan slaves) were prisoners of war or people kidnapped by pirates and resold. They had no civil rights, but Plato recommended not to treat them with violence even if this recommendation was not always carried out.
Women and family
Greek women had no civil rights. Girls depended on their father; while when they got married, they depended on their husband. Athenian girls could not leave the gynaeceum, the area reserved for women; while Spartan girls practiced many sports including gymnastic games. Athenians learned housework from their mother; their husband was chosen by their father. After marriage, brides lived in the gynaeceum and at night it was locked; they could only go out for religious rites or to visit, but always accompanied by a slave. According to the law, respect for the elderly was very important and children had the obligation to assist their parents until their death. The most cultured ladies (hetaerae) were courtesans who knew how to sing and dance and were accompanied as concubines by men of high social standing. Spartan children remained in the family until they were 7 years old, they were educated to be more responsible and were prepared to face war.
After they were 7 years old, the State took care of them. Athenians stayed at home until they were 18 and were raised by their mothers. Girls from an early age played with dolls that were carried with them in processions. Only when they got married did they hand them over to the goddesses who guarded them. There was little furniture in the house.
The Greeks at the table
In ancient times the Greeks ate sitting down, while in the 6th century they ate half-reclined on beds. In these rooms banquets were held where women could not participate except for the hetaeras. They could participate with men only at lunches reserved for families. The first two meals were light to better face the work. Dinners were also held at night and were also more abundant than lunch, in fact it consisted mainly of fish and many varieties of meat, in addition to vegetables, fruit and bread. During these meals wine was drunk, people conversed, listened and played.
The culture
Greek civilization is one of the most famous, not only regarding its religion, but also regarding music, theater, art; we can better understand its importance by mentioning some famous names of poets, such as Homer and philosophers such as Pythagoras , Aristotle or Socrates . Music and theater play a special role in Greek cultural life because they were also used to express entertainment and religious celebrations.
The most important narratives were theatrical; “The Narratives of the Dionysian Mysteries” which were celebrated four times a year and the most important was called “Great Dionysiaca”. The parts were assigned only to men who also played female roles, using different masks; women could only attend the shows. There were only three actors, including two more important ones. In these theaters there were choruses and sung parts. For the Greeks, music could influence, both positively and negatively, human behavior, and was sometimes associated with poetry.
The medicine
Medicine was also mythologized: according to the Greeks, the first doctor was the Centaur Chiton, who would then teach for many years. At first, medicine was developed in temples; later, passing through lay people, schools were established, starting from the 5th century BC. Thanks to Hippocrates , medicine was studied from magical practices to philosophical theories. Medicine brings with it duties: maintaining professional secrecy and passing on its science.
Fashion in Ancient Greece
Source: getty-images
Between 750 and 650 BC, Greece had a strong development in all fields; in art it was the moment of the transition from the so-called “formative” period to the so-called “archaic” period, particularly important for fashion because the human person began to be depicted not only naked but also dressed. According to the myth, Cecrops is responsible for introducing the art of weaving in Greece , learned from the Egyptians, who preferred linen while the Greeks used both it and wool and later also cotton.
The most beautiful fabrics were highly decorated and colored with woven and embroidered bands, according to oriental custom; fibulae were made with more or less precious metals to fasten the edges of the fabrics. The two basic Greek garments were the “Chitòne” and the “Himàtion”. The Chitòne was a type of tunic made of a single rectangle of fabric, the width of which varied depending on whether it was a Doric or Ionic costume; it was tightened under the breast by a thin belt, sometimes accompanied by a wider leather belt. In the Doric Chitòne the vertical folds of the dress were smaller than in the Ionic one, thus determining a greater severity in the former and an elegant refinement in the latter. The Himàtion was a cloak also made of a single rectangle of fabric, passed under the left arm and pinned on the right shoulder, on both shoulders or wrapped around the whole body.
In addition to these two basic items, there was also the “Clamide”, a short garment, used only by men, which left ample room for movement, always formed by a rectangle of wool wrapped around the shoulders and fastened with a fibula either on one shoulder or in front of the neck. The Spartan woman wore a short Chiton, pinned on one shoulder, tightened at the waist with a wide sash. The Greeks walked barefoot at home, while outside they wore sandals with cork, wood or leather soles, knotted at the calf or ankles.
They usually had their heads uncovered, but there were also conical hats such as the “pilòs”. Ladies covered their heads with the “tholia”, an unusual pointed hat, or with a flap of their tunic or cloak. Until the 5th century BC, women and men wore their hair long, according to oriental custom; later, however, men began to cut their hair and shave their beards, while women curled their hair and embellished it with bands, tiaras, pins, and colored ribbons. When they attended parties, ladies of higher social rank adorned themselves with precious jewels and wore makeup, despite the opposition of moralists; sometimes they could use a fan or an umbrella.
