Ancient

This is a brief introduction to our history as Greeks from our beginning to now, around the year 510 BC.

We are Greeks. Our ancestors are a little mysterious to us, but our myths and stories tell us a little. Thousands of years ago, there was a civilization on the island of . It was called Minoan culture after King Minos, the famous king who in our myths built the labyrinth for the Minotaur. was advanced. There were large palace-cities with sewage systems and buildings with several floors, well-developed arts, a large trade network, religion, and the most unique aspect of a civilization, a writing system, called . We do not think that the Minoans were violent or that they started wars with other peoples.

While the Minoans were developing their civilization, Indo-European groups began to settle in Europe and what is now the area we call Greece. The groups settling in Greece noticed the success of the Minoans and began to copy them. Cities began to grow around Greece, very similar to those on Crete. They built large palaces, fortified against enemies, and even copied the artistic styles of the Minoans. The Mycenaeans learned how to write from the Minoans. , the Mycenaean system, would eventually spread all over Greece and parts of Turkey. The Mycenaeans did not speak the same language as us. This new, Greek civilization is called Mycenaean, named after the city of Mycenae.

Mycenae Mycenaean Warrior Vase, 1250 BC Linear A and B Writing

The Mycenaean period lasted from around 1650 BC to about 1100 BC. It was the first ‘true’ civilization in Greece and Europe. Mycenae was the largest of these palace-cities on Greece. Some of the other most famous Greek city-states date their foundation to the Mycenaean period. Our city of was founded during this time, as was , Thebes, Pylos, and many other cities.

The myths and legends tell us that the Mycenaeans were very violent and liked war. Perhaps it is from the Mycenaeans that we Greeks get our love of battle and conflict. The Mycenaeans created a sort of kingdom that united most of Greece, the only time for many hundreds of years that Greece was one country. We call this time the ‘Age of Heroes’ when Agamemnon, Achilleus, Ajax, Odysseus, and the other heroes lived. We believe that the Trojan War happened in this period. When our epic poets wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, they must have looked at the ruins of these large Mycenaean palaces all over our countryside and thought only heroes and men larger than life could have built them. We look back to this period as a golden age, when men fought with honor against other heroes and the gods, and completed exotic, dangerous, and impossible quests. The good times ended around 1100 BC. A very strange and scary group of barbarians, called the Sea Peoples, started attacking cities all over the Eastern Mediterranean. They fought and defeated the powerful Egyptians, Hittites (in Turkey), the Phoenicians, and our ancestors, the Mycenaeans. We have no idea who these people were, but they destroyed Greece. At the same time, our direct ancestors, the , began moving into Greece. These people spoke our Greek language and they replaced or married the Mycenaeans, creating us. We call this time the Dark Ages and it lasted from about 1100 to 800 BC. We forgot how to read and write. We became very tribal, staying close to the old cities, which now became little kingdoms. The leader of a Dark Age village or town was called a Basileus (Each basileus had a small group of warriors and ruled from the town center or . Most of us were peasants and lived as farmers, never leaving the territory of our cities. This is the birth of the Greek city-state, as these villages and former Mycenaean cities became centers of government for the chiefs and kings. At the end of the Dark Ages, around the year 800 BC, one of the most important developments in Greek and world history happened. We borrowed the Phoenician alphabet and learned how to write Greek. Here is what our alphabet looks like:

Now that we could write, we were able to record events for the future. This alphabet is unique because it is phonetic. A phonetic alphabet means that the letter is a sound. This makes it very easy to learn how to read and write, also increasing the number of people who can communicate. This is critical for all of our cultural developments that happened during this period and after because it was easy for MORE people to write down their ideas so that people in the future could examine them and write down their new ideas. Greek is so easy to learn, that it became the language of trade and international communication in the entire eastern Mediterranean. There was also another very important invention around this time.

Around the year 750 BC, our blacksmiths discovered how to make iron. Up to this time, our tools and weapons were made of bronze. Bronze is strong, but breaks often. Iron is more expensive, but it is very strong and lasts for longer. Now we can make better farm equipment and weapons for our soldiers. Better farm equipment means that we can farm more land, which increases the amount of food produced each year. Our population grew very fast at the end of the Dark Ages and our villages and towns grew into cities. Greece is a very mountainous country with little land for farming. We as a people are connected to the sea because of this, especially in Athens. We are very comfortable on the sea, sailing and exploring islands and cities. Population grew so fast that we started to make colonies all over the Mediterranean Sea: Syracuse on , Marseilles in France, most of southern Italy, and even colonies in the Black Sea were founded by different Greek city-states.

With the invention of a phonetic, written alphabet, the discovery of iron, and the founding of Greek colonies, we moved into our current historical period, (800-478 BC).

The Archaic Period, our current time, is full of exciting developments in the , philosophy and science, literature, art and architecture, and drama. The goal of these developments is to explain, describe, and show the perfect harmony, balance, and order in nature, humanity, and government through logic.

Even though we are not united as one country in Greece, we all share the same culture. We all speak Greek. We all have the same religion based on the 12 Olympic gods. We all create the same styles of art, architecture, philosophy, and sciences. We also have one very important thing in common too: the Olympic Games. The Olympic Games begin around 776 BC and are held every 4 years. They celebrate our competitive spirit in a peaceful manner. We have other games and festivals like this that unite all Greeks. They are sacred to all of us and no Greek can war on another Greek during these celebrations.

The Polis:

The city-state is the backbone of our Greek culture, and it grew out of the small town and village kingdoms of the Dark Ages. A Greek city-state is 3 main parts: a polis: ‘city’), an acropolis: ‘high city’, the civic center and fortress of a polis), and a chora: ‘countryside’, territory of a city-state). We call one city-state a polis and all of the city-states are poleis. Poleis are like independent kingdoms with their own sets of laws, territories, and armies. Our neighbors (and we Athenians) are extremely territorial and we fight each other constantly for a larger chora.

A citizen of a polis is expected to serve in the army, and we feel it is both an honor and our duty to fight for our homes. War is an important part of our culture. We are not professional soldiers, but we train together. In our style of warfare, the , we are all equals and no man is more important than any other. There are no nobles or peasants on the battlefield because each soldier fights as a part of a group, side by side. An interesting result of our phalanx is that the government that develops in our polis also becomes very communal and almost democratic as a result.

Chigi Vase, 650-640 BC, showing a phalanx Red-figure vase 6th-5th C.

We Greeks believe that if we are able to fight as a group for our polis, then we should be able to make decisions in the government as well. All poleis started as monarchies and had at one point. We all decided what government works best in our own poleis. All of us have some sort of Assembly of citizens with a few administrative positions. The administrative positions control the real power, but the citizens have some power and are able to at least debate issues in their Assemblies.

Some of the most famous city-states are Thebes, Argos, Sparta, Corinth, Athens, and Arcadia. There are also many great cities in (the coast of Turkey) such as , , and Halicarnassus. There are also growing poleis in Southern Italy and on the island of Sicily. The most powerful poleis are Sparta and our city of Athens, and we hate and admire each other.

The independence of each polis and our concept of communal participation in government and military encourage free-thinking, leading to the intellectual, artistic, and political developments in the past decades.

Philosophy and science:

In Athens, we have heard of very new methods of thinking from our Greek cousins in Ionia. Citizens of the Ionian poleis are trying to examine our world and how everything works. They are not using myths and legends to explain the cosmos, they are using logic to explain and understand the cosmos. These great minds are trying to discover the basic material of all things in the universe, or principles of the universe. Around 640 BC, Thales, a philosopher from the polis of Miletus, said that water is the principle element of the universe. He believed that everything is created from water. We also call Thales the father of philosophy. from the island of , around 550 BC, believed that the principle element was numbers. All things are composed of ordered, geometrical shapes. He created the Pythagorean theory: a2 + b2 = c2. A more recent philosopher, Anaximenes of Miletus, argued around 550 BC that the principle element of the universe is air. The most modern idea comes from of Ephesus, a polis in Ionia. He argues that the principle element is fire. However, it is constantly changing into different forms and back to fire. logos), which means word, logic, or reason, controls the whole process. Logos is controls the changing process of the universe and the human soul. People and the universe are in a rational, ordered, moral changing process. Perhaps someday these great minds will come to Athens…

Art and Architecture: With our desire to learn about the natural world in philosophy and the order of things, we have started to create a new style of art. We are trying to copy the perfect, natural forms of the cosmos, especially the human body. The current style of sculpture is called a kouros, and it is our closest copy of the perfect form of the human body.

Kouros statue, 510-500 BC

We believe that the polis is the perfect harmony of civic order. Architecture represents the city-state’s place of importance as the source of man’s social order in nature and also shows the somewhat uniquely Greek pride in civic duty and devotion to the city-state. It must be ordered and perfect, following geometric and linear shapes. The best architecture represents the best city-state.

Miletus, Ionia (Turkey) Sparta

Poseidonia, Italy Theater of Syracuse, Sicily Corinth

Pottery and ceramics are at this point the finest examples of our art. Around the year 680 BC, a style of pottery was developed in the polis of Corinth. It is called Black-figure pottery, because the shapes on the sides of vases are black. It is very popular with citizens of all poleis, and in Athens, we are currently creating our own factories to produce our own Black-figure pottery. In Athens right now, we are creating a completely new technique for painting on pottery. It is called Red-figure pottery, and it was created a few decades ago. It is the exact opposite of Black-figure style. We paint the vase black and draw figures and images in red. It is very trendy in our region, and hopefully, it will spread all over Greece in the next few years.

Black-Figure Pottery, 540 BC Red-Figure Pottery, 480 BC

Every day, we are learning new ways to improve our representation of the harmony in the natural world perhaps soon it will be perfected.

Literature:

The invention of the around 800 BC allowed us to create different types of literature. The legendary epic poet probably wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey, around 750 BC, in the Ionian city of Chios. These are the famous stories of the Trojan War. Another famous writer was , who lived in central Greece near the polis Thebes. Around 700 BC, he wrote Works and Days. This book tells us about the difficult life of a farmer in Greece and the rules of being a farmer. He also wrote Theogony, which is tells us the stories of our gods, our heroes, and the creation of the world. Lyric poetry is a type of poetry that is told with a musical instrument called the lyre, and other musical instruments. It is the poetry of love, passion, and beauty. The first well-known lyric poet, Archilocus of Paros, started writing around 700 BC. The most famous of the lyric poets was , from the island of Lesbos. She lived from around 620 BC and died around 570 BC, and is probably the greatest poet of our time.

Drama:

In Athens, we are the pioneers of a new and very exciting style of literature, called drama. About 100 years ago, a man named Thespis appeared on a stage as a character in a play. He was the first true actor. Today, we call actors thespians in honor of him. All of us Greeks perform the ancient myths and legends in front of a crowd, but in our polis it is more than that. Every year, on the feast of Dionysus, we host a theater festival during which any playwright may perform one of the 3 styles of drama: tragedy, comedy, or satyr play. We vote on the best and it is the HIGHEST honor to receive an award. We Athenians are becoming a very artistic nation, and drama is one the best examples of art in all of Greece.

Athens

We are the Athenians, and our polis is Athens. The chora we control is called Attica, and we speak a dialect of Greek called Attic. Our city is very old and our patron is the goddess Athena. Legend tells us that the first king of Attica, Cecrops, created a new polis. Both Athena and wanted to be patrons of this new polis, for they believed it was going to be very strong in the future. They each gave us a gift and our ancestors would decide on a patron. Poseidon struck a rock on the acropolis with his trident, making a spring of water. His gift to us symbolized naval strength in the future. Athena created an olive tree on the acropolis. Her gift symbolized and prosperity in the future. Cecrops chose Athena as our patron goddess, and our polis was named Athens. The olive tree, hundreds of years old, is still on the acropolis today.

Like all the other cities of Mycenae and the Dark Ages, Athens was ruled by a Basileus (king). At the beginning of the Archaic Period (800 BC), the aristocracy and land owners formed a council called the Areopagus. This small group of wealthy citizens controlled all of the power of Athens. The members of the Areopagus selected 9 and generals to control Athens. There was an Ecclesia, or Assembly of Citizens, but it had no power. Our city was now an oligarchy. At the same time, Athens was creating a chora by uniting the towns and villages of Attica. The people of Attica and Athens were divided into 4 tribes based on family. Athens was now a true polis: it had a polis, acropolis, and a surrounding chora. However, this only benefited the members of the Areopagus and citizens became unhappy and demanded change.

Around 620 BC, the Areopagus selected an oligarch named to write our first laws that all citizens had to obey. The Draconian code was not fair to most citizens and the death penalty was a common punishment for many crimes. Also, people who owed debts to the aristocrats and could not pay were enslaved or exiled. In the next 20 or 30 years, most of our poorer fellow citizens were not able to pay their debts to the aristocrats. The aristocrats would take the land and then enslave the citizen and his family. By about 594 BC, our polis was in a serious economic crisis. If there was a bad harvest, a poor farmer had to borrow money from a wealthier person. If the farmer had another bad harvest, he could not pay the owed debt and was enslaved. As a result, a majority of our fellow citizens were landless and enslaved and a handful of aristocrats, the Areopagus, owned most of the land and had nearly all the money in Athens. The average Athenian citizen had little opportunity for a happy life. What is worse, no common citizen could change this! As we know, none of the cultural, literary, scientific, and artistic progress of the Archaic Period happened in Athens. Not only were we in an economic crisis, but our Athenian culture was in a crisis too! The political situation was bad, and the Areopagus elected a man named as in 594 BC. Solon completely revolutionized and reorganized our government.

The Reforms of Solon: 1. Erased all debt in Athens and ended debt slavery. 2. Established a new set of laws for all citizens and removed the harsh laws of Draco. 3. Opened Athenian citizenship so that artisans, philosophers, and other great minds could come to Athens and live. 4. Allowed ALL citizens to vote in the Ecclesia. 5. Created the βουλή (), a council of 400 citizens selected from 4 tribes of Attica and Athens. Each tribe selected by lot 100 eligible members for 1 year. The Boule guides the Ecclesia. 6. Organized us into 4 classes of citizens, based on how much grain we can each produce (medimnoi = bushels). Here are our 4 classes: I. Pentacosiomedimnoi (Πεντακοσιομζδιμνοι): at least 500 medimnoi of grain annually II. (ἱππεῖς): 300-499 medimnoi of grain annually III. Zeugitai (ζευγῖται): 200-299 medimnoi of grain annually IV. Thetes: less than 199 medimnoi of grain annually Only certain classes were eligible for government jobs:  Assembly: open to ALL citizens of Athens  Boule: open to ONLY Zeugitai, Hippeis, and Pentaciosmedimnoi  Archon: open to ONLY Pentaciosmedimnoi

The reforms are not perfect—only the 3 upper classes can truly participate, but most of us finally had a voice in the Ecclesia. There is no mistake: Solon did not believe in a democracy, but he believed that wealth determines ability to rule. The members of the Areopagus were unhappy with their lost power, and the thetes and lower classes now wanted to be more active in the government. The wealthy families fought for ways to keep control and the situation was not good in Athens. The first attempt at democracy in our city was not working.

Around 550 BC, after 2 attempts to seize power, an aristocrat named Peisistratus seized control of our city. He was a tyrannos () and he finally brought political stability to our city. He was tyrant until his death in 526/7 BC. Some of us remember the rule of Peisistratus and it is not all bad. He built roads and aqueducts. He rebuilt our marketplace, the and started to build many temples all over Attica. He also helped poor farmers through loans. He was a patron of the arts, and finally the seed of culture was planted in our city, by a tyrant! Most important, he stabilized the government and was able to make court law standard and just. This broke the political power of the aristocrats and Areopagus. Peisistratus helped bring us to the brink of a new era. His sons, however, changed our minds about tyrants.

Hipparchus and Hippias ruled together for about 10 years, and continued their father’s tradition of rule. As we know, members of an aristocratic family murdered in 514 BC. The past few years have not been good in our city. Hippias has become very cruel and paranoid. He thinks all people around him want to kill him, and we Athenians are afraid that our good luck will end soon. Our city is crumbling, people cannot find work, and there is social unrest in our streets. We have heard rumors of an aristocrat Cleisthenes and his ideas of reform and change for ALL Athenians. He is preparing to move into our city and force Hippias into exile. He believes that a more democratic state will bring prosperity to our city. Some people want to return to the days of the Areopagus. The year is 508 BC, and we have the chance to make history in Athens…

Our Acropolis around the year 500 BC Our Acropolis around the year 420 BC

th Our Polis in the 5 Century BC