Ancient Greek History

Ancient Greece was the birthplace of European civilization and one of the centers of ancient civilization in the world. Its geographical scope is larger than the territory of today's Greek Republic: in addition to the Greek Peninsula, the Aegean Islands and the Ionian Islands, it also includes the western coastal areas of the Asia Minor Peninsula.

Reading the History of Graphics

Carefully observe the physical geographical environment of Greece and connect it with the content of the first unit. What do you think are the characteristics of the geographical environment of Greece? What impact did this environment have on the development of ancient Greek civilization?

Map of Ancient Greece

The Aegean civilization is the beginning of the ancient Greek civilization. Crete and Mycenae are the two centers that emerged successively in the development process of the Aegean civilization. It represents the two development stages of Aegean civilization. Around the 12th century BC, the invasion of the Dorians led to the destruction of the Mycenaean civilization and also announced the end of the Aegean civilization.

From the 11th century BC to the 9th century BC, the distribution pattern of Greeks in mainland Greece and the surrounding areas of the Aegean Sea was basically finalized, and Greek society gradually transitioned from a primitive society to a class society.

The formation of Greek city-states

From the 8th century BC to the 6th century BC, the ancient Greek city-state system began to take shape. On the basis of the gradual disintegration of clan social organizations, more than 200 city-states were formed in various parts of Greece.

Ancient Greek city-states were generally independent countries formed with a city as the center and surrounding rural areas, with a small country and a small population as its basic characteristics. Their land area is generally only more than a hundred square kilometers and their population is tens of thousands. The largest city-state has a land area of ??more than 8,000 square kilometers and a population of hundreds of thousands.

When ancient Greek city-states were first formed, political power was generally controlled by the original clan nobles. The Council of Elders, originally composed of members of the clan aristocracy, was transformed into the city-state's aristocratic assembly, which had the power to decide on city-state affairs. Tribal military leaders evolved into city-state consuls, responsible for handling the city-state's administrative affairs. The tribal people's assembly was transformed into the city-state's citizens' assembly, formally retaining the power to vote on the proposals of the aristocratic assembly. This form of city-state political power is called aristocracy.

Due to differences in social and historical conditions and the balance of their respective forces, the political forms of various city-states later changed differently. Some city-states evolved from aristocracy to democracy, while others maintained aristocracy for a long time.

The formation and development of the ancient Greek city-state system was the result of the social and economic development and cultural progress of Greece at that time, which in turn promoted the further prosperity of the social economy and culture. The city-state system complemented the social development of Greece at that time.

On the basis of inheriting the historical heritage of the Mycenaean civilization, the Greeks learned to use iron tools, completed industrial division of labor, and ushered in great economic development early. At the same time, they also developed a preliminary sense of identity with "Greece".

The Greeks have had a distinct language since ancient times, and created a complete alphabetic script around the beginning of the 10th century BC. The biggest difference between Greek writing and other ancient alphabetic writings is the invention of vowels. This has very positive significance for the evolution of writing and the development of Greek culture. It facilitated communication among Greeks and strengthened their internal sense of national identity and belonging.

Pottery bottles reflecting the social life of ancient Greece

From the 8th century BC to the 6th century BC, the ancient Greeks set off a large-scale overseas immigration boom. Greek immigrants established colonial city-states in overseas settlements based on the mother-state model, and maintained close economic and cultural ties with the mother-state, but they were not politically dependent on the mother-state, but independent. This immigration movement involved the entire Mediterranean region and the Black Sea coast. It not only promoted the interactive development of the economy throughout the region, but also promoted the popularization of the Greek city-state system overseas and expanded the influence of Greek culture.

The period from the 5th century BC to the first half of the 4th century BC was the "classical era" in ancient Greek history. This was a prosperous period of highly developed social economy, politics, and culture, and it was also the heyday of the ancient Greek city-state system.

The prosperity of the Greek economy during this period came not only from the long-term accumulation of its own productivity progress, but also directly benefited from the victory in the Greco-Persian War[①]. The victory of the Greco-Persian War was the result of the united struggle of all Greeks. It defended the national independence of Greece, expanded the economic ties between the Greek peninsula and Asia Minor and the Black Sea coast, and ensured the political advantage and commercial hegemony of the Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean. , enhanced the national self-confidence and patriotic enthusiasm of the Greeks, and consolidated the foundation of the city-state society.

After the Greco-Persian War, the Greek world gradually formed a political pattern of competing for hegemony, and fell into long-term internal disputes, which led to the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War[②]. The ancient Greek city-state system also Started to turn from prosperity to decline.

Athenian Democracy

Among the many city-states established by the ancient Greeks, Athens was the most influential and typical city-state. The city-state of Athens is known for its democratic politics, economic development, and cultural prosperity.

The city-state of Athens is located on the Attica Peninsula in central Greece. Its main residents are Ionians and Achaeans. The territory is mountainous, rich in minerals, and has a tortuous coastline and many good ports, but lacks fertile land. It is suitable for the development of navigation and industry and commerce, but not conducive to agricultural development. In the 8th century BC, the entire territory of Attica began to form a unified city-state with the city of Athens as the center.

The citizens of the Athens city-state were composed of nobles and commoners. At the beginning of the founding of the country, aristocracy was implemented, and the original clan aristocrats controlled political and economic privileges. As the economic strength of the emerging industrial and commercial class grew stronger, the desire to break the monopoly of power by the clan aristocrats became stronger and stronger. They united with other civilians and launched a struggle to seize power from the clan aristocrats. The result of the struggle put the city-state of Athens on the path of ancient democratic politics.

Head of Solon

The democratic politics of the Athenian city-state centered on the direct participation of all citizens. It was gradually formed and established during the struggle between the common people and the clan aristocrats for more than 100 years. It was the result of the common people gradually defeating the clan aristocrats in the struggle. The "Solon Reform" in 594 BC and the "Cleisthenes Reform" in 508 BC were two milestones in the process of establishing democratic politics.

The purpose of Solon's reforms was to break the blood lineage and readjust the interest relationships between different classes of citizens. Its main contents are as follows: abolition of all debts pledged by the persons of city-state citizens; reclassification of city-state citizens based on the amount of property; establishment of a meeting of four hundred and a jury court as the highest administrative and judicial organs. This reform weakened the power of the aristocratic assembly, expanded the social basis of city-state politics, and pioneered Athenian democratic politics.

Cristhenes’ reforms aimed to further eliminate the influence of blood relations and property on city-state politics. Its main contents are as follows: re-dividing and regrouping all citizens according to regional principles; replacing the Four Hundred-person Meeting with a five-hundred-person meeting, and its authority has been expanded; creating a "fifty-person group" to handle daily administrative affairs; The Committee of Ten Generals was established to formulate the banishment law for pottery fragments. This reform completely eliminated the remnants of the clan system and basically removed the obstacles for all citizens to participate in the political life of the city-state, marking the final establishment of Athenian democracy.

Pottery pieces used in the implementation of the pottery banishment law

After the 5th century BC, especially after the Greco-Persian War, the ancient democratic politics of Athens ushered in its heyday. From 443 BC to 429 BC, Pericles was continuously elected as the chief general of the Council of Ten Generals in Athens, ushering in the "Pericles Era" in Athens history.

The picture shows Pericles delivering a speech at the funeral. In the winter of 431 BC, the Athenians held funerals for the soldiers who died in the Peloponnesian War. In his speech, Pericles called on the Athenians to fight for democracy.

During Pericles’ administration, on the basis of retaining various original institutions, he made supplementary adjustments to the political system of Athens from three aspects: First, except for the members of the Council of Ten Generals, all public officials The public offices of the *** authority are open to all citizens and are selected by lottery; second, expand the scale and authority of the jury court and make it the highest judicial and supervisory organ; third, implement a public office subsidy system to ensure that everyone can serve public office.

Athenian democracy, represented by the era of Pericles, was an advanced political system in ancient Greek city-state society. It was conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm and creativity of city-state citizens and promoting socio-economic and cultural progress. . However, after all, it is only democracy within the citizens of the city-state, and only adult male citizens truly enjoy democratic rights, while women and foreigners are excluded.

The high prosperity of Greek classical culture is the product of the full development of the ancient Greek city-state system.

Under the city-state system, people generally have a strong sense of political participation, active thinking, and emphasis on personality development, thus creating a social atmosphere conducive to the free development of spiritual culture.

The development of productivity and the accumulation of social wealth in the city-state era also provided material guarantees for the development of culture, and the division of mental labor and physical labor provided a professional foundation for the development of culture and art

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