Who Introduced the Greek Language Art and Culture to the Grecoroman World

Introduction to Ancient Greece

Ancient Greek civilization spans over a grand years, from the earliest civilizations to the cultures that became the Aboriginal Greeks.

Learning Objectives

Illustrate a timeline of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period

Key Takeaways

Primal Points

• Ancient Greek culture is noted for its government, art, architecture, philosophy, and sports, all of which became foundations for mod western guild. Information technology was admired and adopted by others, including Alexander the Peachy and the Romans, who helped spread Greek culture around the world. Before Greek civilization took root in Greece, early civilizations thrived on the Greek mainland and the Aegean Islands. The fall of these cultures and the aftermath, known every bit the Dark Age, is believed to be the time when the Homeric epics were first recited.
• Greek civilization began to develop during the Geometric, Orientalizing, and Primitive periods, which lasted from 900 to 480 BCE. During this time the population of city-states began to grow, Panhellenic traditions were established, and art and architecture began to reflect Greek values .
• The Early on, High, and Late Classical periods in Greece occurred from 480 to 323 BCE. During these periods, Greece flourished and the polis of Athens saw its Gilded Age under the leadership of Pericles. Even so, city-state rivalries led to wars, and Greece was never truly stable until conquered.
• The Hellenistic flow in Hellenic republic is the terminal menstruum earlier Greek culture becomes a subset of Roman hegemony. This period occurs from the expiry of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, to the Greek defeat at the Battle of Actium in 30 BCE. Information technology marks the spread of Greek civilisation beyond the Mediterranean.

Key Terms

• polis: A city, or a city-state. Its plural is poleis.

Ancient Greek Culture

Aboriginal Greek culture covers over a thousand years of history, from the primeval civilizations in the area to the cultures that became the Aboriginal Greeks. Following a Greek Dark Age, Greece again flourished and developed into the ancient culture that we recognize today .

Classical Greece: Map of Aboriginal Greece.

Greek culture is based on a series of shared values that connected independent city-states throughout the region, and expanded as far northward as Mount Olympus. Greek guild was insular, and loyalties were focused around 1's polis (city-land). Greeks considered themselves civilized and considered outsiders to be barbarian.

While Greek daily life and loyalty was centered on i's polis, the Greeks did create leagues, which vied for control of the peninsula, and were able to unite together against a common threat (such as the Persians).

Greek culture is focused on their authorities, fine art, architecture, philosophy, and sport. Athens was intensely proud of its creation of democracy, and citizens from all poleis (metropolis-states) took part in civic duties. Cities deputed artists and architects to award their gods and beautify their cities.

Greek philosophers, mathematicians, and thinkers are still honored in social club today. Equally a religious people, the Greeks worshipped a number of gods through sacrifices, rituals, and festivals.

Bronze Age and Proto-Greek Civilizations

Cycladic Civilization

During the Statuary Age, several singled-out cultures developed around the Aegean. The Cycladic civilization, around the Cyclades Islands, thrived from three,000 to 2,000 BCE. Little is known about the Cycladic civilization considering they left no written records. Their cloth culture is mainly excavated from grave sites, which reveal that the people produced unique, geometric marble figures.

Minoan Civilization

The Minoan civilization stretches from 3700 BCE until 1200 BCE, and thrived during their Neopalatial period (from 1700 to 1400 BCE), with the big-scale building of communal palaces. Numerous archives have been discovered at Minoan sites; however their linguistic communication, Linear A , has yet to be deciphered. The civilization was centered on trade and product, and the Minoans were great seafarers on the Mediterranean Sea.

Mycenaean Civilization

A proto-Greek culture known equally the Mycenaeans developed and flourished on the mainland, eventually conquering the Aegean Islands and Crete, where the Minoan civilization was centered. The Mycenaeans developed a fractious, war-like civilisation that was centered on the authority of a single ruler. Their culture somewhen collapsed, simply many of their citadel sites were occupied through the Greek Night Historic period and rebuilt into Greek city-states.

The Dark Age

From effectually 1200 BCE, the palace centers and outlying settlements of the Mycenaeans' culture began to be abandoned or destroyed. By 1050 BCE, the recognizable features of Mycenaean civilisation had disappeared.

Many explanations attribute the fall of the Mycenaean culture and the plummet of the Statuary Age to climatic or environmental ending, combined with an invasion past the Dorians or by the Bounding main Peoples, or to the widespread availability of edged weapons of atomic number 26, but no single explanation fits the available archaeological evidence.

This two- to three-century span of history is also known as the Homeric Age. It is believed that the Homeric epics The Iliad and The Odyssey were showtime recited around this time.

The Geometric and Orientalizing Periods

The Geometric period (c. 900–700 BCE), which derives its name from the proliferation of geometric designs and rendering of figures in art, witnessed the emergence of a new culture on the Greek mainland. The civilization's change in language, its adaptation of the Phoenician alphabet, and its new funerary practices and fabric civilisation suggest the ethnic population inverse from the mainland's previous inhabitants, the Mycenaeans.

During this time, the new culture was centered on the people and independent poleis, which divided the country into regional populations. This period witnessed a growth in population and the revival of trade.

The Orientalizing period (c. 700–600 BCE) is named for the cultural exchanges the Greeks had with Eastern, or Oriental civilizations. During this time, international trade began to flourish. Art from this period reflects contact with locations such as Egypt, Syria, Assyria, Phoenicia, and Israel.

Primitive Hellenic republic

Hellenic republic'due south Archaic flow lasted from 600 to 480 BCE, in which the Greek culture expanded. The population in Hellenic republic began to ascent and the Greeks began to colonize forth the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. The poleis at this time were typically ruled by a unmarried ruler who commanded the city by force.

For the metropolis of Athens, this led to the creation of democracy. Several city-states emerged every bit major powers, including Athens, Sparta, Corinth, and Thebes. These poleis were ofttimes warring with each other, and formed coalitions to proceeds ability and allies. The Farsi invasion of Greece in 480 BCE marked the end of the Archaic period.

Classical Greece

The era of Classical Hellenic republic began in 480 BCE with the sacking of Athens by the Persians. The Persian invasion of Greece, first led by Darius I so past his son Xerxes, united Greece against a common enemy.

With the defeat of the Persian threat, Athens became the most powerful polis until the start of the Peloponnesian State of war in 431 BCE. These wars continued on and off until 400 BCE. While marred past war, the Classical flow saw the tiptop of Greek culture and the creation of some of Hellenic republic's most famous art and architecture.

Even so, peace and stability in Greece was non achieved until it was conquered and united by Macedonia under the leadership of Philip Two and Alexander the Great in the mid-third century BCE.

Hellenistic Greece

The Hellenistic flow began with the expiry of Alexander the Neat in 323 BCE, and ended with the Roman victory at the Battle of Actium in thirty BCE. Hellenic republic poleis spent this time under the hegemony of foreign rulers, starting time the Macedons and then the Romans, starting in 146 BCE.

New centers of Hellenic culture flourished through Greece and on strange soil, including the cities of Pergamon, Antioch, and Alexandria—the capitals of the Attalids, Seleucids, and Ptolemies.

The Ancient Greek Gods and Their Temples

Greek religion played a key and daily office in the life of aboriginal Greeks, and grouping worship was centered on the temple and cult sites.

Learning Objectives

Describe the means in which Greek life and fine art was influenced past the gods

Primal Takeaways

Fundamental Points

• The history of the Greek pantheon begins with the primordial deities Gaia and Uranus and their children,  the Titans. The pantheon of Greek gods consisted of twelve Olympian gods plus a diverseness of boosted principal and pocket-size gods and goddesses. The gods had human characteristics and personalities, and their lives were detailed by the mythologies told almost them.
• The gods played a central role in Greek daily life. They were consulted, blamed, and honored for a diverseness of reasons, including natural occurrences (from earthquakes to pelting), as well as for the public and private affairs of the polis and its people.
• The mythologies and cult worship of heroes also played an important role in Greek religion and ritual. Heroes—especially Perseus, Hercules, Theseus, and those involved in the Trojan War—were often depicted in fine art, and the location of their feats became cult sites.
• The temple was considered the home of the god and was often an expensive and lavishly decorated building. The temple included a naos, the principal room that held the cult statue. Offerings and dedications were left for the gods, and sacrifices took place outdoors.

Key Terms

• primordial: Existing at or before the beginning of fourth dimension.
• demigod: A half-god or hero; the offspring of a deity and a mortal.
• libation: The act of pouring a liquid or liquor, commonly wine, either on the footing or on a victim in sacrifice, in accolade of some deity.
• naos: The central room in the god's temple, where a cult statue of the god is erected.
• polytheistic: A religious system whose members worship many deities.
• votive: A small religious offer deposited at a temple without the purpose of display or retrieval.

Greek religious traditions encompassed a large pantheon of gods, complex mythologies, rituals, and cult practices. Greece was a polytheistic gild, and looked to its gods and mythology to explicate natural mysteries as well every bit current events. Religious festivals and ceremonies were held throughout the year, and animal sacrifice and votive offerings were pop ways to appease and worship the gods. Religious life, rituals, and practices were one of the unifying aspects of Greece across regions and poleis (cities, or city-states, such every bit Athens and Sparta).

The primary religious sanctuaries of the Greek Aegean: This map lists the major Greek gods and shows where their primary religious sanctuaries are located throughout the Greek Aegean region.

Greek Gods

Greek gods were immortal beings who possessed man-like qualities and were represented as completely human in visual art. They were moral and immoral, trivial and but, and often vain. The gods were invoked to intervene and assist in matters large, pocket-sized, private and public.

Metropolis-states claimed individual gods and goddess equally their patrons. Temples and sanctuaries to the gods were built in every city. Many cities became cult sites due to their connection with a god or goddess and specific myths. For instance, the metropolis of Delphi was known for its oracle and sanctuary of Apollo, because Apollo was believed to accept killed a dragon that inhabited Delphi.

The history of the Greek pantheon begins with the primordial deities Gaia (Mother Globe) and Uranus (Father Sky), who were the parents of the beginning of twelve giants known equally Titans. Among these Titans were six males and six females.

• The males were named Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Crius, Iapetus, and Kronos.
• The females were named Themis, Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, and Rhea.

Kronos eventually overthrew Uranus and ruled during a mythological Gilt Historic period. Over time, he and Rhea had twelve children who would become the Olympian gods. However, Kronos heard a prophecy that his son would overthrow him, every bit he did to Uranus. In an effort to avert fate, he ordered Rhea to allow him to devour each of the children upon their birth.

Themis: Ane of the commencement 12 Titans, Themis was the personification of divine law, as opposed to human ordinance.

The Olympian Gods

Best known amid the pantheon are the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses who resided on Mt. Olympus in northern Greece. Zeus, the youngest son of Rhea and Kronos, was hidden from his father, instead of being swallowed. In one case he became a human, he challenged his begetter's rule, forcing Kronos to regurgitate the residue of his swallowed children. These children were Zeus's siblings, and together they overthrew Kronos, making Zeus the father of gods and men.

Violence and power struggles were mutual in Greek mythology, and the Greeks used their mythologies to explicate their lives around them, from the change in seasons to why the Persians were able to sack Athens.

The traditional pantheon of Greek gods includes

• Zeus, the male monarch of gods and the ruler of the sky,
• Zeus' 2 brothers, Poseidon (who ruled over the sea) and Hades (who ruled the underworld).
• Zeus's sister and wife, Hera, the goddess of marriage, who is frequently jealous and vindictive of Zeus'due south other lovers.
• Their sisters Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, and Demeter, the goddess of grain and civilisation.
• Zeus'due south children:
• Athena (goddess of warfare and wisdom).
• Hermes (a messenger god and god of commerce).
• the twins Apollo (god of the sun, music, and prophecy) and Artemis (goddess of the hunt and of wild animals).
• Dionysos  (god of wine and theatre).
• Aphrodite (goddess of beauty and love), who was married to Hephaestus (deformed god of the forge).
• Ares (god of war and lover of Aphrodite) are also function of the traditional pantheon.
• Hephaestus was in some mythologies the son of Zeus while in others the fatherless son of Hera.

Hermes and the Baby Dionysos by Praxiteles: Here, Hermes cares for the now motherless Dionysos. Originally, Hermes held a bunch of grapes, with which he teased the infant god of wine. c. quaternary century BCE.

Heroes

Heroes, who were ofttimes demigods, were also of import characters in Greek mythology. The two almost important heroes are Perseus and Hercules.

Perseus

Perseus is known for defeating the Gorgon, Medusa. He slew her with help from the gods: Athena gave him armor and a reflective shield, and Hermes provided Perseus with winged sandals so he could wing.

Hercules

Hercules was a stiff just unkind human being, a drunkard who conducted huge misdeeds and social faux pas. Hercules was sent on twelve labors to atone for his sins equally penalty for his misdeeds. These deeds, and several other stories, were often depicted in art, on ceramic pots, or on temple metopes. The most famous of his deeds include slaying both the Nemean Lion and the Hydra, capturing Cerberus (the canis familiaris of the underworld), and obtaining the apples of the Hesperides.

Theseus

A third hero, Theseus, was an Athenian hero known for slaying Male monarch Minos'southward Minotaur. Other major heros in Greek mythology include the warriors and participants of the Trojan War, such as Achilles, Ajax, Odysseus, Agamemnon, Paris, Hector, and Helen.

Hero cults were another popular form of Greek worship that involved the honoring of the dead, specifically the dead heroes of the Trojan War. The sites of hero worship were unremarkably old Bronze Age sites or tombs that the ancient Greeks recognized every bit important or sacred, which they so continued to their own legends and stories.

Hercules and Cerberus: Hercules bringing Cerberus back to King Eurystheus. Black figure hydra. c. 525 BCE.

Sacred Spaces

Greek worship was centered on the temple. The temple was considered the habitation of the god, and a cult statue of the god would be erected in the key room, or the naos. Temples generally followed the same bones rectangular programme, although a round temple, known as a tholos, were used at some sites in starting in the Classical menstruation.

Temples were oriented eastward to face the rising lord's day. Patrons would leave offerings for the gods, such as pocket-sized votives, large statues, libations or costly goods. Due to the wealth dedicated to the gods, the temples often became treasuries that held and preserved the wealth of the city. Greek temples would exist extensively busy, and their construction was a long and costly endeavor.

Rituals and animal sacrifices in honor of the god or goddess would accept place outside, in front end of the temple. Rituals often included a large number of people, and sacrifice was a messy business organization that was all-time done outdoors. The development and decoration of temples is a primary focus in the study of Greek art and civilization.

Sacrificial scene: Scene of a sacrifice. Cranium ruby-red-figure bell krater. Circa 430–420 BCE. Athens, Hellenic republic.

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Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/introduction-to-ancient-greece/

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