With the emergence of the polis, and the return of writing and literacy, the Archaic age of Greece began, and Greece burst forth with breathtaking dynamism and energy. This age was remarkable not only for its achievements, but also for its willingness to explore new avenues in religion, society and politics. It is therefore, fittingly, also known as The Age of Experiments. Through out the eighth and seventh centuries B.C., Greek trading ventures and migrations throughout the Aegean led to full fledged colonization efforts. Each colony was an independent project that had only emotional and sentimental ties to its mother polis, but no political obligations. B y the end of the sixth century B.C., Greeks had founded several hundred new colonies from the Black Sea to the western Mediterranean, permanently altering the geographic landscape of the Mediterranean world.
The western shores of Asia Minor would remain a Greek stronghold until the late middle ages and the invasions of the Turks. So many Greeks settled in southern Italy and Sicily that the entire region came to be known by the Romans as Magna Graecia, or Greater Greece. By the fourth century B.C., more Greeks lived in Magna Graecia than in Greece itself. Greek colonies could also be found as far west as the southern coasts of France and Spain. Colonization led to increased contacts between Greece and other cultures. Form Phoenicia, the Greeks borrowed pottery motifs and mythological figures. Egypt profoundly affected Greek sculptural representations of the human form. At the same time, however, intensified contact with other cultures sharpened Greeks awareness of their own common identity and peculiarity as Hellenes, the name they referred to themselves as in Greek.
Hellenism did not necessarily lead to greater political cooperation, however, because much like the ancient near east, Greeks tended to focus their identity on their polis. They were also divided by linguistic differences between speakers of the Ionian Greek dialect, and the Dorian Greek dialect. Hellenism also encouraged the growth of Pan Hellenic (all Greek) cult sites such as the Oracle of Delphi, a female prophet of the sun god Apollo who sat over a steam vent in the earth and chewed eucalyptus leaves (basically getting stoned while shouting out unintelligible statements and phrases that were then interpreted by the priests for the listener. These statements were always purposely vague so as to never prove the Oracle wrong, even in hindsight. A legendary case of advice that was not sufficiently specific occurred when Croesus, King of Lydia, consulted the Oracle at Delphi. The Oracle, a priestess of Apollo, told him that a great nation would fall if he crossed the Persian border. Assuming that the great nation was Persia, he crossed and was defeated. It turned out the great nation that fell was his own. Of course, if he had won, the Oracle could also have claimed to be correct. In reality, the Oracle told him nothing, but maintained her reputation for being able to see the future.
Another example of Greek Pan Hellenism was the Olympic games, celebrated every four years at the Temple of Zeus at the foot of Mount Olympus, to celebrate the King of the Gods. The Greeks took great pride in these athletic events, and Greek historians even dated events by Olympiads, four year periods that began with the supposed date of the first games in 776 B.C. Only Greeks were permitted to participate in the games, and all wars among Greeks were supposed to come to a halt while the games took place. A victory in the games brought great prestige to the victor, who could be catapulted into a position of social, and even political power within their polis.
During the Dark Ages of Greece, military power rested with the elite, who had the time and the resources to dedicate to military equipment and training. Common foot soldiers played a secondary role as followers and supporters of the aristocratic warriors who would often duel in single combat. This aristocratic monopoly on military prowess gave the aristocracy tremendous political and social leverage within the poleis. As a result, the aristocrats dominated political offices and priesthoods as well as economic life. The introduction of hoplite tactics during the Archaic Period brought the dominance of the aristocrats to an end. Hoplites were foot soldiers armed with spears, and/or short swords, and protected by a large round shield called the hoplon (where the name hoplite derives, one who carries a hoplon ), a breastplate, a helmet, and sometimes wrist or leg guards.
In battle, hoplite soldiers stood shoulder to shoulder in a close formation called the phalanx, several rows across and several lines deep, with each hoplite carrying his shield on the left arm to protect the unshielded right side of the man next to him. In his right hand each hoplite carried a thrusting weapon such as a spear or short sword, so that an approaching phalanx presented a nearly impenetrable wall of armor and weaponry to its opponents. If a man in the front rank fell, the man behind him would step forward and take his place. The weight of the entire lines of the phalanx was literally behind the front line, and the back lines would press their shields into the backs of the men in front of them pushing the entire formation forward. The tight formation and heavy armor (as much as 70 pounds including the shield) required but one skill from soldiers; the ability to stay together. As long as the phalanx remained intact, it was a nearly unbeatable formation.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Early War Tactics Imagine you're walking alone down a deserted street. Suddenly, a crazed maniac emerges and comes wielding a knife at you. There's an iron pipe nearby that might make a handy weapon. On the other hand, that guy looks pretty crazy, and that knife looks pretty rusty. So what do you do? Do you flee the murderous lunatic, or do you risk death, take up a weapon, and face him in hand-to-hand combat? Chances are you're going to flee. Why? Because your brain says 'that's an incredibly dangerous situation to be in! I'd rather be further away!' This is your basic fight-or-flight mechanism. It is as old as life; even fish have it.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Early War Tactics Because it is so old, it is very difficult to overcome. Getting people to stand and fight hand-to-hand is incredibly difficult. Now, imagine that after fleeing, you find a gun. Would you keep fleeing, or would you pick up the gun and fight your enemy from a distance? Chances are you're going to stand and fight. Why? Because it's a lot easier to be brave from far away. Horse archers reflect the prehistoric style of fighting best suited to the fight-or-flight instinct
Greek Phalanx Warfare Ancient warfare This was the logic behind Bronze Age and prehistoric war: don't get hurt. Fight from a distance. This method is epitomized in the apex warrior of the age, the horse archer. The horse archer is unarmored, he avoids hand-to-hand combat, he practices hit-and-run techniques, and he's very individualistic. Design of the Greek Armies This method of fighting appealed to the basic fight-or-flight instincts by allowing people to be brave from afar without ever having to close ranks and duke it out hand-to-hand. The Greeks tried something new.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Design of the Greek Armies The Greeks tried something new. Rather than working with the fight-or-flight instincts, the Greeks sought to overpower the instinct for flight. They did this in several ways: They got their boys used to hand-to-hand combat at an early age with boxing and wrestling competitions, They rewarded military service with political power and citizenship, and they glorified battle and military prowess. These Greek political and social values instilled a powerful system of discipline and honor on their citizens. At the core of this system was a simple but profound concept.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Design of the Greek Armies The polis is more important than any individual. This is a big difference from the empires of the East, in which it was an individual, be it the lord, king, or emperor, who was of the utmost importance. Any city or province besides the capitol was no more than part of his domain. In those empires (as throughout much of Western history), political power was usually reserved for aristocrats. They had the wealth to supply their own horse for battle and were therefore able to participate in these hit-and-run tactics across a wide, flat empire. In the mountains of Greece, horses were not nearly as useful in battle.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Design of the Greek Armies And unlike centralized empires, single city-states could not afford to raise and maintain an army. To protect against incursions, city-states instead depended on their citizens to take up arms and defend the state. Instead of pay, they gave these citizens rights and political power unheard of in the empires of the East. These citizen soldiers were called hoplites. These hoplites wore heavy bronze breastplates and greaves. They also wore a bronze helmet that protected most of the head but only allowed its wearer to see straight ahead. Hoplites carried a short sword and a long spear.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Design of the Greek Armies Phalanx formation Yet what makes a hoplite a hoplite is his hopla, a large, round, wooden shield worn on his left arm. All in all, this gear weighed about 70 lbs. That's a lot of weight to carry strapped around you on a broiling summer day in Greece; it's certainly not good for the hit-and-run tactics of the horse people. Overburdened, unmaneuverable, and barely able to see, a lone hoplite is a sitting duck. But line them up in a row, 8 deep, and suddenly these ducks have teeth. Each hoplite shelters the man to his left with his shield and takes shelter behind the shield of the man to his right.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Phalanx formation The ranks behind have longer spears than the front rank. The result is an impenetrable wall of shields bristling with spikes. The Greeks called this formation a phalanx, or roller, and that was what the formation was meant to do - roll over the opponent in a fierce charge. When two city-states quarreled, they would line up their phalanxes and charge at one another. The result was like a rugby scrum with swords. This was one of the most nightmarish experiences one can imagine. As long as the formation held, those within it were relatively safe and could brave the horrors of hand-to-hand combat.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Phalanx formation Yet if one man lost his courage and broke formation, the phalanx would collapse and be routed. Thus we see the ideals of the Greek polis may have derived from the realities of Greek warfare: just as the polis is more important than one citizen, the phalanx is more important than one hoplite. Yet the question remains: why? Why did the Greeks come up with such a horrific way to settle their conflicts? Well, since your hoplites are citizen soldiers, they have other things to take care of: businesses to run, houses to build, crops to harvest, fish to catch. They cannot spare the time for a prolonged struggle. They needed conflicts to be resolved quickly and decisively.
Greek Phalanx Warfare Phalanx formation However brutal and murderous hoplite warfare may have been, it was certainly decisive. Phalanx battles between Greek city-states were the apex competition. They even had judges to determine a clear winner and loser. The Greeks made so many contributions to art and culture that we often forget their contributions to the art of war: the hoplite's focus on discipline and shared hardship, the phalanx tactics and formations, and all the Greek political and cultural ideals that followed. Yet it was the brutal decisiveness of Greek war that redefined warfare in Western history.
Where, when and how hoplite tactics first came to Greece remains a mystery. One plausible theory is that they developed it from similar tactics being used by the Assyrians. But wherever they came from, once introduced into Greece, all of the poleis rushed to adopt them. By the end of the 7 th century B.C., hoplite tactics were the norm in Greek warfare. The result of this was a social and political revolution. Because every polis needed a hoplite force to protect its independence, farmers who could afford the requisite armor soon became a political and social force within the poleis, or a hoplite class. However, the sacrifices demanded by hoplite warfare were great, and the men who had now become indispensable to the polis s survival quickly grew restless with out a share in its decision making. Scholars once believed that the disquiet of the hoplite class was sufficient by itself to force concessions from the aristocrats, including access to political decision making and the writing down of laws to guarantee equal justice. But the real impetus toward political change may in fact have come from disgruntled aristocrats.
For the better part of the seventh and sixth centuries B.C. aristocrats continued to dominate the Greek poleis. Struggles for influence among competing aristocratic families were commonplace. Aristocratic families attempted to checkmate their rivals by using new laws and the dispatching of colonial expeditions as weapons. Despite their quarrels with each other, however, aristocrats held all of the official power within the polis, not least because they were the only members of society who could afford to hold these unsalaried but time consuming political offices. Holding office and participating in politics was part of the aristocratic lifestyle, but so too was the symposium, an intimate gathering in which elite men would enjoy wine, poetry, dancing competitions, and female courtesans who provided both musical and sexual services. Respectable women were excluded from such meetings as they were from all other aspects of social and political life. So too were non aristocratic men, making the symposium an essential feature of aristocratic male life.
Greek Women The Greeks were one of the most progressive ancient civilizations, but that wasn't true in how they treated women. This part of this presentation goes over facts about how women were treated and explains how the best place to be a woman in Greece was Sparta. Greek Society As members of Western society, we owe an incredible debt to Greeks, from philosophy and acting to democracy and history. The Greeks were directly responsible for starting so many of the great aspects of our culture. However, the Greeks do have one massive blot on their record of paving the way for Western civilization. I'm talking about the large number of Greek women who lived and died, yet seemed to have lived as second-class citizens in their own society.
Greek Society In this part of the presentation, we'll look at the roles of Greek women and their portrayal through art before finally looking at the one great exception, Sparta. The Role of Greek Women As far as we can tell, the first Greek women of the Archaic period didn't have it so bad. They were by no means equal, but at least they had some economic and social rights. That all seems to have been forgotten by the time Greece reached the Classical period. Women were simply something attached to the household and were effectively transferred from the administration of their fathers to the administration of their new husbands. As such, they were limited in what they could do or even own.
Minor Rights That is not to say it was all bad for Greek women; there were a few workarounds. For example, if a Greek woman was given or willed a piece of property, then it was hers to keep until the man of the house decided he wanted to sell it. A Greek woman also had easy access to divorce if she could convince her father or brothers to go along with it. If they did, they could take back the dowry and much of what had been purchased during the marriage. Additionally, Greek women had the right to take part in petty trading in the marketplace. The ceiling on how much they could trade varied from region to region, but it was enough to typically ensure a woman would not end up destitute.
Portrayal in Theater Greek theater actually provides an interesting view into the situation of women during the Classical period. For starters, they were always played by men or boys, so there weren't any actresses from way back when. Additionally, we see that they are expected to be passive and devoted to their husbands. That said, there are exceptions. Sometimes, a woman proves to be too good for her husband and ends up defending him, despite his own despicability. These women are particularly honored. At the other end of the spectrum are those examples, such as Lysistrata, that show just how cunning women can be, especially when faced with illogical men.
Sparta The words 'progressive' and 'Sparta' don't always seem to go well together, but when it comes to the rights of women, the Spartans seemed to have the right idea. At the end of the day, their public reason was incredibly egotistical, just like you'd expect from a Spartan. It was said that since Spartan women raised Spartan warriors, they deserved a certain amount of gratitude and respect. As a matter of fact, a famous story of a Spartan woman speaking to an Athenian woman comes to mind. The Athenian asked the Spartan why among all the Greeks it was only Spartan women that ruled their men; her answer says it all about the Spartan s attitudes about women, and their own superiority complex: Because only Spartan women give birth to men.
Sparta More pragmatically, it just made sense for Sparta to treat its women with respect. Most of the population of Sparta was actually made up of slaves and, since large numbers of men would be out campaigning at any given time, it was to everyone's benefit to make sure that Spartan women had rights and were respected by everyone. Sure, a Spartan woman couldn't fight, nor could she vote or take part in politics, but at the very least, she had a great deal of social and economic freedom. Aristotle, by the way, thought this was all the more reason that the Spartans should be mocked by the other Greeks. Luckily for Aristotle, the Spartans had already been beaten down considerably during his lifetime.