environment always influenced the development of ancient societies for the Greeks it was everything Greece's unique position left them with a very small territory compared to the civilizations of Asia furthermore Greece was made up of small planes surrounded by high mountains and Hills throughout leaving Greeks isolated from one another instead of a unified Consciousness Greek communities learned to become independent and formed rivalries even more important than the mainland was the sea the Mediterranean was less of an obstacle and more of a means of expansion for the Greeks they inhabited the neighboring Island and became expert seafarers eventually expanding and setting up colonies all across the sea Greece itself looked like this south of the Gulf of Corinth was the peloponnese attached to the rest of the Mainland by a tiny Isthmus called the Isthmus of Corinth there were fertile Plains Hills and Valleys in the peloponnese but more famously this was the location of Sparta the site of the ancient Olympic Games Olympia was also located here to the Northeast on the Greek mainland was Attica this was home to Athens Northwest of Attica was biosha home to Thebes above that was thessaly originally known as eolia known for its large fertile Plains for cultivating grain and raising horses north of thessaly was Macedonia a region that took a different route from the other Greek city-states and wouldn't become important until the late 300s BCE but before the Greeks the first civilization in the Aegean region that we know of are the Minoans they emerged on the island of Crete around 3500 BCE but became more established in bronzeworks by around 3 000. though often included in any history of Greece the Minoans were not at all Greek although they did influence tribes on the mainland this civilization was uncovered by Arthur Evans an English archaeologist who dubbed it minoan after King Minos the legendary king of Crete his work has excavated a large Palace complex at Nassau's most likely the center of the minoan civilization which reached far beyond the island experts at Maritime travel the Minoans had contact with Egypt to the South and influenced the Hellenic tribes on the mainland by 2000 BCE the Minoans developed complex Urban centers and entered a period of prosperity the palace was a beautiful structure and included rooms to produce decorated pottery vases and other works of art they even had bathrooms with elaborate Drainage Systems reminiscent of the Indus Valley and not yet seen again in Europe for almost a millennium large frescoes also adorned the palace depicting Sports and sea life by around 1450 BCE the Palace of nosos was destroyed and the minoan civilization went into decline historians believe a volcanic eruption or earthquake signaled the downfall of Europe's first civilization weakened the Minoans were no match for an invasion from the mainland and by 1100 BCE the Minoans became history in their place were the Greek Invaders known as the Mycenaeans their name was derived from the site of mycenae excavated by German archaeologist Heinrich schliemann during the mid-1800s the Mycenaeans were part of the Indo-European language family whose migrations included those of the indo-iranians to Persia and India the Middle East like the Hittites and those into Western Europe this group migrated from the north around 1900 BCE and eventually made contact with the Minoans by the 1700s BCE they had developed their own Advanced culture and prospered on the mainland by around 1400 BCE they had reached a high point with small cities based around their palatial structures for defensive purposes they were built high up on hills and protected by large Limestone walls built by a technique called cyclopean Masonry though each of these small Urban centers was independent they were linked together by a shared culture and shared alliances mycini dominated much of Southern Greece Crete and even further Islands unlike the Minoans the Mycenaeans like their Indo-European counterparts were bred for war they are thought to have provided the final dagger to shatter the weakened Minoans and spread throughout the Aegean with a series of military campaigns the best documented of these was by a famous Greek poet according to Homer the Mycenaeans led by King Agamemnon invaded the Anatolian Coast in the mid-1200s and evidence seems to partially confirm this during the late Bronze Age collapse mycenae was burned and the other palatial centers in Greece were destroyed Invaders had entered from the north and by 1100 BCE the once flourishing Mycenaean civilization collapsed as Greece entered a Dark Age these dark ages lasting around three centuries saw Greece in a period of severe population Decline and severe lack of food Urban centers were abandoned while Rural Life became normal information from this period is quite scarce so it is still clouded in mystery near the end of the Dark Ages agriculture seems to have started up again and populations seem to have increased tradition holds that the Greeks divided themselves into four main tribes the ionians started to migrate to other areas of the Aegean settling on the many habitable islands and more importantly on the Anatolian Coast a region that would later be called Ionia the achaeans resided in the northern peloponnese the aeolians originating in thessaly migrated across the sea to settle on Lesbos fleeing the dorians who had migrated from the north the dorians themselves the last of the four tribes mainly settled in the peloponnese but also on a few Aegean islands and on Crete the economy picked up and trade had a resurgence iron began replacing bronze especially in weapons crafting making them more plentiful also at the end of the Dark Ages Greece adopted The Phoenician alphabet which we mentioned in our first episode a system used by an author who was to be known as the greatest of poets this author Homer is credited for composing both The Iliad and the Odyssey epic poems which served as the basis for Western literature the stories were derived from earlier oral traditions The Iliad was the story of the Trojan War focusing on the Greek hero Achilles The War Began when Paris a prince of Troy in Anatolia kidnapped Helen the wife of Menelaus King of Sparta a Greek Coalition then attacked Troy to reclaim Helen resulting in the 10-year Trojan War The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus one of the Greek leaders and his Adventure back to his wife Penelope back in Greece both these stories merged the glory of the Mycenaean age with the Dismal economic and societal conditions of the Dark Ages Homer isn't referred to as a historian today merely a skilled author or at best a proto-historian but at the time Greeks regarded his work as genuine historical accounts correct or not it was still useful as it helped give them a unified past and literature to study and use in education taught to Greek males the values in the text included striving for excellent and willing to fight for moral virtue this concept was known as arate where a hero fully realizes their potential often after overcoming a struggle a theme from The Iliad women were also meant to pursue Excellence but by different means in The Odyssey Penelope stays loyal to Odysseus despite being separated for over a decade she also maintains their household and prevents other men from disrupting their family the aristocratic classes took these virtues to heart and Homer became quite popular instilling in the Greeks a sense of morals and virtue from around 800 BCE Greece experienced a structural Revolution with smaller Villages becoming small independent city-states and with it a new era known as archaic Greece Greek civilization truly took shape around the polis citizens of Apollos would gather around a central area sometimes up on a hill like the Acropolis at Athens for political or religious assemblies but much of daily life could take place at the Agra an open market that also served as a place for citizens to socialize all police were of different shapes and sizes there were over one thousand in total but the main cities were generally larger like Athens which had a population of around 250 to 370 000 by the end of the Archaic Period at the basis of the polis not surprisingly was politics but people weren't politically equal adult males were considered citizens with full political rights women and children were also considered citizens but with less rights slaves and foreigners weren't considered citizens at all the rights that came with being a citizen also brought with it responsibility they were to act in the best interests of the police and the city-state came before the individual this led to more rivalries between different Greek cities bringing with it a new military system with more access to more resources Greeks all over the Mediterranean were able to have lucrative trading routes this made certain men quite Rich unable to spark a military Revolution battles in the Greek Dark Ages had mostly been a leader on Horseback engaging with an opposing leader with soldiers simply brawling on foot with New Wealth these rich men often Artisans could equip themselves better forging better armor they would also take up long Spears up to 14 feet long as weapons it was called a Dory or doru if this broke they could use a short sword called a zephos as defense they would make Shields composed of thick wood bronze and leather these were called hoplands taking the name of this Shield these soldiers came to be known as hoplites hoplites would fight in a group with other hoplites known as the phalanx acting as a unit every Hop light stood shoulder to shoulder and was required to use his shield to protect the Hop light to his left those in front also raised their Spears over the shield wall to engage the enemy those at the back would push forward their tight formation and long Spears made the Phalanx perfect for fighting on flat fields which was often the case as Farmland was often the prize The Hop light would remain the Staple in the Greek army for centuries [Music] one circumstance of this change was that Cavalry was pushed to the side in favor of foot soldiers this opened up access to more citizens Farmers could now also become hoplites if they acquired their own armor this led to Aristocrats fighting in the Phalanx side by side with the lower classes in a way democratizing the army war was Central to the Greek way of life and armies trained regularly we will see later in this video that this gave them an advantage over foreign mercenary armies that far outnumbered the Greeks apart from the emergence of the police the other main theme of this period was Greek colonization during the 700s to the 500s BCE Greeks emigrated from the mainland because of overpopulation and economic reasons they settled across the Mediterranean establishing cities independent from the colonizer's home polis which was known as the mother state or Metropolis traveling west they established colonies in southern Italy what the later Romans would call Magna Grisha southern France Spain and in North Africa they also set up colonies to the Northeast in Thrace around the Black Sea and the most important of all on the Bosphorus the colony of Byzantium which would become Constantinople the expansion of the Greeks not only brought Greek culture to foreign lands it also gave the Greeks a better sense of identity the independent Greek cities found they had so much more in common with their neighbors than those they met overseas the main material benefit was through trade colonies would have access to different kinds of resources and traded with the mainland Metropolis the Western colonies would send back metals and Grains while the Black Sea colonies provided these as well plus Timber and slaves in return the colonies imported Greek Goods like wine olive oil and intricate pottery with the increased trade a new Merchant middle class grew and soon came to clash with the upper classes who had ruled by aristocracy a small handful of Elites this led to the rise of what the Greeks called tyrants rulers who weren't necessarily tyrannical as we know the word today but just attained power through unconventional means many of these tyrants were supported by both the new Merchant classes and the peasant classes who were indebted to landowning aristocrats when tyrants came to power the aristocrats suffered but the lower classes generally prospered new marketplaces were built along with temples and other infrastructure that would benefit the merchants and peasants despite often being popular Tyrant eventually fell out of favor as the Greek people still respected legitimacy and Tyrant were too dangerous to have as rulers in some cities tyrants help the Greeks get past the rule of aristocracy and led them down the path to rule by the people or democracy other cities kept some form of oligarchy or other kind of non-democratic rule the two most important of these cities were Sparta and Athens Sparta in the south peloponnese in Laconia was considered the most dominant military land power in all ancient Greece but this wasn't always the case apart from Tara's a colony that would become tyrantum the Spartans expanded more over land than oversea they first took over territory from the closest laconians and in the late 700s BCE the Spartans expanded West conquering messinia a region of vast fertile Plains the messinians were made to be hellards a word derived from an old laconian town that was captured they were tied to the land as surfs and forced to work the land for the Spartans the threat of Revolt was always present though as the messinian significantly outnumbered their masters this fear could be what forced the Spartans to become a strict military state anywhere from the early to mid-archaic the Spartans adopted legal reforms handed down by the legendary lawmaker like kyrgus Society became strict and repressive as the state Consolidated the power and controlled the citizens boys were taken from their families at age seven to undergo the agoga the rigorous State training regiment the boys spent their days together sleeping in military Barracks under harsh conditions and given an education that stressed obedience and physical training by age 20 they were transferred to full-time military service even though they married they lived separately from their wives eating in mess halls and bonding with their fellow soldiers the food in these Halls was reportedly so bad that after tasting it a visitor then realized why the Spartans were not afraid to die by 8 30 the Spartans were given the right to vote in assembly and considered mature enough to live at home with their wife but their military service continued for another 30 years inadvertently the strict training regimen of the Spartan men gave Spartan women more rights than in other cities because they lived without their husbands until age 30 they were allowed to supervise large territories own and inherit land and could come and go as they pleased at one point women owned almost 40 percent of the land in Sparta in return they needed to take care of the children and also remain healthy which they did by exercising in the nude women also adopted much of the Spartan values of Bravery in war feeling no sorrow if a husband or son perished in battle because after all they were born to die for the state the reforms also changed the Spartan governmental system it was an oligarchy but was headed by two kings from two different families meant to keep the other in check they would be personally responsible for leading the Spartan troops into battle the Air Force were a group of five men who would oversee education and civil and criminal cases along with them was a Council of Elders the jerusia composed of 28 members all over age 60 and the two kings both the efforts and jerusia were elected by the assembly of citizens or Ecclesia they could not debate but voted on proposals issued by the jerusia the government discouraged the learning of philosophy literature or any other kind of art only the education of war was tolerated Spartans were not even able to travel out of Sparta unless it was for the military by the same token Sparta looked down on visiting foreigners Leary that they might bring in new ideas with them by around 550 BCE Sparta had used its military to create an alliance on the peloponnese an alliance called the Peloponnesian League Sparta as the most powerful member was the leader of this Alliance over time this Alliance grew and extended Beyond just the peloponnese and into the realm of Greece's other major city-state Athens Athens resided on the peninsula of Attica also in southern Greece with the sea always in their sights they would eventually come to dominate it this polis was established early on in the Archaic Period but was first ruled as a monarchy and then an oligarchy it was headed by high-ranked Aristocrats who controlled the land as well as the religious and political Affairs of the citizens they were aided by a group of nine called the arkans an assembly of citizens existed but had very few powers by around 600 BCE the economic system in Athens all but collapsed farmers who had taken out loans to pay off their landowners were unable to repay them and instead became their slaves with a growing number of farmers becoming slaves there was an outcry to forgive the loan repayment and redistribute the land to the poorer farmers who worked it fearing and Uprising the aristocrats picked so long a wise Noble to be the only arkhan in 594 BCE he was given exclusive control over the government in order to fix the economic issues under so lawn all land debts were canceled and he freed those farmers who had become slaves because of debt and banned issuing loans with a human as collateral other than that the land reforms were tepid and many of the underlying issues remained solon's reforms ended up pleasing neither side but helped mitigate the poverty levels for at least a century thereafter he also reformed the government but this too was a half measure over time it was business as usual for the aristocrats while the peasant became more desperate this led to the rise of another tyrant pisostratus taking power in 560 BCE he was popular both with the lower classes and the middle class of merchants because of his trade policies his son wasn't popular however and in 510 BCE the Athenians overthrew the tyranny while the aristocrats attempted to rule once again another reformer kleisthenese had other ideas this led to the Athenian revolution in 508 BCE the death knell for the oligarchy under kleistthenes the Council of 500 was created the council was made up of Representatives of the various Demis or districts in Athens their main job was Financial Administration and preparing issues to hand to the assembly this assembly made up of all the male citizens was to debate the issues and then vote on the new law this centered power on the people and became the basis for Western democracy in fact the word democracy is from these two same words demos and crutier by the end of the Archaic Period Athens became one of Greece's major city-states during the archaic we believe the Greeks through contact with Egypt learned to create large Stone sculptures called kuros Greeks came into contact with older more advanced civilizations from sailing the Aegean during the Dark Ages often adapting their stories and art these kuros became prominent in Attica and biosha they depicted nude male use often standing rigidly with one foot in front of the other it was used as a dedication to the gods representing the idea of Youth Corey was a similar sculpture but depicted a fully clothed girl as the Greeks expanded in the Mediterranean they came into contact with a culture that seemed the antithesis of Their Own this was the Persian Empire we discussed this Empire in our overview of the ancient Middle East if you want more context the Greeks noticed early on that the Persians didn't have the same rights as in Greece and that they were more subjects than citizens during the 500 BCE the Greek city-state in Ionia were the first to come under Persian rule in 499 BCE the ionian cities with help from the Athenians revolted burning the capital of Sardis though the Revolt was suppressed the Persian Emperor Darius vowed Vengeance on Athens for their role in the uprising in 490 BCE the Persians invaded the Greek mainland landing on the plains just outside the town of Marathon though outnumbered the Athenians under militaryes were better trained and had better strategy charging the Persian troops and saving Greece from The Invasion by 486 BCE Darius died and Xerxes Rose to power he was more ruthless than his predecessors and formulated his own invasion of Greece fueled by Revenge in Greece the mysticles convinced Athens to build a Navy this Navy was to become the backbone of the Athenian military once the Persians invaded again in 480 BCE the Athenians had a fleet of over 200 trialines ships with three rows of oarsmen Xerxes LED an army of anywhere from 70 to 360 000 troops accompanied by over six to eight hundred warships this time they invaded from the north marching down through the mountains to delay the Persians the Spartans under their leader Leonidas blocked them at the narrow pass at Thermopylae the terrain served to nullify the persian's extreme numbers but the Greeks were betrayed and ended up surrounded by the full Persian army Leonidas and his 300 best warriors fought to the last man but the cause was hopeless a few thousand other Greek Fighters also stayed and most were killed but some surrendered with nothing between Athens and the Persian forces the Athenians abandoned their city and watched it burn the Greek navy had been off the coast of the island of Salamis to the South and tricked the Persian Fleet into a hasty battle like Thermopylae the cramped space negated a lot of the Persian numbers and the Athenian triarines excelled at ramming in close combat the Persian fleet was defeated and Xerxes himself had to retreat in 479 BCE just a few months later the Greeks amassed their largest army ever and decided to go on the offensive to reclaim their lands to the north they met the Persians at the Battle of platia and it was a decisive victory for the Greeks Greece had fended off the Persians for a second time using the threat of another Persian Invasion Athens created an alliance in 478 BCE called the Delian League while it was centered on the island of delos the leadership was all Athenian they swept the Aegean and reclaimed the islands that the Persians had captured by 454 BCE the Athenians had moved the treasury from delos to Athens using the funds themselves and acknowledging that they were indeed foremost in an alliance of supposed equals it looked less like a Delian League and more like an Athenian Empire back in Athens a series of new policies ushered in a golden era the years 461-429 BCE was known as The Age of Pericles named after the leading figure who expanded democracy and led Athens through the high point of its classical age the assembly became the backbone of politics and was open to all men over 18. they debated issues and passed all laws while having the final say in foreign policy and military action they were to meet every 10 days east of the Acropolis while only about one out of eight citizens participated in the assemblies this was still the most direct democracy put in place by a state daily Affairs were run by the Council of 500 called the boulay they were chosen at random and served one-year terms these short terms meant that most males held office at some point during their lives the strategory meaning Army leaders were a group of 10 Generals they were elected officials and ran the Affairs of the state these men often sought glory in order to be re-elected Pericles were so charismatic he was re-elected as part of the strategory for 29 years he opened public offices for the lower classes and offered state pay to hold office this meant poorer citizens could afford to run and work for the state though most aspects of government were Democratic in theory no system functioned perfectly in practice the aristocratic class still held most important positions in government and more importantly women slaves and foreign residents did not have equal rights despite this Athens thrived during its classical era Heracles used the Delian treasury money to rebuild Athens bigger and better than ever art flourished and philosophy blossomed new temples and statues were built and Athens became The Guiding Light for Greek culture but this Golden Age threatened other Greek city-states during this time Greece had coalesced into two very different camps the Peloponnesian League headed by Sparta the greatest land Army in Greece and the Delian League headed by Athens Greece's foremost Naval power small disputes led to small Wars and eventually the great Peloponnesian War in 431 BCE the Spartans marched on Athens hoping to fight them on open land the Athenians under Pericles decided to stay within the defensive walls of Athens their Navy would Supply them with food by the Sea so they would never become starved outside the Spartans ravaged the countryside burning the farms and Fields still the Athenians didn't March out to meet them by 4 30 BCE though just one year after the start of the war a deadly plague came down on Athens via one of its ports the densely populated city suffered terrible loss of life with 75 to 100 000 residents meeting their deaths anywhere from a quarter to a third of the population Pericles himself was infected and perished in 429 BCE the plague severely weakened Athens but the war continued for almost 30 years the end of Athens came in 405 BCE at the Battle of egospotomy when their Navy was outmatched by a new Spartan Admiral by 404 BCE the Peloponnesian War was over the Athenian surrendered and their walls were stripped down their empire had finally come to an end in reality the Peloponnesian War had no true winners Greece as a whole was severely weakened and alliances were now impossible the next few Decades of the early 300 saw hegemony shift between Sparta and Athens but also Thebes an old city that Rose to dominant in the power vacuum concerned with each other they failed to spot the growing menace to the North in Macedonia but before those events let's take a look at what made classical Greek culture so special first was the study of history itself history of the Persian Wars by raditus is regarded as the first true historical text ever written in the West wasn't without his biases though the history is written as a struggle of Freedom against authoritarianism to write his Works he traveled long distances interviewing eyewitnesses he has since been dubbed the father of History despite his inaccuracies far more accurate was thucydides he was regarded as the father of scientific history and fought in the Peloponnesian War on the side of Athens he was elected as a strategory but was seen as becoming too arrogant so was exiled it was in Exile that he wrote his main work history of the Peloponnesian War it was a more critical history than that of rabbitus as he verified eyewitness accounts and remained objective quite like this channel made in history he viewed history as an important subject because the human condition causes similar political situations to keep appearing over and over again throughout Generations Greek drama was a type of theater that would be presented Outdoors at religious events these plays all followed a similar Style with three actors in masks acting out all the parts A Chorus was another actor who narrated what was happening tragedies were a type of Greek drama which involved a protagonist battling a hardship often with negative outcomes we have lost much of the ancient place but the oldest writer we know is escalis the father of tragedy the only surviving Trilogy we have found is the orastia by this same author the tragedy is about the murder of King Agamemnon killed by his wife after returning from the Trojan War she is then in turn murdered by their son Orest days who avenges his father he is then tormented by the furies and is eventually put on trial by Athena one of the main themes is the circle of suffering that can come from evil born during the early 400s BCE the most famous playwright was Sophocles one of his masterpieces was Oedipus the King a story in which the Oracle foresees Oedipus killing his own father and marrying his mother though he tries to prevent this the outcome was inevitable and the prophecy came true a main theme is about Free Will as Oedipus considers himself a free man yet fell in line with the prophecy despite his efforts not to Antigone was another one of Sophocles famous works in this play Antigone the daughter of Oedipus is caught between the wishes of the Gods to mourn and bury her traitorous brother or to listen to Korean king of Thebes and deny the body a final resting place The Dilemma itself of course ends in tragedy later another tragedian euripides made Place more complex he gave Heroes a more grounded side and dealt with questions of morality often going against the grain escalus Sophocles and euripides are the three ancient tragedians we have found works from their place dealt with topics we still see in the media today from basic ideas of Good and Evil to complex subjects like the nature of humans comedy developed after tragedy during the late 400s BCE Aristophanes known as the father of Comedy was part of the old comedy period his place were filled with sexual obscenities but also used his comedy as a means to make political statements like his opposition to the Peloponnesian War classical art changed significantly from early agree card it came to focus on Symmetry and balance and emphasized the human form and human accomplishments architectural achievements were mainly seen in temples each dedicated to one of the Greek gods in the center of the temples would be a statue along with a guarded Treasury this was all surrounded by the ancient Greek columns pillars made of marble the most well-known of these temples was located in Athens built in the mid-400s during the Age of Pericles the Parthenon became the leading example in Classical Greece not only for temples but for Greek art it was dedicated to the goddess Athena Patron God of Athens and served as a symbol of victory over the Persian army foreign classical Greek sculpture was quite different than during the archaic they distanced themselves from the rigidity and stiffness of their Egyptian influences and celebrated the male form through more relaxed and fluid sculptures sculptors wanted to achieve a more realistic motion but with very idealized bodies the figures tended to be lean and muscular and with a Greek archetype of beauty polyglitis a classical sculptor believed that the perfect proportions were based on mathematical ratios found in nature and from these we can discover the perfect human form apart from theater and art classical Greek philosophy was the third major section of Greek culture this love of wisdom was concerned with rational thought and critical thinking it attempted to discuss the nature of not just humans but the entire world and the role of the Divine the sophists were a group of teachers who rejected the need for the understanding of the universe preferring to study human nature and human behavior they traveled around Greece mostly Athens and became private teachers for young men they valued rhetoric above everything even truth rhetoric was the art of debate and of swaying an audience to your side a very important skill to gain popularity and votes many sophists were looked on unfavorably as they tended to question tradition and had no fundamental value system Athens became the center of philosophy because of its three most famous philosophers Socrates Plato and Aristotle Socrates came first and Rose to prominent while the Athenians were a captive audience during the Peloponnesian War originally a stone Mason he valued individual growth much more often teaching his philosophy students for free the Socratic method was his technique of questioning his students until they found the answers within themselves he believed that knowledge existed in everyone it just needed to be born while he acted as the Midwife Socrates came under scrutiny because of his questioning of authority and tradition once Athens had lost the Peloponnesian War it was no climate for free thinkers and open debates Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth and found guilty he was then executed by very painful means in 399 BCE as Socrates never wrote anything down one of our few sources for him was Plato Plato unlike Socrates wrote down much more and is the author of several works he was one of Socrates pupils and continued the classical Greek tradition his main idea was that of the forms which he believed to be a true unchanging reality which was only viewed by training one's mind he uses the allegory of the cave to explain this in his dialogue The Republic Plato outlined his ideal form of government and it wasn't a democracy he viewed his ideal society as having three classes the upper classes would be the ruling Elite who he called philosopher Kings under them would be the soldiers who protected Society below the soldiers were the masses these were the middle class Artisans and manufacturers and the lower class peasants Plato did believe however that women should be allowed to access the same education as men for the good of all Society in 387 BCE he opened up his Academy in Athens a school of philosophy attended by one special student his name was Aristotle and would later become the teacher of Alexander the Great he was more of an empiricist than Plato and believed a human also needed his senses to seek knowledge as in the allegory of the cave Aristotle would need to exit the cave and sense this real world in order to attain that knowledge Aristotle was less thought driven than Plato and conducted research and Analysis in the real world this led him to write texts on a various number of subjects Aristotle also wrote about his ideal form of government unlike Plato who tried to mirror what he thought was the embodiment of Justice in True Form Aristotle examined government in the real world to see what was effective in his work politics Aristotle went over nearly 160 different constitutions from several States in order to gate the best through his research he discovered that government must be either a monarchy an aristocracy or a constitutional government a mix of oligarchy and democracy Aristotle warned that each could easily devolve monarchy can easily become tyranny aristocracy could become oligarchy and a constitutional government could become democracy or Anarchy despite this he claimed that constitutional government was the best model for the most people unlike Plato Aristotle viewed women more unfavorably he claimed they were biologically inferior and should remain subordinate to men both in their marriage and in society at large this was a notion that carried on well into the Middle Ages religion was quite important in Classical Greece like in most other contemporary civilizations it was inextricably linked to daily life and was based on human dedication to the Gods festivals were common and were used to prepare the youth for their future duties their religion was the strongest Link in their society so temples became the largest and most magnificent of their buildings the Greeks worship Gods dating back centuries but it was Homer who solidified the gods and gave organization to Greek religion as a whole this structure was polytheistic with 12 gods above all others they were thought to live at the top of Mount Olympus the highest mountain in Greece they were led by Zeus and consisted of his brother Poseidon god of the sea and earthquakes Athena goddess of wisdom and reason Apollo god of the sun music and poetry Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty along with Artemis demita hephistus and Hermes and either Dionysus or Hestia life in Greece was centered around honoring your Region's Patron God sacrifices were made by burning animals on an altar usually at the temple or in front of one's residence crops could also be burned as a sacrifice the ancient Greeks believed they could tell the future through oracles the most famous was the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi the Priestess or pythia listened to different questions often in a Transcendent mental state she would then give a cryptic answer which would then be deciphered and interpreted by the priest who relayed the answers in a form of verse these answers were often biased with political motivations behind them not divinity members of governments heads of state and other people traveled to see the Oracle to ask about military campaigns family Affairs and other general questions the wealthy king of Lydia in Anatolia got word from the Oracle that if he attacked the Persians he would destroy an Empire little did he know it was his own Empire that ended up destroyed as a further means to please the gods panhellenic festivals would occur there would be religious events and athletic competitions the most famous would be at Olympia honoring Zeus and Greeks from all over would travel to participate we consider 776 BCE as the first time these games were held and they would be held henceforth every four years they would be named the Olympics after their location the stadium a foot race was the first Olympic event ever the years Wrestling Boxing Javelin and other events were added notably there weren't any team sports only individual events athletes who won the events were treated like Heroes often celebrated for the rest of their lives the Olympics of old were much more dangerous than today's the rule book wasn't as refined so all kinds of dirty Maneuvers were allowed during Combat Sports boxers wrap their hands with materials to inflict more damage leading to some deaths not always accidental the Olympic Games would continue for 1 000 years until 393 when Christian Emperor theodosius banned them as Pagan rituals just over 1 500 years later the gains were revived in 1896 and continue on in the present day the first revived games were fittingly held in Greece daily life In classical Athens was very much male driven this is because only male citizens could participate in public affairs though it was a direct democracy for these males they represented only around 15 percent of the entire population and not all of them chose to vote the other 85 percent was made up of women foreign residents and slaves slaves mainly worked as cooks or in residences as Maids or field workers the state also owned a number of slaves for public projects Athens relied on agriculture and trade to maintain their economy they grew grapes and made olive oil which were their most popular exports and also enjoyed by the locals with such a large population though the hilly non-fertile peninsula of Attica wasn't sufficient to provide all the essential grain needed so they had to rely on Imports Athenians lived simple lives they adorned their houses with pieces of furniture like wooden tables and stools while the wives and slaves made clothing diet was quite simple with the staple being wheat barley bread along with figs cheese and olives olive oil was used not only in cooking but to burn in lamps and to rub on the body those houses outside the city often kept animals for what they could produce like sheep for wool and goats for milk and cheese Greek families usually consisted of just a husband wife and children but older relatives and even their slaves could be considered part of the family unit the state encouraged these families to produce more offspring and produce more citizens apart from Sparta female adult citizens were generally kept out of public life but could participate in some festivals they had no property rights and needed a male Guardian to accompany her in public her main duty in life was to be a good wife to her husband and produce Offspring preferably male While most wives kept their houses in order others left that to the slaves and merely watched over them marriage came quite early for girls at around 14 or 15 years old so they were immediately taught and trained in their responsibilities to the family they were given no formal education but were allowed to learn to read and play certain instruments the aristocracy In classical Athens were also usually married but many partook in extramarital homosexual relationships there was no Stigma behind it even though they saw much younger men the older male was seen as the lover and teacher while the young man was his beloved student while physical they would also be very much in love and the Beloved would learn a lot of lessons from his teacher with Greece devastated after the Peloponnesian War a new power Rose to the north this was the kingdom of Macedonia though they were a Hellenic people and embraced the Greek culture we still have no conclusive evidence they were related to the Greeks themselves who viewed them as Outsiders and Mountain barbarians they lived on rugged land and had no city-state structure just a unified Kingdom Under a monarch one of these was Philip II he took power in 359 BCE and overhauled the Macedonian army turning it into the best Army in the Hellenic world Philip had visions of grandeur and invaded the Greek mainland when it was at its weakest Athens and many other police took a Last Stand at the Battle of caironia in 338 BCE but were no match for Philips forces he unified most of Greece into an alliance later to be known as the league of Corinth with a unified Army he meant to achieve his larger goal subjugation of an old enemy but before he could set his plan in motion he was assassinated by one of his own men and the burden and opportunity fell to his son at just 20 years of age the new King Alexander III was fairly inexperienced but Philip had given him exposure to military campaigns before and even gave him lead of the Cavalry in the battle of caironia after his father's death Alexander subdued the Greek rebellions and the unrest near Macedon before looking East the Persian Empire was still strong but not the Supreme Empire it had once been even so it was still the biggest polity on Earth and a full-scale Invasion seemed unthinkable in 334 BCE Alexander and just under 40 000 men marched into Anatolia and crossed into Asia the Crux of the army was the Macedonian Phalanx but the Cavalry would also become one of his most potent weapons the first clash between Alexander's Army and the Persians occurred at the Battle of the granicus though Alexander almost died the Macedonian and Greek armies won their first great Victory claiming the Western half of Anatolia the Persian king Darius III then amassed his troops and went to meet up with Alexander's Army himself at the Battle of Isis the narrow terrain negated the persian's numerical Advantage an army almost twice the size of Alexander's after another major victory Alexander then turned South with stunning victories in the Levant and down to Egypt all of which were claimed by 332 BCE at Egypt he declared himself Pharaoh the traditional title of King and founded a city the first that would be named after himself Alexandria the urban center remained an important city since its founding and remained significant even today by 331 BCE Alexander was on the move again he headed east into Mesopotamia and beat the Persians at the Battle of gorgamela just Northwest of Babylon in the third and final major engagement of the invasion Alexander then claimed Babylon then continued East to capture Souza and persepolis the major Persian Capitals full of treasure silver and gold after a brief rest Alexander continued East in 330 BCE searching for King Darius who escaped his last battle by the time Alexander caught up to Darius he had already been killed by one of his own with him died the akamenin Empire but the Macedonian Empire became its successor and the new King Alexander tried to carry on the Legacy he wasn't satisfied though and continued his March East up into present-day Pakistan and by 327 BCE had entered India a year later Alexander annexed the Punjab after winning at the Battle of the hidespis river after revealing he wanted to March even deeper into India his men refused weary from the years-long campaign a saddened Alexander eventually agreed to turn back and they March west across the southern coast of Persia so they could be supplied by the sea this marched through the desert was a rough Affair and thousands died before they reached sanctuary in Babylon once there it was clear Alexander had no intention to administer an Empire as he was planning more campaigns this time to Western Europe he developed a fever and in 323 BCE Alexander died at the age of 32. like most other ancient figures Alexander was a mixed bag but historians have dubbed him Alexander the Great as he was arguably the greatest military leader of the ancient world but though he was a great conqueror he wasn't a great ruler he would get into drunken stupors and had a terrible temper leading to him killing one of his own generals over a minor issue it's clear he had no interest in rulership as when the Persian Empire was defeated he began planning further military campaigns considered himself descended from Heracles the Greek demagogue and was influenced by Achilles the hero of the Trojan War even keeping a copy of The Iliad and a dagger under his pillar while he slept Heracles and achilles were known for their strength military strategy and bravery not administrative abilities despite this Alexander attempted to synthesize the Macedonian Greek and Persian cultures into a harmonious civilization with his death began the Hellenistic era where Greek culture flowed all over his Empire more Greek intellectuals Artisans and administrators flopped to the Middle East and Beyond bringing their culture with them though the Hellenic culture flourished the idea of the polis was not common as Alexander's empire was divided up becoming a series of monarchies those Greeks who ventured further east from Persia ended up on the Eastern Frontiers and were influenced even more by the foreign cultures and religions this made the Hellenistic era a truly remarkable Fusion of the western East Alexander's Macedonian Empire dissolved soon after his death and was inherited by his bickering generals the ensuing Wars of the diadoki began in 322 BCE and would continue for decades the last major phase of the Wars ended in 301 BCE but smaller struggles continued until 275. when the sand and dust settled four major Hellenistic inheritor States would emerge Macedonia and Greece would be controlled by antigonus ganatus the grandson of one of Alexander's generals in Egypt Ptolemy the first established the ptolemaic Dynasty in 305 continuing the pharonic tradition a rump state grew and coalesced into the kingdom of pergamon in Anatolia ruled by Atlas the first the largest in terms of area was the seleucid dynasty founded by seleucus it controlled most of the old Persian Empire from the Middle East to India with such a vast territory it became difficult to administer especially the Eastern Frontier if you recall from our episode on Ancient India India founded its first major Empire in 322 BCE under chandragupta Moya the Indian king successfully recaptured the lands from the seleucids and under his grandson Ashoka they extended their empire even further as he became a Buddhist later in life the Buddhist culture mixed in with the Greek communities living in these areas once the wars between the seleucids and maurians ended trait flourished spices and jewels flowed into the seleucid empire seleucus himself sent diplomats to the maorian court one of them would become one of the Best Western sources for the maorian empire for centuries by the early 200s BCE there was relative stability in the Hellenistic kingdoms despite smaller Wars within each state though was a different kind of tension the Hellenistic rulers propped up the Greek and Macedonian immigrants as an upper class while the native populations were often relegated to the lower classes Alexander's plan had been to mix not only Greek and Eastern culture but also the people he practiced this himself by taking Eastern wives but his successes opted to instead form a new ruling class of Their Own though administrative positions were open to natives they needed to be thoroughly hellenized first adopting the Greek language and customs during Alexander's conquests he founded New cities and small settlements along the way and his successors continued this trend some of these Hellenistic cities would grow and become important locations during this age Alexandria became the largest urban center in the Mediterranean for centuries seleucus was Notorious for building and founding new cities trade became more widespread as the Hellenistic kingdoms became more stable Traders were free to venture where they wished further syncretizing the eastern and western cultures the most important trading route was by the sea from India towards the Persian Gulf and North to Solution on the Tigris one of seleucus's cities from there Goods could proceed Overland to other parts of his kingdom another Maritime route also began in India but went around Arabia and up the Red Sea from there Caravans would bring Goods to ptolemaic Egypt a wide variety of goods were brought in from all over from Spain to India truly creating a unified old world the Hellenistic world had a different social structure for women than under the police women were allowed more freedom of movement and the more wealthy ones bought or sold slaves made loans and managed properties this wasn't the case in Athens women were still severely restricted in daily activities and had to rely on their male Guardians this was justified as the more intellectual position by many philosophers despite this upper-class women were allowed in education in different subjects like literature and Athletics this led to the rise of some female writers and Poets and opened the door for other female achievements the foremost female in the Hellenistic States was the king's wife or the queen in Macedonia alliances between mothers and sons led to women holding prominent political positions and holding influence this was the case even earlier like with Alexander and his own mother in Egypt women in the royal family retained power through marriage often the ptolemaic Pharaohs would follow the tradition of marrying one sister II married his own sister our sin away and both were worshiped as gods she was quite influential in the Royal courts and governmental Affairs expanding the Egyptian Navy and earning her place on Egyptian coins the first queen to do so the Hellenistic culture was mainly spread through Urban centers like Alexandria but what exactly was this new culture that emerged we'll begin with literature the Hellenistic Kings adored literary works and would give preferential treatment to writers in Egypt many writers Scholars and Poets ended up in Alexandria attracted by the Monumental Library of Alexandria this Library contained anywhere from forty thousand to four hundred thousand Scrolls making it a Wellspring of knowledge theocratus a native of Sicily known for creating pastoral poetry and appreciation of Nature's Beauty and writing in Idols meaning little poems often with erotic content was part of a circle of poets who operated in Alexandria though Greece lost importance during the Hellenistic era Athens still remained the center for theater tragedy wasn't as popular as in the classical era an old comedy took a backseat to a new style this new comedy was less political and more like a situation comedy mananda was one of the most famous of these new comedians but only one of his place was discovered fully intact monarchs would also commission new buildings to be erected in the classical Greek style this gave way to gymnasiums theaters and temples being built all over the near East cities and Beyond the Kings and upper classes also commissioned statues and sculptures to be built they were all of the classical Greek style but instead of the idealized aesthetic of the male form other types of statues would be built the Hellenistic age also brought a Divergence of disciplines in the classical era Life Sciences had been considered part of philosophy as we saw with Aristotle who is considered the first true scientist during the Hellenistic period The Sciences were studied separately from philosophy Greek science was known for its advancement in astronomy under its two famous alexandrian Scholars aristarchus is credited for building the first heliocentric model of the universe suggesting the sun and stars remain stationary in the sky and that it was the earth that rotated around the Sun contrary to the geocentric model which was more widely accepted eratosthenes became the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandria and is credited for figuring out the Earth was round and calculating its circumference to within 200 miles or just over 320 kilometers he is considered the father of geography Euclid another alexandrian scholar wasn't an astronomer but a mathematician regarded as the father of geometry his work elements was his most famous and would be used for centuries including the modern day the most famous Hellenistic era scientist was based in Syracuse in Magna Grisha his name was Archimedes it speculated he spent his youth in Alexandria but there's no definite answer excelling at much of the Sciences Archimedes is most well known for his work in Geometry deriving an approximation of Pi he was also an Adept inventor creating the Archimedes screw used to pump water out of mines a tool still used today when the Romans besieged Syracuse Archimedes built a variety of defensive weapons to fend them off claws would lift and break apart ships and there were reports of a legendary heat ray used to focus sunlight onto incoming ships setting them Ablaze earlier in his life he helped formulate Archimedes principle which he discovered as he was taking a bath and displaced the water he also devised systems involving levers because of his great wealth of contributions to the Sciences Archimedes has been regarded as one of the greatest Minds to ever exist with great libraries Alexandria and pergaman became the foremost Hellenistic centers for intellectuals during this era but athent was still regarded as the foremost Center for philosophy in the footsteps of Socrates Plato and Aristotle new schools of philosophy opened up in Athens fortifying its position as the home of the love of wisdom epicureanism was one of these schools founded by epicurus epicureanism taught that humans should pursue self-interest in order to be happy and that happiness was the main goal of life the pursuit of pleasure was emphasized but over time this became corrupted to mean the pursuit of physical pleasure and hedonism it originally meant freedom from life's problems especially emotional to help put your mind at peace to achieve this you must rid yourself of the Affairs of the public and of politics instead base your life around closer community and form friendships epicurus practiced what he preached and formed a private community of Epicurean followers living out their lives in their version of happiness the most important and widespread philosophy of the Hellenistic era which continued into the coming Roman period was stoicism it stemmed from Zeno of kittium a teacher who started his school in Athens by teaching in a public space called The Painted porch located near the Agra the main goal of stoicism was achieving happiness the same as epicureanism where they differed was their path to that goal stoicism was less about the physical and more of a mental state despite the troubles around you if you live within a peace you should not be affected by them our current Day meaning of a stoic is a person who can sustain hardship or pain without a show of emotion stoics didn't separate themselves from society like the epicureans and participated in politics and the rest of society this flexibility helped stoicism become much more popular than epicureanism before the Hellenistic era Greek citizens would find happiness through the happiness of the collective police during the Hellenistic period citizens sought out personal happiness instead and with a mix of so many cultures classical Greek religion began to decline as it became syncretized with different beliefs this was especially true in the East and the rise of mystery religions these were cult-like religions who often performed secret initiation rituals and special ceremonies Greece already had some of these like the ellucinian Mysteries honoring the goddesses to meet her and her daughter Persephone for these initiates would Trek to eluses on a pilgrimage and partake in the enigmatic rituals before coming out the next day as a changed person in the East these rituals were more common and accessible and people could come from all over to pursue salvation and attempt eternal life one of the most popular of these Hellenistic Cults was the mysteries of Isis located in Egypt Isis the goddess of women healing and Magic was also seen as a giver of civilization and one of the most important gods in the pantheon through the rituals initiates to the cult would seek to guarantee themselves a Heavenly afterlife mystery Cults would continue in the Roman era and with its themes of death and rebirth possibly influenced a later religion