ANCIENT GREEKS

Aegean World
Aegean Sea Greek peninsula (mainland Greece) Greek Islands Crete Ionia Thrace

Aegean History
4 Major Periods

Minoan (3500-1500 B.B)

Mycenaean (1500-1000 B.C.)

Hellenic (1000-338 B.C.)

Hellenistic (336-30 B.C)

Minoan (3500-1500 B.C.)

Non-Greek high culture before Greek arrival. Named derived from figure in Greek mythology Located on the Island of Crete

Mycenaean (1500-1000 B.B)

Greeks used colonization as a safety valve against the problems of hunger, misery and class conflict due to overpopulation.

First Greek high culture.

The Greek invasion of the Aegean World was one part of the vast-Indo European Migration, one of the greatest movements of people in the period of recorded history. Known as Achaeans

Achaeans cont
Archeology conducted at Troy since the 1870s supports Greek

epics in that the Trojan War was part of the Achaean colonial
expansion.

Hellenic/Classical (1000-338 B.C)

Period from the Macedonian conquest of Greece by Philip of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great.

Philips key reform was to increase versatility of his army. Hellenized Macedonia introduce Greek culture Assassinated in 336 BCE

Hellenic Period
In the early part of this period, Ionia led Greece economically and culturally.

Aegean World
Gave rise to the first high culture on European continent.

Its location in southeastern tip of Europe allows cultural diffusion with older civilizations-Egypt and the Fertile Crescent.

Pathways of cultural diffusion

North by Sea from the Nile Delta

Indo-Europeans/Indo-Aryans
Members of a vast language group. Thought to originally inhabit the grasslands north of the Black and Caspian Seas, living as pastoral nomads, tending their vast flocks of animals.

Indo-European Migration
Started from 2500 BCE. Constitutes one of the key themes in western history. Indo-Europeans began to move out in all directions, due to population pressures. Common language evolved into several new but related languages

 Several groups known as the Medes and Persians took over the Iranian Plateau. Hittites entered semitic-speaking Near East and Asia Minor.
But other Indo-European groups pushed farther west.
Greeks Romans Slavs Germans Celts

Aegean Geography
Rich in fish and timber. Extremely mountainous for agriculture Fertile Valley expanding population forced to look to the surrounding seas for its livelihood. Greeks became merchants, fisherman and colonizers.

4 Phases of Greek Colonization

1. Achaean takeover of Crete and Minoan territories. 2. Ionian and Dorian movement onto the islands and the coast of Asia minor (India).

3. The Age of Colonization (c. 800-500 BCE).

4. Eastward expansion by Alexander the Great an his

successors.

Leading Colonizing cities

Miletus (Ionia) Corinth Syracuse (Sicily) Greek colonies became independent city states as soon as they were founded. They were not ruled by the mother city (metropolis).

Magna Graecia
Meaning Greater Greece Greek colonies of southern Italy that were closely tied to the Greek homeland. This region provided Romes first major contact with Greek culture.

Colonization
Colonies north of the Black sea were important since it is a great grain growing region of southeastern Europe.

Factors to Greek Colonization

Surplus population Ships Export products Military force
Greeks had the military power to support colonization consisting of the best infantrymen that existed until that time. City states and colonies had a militia made up of soldiers.

Factors for preventing expansion

Greeks finished colonizing most of the open regions around the Mediterranean around 500 B.C.
Resistance from indigenous populations Earlier settlement by Phoenicians

Last wave of colonization

Alexander the Great establishes his empire and penetrates east of the Mediterranean.
Persian Wars (500-480 BCE) Battle between Greek city-states to dominate Greece.

Greece Ripe for Invasion

Iberian Peninsula (New World)

Important for its mineral wealth, gold, silver and tin. Phoenicians and Greeks this was the new world.

Ships
Galley-Typical Mediterranean ship from ancient times to the later Middle Ages. Powered by oars and sails.

Ships (Trireme)- invented by the Greeks. Improved galley with 3 decks of rowers. One of the finest ships produced from the ancient world. Gave Greeks an advantage over Phoenicians Bireme.

Mediterranean Culture
3 crops based on Mediterranean culture for thousands of years.
Grapes and Olives
Major export products.

Grain
Greeks did not produce enough grain to feed themselves. Became Greeks major imported food

Exports cont
Amphora

Romans
What is all of history, other than the praise of Rome.-Francesco Petrarch

Significance
Major cultural contributions (language, law, citizenship, art, architecture, etc.) Preserved cultural contributions of earlier peoples. Christianity was born and reached a fairly advanced stage under the Roman Empire.

Periods of Roman History

Monarchy (753 B.C. -509 B.C.) Romulus

Republic (509 B.C.-27 B.C.) Brutus

Empire (27 B.C.-476 A.D.) Augustus Caesar

Byzantine Empire (476 A.D.-1453 A.D.)

Geography
Alps: Italys northern border Apennine Mts: Mt chain on eastern side of Italian peninsula.
Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea

Tiber River: River in central Italy, on the banks of Rome.

Geography cont
Westward orientation influence on the pace of Italian development. Thus it took longer for cultural currents to arrive in Italy than Greece. Did not call for a sea-faring lifestyle, which was a definite disadvantage to cultural evolution.

Reasons for non-sea-faring life

Greater distance of much of the population from the sea. Few natural harbors Western sea is larger and less hospitable to sailors than the Aegean Sea. Much more fertile land in Italy, so no need to take to the sea to make a living.

Cultural Growth
Contact with people who left the east and resettled in the western basin of the Mediterranean.
Etruscans and Greeks

Indo-European Migration
Italic Tribes began to enter Italy from the northeast not long after the Greek tribes began to push their way into Greece.

Latins
Indo-European tribe settled the plain around the Tiber River. Several established small, easily defended settlements on 7 hills near the river, about 15 miles from the sea. Forms Rome

Colonization
Roman colonys politically connected to Romemodern concept of colonization.

Reasons for colonization

Safety valve for overpopulation Help secure newly conquered territories Help romanize a surrounding population Colonies had a major role in advancing the Roman Empire.

4 Stages of Roman Expansion

1. Conquest of Italy (340 B.C.- 275 B.C.) 1. Punic Wars against Carthage (264-149 B.C.)

1. Conquest of the Hellenistic World (199-30 B.C.)

1. Expansion into northern&central Europe (100 B.C.- 180 A.D.)

Punic Wars (264-146 B.C.)

3 wars fought over a period118 years. Greatest colonial conflict of the ancient world.

First Punic War (264-241 B.C.)

Romans defeated the Greeks over Sicily. Romans used unorthodox naval tactics

Second Punic War (218-202 B.C.)

Battle of Cannae(216 B.C.)-Greatest defeat in Roman history.

Reasons for Expansion

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Self-defense: conquer or be conquered. Retaliation for attacks on Rome. Defense of national interest. Economic competition. Invitation by local population Imperialistic ambitions of Rome. Imperialistic ambitions of individual Romans
Julius Caesars conquest of Gaul.

Tool for Colonization and Expansion

The Roman Legion Developed around 300 B.C. 5000 men finest military formation in the ancient world. First witnessed at the first great battle (Battle of Sentinum 295 B.C.) in Roman history fought during the Samnite Wars in southern Italy.

Medieval Crusades
Crusade- Holy War fought to defend or spread Christianity. Crusaders were said to be taking the cross: latin crux meaning cross

Fought Against:
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Moslems (Arabs and Turks) Pagans in north central Europe Christians Fourth Crusade attacked Greek Orthodox Constantinople Christian heretics in the west (Hussites and Albigensians)

Crusades against Moslems should be seen as part of the extensive Christian counteroffensive undertaken in response to the Moslem conquests of the 7th century (600 A.D.), as well as those that followed the reign of Charlemagne.

Seljuk Turks
Invaders, who are ethnically related to the Huns and Mongols, sparked the crusading movement in the Near East. Muslims Seized the Holy Land from the Arabs Deemed military threat to the Byzantine Empire.

Crusades in Spain
Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula ignited when caliphate collapsed and Moslem Spain divided into several weaker independent principalities.

Crusading bull (1063 A.D.)- call for warriors from around the west to fight in Spain Barbastro Crusade
Council of Clermont (1095 A.D.) Urban II
Famous speech calling for a crusade Dues Vult

 Crusading was a leading European preoccupation from at least 1000 A.D. onward.

Alexius Comnenus
Byzantine general who stabilized the situation between the Seljuk Turks and Byzantine Empire. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that triggered the Crusades.

First/Barons Crusade
Geoffrey de Bouillon-principal leader.

Major Military victories:

Siege of Jerusalem (1099 A.D.) Crusaders killed all Moslems and Jews in the city.

Thousands of knights gathered from France, Germany, and Italy.

Majority of the participants died of starvation or disease from fighting fellow Christians before ever seeing an infidel.

Crusader Kingdoms
Kingdom of Jerusalem Principality of Antioch County of Edessa County of Tripoli

 Byzantine-Greek Orthodox Church

Used Greek instead of Latin Constantinople

Roman Catholic Church-western

Bishop in Rome came to be known as the pope. Rome