Ancient Greece or civilizationgreek this is how we know the civilization formed by the Greeks in the south of the Balkan Peninsula and which extended to other parts of the Mediterranean, beyond the Cyclades, through Asia Minor and coastal regions on the Black Sea. Greek history officially began with the Homeric period, around 1100 BC. Ç. and it extended until the transformation of Greece into Roman protectorate, in 146 a. Ç.
Greek history is comprised of five periods created by historians, the classic being the heyday of the Greeks. During this period there was a great development of the polis, highlighting Athens and Sparta. The Greeks bequeathed to humanity a series of significant contributions in areas of knowledge, such as history, philosophy, literature, theater, etc.
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Periods of Ancient Greece
Periodization is a strategy used by historians to facilitate the assimilation and organization of historical knowledge. In the case of civilizations of the
Antique, like the Greeks, approximate datings were created taking into account certain characteristics or events that are studied.In the case of the Greeks, dating stipulated the division into five periods, that are:
pre-homeric period (2000-1100 a. C.): period of formation of the greek people. Marked by the existence of two great civilizations — Minoan and Mycenaean.
Homeric period (1100-800 a. C.): the “Greek world” is going through a great ruralization with the Doric invasion, and there are very few records of this phase. Life revolves around the genos, and there is a great civilizational retreat.
archaic period (800-500 a. C.): marked by emergence of the polis, the model city-state of Greece. Population increase leads Greeks to move in search of new places. The phonetic alphabet appears.
classic period (500-338 a. C.): period of greatest development of the Greeks, marked by flowering of greek culture, like philosophy. This period saw the rivalry between two great Greek city-states: Athens and Sparta.
hellenistic period (338-136 a. C.): Greece was conquered by Macedonia, beginning the phase of spread of Greek culture through the Orient. Its end came when Greece became a protectorate of the Romans.
formation of greece
![The Cretans, inhabitants of Crete, were one of the people who contributed to the formation of the Greek people.[1]](/f/65d4acf25daaf1c52b4197468607b681.jpg)
The Greek people were formed from the mixture of peoples Indo-European who began to settle in Mainland Greece from 2000 a. Ç. The people who formed the Greek people were the Ionians, achaeans, aeolian and dorians, each arriving in Greece at a different time.
Cretan
The advance of these Indo-European peoples over Greece led them to find a civilization established on a large island in the Aegean Sea, the island of Crete. These were the Cretans or Minoans, a great civilization that existed between 2000 a. Ç. until about 1400 BC Ç., when they were assimilated by the Mycenaeans.
The two great civilizations of the pre-Homeric period were the Minoan civilizations (also called Cretan) and Mycenaean. The Minoans were originally from Asia Minor and settled in some islands in the Aegean Sea (the Cyclades), especially in Crete. There they developed a civilization that survives from agriculture and trade.
They also developed a system of writinghieroglyphic (called Linear A), which has not yet been fully deciphered by scholars on the subject. It is believed that excessive land use combined with the occurrence of natural disasters, such as a volcanic eruption that severely affected Crete, may have been the factors that led this people to decadence and their assimilation by the Mycenaeans.
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Mycenaeans
The Mycenaeans were one of the Indo-European peoples who arrived in Greece in the second millennium BC. Ç. they called themselves Achaeans, and it is believed that they arrived in the region around 1600 BC Ç. The Achaeans expanded into southern Greece, reaching the Cyclades and Asia Minor (region of present-day Turkey).
In this expansion, they had contact with the Cretans and assimilated several characteristics of their culture. The territorial expansion of the Achaeans and the fusion of their culture with the Cretan gave rise to the Mycenaean civilization, the second great civilization in Greece in the pre-Homeric period.
Like the Cretans, the Mycenaeans established important commercial ties with peoples from the Mediterranean region. They mastered metallurgy and ceramic techniques, and its centers of power (in the plural, as they were organized into city-states) were based on a great palace that housed a king. had how writing source a syllabary, that is, symbols that represented syllables. Called Linear B, this form of writing was inherited from that developed by the Cretans and represented an archaic form of Greek.
From 1200 a. Ç. the Mycenaeans entered decadence, and this is related to the doric invasion. The Dorians were also an Indo-European people who arrived in Greek territory from 1200 BC onwards. C., bringing great destruction. Mycenaean culture was almost entirely destroyed, and then a period of retreatcivilizational, known as the Homeric period.
polis
Ancient Greece had as a great feature the polis, which was basically its city-state model. This community structure emerged gradually in Greece throughout the Homeric and Archaic periods. So we didn't settle in all of a sudden, but it was result of a slow process which took place as the way of life of the Greeks became more sophisticated.
Genos, the previous communities
With the destruction of the Mycenaeans by the Dorians, a great civilizational setback took place in Greece. The communities that existed there became ruralized, the way of life became more archaic, writing was temporarily forgotten, and large cities, such as Mycenae, gave rise to the genos.
the genos was a small farming community, in which its inhabitants owned blood ties and they believed that they descended from a common mythical heir. This community was governed by a patriarch called pater, and the members closest to him formed the local aristocracy.
This organization prevailed during the Homeric period, but it lost strength from the archaic period onwards. Despite forming a community that, in theory, was marked by solidarity and collectivity, the genos was, over time, witnessing the formation of an aristocracy that controlled the lands.
Sometimes, for security reasons, different genos could unite, forming fratricies, which reinforced inequality: once distinct groups came together, the division of positions and land became a problem. As the population in Greece increased, commerce revived, currency came into use, and the phratry underwent significant social and political changes.
Formation and characteristics of the polis
All this transformation took place from the archaic period and resulted in the emergence of the polis. The urbanization of Greece began, therefore, from century VIII a. Ç. and it gave rise to thousands of polis throughout the territory occupied by the Greeks (and which is not limited to mainland Greece). Among the main polis are Athens, Sparta, Thebes, Corinth and Rhodes.
The polis is commonly known as city State, since each polis had a wide autonomy about you. The polis were marked by political, economic, legal and religious autonomy, and thus the form of government adopted, the main gods venerated and the principles of participation in politics were defined by each city State. For example, the functioning of the entire Athenian society was a unique attribute of Athens, and other cities had no autonomy whatsoever to intervene in the affairs of that city.
This helps us to conclude that the Ancient Greece was not a centralized empire with very defined borders, as in other ancient peoples. This territory and its civilization basically correspond to a specific space where different communities gathered characteristics in common, such as culture, religion, language, etc.
The polis was a city, generally fortified, whose main area was the Acropolis, built on high ground and that brought together the main buildings in the city, such as religious temples. Its positioning in an elevated place was strategic, as it was thought of defending the place in case of war.
A large part of the polis had, on the Acropolis, buildings reserved for adult men, born in the city, to discuss local politics - the Assembly. This feature, however, was late, since, in the beginning, the totality of the polis was aristocratic, and therefore only a very small group was entitled to such exercise.
Furthermore, the existence of a fortified urban center does not limit the polis specifically to the walls' boundaries. small nearby villages who grew the food were also included within the range of action of the polys. Among them all, Sparta, south of Greece, is said to have been the largest, controlling a territory of about 8500 km2|1|.
During this process of establishing the polis, the social inequality it increased more and more. Indebted peasants were forced to become slaves of the aristocrats to pay their debts. Thus, many chose to leave their homelands and set out in search of settling in new places.
This became known as Greek colonization, and this event took advantage of the commercial expansion of the Greeks from the archaic period in the 8th century BC. Ç. With this, the Greeks settled in different regions of the Mediterranean and even the Black Sea. The location of greek coloniesfurther favored commercial development, as it created a place of permanent contact between the Greeks and other populations that already inhabited the vicinity of where the colonies settled.
Sparta and Athens
Among all the Greek polis, Athens and Spartawere the biggest, as they accumulated great economic, military and political power. The heyday of these cities occurred during the classical period, and Greek history is marked by the rivalry between them, which, in addition, had two models of polis absolutely distinct from each other.
The classic model we know Athens it developed from the end of the archaic period, therefore, in the VI century a. Ç. In the case of this city, this model developed because of social tensions that demanded a less aristocratic system. Athenian development brought about by commercial growth generated wealth, but also accentuated the social differences.
These differences generated tensions eased through reforms of solon, ruler of the city at the beginning of the sixth century BC. Ç. He decreed an end to debt slavery, divided the city into four groups based on their income, and allowed them to participate in the Assembly, that is, in the decision-making of the Athenian administration.
However, the lowest group of these four in the social pyramid could not participate in another institution more important than the Assembly - the Bulé. Solon's system did not guarantee many changes for the poor, but it allowed the rise of a class of nouveau riches who had no voice in the political process of Athens because they were not descended from aristocratic family.
At the end of this century, Clesthenes, another ruler, deepened the transformations in Athens. He excluded his organization's census criteria and divided the city by locality, allowing the Assembly's participation to increase. In practice, every Athenian male over the age of 18 had the right to participate in the Assembly. Thus, the athenian democracy.
However, this model was limited since excluded several groups who resided in the city, as people born in other cities (viewed as foreigners) and women. In the case of men, it can be said that the interests of the rich and aristocrats still prevailed in the Assembly (also called Ecclesia).
Sparta, in turn, had a different system from Athens, because if, in Athens, the predominant model was democracy, in Sparta, what prevailed was the oligarchy. Sparta was a societymilitarized and heir of the Dorians. A small social class of warriors held privileges, participated in politics and exploited the work of poor peasants (periecos) and slaves (helots).
The Spartan aristocracy did everything to prevent social transformations and acted to maintain this system of exploitation of a large part of the population. Known as the best warriors in Greece, the Spartans used violence to keep the “subaltern classes” dominated. From time to time, the Spartan warriors (called themselves "the equals") organized hunts to slaughter part of the hilo population.
The warriors formed this elite that did not work and was fully dedicated to military life. Military training in Sparta started in childhood and it extended throughout life. After a certain age, the military had the right to enter political life. The city government was made by two kings, per an advice (Gerúsia) who took care of the laws, and by the Ephorate — formed by five members elected by the Assembly of Warriors for a term of one year, acting as assistants in the decision-making of the kings.
The rivalry between the two cities was intense, but at a specific moment in Greek history, Athens and Sparta gave up their differences and joined together to fight a common enemy: the Persians.
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Weakening of Ancient Greece
The classical period is understood as the heyday of Ancient Greece because of the great intellectual and economic development that took place in it. However, it also marked the beginning of Greek decay, and this is related to a series of wars that happened between the V centuries a. Ç. and IV a. Ç.
The two major conflicts that shook Greece were both Medical Wars and the Peloponnesian War. The first was a conflict of Persians against Greeks, in which they defended themselves from the Persian expansion attempt, while the second was a conflict caused by regional rivalries between Athens and Sparta.
The Medical Wars took place at two separate times, one in which the Persians were led by Darius, and another in which it was led by Xerxes. In both cases, the Persians tried to expand their empire to mainland Greece, but they were defeated. At marathon battle (490 a. C.), Darius was defeated, and Xerxes was defeated in the Audience Battle (479 a. Ç.).
From this conflict to Athens city came out strengthened. Administered by Pericles, Athens underwent a very important cultural development, and politically the city had gained prominence with its leadership in the Delos league. With this organization gaining a lot of notoriety, Sparta, fearing this growth, decided to launch itself into war against it.
Thus began the Peloponnesian War, a conflict that spanned three phases:
Firstphase: from 431 to Ç. to 421 a. Ç.
Secondphase: from 415 to Ç. to 413 a. Ç.
Thirdphase: from 412 to Ç. to 404 a. Ç.
Athens was defeated in this conflict, and Sparta rose as the dominant city in Greece. However, a century of warfare brought about the Greek decay, as it brought much destruction, death and economic problems. From 371 a. Ç., Sparta was replaced byThebes as the greatest Greek power.
The weakening of the Greeks allowed the Macedonians, a people influenced by the Greek culture, but not recognized as Greeks, gained strength and conquered all Greece in 338 a. Ç. The Macedonians were led by Philip II, but two years later, this king died, being succeeded by his son, alexander.
alexander accomplished great deeds ahead of the Macedonians. In 13 years of reign, he expanded his empire over very vast regions, reaching and conquering places like the Egypt and the Persia. After his death, the Macedonian empire was divided into different parts, and, later, in 136 BC. C., the region of Greece was assimilated by the romans.
Note
|1|Sparta. To access, click on here [in English].
Image credits
[1] Georgios Kritsotakis and Shutterstock
By Daniel Neves
History teacher
(Consesp - adapted) During the Classic Period, the Greek polis vied for supremacy throughout Greece. This phase was marked by hegemonies and imperialism in the Greek world that
a) founded the first city-states of antiquity.
b) ended a fratricidal war between the Greeks themselves, ending with their decadence and domination by the Macedonians.
c) initiated Greek domination in other regions, thus forming a large and rich empire.
d) disintegrated the gentile system, while population growth made the production of genos insufficient.
e) all of the above alternatives.
(Gualimp - adapted) From the year 508 a. a., Archon Clístenes introduced in Athens a series of reforms of great political and social impact, consolidating the democratic call period. To protect democracy, Cleisthenes created ostracism, which consisted of:
a) expel from the city for 10 years anyone who represented a threat to democracy.
b) dissolve the power of the aristocracies, which, in practice, dominated the political scene.
c) allow the assembly of the people, which voted laws, chose magistrates and decided how to spend public money.
d) establish a council of citizens, chosen by lottery, who met annually to prepare projects of public interest.
e) authorize the arrest and execution of individuals who disturbed the order provided that the authorization of the Appeal was obtained.