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Home , 200s BC (decade), Big Three (Greece), Boule (ancient Greece), Eupatridae

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The Age of Greek Thought The Hellenistic World and The Athenian Empire Page 5 Page 9 Page 13 Page 17

THE RISE OF Today, we must look at the second great , that of the Athenians. As we did in the case of , we must first look at the geography of Athens and the influence of that geography on her growth. The territory of the Athenians occupied a rocky peninsula in central called . Unlike Laconia, the Spartan homeland, the area of Attica included very little good farmland. It was generally a poor region except for silver. The city of Athens itself was about five miles from the coast, but it was near enough to use several good in her territory. This meant that if Athens were to become an important state, she would have to rely on trade rather than farming. Before 500 B.C. when Athenian trade was still limited, the polis remained backward and relatively weak. But as her trade developed after 500, she became one of the most powerful and most progressive of all the Greek city-states. The dialect of Attica is closely related to the Ionian (Iconic) dialects. This means that the original population of Attica were predominately Mycenaean Greeks who lived in Attica before the start of the Iron Age. Evidence about the earliest organization of the Athenian polis is limited, but there is enough information to give at least some idea of the conditions there. As I suggested above, Athens remained relatively backward during her early history. This is reflected in her , which remained an aristocracy dominated by a few families as late as 600 B.C. In the executive branch of government the basileus was replaced by a board or committee of nine officials called Like the of Sparta, the archons were elected each year. Each official was responsible for some aspect of the administration – war, religion, justice, etc. The council at Athens was called boule, and in the earliest period this body had considerable powers. The council was made up of former archons. After their year as was over, the officials became permanent members of the boule. There was an assembly which elected officials and made important decisions, but it could take action only on those matters that the boule placed before it. Thus, the boule had the greatest role in policy-making. Participation in this early government was limited in two ways. Like Sparta, Athens had expanded in the years before 600, taking into its system many outlying farms and villages. The people who were annexed in this fashion were not citizens. They had no role in government at all. Even in the citizen-body itself there were restrictions. All citizens could vote in the assembly, but only members of certain families could hold the archonship.

P a g e 1 o f 20 whom the money was borrowed. Even if he had been cheated, the farmer usually could not get satisfaction because the man who cheated him was likely to be a cousin of the judge. This then was the condition of Athens in 600 B.C. We saw earlier that Sparta also had an oppressive system and that the Spartan system never changed. In Athens, the economic conditions were so bad that change was necessary. Between 600 B.C. and 500 B.C., events occurred that completely remade the Athenian state. Reform under The reform began in 594 B.C. when the danger of revolution became so great that the eupatrids agreed to allow reform. They appointed a man archon, for one year with the power to introduce whatever changes he wished. The man chosen for this was named Solon. He was a eupatrid himself, but he placed the interests of the city Attica shown inside the blue circle. above those of the aristocracy to which he belonged. He reformed the basis of participation in government by allowing any persons with wealth to hold the archonship and sit on the These families were called eupatridae, nobly born. They boule. In this way, he converted the city from an aristocracy dominated politics by holding the archonship and with an . Office holding was now dependent on controlling the boule. This system was extremely unstable wealth, not birth. This may not seem an improvement, but because of the bad economic conditions in Attica. Before it was. Now any citizen could become archon provided he 600 most persons in the region were still farmers, and the made a lot of money first. As a related reform, Solon gave limited farmland made it difficult for these persons to make citizenship to some people who were not citizens before. a living. A second notable reform of Solon was to publish the Between 750 and 600, the population of Attica laws of the polis. Before this time, there was no written law. gradually increased. As it did, it became increasingly more The archons merely kept the law in their heads, so that they difficult for farmers to produce enough food to feed the could change the interpretation of it whenever they wanted. whole family. In bad years, these small farms would have to Solon put the laws on tablets in the city. After Solon’s time, borrow food from their richer neighbors, the eupatridae, who the laws were available for anyone who wanted to read might have some left over. Once a farmer fell into debt, it them. This ended irregular justice. Finally, Solon attacked was hard for him to pay off, for he now had to produce the problem of debt by merely abolishing all the debts enough to feed his family and also enough to pay back what outstanding in his time. he had borrowed. By 600, many persons – perhaps most of them– had become permanent debtors. They merely paid a Solon also created laws that made it illegal to export fixed sum to a wealthy neighbor with no hope of completely grain. These agricultural laws were very important. Since it clearing the debt. Worse yet, they were sometimes cheated was illegal to export grain, eupatrid farmers were by their creditors, who might charge high and unreasonable encouraged to find some other crop to export. The best interest. crop for the export market was olives. But, it takes over twenty years to produce olive oil from scratch. You have to As conditions worsened, the farmers appealed to the plant trees that take two decades to mature. You also have to government for help, but the government was unwilling to invest in oil mills. This change in Athenian crop production do anything. The government was controlled by the was only a logical choice for wealthy farmers. It had the eupatrid families, and the eupatrids were the men from effect of setting back Athenian aristocrats by two decades.

P a g e 2 o f 20 Peisistratos’ Tyranny Although evidence is uncertain, apparently got a bill extending citizenship to most of the free The main failing of Solon’s program was in the debt inhabitants of Attica who were not already citizens (called abolition. He had ended the debt, but he had done nothing metics). Metics were non-Athenians who had moved to to prevent new debts in the future. After about fifty years, Athens to take part in the trade and mercantile activities of the situation was right back where it started. This led to the the city. Their interests were primarily urban rather than establishment of a tyranny at Athens (549-10). You may rural. So, their participation in Athenian government was remember that a was an illegal ruler who would seize more focused on city activity than rural, which further control of the government of a city in times of unrest. In diluted the influence of the country aristocrats. He lowered Athens the tyrant was a man named Peisistratos, who the property requirements for holding the archonship so gained the support of the small farmers for his rule. He was that all but the very poorest citizens were eligible to serve. absolute leader from 549-517, when he died. He made all But the most important reforms had to do with the way the the decisions and dominated the other organs of Assembly conducted its business. The old council of government. After his death, the position of tyrant was archons was deprived of its power to arrange business of taken by his son Hippias, who continued to rule until 510. the assembly. In its place a new council was created called The did nothing to alter Athenian government, the Council of 500. but they carried out many reforms to improve the economic The Council of 500 was made up of 500 men chosen system. Peisistratos reformed the money system in a way annually by lot. They were not elected, and the membership that promoted the growth of trade and commerce. He took changed each year. The lots were drawn in a way that the other steps to encourage trade. He created many new council would represent a cross-section of the whole demos. religious ceremonies to attract visitors and tourist money to This was an important reform because it made the assembly the city. And he built many new temples to provide jobs for essentially an independent body. They assembly could not those who could not make a living as farmers. These actions only make decisions but also decide what questions required effectively relieved the economic pressures on Athens. By debate. In essence, the Athenian assembly became a real making Athens a commercial city rather than an deliberative legislative body under Cleisthenes, and since it agricultural one, Peisistratos provided alternative jobs for was made up of a fairly broad range of Athenian citizens, depressed farmers. He also further reduced the power of Athens became pretty democratic. the Athenian aristocrats whose power base was rural rather than urban. By increasing the political power of those who The reforms of Cleisthenes essentially changed the lived in the city and took part in merchant activities, government at Athens from an oligarchy to a for Peisistratos both reduced the power of the eupatridae and also the first time. Once democracy was established, Athens changed the focus of Athenian politics. This policy was began to progress very rapidly as a result of her developing disastrous for the tyranny. Once economic unrest was commerce. Between 500 and 479 B.C., Athens emerged as alleviated, no one wanted a tyrant any more. Thus, in 510, a major power in the Greek world, and we need to consider Hippias was driven out and legal government restored. this development now. Reforms of Cleisthenes and Athenian Sea Power The end of the tyranny paved the way for new changes The man responsible for the growth of Athenian power in the government itself. The economic policies of was named Themistocles. He was the major Athenian Peisistratos had greatly strengthened the craftsmen and leader from the 480s to 471, and he perceived that it was merchants of Athens, who were unhappy with the older necessary to have a strong navy if trade was to become system of oligarchy. Two years after the end of tyranny in strong. Under his leadership, the Athenians built a navy of 508, a reformer named Cleisthenes pushed a reform of the 200 ships, which was by far the largest fleet in the Greek government through the assembly. world. Cleisthenes eliminated the four traditional tribes, which This Athenian fleet proved to be a decisive factor in a were based on family relations and also gave more power to series of terrible wars that broke out after 500 between the rural citizens, and organized citizens into ten tribes Greek cities and the newly formed Persian Empire. Now according to their area of residence (their ). He also you should remember that the Persians began expanding established legislative bodies run by individuals chosen by around 550 B.C. and that they succeeded in conquering lot, rather than kinship or heredity. most of the Near East.

P a g e 3 o f 20 One group of states that fell under Persian control were the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor. The resented the Persian control, and they led an unsuccessful revolt against Persia from 499-493. The Persian Wars During the revolt, Athens attracted the hatred of Persia by sending some limited aid to the rebels in Ionia. This revolt was none of Athens’ business, but they felt close to the Ionians because they spoke the same Greek dialect. To punish the Athenians for this aggression, the Persians sent a small to attack Attica in 490 B.C. To the surprise of everyone, the Athenians were able to defeat the at the Battle of Marathon. This defeat only antagonized the Persians further. After conquering the great states of Asia, the Persians were not about to be beaten by an insignificant little polis like Athens. For various reasons, however, the Persians were unable to take any action against the Greeks until 480. In that year, the Persians invaded Greece again with a fleet of 800 ships and an army of 180,000 men. It was the largest military expedition ever seen. The Persian goal in this campaign was to take over the whole of Greece and incorporate it into their empire. Many Greek states were so frightened at the size of the Persian forces that they immediately surrendered to the invaders. But a small group, including Athens and Sparta, decided to fight against the seemingly overwhelming odds. The Greeks had only 50,000 men and 354 ships. The Greeks suffered some defeats. In fact, the city of Athens was actually captured and burned by Persia. Despite these losses, the invasion was finally repulsed. The Persian fleet was almost destroyed at the battle of Salamis off the coast of Attica in 480. The next year, 479, the Persian army was also defeated by Spartans at Plataea in central Greece. Conclusion As I mentioned at the beginning of my lecture, the development of Athens follows an unusual pattern. In 600, she lagged far behind most other Greek states, but by the early 400s, she is rapidly becoming the leading polis of Greece. Through most of this period, she was plagued by serious economic and political problems that were gradually solved by placing greater emphasis on commerce and by the development of democratic government. The victory which was won in the Persian War tended to confirm the Athenian belief that they had been moving in the right direction. To be sure, other Greeks also helped in the defeat of Persia. Sparta provided most of the land forces, and other cities also contributed. To some extent, this was a victory of the polis with its idea of shared government over the absolute of the East.

But the Athenians believed that they had made a special contribution to the ultimate Greek success, and in fact they had. Without the large Athenian fleet, the Greeks could not have won the battle of Salamis and probably could not have won the war. This victory then gave the Athenians a great deal of confidence in themselves and in their form of government. Next time we shall see that this confidence was very dangerous both to the Athenians and to their neighbors.

P a g e 4 o f 20 The Age of Pericles and The Athenian Empire

At the end of my last lecture, I talked about the growth of Athens as a great naval power and her role in the defeat of the Persians in 479. Today we shall see how her power continued to grow after the war. The continuing ascendency of Athens in the middle part of the 400s was the direct result of continuing conflict between the Greeks and the Persians. After the defeat of their army in 479, the Persians withdrew their forces from the mainland of Greece, but that did not mean that the threat from Persia was ended completely. Persia still controlled the Ionian Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor just across the Aegean. In this position, it was always possible that they might mount a new invasion of Greece at any time. For this reason, a number of Greek states decided to set up an alliance to continue the war until Persian influence had been eliminated from the Aegean area entirely. In the winter of 478/477, they agreed to set up a new defensive league for the purpose of prosecuting the war. The participating cities were mainly from the Aegean islands and the northern parts of Greece. Because Sparta did not want to involve her in such long-range operations, she and the other members of the did not belong. The headquarters of the league was established on the island of in the center of the Aegean. The For that reason, the alliance was know as the Delian League. The league was a military assistance pact similar to NATO.

P a g e 5 o f 20 Each member of the alliance was required to contribute received pay for any public service. This meant that poorer to the military effort according to its means. Large cities citizens often had to work during the assembly meetings. gave ships and men for the forces. Smaller cities merely gave Now they could all go. money to finance operations. The league members were to This system was a perfect democracy because every meet each year to decide on the strategy for the year to citizen could hope to hold office and to influence the come. Each city had one vote. Since Athens had the largest making of policy. If a man was dissatisfied with the way the fleet, she was selected to lead the government was run, all he had to do was got forces of the League. She supervised to the next assembly meeting and say so. If the collection of the money, and she enough other citizens agreed with him, they furnished the commanders for could vote to change things. This meant that military operations. a man would could speak well and This alliance was extremely persuasively in the assembly often had great successful in its efforts against Persia. influence in policy even if he did not hold any By 450 B.C., all of the Ionian cities of public office proper. Such men were called Asia Minor had been freed from demagogues, which means leader of the Persian domination. Persian influence demos. Remember that demagogue is not an was eliminated. As the Greeks of Asia office. Frequently demagogues were so Minor became free, they too joined popular that they might hold the elective the Delian League so that the office of general. This is how Pericles could influence of the alliance gradually be a major leader for thirty years. Many but grew. And, of course, the influence of not all of those years he was general. Athens, as the leader of the alliance, Pericles was also noted for other also grew whenever the league accomplishments at Athens. He adopted expanded. policies to foster trade and commerce. He The growth of Athenian power Pericles supervised most of the rebuilding of Athens in foreign policy was accompanied by c. 495 BC - 429 BC after the destruction of the Persian War. He a great advance in the internal was responsible for the and the organization and prosperity of the major buildings we associate with Athens polis as well. The man most responsible today. for this progress was Pericles. Strengths & Failings of the Athenian Polis Pericles of Athens The argument can be made, I think, that the ideals and goals The major accomplishment of Pericles internally was of the Greek polis reached their highest realization in the activities the perfection of the Athenian system of democratic of Athens in the time of Pericles. Unfortunately, however, the fail- government. This system had continued to grow more ings of the polis are also most evident in this period. democratic since the time of Cleisthenes in 508; now it was These failings became obvious in the relations between Ath- completed. At some point, probably during the time of ens and her allies in the Delian League. As time went on, the Themistocles, the archons, who were the major officers of other allies fell progressively under Athenian influence. All the the state, ceased to be elected. Instead, they were chosen strictly by lot. There was a drawing, and the men whose other cities were much weaker than Athens, and it was difficult for names came up were archons. Thereafter the only officials them to resist policies that she favored. It was in the nature of the who continued to be elected were a committee of ten polis everywhere that Athens, once put in this position of power, generals, who led the armies. The generals had to be elected would pursue policies in her own interest rather than the policies because their jobs were too technical to be left to chance. in the interests of the whole alliance. In a city-state, only the rights Pericles was responsible for two measures which and interests of the citizens were considered important. Others extended democracy even further. First, he eliminated the had no rights. By the same thinking, other city-states besides your last property requirements for holding office. Now, any own did not have any rights either. Thus, if a city-state had the Athenian could be archon if his name came up. Second, he opportunity to dominate and manipulate her neighbor, she would introduced the practice of paying any person who served in not hesitate to do so. public office. This was important because previously, no one

P a g e 6 o f 20 Gradually therefore, the Athenians came more and The greatest Spartan problem was that Athens more to interfere with the activities of the Delian-League controlled the sea. By the second war, it became evident members in order to achieve her own ends. In some cases that Sparta must have a navy to defeat the Athenians. In these ends were political and strategic. She tried to increase 412, Sparta made a deal with the Persians to return the her advantage in respect to other states. In other cases, the Ionian cities to Persia in exchange for money to build ships. ends were economic. Many communities which had not That is how the Spartans eventually won out. joined the league were attacked and forced to participate in The destruction of the political power of the polis was a its operations. Usually Athens justified the attacks by saying much more gradual process. It is evident from 404 to 338 that these cities were benefitting from the wars against B.C. Like many great conflicts, the Peloponnesian Wars Persia without contributing to them. But in some cases these disillusioned most of the Greeks who participated in them. cities were attacked because they were in a favorable Greeks had once believed that loyalty to a polis was the most position in the Athenian world. Occasionally, a member of important feeling that a man could have. But they now saw the league would try to withdraw from the alliance, and that that such loyalty could lead to terrible destruction. After member would be forced to rejoin. In some of these 404, loyalty to the state is replaced by more personal communities, the Athenians stationed troops and ships to concerns and interests. Moreover, the example which prevent new disaffection in the future. Occasionally, the Athens had set was an invitation to other cities to create simply set up new governments with officials friendly to similar empires based on alliances in the Aegean. Athens. Some allies were persuaded or coerced into adopting the Athenian system of money and Athenian Other Attempts at Empire weights and measures so that they would find it easier to Following the war, Sparta abandoned her conservative trade with Athens than with other states. foreign policy and forced many other states into one-sided Finally, in 454 B.C., the Athenians arbitrarily moved alliances with her. In the 370s, another polis, Thebes, tried the headquarters of the league from Delos to Athens, where the same thing. These efforts at imperialism provoked it would be more secure. They insisted that a part of the numerous wars, and there was almost constant conflict in money collected for military purposes should be paid to Greece from 404 to 338. Athens for guarding the treasury. With this event, the Delian No single city had the men and resources to achieve any League ceased to be an alliance and became instead an sort of permanent hegemony over the city-states of Greece. Athenian empire. All these conflicts did was to drain the resources of the city- The ultimate results of the high-handed Athenian states and make them vulnerable to the aggression of other policy in the Delian League were first the destruction of the Greek states with more centralized forms of government. Athenian Empire, and in the long run, the destruction of In the 400s the Greek polis system, exemplified by the the polis as the main form of government in Greece. highly successful Athenian polis, reached its height. But by The Peloponnesian Wars the end of the century, both Athens and the polis had gone into decline. At its high point Athens probably came closer The destruction of the Athenian Empire was achieved to achieving the theoretical objectives of the polis than any by two serious wars between Athens and Sparta at the end other city-state. In government it achieved a system in of the 400s. These wars are known as the Peloponnesian which all citizens participated on as equal a footing as was Wars (431-421, 415-404). You may remember that the possible to achieve. I might say that the citizens made up Spartans usually tried to prevent the growth of powerful more than half of the population. Athens also achieved states in Greece as part of their traditional foreign policy. extraordinary heights of intellectual expression, which we Thus, they viewed the growth of Athenian power with shall be looking at later on. alarm, and that eventually led to the outbreak of hostilities. Almost every state in the Greek world was involved in the Of course, Athens also became the first major Greek war on one side or the other. imperial power in the same period, extending her power at the expense of others. Many modern writers find the On the Athenian side, the wars did not go well because imperialism hard to reconcile with the achievements of the assembly made all of the decisions. In a time of crisis, it Athens, but in fact they go together. The same loyalties and is difficult to make consistent policies when everybody has to ambitions that made the Athenians excel in intellectual and be consulted about them. If Pericles had lived, Athens political pursuits also made them want to dominate other might have won; but he died in 429, and the later Athenian cities. leaders were not as capable as Pericles.

P a g e 7 o f 20 It was this drive for supremacy that eventually brought Athens and the polis system to ruin. Historians sometimes criticize the Greeks for not finding a way to unite their diverse cities in a political system based on the polis. Why, they ask, couldn’t the Greeks build a Greece-wide state in which all Greeks participated as citizens on an equal basis? But this was not possible, if you look closer. In order for the Greeks to participate in government in the manner of the polis, the Greek state had to be small. In Greece, the right of a citizen did not stop with the right to vote. The citizen had to be able to participate directly in the polis, to sit in the assembly, and to hold office. In such a system, the number of citizens had to be limited.

P a g e 8 o f 20 Greek Thought

In the last few lectures, I have been tracing the political his- tory of the Greeks. They created the roots of many mod- ern political ideas. They also made vast contributions to other areas of intellectual life. Three basic traits mark Greek art and literature at its height. They are so fundamental that I want to begin by looking at them separately. The first trait of Greek culture is humanism. Humanism is a concern for man and his problems. Near Eastern culture centered on the gods, but from the beginning, Greeks were always more concerned with man. A second trait is rationalism. Rationalism is the belief that we can learn the truth about things through reason and logical argument. Greeks generally thought that there were regular patterns and rules in the operation of the universe. They believed that they could explain these rules in a systematic way. The last trait was idealism. Idealism is the belief that what we can reason out in Achilles, the hero of the their minds is more important even more real than what we can actually see and feel Iliad is shown on this vase around us. Most Greeks believed, for example, that they could understand natural, ca. 530 B.C. as a hero, scientific phenomena better thought and argument than by making careful Achilles is a killing machine, observations. a warrior whose search for The defining work of Greek literature is an epic poem called the Iliad. Greeks excellence makes him take though that a man named wrote the Iliad around 750 B.C., shortly after the to the battlefield in spite of end of the Dark Ages. The Iliad describes an incident during the Trojan War. In the the knowledge that doing war, a Greek army attacked the city of in Asia Minor. Some scholars think that so will end in his death. the Trojan War actually took place around 1200 B.C. – in the late Bronze Age. The story of the Iliad concerns a quarrel between two leaders of the Greek army. Agamemnon, the commander of the army, and Achilles, the foremost warrior. As a result of their quarrel Achilles refused to fight. When Achilles withdrew from the fighting the war went badly, and many Greeks were killed. The way the Iliad deals with these events reveals many basic Greek ideas about life and about the human condition.

P a g e 9 o f 20 Greeks believed that every man has what they called Almost all Classical Greek writers pursued this moira, or fate. It consisted of whatever happened to him. objective. The most important literature of the period was The poem reveals early Greek ideas about fate and what tragic drama which developed in Athens in the 400s. Tragic brings it about. In part, the gods affect it. They take part in plays were presented as part of the public religious festivals the story, and they influence the human characters by giving of Athens. They were financed and supervised by the them advice or tricking them. government, and they were intended to perform a service to The Greek gods differ from the Near Eastern gods. the public in some way. They are anthropomorphic. They look like human beings, Playwrights served the city by examining the work of and they act just like them. Viewed in this way, they were fate in human life and the kinds of actions that would bring easier to understand. When they intervene in the war, they a bad fate. They had great freedom to present their personal are moved by personal reasons. Greek gods often display views about this. The plots of most tragedies were taken some of the worst traits of humans; they are often petty, from myth, but mythical plots could be manipulated in greedy, spoiled, promiscuous – because, as immortals they order to present particular moral points. can be without consequences! Tragic drama reveals changing Greek views about the The Greek gods do not control fate completely. The human condition. The earliest playwrights took positions Iliad hints that even the gods are governed by fate. The gods that most Athenians would have shared. These early writers don’t really control human action either. Men have some are (524-456) and (494-406). Their freedom to determine their own fates and the outcome of plays all differ in detail, of course, but the plots generally events. But, one thing a man cannot change is his death. All follow a regular, ideal pattern or scheme. of the characters in the Iliad are all aware that they will die The leading character of the play is usually a famous some day. hero from myth. In the play, the hero forgets that there are The Iliad is also discusses how men should live. Greek rules governing human life. He commits what the Greeks warriors strive to achieve arete, excellence. The characters of called hubris, a violation of the rules. He does something a the Iliad risk their lives in combat to prove that they are the human being should not do and is punished for his actions. best warriors. They believed that if they fought well they A play called Oedipus Rex by Sophocles exemplifies early would be remembered after they died. Early Greeks tragedy. In the myth, Oedipus fled from his home to avoid a believed that the afterlife was a gloomy place without joy or prophesy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. hope, so the best they could do was to stay alive in the Unfortunately, Oedipus did not know that he was adopted. minds of the living. The Iliad glorifies the efforts of men to By fleeing he inadvertently set off a chain of events that excel in life. made the prophesy come true. Without knowing it, he killed As Greeks became more civilized, they became more his father and married his mother. The gods punish not convinced that the world followed logical orderly rules. This only Oedipus for his crimes, but also his city for his actions. new rationalism affected ideas about the role of moira and We are often troubled because the fate of tragic heroes the gods in human life. seems unfair. For example, Oedipus did not intend to do Moira, Arete & the Rules of the Polis wrong; he tried to avoid it. But the Greeks had different ideas about sin from ours. To them, a man committed Greeks no longer believed that fate was random. Moira hubris when he tried to do something that men cannot do. was governed by regular, orderly rules, and men received One thing men cannot do is avoid fate. Oedipus thought the fate they deserved. The gods became more rational, that he was smart enough to outwit fate. His hubris was to intervening in human affairs to punish men who violated try to be smarter than men can be. In the end, he tears out the rules. Obviously, it was important to know what the his eyes because he cannot face the truth about his crime. rules were. But Oedipus is not controlled by fate – in a sense, by acting, Greeks came to came to believe that the polis was the he brought his fate about! As weird as this seems to us, perfect form of government, so its laws and customs were Greeks believed that fate was just and right and that the perfect guidelines for human behavior. But the laws of a city gods supported it. could not cover all of the rules. In some areas, the rules of But in the later 400s, the last great tragic playwright, Eurip- life were uncertain. Writers tried to explore these areas to ides (480-486) challenged many popular assumptions about moira help other Greeks understand the rules governing the and the gods. He lived in the time of the Athenian empire and the human condition more fully.

P a g e 10 o f 20 Peloponnesian Wars, when the Athenian polis did many governments are not created by the gods, but by men. Right obviously unwise things. It became much harder to believe and wrong are simply matters of opinion. Most political that the citizens of the polis were necessarily correct in what decisions are not moral, but practical. The only way to they thought and did. saw that the Peloponnesian judge them was to see whether they achieved the desired Wars spread death and destruction indiscriminately. The result. If a leader persuaded a city to go to war and the city wars made it difficult to believe that human suffering was won, it was a wise decision. just, right, or logical. Euripides believed that disaster in The Sophists argued that there is no true morality, only human life was not caused by moira, or the gods, but by men opinions about right and wrong that can change. This idea themselves. Most of his plays deal with destructive human troubled one man, an Athenian sculptor named (d. passions of some sort. 399 B.C.). Socrates thought that the Sophists were wrong. In Medea, the heroine is jealous because her husband He believed it was possible to have true ideas about right wants to marry another woman. To get revenge, she and wrong. But they had to be based on a logical murders him and several other people, including her own understanding of the world. He did agree that many earlier children. Yet, the gods help her to escape punishment. Greek beliefs about government and morality were Euripides was saying that not all human sins are punished, incorrect because they were not logical. and perhaps also, that human crimes are not always sins. Socrates decided that many Greek beliefs, including Euripides’ plays were quite controversial and many those of the Sophists, were illogical and incorrect. He went Athenians considered his ideas immoral and irreligious. By around Athens starting conversations with people. He the 400s Athenian writers and intellectuals began to express would ask them to say what they believed about something opinions that average Greeks could not accept or even – government, morality, religion, etc. Then he would ask understand. But, other Athenians had also begun to them questions about what they said, forcing them to question the rules of the polis and basic assumptions about explain and justify their answers until he could show that wrong and right had wrong. Among them were Athenian what they had said was illogical and false. In this way, he philosophers called Sophists, and another Athenian named proved to individuals that what they had strongly believed Socrates. was not true at all. After forty years of this, he became so unpopular that, in 399, he was executed by the city. The Sophists began to raise questions because of the work they did, which was new to Greece. The profession of sophist arose because many Greek cities became in the 400s. Now, to have influence in a democratic polis, a man had to speak persuasively in the assembly. That created demand for teachers to train would-be politicians in speech making or rhetoric. The Sophists were professional teachers of rhetoric. But Sophists didn’t merely teach rhetoric. They also tried to train politicians to make wise political decisions. Greeks had always thought that political decisions must be moral because the gods would punish cities that acted immorally. But, Sophists argued that you can’t Socrates, philosophizing to the end, makes one last point before drinking poison and executing really know what the gods want himself. because human customs and

P a g e 11 o f 20 Socrates demonstrated that philosophers could use was interested in science, especially biology, reason and logic to show that people’s beliefs about morality and he knew that, in biology, some animals do change in and government were not true. Later philosophers used form. For example, caterpillars change into butterflies and them to show what was true. come to have a new form in later life. Aristotle wanted to Enter (d. 347), who was one of Socrates’ most explain such changes. Thus, he argued that there was no gifted students. Plato created a theory of the world that unchanging design for the world. Instead, there is an could serve as the basis for correct, moral political decisions. intelligent, active plan which makes everything in the world Plato’s view of the world is called the theory of ideas. He and also makes it change. argued that everything in the world is what it is because of Everything in the world has a purpose. The purpose of its form. The form is defied by a perfectly logical idea of the a thing determines its form, and when its form changes by thing. For example, a chair is a chair because it has certain regular, natural stages, it changes to fulfill the purpose set basic characteristics that we think of when we think of a for it in the plan. He believed that developmental changes chair. Chairs do differ form one another. Some have arms; occur not only in animals, but also in such things as some do not. But if we thought about it, we could come up government. with a general definition that all chairs conform to. Plato So, we have to examine how the forms of things change argued that everything is like this, even moral principles in the world as they move toward achieving their purposes. such as justice or goodness. They are what they are because Thus, he collected large amounts of specific data about there is an idea behind them that can be logically defined. biology, government, literature, and other subjects of study. Plato said that these ideas are real things that exist in a Now, Aristotle’s ideas were not really scientific in the separate world of their own. The world of ideas is a perfect modern sense. He wanted to understand the plan, that is, to blueprint of our world, the world of nature. Plato’s concern learn why the world was made as it is, rather than to for morality influenced his view of these two worlds. If understand the particular objects of his study. something is to be morally true, it must always be true in Nevertheless, Aristotle became the most important every situation. Morality and moral ideas cannot change. In authority for philosophical and scientific thought for nearly our world, things do change. If we cut the legs and back off 1,000 years. And, in many ways, he can be considered the a chair, it is not a true chair anymore. But the definition or father of science. We might say that he laid the foundation idea of a chair never changes; it is always true. Thus, Plato for most of the modern subjects we study in the university argued that the perfect world of ideas is true and real. Our today. world, the world of nature, is imperfect and changeable. It is hard for modern students to understand how Plato could say that the world around us is not real. But he is actually arguing about the truth and how men know the truth. He is merely saying that what we can logically deduce about the world and its principles is truer and more important to know the what we can feel or see or experience with our senses. He would reject the modern scientific belief that you learn truth through collecting and observing facts. You learn about things by thinking about them, not by experimenting on them. He believed that when men understood the world of ideas logically, they would automatically act in logical, moral ways. They would also be able to create more logical, moral governments and customs. After Plato died, one of his students, Aristotle (d. 322) created a new theory of his own that began with Plato’s ideas. Aristotle accepted the notion that everything is what it is because of its form, but he worried about the view that the forms were determined by an unchanging blueprint.

P a g e 12 o f 20 Alexander the Great

In the fourth century B.C. - the 300s - the center of attention in the world shifts to a state in the northern part of Greece, a place called . Macedonia was the country that produced the greatest conqueror of the ancient Greek world, Alexander the Great. Alexander took Greek civilization out of its narrow confines on this little peninsula in Europe and spread it throughout the near and middle east. By the time he died, Greeks were in control of Egypt and Persia and a lot of places we have not talked about like Afghanistan. In fact, by the time Alexander died, Greek civilization stretched from to the Indus river – the border today of and Pakistan and as far north as the Himalayan mountains. before getting to Alexander proper, you need to know a bit about where he was from and how he got his start because that makes things more understandable. Macedonia was not in what we would call the mainstream of Greek civilization before 400 B.C.. First of all, it was not a city-state, not a polis. It was a kingdom. And it was not a particularly well-organized kingdom. It lost control of its own coastline to the Athenians in the fifth century, and it had trouble with uncivilized peoples to the north of it. However, the Macedonians were Greeks; they spoke Greek, believed in the gods and Homer, and participated in the Olympic games. Still, cities like Athens and Sparta looked upon them as poor country cousins rather than full-blown members of the Greek family. In 359 B.C. all of that began to change. The reason it did was because a powerful personality became king of Macedonia. That person is known as Philip of Macedon, and he is quite a character. Philip became king in his early 20s and had already had a number of interesting experiences. He had been a hostage in the city of Thebes as a teenager (explain why people were hostages) and while there had really learned a lot. He was fascinated by Greek politics — Thebes had a democratic system like Athens — and he fell in love with Greek culture. When he became king in 359 BC he drew upon those experiences to build Macedonia into a powerful state. First, he was both a brilliant politician and a brilliant warrior. He knew that his men would only respect him if he showed himself brave in battle, and so, when he fought battles, he always made certain that he was in the lead. That proved to be dangerous at times, for he was frequently wounded and on one occasion lost his right eye.

P a g e 13 o f 20 When he became king in 359 BC he drew upon the experiences of his youth to build Macedonia into a powerful state. First, he was both a brilliant politician and a brilliant warrior. He knew that his men would only respect him if he showed himself brave in battle, and so, when he fought battles, he always made certain that he was in the lead. That proved to be dangerous at times, for he was frequently wounded and on one occasion lost his right eye. But Philip preferred not to fight battles. One of the things that I have stressed in talking about the Greeks is their appreciation of human nature, its strengths and its weaknesses. Philip preferred to conquer places by bribing people rather than by fighting them. If he wished to take a city, he offered them enormously generous terms of surrender in hopes that the people would decide that the terns were far preferable to resisting. In fact, on one Philip II of Macedon on a gold coin. occasion he said that he could take any city in Greece if he could just get to the front gate with a wagon load of gold. Now that he was in control of all of Greece, he decided Besides, he said, if one fights, one always leaves behind to create a government that would give him the power to use resentment and bitterness, and that is always a problem for all of Greece for his ambitions. He called all of the Greek any political leader, king or not. cities together at and established a legislative Philip also was a reformer. He knew that making his assembly that would vote on matters that concerned all of the state powerful meant not just political manipulation but Greece. He gave himself the title of hegemon, a title from genuine reforms – genuine systemic change. Therefore, he which we get our English word hegemony. The Spartans changed the tax structure to take advantage of Macedonian refused to come and Philip, politician that he was, decided to gold mines and the commerce provided by the coast, which leave them alone. he took back for the kingdom. He also reformed the Now what was he going to do? He wanted to attack Macedonian fighting forces. The Macedonians used a Persia. That should be a challenge. In 336 he believed that his just like the other Greek cities, but he made some army was ready to attack, but, before he marched across the changes to it. He replaced the jabbing spear with a Hellespont and into Persia, he arranged for his daughter to fourteen-foot long pike. The job of the phalanx then was wed the king of , another of those little kingdoms in not to poke at the other side after the collided but the northern part of Greece. At the wedding, he was to hold the other phalanx and then let horsemen – cavalry assassinated, supposedly by a Macedonian nobleman in the – attack it on the flanks. He also vastly improved the pay of the Persians. training of these forces so that they would be well-trained As you can probably guess, now that Philip was dead, a and well-disciplined. number of the Greek cities decided that the time had come In 352 Philip set out on his dream, which was the to declare their independence from Macedonian hegemony conquest of all of Greece. It took some time and did not and go back to being the way they were. they figured that, really end until 338 BC when he defeated a combined army with Philip dead, the Macedonian kingdom would fall apart. from Athens and Thebes at the battle of Chaeronea. Very Philip's son Alexander III, succeeded him. Alexander was far important for understanding Philip's skill. The Greeks came more ruthless, more brilliant, and far more effective than his at him on two wings, one of Thebans and one of father. this was the man who would be known in history as Athenians. The Macedonians retreated before the Athenian Alexander the Great, perhaps the greatest military genius of wing and the Athenians, joyous that their mere appearance western civilization. on the battlefield had broken the Macedonians, gave chase. Alexander became king at the age of twenty (about your The Macedonian retreat was, as you can guess, a feint, and age). The first thing that he did was crush the rebellion that when the Athenians came over a little hill, they found the he perceived to be bubbling up among the Greek cities. In Macedonians drawn up in a phalanx with calvary on the fact, as a lesson to the other cities, he destroyed the city of wings ready to run down the Athenians. The combined Theban/Athenian army was crushed.

P a g e 14 o f 20 Thebes, but, when he did so, he did not burn down the house conquer although he had no idea how big it was or how of the poet , because he wanted the Greek cities to long it would take. know that he still respected Greek civilization. He just wanted At this his army mutinied. They sat down and said that no trouble. they wanted to go home. He argued with them, but it did no In 334 B.C. Alexander led an army of 40,000 men into good. So, in 326 he ordered the army to head back home. Persia. To give you an idea of his character, he took not Now remember, they are doing all this on foot. only soldiers with him but poets, philosophers, scientists, It took him two years just to get back to Babylon, which and secretaries to make note of learning in all of the places was still one of the great cities and he planned to take his army. where he had a headquarters. The first problem that he had to He spent a year there overcome was the opposite problem the reorganizing his administration Greeks faced in the Persian wars over a and then decided that he might century earlier. This time the Persians like to conquer Arabia instead. controlled the sea (and had since the In 323 B.C. at the age of 33, he defeat of Athens) and now the Greeks contracted a fever and died. had to supply themselves across the What a life!. No military Aegean. But Alexander did not build a figure in western civilization powerful war fleet to take on the achieved what Alexander Persians; he decided instead to take all of achieved. He campaigned for the ports the Persians controlled - all the eleven years, marched over places they could dock their fleet. When 22,000 miles with his army, and the fleet had no where to dock and pick never lost a battle. He was such up supplies, the fleet was done. That a military genius that he means taking all of what is today the prepared for battle with Turkish coast, all of and , incredible intensity. Usually he knew the terrain better than and all of Egypt. Right! And that is exactly what Alexander his enemy even when it was his enemy's own country. His did. By 331 BC he had control of the entire eastern coast of troops were remarkably well-trained and, of course, became the . And in 331 he established the city battle-hardened within a very short time. of in Egypt, which would become one of the greatest cities of the next 1000 years and is still a pretty fine But was that all he was? Was he essentially a military city today. adventurer and little more? A number of historians argue that was the case. He was a military genius, they say, but After his conquests on the coast, he set off with his that is all he really cared about. He was a soldier's soldier. army inland to defeat utterly the Persian army, capture the He would get drunk, get violent, even at one time killed a Persian Emperor, and destroy the Persian Empire. In friend in one of his drunken rages. October 331 B.C. he met the Persian army at the Battle of Arbela, one of the most important battles in history. But other historians argue that he was more than that and they point to the following as evidence. He really had That was the end of the Persian Empire, but Darius plans to unite this enormous empire into a great economic had escaped and Alexander wanted to capture him. He and cultural system. chased him all over Persia until a warm summer day when he finally caught up with him. Alexander had only sixty He built some cities and rebuilt others - a number of men, but, by the time he caught up with Darius, his them were named Alexandria - and wanted them to be followers presented Alexander with the emperor's body. Tell Greek in character. He established military colonies the story about raising them above all other men. throughout his empire and wanted his soldiers to intermarry with the local population. In fact, he married a Alexander was not even finished then. He decided to Persian woman himself as an example to his officers and continue to march eastward, more or less just to see if there men that lie wanted to establish a civilization that all could were more civilizations to conquer. In 327 he had reached be a part of. the borders of India and defeated there a large Indian army – equipped with elephants – on the banks of the Indus Whatever the assessment of Alexander, his conquests River. Then he decided maybe that all of India was good to completely changed the culture of the ancient world. From

P a g e 15 o f 20 Although Jesus was a Jew and his language was Aramean, the New Testament was written in Greek. When the Romans conquered this part of the world a century or two later, did not replace Greek culture but rather existed along side it. A truly educated Roman needed to be able to speak Greek. A good example is the Apostle Paul, a Jew, a Roman citizen, and one who spoke and wrote in Greek. Greek dominated that part of the world and would until the arrival of the Arab Moslems in the 7th century AD. And it was Alexander who made it possible.

Alexander’s Empire

P a g e 16 o f 20 The Hellenistic World

Alexander’s death marks the start of the later period of Greek history that scholars call Hellenistic Times. The period extends from 323 to the founding of the Roman Empire in 30 B.C. I want to give a general sketch of the political conditions in Hellenistic Times. The death of Alexander set off a civil war among his Macedonian generals to see who would rule after him. In the war, his great empire broke up into several pieces each ruled by one of his generals. There were three major kingdoms covering Macedonia and large parts of what had been the Persian Empire. Some smaller states also existed. They remained independent in theory, but they were usually under the thumb of one or another of the larger states. Most old Greek city-states were in this category. So, let’s start off with a brief look at the political divisions of the Hellenistic world. There were three major states: Egypt: Rulers were descended from I, one of Alexander’s generals. This state included Egypt, part of Arabia, Palestine and the island of . The new Greek rulers inherited a tightly-knit well organized bureaucracy, the ancient Egyptian tradition that rulers, the , were divine, and vast agricultural resources. This was the wealthiest of the Hellenistic States. The Seleucid Kingdom: Founded by another of Alexander’s generals, Seleukos. This kingdom included most of what had been the Persian Empire proper – Asia Minor, , and . It grew and shrank considerably over its period of existence. It was the most culturally diverse empire, and had to be ruled with a strong hand. The was only controllable through a strong bureaucracy and a powerful military. The Antigonid Kingdom: After a period of chaos as one Greek general after another tried to acquire the Macedonian homeland, order was finally restored by an able, ruthless and efficient general named Antigonos Cyclops (One-Eyed). Antigonos ruled Macedonia and part of Northern Greece. This was the only completely Greek kingdom of the .. The Antigonid kingdom was weaker than the Seleucid Kingdom, poorer than Egypt, but it was the most unified, and more militarily powerful. Until about 201 B.C. these three great states maintained a precarious balance of power, and this made it possible for smaller states to exist, primarily by playing diplomatic alliance games with the larger states. Smaller states made alliances with the larger ones in order to maintain their independence, playing one great state against the others. There were some surviving Greek city states that we already know — Athens, Sparta, — and a few rising city states in Asia Minor. These states also formed leagues to defend themselves.

P a g e 17 o f 20 In these states, big and small, the military was also Hellenistic world were professional scholars and teachers. Greek. It was recruited from Greeks who lived in each Down to the 400s, Greek authors and philosophers did not specific state and beefed up with Greek mercenaries who write for money. It was a sideline. They made a living in traveled to the state that paid the best wages. In fact other ways. For example, Thales, the first philosopher, was a Hellenistic mercenary units were highly specialized, well merchant. Aeschylus and Euripides were both wealthy trained, well organized and negotiated with rulers for their landowners. Socrates was a stonemason. This began to pay and benefits. Some battles were decided on the basis of change with the Sophists, who taught rhetoric for money. By who could buy out the army of whom. Hellenistic armies the 300s, even some philosophers taught for a living, as fought on the Macedonian pattern. Hellenistic armies Aristotle taught Alexander, for example. tended to be large by classical Greek standards, as many as In the , professionals, scholars and 30,000 men in phalanx formation, with as many as two thinkers moved to wherever there was a demand for their thousand cavalry. The infantry employed the long spears work. Thus, we can say that scholars had, for the first time and lighter armor that Alexander had made the standard. in the West become professionals who literally chased jobs The great Hellenistic states were kingdoms. The office and went where the money was, like scholars do today. of king was hereditary and the king embodied the state. Many of them were attracted to the new Macedonian This was not like that old Greek idea of the basileus whose kingdoms of the Near East. Hellenistic rulers founded lots power was constrained by other government institutions. of new cities in the Near East and encouraged Greeks to There were no checks on the power of a Hellenistic migrate to the cities and settle. The most famous city was monarch. Each ruler was assisted by a large and elaborate Alexandria in Egypt, but there were many others. In these bureaucracy that increased the king’s control over his cities, the kings established Greek schools to educate the kingdom. So, we can say that foreign absolute rulers children of Greek immigrants and to teach Greek culture to dominated local populations through the use of a network their non-Greek subjects. The kings were willing to pay of bureaucratic officials and a foreign army. writers and philosophers to come to the cities to teach, It is important to remember that in the non-Greek write, and do research in the schools. Since they had a lot of kingdoms, the majority of the resident populations were not money, they could attract the best scholars. Greek. But, the ruling families were Greek, and the ruling classes were either Greek or were natives who had acquired the language and cultural trappings of “Greekness.” The Hellenistic Education upper classes of the Hellenistic states and the urban These great schools were the main centers of populations had, by the mid-200s b.c., become thoroughly intellectual activity in Hellenistic times, and they had a great hellenized. influence on what thought would be like. Thus, it is necessary to understand what the schools taught. There Creating “Greekness” were two types of education. This meant that a profound change took place in the The most popular type were the schools of rhetoric or older Near Eastern lands like Egypt and Mesopotamia. speech making. They were designed to teach people how to Most of the people in these lands came from the older be political leaders, which is what everyone wanted to be. civilizations. They were Egyptians, Persians, or Jews for Every large city had one. The schools of rhetoric grew out example. But the rulers, from the kings on down in of the schools of the Sophists. Their goals and methods government, were all Greeks and Macedonians. The were primarily developed in the early 300s by an Athenian governments were made up of foreigners. Non-Greek Sophist named Isocrates (d. 338). Isocrates believed that natives could get into government only by becoming learning to speak and write intelligently was not only Greeks. They had to give up their own customs, learn the necessary for politicians, but it was also useful for persons of , wear Greek clothes, and generally live and every walk of life. He also felt that good public speakers had think like Greeks. to know about lots of other things besides rhetoric. His In every society, it is the rulers, the upper class, that students were required to study literature, mathematics, mainly determine what kind of art and literature is science, history, and even philosophy. These subjects are produced and what kind of intellectual activity goes on. what we today call the “liberal arts.” Since the Hellenistic rulers were Greeks, Hellenistic civilization, even in the Near East, rapidly became Greek. This was possible because most intellectuals in the

P a g e 18 o f 20 The second major type of education was in philosophy. Because Hellenistic civilization was primarily for Philosophy included the study of all major intellectual educated men, the quality of intellectual endeavor was subjects – literature, natural science, and social science as significantly changed. Because there was so much organized well as what we consider philosophy. Philosophical schools research and study, considerable advances were made in were mainly for professional intellectuals. The first knowledge, especially in natural science which would have philosophical schools had been founded in Athens by Plato held little interest for the earlier Greeks. For instance, and Aristotle, but many others were established in the Near (d. 200), a scholar at the Museum, calculated East by various Hellenistic kings. The most famous was set the circumference of the earth, missing the actual average up by the Macedonian king of Egypt, Ptolemy I (304-282) by less than 200 miles. But, generally speaking, Hellenistic at Alexandria. It was dedicated to the Muses (the goddesses thought was not as profound or as universal in its appeal as of learning). Thus, it was called the Museum. The Museum early Greek thought had been. And it still is not to us today. was based on the ideas of Aristotle. Another focus of the research of Hellenistic scholars In addition to teaching, the scholars at the Museum was to systematize earlier Greek literature. First they studied spent a lot of time collecting, observing, and interpreting literature to find what they considered the best. Then they information chiefly about literature wrote authoritative works about the and about natural phenomena. To texts and derived rules about literature assist them, Ptolemy built the largest based on the forms, styles and content library in the world at that time. Later of the original texts. Sometimes they kings collected specimens of strange would then write works that were plants and animals and built meant to exemplify the perfect form of laboratories to examine them in. With a writing style. For instance, several its large facilities and its emphasis on Hellenistic scholars wrote epic poems, research, the Museum was more like a of which, fortunately, few have modern university than any other survived. One of the titles produced institution in the ancient world. during this period, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes presents us with General Traits of Hellenistic a typical example. It is in the Homeric Civilization tradition in terms of vocabulary and The developments I have diction. It is meant to be a perfect epic mentioned greatly influenced poem, but it is rather dull and prosaic, Hellenistic civilization. Now let’s dependent on rules rather than consider some of its general traits. creativity. It also contains lots of A Hellenistic bust. Note the lifelike allusions to more obscure poems, First, Greek culture spread all over features, wrinkles, warts and all. myths and places, that only very well the East, and intellectual activity educated scholars during the period became truly international not local as would have been familiar with. In other it had been before. In Hellenistic times, words, for the average reader it would be BORING! But, a new Greek dialect developed that was the same remember, it wasn’t written for the average reader, it was everywhere. It was called koine, common Greek. It was used written to edify and amuse fellow professional scholars — by all educated men whether they were Greek or not. But it an audience that was far more interested in rules and trivia was not just language that spread. Greek literature and art, than creative style or content. and to some extent, Greek thought replaced others for centuries. Hellenistic art followed two paths. The first, in keeping with the scholasticism of the period was a monumental Second, this universal culture (oikomene – lit. civilized sculpture that both echoed the art of the classical period, world) chiefly belonged to educated members of the upper but was bigger, and somewhat more static and less idealized classes. It was not shared with the masses. In this respect, it than classical Greek sculpture. [monumental art to glorify differed from earlier Greek culture. Average Athenians state] Another path that art took in the Hellenistic period could to some extent understand and learn from the plays of was portraiture. The classical Greek artists didn’t do much Aeschylus. They could not understand as well the scientific portraiture. They sculpted and painted idealized theories developed in the Museum. representations of gods and heroes all to glorify their city.

P a g e 19 o f 20 During the Hellenistic period, wealthy patrons began to pay artists to paint them or sculpt busts or statues of them. Wealthy patrons also paid artists to create “private” works of art to beautify their homes and gardens. These were not works meant to glorify the polis, but to entertain viewers and to demonstrate the wealth, culture, and education of private patrons. These works were often quite realistic, and even unflattering to the subject, showing wrinkles, warts and all. Oddly, many Hellenistic portraits appeal to modern viewers BECAUSE of their realism.

Philosophy for Living Important innovations took place in the area of philosophy during the Hellenistic period, though. A large part of philosophical inquiry during this period was devoted to ethics – that is the exploration of proper behavior. In proper behavior was essentially dictated by a person’s polis so there was no real reason to spend a lot of time mulling over the subject. In the 5th century, Socrates began to explore ethics and stress that right conduct might not be the same as the conduct expected by one’s community, and we know what kind of trouble he got into. But by the Hellenistic period, philosophers began to emphasize that ethical behavior should be something that was internal rather than external. That is, humans should act according to their own standards of behavior, rather than to the demands of the state. Given this internalization and personalization of values and the emphasis on rules, it became important for thinking humans to derive some rules that they could use to guide their behavior. Several schools of philosophy came into being for that very purpose. So let’s briefly look at a couple. The most popular of these new systems was Stoicism. The principle founder of the movement was . Zeno taught that the universe was organized along a logical reasonable divine plan (logos). For Stoics there were no accidents, so every person should try to live in harmony with that plan. In order to do so, one must exercise one’s reasoning faculties and determine what the most reasonable behavior is. So that we will not be tempted away from contemplation of the logos we need to avoid emotional activities and to do one’s duty faithfully in one’s family and one’s community. Stoicism, with its stress on public and community service, and a strict adherence to duty, became the most popular philosophy with the Romans. Another school founded by of Athens was called Epicurianism. Epicurians were dramatically opposed to the Stoics. They believed that everything was the result of accident. They admitted that there were some rules in nature, but argued that these rules developed over time without any real purpose. Since everything was temporary, Epicurians believed that men should make the best of their lives in the face of chaos. They should pursue a life of avoidance of pain. Epicurius argued that pleasure was simply an absence of pain, because pleasure derived from the senses would ultimately end in pain. So, Epicurians withdrew from public and political life in order to protect themselves from the inevitable pain of trying to cope with a chaotic world. So, that is the Hellenistic world in a nutshell. Greek culture spread all over the civilized world, yes, but in the process, we might say that it lost much of its vitality, much of its popularity, and became more static, more intellectualized, and much less democratic, than the real thing.

P a g e 20 o f 20