Greek Society Notes

CLASSICAL PERIOD:

The end of the Persian Wars marked the beginning of the Classical period.

▫ Athens reached its greatest political and cultural heights:
° full development of the democratic system of government under Pericles
° building of the Parthenon on the Acropolis
° creation of the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato

4th century Athens, Sparta and Thebes vied for political dominance of Greece - Sparta, backed by Persia, won control.

In the second half of the 4th century, a divided Greece and the decline of the polis gave rise to the powerful Macedonian state under Philip II and his son, Alexander the Great. After bringing all of the eastern world to the continent of India under his control, Alexander died in Babylon at the age of 32 (323 BC). By the time of his death Hellenism had reached much of the known world and the Classical period was over.

WARFARE:

B4 the early 5th century BC - border skirmishes between neighboring Greek states
aimed at destroying the agricultural basis of the enemy´s economy in order to extract specific political and economic concessions. The total destruction of cities and complete annihilation of their populations were usually avoided.

Campaigning was between March and October

4th century BCE warfare was on its way to becoming the internationalized institution that Alexander the Great and his followers are generally thought to have perfected.






PEOPLE:

Women:

▫ virtually no political rights
▫ controlled by men at nearly every stage of their lives
▫ time outside home limited to visits w/ nearest female friends (except for spec. occasions
▫ no formal education in the literary arts, but many of them were taught to read and write informally, in the home
▫ Duties: assisted by female slaves
o bearing & raising children (preferably male)
o run the household
o agricultural work
o making clothes

Men:
▫ schools 1st limited to aristocratic boys
▫ 4th century b.c. all 18-year-old males spent two years in a gymnasion, a state school devoted to the overall physical and intellectual development of a young man
▫ advanced education in philosophy, mathematics, logic and rhetoric was available to the aristocracy
▫ Involved in:
▫ politics
▫ arts and crafts
▫ construction
▫ agriculture
▫ sea-faring
▫ manufacturing
▫ trade
▫ pastimes of horseback riding & hunting (for wealthy)

RELIGION:

▫ deeply religious people
▫ polytheistic (many Gods) - they believed appeared in human form and yet were endowed with superhuman strength and ageless beauty
▫ each Greek city was normally under the protection of one or more individual deities
▫ sanctuaries usually honored a specific God or pair
▫ the world of religion frequently crossed over into the affairs of men (esp. heroes)
▫ Greek athletes were closely associated with religion and trained in order to please a god or goddess in a competition
▫ Gifts for the Gods:
° votives offered in prayer or for amends
° sacrifices both bloodless (plants, etc.) & blood –offerings (animals) usually burnt or poured in wells
° cult images of the Gods erected in their temples

DEATH:

▫ when a person died, his or her vital breath or psyche left the body to enter the palace of Hades
▫ feasts held to honor
▫ wine and water jars were set outside the grave to aid the thirst of the dead and mark the final rites at the closing of the grave
▫ most were buried in single graves
▫ Funeral Ritual:
° driven mostly by women
° customarily of three parts:
- prothesis (laying out of the body) – body washed, dressed and laid out for family/friends to visit
- the ekphora (funeral procession) – usually before dawn
- interment of the body