NOTE:
I revise my Greek history material frequently. This is an old material,
not necessarily what I will talk about in class.
In my first
lecture, made the generalization that history is most wonderful, most
exciting, most fascinating of all subjects. All periods/all
peoples
interesting. But for me at least, most interesting of all,
Ancient
Greece. The history of ancient Greece one of the most
fascintating
stories in all history, a story filled with fascinating
characters. In
addition, the story of ancient Greece contains elements of romance,
comedy, drama--and plenty of surprises.
Virtually
every period of Greek history has its own special fascination.
Certainly true of first period of greek history, Minoan period.
Minoan civ
began, not in Greece proper, but an island of coast, Crete.
Minoans
fascinating partly because they are the first great civilization on the
European continent. (C. 3000--height 2000-1500 B.C.) We
don't know as
much about them as we would like/can't read their writing. But:
very
advanced civilization. Indoor plumbing, living standards higher
than
Europe would see again for 3000 years. Natural enough that memory
of
this civ. would make it a golden age, perhaps even exagerate
achievements. Minoans probably source of Atlantis legend, a
legend
that still fascinates people today.
Equally
interesting the next great phase of Greek civilization, the Mycenaeans
(1500-1200 B.C.). With Mycenaeans, we are a little luckier: we
can
read their writing. Unfortunately mostly business texts.
(Not much
fascinating in that!). But we also have another source for
Mycenaeans:
poems of Homer, Iliad and Odyssey. The Heroes Homer writes about
(Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus, etc.) lived during the Mycenaen
period. Just stories? Historians once thought so, but
Archaeology has
tended to confirm things Homer says about Mycenaean age.
Trojan war
was last great adventure of Mycenaean period. Mycenaeans were
attacked
by new Greek speakers: Dorians. Dorian period not so
fascinating: we
don't know much about it!
A dark age--but as the darkness clears, Greek
history becomes fascinating once again.
Greek
political system that emerged during the dark ages was based around
what called the polis (word that gives us political/politics).
Polis a
city-state: not a kingdom or empire, but an independent, self-governing
community (Egyptian nomes, Sumerian cities.) Polises ranged from
a few
thousand, as many as 200,000. But whether big or small,
each polis
has its own facinating story to tell. Corinth: the San Franisco
of the
ancient world, a wealthy trading city, full of the finest in Greek
culture, but also a city of thousands of prostitutes.
("Corinthing").
Thebes, a city that suffered military defeat after military
defeat--until they put together an army dominated by homosexuals.
And
speaking of homosexuals, there's Lesbos--an island polis--island where
great Greek poetess Sappho taught. A woman who expressed such
warm
emotion for her female students that passionate love of one woman for
another has gone ever since by the name of her island, lesbian.
(I
tell you, the Greeks name everything).
But most fascinating of all polises, probably the most important,
Sparta and Athens.