4';:tl&{i{!4n6!

u+:,a

&a

{he ltVest in the,f/Vortd

P.
MTpTTERRANEAN Grcc RApJ{y AND Cr,rnnarr
ti
:!:
.t

Ai4r',or lsr WoRLp

The Mciliten,anecrn Region

The westem tnira or the Eurasian
landmass is as hos_
pitable to hunran beings
as any ..gi",, face of the
globe. It is separated r-m
er.i., i, irr.""',ne
,"orterranean
sea, a deep saltwaterrench
,no.e'than l,ooo miles in
Iengrh whose width_tlianks
to the ffr.ri*, Italian, and
Balkan peninsulas_varies from
miles. To the north, the
:OO io
only a few
sea ,, p"-"ffy ,freltered from
arctic winds b)'the molntainoui
spine oitt. .ontirr.rrt.
on the sourhwest flank, the o,f"riio"iiains
the desen, bur for nota Uact
Sinai, the Sahara touches
a- rhousand _ii.r-]i* Gabes to
shore.

Climate. The Medirerranean clinrate

is warm and dry,
with an arrnual rainfall ,iru, ,".i.,
inchesin thc. Egyptian desen
i..", less than to
to _;..;;;., ro irr"h., in
few_favcred spots, such
as ,fr. *, ,"'ff.y of northern
a_

Italy. Summers are hot, wi*r frigl, te_o.i"rures

eighties and nineties in the
lFahre.rheir)
high pressure, normally ..rr,...J
;;;;" of Atlantic
ou* riloror.s from
 I }"r''r
4r10t'j or CorurrmpoRnRY E uRopl
' ./
:;1.:
:;l t
May until October. ensures cloudless skies. Rain falls
nrainly in the autumn and early spring. and the winters
arc typically moderate, wirh snow cornmon onlv at the
higher elevarions.
Abundant sunshine and scarce rainfall create a
high evaporation rate. About 20 percent of the water
lost from the Mediterranean each year through evap-
oratiolt is made up by rainfall. Another 5 percent
contes from rivers. of which the Nile is by far the most
irnportant, and an insignificant 3 percent come: from
the Black Sea via the Bosporus. The rest pours in from
the Atlantic through rhe Strair oI Gibraltar. This vast
influx of water influences Mediterranean navigalion.
!,|
The surface current entering the strait runs at ap-
prtiximately 6 knots. (A knot is the standard measure
of specd at sea, equivalent to I nautical mile per hour.
A naurical mile equals about l.l6 land miles.) It is re-
i;rf
ffi
infor,'ed for most'of the vear by strong westerlies
blowing off the Atlantic. There,fore, driving ships by
oars or sails to pass into the ope.n ocean is extremely
difficult.
Navigation. Like most seas, the Mediterranean has
eased communication for those who lived along its
shores. Its mild weather and weak tides are envied by
mariners, but its peculiarities must be respected. Once
waters from the Atlantic enter the Mediterranean, the
powerful current runs along the North African coast for
its entire length, crearing a counterclockwise pattem of
circulation that washes westwaid along the northern
coasts until it exits again at Gibraltar. Because it has be-
come saltier through evaporation, the old water is
heavier than the new and exits far below the incoming
torrent. It is not felt by ships.
a
X

ShrP: p,..rvYereC by oars or salls were dependent on the
winds and surlace currents if they were to make head
\vay. The direction of prevailing winds and orrents
rherc{ore determincd trade routes and opportunities
{or crritural exchange.
Thcse currents and the pre"ailing north to nc rthwest
lvinds cletermined shipping routes until the age of
steam and ensured that at sca the shortest distance be-
tween two points was almost never a stnight line. Their
influence on commerce and naval strategy was there-
forc great, but they were not the only navigational pe-
culiarity oI the Mediterranean basin. Although idyllic
looking in travel posters, the Mediterranean can be
ciangerous. From October to April it is beset with land
w'ind s whose .Dames.--nrts tr al, b or a, siro cco-are ominous
to sailors Sometimes blowing at 30 or 40 knots, they
are difficult to predict and raise high' chaotic seas with
disconcerting speed. The captains of fragile oared gal-
leys or clumsy sailing ships usualll' prefelTed to spend
the winter months in Port.
Topographically, much of the land that surrounds
the Mediterranean is rocky and mountainous. On the
Italian and Greek peninsulas. along the northwest
African coast, and in Palestine, only the narrt'w coastal
plains and the even narrower river valleys arc suitable
ior large-scale cultivation' In prehistoric times, rrrost of
these regions were wooded, but as the population of
hunrans and their livestock increased, the forests were
destroyed and intensive grazing by sheep and goats de-
pleted the ground cover. L,lng before the dawn of
recorded history, this process created the landscape that
exists today: relatively small patches of cultivation in-
terspersed with steep rocky hillsides, arid semidesert,
and impenetrable scrub. Wood for building or fuel is
N.i
,.) :ltll,!
,,r," "1i" ,4;^:";5"*,
r ", j
'".;.1 .,
\ '!l'
"r,l
' ll,t, , *. ^
\.:n.,.
"olll'
scarce, and the management ol water suppli':s has been
a corlstant preoccupation of farmers and tovvn dwellers
alike for millennia.
The European Mainland :'
The Iberian Peninsula and Anatolia, the Asian part of
modern Turkey, dre high plateaus surrounded by
rugged mountains. With elevations of as much as 3,000
feet above sea level, these plain; can be cold in winter
and, ,exiept for autumn, are almost always dry with
annual rainfall averaging be tween l0 and 20 inches'
Wood and water aI€ scarce here as well, and erosion
causerl by rhousands of years of overgrazing has only
madi rnatters worse.
To the north, beyorrd the rugged barrier of the Alps,
the Pyrenees. anC the mountairious Balkan Peninsula,
the climate is very different' Northwestem Europe, al-
though at the, same latitude as Newfoundland and
rabridor, is mild and moist. Its weather is moderated by
the Atlantic Ocean an<i, in particular, by the Gulf Stream,
a warm water current that risrs in the Caribbean and
washes the shore of England and France. Pleasant sum-
men with temrleratules that usually do not exceed 80o
V
 luitt' '
t' ,,;i.Uj,.,":;

",.-*'i{,u
!;..;
,i.'
+i,
ti,' Fahrenheit follow long wet winters during which pro_
longed freezes are rare. palm trees, although not native
to the regron, can be grown on France,s Breton penin-
r.?',, sula or along the southwestern coasts of the British Isles,
jfii .' The prevailing winds are westerly, bringng abundant
jrlit{.ir:, rainfall even in the surnmer months as Atlantic squalls,
forced northward by high pressure over the Iberian
i. Peninsula, drop their moisture on the land.
Much of westem Europe is flat or gently rolling,
with ucc;r, casily worked soils that we-e once covered
,*t''
by
ceptibly into the North European plain, which
stretches from the marshes r.rf the Netherlands east-
ward into Russia. In Russia and poland, moderate
summers, harsh .,vinters, and often unpredictable rain-
fail provide a typical contine:rtal cl!mate. Large areas
of central Europe, meanwhile, are hilly. A series of
wooded uplands from rhe Argonne and Vosges on the
west to the Carpathians on the east are drained by
navigable rivers, the most important oI which are the
Rhine and the Danube. Both rise in the highlancls of
southwest Germany, but whereas the Danube flows
eastwa-'l into thc Black Sea through the rich plains of
Hrlnga,t'y ar,d Walachia, the Rhjne flows northward to
its broad esruary on the North Sea. The Rhine provides
rapid access frrm thc Alpine foothills anC central
Germany to the Atlantic.
The North Sea, like the present contours of the Baltic
coast, is relatively modern. As recently as 4000 ncr,
Great Britain was connected to the European tnainland
while the Baltic depression was just that-a broad
rnarshy region surrounding a brackish lake with no
outlet to the sea. The rise in ocean levels at the end of
the last Icc Age inundated borlr a"eas and produced the
present coastline. Beyond tl-re newly formed sea lies
Scandinavia, a wrntrf region with only small arnounts
of arable land, but with usable ports; abundant fish; and
vast rtsources in timber, copper, and iron.
To its first inhaoitants, the European subcontinent
must have seemed an earthly paradise. Its clirhatc is for
the most part moderate. In prehistoric times its plains
and forests teemed with wild game and its lakes, streams,
and esiuaries offered a rich harvest of fish and other ed-
ible marine organisms. Iarge tracts of well.watered and
easily rvorked soils held the promise of intensive agricul-
ture on a scale rarely achieved in other parts of the globq.
From earliest times, the European subcontinent was
horns ts a wide variety of human cultdres.
Question: What advantages of climate and geography
would lrelp Europe bEcome one oi the world,s centers
of civilization?

i'
;i't'
a$;1,.i"
":1.:r';

l$lr;.
;${1
i.:..:

.1$,,

,i.il,u
i;l:r:,'

;r1*.
=ii.{:i
S&r 1,
.-t-.
 .{t
alt'
t ', ,,,i"
't !
i ,i si i, J, i
",ii
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.

'i;
i.r ), i i, #

Tnr ANcrrNT MrpplE Easr:

MrsoPoThIrrA, EGwr'
PHonNrcrA, ISRnEL

bout r 0,000 years ago in what is now southeastern Tirrkey, a r4r'oman,

oriperhaps a group of women working together, discovered how to
{: cross-pollinate three .ypes of wild edible grasses that grew in the region. It
was almost certainly lvomen who did thrs because men in that age did not
often concern themselves with gathering or nurruring pla;rts. This early ex-
ampJe of selective brceding ranks among the great technical achievements
of all time. It requireq careful observation and exquisite care inl transferring
the live pollen lrom one plant to another to produce modern bread wheat
whose hardiness and gre;i.er yields helped creart an agriculture that could
sustain large numbers of people. The cultivation of crops, together with
the domestication of animals, marked the beginning of the Neolithic revo-
lution. Humans began to sertle in permanent ro vns and villages, and in
time, many of these settlements coalesced into great civilizations.

(
 {.lril)l(.r I rlis< rrs:r's lilt' in tlrt' paleolithic or OIrl
S I nr rr',\ gt. lrt,lort' cxarrr i lring t I rt' Neolithic revolrrtion
,rirj ils rnirl('iial ({)llsc(lu(,lt/ ('s-itrclrrrliir!l its intl)J(t ()t)
(1r( 1. ut:rrl()graphy (Jroptrlatiorr slal;stics), and tlrc arl-
,, t'rrl ol organit.t'tl warf
arc. Tltis clralttcr lhcrr covcr: lwo
!r( (rr ar)cjcnt < ivilizali()ns, li('sol)otantia and Egyytt,
t,rt lr ol wlriclr profirrrrrrlly allt'ctt'tl rlrc devcloprncnl ol
rirr' !Ve st. Progrt'ssilrg lo tltc lantl bctwecn Egypt ancl
,\1r'soyrolanria, Ihts clraltlcr c<lrrclrrdcs with the rrrcicrrt
sot icly of I'hocnicia, whosc pcoplc irtvr tted the alJrha-
lrt'l lrorn wltich wc dsrivc orlr owtl, an.i Israel, whosc
rt'ligiorrs ideas bccarnc the lrasis of tltc thrcc great wesl-
crn laiths: .Judaisrn, Christia rity, anr'lslam.
-l-l
tF Fllr.s-r Eut.,ot,t,ANS-:--
-f-n
l Pn lro LrrFt rc E nn
'r'o (. IO,OOO gcu
atrrl l;rrt'rv lrow to ntakc stor'tc tools arrd wt,aporrs-llttrs
llrt: narrre lilr tlris pcriod, thc Old Storrc or l,alcolitltic Agc.
Ar;out 10,(XX) ycars ago, lTon o sapicns, a llcolllc plrys-
ir'ally i<lcntic'al lo rrro<lcrn n)cn arrrl worncn, abruptly
supcrst'dcd lhc Neandcrlhals. Most ltrodern scholars
bclicvc that thc ncw arrivals (anrc lrrlrrr Africa, but
ltcarly cvcryll)inll aborrt hrrrnan origilrs is conlrrlr,,:rsial.
Soon allcr thc arrival of Homo sapiens tlte Nearrdcrthals
vanisht'cl. Tlrcir extinctiorr rerlains ntyslcri()us, Jor
Homo sapiens wcrc lt() tn<lre advanccd in culture or tech-
nok,13y lhan thc Nc.anderthals and wcre pirysically
rather wcalr arrcJ purry by conrparisor;r.
S<lnlc havc suggcstcd rh.,t the Ncandcrthals lell vic-
tim trl an cllidcmic disease <lrcould not adapt t() warmcr
wcathcr altcr the retrcat ol thc glacicrs. Tlrcy nray havc
four,d it dif{icnir to hunr the fastcr, morc si;lilary ani-
mals <lf rnodern tinres aftcr rhc extinclit.rr <lI their tradi-
tionar prey. B<lth races were hunter-gather.3rs, so-called
bccausc they hur-rted game and garhered plants Ior food.

Fcrv srrbjects are inorc c<lntroversial than thc origins of
rlrt'Irunran spccics. During drc long scries of Ice Ages, a
rncc ol ool-making bipeds inhabired the fringes of the
[:rrropcan ice pack. Known convt:ntionally as Nean-
ciertlrals because their rernains \^ crc first discovered at
Ncander-tltal in Gerrnany, these iripeds were heavier,
stlongcr, and hairicr than llomo sapiens (thc Latin nante
krr rn<icicrn hulnan beings). Neondenhals hunted the
gfcat herd anirlals ol the day: mammoth, bison, wooly
rlrinoceros, and reindeer. They lived in caves, buried their
ilcad in \t'ays that suggest some forut of rellg.ous beliet,
Paleolithic Work ancl Trade. Thc firs humans
lived orr a prcrein-rich djer ol ganrc arrd l,sh supple-
mented by fruit, berries, nurs, alid wild plants. Constantly
on the move, tltey livcd in cavcs oi lclltporary shelter-s
that tney construded froltr n,<tod rtr bones and covered
with thc skins ol the animals rhcy killed. TI-rey ntade storre
tools and \4/eal)ons that bccanrc steadily rnore sophisti-
cated over time-axes, arr(rws, daggers, spears, whet-
stones for sharpi'ning thern, and rrorvels for digging up
plants. As they roamed, they canre in contaCr wit.h other
grorll)s and engaged it-r the interchange of goods ar-rd

FrcuRn 1.1 Prehistoric StoneTbol (c. 400,A00 nce).

Urrtil people learned to work with merals, thei, made most of
riicir culrirlg and chopping tools and mosr of their edged
w{-apons from flint or sinrilar Ftcunr 7.2 kaf-Shaped Spear Point
stone. B)' striking rhe srone's
(c. 14,000 ncr). Suitable flints often had
surface repcaredly wirh anorhcr to be brotrght fronr great distances and were
stone, rhe toolmal er dctached anrong the most rmportant trade goods in
flakes and fornred a cutting prehistoric times. This spear poinr was made
edge. Bone or wood coull then from r'linr brorrght front a pan of France far
be used to detach even suraller from Volgn, France, where it was found. The
flakes to make rhe edgr. sha4rer. point's shape ard the shallow rarallel-sided
M,rkers shaped rhe largcr de - scars are lt'ft by the renroval of long thin
tached llakes into snraller pieccs flakes stnrck off using an antler or wooden
lik." arrowheads. This hand ax hammer. To nrake thc spear, Paleolithic peo-
(nrt'arrir,g an ax used with thc ple typic..rll.v fir rhe rhinnc'd base of a poinr
hand ratl-rer than fitred to a into a slor ar the lop of a wooden shaft and
wootlen shaft) was found al Ireld it in plac,-. wirh a cord. Made by Honto
Hoxnc, England. Norhing is sapiens rather than Ncanderthals, it illustrates

known atrout lhc pcople who how thc bcst sionc weapons corrld be harder
shaped or used it, but excava- atrd sharpcr than tltssc nradc by early nretal
tions whcre lhis ax was found workers of the latcr Bnrnze Agc.
ur.covcrcd cxtensive llint-
vr crking areas on the edge of an
ancienl river as well as aninral
bones, including elcphant, rhino-
ceros, and lion.

The Ancient Middle East: Me-;opttramia, Egypt, phoenicia, Israel 5

 fjr(;ulr 1.3 l)alcolithic Oapr l)aitttitt.g
(c. 211,000 tx:t). l)rtail .lrom thc I-iorr l)nttrl iu
tltc I Iillairt Ohanrho; tltr Oapc ol' ()ltattuct-
I tottt -tl',,1 rr, I :rancr, Ii,1rly lllnr,,tr) t.rrll rr rt.r irr
I r lr,\! .liltl rrorllrt.rrr Sn.tilr <rrr,<'rr'tl llrt,$,,tlls ol
Irrrr,lrt rlr r;l t,rvt,s witlr lrt,arrtilrrl, li clikc l)i(luf('s
ol .rrrrrri,rlr. Irr tlris rictail (2 yartlsl lrorrr tlrt'oltlt.st
(lr,rr', irrits t,t.l lorrrrrl, nn nrlist (lrt'try llrrt't. trig liorrs
111r {,ryr ol t'i]rlit,r ligr:rt.s ()l li0rrs.'l'lrt'0rrt,irr llrt'

l)arIrI()rlIr(1, slantlirrg ()ul all('r st'raping, is rr.Prt.-

st rrtt tl rrrrly lry tlrr lrt'gintrirrg ol its back lirrt', its car,
ariil ill('to1l ol ils Jar-. Ort tht'otlrcr l\\,(), ()nc calt
s('t lrorv stulll) dldwing lslradingl was rrst,rl arrrl tht
wlrirkt'rs prrt irr. Tltc linc crrgravings in llrc forc-
gr()rnr(l ('irc c.tv(. licar scralchcs, which slrows lhat
tltt, Irt.rrr tan',' back lo tltc cavc alrt , tlrt' peolllt,
It;rii lrrarlc titcir drawirrgs.

s-a n in tcrcha nge that an th ntltoklgists ca ll cu ltural

idca
borrowing. Excavatio,rs havt' t-r ltcovcrcd to<lls made of THr NrorrrHrc RtvolurloN
st()l'rc lrom distant gcographical sor.rrccs, which indicatcs (c. 1O,O0O-55C0 BCr)
e arl\,, tradc llctw,ee n
!]roups.
Paleolithic Society. If Hunring and garrtering remained the chief economic ac-
rhc- htrr.rrcr-garhcrcr sociel ies
o1 nrorlcrn tinlcs are an indicati()r), early l)col)les proba-
tivity fcr a lolrg time. Long before the advent of agricul-
ture, f ,)ttery, or writing, Neolithic peoples developed the
blf iivcd in extended families. Exrcncled lantiiics ma1:
bow and arro\v as well as the basic tools still used to hook
corrrain lt()t or'llV I)arenls and children ')ut also othcr bi-
ol(xicJl relatives-auuts, uncle.;, ltii.'ces, ncphervs, altd or net fish and rrap game. The do-nestication (taming
1,,.-
,: and brr:eding) ol animals probably began at an'eariy date
I
1:
cousins. Nuclear families contaln oltl), parenls and
l1:
childrcn. If rhe1, survived and prospered, trmilies even-
with tlre use of hunting dogs but later extended to raising
and hcrding sheep. goats, and cattle as a reliable source of
tuallv I)e cantc' lribes. A tribe is contposed or several nu-
t protein when game was scarce. Shortly thereafter, the
clcar and extended families that clain-r common dc.scent,
first effons were made to cultivate edible plants. The do-
Becausc e\/ery ntember's cooperative eliort is important
mestication of animals and the invention of agriculture
in a srnall group, the social slructure may have been
ii$.i, marked one of the great turning points in human history.
nr()re egalirarian rhan hierarchical. paleolithic groups di-
''rt', : viciecl rheir responsibilities in a straightforward manner.
,
Mcn hunted, fisired, and perhaps made tools. Women Agric ul t u r e-Th e B egin ni ng
;i"l'l . :
carcd lur rhe children, tended the fire, and gathered of the Neolithic Reuolution
:l.tr ... be rries and wild plants. Status derived from superior skill
.a.ai,i:
in arrl,of lhesc afiivities. Whcn a tribe was headed by a Wheat. Several spec:es of edible grasses are rtative to
clrie1, his prin-ra11, role was probably to organize hunts. the upper reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates .,,alleys,
Art and Religion. Anrong the ntost extraordinary
acllicvelnents of these paleographic cultures was their
arr . ,\'lagnificent wall paintings, usu,llly of aninrals, dec_
()ralr' llic cavcs lltey inhabited fr<lnr Spain to southern
Rrrssia. Marry groups also produccd small clay figurines
n'itli cxaggerared lemale features. This suggesrs the
widtsirrrad !/orship of a fertility goddess, but paleolithic
rcliqioirs beliefs remain unclear. The purpt se of the
pairrlirrgs is also unknown. They ntay havc involved a
Iorni ol rrragic designed to bring game animals urrder the
Irtrnlcr's I)()wcr, or they may have been purely dc_'ora-
tive. ln any case, thc technical skill of the artisrs was
ar)yt llinl.l bur prirnitive.

6 Clmpter 1
@
iffi*': .

l$i
i:!:11.i l Farrlinl.S ricvclopcd in rcsponsc to a gcneral increase
rs11t iri gloylrrlalirrn lhal trltsct tlrc old palcoljthic ecol<lgy.
'17'
':.':ig) ;. $;,t
fl Ilr*nrrr t''rnJrctili,rlr lirr riwir.ciling rcsourccs became
"1:' \(t t
,

n)orc ltl('tls(, as gatltc grcw morc scarcc and e lltsivc.

Xi/ c.ullivalion .>[ r<.tw crops wcre soolt es_
IIt"nc!ing .trrrj tlrt'
''t
;1:' -\t
tt'
scntial to strrvival. As thc hrrntan p<lpulation coltl.inucd
to grow, r'vcn hcrdirrg diminished becausc ir
I

,.,.,JI
:
ltrulvidcs
lcwcr calorics llcr rrnil of land than row
il, Nc<llitlric larnrcrs increasirrgly rcslrictcd thc raising of
animals to tracls othcrwisc unsuitable 1.or cullivation.
crops.

.t"tI
r,,'-f' Altl-ough orher sources of Iood would always sirpple_
,

mcnl crol) raising, it graduarly emerged as the primary

'{,/,i,
, panding lo include beans, peas, r;lives, and evc,ntually
I
Irtr;utit, 1.4 'flrc Epolrrtiort ttf-Motltrrr I44tcat. Earty lann-
('r\ ('r()\\-J)rllljDatctl cinl,orn wltcat (ul)l)er lclt;
with incd;ble
t().1 qras\cs to crcalc cr]lncr rvl.cal (lowcr lrltl ancl rlodcrn
l)r( a(i \\,hr.trs (l:rwcr righrl, rvhiclr arc lar nr,rrcl
elfjcicrrt
sl)lrrr,\ ol lood. Enlncr whcat is rclated to thc durunt rvhcat
Jr{)nl \1,lti('}t rnrr havc rrracaroni. (Tltc Ictters in
ltarcntltcscs
rcJ)i ('s('t)t scls cha,',s'rttts a.d sh.rv tlte c.trrtti'ati.'s <ll
'l
tl)t'nt,lv strairts.)
irrr ILrrlirrg rvild barley and two varieiies
of w,heat.
Eilriiorrl (oue-c( rn), a variely of whc.at with a single
row, ol seeds per stalk, produces only modest
yiells;
cnulte r, rvith multiple rorvs on each stc,nt, is
more pro_
riucljve. When the two grains are crossbred with
.:.4... other
, ..:-li .qrasscs, the result is ntodern bread wheat, a grain with
r asrlv irrrltroved yields.
: j-1!
.!:.:. Wlrv did agrictrhure begin in Mesoporamia? perhaps
orriy j11 rhe uppc'r Tigris and Etrphrates valleys did
tlle
sci'ds of ihis ltarticular cornbinaticn ctf grasses nteet
a cestors (as rheir skejetal remains inclicate). Although
rr,'arrlr clirnare and well-watercd soils. How peopre
It'.'irrcrl rh. tecl'rrriqLre s .f cross-polrinarion ar.rd
of con-
tltcsr: seeris i.t<) q^lel or bread is unknown, but
'c.rirrg
ont't' lcarncd, thc valuc of syslentatic cultivation or
l,r rt t i t tt, lrt't'a lttc al)l)<t rcnt. Th .' ilrverrti0rr
r
tlf agriCtrlt urc
nrarkt'd thc iregirrning of rlte Ncolithic Ace.
i\4 r!r'alron, c()ntacl ant()ng cullures,
rni cultural bor-
..r'irrg facilirated rrre diffusior of agriculturar teci-r-
riqLrcs. 81, 7000 ocE, farrtrirrg was well established
frort
lran lo Palesrine. lr spread ir.rto tl.re Nile valley and the
Arg('al) by 5000 uce and front the Balkans uD the
Darrtrlrc and into central Europe in the vears thar
fol-
Iowtd. Racliocarbon dating has esrablisl,ed the exis_
lcncc of larnting settlentents in rhe Nerherlands by
4()00 rrt:r, and in Britain lry 3200 acn.
act,vity whcrcvcr land could be tilled for planting.
The
crrltirarion of plal.rts, bcginning w;rh grains and ex_
grapes, trade food supplies far more predictable
than in
a hunting <lr herding econo,ny and greatly increased
the nuritbcr of calories that a given area of land could
llrodr,cc. Thc irrvcnti<,n of thc whecl arrd tlrc wooden
lllow; both ril which came into comnlolt use around
3000 scr, further enhanced the efficient use ol land.
Farrr.ing thcrcforc promote d demographic growth both
absolutely and in rhe densiry of popularion thar a given
arca cruld support.
Neolithic Health and Diet. On rhe negarive side, pop-
ulations expand to meet the availabilit), of resources, and
Neolithic contmunities soon reached their ecological limits.
Grain yields on trnfertilizcd lan,1 typically range frorn three
to twclve bush.'ls per acre with'a probable avelage of five.
If societies could not expand t-te area under cuhivation,
they reached a balance that barell sustained life.
The transition to a farming economy often resulted
diets that rvere defident in protein and other imoor-
ir-r
tant elements. Bread became rhe proverbial sraff of life,
largell, because land planted with grain SupporLs more
people. The nuts, animal prorcins, and wild fruits
rypi_
cal of the Paleolithic diet became luxuries to be eaten
only on special.occasions. As a result, Neolithic fanners
were shorter and less healthy than their paleolithic an_
bcans, peas, and lentils became valuable sources of pro_
te,in, oldinarl,people consnmed as much as g0 percent
of their calories in the form of carbohydrates from
bread, or ntore often, frorn gruel made by boiling
grou.rd grain in water or rnilk.
Caloric inrak: varied widely. An adult nrale engaged
in heavy labor requircs a urinimunr of 3,700 calories
per day. Although we cannot nreasure a typical
diet in
Neolithic or ancient times, we can estimate that the av_
erage peasant or laborer probably made do on far less,
perhaps onl1,2,500 to 2,700 calories per day.
Moreover,
because grain harvests depend on good *"uih.. and are
susceptible to destruction by pests. shortfalls were
com_
mon. lu yean of famine, caloric intake dropped below
the level of subsistence.

The Aucient Mitldle East: Mesopotamia, E2ypt, pltoetricia, Israel 7

 Analysis of lhe boncs left at Neolithic sitcs provides clues to I2OO-30OO BcE 2900.-2400 BcE
thc domeslication ol animals and an insight into the
Ncolithic diet. The figures in the tatrle comc from Tamabod Tenxlsoo,
(a sitc of the Bordrogkereztur culture) and Budapest- HUNGARY
Andor utca (the Baden culture), both rn Hungary, and Domestic Animals
inriclow Poland (a site of the Beaker people). Cattle 562 (61 .3o/ol t6o 02 t%) 1,578157.7o/")
Thc number of animal bones that researchers have Dog 1 (O.to/o') 6 (r.2%) ttt (4.r%l
lound at each site appears under ttre name of the site; the Pig 109 (11.9%) lO5 (2i.Oo/ol '566 (20.7o/o\)
prrcentage thar each set of bones represents in the total Sheep 69 (7.5o/o) t94 (\.9-yol 276 (|O.t%\
app('ars in parentheses. For cxample, r,1 .1"/o of the bones and goat,
found at Tarnabod are dorrresticated cattle bones, and 9.17" Total 743 (87.0o/ol 465 (9t.2o/,) 2,5ft (92.5o/ol
arc aurochs bones, a species of wild cattle nolfr e:itinct. Wild Ailmals
The disparity in the total percentage of wild an;mal Aurochs $ 4 (O.8o/o) 0
lg.I%)
bones (7.5% at imielow, for instance) versus the percenr- Horse 0 0 58 (2.1%l
age of domestic animal bones (92.57o atCmielow) tel''s us Pig 3t (3.4%l 4lo.8%l 4) (r.6o/0)
that wild animals formed a declining part of rhe Neolirhic Red deer 4) e.'o/ol B (2.6"/0l )d (t.?%l
diet. Local variations existed in the species o1 domesti- Roc deer 12 (1.3%l 4 (C.$o/ol 45 (1.60/0l
cated animals. All three cultureS used copper tools. Other 5 (0.5%) 9 rl.8o/o) B (0.8o/o)
Although hard evidence is available only for imielow, Total 174 (l9.Oo/o) 7416.8%l zo, (7.rvol
they prob rbly grew emmer wheat, barley, flax, and
wheat. Source: I'dapted from Murray, Jacquelin,r, The First European
Agriculture (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1970, pp.
Questions: What animals were easiest to domesticate? 306. j62i)63t.
Why do you suppose this is? What common types of a ni-
mals do not appear in this tal-'le? Again, why do you
think they do not appear here? At what site does the
smallest percentage of domesticated animal remains ap-
pear? What do you conclude abcut rllat culture?

ii+l : , The permanence of {arming settlements also encour-
:ff. aged the spread oI disease. The hunter-gatherers of
Palcolitiric times had lived in srnall groups, camped in
.€...T''t
, caves or temporary shelters, arrd moved frequently in
ii;l; "-'pursuit of game-a way of life that virtually precluded
tl epidemics. Farming, however, is by definition sederlrary.
ijit Fields and orchards require consranr artention and there-
fore permanenl sheltcr. Early farmers built houses of
surr-dried brick or of reeds and wood and placed them
ckrse together to promote security and cooperation. Such
$i ' villages encouraged the accumulation of refuse and hu-
,. "i
man wasle. Water supplies became contaminated, and
disease-[rearing rats, {lies, lice, and cockroaches became
thc village or town dweller's collstant ccrnpanions.
$;'
Neolithic Demography. Inadequate nutririon and
slrsceptii)ility to epidemic disease created the so-called bi-
ological old regime, a demographic pattem that pre-
vailccl in Etrrope r.r rtil the middle of the nineteenth cen-
tury. Although few people literally starved to death. dis-
ease kept cieath rates high while poor nutrition kept birth
rates low. Malnutrition also rais:s the age of first men-
struatiou and can prevent ovulation in mature wonen,
thereby reducing rhe rite of conception. When concep-
tion did occur, poor matemal diet led to a high rate of still-
births and complications,durir-rg pregnancy. If a baby were
brough' to term and sr,lvived the primitive obstetrics of
the age, there remained the possilrility that the mother
would he too malnourished to nursb the newborn.
Statistics are unavailable, but infant mortality probably
ranged from l0 to 70 percent in the first 2 years of lil'e.
The age distribution of Neolithic and ancient popu-
lations therefore bore little resemblance to that of a
nrodern industrial society. Thc young far outnumbered
the old. and most people had shorter working lives
than their modern counterpa-ts. Their reproductive
lifetimes were also shorter, and in people of mature
years (aged 35 to 50), men may have outnumbered

8 Chaptn 1
 1,r/()n)('ll, l)rilnarily [rctatrst'so nlally wol)l(,r] tlicrj in
< irilrllrirt lr. Tlrt' lilt, ('xl)(,ctan(y lor t.irlrt'r gcn(l('r rnay
rrrl lravt. lrt't,rr trrur.lr rnorc llrarr l0 y(,ars at [rirtlr, llrrt
llrrsr' wlro srrrr ivt'rl tlrcir {iltit,s ltarl alrrrost as g()(xi a
t irartct' as llle ir rrrotlcrrr ('()ultl('rl)ilrl\ of rca<.lring arr
aiir,.rrrrt'rl agc. Tlris ltattenr, likr tlrc c,orrditir)ns thal
prorlrlt'<l it, worrlrl also pcrsist trrrtil thc irrdustrial rcv-
olutiorr ol rtroilcrrr lirtrt,s.
The Neolithic Concqt of Property
ani iu Social Imolications
The Social Orde^. Tlrc invcnrion ,rf agricullurc cx-
Jrarriled thc idcr <lf personal l)rol)ertJlto inclu<Jc land
.r,,tl dorncsticatcd ani'lals. ln palcrilithic times, pe oplc
owrrcd thcir t(x)ls, wcapons, and clothing, but nr,t the
aninrals, plant foods, or land <ln which thcy depcnded
ior survival. The primary measurc of inlividual w<trtl.t
5
!!rs a person's abilit/ to hunt (,r gathrr", skills front
tit n hic'h the enlirc tribc presuu-rai.ly benefi :ed. The
il Ncolithic world, however, ntcasured status in terms of
orvnership of flocks, herds, and Iields. This change af-
fcctrd tlre srructure of hurlan socictics in three irnpor-
tant wa\/s. First, bccause luck and rnanagen-rent skills
r;ry widely, certain individuals anrassed greater wealth
than others. To gain the maxinrum advantage from
tireir wealth, they lound it necessary ro use, and ofren
1o t'x;r;,r1,, rhc labor o{ thcir poorer ncighbors. Thus, al-
tllougit a nteasure of cooperation in asricultural and
c(rnstntcrion tasks could be found ar the village level,
social stratifi cation characterized Neolithic sociel y.
Subordination of Women. TI ,e emergence of prop-
crty seents also to have affected t,re status of women.
Little is known about the lives of women in paleolirhic
rinrcs, bur most theorists agree that, with the development
of herds and landed property, controlling female sexuality
Ircame important in ways that would have b,.en unnec-
essary in a community of hunter-gatherers. Thc issue was
inheritatrce. The long-term survival of a Neolithirr.family
dcpcnded on the preservation and augmentatiolt of its
n'ealll.r. Women were expected to provide heirs who were
the biological children of their pafiners. The result was the
tlcvelopment of a double standard by which women had
to be pure and seen to be pure by the entire community.
II anrhrclpologists are correct, the subjugation of wonten
anc'l the evolution of characteristically femini le behaviors
\vcrc alt outgrowth of the Neolithic revolution.
r'1i.+-
;1.
i::. Warfare. Finally. the Neolithic age nrarked the begin-
ning of warfare, the systematic use of fclrce by one com-
rnLrnity against another. Whertas paleolithic hunters ntay
have fought one another on occasion, Neolithic peoples
fouglrt to defend their propeny-their homes, livestock,
: ::ia l
and cultivated land-against the predalory behavior of
,.:,
;i.*,:i
'.1 t...
i..i
".r.r".ji,r,
iii$
;:iia
I.-tcunr 1.5 Red Deer Antler Hzaildress, 9,500 years old.
Hrrrr.crs rnay have worrr lrcaddresscs Iikc lhis one as a disguise,
lrut it is nrorc likcli' that thesc anllers were pan oI a costume
Worrr ofl spccial rr"casions, perhaps duing religious ceremonies.
The l,ncs of cut rn:rks made bv {lint rools shorar thar its makers
dclibi'ratcly rcmoved the skin from lhe skulls, broke off the
antl -'rs and rhc bones forming the .op of the r,ose, and trimmed
thc ecges of rhc :cmaining skull. A leather thong, loopcd through
the twr: holcs in rhc'back of skull, held the anrlcrs to the head.
neighboring peoples. Dealing w,ith popularion growth by
annexing the land of others ,vas all t()o ei,sy and resulted
in frequent aggression. War, in tum, made po;sible the de-
velopment of slavery. To a hunter-gatherer, slaves are un-
Ilecessary, but to herders and agriculturalists, ,slave labor
makes possible the expansion of herds and the r ultivation
of more land: under typical circuinsrances, sla\'es produce
more:han they consumc.
Power and Government. At first, Neolithic commu-
nities seem to havr-. been organized along tribal lines, a
struclltre inherited from their hunting and gathering an-
cestors when they settled down to till the land. Most in-
habilants shared a comnon ancestor, and chieftainship
was plobably thr dominant form of social orga4ization-
The rfunction of the chief in agricultural societies was far
mor,r complex than in the days of hunting and gathering,
involving not only military leadership but also the man-
agement of goods and ,abor. Efficiency in operations such
as harvesting anJ sheep shearing requires cooperation
and direoion. In retum, the chief demanded a share of
each individual's agricultural surplus, which he then
storel for redistribution during hard times while holding
bacl: a ponion for his own use.
Specialization and Work. The chief,s role in the
management and allocation of resources explains the
stort,houses that early rulers constructed. A,s agriculture
developed, crops becante more varied. Lr the Medi-
terranean basin, for example, wheat, wine, and olives
becanre the basic triad of prolucts on which society de-
pended. One farmer might have a grove of olive trees but
no land capable of growing wheat, whereas another
The Ancient ltliilille East: Maopotamia, Egypt, Phoenicia,Israel g
 vf:f (;rJRrj 1.6 Stonchcryqc (r. J100-l 5-10 n<n). Tlrc grcar-
('st ()l w('sl('nr Liurolle 'sprt'lrisloric t'irclt's stands on England's
Salislrtrry Plairr. A p!rcc of worslrip arrd lrtrrial, Stonchcngc
rrra1,;rlso havc scrved as an aslronorrrical calcndar, but its lruc
l)rirlx)s(' is rnrccrlain. We do krrow,that llrehisloric builclcrs
(()lrslru(1('(l Slont'ht,rrgc in scvcral slages. Alloul I | 0O lx:t;,
tlrt'y lrrrilt tltt, hen11c-a circular. raiscd carth plalcau insidc a
rlitttr. Approxirnatcly l,(XX) ycars later, thc brrildcrs sct '
IJltrt'slont's irr a dorrble circlc insidc the hcnlic; transponcd
Irrrrrr a <lrrarry in llrc lnountains of Walcs 24O milcs away,
t'ar'lr storrc wcighed about 4 tons. S()nlcwhat latcr thc
Srorrt.lrcrrge buildcrs arrangcd lhirlv Sarscn ;loncs in an outcr
circlc ol atrout 100 fcct in dianictcr; trrought from a quarry 20
rrrilt's away, thesc largcr Sarscn stoncs cach lvcighcd ebout 50
lons, A\ sccrr here in thc surviving portion of thc outer circlc,
tht' Sarscn lintels (horizontal slabs) courrcetcd continuousiy,
t'nd-lo-r:nd, with tonguc-and-groovr joints. Pcgs on the tops
ol tlrc trprigtrls-notc thc r6utrd prolrusi'n o*fhe uprigilt
sronl lowarcl lhc centcr of thc picturc-fit into prepared holes
irr tlrc linte ls alrd hcld thcm in placc (rnortisc and tcnon
jointsl. Thc builders crcatcd the joints and shaped rhe stones
lry pou:rding thcm witlr stone hamntcrs. Insidc the <lutcr
Sarscn circlc. the buildcrs arranged five trilithons (a trilithon
is a pair of u;lrights with a lintel; in the shape of a horseshoe.
Ils axis lay on the sunrisc of the summer solstice. A heel
stonc, sct outsidc the henge, marked the axis and the path to
the ccnter. The prevalence of these large-scale construcion
pxrjects. whatever their purpose, and the care in selecting
tlrc riglrt combination of building matcrials, indicates rhar
Neolithic societies < ould, and did, achieve high levels of or-
tion and technological sophisticarion.
ganiz.a
would trc blcsscd with wcll-drbincd, sottlh-facitl$ hill-
sidcs producirrg tlrc llcsl grapcs for wine . A chicf actcd lo
encourag,c agricuitural spccialization and alt clfitient usc
of ilroup rcs()urccs. Hc could ,rollcct oil frrlm ()tlc and
gral)c:' rrrrnr arr()llrcr and l)arlcr lroth to a third farllcr in
rclunl lilr his suri)lus whcat. Diffcrent cotntnodilies pre-
vailcd . in diflcrcnt rcgions. but thc Jlr;nciplc was thc
sarnc..ln tlrc atrsclrcc ()f Incrchants ()r org,anized nrarkels.
thc clric{ fulfilled an important role in thc distribtrtion of
gords and services. Although spc:ialization in Neolithic
timcs was rarely tolal, prudent farrners knc'w that tfiver-
sification offered a rneasure of sccurily. that monocul-
ture, or the growing of only one crop, can nevcr pro-
vidc. If the major crop failed, they needed something el."'
to fall back on, and even a modest dcgree of specializa-
tion can incrcase efficiency and iaise a community's
standard rlf living.
Religion and lt{onumenta,l Architecture. Chiefs
may also havc had religious duti ,'s. although orgarrized
pnesthoods evolved in some early societies. Chiefs al-
most certainly organizcd the building of communai bur-
ial places in the Aegean and along the Atlantic and
North Sea coasts from Iberia to Scandinavia. Or,ginally
simple dolmens formed of a giant stone or megalith
laid upon othc'r stones, these tombs gradtrally evolved
into domed chambers that were entcred tl-rrough long
masonry passages. Graves of this kind are often found irr
the vicinity of stone circles such as Stonehenge.
 Nrclithic Aduantes in Tbchnology lo forgirrg war(.;. rvhich they sold or tlarlcrcd f<lr nccessi_
lir.s. This irrrplics a sophislicatcd trariing nclwork and sys_
PotLery. 5pc'r'ializati,rr arr<l clli.clivc distlib.li.rr calr
tcrrr of !l()vc'rnallce slablt' r'nough 1o prolccl it, trrrt in the
,rlso crr(orrr.lgc rltc rlcvt'lolltttt'ltl ol tt.t'ltttolog\2. [)1v111,1-,
,rppt,lrcrl soolr after tlrc N.'olilltic.rt,volrrliorr as a way t()
allscncc ol' writtt,rr -ccortls. cvirlcnce is lackiirg. Tfans_
srr|r' grains or lirluirls. wonrcrr proba[r y nra<lc rhc f irst fcrring wcap()ns rrralrtrlacturc I,r,rm thc inilividual to thc
spccialist, howcvcr, prornotcd thc largc-scalc production
,)()ls al lrorrrc attd Iircrl tlrcrrr irr a corrtrirttrtal <lvcn, lrrrt
llr. irrve rr1i.n lhc poltcr,s wlrce I all.wccl l'r ,,lhr.w- ol rnclal wcap()ns ancl nray havc cnhanced the power <lf
ing" Jlots wilh'l unprcccclcrrted clticfs by cnabling lhcrl to amass largc armorics.
spccd and cfficiclrcv.
iJ(,(aus thc rrew rncllt()d rcquired grcaf skill, th0sc
rvlro ruastcrcd it tcndcd lo irccorrre sllccialists, that is.
artisans who wcrc paid for their work rr.r food or othcr
f-Ht, Ervlr.RGENCE
t or rr nrr.rd itics. or: Ctvt:,tZA'ftoNS
Mctaliurgy: 'I'he Beginning of the Bronze Age Whcn srrrvival-as opp<lsed to the demarids of ritual_
13500 nce). The advenr ol ,nctallurgylrovides a morc requirc'd a majrtr co()l,crltive effort, some societies
rirarrratic cxamplc of <lccupalional specialization. Beforc evolved inlo :ivilizations. A tcrm loaded with subjective
6000 BcF,, Nc<llithjc people usecl pure coppe, which is meanings, for our purposes, civilization refers to the es_
sorltctimes found in natrlre, for jewelry and personal tablislrment of a political and cultural unity over alarge
irenrs. I3y' 4500 nce, tlrey wcre smelting coppcr fronr geographical area. It impl;cs high population densities
orcs and hamnrering the lreated metal into tools and and the production of substanti:l wealth requiring elab_
\vcal)ons. These complex -pr<tcesses appear to have oratr: social, commercial, and administrative structures.
evolved separ-ately and independently in the Middle In most ca:;es, civilization also meant the devclop_
East and in the Balkans, wlrcre copper deposits were ment of rnathematics and a writterr language. Both
(ontnton. Sntelting and forg_
irrg dcpcnded on thc dever-
ol)ntent of ovens that could
aclticve both a controlled air
flolv altd ternpcratLtres of
nlorc than 2000o Fahrenheit.
An analvsis of pottery frorn
Ilrese areas reveals that pot-
tcrs had developed such ovens
to facilirare glazing.
t)1,3tOO sce, bronze-a
rrrixltrrc of copper and tin_
nas irr gencral use lhrouglt_
()itt tlte West {or the rnanu.
l.ictLlre rtf tools and weapOnS.
Ilronze is harder than copper
.rrrd Irolds a lrert _'r edge. Stone
is nrorc dr.rratrlt. and can be
sltarper lh.rn eitlter lrronze or
c()l)l)cr, Lrut the process oI
fr)ntrillg stole tools by hand
is l.tbor-intcnsive ancl tltere-
Iorc 1,'"1t'.'"nr. The Neolithic
A{t' ivas no\v ()ver, artd lhe
Brorlz.e Agc ltad begun. It
laste'd rrrrril lhe invcntion of
ir.rrrworking ushered in the
lrorr Aec in abor"rl I200 Bcr.
Ilccarrsc the skills involvcd
lrl rvtlrking bronzc wcrc
IriCIrlv sncr-iilizecl, Sptiths oc_
votcd thcnrse lve's cxclusively

T lrc Ancient Miildle East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, phoenbia, Israel 11

 w('r(' n('('(i('(l lrlr larrrl srtrv('ys, irlrrrirrislration, all(l trl('
distrilrutiorr ol goo<ls arrtl scrviccs irr a con.lllcx so(i('ly.
As r liit'ls I't'tarrrc' kirrgs, tlrc rccortl ol laxr'" rnd lril)utcs
ylaitl. ol larttls arrncxcrl, a'r<l ol tlrc provisiolr, consrrntc<l
lly t I rt'i r t'vt'r- la rgcr f, nlt l(,s a('(t ui r('(l grcat sigrr ililarrcc.
Tlrc tltsirt' lo record rirc rrrlcr's gloriorrs <lccds [<lr llos-
lcritl' r;rrrrt' sliglrtly latr.r brrt \^ as lte ve rtlrclcss irnpor-
tar)1. \'\/rilinlj givcs nanrcs to irrdivi<lrrals arrtl ltcrrnits thc
dcatl to slrt'ak irr tlrcir owrr worrls. Will)()ut it, thcrc is
n() rll\1,)ty.
Tirc crrrcrglncc of socictics al this lcvcl oI complcx-
ity allr(te(l cvcl.l th()sc arcils rroi dirr,.ctly under a soc!-
ety's corrlrol. Grcat civilizations are rnagltcts that draw
oilrcr cultur.cs into thcir orbits. As pc<lplcs on the pc-
riJrlrt'ry pay rritlulc to rtr tradc with thc larger markct,
{ulltrr--ri lro rowing accclcrates. fhcn, ai?iviiizati<lns
€x11611,1, thcy comc inlo conilicl with onrr another lnd
bring rrciglrtrrlring pcoplcs into thr-'ir : ystcrns oI war and
dipkrnracy. By 3000 BcE. at least two such civilizations
liad I'cgun to enlergc: one in thc vall,ry of the Tigris and
Euplrratcs Ilivcrs, ,hc other in the valley of the Nile.

:4.: b
r.:t Tur, ANctENt- Mtpprr Ensr
Sorrrcrirrrcs known as the Fertile Crescent, the ancrent
' Midciic East includes Mesopotantia and,he eastern
,I sltorcs of thc Mediterranean to the borders of Egypt.
,-,. Thc n,ririrrg, nrarherratics, and religious faiths of
We;te rn civilizatiolt originated here. The broad valley of
the Tigris and Eupfrrares Rivers (centcr riglg on the ac-
'. conll)auf ing rnap) is known as Mesopotamia. he heart
of orrc of rhe firsr great civilizations. For 1,500 years,
the rtrle'rs of different regions or cities (Sumer, Akk.ld,
:: , wirhout substantially altering its basic culture. The
-i, coasral region centered on the phoenician city-states
. bcn'e.l as a c,.rrridor between Mr:sopotamia .and Egypt
,..., ?fld was on various occasions ruled by, one or the other
., ,. of thcse great civilizations.
,,.-i,i,
Mesopotamia
,
ii:' Geography. Mesopotamia. in Greek, means the land
i,i' ,, bcttvcerr the rivers, in this case the Tigris and the
.r
1' Euphrates. It is a hot,.fertile flood plain, most of which
pcralrtrcs rcach I10" to l20o Fahrenheit, and no rain 'alls
fronr ,\4ai, tltrough late October. Winters are more moder -
atc, iriir only Assyria in the nonh receives enough rainfall
lo slll)lx)rt agriculttrre witlrout irrigation. In tle lower val-
-by
ley, e\/crything depends on water supplicd the two
rivcrs.
Of rhc two, the Tigris carries by far the larger volume
of w'alcr. The Euphrates on the w( st has fewer tributaries
:: altd krscs more of its flow to e laporation as it passes
,u,
i.'. l
r Larsa
)l---
"tt t')'' '
'7' .EflOU
..\
.^c\\-
FlcuRE 1.7 The Mesopotamian Ituee (embankment)
System. Then as now. levees prorected croplands and cities
Irom floodwaters. Here, satellite imagery reveals mar'y of
the more important levees in the lower Tigris and Euphrates
valley (modern Iraq) constructed dur;ing the Sumerian and
Babylonian epochs. ihese ancienr levees follow-not only the
rivers but major irrigation channels. The extent of the levees
indicates thc high lcvel of social organization and technologi-
cal sophistication that led ro survival in t'he land between the
rivers.
through the dry plains. of whar is now Syria and north-
western lraq. In April and May, snow melting in the
Zagros Mountains aauses massive flooding throughout
the region. This provides r--.eeded warer and deposits a
rich lay:r of alluvial silt. but the inundation presents
enormous problems of n:;.nagement. Communities must
control the tloods not orrly to prote( t human settlement
. but to preserve water for irrigation during the rainless
summer. To m,tke matters worse, both rivers creale nat-
ural embankmenrs or levees rhat inhibit the flow of trib-
tutaries and that over time have raised the water level
above that of the surrounding countryside. If spring

'
;,,' 12 Chapter 1
 liootls wash llrc crnbarrktne l)ts away, llrc rivcrs clrangc
rirt'ir rrrrrrscs.'frcn with disastrr)rs rcsults. Thc tliblical
\r()r), ()[ Noah arrd thc Flo<d originatccl in Mcs<4rotamia,
alrlr.ugh llrcre wcre ;lr'babry nrany f r''ds rarhcr tharr
. Jlrsl Orrc (scc I) rcumcnt l.l).
'l-lrc fjrst klrown sclllcmcnls
in thc regi<ln wcrc vjl-
lagt'crrllurcs sllcakilrg a Scrnitic language distanrly rc_
laletl to tlre mrlre mode rn Hcbrcw or Arabic. They grew
rvlrtar and barlcy arrd by 4500 n<:t: had established
' rht'rrsclvcs as f rr south as Akkad ncar rhe m'dern Iraci
<aliilal of Baghdad. Ahhough Semiric peoples from rhe
' ivest and southwest continued to migrate into the re_
giorr until the Arab invasiorrs of the ninth century cr,
by 3CC0 scr, a non-Scmitic peoplc wlro may have come
.ririnally fr'm Incia-the Sumcrians-had achievecr
. clorrrinance in the lower valley

Th^ !':nerians. The Sumerians introduced larse_

scalc irrigation and built the firsr rruc cities, usua.lyln
a tributary of one of the rivers. Many of them grer,r,inttr
ciry-stares that dominated a terrirory of perhaps a hr,n-
drcd square miles. The inhabitants cultivated cerears, es-
pccially barley, and had lea,ned rhc secrer of laking
beer. Sumerian homes of sun_baked b.ick were orisi_
nally small and circular, like a peasant,s tur, but grad"u_
ally expanded to be :ome large, one_srory stnlctures
rvitlr square or reoangular rooms surrounding a
central
courtyard.

The Sumerian Social Order. The organization of

rire Sumerian city-states provided a model for their
Akkadian and Babyloniarr successors. Each city had
a
kirrg rvho ruled with the assistance of a palace bureau_
cracy. A city council, elected by free citizens, had
lee_
islarive and judicial responsibilities, although
the pr!-
cise division of powers is unknoivn. The roval farnilv
and irs retainers owned large tracrs of land. An orea_
ruiz-cd priesthood also held extensive propenie,
o ,,.ip_
p()rt rheir service in the great raised temple,
or ziggu_
rat, rhat dominated the town (see Tfvo Faiths: Their
Prayers and Monumerrrs). private far'ilies-most
of them
extended, ntultigenerational, and organized on patriar_
What does the writer
ciral lines---owned the rest of the land. Although rarely
to da1 "?
rich, rhese freeholders enjoyed full civil rig,rts and par_ ,l,iilr:?
'. r'1.,#ilt.r
ticipared in the city,s represenrative asser tblv. The
' ,,i,',r. j .
grcal('st threat t' their i.dependc'cc was cleut, which
r.'rrrrlti lead to enslavenrent. Srill. although
sla. e11, in
paynrr'nl of debt was common and the te nrple
o. puiua.
sonrelinres acquired slaves through war, Sumer
was not
a slave-based economy. eties, they stood at the cenrer of a system of clientage
Srrrtrerian cities warred co:-rtinually over the alloca_ that involved tlreir families and their seivants, as well
lion of l, nd and water. At first rhe local kings were as officials, commoners, and priests.
probably war chiefs. As the necd ro mobilize
the city,s Clieirtage. As the basic form of social organization in
resources for war grew, they acqtrired new responsibil_
manv cultures, clientage was destined to become a pow-
irics lor the allocation of goods and latror and rhcir
erful force in tl e histoi:y of tl.e West. Clientage is best
powcrs became I'rereditary. Like chiefs in ,ther
soci- defir ed as a system of mulual dependencyr in which a

The Ancient Miildle East: Mesopotamia, .Egypt, phoenicia, Israel 13

 woo'1, \l()Il(', (()l)l)cr ipllots,
arr<l llrcciorrs lrrctals. lron
antl sleel wcrc as ycl un-
krrorvn. Latcr, in thc lilnc o{
Harnrrrrrralri (r. 1750 nc.r),
13a[tyi<lltran rrrlcrs attcrlptcd
to lrrirrg solnc of tlrcsc lrad-
irrg companics undcr g<lv-
('nrrr cnl regrrlatlolt.

The Firsr Writing. -wc

ktr<tw morc. about the
Sutncrians only becausc they
wcrc the first Wcstern peopic
t() creat(. a wriltcn language.
Trrcir polirical and cconomic
rclationships had reached a
level of comL,lexity that re-
quired permanent record-
keeping. Alrhough the
Sunrerian language was ap-
paren rly unrelated to any
other and was used only for
religious purpose j after about
2000 B:E, all later Mes-
i.fur'- opotamian cultures adopted
in Akladian ot.the Epkof Gitsameshrels rhe Babyfonian its cuneiform sysrem of writ-
; ;:end rf rhc f,,lj":.I':::::-t
:j::i:,1 ll.,d and c.nres f.rm the great ribrary estabrished ar Nincveh reg-
ot'l:tbanipa,l (669-626 ace). I-'ke ail cuneiforrn wriring, ;;il;;;;;1; ing. Cuneiform refers tc the
l.Tll.),t
,w",1,r".sr,pc'd ii',,'"'"i.Tuiliil;il:ffiiilil ir rvas created b.,nressirs
;il'Tf'J'":fi,,i[,1i1,0,;Xli,i""t ' wcdge-shaped nrarks left by a
stylus when it is pre3sed into
::,:

i: a \^/et cla,v tablet. Surrrer was

*_{ rich in mud, and slabs of clay
i1
. p.rv.rftrl individual protects rhe inreresrs of others in were perfect for recording
taxes, land transfers. and legal agreements. When the
rerrrrn frtr their political or economic support.
A system document was ready, the tablet could be baked until
."r be informal or sandion3d by law. clientage in hard and stored for furure reference.
[,P..]
urlcr appears to havc been both. Informal
{ . .ur ties of de_
crLJ vr ul_
pendcncy existed rogether with a separate crass
of fre e
individuals vvho. defined by the law ai clients, leased Power Struggles and Warfare
the
:use of snrall rrarcels of land in return for labor
are of their produce. Their patrons_kiugs,
and a in Macpotam:ia . .-
officials, c r
tenrplc priesrs-rerained title to the lanJ and a Throughout its history, Mesopotatnia,s wealth and lack
com_
. of natunal defenses made it a tempting prize for con_
'p.elling
,__.. hold .... rlreir
-"._ on lrr!rr LrrLrr. political toyallles.
client,sJ lrutlttLdt
:,..- loyalties. Sumenan
Sumerian
'clieltrs had full rights as citizens,
-
querors.'For 1,i00 years, the rulers of different regions
but th,-,y could not be
; exllc'creri to \'0le against those wl ro aont.ull.d
.succession conquered all or part of Mesopotamia.
ir.r
their ect.,-
Using foi'ce and the careful ntanipulation of alliances,
they established dynasties rhat t nded when their de_
ilrade. organizatior. of rrade, like rhar of agricul_ scendanu fell prey either to internal divisive forces
.The or to
;.lurc, rellccred this social slrtrcture. For centrrries. invasions by pelrple from the surrounding highlands.
FiMcs.ll,r,tanrian business rested on the exrended family Sumer. Even with r,r.ritten records, political relations
T;or rvlrar would ttday be called family corporations.
anrong the Sumerian city-states are difficulr to recon-
lorrrc groups ran caravans to every part of the Middle struct. As populations increased, struggles over boundaries
'.East .r shipped goods by sea via rhe persian Gurf. Thev and trading rights grew more vio.ent. By 230t) BcE,
1; ,exprtrrcd-texliles; copper implements, and other prod_ inter_
city confli.rs engulfed the region as kings claimt d ruler_
i ucls ol Mcsopotarnian craftsmanshi ip and intported
ship ovrr more than one city, or, all of Sumer_although

14 Chaptr 1
llrcrt'rrr iy n('v('r l)av(,bc'crr a Srrnrcriarr [:rrrJlirc ol ar)y sil]-
lrilir'ant lt'rrgtlr. Acrrrrriirrg l() tlt(. irrst'ri1l1i<lrrs r,l l(ing
Lrrg.rlz;rgcsi ol Urr,,lra ((. n7, rtr:, ), lrc aclricvccl c()lttr()l
ovt'r llrt'('nlirc rcgion only l() ltavr,it lakcn frorn hirn lry
ir rron-Srrrrrcriarr, Sargorr ol Akkatl,
Al<l<acl. Thc Akkatliarr lriulnph lltarkc(l thc bcginnirrg ol
a rl('w irrrpcrial agc. Tlrc uniticali()n of southcrn and ccn-
tr al Mcsopotamia gavc Sarg<ln (rcigr;cd c. 2350-2300 ;rcr,)
tJr(' llcans 1r) conqucr tlrc nortlr togclhcr with Syria.
r\ltlrotrgh Akkadian rule was bricf, it transmitted c cmcllts
()f Mcs()lx)tamian culturc througlrout thc ,vliddle East, and
Akka<liarr, a Scmitie language, bccamc standard through-
()Lrt lllc figris and Euphratcs vallcys. But the brevir)r ol
Sargon's triumph sc1 a pattern f<lr' rlte political frrturc.
B2lrylon. Afrcr thc overrhr(rw of Saig;,r's descendanrs
by a descn peoplc known as the Guti and a brief revivai
of Sumerian power undcr rhc Third Dynasty of Ur,
Eabylorr becante the chief political and cultural center of
thc regi<rn. Under Hammurabi (ruled c. 1792-1750 BCE)
tlrc Babylonians achieved_ hegemony over all of
Nlesopotamia, but a series of invasions after I600 scr led
to a krng period of political disorrler. The invaders. thr:
ntost inrportant of whom rvere Hittites, an Indo-
Eurtlpcan p€ople from the area around Hattusha in
sollth-central Asia, introduced fighting from wheeled
chariots, a tactic that soon spread throughout the Middle
East. Because rhe Hittites did not seek to aher local insri-
ILltions, their influence was olherwise imperntanent;
horvever, a rivalry soon developed.between Babylon and
Ass,vria, a kingdom in the rrorthern parr oi rhe valley
centered fir:st on the city of Ashur and Iater on Nineveh.
Assyria. A fierce people rvho spoke a dialec-t or
Akl<adian, the Assyrians may havc been rhe first peo-
ple to coordinate the use of cavalry, infanrry, ant. ntis-
siie rveapons. Not only were their armies wel! orga-
nizcd, but their grasp of logistics appears ro have
sLrrpassedthat of other ancient el'npires. Although a
highly civilized people wlrose literarl, and' artistic
achievenrents continued the traditi rns of Sumer and
Babylon, they waged psychological warfare b1, culti-
valiug a reputation forhorrific cruelty. The1,eventually
dc'leated the Babylonians and after 933 restored tlte
achicverlents of Sargon by esrablishing an entpire that
strerched front Egypt rtl Persia.
Alesopotamian Culture, LAut, and Religiotr
hr spite of violent political alterations, Mesopolantia re-
nrained culturally hornogeneous for nearll, 3,000 years.
While capitals and dynasties rose and fell, rhe land be-
l\verr) the rivers rentained captive to the annual {loc,ds
arrd consequent need for cooperatior.r, superlative engi-
Tlrc Ancient Micldle East: Mesopotamia Egypt, Phoenicia,
ttccring, alrd f rctlr.rcnt rc<listribution ol land. Thc Mcso-
l)olalnians' highcst intellcctual achicvcrrrcnls wcrc
tIrc rc j o rt' 1r ra ct ica I
Mathematics. Thc Mt'sr'po amians wcrc tlrc lirst
grcal rrrathcnralicians wlrosc placc-valrrc syslcni of
ll()tati()r') is the lrasis of all utodcrrr rrrrrncral systcms.
They usccl a nutrtcrical syslctn lrascd on sixty (inslead
of tire moclcrrr tcn) and produccd rcfcrcncc tables f<lr
rnul'tillicati<ln, divisi<ln, squarc ro()ls, cubc r{ro15, unO
othel functions. Tl,cir greatcst achiev(jment, the
place-valuc sysl'jrll in which tl,e valuc of cach digit is
dctermined by r1s position iftcr tht" base-instcad of
hy a scparale nante-madc d.-scribing large numbers
;lossiblc.
The Legal Code of HammuraLi. The Babylonians
also created one of the first comprehensive legal codes.
Narned aftt'r Harlmurabi, it was alm<lst certainly a
cornpendium of existing laws rather than new legisla-
tion and rc'flected a legal tradition that ltad been de-
veloping for centuries. Its basic principles were retribu-
tion in kind and the sanctiry of contracts. In criminal
cases this meant literally "an eye for an eye, a tooth for
a tooth"-if the social status of the parties rvere equal.
If not, a defendant of highr:r status could usually es.
cape by paying a fine. Blood feuds, private retribution,
and c,ther features oi tribal law, however, were forbid-
den. This same sense of retributive justice extended to
the punishmerlt of fraud and negligence. A builder
whose house collapsed and killed its <lccupants could
be executed; tavern keerlers who watered their drinks
were drowned Craftsmen had ro replace poor work-
manship at their own expense, and farmers who failed
to keep their ditches and levees in good repair were
sold into slavery if ti ey could not compensate the vic-
tims of their carelessness. Cortracts governed every-
thirg from nrarriage to interesr rates and could not be
broken witht-rut paying a heavy fine.
An almost oppressive sense of social responsibiliiy
drove Hanrrnurabi's Code. The eccllogy of Mesopotamia
was ,both fragile and largely rnanmade. Only elaborate
regulation could prer ent disaster, and the law is expiicit
or1 rrlElnI arjpects of trade, agriculture, and manufactur-
ing. Courts ar-rd city cor.rucils heard a variety of cases-
demonstrating rhe conrinuing irnportance of local gov-
ernment even after the esiablishment of an empire-and
alsrr toclk an interest in personal, farnily issues, including
rrrarriage.
As in rrost ancient cultu.'es, parents arranged the
marriages of rl-reir children. The parents of tne bride
provided ht'r with a dowry. which she was entitled to
keep in the event of widowhtlod or divorce. Hustrands
coulcl demand a divorcc al tny time but had to pay
mailrtenance and child support unless they could
demonstrate that the wife had failed in her duties.
Israel 15

SslrcrroNg rnoM Hnrvrl{unnst's Copr
translation, Seignior refers to-both nobles and free cit-
The disrinction is imponant because .Mesopotamian
like many early legal systems, prescribed different
Ities and obligations on the basis of social cl rss.
seignior has destroyed the ne of a tnember of the aristoc-
they shall destroy'his eye. If he has destroyed the eye of a
r or brolctn the bone of a comtnoner, he shall pay one
of silver, If he has destroyed the q'e of a seignior's slave or
the bone of a seignior's slave, he shall pay one-half
an obligation came due agairst a seignior and_he sold the
tces
of his.wife, his son, or his daugh.yn or he has been bound
for servicz, thcy shattitrk in the house of their purchaser or
for three yean with their freedom reestablished in the
year. . , .
outlaw have angregated in the establishment of a woman
seller and :he has not arrested those outlaws and did not
them to the palace, that wine seller shall be put to death. .
a wotnan so hatcd her husband that she has declared. "You
not have me,' her reard shall be investiga:ed at her city
and if she was careful and was not at fault, even though
husband has been going out and disparagmg her greatly, that
, without incurring any blame at all, may take her dowry
go off to her father's house. If she was not careful, bui vas a
thus neglecting her house and humiliating her hu:-
, they shall throw that woman in the water.
From the excerpt, what can you conclude
a woman's right to own property?
cluties, like all other aspects of the mdrriage
ngcmenl, were spelled out in a detailed conrract
enritled htrsbands to satisfy tlteir creditors by sell-
n'ivc-s and children into slavery, usually for no
re tharr 2 or 3 years. Trre systenl was patriarchal, but
wile could sue for divorce on gr<;un.ds of crueltl', ne-
, trr her husband's false accusation of adultery. If,
ver, atlultery were proved, the guilty cotrple
rultj ire tietl together and drowned; if the aggrieved
bantl forgave his wife, her lover would be pardoned
we'll. Bccause there were no lawyers, women, like
n, \vcre expected to plead therr own cases-a right
r dcnied them in more mocern legal syslems. Trr
ucc litigation, Hammurabi's Code decreed the death
It1, for those who brought false accusations or frliv-
us stnls.
Chapter 1
Religiorr McsoJrotamiarr rcligion was no1 based on
ctlrical cortntandltr.-trls Ironr thc gocls (althtlugh likr:
nlost lawgivcrs, Harrttnuratti claimcd drvirrc sanctioll for
his codc). Tltc Srrntcrians had w<tr:'hillpcd nl()re than
1,00o tlcitics. nrany ol whom acqttircd httntan frtrnt
ancl u rich ntytltoklgy arouncl their advcntttrcs. Most
Mcs()lx)ta:niarr god; rcprcscntccl nat,ural ltlrccs or the
spirits of lrarticular localities. Thc chicf god of Babylon
was its city g,od, Marduk, and thc Assyrians accorded
s'rnilar honors t<l Ashur. Both wcre .th<lught o[ as cre-
a.<lrs who had trr<lught the universe out of primal
chaos. Other goiJs and goddcsses \'vere still worshipped,
but in an apparent step toward monotheism (the be-
of
lief in on,e god), they were increAsirrgly described as
agcnts clf Marduk or Ashur and even,tually' as manifes-
tations"of a single god. i
Thc powcr of the gods was absoiute. Humeins de-
pended on their whrms and could hope to prolritiate
them only through the ceremonies of the priests.:The
problem crf the :ighteous sufferer vlars therefore ,drre-
cr.riring theme in Baoylonian literatqre. Even de; th of-
fered no hope of relief. In the greatest of all Babylonian
.
epics, the hero Gilgamesh, inspired by the death of his
friend Enkidu, wrestles with the 'rroblem of the here-
after. His discoveries are not reassrring. The nether
world is a grim place, and neither the legendary
Gilgamesh nor any other Mesopo'tamian could imagine
a personal salvation. I^ their extensive literature is an in-
dication, I the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia knew
how to eirjoy life, but a grim fatalism tempered their en-
joyment (see Tiazo Faiths: Their Prayers and Monuments).
In the land between the rivers, with ^ts terrible inunda-
tions and vulneratrility to invaders, it could hardly have
been otherwise.
ANcrcNr Ecypr
,l
ueograpny
While the Sumerians were establishing thems:lves in
Mesopotamia, another great civilization was developing
in the vallt.y of the Nile. In central'Africa, Uganda's Lake
Victoria, rrrore than 1,000 miles from the shores of the
Mediterranean, streams running from a cluster of great
lakes merge their waters to forn the White Nile. The
lakes serve as a reseryoir, and the river's volume re-
mains constant with the seasons as it flows north to
meet the Blue Nile at Khartoum. The Blue Nile is
smaller than the White, but its sources are north of Addis
, Adaba in rhe Ethiopian highlands where the monsoon
rains of June and the melting mountain snow become a
torrent. Tliis annual flood, which rea:hes the lower Nile
valley in July or August, provides both the moisture and
the rich iayer of black silt that support Egyptian life.
 Frorrr llrc c(,nllu(:lt('c of lltc two tiv(,rs. thc Nilc
lrrakcs a wi<lt' sw(.('l) to tllc wcsl ltt'lorc f lowing lrorllr-
',i'arri tlrrouglr a vallt,y rrrorc lllarr rllorc tjlan 350 rnilcs
Iorrg lrrrl rarcly lrrorc tharr | 0 rrrilc's wi<lc. Thc hisloric
larrrl ol I:gyJlt is a narrow wcll- valcrcd passagcway lrc-
ro
lw,('('ll tlrc Mcditcrrarlcan and tlrc hcart ol Africa. T<r
i'tht'rvt.sr lics tlrc vast c'tlptiltcss of thc Libyan
descri; t<l
llrt r'ast. a lirrc oI yrarclred and rrrgg,cd hills mark thc
. slr,/rcs ol tltc Rcd Sea. r)pcn cour)try is found only ncar
' llrr. rivL'r''s r]loullt, a vast alluvirl dclta thr<tugh which,
,in ,lrrrirlrrity at lcast, scvcn nrain clranncls provided ac-
'", crss to rhc Mcdite rrancan Sca. Sunlncr temperatures
i; ilr tlrc valley arc not as hol as thosc <lf Mesopotamia,
, lrur lirrlc or n<l rai'r falls ano, withoul the river, life
'.
.w,ol: lrl lrc insupportablc.
,:. As irr r\4esopotanria, the key 1o Egyptiafl agriculture
'I wrs rltc
l)roper monagemertt ol the annual flood. The
:. Nile is rnorc predictable and less violent than the Tigris
.:r.or ELtltlrrates, but the construction of levees, catch-
$;meni. and an extensive network of clitches was es_
fusenrial both to.protect settlements and to preserve wa-
i:.. lcr altcr thc flood subsided in rhe fall. Such projects, as
f;{, n,cll as rl.re preservation and d;stribution of grain dur-
f ing rlrc dry monrhs, required a high level of organiza-
[,i;:,tion. lrrar riray tn turn have led to the centralized, hi-
i.:. erarcltical character of ancient Egyptian society, b.rt
'.. thc poinr is arguable. Little is known of politics before
:i:t, thc aclvenr of the First Dynasty around ll00 ecr. At
,.; rhar. Lirtrc, rhc kings of the First Dynasty or rheir im-
..: ntedratc predecessors united the ivvo lands of U1,per Egtrrytian society depended on rhe waters of the Nile .
,:'. (sourhern) and Lower (northern) Egypr ..nd-laid the .
and occupied almost no territory outside its narrow
i; foundarions of a political culture that viould endure river "alley. The deserts on either side made Egypt dil-'
ii,t f.',r nearly three millennra. The essential characteristics ficult to invaCe.
--;:if - r,i;,
'' of Egyptian society were in place when the Third
f,,.,DVnasty assumed power in 2686 scr and began the
".,Old Kingdom.
The Old and Middle Kingdoms. The Old King-
dom ended when massive crop'failures coirrcided with
Political History the political collapse of the Sixth Dynasty. After,an anar-
chic Intermediate Pe-riod of more than 100 years,
$,F]
gisto.ical Periods. The history of ancient Eglpr is Amene.nhet I, the ruler ol Thebes in Upper Egypt, re-
li:,conrentionally divided into three kingdoms and no united the country and established the Middle Kingdom.
i,. fen'cr rhan twenty-six dynasties: the Old Kingdom During the TWelftlr Dynasty (c. l99l-1786 ncr:). Egypt
{26.s6-218 ) scr), the Middle Kingdom (2133_17g6 rcr), found it;elf under military pressuie in both the north
arrr,l rhe Nerv Kingdom (1567-525 ncr). The terms o/d, and south and, for the first time in its history, created a
ntiJdle, and trcw do not necessarily rellect progress. Some standing army. Expeclitions into palesrine, Syria, and
ol Egypt's grcatest achievements-for -.xample, the con_ Libya hclped stabilize rhe norrh while massiv" io.tr.rr.,
.j:,strLrcriorr of the pyramids at Giza-came during the pre- were built in Upper Egypr as prelection against the grow-
.];,"d1'rrasric period and the Old Kingdom. The Intermediate ing povrer of Kerma, an expansionist state in what is
$i,Pcriods bcrween these kingdoms were troubled times now Sudan. The MiJdle Kingdom dissolved when a se-
tii' J..-:-..-
drrrirrg --.1-:-l- -,- !
which provincial governors, known to tll(. Greeks ries of foreign dynasties known as the Hyksos supplanted
as trcnrart'hs, iucreased their power at the expensc of the the naf,ive Egyptian rulers. From thb late 1700s ncr,
ccntral government. Periodically one would gain ascen- Egypt's wealth attracted an influx of immigrants from
dancy over the others and establish a dynastv that se,ved Palestine dnd other parrs rf the Middle East. The Hyksos
as thc cornerstone of a new kingdom. rulers were probab y drawn from these groups. They

The Anciett Miilil.le East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, phoenicia, Israel 17

 Tlvo Fm:'rrs: THgin Pnnygns AND MoNtrrrnENTs
Thc Mesopotamians.believed that the gods were hostile, de-
manding, and inscnrtable. Denlng them due respeo brought
immediate and terrible punishment in this world, but ihey
promiscd no reward in the next. In conrrast, Egyptian beliefs
centcred on an after'ife. The following illustrations and docu-
mr:nts show two very different spiritual worlds.
A Mesopotatnian Prtyr
i:' Tl,is fragment from a longer prayer displays the characteris-
tic Mesopoumian sense that the gods were not only rle-
manding, but fickie, and that the worshippe?Toulci never be
certain nr Gnrlipg favor with them.
The sin, whidr I have ammitted, I know not.
The iniquity. which
I have do4e. I know not.
The iniquity, which I have done, I know not.
The offence , which I committed, I know not.
The transgresion I have done, I know not.
The lord, in the anger of his heart, hath tookel Ltpon me.
The god, in the wrath of hk heart, hath visited me.
The goddess hath become angry with me, and hath grievously
stricken me.
The known or unknown god hath straightened me.
The known or unknown goddess hath brought afliaion upon
me.
I sought for help, but no one taketh my hand.
I wept, but no one came to my side.
May the known and unknown god be pacifed!
May the known and unknown goddess be pacified!
'Penitential Psalms,' in Asryrian and Babylonian Literature,
trans. R. F. Harper (New york: D. Appleton, l90l).
caltrc ro power by infiltrating high office instead of b',, in_
vacling, but their success was deeply resentrd.
rThe New Kingdom. The resroration
of a narive dv-
nasll in 1567 gcr marked the beginning of the New
Kingdonr. ,/. series of warlike pharaohs destroyed the
.capital of Kerma and briefly exten,Ced their authority to
the barrks of the Euphrares. Ramsesll (1279-"213 ncr)
fouglrt rhe Hittite empirc to a rruce. Ramses III re-
mained slrong enough to protect Egypt against a series
lirrearening population movements in the earlv
8 Chapter 1
-i
An Egyptian Prayer *
1{r
;
This prayer or incantation was forrnd on coffins during the
Middle.Xingdom. It reveals none of the Mesopotamian fear
of arbilrary punishment t.ut provides a graphic vision of life
aftcr dei.th as well as a fine sample of Egyptian religious im-
agery. I'he Eastern Doors mark ihe enfry into paradise. Be is
the Sun god, anci Shu is the god of air who raised Heaven
above the Eanh and plantcd rrees ro support it. A cubit mea-
sures bctween l7 and 2l .inches.
Coing in an:d Out of the Eastern Doors cf Heaven among the
Followcr. of Re. I know the Eestern Souls
I knort the centr.tl door from which Re issues in the east. Its
south is tire pool of kha-birds, in the place where Re saib with the
breeze; i s north is the waters of ro-fowl, in the place where Re
sails with rowing. I am the keeper of the halyard of the boat of the
g"d; I am.the oarsman v.lto does not weafl in the barque of Re.
I know those two sycamores of tur 4uoise between which Re
comes forth, the two which came from the sowing of Shu at every
eastern Coor at which Re rkes.
I know the Field of Reeds of Re. The wall which is around it is
of metal. The height of is barley fo'tr rubits; its beard is one cu-
is
bit; and i's stalk is three ahix. Its emmer is seven atbits; its beard
is two aibits, and its stalk is five cubits. lt is the horizon dwellen,
nine cubits in height. who reap it by the side of the Eastern Souls.
I know the Eastern Souls. They ai e Har-akhti, The *.huner-
Calf, and lhe Morning Star.
From Ancient Near Eastern Tixts Related to the Old Testament.vol. l,
2nd ed. ,Iames B. Pritchard (princeron, NJ: princeton Univr,rsirv
Press,1955).
twelfth century scr. Thereafter, the power of the
monarcby declincd perhaps because the gold and silver
iml)orts that sustained its armies began to shrink. After
525 ncn, Egypt fell first to rhe lersians and then ro the
Macedonians under Alexander the Great in 321 ncs.
Characteristics of Egyptian Society
The Pharaoh. The society rhat survived these
changes bore little resemblance to that of Mesopotamia.
Its most unusual feature was the absolute po,ver it ac-
 Although pyramids and ziggurats are srrperficially similar,
their purposes were different. The ziggurat was a stepped
pyramid dedicated to the god or goddess who was patron of
rlrc city. Like the tater pyramids of Central America, it drew
rlrc cycs of the worshipper upward to a platform at the top
wlrerc prirsts performed sacrifices ar.d conducted religious
ccrcmonics. The pyramids of Egyptian pharaohs were cuv-
ered msmooth stone that could not be scaled' Their purpose
was to ensure the resurrection of ttre god-king i r the lands
of the west so that the etemal rycle o{ floods and harvests
might continue. The pyramid had to be orienteo urccisely
and contained not only the embalmed remains of 'he dead
ruler but also th'e possessions he would he woulJ need in
the afterlife.

A Muopotamian Ziggryat,
Bcgu r in the twenty-second
cenlury sce and restored in
rrodern times, the s!ructure.is
set in bi-
built cl burnt bricks
tumen (a naturallY occurnng
petroleum-based substance
similar to asphalt). Its base
measures 210 X 150 feet, and
its or,ginal height was about
40 !eet. On the northeast face,
sho'vn here, three staircases
lcad upward to the bedcham-
ber of Nanna, the Moon God
and prtron ol the city of Ur.
The sloping walls are not
straight, but they are built on
a slight convex curve so that
they do not appear to sag.

lhe Pyramids at Giza.

the largest ol thelyramids,
that o{ Cheops or Khufu
lc.2570 BcE) on the right,
r-reasures 480 feet in height.
The middle one is that oI
I(helren (c. 2530 ecn), and the
pyramid of Menkaure
(c.2465 ncr) is on the left.

({)rrlcd to the kirrg, or pharaoh, a Middle Kingdom ti-
tle nre'arting "great house." His authority in life was
airsolule . ln practice, he was expected to act accord-
itrg t<t ma'at, a concept of justice or social order based
on lhe balance or reconciliation of conflicting princi-
plcs. The king could not appear arbitrary or irrespon-
silrlc, and trecause Egyptian society was conservative,
prccedenl {urther limited his actions. If ma'at were
i,
n()r preserved, dynasties could fall, but the historical
ri",rti
circumstances in which this happened are Senerally
unknowu,
When the king died, his spirit. or ka, would take its
place in the divine pantheon and becorne one with Osiris,
god of the dead. To facilitate this passage, the Eglptians
built vast funeral monuments-the pyramids-to hold
the dead tuler's mummified remains and serve as the
centcr of a temple complex di:dicated to his worship:
The largest pyramids were built at GiTa during the
Old Iingdom by the Fourth Dynasty (2613-2494 ncr)
monarchs-Khufu (Cheops), I(hefren, and Menkaure
(see 71vo Faiths: Their Drayerc and Monumerls)' Constructed
of between 80 million and I l0 million cubic feet of cut

Ancient Miildte East: Maopotatnia, Eg'pt, Pltoenicia, lsrael lg

 r('\lx'( l (or(l('(l wonl('n ol ll)(. royal falltily ntay also
.r(
lr,r't' l.tl atritrrrli's lrwarrl wolncll tlrr<ltrglr'trr rlrt'
allr'<
(()ilil1t)/. Irr gcrrt'ral, llrc slalrrs ol rvornc,rr irr Egyptiarr
so-
i it'rv rr,,rs lriglrcr llrarr tlral ir.r nr,sl .tlrcr ancicnt crrllurcs.
ll,g1rptian Cultura, Scict:cc, and Religion
Wriltcn I-anguage. Writirr:l cvolvcil irr Egypt ancl in
\lt rolrolarrria at alxrul llre sanrt, lirnc, lttrl tlrc !ra,o sys-
r('lr\ r\r(.r( (lill('rc,nt. EgyJrtian writirrg i: kn<lwn as hiero-
glr'plrics.rrrrl irr irs t'arricst lirrrrr c.rrsistcd,f rifcrike
Pic-
lur('s r(.1)rcs(,rrting sJrccifi<.<ltrjcrts or acti()ns. By a pr0cc.;s
:irIril;rr IrI rvord associalrorr. ccrtain hicroglyphs acquireci
.rtltiitiolral rrrcanilrgs, ancl by alrotrt 2700 tJ(_ir, scvcrtty-
t'iglrl ol llrr.rl1 1arat" llcing usud plrorrctically lo rcp,.esent
(r,r),.{)nal}ls or gr()UI).;
of c<ll)s0narrts. Afirr tire Semiric
irnqtiar:cs. Egyptian writirrg lrad no vor,r,els. Symools
r('l)r(,sct)ting bOth thc O"rjcct <lr iCca and its pronunciation
n,cr.r ollcn used sitnultancous.y lo avo.cl confusion,
and
slrlllirrurr.as nol srandardized. ^^hhough Egyptian can
be
rcad vcrtically <lr horizolrtally in any dircction, the
hiero-
rlyplric f isirres aliva1,5 facc tlrc- beginning of the line.
Ilicnrglvphics apyrcarcd primarily in formal inscrip_
riotls ()n stonc or papyrus. For contracts, correspon_
dct rcr, a nd <ltlter cvcrydal, docu r.nents, professi,onal
stnbcs nrotc lvith recd pens on l)apyrus in a script
kno\1,1) as ltieratic. Based on hieroglyphics, hieratic
be_
c.t,n(, nl()rc cursivc over time. Mo:.t of Egyptian litera_
Iultr, inclr ding p<lerns and popular romances, as well as
lcarrrcd trcitises. rvas circulated ir-r this form.
.
Mathenratics. The Egyptian nunri,er sirte-, like our
o\vlt, \i/as trased on ten. (Tl-re Greeks adopted it from the
Eglpriarrs and passed ir or-t rct orhcr European peoples.)
Brrt rhc Egi'ptidns never developed a place_valui system
()f llr)tati()ll. so tltev ueeded a bewildering
como.nation of
svnrtrols r() exprcss nunrbers that were not mu,tiDles
of
1eu. Genenlly less sophisticated in mathematici than
l\.lcsopor"rrnians. ancienr Egyptians could nrultipiy
and
divide onl1, by doubling, bur this appears io have been
suflicieir for their needs. They understood squares and
squarc r()ors, altd they knew, at an early date, the ap_
pr<lxilnate valuc' ol n. The.necd for land surveys
after
caclr annL,ai flooci forced the Egyprians to become
skilled nlcasurers, and the construction ol thc pyramids
rcvt'als arr inrpressive lirasp of geontetry.
Architecture. pyrarnids
afrer the Fourth Dynasty
grcrv snr.tllcr antl less expensive, but the Egyptian
pen_
charrl lor public works, temples, ancl funirarv monu_
nrt'nts conrinued until rhe Hellenistic (Greek) era. The
Egyptians were superior craftsmen n stone and could
c()lli,crl cven the hardest granites into WOrks of art. As
arclrilccls they seem to have invented post_and_lintel
c()lrstrLlcrlon irr masonrf. Their ternples, whether cut
irrto tlre linrestoue cliffs of the Nile valley or freestand-
22 Chapter 1
irrg, are graccd with nragnif iccnt gallcrics ancl porticoes
sr.rpp()rt('(l [ly sl()rrc c(,!umns, many of which were dec_
rlratcJ or irrscribcri wirh writing. Thc Egyptians also
built spacious palaccs for lhc kings and their officials,
hut fcvy ()f lhcsc structures survivccl thc ccnturies intatr.
Religion. Although few cultures havc devoted more
atlcntion to rcligiorr and phiklsophy, or produced a
larger body <:f speculativc litcrature, the ancient
Egyptian idcas arc difficulr to dcscribe. This is in parr
bccause thcy saw no need to demonstrate the kiglcal
connection bclween differcnt statenlents. Asserling
principles or retclling illustrative myths was enough;
analysis was leir to thc ',.,'it or irnaginaiion of the reader.
Il an .tral tradition supplementeci these urrerances or
provided a me rhodological guir'le to their interpretativn,
it has been losr. The surviving literature is therefore
rich, cornple.r, and allusive, bur to literal-minded mod_
erns, full of contradictions.
The earliest Egypiran gods and goddesses were n3ture
spirits p,eculiar to a village or region. They usually took the
forms of anirnals, such as the vulture goddess Nekhbet
who became the patroness of Upper Egypt arrd her Lower
Egyptia: counrerpart, the cobra goddess Buto. ,ihe effigies
of both adomed tlre pharaoh,s crown as a syml ,ol of im-
perial unity. This anin-ral imagery may reflect totr,mic be_
liefs of great antiquity, but in time tl,e deities acqrrr:ed hu_
man bodies while retaining their anintal hcads.
. Everrtually, new deiries emerged who personified ab-
stract qualities. Ma'at, the principle of justice'and equi_
Iibrium, became the goddess of good order; Sia was rhe
god of intelligence. None of this 'nvolved the displace-
ment oi other gods; the Egyptians, like other socielies
with polytheisric rqligions, sou3ht to include and revere
every conceivable lspect of the divine.
Egyptians long resisted monotheism. perhaps they,
-believr,:d
.The
it was too simple a corrcepr to account for the
complexity of the urriverse. When the New Kiugdom
pharaoh Akhenaton (reigned c. l?,79-l362nce banned
i
all cults save titat cf-Aton, the Sun disk (formerly an as_
pect of Re-Honrs), the people rejered his ideas as hereti_
cal and abandoned them soon after his death. Sonte writ_
ers vie'v Akhenaton as an early pioneer of monotheism,
but little reason can be found to believe that his views
had nuch influence cither
in Egypt or elsewhere.
Akherrltot)'s grcatesr legacy was probably artistic, for he
and his queen, Ncfertiti, were great patrons, and the art
of the Amarna Age, named after the new capi ral he con_
structed at Tell el-Arnama, was magnificent.
Of the many facets of Egypti,an religion, the one that
most i^ttrigued t-rutsiders was its concern with eternal
life. Broadly speaking, the Eglptians thought of erernal
life as a continuation of life on Earth, spenl somewhere
beyond the "roads of the west,, (see Ttuo Faiths: Their
Prayerc and Monumelrts). Ihey also believed that,
like the
pharaoh, the virtuous dead would merge their identities
 wirrr osiris 'r'rris was'urssirrlc lrt'carrst'lrlc
ltari rrra'1, asl)(,(.ls or nla'il.(,slali,ns,
lrrlralr so.l
irrclurlirrg tlrr, rrklr,
wirich crrr:rgt,<l orrly arle r tlcallr. .flrc,
larc ol lltc wit.kt.ri PHlusrrni
was t)()l rcasstrrirrg. Thcir sirrs
wt,rc wcighr.rj ilr a sc.alc
agai'sl rlic f.atlrcr,l rna,al, arr<l il
r'c scalc tillltcrl, tlrc,ir
s()ltls wcrc Ilrr0wn l0 tlrt, rrtortsl
rotrs. cr()c(xtilc_likr,,,rlt__
v()Llrcr of hc.arls.,,

Srience. Tlrc works altribrrtr:ri by Grcck

scholars to
Jcrnrcs
I Trisnregist irs ( I-lcrrnc,s t lre, Th ricc_Grcal,
or Tlrot lr )
rrray lrc a cr.rnrllilation of arrticnl
Egyptiarr source:j ()n as_
lr()rl()nly, aslrology, alrd rratural
rnagig al hough thcir
origirrs rcnrailr thc subjeit ,,f
c.,ntroversy. It is it)dis-
1lu:ahle, horvcvcr, tltar rhc Grr.cks admired
ihc Egyptians
thcir mcdical and scicntilic wisclom
ir.rr
and w<luld lror_
rorv heavily fronr th.cm,.cs;:_,cia11;
after ptolcmy estab-
lislrcd a Greco-Egyptian dynasty
in lZl ncr.
Egyptian culturc, for all irs ..,,,...,
with thc rrnsccn
world. was aI anorher level deepiy
prac ical. Irs instiru_
trons, Iike irs cngineering, endurcd.
conservarivc, inward-
l"king, ancJ less aggrcssivc than mani;;;n;;:;;';;
served as a bridge not only bctweerr
Africa and Europe
but also berween hist<,ric iirres
and un ,lrnnr, uninrag_
irrably disranr pasr. Growir.rg .involvemeni
witn rhcour_
sidc world after about q00 Bct
was in sonte ways a
rrag,dy frtr rhe Egyprians as rltc
country fell to a suc-
cesslolr of forcigrr rurers. Most
Persian, Greek, or Roman,
of them, whclher
*ar" aun,.jnr ro prescrve
Egt'ptian institutions; only the
t.ir,r,pt-, ,rt Islam in rl.re.
seventh century cr brought funtlamental
change. By
this rime. much of rhe Egyptian
incorporaied, often uncc/nsciously,
,.-lri;;;;.,lt had been
into the develop_
ntenr of the Wesr.

CeN,ux., pHoENICIA.
AND Pr-rrlrsrn
The easrern sh,ore ol the Meciirerranean
has been in-
liabited since earliest tirnes. Neanderthal
l\lagnon rentains are {ound in and Cro-
close p.o"i_iry to one
antlher ir.r tire caves of Mt. Carm"l, Ancient Palestine
unO ug.iaulture was
csrablishetl on the eastein sirorc
before it vias .ntroduceci
t()..Egypr or Mesoporanria. Thc- Fhoenicia. The first phoenicians, as
Bibre cails it "tire lano ,r
known to the Grceks, spoke a
they wert
rrrilk and honey.', Tlre climarc va.i.ty ol Sernitic di_
is Uenign, with rrilcl win-
Icrs and euough rainfall to suj)port alects and movecl into the lrorthern
lfr. pt.Oi,..ranean *uriuf region of
triad oI crops-wheat, olivcs, C.arraan during the fourth millenniunr. superseOing
uni g.up"r. But Canaan. a blending with an carlier Neolithic or
tcrnr that describcs the cntire region,
was also a corri_ foprlu,,on.
firsi urban foundations, at Sidon, Byblos, fn.i,
rlor and ar rintes a clisputed froniier and Ras
between the civi_ shamra (ugarir). date fronr around
Iizarions of Mesopolarnia and ioo,i".r. politicaily.
Egypt. Its- inhabitants Phoenician rowns were_ governed
ne vc'r cr.rjoyed rhe political by a hereditary king
srabiiily of the g..ui .i".,,
crrrpircs. The eastern shore of assisted by a council of elders.
the Mediterranean was a In practice, they were
w.rld .,f snralr, aggressive ciry-sra,., probably oligarchies in r.,rhich poticy
*hor" *earth arrcr was OeciaeO by
strarcgic the wealthy merchants whrr served
altracted the' unwelcome attention on the council, but
sr r()ltllL.r ''siticl'
of litrle is known of rheir civic life or
IX)wers. even-of their reli_
gious pracrices.

The Ancient Middte East:

Mesopotatnia, Egypt, phoenicia, Israel 23

Tracle. Frorn tlrc ocgirrlring, llrcsc iI,.,1 a hosl of ollrcr.
citics rradcd activcly witlr br,tlr l:gypr arrd Surncr. Their
irrlralritarrts wcrc sail'rs, shiprrrir<it'rs, alrd rrcrcrrarls
who lllaycd a vilal rolc in thc Jlroc.css of cultural cx_
c'lrarrgr'. Thc Ph,crriciarrs wt'rt' ers, skillcrl cralrsr-rrclr.
(-arvcd lurnitrrrc of woorl antl ivor.y was
an olrviotrs s;lc_
cralty, givcn thc lrlrcsts <lf ccriar and other valuable
r.r,oo(ls that c()vcre(l lhe nearby hills, but mclalworkine
rvas cqually imlx)rtant. Tlr,. I,lrrtcnicians cxprlrtcd fjlr.i
roJd arrd copper jc;vclry. tlronze lools, and .weapons
()vcr a widc arca. Arotrnd 1500 rlr.r, thcy
seelr,r to havc.
rnvcnlcd the pr<lccss ol casling glass around a core .lf
sancl. Dccorativc glasswarc rc,rnainecl an importanl cx_
IX)rl tltrou;hout antiquity, anci the phoenician,s oescelt_
dar,rs likely inventcd glasslrl.rwing in Romarr times.
Thc
!v()ntcn of Sidon wcre kn<lwn fclr thEir remarkable fcx_
tiles incorporaring the purple clye rhat syrnbolized roy_
alty throughout the ancielrt world. The dye *u,
rracted with great difficulty from th,r shell of the murex
"*_
snail, a creature abundant in the harbors of Sidon and
'['r('(Lcbanr)lt).
The First Alphabct. in. pnn.nicians are creditcd
ivitlr irrventin!' the first trut alphabet. a phonetic script
rvitl.r twenty-two abstract symbols representing
the con_
sonants. Vowe.ls, as in the other Semitic languages, were
ornirred. Their system is regarded as the greatest of all
Phoenician contributions to Western culture because it
c'orrld be masrered without the kind of extensive educa_
tiorr given to professional scribes in Egypt clr Mesopo_
tantia. Literacy was now available to neafly everyone,
but bccause the phoenicians normallyiarote with ink on
papyrus. most of their records have oerished.
The Philistines. political crises were common.
Phoenicia was invaded and at times ruled by both Egypt
and the Hidres of Asia Minor. In I190 BCE, a mysr:rious
gror"rp lcrorvn as the Sea people attacked the
igyptiar-r
del'- Tlt?y vvere driven out but eventually established
tlrerrrselves along rhe coasr south of Jaffa. Ttre1,
app-,ar to
have come from somewhere in rhe Aegean or westem
Asia Minor and to have brought wirh them the use of i^on
l\/eapons. Uttle of rheir language has survived. Their gods
appear ro have been Canaanire deities adoptbd on arival.
T'he Sea People were grear fighten anC iionsmiths
who
dorrrinared the iron trade in rhe Middlc Ea.st for many
1,earu. Polirically,
their rowns of Gaza, Ashk:lon, Ashdod,
Gath, antl Eglon fomred a powerfu' league llnown as
Pirilistia or rhe Philisrine confederacy. Thc. Bible cails these
pcrtple philistines, and the Romans used palestine,
a term
dcrivc'd frorn lhat name, to descritre the entire region.
The Hebrews. While the philistines annexed the
soulhern coast, tlte Hetrrews, recently escaped from
Egypr, invaded the Canaanite highlands, They fought bit_
terly with rhe philistines, but after establishing a united
kingdoln of Israel that stretched from the Negev desert to
24 Ch,ipter 1
j
!".
1 ,
Galilcr', lltcy fonncd an alliancc of sorts with the
I)l:trcniciarrs of Tlrc.
Thc Plrilistirrc antl Hcbrcw i,ncursions were related to
br'oadcr populalion ,ntovcm(.'ltt:r in lhe eastcrn Mediter-.
ranuan. Thcy coincide roughly with thc displaccment of
i
thc Ioniarrs irr Grcecc and a succcssful assaulr on the
wcstcrn portion of the Hitt,tc empire by the phrygians,
a peoplc who may havc corrre from the same region as.:
the Philisrines. In C'anaan propet both philisrines alrd,,.
Hebrews were forccd t() c()nrencl with other peoplesi'
pu';hing in from the Arabian Desert and the country be_:
,
Yohd the Jordan Ri rer. ,,
Phoenician Colonies, Tla te, and Exploration. .;
Ca.laan was becoming crowded. The newcomers en-
couRtered a land rhat rnay already have been reaching its
ecological limits after several ntillennia of human settle-
ment. The closely spaced phoenician cities now saw their
territories grearly reduced, and w:th that their ability to ,
feed thei; people. Led by T!re, the phoenicians began
planting c,rlonies frcm one rnd of the Mediterran-eah to
the otlier. The first was ar Utica in North Africa, suppos_
edly iounded oy ll0l scr. In the next three cenruries, ,
dozens of others were estabrishecl in C1prus, Sicily,
Sardinia, and Spain. At least twenty-six suih communi_
tics were in North Africa, rh3 most important of which
rvas Carthage, founded about g00 BcE near the present
site of Tirnis.
Like the colonies later established by the Greeks.
those of the Phoenicians retained .orn-.rtiul and per_
had:; sentimental ties to rheir founding city but were for
all practical purposes independent ciry-stares. They did
not normally try to establish control over large territo_
ries. They served as commercial statjons that extracted
wealth from the interior in return for goods from the
civilizations of the eastem Mediterranean. They were
also useful as safe harbors for phoenician traderi.
Flcunt 7.1O A Phoenician Clay Masle. Designed to
frigt':en away evil sliirits, this 7-inch mask was found in a tomb
at
the site of the Phoenician colony of Tharros, Sardinia, and
im-
poned from Canhage in the sixth century scr. The phoenicians
typically buried rheir dead
in rombs wirh rheir feer
pointing toward an east-fac-
ing entrance. Written.spells
.and gifts such as terra-cotta
figures invoked the god,s
protection. Phoenician con-
,acts with Sardinia trace
ba;k to around 1000 sce,
b'rt iraras not until the
eighth cenrr,rli acr rhar they
cstablished peimanenr
colonies on the island. One
of the most imp;rrtant was
Tharros, a major .rading
center.

lly tlrc scvcnth ccnlrtry nr--r. phoenician ships had
r<'allrcrl llritain in scarch ol llrccious tin, and ph<tcnician
(aravilrl r()llt(.s [)ascd in l]rc North African colonics had
pcrrclratcd thc rcgions s<lullt of the Sahara. Thc
(lartha1-iinians latcr claimcd l<l havc circumrravigalccl
Alrica, and al thc very bcginn,ngs of thc age of col<>-
rrization. Hiranr I of Tlre and his ally Solomon of Israel
scr)t tricnnial expeditions to Optrir, a place now thought
to havc becn on the coast of h-rdia. Wherever they went,
thc Phocnicians carried their system of writing together
with thc idcas and products of a dozen orher cultures.
Tlrough their history was all l<lo often negler-ted or writ-
tcn try their cnemies, they played a vital role in the es-
ta bl ish rnent <lf Mediter ra nea n civilization.
Arvcrrrur Isnnru
Ihe history of ancient Israel is based on the collectioit
of writings known as the Bible and on tite archeologi-
cal record compiled by hundreds of excavarions. The
age and complexity of these sources, togerher with their
importance to rhe religious beliefs of jews, Christians,
and Muslirns alike, have led to great controversy, but
the basic outline of that history is accepted by a major-
ity, of scholars.
H is to ric al D ev elop m ent
lhe Hapiru, who entered Canaan around 1200
sce,
came from Egypt.The name is thoughtto mean out-
sider or marauder and is the probable root of the term
Hebrew. The invaders wer€ a Semitic group of mixed
ancestry whose forebears had left Mesopotamia some
600 years earlier during Babylon,s conquest of
Sumeria. According to tradition, their ratriarch
j:, Abraham came from Ur. They lived for several genera-
+r,
tions as pastoralists in the trans-Jordan highlands and
then emigrated to Egypt, probably at about the ,ime of
the Hyksos domination. \ryith the revival of the New
'ti;
Kingdom under native Egyptian dynasties, the situa-
.I:
ij. tion of the Semitic immigrants became more difficult.
:a;
Oppressed by a pharaoh (c r pharaohs) whose identity
!:
renrains the subject of co rtroversy, a group of them
l fled to Sinai under the leadership of Moses. Moses,
ralhose Egyptian name helps confirm the biblical story
of lris origins, nrolded the rcfugees into the people of
tsrael and transrnitted to them the Ten Command-
nrents, the ethical code tha I forms the basis of Judaism.
Christianiry, and Islam.
According to rhe Bible, the Israelires spenr 40 years in
thc Sinai desert before beginning rhe conquest of the
Canaanite Highlands. The pcriod berween 1200 and 1020
BCri appears to have been one of constant struggle be-
trrycen the Hebrews and the other peoples of the region.
As described in the Book of Judges, the people of Israel
The
$
:
w('rc at rltis f ime a l00sc confcdcracy of tr'ibcs united
by a comrnon religion and ,nilitary ncce.,,sity. After'
they subdtrco thc Canaanite highlandcrs. ,laul (reigned.
c. .l 020-1000 ncn) established a monarchy of sorts in re.l
sponsc to a military threat from the Philistines, but it was'
not until after his death that. David (ruled I00G-961 ncr).
corrrolidated the territories be tween Beersheba and the
Sea of Galilee into the kingdom of Israel.
'Under David's son Solomon (reigned i
961-922 scrlj.,
Israel became .r regional power. Commerce flourished;
and the king used his wealth to. construcr a lavish
pa'lace as vrell as the First Temple atJerusalen, a struc-
ture heavily inf^uenced by Phoenician models. But
Solnmon's glory canre at a pric,e. Heavy taxation and re-
ligious disputcs led to rebeilion afrcr his death, and,r
Isiael divided into two kingdoms: Israel rn.the north.
and Jrtdah in the south. Israel was a loosely knit, aris-
tocrat;c monarchy occupying the land later known as
SJmaria. Judah, with its walled capital of Jerusalem,
wils p(rorer but more cohesive. Both, irr the end, would
fall prey to more pcwerful neighbors.
Invasions. The danger came from the nr:rrth. In what is
now Syria, rcmnants of the Hittite empirc had survived
as petty states. Many of them were annexed in the
twelfth century by the A;amaeans, a Semitic people,
wbose most important center was Damascus. The
Aranraic language would become the vernacular of the
Middle East-it was the language, for example, in which
Jcsus preached. Holvever, Syrie. remained polirically un-
stable. Assyria. once more in an expansionist phase and,
enriched by the conquesr of Mesopotamia, filled the vac-
uum. The ministates of the region could not long expecr
to resist such a juggemaut.'For a time, an alliance be-
tween Israel and Dainascus held the Assyrians ar bay, but
by'/22 ecr, both haC fallen to ihe armies <if the Ass.yrian
coriquerors Tiglath-pileser and Sargon II. Sennacherib
(ruled 705-682 acr) annexed Philistia and phoenicia, af-
ter which Esarhaddon (ruled 680-689 BcE) and
Assrrrbanipal (reigned 669-<. o27 nczl, the greatest and
most cultivated of the Assyrian emperors, conquered
Egypt. The tiny kingdom of Judah survived only by ally-
ing itself with the conquerors.
Babylonian Captivity and Diaspora. The end'
came in 587 scr. A resurgent Babylonia had destroyeci.
Assyria by allying :tself wirh the Medes and adopti4g.
Assyrian military tactics. In a general settling of scores,
the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar ll then sacked
Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, and carried the
Jr'daean leadership off to captivity in Babylon. Many of
these people returned after the persians conquered
Babylon in 539 sce, but thc Israelites or Jen,s, a name
derived from the kingdom of Judah, did not establish
another independent state until 142 scr. Judaea ano
Samaria would be ruled for 400 years by persians and
by illellenistic Greeks, while thousands of Jews; faced
Ancieil Middle East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, phoenicia,Israel 25
willr 1ll('rlcsolaliort ol tltt'ir lr'rrttt'latrd, <lispcrscd lo llrt'
(()flr('rs ol lltc kttovrtt rvrtrl<1.
R,'li,qiott of Isracl
Arrr'it'rrt lsrat'l was nol ir rrrat'crial sttcccss. lts pcoplt' 'vcrt'
n(',,,('r'nurr)cr()tts or riclr, anil it was.rrrly bricfly a rc-
gional lxrwcr. lls corrlril)rrlions ltl art antl lcchrtolrtgy
wcrc rtctrlligiblc, yct fcrv sociclics lravc ltad a grcatcr irr-
liut'irr.c orr thilse tl:at lilllowcti . Tltc reas<ln f<lr tlris para-
riox is tlral thc Jcws dcvclopct a rcligirtrt lirat was urtlikc
al)vtlring clsc irt the attcient world. lt was not rn,holly
witlror.rl ylrecedcnt, for idcas wcrc borror^,r'd lront
M('s()lx)larnrarr arrd pcrtlaps frrlrn Egyptiarr s<lrrrces.
Moreovcr, altlt<lrrglr insllired by, revclati..,)s lhat can bc
ciatcd witlt s()n' accrlracy, i s basic Jlractices evolvcd
ove r lirrrc. Ilut if thc history of rhc bclicls thcl.nsclves can
[rc traccd likc thosc of arry <lthcr rrligion, tl]c Jcwish con-
ccpl ol tlrc Civine was ncvcrthcless rcvolutionary.
One God. Its central fcati;rc'-was its monothrism: a vi-
siorr of orte God wlto was indivisible. Yaltweh. the God of
thc Jcws, c<;uld n lt tle reprcscnted or r-rnderstood in visual
tclnls, nor could hc ire described. The name is formcd
lrorrr tlrc Hebrew w<trd YHWH ancl appears to be a derir,-
ative of the verb "to be." indicating that the deitf is eter-
rral and cltangeless. Creator of the universe and absolute
irr porvcr, the God <11 Israel \\,as at the sar.ne tirne a per-
sonal i;od rvho actcd in lristory and took an interest irr the
lives rrl individual Jervs.
Ethical Behavior. Above all. the *niship of Yahweh
denranded ethical behavior on the part of the worshipper.
This ivas extraordinary because while the Mesopotamiars
had emphasized the helplessness of humans and
Akhenaton had thought of a single, all-powerful goC, the
idca tl-rat a god might be served by good leeds as well as
b1, ritual and sacrifice was new.
A Covenant with God. the ethical concept was
liiLrnded on the idea of a covenant oi agreemcnt made
[irst bcnnre'en God and Abralram and reaffirmed at the
tirrre of iire exodus from Egypt (see Biblical Stturces of
Judttisntl" Itr return for God's favor, the Hebrervs would
rvorshiy'r Him onll'and obey His laws. Failure to observe
thcur cotrld bring territrle punishmenl. The fall of
Jt'r'trsalrrn to NclrtrchadneT.z.ar was thougltt to [rc,an ex-
lrnplc of rvhat cor.rld happen if the Jews lapsed in their
rlcvtltirln. and a riclt prophetic tradition developed that
callccl uptln the pcople oi lsrael tc avoid God's wrath by
lrchavir.rg in arr ethical manner. The Jews thus became
the lirst pr'ople to wrile long narralives of human events
as opposed to nrcre chronologies ; nd king lists. Much of
the Jcwish Biblc is devoted Io the interaction between
God arrd the children of Israel and is intended to provide
a record of God's judgments that will help His followers
Io discern the divine will. Therefore, although not history
26 Chapter I
as lhc (;reeks w<xrld wrilc it, thc Biblc rcnrains the first
altcrlrl'i lo llrOvitlc a ctlltcrcnl acc')unl of past cvellts.
The Mosaic Code ol Law. Thc prittrary cxprcssi<ln
ol Yaltwclr's will is fir,rnd in lhc.Tcrl Commattdmcrits
arrcl irr lltc srrbscrlucnt claboralion of tlre Mosaic Law.
Tlrc Tclr Cornrttarrdrncttts, brougirl dtlwtl by Mtlscs from
Mt. Sirrai arrd tlclivcrctl to tltc peoplc of Isracl beforc
tlrcir crrlry irrto Canaan, lormcd thc basis <lf an elabtrrate
lcg,al an<l nr<lral c<ldc tltat g<lverned virtually every as-
pcct oI lifc arrd conduct. Like thc corlccpt of God. the
law evtrlved ()vr: r tinrc. Re fincd and arrrplificd by gener-
ation:; of priesls, I)rophets, ar d teachcrs, it rcmains.t<l
this Cay thc ftrr,rndation of Jewislt life.
Ccrtain fcalu-cs ol Mosaic -aw-such as the princi-
ple of an cyL for an c)'e, a tooth for a tooth-recall
Babvlonian prcccderrts, but it went much further by
sccking to govcr r bt,th private and public behavior.
Dictary rcgulations were set f'lrth in great dctail along
with rulcs for sexual conduct and lhe proper fonn of re-
ligious observances. Although legalistic in form, Mosaic
Law offered a comprehensive guide to ethical behavior
whose force transcended social or political sanctions
(see Riblical Sources of Judaisml.It was intended nor only
as legislation but also as a prescription for the godly life.
This concept of righteousness as an essential duty, to-
gether with rnany of the specific ethical principles en-
shrined in the Torah, or first five books of the Jervish
Bible, would later be adopted by both Christianity and
Islam. The influence of Mosaic Law on Weste'rn thought
and sc.,ciety has therefore been incalculable.
Social Order. The society that produced these revo-
lutionary concepts was not in other respects much dif-
ferent from its neighbors. From a federation of nomadic
herdsmen initially organized into twelve tribes, the ear-
liest.lews evolved into settled agriculturalists after their
arri',al in Canaan. Tlibal prac'.ices srich as the commu-
nal ownership of resources gave way Io a system in
which famihes generally owned land and water as pri-
vatg property. Inevitably, sonie families were more suc-
cessful than others, and many became substantial land-
holders with tenants and periraps a few slaves. As in
Mesopotamia, these familics were often extended and
always patriarchal in organization. A gracual process of
urbanization increased the importance ol crafts and
trade, but the basic lamily structure remaineC.
Status of Women. In earliest times, father: held ab-
solute authorit / over wives and children. As ethical
stand rrds evolved, patriarchy was increasingly tem-
pered by a sense of responsibility and mercy. However.
the status of women was lower in ancient Israel than
among the Hittites, the Egyptians, or the Mesopo-
tamians. Under the Judges wrro ruled Israel from the in-
vasic.n of Canaan to the emergence of the monarchy,
women presided as priestesses over certain festivals. As
 BrsllcAt Sor;Hcrs oF |u,:rusm
The three passages that follow are taken from tl e Torah. the
first fivc books of what Lhristians call the Old Testament.
Thcy illustrate three major themes within ancient, and in-
dccd, modcrn Judaism: the belief and trusl in a special rela-
tionship berween the God of Israel and tire Jewish people,.a
stron'.; cmphasis on cthical bchavior, and the minute regula_
ti<ln of pnvate lifc by Mosaic Law.
We Couenant (Exoil. l9:I-9)
This passage describes the making of the covenant between
the Hebrews and their God that forni'sthe basis of rhe Jewish
religion and the concept of the Jews as a chosen people.
On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the tand
of Egypt, on that very day, they came inU the wildsmes of Sinai. .
, .
krael amped there in front of the tnountain. Then Mo*s went up
to God, the LOIID called u hia
from the mountuin, saying, 'Thus
you shall say to the house of Jaob, and tell the Israelius: you'have
seen what I did to the Egyptiaw, and how I bore you on eagle,s
wings and brought you to mlnetf. Now, therefore, if you obey nty
voice and kcep my covenant, ycu shall be my treasured possession
out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall
be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These
ere the
words that youshall speak to the Israelites.- So Mwes ure. sum-
nrcned tlrc elderc of the people, and set before them all these words
Ihat the LORD had ummanded.him. The peopk.all ansu.ered as
one: "Everything that the LORD has spoktt+we will do.' Moses re-
ported the words of the people to the.LORD. Then the
LORD said to
Moses, "I am going to conu to you in a dense cloud, in order that
the people may hear when I speak to you and so trust you evo afien
The Propht Isaiah: So3ialJustice (Isa. I:11-.17)
. 1.',.,
This passage, i{iiaiah of Jerusalem'in the'mid-
eighth century"trriUgi.a
BcE, demohjirates the inseasing emphasis
on social justice in Hebre#?ehgious thought.
What to me is the multinde of your sacrifias? says the LORD. I i
have had enough ofburnt oferings oframs and the
fat offed
interpretation of Mosaic Iaw evolved, women,s partici_
pation in religious life was restricted (see Bibtical Sourres
of Judaism). The worship of yahweh demanded purity as
rvell as holiness, and wornen were regarded as ritually
inrpure during ntenstruation and after childbirth. They
rn',cre also exempted from regular prayer and other ritu_
als on lhe theory that thel should not be distracred from
cliild care. In effect, they were excluded from direct par-
ticipation rn all public rites and \vere segregated from
The Awient Middle East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, phoenbia, Israel
., 't.'
rl
beasts; I du not delighi in the blood of bulk, or of lambs, or of he.
g0ats. When yot,t come to appear l,,rfore me, who requires of you
this trampling <tf my aurts? Bring no more vain oJfcrlngs; ineirq
is an abomina,tion to me. Neu,moon and sabbath and the uaii!
oJassemblies-I'ccnnot endure iniquity and sotemn assembly. .,4
lbur new moons and your appointd feasts my soul hates; they
'hcve
become a burden to me, I art we4ry of bearing them. Whe4
forth your hands I will hide my eyes from you; even:?:"
votr spread
,4Wh you nake many praye,.s, I will not listen; your harlds i;1,'
fvll of blood. Wash yourselves;tnake yourcelves.clean; remwe thi.
*il of your doings from before my eyes; crase td,do evi!, tearn to (o
good; ;eel: justice, correct opprcssion; defend tfu
fatherless, ptead ij
widow.
for the ',,
3
)*viticus:The Impurity of Women (!xu. 15:12-22)
ftrese passages of the Mosaic krw are part of a much longar
section concemed with impurity; that is, those conditions
under which performing religious rituals is not permissible.
Note that, although men, rco, could be impure,.the puriii-
cation of women took longer and the amount of time re_
qr,ired for purificati'on after the birth of a girl was twice as
Iong as that lollowing the bint- of a boy.
I'!'a man has an emission of semen, he shall bathe his whole bodlt
in wate, and be uncL an until the evening. Evetythittg made of
cloth or skin on whirh the semen falls shall be washed with water
anJ be unclean until the evening. If a man lies with a woman
and has an enission of semen, both of them shall bathe in water
aruJ be unclean until the evening. When a woman has a dixharge
of blood that is her regular discltarge from her body. she shall be
in her impurity for seven days, and whoever toucha her shall be ,
unclean until the eveiltng. Everythrng on whiclt she Ees diing
'"
lu.r,imputity_sltall be unclean; ngryihing.abo on whifh s,he.slb
,;.
shall be unclean. Whoevir touchei her bed shall wash his clok:ei!,
and bathe in v,aten and be unctean until the evening. Wh,oeier '
to.u&es anything ot, which she sits shall wash his clothes alld' ,, .,
huthe in water, and be unclean until the evening.
men even as observers because their presence was
thought to be distracting. The proper role of women was
in the home, which was central to religious life.
Families arranged marriages for their children and
scaled them by contract as in Babylon, but only mer:
co.rld initiate divorce. No provision was made for a
dowry, which usually meant thar a man could divorce
his wife without financial loss. Divorce was nevertheless
uncommon because Mosaic Law and Jewish custom
. 27
 platcri a Jrrcnrium on tlrc famiiy. polygyny an<j concubi_
facilitatc tha.t orgarrization. Thcsc devclopments marked
rragr., alllrorrgh perrniltcd, wcrc rarc fur ccontlrnic
rca- thc bcginrrirrg of Wcstcrn civilization, for writing cn_
sons, arrrl adrrllcry was punishalllc [ly dcath.
ablcd pcople to transmil thc lncmoiy <lf rheir achicve_
\Vitlrirr thc hornc, worncn rcecived nr<lrc rcspcct lharr ments to othcrs. Thc plroenician invenlion of f he alpha_
thcir lcgal liosition might indicate. Tlrcy had rlre right r<r bct simplificd rhc procr,ss of communicati<ln and was
narrt' tlrc childrcn and wcrc. resporrsiblc for lheir carly quickfv ad<rptc,rl by other culturcs. Tradc. warfare, and
ilrslruclion in moral anci praoical nralters. The<lry asidc.
c<lklrrizati<ln spread Egyptian and Mcsopotarnian ideas
thc1, olten controlled the cveryday lifc of the household.
thr<lughoul the Mcditerranean world. Among the chief
Frrrtlrcrnrorc, Jewish litcraturc revcals nonc of thc
con_ bencliciaries of this cultural fcrm_.nt wcre tlte Greeks,.
ir,: lcrnlrt for women and thejr calracities
sometintes f<lurrd who wculd adopt and modify some <lf the mathemati-
i'i in tltc wrirings of encient Greece. The Bible abounds in cal, scientific, and phillsophical theories oi the Near
i hcroic women, such as Esther, Rachel, and Deborah, and East foi their own purposes an.i transmit them ro the
i tlre llook of proverbs holds the vaiuc, of a good woman modetn world. Tlre transmission of Jewish rehgious
as "lrcyond rubies.', But the patriarchal nature
1: of Jewish ideas took lorr,ger, but the vision of a single deity whose
3 soci('ly.c'upled with the divine origin of A,losaic L:w worship demands righteousness and ethical behavior
irave a.profound impact on subsg.quent history.
#:,.,yt,1. would one day become the foundation of Christianitv
TlChrisrianiry, Islam, and modern Judaism ibsorbed frorn
and Islam as well as rnodern Judaism.
thc l,,ible rhe.idea that women,s exclu ;ion from many
U; as_
grpccrs of public and religious life was ordained
by God.
Children. The Mosaic
Reuieu Questior,s
I emphasis on family placed a
. higl: valuc on children" The Iaw forbade infanticide. . What was "rhe biological olcl regime,,,and how did
l- a
ii'pracrlcc common in other ancierrt cultures, and pre_ it arise from the invention of agriculture?
iscribcd child-rearing pracrices. On rhe eighth day . Hovr did the status of women in Mesopotamia com_
aftcr
birth, ::::1,' :hi,dren were circumcised as a sign of their pare'vith rhei..status in Egypt and ancient Israel?
covenant with God. They received religious instructit In what ways could women exert their influence?
n
it:'frc,t'rhcir farhers and at age l3 assuried the furr reli- . Why did the civilizations of thc ancient Middle East
ii...
re sponsibiliries of an adult. Eldest develop writing, mathematics, and eventually
',., ,gi,,rt sons, who were
., especially honored, had extra responsibrrities. Both boys alphabe ts?
,, 3nd girls were expected to help ur the fielcts and in the . Why was ancienr.Egypt mor: politically stable than
q.nd:. roles were carefully prr:3rved. Boys Mesc,potamia?
i.- learned
lom", ,b:, rheir father,s trade or cared for the livestoci<. . How aia tn" religion of ancient Israel differ tiom ttat
of other ancient societies, and how did it influence
:;i; .9iil: sleaned (gathered r.p grains thar reniarr.ed in the
atrer-the harvest and kcpr rhe trouse supplied the later Cevelopment of Christianity and Islam?
I:l:t)water
#.;,ij;with from wells tliat, in town at leasr. were usu_
remained in the fields after glean_ For Furthtr Stuily
iliY:::l:nal.riy'hat
was left for the poor.
''"ing
Readings
! Charity. The obligation to assist rhe poor and helpless_
Burl, Aubrey, Great Stone Circles: Fable, iiction, .F(,crs (New
fslnlbcilized by this minor, yet divinely established, Haven, CT: Yale, 1999,). A no-nonsense analysis of
: injuncion-was central to the Jewish conception
of twe_lve sites. including Stonehenge.
ngnrcousness. A comprehensive ideal of charity
and Cohen, Mark N., The Food Crisis in preL,'istory:
'conrruunal responsibility gradually evolved from' such Overpopulation and the Origins of Agnculture (New
prcceJ)rs and. Iike monotheism itself,
spread throughout
fiven.
CT: Yale, 1977). A standard work on the beginirings
t wesrcrn soc_ery long after Israel as a political of
entity had the Neolithic Revolution.
.ceased to exist.
Markoe, Glenn E. The phoeniciaru (Berkelev: Univenitv
of Califomia press, 2000). A, briei but tto.ough il ;;:
to-date survey.
CoruclusroN Niditch. Susan, Ancient lsraelite Religion (New york:
,,For all rheir differences, the ancient
Oxford, 1997). places religious issues in their historic
societies of the Near c0ntext.
:East ionned part
of a larger, interconnected w.rrld in
which rhe Mediterranean Sea facilitated cultural bor_
Web Site
'powing rlrrough trade and migration. conditions
in,the h t tp / /www.ford h am. e du
at river valleys of Egypt and Mesopotamia had de_
: / h a i s a I I / an cien t / a s boo k. htm I
The Internet Anci :nt History Sourcebook offers a
nded the organization of resources on <trt unprece_
t,road range of materials and iltformation on all of
dented scale. writing and mathematics were invented to the ancient societies discussei in the text,
28 Chaptu 1
j;,1: rl '
i x;
+i
*I';1i
 Using Kcy Tcrms, entcr thc scarch t"ms
I trrf.r.frac College Edition Mcsopotamia Assyria
Visit tlrt' soLlrcc colicclitlns al http://infotrac.thoinson Bahylonia Phoenicia
It'arning.com and rrsc thc scarch ftrnction with tlrc fol-
Iowirrg kcy tcrrrrs. Using tlrc Subject Guide, cnter the search teims:
archaeology research Egypt history

'l'rlI Airrcrt:N]- MIpDLl: EAS.t-

f000 ecr 2500 2000 t500 l00O 5O0 scs
Mesopor.aurA
Sumerian Period Assyrian Empire

L*,. L,- I

. Aktradian Empire Mitani and

Hit|ite Invasions - -New Babylonian
Empire
iCuneiform Writing
rlnvention.of the Wheel
Persian Conquest
rFirst Vssions of Gilgaraesh
Epic
*Hammurabi's €ode

Ecypr. ffrt; -
u.::'fd

Unification K
I

Age of Pyrami,is
"Hieroglyphics

Caxe,lrrt/PnosNrcrA./IsREAL
Foundation of Sidon, Byblos, and Ugarit Abrabam leaves Ur
I j
-s ]!di--

1iil

Jt

{$,i ii'
i''lt;l;
,1.-*,; i

&.q;
'i.:

The Arcient Middle East: Mesopotamia, Egypt, phoenieia, lsrael 29

 Cfo#ptcr 2
AxcrENT GnrucE To THE ENp
oF THg PEr,opcNNEsrAN Wans

t'/
nrst year of the great peloponrresian W4r drew to a close, ,he
f-Snf
shtesmi,n pcricles delive'ed a funeral oration to honor those
- \,r,z,lfc-rrian
r-,rfio'Ed died ir, the struggle. praisrng the men died and the
'vho city for
which they lought the speech was designed to lift the spirits of a people at
war. Extolling Athens lor its hymns, games, and dramatic spectacles that
made it the source of all that was good in life, its Jpenncss to srrangers
and
free inquiry that mad: t 'rhe school of Greece.'' the speech refleoed
the
fundarnental Greek belief in the value oI the polis. To the ancient Greeks. life
centered on the city-stare br polis, which provided lar more than place
a to
live. Its rituals and institutions formed thcir personal character and made
them who they were. other ancient peopres, the prroenicians, for exampre,
had lived in city-states, but the Greeks developed from their concepi of the
polis a unique and immensery vitar curture-a cr.rrture that in
many ways
became the fouirdation of Western civilization as a whole.

-t!
 Clraptcr 2 traccs thc dcvclop-
nlcnt ()f Grcck socir.ly fronr
iVlirroan tirrrcs to thc cnd ol
tlrc l,cloponncsialr Wars. Thc
Ircarr of lhat proccss- -thc
t'volution of thc polis-takcs
US lront a gr()uJ) 0f simplc for_
rificd scttlcmcnts to tlrc grcat
citic.; ()f the fifth ccntury BcE,
lronr a l<lng period of domi-
nancc by aristocratic elites.
through thc rulc of tyrants, to
nlc emergencc of the first
lrue demtrcracies in recorded
history. We will survey the
social instituti/)ns common to
(lrcck socicty as a wholc and
look at daily life in two verv
diffcrcnt poleis (the plural of
polis)-democratic Athens
and conservative, aristocratic
Spana. This chapter endswith
tlrc lwo grcat crises of ancient
Greel: history: the persian
War, which preserved Greek .+l;j.::
in<lependence, and the pelo- Mai rland Greece is an extersion of the Balkin'
ponncsian Wars, which set thc European Greece lrom west i{sia (esia fvfinoffirnE:
S, : i rrita :: in.
stage for its eventual loss.

E.lnly ArcIAN CurJuREs
r-o 8OO scr
The eastern Mediterranean Sea was like u gr.", luk.
that facilitated trade, communication, and cultural
bor_
rowing. The societies rhat surrounded it, phoenicians,
Egyptians. Greeks, and many others, shared similar
di_
ets, ideas; and institution:;. The Greeks, for example,
took their alphabet from -he phoenicians and some of
their philosophical and scientific ideas from Egypu
their
social organization into city-states bbre a sup,::rficial
re-
scnrblance to rhe phoenician city_state.
Minoan Crete-The First Aegean Civilization
(3000-f400 ecE). The Aegean Sea, with irs innumer_
afile islands, has been a crossroads of trade and conrmu_
nicarion since the first sailors ventured forth. To
the
south is Crete, the navigational center of the eastern
Mcditerranean in ancient times. Approximately 150
rnilcs long and no ntore tha. l5 mi'eswide, it lies across
the southern end of thc Aegean Sea, about 60 miles
lronr tlre southernmost extremity of the Greek main_
land and not nlore than 120 miles from the coast
of west
Asia. Africa is only 200 nrilcs to the south. But the im_
portallcc of C. ete was determined less by raw
distances
rhan by wind rnd current. Ships westbound from
Egypt
had to follc,w the currents north along the phoenician
coast and then wesl to Crete before proceeding to thc
prns of Italy or North Africa. phoenician ships on the
way ro Carthage or the Strait of Gibraltar did the same,
passing either to the norttr or. the south of the island.
Most preferred Crete's northern shore because it of_,
fered more ;andy inlets where.their ships could an
chor for the night or be hauled ashore fdi repairs and
cleaning. The same harbors offered .ury to the
Greek mainland, the Ionian islands of the ".."r,
Aegean, and
Ttoy. Crete wai therefore a natural and convenient
way sration for thc' transshipment of Egyptian and,
Phoenician goods.
A people of unknown origins arrived on the island
of Crere before 4000 ecn. They found not only a strate_.
gic location but a land rhar was well suited for Neo-.
lithrc agriculture. Crefe's mountains rise to more than
8,000 feet, but the island has rich valleys and coastal
plains that provide abundant grain. The .li-"t. is gen-l
erally mild. perfection is marred only by ,u*-..
drrughts, winter gales, a.rd devastating earthquakes
that are perhaps the most conspicuous feature of the
island's histo'y.
The civilization that developed on Crere arose at
about the same time as those of Egypt and Mesopotamia.
It is usually celled Minoan, after Minos, a legendary
Anciafi Creece to the End of the peloponnesian Wars 31
 Iul('r who bccalnc part of
(irt't'k rttyt lrr)l<lg1r 3q a crcaturc
\vlr() was half rnan arrd haif
lrrrll. Minoarr (Mirr-91-utt) sgci-
( r) 's ( l)i('f charac'tcrislic; wcrc
t rt' r'a rly r:tan ufaclrrrc ()[ bronze
I

.rird tlrc c()t)strucli(rn of cn<lr-

rrrorrs ltalaccs thal combineC p<l-
Irtrt.rl. n'ligir)us, and ecollomic
lrrrrclions. Thc Minrnns con-
four main paiace com-
strr-rc'tcd
lilcxcs-at Knossos, Phaistos,
Zakros, and Mallia-and the
r tiirrs oi othcr largc houses are

io1111flhroughoul the island.

All arc built aroulrcj largc rec-
tatrglilar courts that thc
Minoans apparently usecl for Flcunr 2.1 Bull baping at
Knossos portr;lys a man holding the horns oI a
rcligio u s a nd pu blic cere -
and another woman waits to cat:h her. Whether this was a sport, a religious l'itual, or both is
rnorries. Minoan builders cov-
not known. But the presence of women in such an activity indicates a measrri. of gender
cred their walls with tirin la-y- equality that would not be found among the Greeks.
crs of shiny gypsum* or
decorated them witlr naturahs-
tic wall paintings. The upper
levels of the palaces had decorative staircases and colon-
nades that resembled those of Egyptian temples. Below,
rhey built innumerable storerooms and a system of
drains for the removal of wastes and rainwater. So elab-
oratc- was rhe floor plan thar Labyrinth, the Greek name
fcrr the palace at Knossos after the heraldic tabrys,or iwo-
headed axe of the Minoar royal house, became the
conrnlon word for a maze,
'Ihe presence ol such vast storage facilities ,ndicates
that Minoan rulers played an important part in ttie itis-
tribution of goods, but little is known of Minoan social
or political life. The early language of Crete, wriiten at
lirst in hieroglyphic charatlers derived from Egyptian
tnodels, has not yer been deciphered. A later linear
script is equally unreadable. Only the so-called Linear
I3. daring from the last per-od of Minoan history has
lreen translated and reveals an earlv form of the Greek
langtrage, probably introduced by a new Mycenaean
dynasty from the mainland that seized control of the is-
l.rnd around 1400 ecr.
Minoan religious beliefs are also obscure- Wall
paintirrgs and statuary porrray women in priestly
rolcs. ar.rd the dominant cult was almost cqrtainly that
ol the Earrh Mother, the fertility goddess whose wor-
slrill in the Mediterranean basin dates from paleolithic
tinrrs. Other paintings show young women and men
var.rlting over lhe heads ol bulls and doing gymnastic
routines on rheir backs. This dangerous sport probably
':i
had religious significance and was performed in the
air palace courtyards, but its exact purpose is unknown.
Irr any case, the prominence of women in Minoan art
and the range of activities in which they were por-
I'-nossos. This fresco frorn the east wing of the palace at
bull wirile a r?Jman somersaults over its back
trayed indicate a measure qf gender equality that
would not be found among the Greeks.
Tloy. At the northern end of the Aegeart Sea stood
Tloy, the earliest of whose nine cities, each one built
upon the ruins of its predt.cessors, dates.from before
30C0 scr. Built on a ridge, lloy overlooked the south-
ern entry to the Dardanelles, or Hellespont, the long
narrow waterway through which ships must pass to en-
ter,the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus. and the Black
Sea. The current in the strait runs southward at about
3 knots (approximately 3.5 m,ph), and the prevailing
win<is are from the nonh, making the strait passable
only under the most fqvorable of:conditions to early
ships powered solely by oarsr4en and small sails.
Fortunately, a small harbor just inside its mouth al-
lowed ships to lii at anchor while they awaited a favor-
able wind or offloaded Aegean goods for transshipment
by land. TIoy controlled the harbor as well as that part
of the Dardanelles offering the best crossing point on
the land route,from Europe and Asia. The city had ob-
vious strategic importance and grew rich from the tolls
it extracted from passing merchants.
Thc Ivlycenaeans-Pnscursors of the Ancient
Greeks (2O(XFf2OO scE). Mainland Greece,is an ex-
tension of rhe Balkan peninsrrla.bounded by the Aegean
Sea on the east and the Adriatic Sea on the west. It is,.as
it was in anriquity, a rugged land-mountainous, rocl:y,
and dry, with much of the rainfall coming in the autumn
and winter months. Iarge areas suitable for cultivation
,:re rare, and the narrow Greek valleys provide only
modest amounrs of rich land. Deforestation, largely the

32 Chapter 2
 result of ovcrllrazing,
was alrcady we ll ad-
vanccd by the lifrh ccn-
tury BcE. For rlruch or
its history thc relarivc
poverty anr'l rtrg;ed gc-
ography of Grcece pnr-
tectedit from forcign
conquest. Tht same du-
l,ious blessings made ir
difficult, if not impossi-
blc, for any one settlement to achieve regional domi-
nance. The result wrs a society outward-looking, cclnt-
mcrcial, and fiercely resistanl to the need for unity.
The Mycenaeans (My-see,-nee-uns). so-callcd af-
tcr Mycenac, one of their rnanycities on the Greck
rnainland, spoke an early form of Greek and ntay havc
occupied Macedonia or Thessaly before establishing
themselves on the Greek mainland. Their chief centers_
al)art from Mycenae and its companion fortress.
Tiryns, in the Peloponnese-were Athens on the rich
;le'ninsula of Attica and Thebes in the Boeotian (boh-
ee '-shun) plain. All were flourishing by 2000 acr.
Kings or chieftains ruled each of the Myccnaean
communities and apparently distributed commodities in
the traditio,ral way. They carried on an exrensive trade
with Crete and Egypt and built vasr palaces and tombs
using cut srones of as much as 100 tons apie,_-e. fhe
palaces, although similar in function ro those on Crere.
rvere heavily fortified and more symmetrical in design,
but rvith the sanre spacious apartlrents and colonnaded
porches on the upper levels. Below were v-rst store_
roonrs. some of them h:ated to keep major experts such ?u
I
I A:--

., .riive oil from congealing in the winter cold. The

Mycenaeans kept voluminous accounts of cornmercial
transactions, and their carrful, hardheaded organizatio;r
ol vast enterprises characterized Mycenaean life.
The earliest tombs were shaft graves of a kincl found in
rnan), other parts of Europe: underground brrrial cham-
bers reached by a horizontal stone-,ined passage. Later,
vast corbeled vaults became cornrrlonj in a coJbel:d
vault. each Sto[€ rn the upper walls of rhe rontb extends
slighrly beyond rhe one below it to form a kind of domed
ceiling. The Mycenaeans buried their dead wirh magnifi_
cent treasures, for they collected art and luxury goods
Ironr other cultures as well as from their own. They u ere
.rlso skilled metalworkers. Their bronze armor and
weapons, like their gold jewelry and face masks, were
arn()llg the finesr produced in the ancient world.
Aside frour their material culture, the Mycenaeans re_
rurain sontelhing of a mystery. Homer, the semimyrhical
poct who stands at the beginnings of Greek culture,
rrratJ : rhenr the heroes of his The ltiad. This great epic,
discussed in more detail later, tells the srory of 'the
Mycenaeaus' successful siege of Ttoy, an event partially
supix)rted by archaeological evidence. The society he de_
!]gulo 2.2 The lJpper-Borly Armor of a Mycenaean
Wanior. This bronze cuirass and helmet i.om rh. fifteenth cen-
tury BcE consists of a collar, shoulder.pads, a breast-plare, and
an aniculated midsection made irorrr three broad bronze beltS to
,rroteo the wearer's midsecrion'y,hile permitting freedorri of'
movement. h was found in a Mycenaean torrib at Dendra.
scribes, however, is unlike that revealed by Mycenaean
ruins. Homer's Mycena,:ans cremate, rather ihur, ..r-
tornb, their dead and fight as individual champions.
Flomer probably described a much later world-that of
'he uinth century ncr in which he lived-and attributed
its values to his Mycenaean.prede ce ssors. By'the time
Honer wrote, the Aegean world bore l:ttle resemblance '
Io that of the Minoans and Mvcenaeans.
The Dark Age Migrations (1200r-:800 BCE)
The population movements that began around 1200
acE inaugurated a kind of dark age about which little is
krown. Greeks of the classical age believed rhat the
Dorians, a Greek-speaking people from the north,

'Ancient Greece to the En4 oJ the Peloponnesian Wars

. 33
swct)t illt() tht: Pctlinsula and cstablislrcd thcmsel'ucs in
llrt' llclttp5rnrtcst' attd olhcr Myccnacln ccntcrs' Recclrt
s,r'irolar.sfrip casts (l()ubt,on tlris tlrcory; s()me historians
lrclievc that a Dorian populati<ln alrcady lived in thc
1rt'rrirrsttla antl camc lo por cr by taking advantage of
tlisrirrity atnong thc Myce )acarls. lrl any casc, the
lrorialrs dcstroycd Myce nac but alrJlarcntiy bypassed
n tilcns, which llccarnc thc collduit for a va::t eastward
rrrigratiott. Thousands of rcfugccs, tlleir lands taken by
lr'lvconrers, flcd lo Attica, thc region surrounding
/itlrcns. Taking sl.rips from .\thcns, the y colorrized the
islarrtis ol thc Acgcan and rhc southwestern coasl of
Asia. Thc migration of these Ionian Greeks displaced
1,1fii'r pcuplcs, who flowcd eastward into southwest
Asia. The Phrygians who rt,ppled the weakened frag'
nrcnts of the Hittite Empire and the L lilistines who dc-
sccndcd on the Canaanite coast wcre almost certainly
among them, lor all of these events occurrcd at about
thc samc time.
By tlre ninth century BcE, the Greek world was di-
videcl into two major subgroups: the Dorians, who
tjorrrinatcd most of the peninsula, and the Ionians, who
infrabircd the rcgiotts of Attica, Euboea (you-be'-a) and
thc Aegean islands. They spoke different Greek dialects
bLrt shared many aspects of a common culture. Both
groLlps thought of the Greek-speaking world as Hellas
and referred to themselves as Hellenes.
-l-rrr DrvrLoPMtNT oF THE
GnnrK Polrs ro 5OO ncl
The Dorians and Iot,ians tended to settie in high places
that they could fortify aga:nst thei;' enemies. After ex-
pelling some of the existing population and subjugating
orhers, each community-and there were scores of
them--claimed full sovereign rights and vigorously de-
fended its independence against all comers. Some com-
nrunities had minuscule populations and armies num-
bering no more than 80 or 100 men. Even the largest,
including Athens and Corinth, were small by modern
standards. Many of the settlemenrs did not possess
enough land to support their populations. Cooperation
arnonL thenr was always fragile and warfare endemic'
Tl're mountainous teirain of Greece with its nrany val-
Icys and no permanent roads enhanced a community's
isolation. Furthermore, securitl from threats outside
rlie Greek peninsula during this period made possible
the political decentralization within. The Greek city-
states developed after the Hittites had fallen and when
Egypt was in decline. The great Asian en.,pires were not
yet a threat.
These early communities were the precursors of the
polis (poh'-lis), the basis ol Greek political ,rnd social
life. Each polis, whether Dorian or Ionian, claimed the
34 Chapter 2
FlcuRr 2.3 The Site of an Ear.ly Polis. The ancient acrop-
oli: of Corinth, shown here with ruins at the top, prr'vide$a
sensc of hor^'the early poleis must have looked. Corinth be-
camc a large city, but the first settlement would have been
small enough to fit on this inaccessible but secure site.
primary loyalty of its inhabitants. Composcd in theory
of trrose who shared a common ancestry and wor-
shipped the same gods, the polis molded the character
of irs inhabitants and opcrated as the focus of their
lives. In practice, this meant that only those born to one
of ttre local tribes or clans could claim citizenship.
Foreigners, including Greeks born in another polis,
might be allowed residency t'ut had no political rights.
A god or goddess served as each city's patron, and the
rites and ceremonies for that god or goddess formed an
important part of civic culture. To Greekg of the later
classical period, the polis was lar more than a city-state;
it was the only form of social organization in which the
individual's full potential could be achieved. To live
apart from the polis was to live as a beast.
Go'vernments in the Early Poleis. Until aboul 750
Bcri, the governments of these communities reflected
their quasi-tribal origins. Membershi! il- u recognized
tribi or clan entitled a man a;rd his family to the pi'o-
tection of the polis and obligated him to :iupport it, but
it did not necessarily give him a voice in its governance.'
Actual power rested in the hands of those ,'vho demon-
strated prowess on'the battlefield. Some cr:rmmunities
had a king. This form of govemment rzas called a
mc,narchy, a Greek term meaning "rule by one." Kings
might inherit their thrones or be elected, but they al-
wai, gouerted with the assistance of a council of war-
rior aristocrats. Other governments were aristocratic-
another Greek wqrd meelniltg, literally, "rule by the
best.' Warriors descended from families that had played
a leading role'in the city s foundation held power by
hereditary rignt. The best fighters generally had the
greatest penonal influence. In either system, birth and
military prowess granted more status than'vealth did,
Warfare between the early cities, aimed ldrgely at seiz-
ing or destrof ing a neighboring polis'- crops, reflectgl
\
 *
L
:

id

idittlcutr and pursuil impossiblc wirhour brcaking ranks.

. r(ccpirrg ranks rcduccd thc nrunbcr of casualties
but
madc ir difficult to ach,cvc clccisivc rcsulls. Sreaili;,g
"tlrc l<lrrrrati<ln usually resullcd irr catastroplrc. i
Thc arJoption of rhc lroplirc phalarrx forccd cltiesro
, adopt nl()rc represcnlativc fornrs of governlnenL.
M,jn
wlro lought l<lr rhe polis cor.,ld not bc dcnied a say in.its
governance. Whereas slaves, womcn, and foreigner*_
meaning those who had been born in another polis_
wcrc cxcludcd from public life, all nrale citizens now
exltectcd to participare in nratters of justice and public
policy. Even those too poor to equip rhemselves
,i f,up.
lites served as suppon rroops or rowed in the city.s gil-
Jeys. for many Greek cirias maintained a'navy as
w-cll.
Although wealth and he,cdity still corrnted, the new
warlarc grearly increasc,l the nrrrnber of those who par_
trcipated in public life. In some of the poleis it markerl
Ftcunr 2.4 Hoptite Warfare. This vase painting from the beginnings of democracr,.
the
sevenlh century scr is oni of the few ,u-iuing
pcrtrairs of ,

Hoplires at war. The helmets and armor ponr"-yed

were too Ihe Age of Tyrantr. Si.ill, tlernocracy. Greek for
expensive for.the.poorer citizens who thirefore 'rule by the people,,.grew slowly, for tlre aristocrats re_
served as
archers or suppon troops,,i{s in the Homeric
era, heraldic de- sistbd change. Effons to majnrain their traditional
vices similar to thbse of the Western
middle ug., d..orut. ih.
shjelds and identify the warriors. On the left a pipei leads an- .privilegcs caused disorder in every poLis, and the late
phalanx into bartre. cighth and early sevenrh centuries BcE ,,uer", times
r.rrher oi
civic co,.tflict. When rhe leader of a fa, tion, whether
popular or aristocraric. tr:iunphed over his adversaries,
the organization of society. Individ._ral
he becarne a. tyrant, or dictator. The more .upuUf.
champrons foughr tyrants served a uselul. if unappreciated, histori.aipur_
one another with sword and .lance, vrhile
tactics in the pose. They developed r.e* administrative srructures
larger sense were unknown. It was a primitive
form of and, by weaken;ng old loyalties based.on tribe or dis_
rvarfare suited only.to a simrle society.
As the Greek trict, focused a broader patriotism on the polis. Nearly
cities grew, armies became larger and the
usefurness of every city ac:epted a tvrant at one time or another
individual champions declined. be_
cause rule by one ntan was better than endless
civrl
The Hoplite phalanx and the Beginnings of war, but most Greeks regarded tyrannical rule as an
Democracy. The period of arisrocratic .domirranc. aberration. a temporary suspension of the, laws rather
came to an end with the adoption of the
hoplite (hop,- than a permanent insritution. Most cities eventuallv
lite) phalanx, a new tacrical system that required overthrew'tl eir tyranrs and replaced them with some
the
participation of every, able-bodied form of gdvernrnent rhai repreSented the will of the
-treemah who could
afford arms and armor. The hoplite phalanx was community. This might lre a narrowly based oligarchy,
a
formation of trained bpga.men who fought shoulder
to as at Corinth, or a rrue democracy of the kind thit
shou der in a rectangle that *u, ,ror*Jly eight evolved gradually ar Athens. Oligirchy means -ruie.
ranks.
diep. As long as no one broke ranks, the phalanx
was
o) the few." In mosr cases, this meant rule bv the
almosr invincible against a frontal attack by rvealthy, whose eligibility for office depended
horse or on prop_
foot and could clear the field of traditional infantry erty qualifitations.
at
rvill. Only anorher band of hoplites could srand
them. Grounding the sides of the.formation
ug"ir,rt l\rrants and the physical Landscatrte of the polis.
againsr Built around an acrolnlis-the high point seleaeQ as,a
natural or humanmade obstacles, an easy task
i-n the place of refuge by the original inhabitants_the
nrgged Greek countryside, prevented flanking typical po_
arracks lis ccrntaineJ the acropolis and agora-an open space
bv cavalry. Missile weapons (arrows or thrown javelins) thar
served as the econontic cenrer, marketplaie, and socia
presenred only a minor threar because
the hoplite,s center of the town-inside walled fonifications. The polis,
l)ronze amlor was heavy and enemy archers
usually rural farming district lay outside the walls. On the uC.op-
had ro fight in rhe open. After the firit volley,
the pha_ olis they established rhe f irsr rude temples in honor
lanx could cover the distance of a bowshot in of the
the time city's gods. The tyranrs, many of whom were great
it took to fire a second or third arrow, and the.archers
builders whcse temples and public works gave torrn tI
rvould be forced to flee in t.lisorder. The major J".
weakness cities of rhe classical age; r,rplaced the early temples
of the formalion was its immobility. Maneuvering with
was new, more magnificent stmcures and banished private

Ancient Greece to tne End oJ the peloponnesian Wars

35

Ftc;un[ 2.5 The Acropolis and the Agora. This model
shows the two main public spaces of a large Greek polis, in
ihis case Athens ar irs pcak. The acropolis (in the background,|
on its lrigh hill conraincd the Parthcnon and other centlrs ol
public worship. iire agora (foregroundl, with its long cokrn-
rradcs, scrved as a public market, but lemplt:s and other public
!rurlclirrgs are shown within ir. In rcality, ancienr Athens was
not this tidy. The rhousands o{ homes and privarc shops rhar
rladc up the rest of the city are not portraycd.
buildings to the area around the base oi'the hill. With rare
exceptions, Greeks built simple homes and spent much of
their daily lives in the srreers or in the agora. This space,
pcrhal)s.as much as any other factor, ,rccouni:s for the vi-
tality of Greek polirics and intellectual life; the life of the
citizen was one of constant interaction with his fellcws.
Tl're more ambitious tyrants not only built templbs
bur remodeled such public spaces as the agora. They
strengthened the defensive walls that surrounded their
cities and worked to improvc the quality and quantity
of the water supply. Some w:nt even funher. Corinth,
one of the wealthiest Greek cities, bestrides the narrow
isthmus that separates the Saronic Gulf from the Gulf of
Corinth. The Corinthian tyrant periander built a stone
lrackway across the isthmus, allowing enrire ships to be
hauled from the Aegean to the Adriatic. Merchants
willing to pay a subsra'ntial toll could rhereby save a
vo),age of several hundred miles.
Tl're Agrl of Colonization (75F6OO ncn). The trou-
blcd situation that gave binh to rhe tyrants als'r pro-
duced the great age of Greek col<.nizarion. Good farm-
land had always been scarce in Greece. Most farms were
srnall and practiced subsistence agriculture. This
nlrans that the owners raised a v.iriety of crops, nearly
all of which went to support their own households. If
tl'rcy produced a surplus, they sold the excess crops in
thc agora. Farm owners were, of course, full citizens,
and sonre of the wealthier townsnlen owned farms in
36 Chapter 2
-:r ,
1:t
|!:
s'
tllc counlrysicle that thcy managcd with thc' help of
+
srrall ttumbcrs of slavcs. Thcir cfforls hclpcd, but did ril
ti..
not Di'(xlucc cn<lugh to fced the city's popr"rlation of n
craftslncn, mcrchants. and wagc labrlrcrs in the cgn-
_ii.
struction or shipbuilding tradcs. Ily 850 gcr,, most Greek ,:,.
citie$ had long outgrown their agricultural resources I
and wcrc inrporting food, especially from Egypt.
Thc resulting cornletition for scarce resources inten-
sifieC conflicts among rhe po eis and pr<.rbably inspired
thc cievelopment of the hoplite irhalanx. Internally, the
shonage of arable land brought social tensions that
threateneC the stability of the stateland encouraged
tyranny. But even tyrants could only redistribute
wcalth; they coull nor create it. Fortunatcly, Greece had
an extcnsive coastline with good harbcrs and a seafaring
population. A polis could preserve its independence if it
followed the Phoenician example and established
colonies in other parts of the Mcditerranean world as an
outle{ for surplus population.
The process seems to have begun around 750 acr
with the establishmenr of a trading communiry in the
Bay of Naples. Its founders intended it to provide access
to the copper of Erruria, but the colonies established
during the next 50 years in castern Sicily were almost
purely agrarian. Some of .the colonists weie merchants
or political exiles, but most were poor people who
sought only enough land ro feed their families. Settle-
ments then spread throughout southern Italy and west-
ward into France. where in 600 BcE the Ionic town of
Phocaea founded Massalia, the present-day Marseilles.
Other cities founded colonies arcund the shores of the
Black Sea. These colonies, in what is now the southern
Ukrarne, soon played an important role in supplying
the Creek peninsula w,ith grain.
Some Italian colonies, such as Sybaris on the ltalian
Gulf of Taranto, grew wealthv through trade. Although
originally founded to exploit a rich agricultural plain,
Sybaris became'a point of transshipment for goods
from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhenian Sea, thereby avcjid-
ing the treachete-us Strait oj Mcssina. C'ther colonies,
suchli.s Syracuse in Sicily. owed their wearlth to agri-
cultlre, but Syracuse grew larger than its parent
Corlnth and became a major power in the fif . h c3ntury
ncE.'Virtually all of these rowns came into con'lict with
the Phoenicians and Carthaginians who haC settled in
Spain Africa, and western Sicily, In some cases they
'displaced native peoples who took refuge in inaccessi-
ble regions away from the coasts. By 600 BcE, at least
500 new Greek poleis had been esrablished from Spain
to thc Crimea on the Black Sea.
Thc term po&i appropriately describes the new cities,
for they were not'colonies in rhe modern sense, but fully
indcpendent states. City governments on the Greek
mainhnd organized the colonizing expeditions and ap-
pointed their leaders, but when the colonists arrived in
 Sgltcnox FRoM Hrsroc
" 'l:^:' 'ni; :ii
Hesiod (fl. late eighth century acn) was one of the first Greek Keep a dog
poets and a landowner lrom Boeotia, a ielatively wealthy
area northwest of Athens. In this fragnient.from a long
poem, Hcsiod instructs his ne'er.do-well brother, perses, on your oxii aliij,our ruti
the life of a Greek landowner. Using the movements of the v? relt thcir:;*{!ry httg.
constellarions tn the night sky (Orion, the pleiades, and so
Wa.r, .9,r:r'$;nI 4"t
i 1i7r
on) to judge the seasons, he advises when to plant, harvest,
or pur to sea, as well as how to safeguaia property against ;i'siiii
thieves and damage, The poem is an trnforjdettable.{esaip-
tion of rural life in an age when farmers weit rb--iea to sell
*! fon

rheir produce abroad. Zephyr is the g'i'ioft"t}te.ioirrCr, :'aiarty tXi

na (iilt
itft,
Iremet!,
uemerer rne
the goddcss'of harve"ts, and Di_6ni;sustrtri'goa of 'Al
gooocss ol hal
.) 4wtitW'tne pii
wine. Note that Hesiod, liLe
t&

tl-reir nery homes, they governed themselves. For the
ilrost part, goveming institutions tended to parallel those
in the older Greek cities. Some, like Syracuse, became
t),rannies while othen achieved a measure of der;rocracy.
Few tlf the new settlemeuts, however, maintai.red close
tics with their city of origin. Most o. them continued to
vencrate the divirle patron of their founding city and
sonre extended sp,.c.i31 privileges to cit.z:ns of the four^d-
ing ciry, but "mother" cities competei with thcir
"colonies" for trade and on occasion fought them. Still, all
of these new cities regarded themselves as part of Hellas.
llHn Roors oF GREEK CuLTuRE
Greek values as well as Greek literary and artistic inspi-
ration stemmed from two Lasic sources: the Homeric
I'oems and the mytholcgy ,that had.grown up around
the adventures of the gods. Together, these wellsprings
of the Greek tradition provided a rich fund of themes
and morifs that illustrated in graphic terms what it
meant to be Greek. The influence of that tradition had
little to do with religious teachings as they are now un-
derstood. The behavior oI tl-re gods-and of Homer,s

Ancient Greae to the Enil of the Peloponi)tesianWars 37

 The Grccks thought of irt:
the ir deitics in hunran tcrms, ,?,'

although thc gods wcrc inr-

mortal and p<lsscsscd super- ,gj
hrrman po,^r'crs. The advcn- t'
trri('s of thc gods inspired a ll

vast mythology that, to- ]{'

gcthcr with the poems of
Homcr, pnrvided thcmes for ;
tit
g
latt'r Greek art and litera-
ture. Myths are stories that
explain the distantly remem-
bcr:ci past or the existcnce of
natural phenomena such as
eartnquakcs. the seasons, or
astronomical constellaiions.
They reflect the values of the
soci :ty that prociuces them
and 'therefore play a vital
part in educating the young.
Because the gods' behavior
was often capricious and im-
moral, Greek ethical princi-
ples dt rived not from divine
precepts but from common-
sense notions of how to get
along with one's neighbors.
Greek religion offered lit-
tle. or no hope o.f personal
irnmonality, although some
heroes-was often highly improper, anC Greek religion believed that the dead inhabitqd.a dark. unpleasant
offered few ethical prescriptions. The ancient tales did realm beneath the ground. Perhaps as a result, some
nor preach, but even when they taught by bad exam- Greeks buried tneir dead and 'orhers cremated them.
plr rhey offered r precious guide ro values, social atti- Worship meant offering prayers and sacrifices in return
tudes, and condrrct. For this reason, each polis s.ought for tlre protection of the gods or to secure the goodwill
to encourage the arts to the best of its financial ability. of lesser spirits who ruled over particular localities such
They were tlle m.eans by which citizens were created as springs or fields. Ordinary men and womc'n per-
and con-rmon values reaffirmed. formed these rituals, often on behalf of their lamilies.
Public officials sacrificed to the patron god or goddess of
Greek Religion. The Greeks based their religion on an their city on specia! occasions. There was no priestly
extended family of twelve gods who were believed to in- caste, although indiliduals of both sexes sometimes
hatrit Mt. Olympus in northeastcrn Greece. The greatest lived within the grounds of shrines and temples and ded-
werc Ze us. rhe father of the Gods; his conson, Hera; and icated themselves ro their maintenance. By the eighth
his brotlrcr Poseidon, the god of the sea and of eanh- century BcE, centers of worship open to all Greeks had
qrr.rkcs. Hcsria, the gtddess of hearths, and Demetec the been established at several locations. The shrine of
gotitle ss of the. harvest who was olten associated with the Apollc at Delphi was home lL, the Delphic oracle. whose
c'arlicr Earth Mother, were his sisters. Zeus's childrerr in- cryptic predictions were widely soughr until Roman
clrrdcd Aphnldite. goddess o{ love; Ares, god of rvar; and times. Olympia, dedicated ro Zeus. and the shrine of
Apollo, god of the Sun, music, and pr etry. Athena was Poseidon at Corinth y,ere famous for athletic contests
gotidcss of wisdom and the fine arts and Hephaestus, god held annually in the gods' honor.
of lire and metallurgy. Hermes, with winged feet, was
tl'l('ir messenger, but he also served as god of commerce Olympic Games and the Competitive Spirit.
and ol olher matters that involved cleverness or trickery. Common shrines, and above all rhe Olympic g,ames,
Pelhaps the most popular of the deities was Artemrs, the provided unifying elements in a culture that would for
virgin nature goddess who symbolized crrastity and to centrrries remain politically fragmented. According to tra-
wlronr w()men prayed for help in childbirth. dition the first games were held in776 sce and involved

38 Chdptu 2
 isaw atlrletics as an csscntial c()l-nl)(rncnl <lf the good life.
, l'ltysical fitness prcpared them for war; but compelition
;lay at tlrc hcar: ol their conccpl of pcrsi)lral worth ahd
f athlctic succcss was sccn as alrnost gotlliktr. I
.k i..

rhis table shows the eslimared p<lpulations of ancienr Homcric Values. Thc cpic pocnt i attriDuted !to
cilies in thc fitth century scr, whcn ancient Greece .j.lolncr form.llre othcr: main sourcc ol Greek cultr_fral
was at its pcak. None of the cities is large by modern
ivalucs. Thc Greeks bclicved rhat in addirion rc'#he
standards, but a given city's size in relation to the oth- llrad, llomcr (ll. 850 r.cr; also wrolc The OdyssBy.
e rs indicates its degree of wealrh and manpower-as
Modcrn sclrolars suspcct that both were compiled fr$m
for example the two latgesr ,'iries indicate persia,s an earlicr body of oral tradition soon after the Gredks
power and resources. _'adrrptcd thc. alphabet and thar The Iliad and The Odyssey
had diffcrer t auli-lors. The two epics are certainly vqry
Cttv PoPULAT,TN rx 43O ncr rdifferclrt, but borh teach-moral le:sons that nermcat'id
,Creck crrlturc. The Iliad adopts a tiagic form appropriate
Babylon (Persian Empi,e) zfr,OOO
Ecbatana (Perira) 200,000
to a lale of war and heroism (see Document 2.21,
Athens (Greece) wl,ereas The Odyssey is an t,nrertaining series of adven-
15:,000
Syracuse (Greek Sicily, 125,000
ture stories that stress the importance of cleverness,
Colony of Corinth) cunning, and strength of :haracter. The Greeks valued
Memphis (Egypt) these pracl.ical talents as much as the qualities stressed
Fome lltaly) by. The Iliaa-courage, persistence, and dignity.
Canhage (North Africa, 70,000-100,000 ,Educated Greeks memorized long passages from both
Phoenician Colony) . epics as part of their cultural education. and themes
Persepolis (Persia) 70.000-100,000 itaken from both inspired much of the Greek literature
Corinth (Greece) 70,000 and art that would follow.
Jerusalem (Israel; 49,000
Sparta (Greece) 40,000
Argos (Greece) 40,000 LtrE rN THE Pous:
Tarentum* or Taras 40,000
(Italy, Greek Colony) ArHrNs AND SpARTA
Agrigentum (Greek Sicily, 40-000
Colony of Gelos) No two Greek cities rvere precisely alike, especially ih
Megalopolis (Greece) 40.000 their goyernrnen,ral instituticns, but most of the larger
Sidon (Phoenicia) 40,000 <.rnes probably resembled Athens in their economic and
social makr:up. We }inow the most about Athens becartse
"Founded by refugees fronr Laconia, Greece. Legend has it itwas the largest citf ir ancient Greece and produced
that they were the illegitimate children oI Spartan molhers
more literature than any of its fellows. At the other po-
and /relor fathers.
litical extreme wds Sparta, the great rivalof A,thens. Most
Questions: How does the size of Syracuse, a, colony (ireeks thought of Spana as an institutional relic of ear-
founded by Corinth, compare with the size of ir,s 'lier times. In.fact, its system of life and government
was
founding city? What does this tell you about the drive a response to historical circumstances that had few par-
for colonization? allels in the Grcek world. It is important precisely be-
cause it was atyprcal and because Sparta became a major
power during the Persian and Peloponnesian Wars.

trrrll'a foot race. In tirnc the Olyrnpics became a 7-day
event that ir-rcluded nin,' orhc.r evcnls. Thev were
every 4 years. The Greeks used ihese 4-year periods, or
Olympiads, to date historical events. The games drew
nren lrom every part rlf the Greek world and provided a
pcacelul arena for the contpetirive spirit that was a great
iran of ancient Greek life until the Roman emperor
Tlrt'odosius abolished them itr 393 cr. poets praised the
rvinncrs, and their grateful comnrunities showered them
with gifts. AII able.bodied Greek men panicipared in
sporls (wornen were not permiiled t() contpete). for they
The Democratic Polis of Athens
helc.l
(c. 700-461 nce)
Although Athens, otr rhe Attic peninsula, became the
cultural center of classical Greece, its initial development
was slow. until 594 scr ir was governed by an aristocraric
council known as the Areopagus (ar-ee-op'-uh-gus),
which elected nine magistrates, or archons (ar'-kahns), an-
nually. Menuerslrip in the Areopagus was hereditary, and
there was no written law. The archonsa who were always
aristocrats, interpreted legal issues to.suit themselves.

Atrcient Greece to the End of the Peloponnesian Wars tg

 GnrEx MyrHolocy
Grcek myths became imponant not only to the ancient Greeks
but to the development of Westem culture. Romans built their
litcrature on that of the Greeks and, until the early twentieth
ccntury, Weslemers used the classics (as the literature of an-
cient G. eece and Rome is called) as the core of their educational
sytlem. Today. the irrfluence of Greek myths me y Ue moit ap-,
parent in the hi:iory of Westem art. For c€nturies, r.hese ancient:.
stofies inspired Westem artists lo clpture the pp-rver, anma;,{
and, mystery cf Greek myths-as this seven eenth-century,
painting of the myth of Prometheus aptly illustrates. .
,Hffi .:

Question: What does the myth of promettieus reveal about

Grcek attitudes toward the intcntions cf the gods, the hope
of hurnan happiness, and the char,rcter of women?

The Myth of Promdheut

Prometheus (Proh-mee'.thee-us) was one of the 1inns. a race
ofgiant, divine beings. lhking pity on the bleak exisre,rce of
early n:ortals, Prometherrs stole fire from
-rhe gods and gave it to
mankind, Zeus was furious. He sent to Eanh the first woman,
Pandora, with a closed jar. When, out of curiosity, pandora
opencd the jar, hard work, gad, iolence, and diseae flew out to
subven lruman happiness. Zeus then sent Hephaestus (Ileh-
{ee'-stuss, Vulcan in Roman mythology), the god of metals and
blacksmith to the gods, to punish prometheus bv chaining him
to a rock at the furthest ends of the Earth. There, a giant eagle
woulct gnaw forever on his imrnortal liver. ln this painthg
(c. 1623), the Dutch anist, Dirck van Baburen (c. 1590-1624),
pain6 a purposeful Hephaestus chaining a horrified prometheus,
while on the right, Hermes, messenger of the gods, looks on
almost in delight, and the eagle hoven menacingly at the
upper left. For most G-eela, the prometheue myth worked
on many levels, none of them optimi: tic.

Agrarian and Social Crisis. AriSrocratic.dominance
and rhe gradual depletion of rhe soil eventually pro-
duced an agrarian crisis. Most Ar.henians, like most
Greeks, were small farmers who grerv wheat and barley
arrd tried to maintain a few vines and olive trees. Wheat
yields probably averaged about 5 bushels per acre; bar-
ley, 19. Such yields are normal for unferrilized, unirri-
gated soils in almost any region and are generally
enough to guarantee subsistence bur little more. When
yiclds began declining in the early seventh cenrury BcE,
Attic farmers had to borrorn,from the aristocrars ro sur-
vive. Inevitably, harvests failed to improve, and citizens
wlro defaulted were enslaved atrd somelimes sold
abroad by their creditors.
Dissatisfaction with lhis state of affairs, and witl.r
the endless blood feuds among aristocratic clans, led
to a short-lived tyranny in 612 ncr. Eleven years later,
a senrilegendary figure named Draco (Dray'-coh)
passed laws against aristocratic violence so harsh that
draccnian has'become a byrvord {or severity. However,
the agrarian problem remained. political tensions,i
remained hig\.until the election of Solon as the sole:
archon in 594. ncr.
Solon's Reforms. Solon (Soh'-lun) canceled out-
standing debts, freed many slaves, and forbade the use of l
a cit;zcn's person as collateral. He created a written cop-
stitution and broadencd the social base of the Athenian
goyemmenr by' creating a popularly elected Council of
400 as a check on the powers of the Areopagus. His eco-
nomic ideas were less successful. While trying ro encour-
age commerce and industry, Solon prohibited the export
of rvheat and encouraged thrt of olive oil. Consequently,
the larger landholders, seeing profit in olives and other
cash crops, took wheat land out of production and
Athens became permanently dependent on imported
grain, most of which came from the rich plains north of
the Black Sea. ]'his lneant that, in later years, Athenian

40 Chapter 2
 w,ff rill;Y,!lf ill,T fiil,tHil$t{F
rtr;unti 2,6 Hawtstlng (Jldrrrs.
f
This vrse pelnilng shorvs
l,rilrrt,rr.harvsttlng 0llvei l0r rrllve rlil, a
rtapic curnrnrxllry lrr
llr(' M(..dtr(rruncon world, Ar porr of rris rcforins. Sokrn
tlrc,,gr0wlng uf rrllvt,s nr o cosh crop Innteod of
):ll:l"t:1
ottv('r an(l ollr,,.. oll rclntln 0 rrrajor Grcck
eiprlrt roday.
\rrrvlval rcr;rilred conlr()r ,r' llre r)arrr.lncilt.s
llclhsl)onl, the nair<lw str.lit lllat sr.1,il16tes Eur0pc
Asia and providccl access [o thc (;rcek ports ol.rirr:
l,Ktrn
(lflnled. Solun lr.,d no Inlclltlon
of se,.r,lng for lifc arr,l
rt'tlrlrl ',?hcn hF hod ctx tplctr,cl lrls refornrs,
Ath('nlan .Tyrantc-plslrtratue and Hlpplas.
Sokrrr's social measures, although popular,
falled to prc-
\ ('nr rhe emer1;ence uf pislsrratus (pl.sls,.rra.r,,*1,
lyranr briclly in 560 Bce and then from 546 scr to
death in 527 sce. Using his nlastery of electoral
his
nolitics
within Solon's con$tltutlonal mcasures. plslstratus,
likc
rhe ryrants of other cities, worked tirelessly
to break rhe
remaining power of the aristocraiic famiiies.
Through
taxation and dues for more .rnd more.public
festivals,
he weakened the aristocrats financially'urra
n" sent mag_
istrates into the countryside to intedeie
in their legal dii-
putes. Public works flourished, and projects
such as tem_
ple construction and the remodeling of ugo.u
provided work for thousands. pisistrarul
*u, ,u.."Ja.J
by his son Hippias (Hip,-ee-us), who became
a ryrant in
the more conventional sense of the word. fhe
etirenians
overthrew him with Spartan assistance i^r 510 ecn
and
replaced him with Cleisthenes (Klis,_rhuh-neez)
Cleisthenes and the Advent of Athenian
Democracy. Cleisthenes laid the loundations of the
dcrnocratic system that lasted throughout
the classical
age. He expanded the number of denrcs (deems).
or
ward;, which served as the primary units of local
gov-
cnunc.nt, and divided them into ten tribes instead
Iour. Tlre conrposition of these tribes is uncertain.
of
tribe elected 50 members to a Council of 500.
Each
This body
(less than I percenr of the population)
prepared legisla_
tiorr antl supervised finances and foreign uff"irr,
but fi_
nal aurhority over legislation and quesiions
of war and
peace rested with an'assembry of ail
male citizens thar
ntct at least forty times a The assembly
)1car. could also
tf '6I 0 5
"t,
lr) tf$lraclrc-.-r,rilc l',rrr tlrt,r,lty lirr t,tt ycarn wfilt.
'.t(,1 rr l r,il ilrtl
0il t t.lfl l-. .(Lil rll\,r.()l t\ oI rrrr;urltrtlar
'lir lxrlllleln q,f ,
,' . lrrrirrr.t, lrrrJrarti,rlity, rlre r.lly'n,,w cli ,sc nragjr-
;ll'rrr.rr (lrrrlpt'r.1rr(r Hrv('nrrrrg'lilr'rirlrl hy krr l'r0lrt a l,st
, .rl r lrr, w.r.(,rr.r ;tokl l'r, lltclt.grtthllr,rut,.
'.1'rrt(,(,r$
vlr't'.'l'lrr' t ir y clcr'l.rr its rnlrrrary t'rrrrrrn'rrcl.
'0lrly'rr rlrt'lrollr,l rrrr.rlr, lrr ari r.llort l{, clrriurc t)[e!ir'ril"
c0,ir-
r'|('rr'rrr r" rlrc Alltr,rrl.ilr\ riulll(,('l('rl olllt'lrrlri lrl rr cl t'lnggrtr
rfvir,w ol thclr dc'tlorrr 1t lht: cn(l ol caclr y"ar, pii,,,
/st,r,(,lr,rplt'r l) anrl r)tlr!it,:r wlto syrrrpdtltlZCd
Wlth aftl,
l(lcracy l,urrd llre cnlire dcnr'cratic syslcm absurd, brrt
Dt.riclrs and lris assot.i.rlcs irr
tlrc,gropular parry llbeiil_
lrcd lt cvr,n f urlh(.r alrcr 46 | trr:rr,
t.tr- Atlrcrrs rcprcscrrtt'tr ari cxlrcrrrc rcvcr
cicmocratic
llrirtrr, J3()v(,rnulrlrr, lrtrt rlrc lrrcadtlr of lts publlc'fpartlclpattbn
wrrs ir(rt rrrrit;rrt'. A nrrrrhcr,f 0thcr Gleek cltles adoptnd
dr,rrrocratic forms of g()vcrnmcnl, although In rome
e0sc$, rrl)rc$entatlvc lrrsiltrrrlorts tlrrlekly fell urldcr
thc
or !o,tror .r trre wcarrhy ard bccalrrc oilgarchres. Although
witlrly criticizcd by yrlrilo,soplrcrs, dcmocracy in Athens
rvorkc<l rcrrrarkably wt.ll for almost 200 years and pro-
vldcrl rlrc trasis for local govcrnrncnt even after the crty
lost lts l'ccrl'rr.r ttt rlrc /r,laectj.nlarrs i.33g acu. At the
very least, der,rocracy guaranteccl inlense Involvcment
by.rlrc crrtlrc lxrpuralrrrr ,r rrarc crtrzcns In the lrfe of
the
llolis. p.pularioll csti'latcs vary, but classical Athens
._'r probably had betwccrr r,0.C)00 and 5t\,000 male
c.ltlzens
ir. bclrh t<lwn and coulttry. Any one o them couta tle
part of its political, milirary, and judiciallrocesses.
j.ife in the Athenian polis. In mater al rerms,
rhe
Athenia.r way of life was rernarkably sin,1;lg. Athenians,
like other Greeks, ate bread garnished with oil, onions,
or garlic and drank wine that was usually watered and
flavored with sweeteners. pine resin, or other suo_
-stances.
Beans and various fruits supplemented ttris oth_
,t. erwise meager diet. Mear; was expensivq and .rormallv
{r)Dsum€d in small quantities. Even the largest Atheniah
.
houses, althnugh often ouilt of stone, were small
by
Egyptian or Mbsopotamian standards, but their arrange..
Inent was similar. Square or rectangular rooms sur-
central counyard, which *ight.,r.rtuin a pri_
::::19.q,.
vate well. Some houses had'second stories. Merchanis
and artisans ,rften conducted their business from rooms
on,the street side of thei.r dwellings. Housing for the
many poor, being more c reaply built, has not been well
preserved.
Slavery. Athens probabll had ar least 40,000 to
. 90,000 slaves of both sexes who worked as artisans,
do_
nlestic servants, er labore.s. A large number workid in
the mines. As in rhe rest of the ancient world, slavery
among the Greeks had begun with thc taking of cap-
tives in war, but by the classical age, Greeks
*.r. p,ri-
chasing barbarian (thal is. non-Greek) slaves from itin-
erant traders. Still, no great slave_worked estate;
Atriail Greece to the End oJ .he peloponnesian Wars 4t
 f
Tnr Olvnplc Gnrurs .1,

According to legcnd, King llitos ol Elis and nearby Olympia

asked Apollo's oracle at Delphi how to end the wars that werq
devaslating the Peloponnese. Apollo's reply advised lfitos to |*
.t;
rrst()re the "spons contests" at Olympia. Ifitos established the ':2
":
olyrnpic games and signed, along with Sparta's Lycurgu; and
Pisa's Clcisthsnes, the longest-standing ( 1,200 years) peace ac'
corrJ ir.r lristory-the Olymric Truce. Throughout the duration
ol rhe Olympic Tluce, fronr the sevtnth day prior ao thc open-
ing of the Garnes 1o the seventh rray following the closing, all
conflios ceased, allowing athleta;, anis6, and specarors to
travel ti, ulympia, participate in the Games{d retum to thcir
honrelands in safety. The city of Elis organized the games evcry
4 ycars during the month of July or August. Elean citizens,
chosen by lot, supervised the events and enforced theirelabo-
rate regulations and rules of sportsmanship. IrV'inners were
crorvned at the games with a wreath of wild olive leaves and
honored by their cities with poems, spccial privileges; and of-
ten high political office when ihey retumed home. At first,
DLsew ,mil JaudinThrowm. These red-figure vasej from
spectators (men only) watdled from the hillside, but the
c. 520-510 BcE portlay two Olympic evcnts. Ihe one on the left
Eleans eventually built a true stadium seating 45,000 l eople.
shows a discus thrower beginning his warm-up. The one on the
The games lasted 5 days and graduallT expanded to include right shows a javelin tfuower. Ancient illustrations of these
len events, most of which, like the javel'n throw, had military evenB indicate that they were prob3bly conducted in the same
applications. The Eleans also organized a separate set of ath- way as their modem Olympic counterparts and that the tcch'
letic games for women, who competed w,earing shon tunics. niquq,ysed by the attrletes has not dtanged.
:,.'*;
:tS,:.
-tiir .

|Horse anil Chariot Racing. Horse racing; which induded

several events, was an aristocratic sport. The Greeks loved .
horses, bur few could afford to naintiin-them. The chari<it
race was the most spectacular event and must havprequircd *J
gqcat strength and skill. Some of the most important historical
r$i
personages panicipated, driving their own ctrariots, wltile'
*
rvt:althy owners, some of whom were women, hired trqi4en, .rl;
l:1
riders, and driven. Then as. now, tbe hippodrome, or'race tradc"
rvas a place to display weaith and political power. This vase
r1
shows the lel&rippon or quadriga, an event lor f6ul-hsrse dr.ri-
ors that was introduced in 680 scr,

cxislct'l. and even the richest citizens seem to have
orvncd only a few Slave ar'.isans who toiled outside
rhcir uraster's home normally received wages, a fixed
portion of which was returned to their owner. This
pracricc tendcd to depre'ss the pay rates of free rvorkers
.rnil e nstrred that manv citizens lived no better tiran the
slaves. As in M,,lsopotamia, killing a slave was a crime,
and the law guaranteed slaves their freedom (manumis'
sion) iL they could raise lheir price of purchase.
In addition to slaveb and free citizens, Athens boasted
a large population of foreigners. The city was a com-
mercial center that, although located a few miles from

12 Chapter 2
 lifl
.'ii,,Pind,r\ Ode tu an Athlcte i
l
j, Following his Olympic success, an athlete's native city {ten
o
commissionid a poem t..t honor him, as was the case pith
i this poem. PinCar (c. 5l8_418 ecr), best known for his 6des
,; honoring successful athletes, ,ryas a native.of Thebes andone
of thc greatest lyric poets of ancient Greecc. As he does bhre,
''
Pindar often included a brief warning against hubis, thAf.a-
g tal pride t\at leads men rc challenle the gods.
5
.,..s
.,"For Phylakiitas of ,4egina,Winner in theTiial ::

: of Strength" :i

:';
'n In the struggle of the games he,has won

Wose hair is tied with thick garlands

, .For viaory with his hanas
l, I Or swiftness of foot.
Men s valor is judged by their fates,

But two things alone

' .;. ' Look after the nveetest gract of life
,' Amorg the fine flowers of w,alth.
' If a man fares weil and hears his good name spokn, ::

, Seek not to beccme a Zeus!

You have evenuhing, if a share
Of those beautdul things ur.rc to you.
Mortal ends beft mortal men.
The Foot Race.'In the biginning the games lasted I day and '. For you Phylakidas, at the Isthmus
featured only one event the fooirace-a 600-loot sprint A double success is planted and thrives,
called a stadion (he.nce our word stadiuml.. The event came to ', . And at Nemea for you and your brother Pytheas
include fhe diaula,4'1,20o-foot run. As this"vasi painting in- In the Trial of Strength. My heart tastes song.
dicates, the athletes ran naked. ..

'.,, Source. Hndar, The Odes of Ptndar, trans. C. M. Bowra i.

,lHaqmgndsworth, England: lgnguin Books, \96,9, p.47). CopyT.i€ht
I @ The Estatp of C. M. Bowra, lg6g. Reproduced by permissionicf
'' lenguin Books Lrd.

the coast, had a bustling port at piraeus. Unlike somc
Greeks, the Arhenians welcomed foreign ideas-and
capital inveslment. Although foreign resident: could not
participate in public life or own real estate, they were
wcrr treated and many became wealthy. The merchants
among them controlled much of the citv's cornrrerce.
The Status of Women in Athens. As in other soci-
eties, historical sources are apt to be legal documents or
literary works written from the male point of view. Thcse
documents do not always reflect the real experiences of
women and somerimes present a misleading image of
and even irrelevance. Thus, their true
powerlessness.

Ancient Greece to tlte End of the neloponnesian Wars 43


SulucfloN FRoM Ho-rvrur.'s Tun luap
Itonrcr'$ grcal eplc of thc Trojtn War-f/r lliad-dcf'lncd
(Jrcck volue$ and ldeols for latcr generatlont. Those valucs
arc lrurnonlsllc; thct l;, llortcrt heroet slrlvc for excrllencc
ln trurnan rathgi thcn rcllglour rcrms, Bur undcrlylng qll
thclr actlons l$ t lense lhlq ever, for the'greateet of mortals.
lhc ordcr of the unlverue'k unrafe. Thls passage reflccts thc
troglt sklc of Gitck conrdourness. Prlom, ilre aglng Klng ot
'lYrry, lravhrg rccn hlr mn Hcgor klllcd try thc Grcck wlrrlor
A1 lrlllcr, ltoet to Achlllcr to ask hlm t() nBrurn Heclo r's body
l,r' 11,,ttnt,
\
ltt rttttt |tud $t Achlller" thtnklng about hlt own lather and h u ,ghr
Ithn h lltc tvtgc of team Taxlng thc old nnn\ hand, ha gently put
l*n livttt ltlm: and owrcome by thctr memorlfiJhry both broke
tlolllr. lldant, Wu&tng at Acttlllals fect, t+vpt bhterly lor man'
slayirt ntno, and Achilles wcpt lor hk fathn and then again
Patroclus. Tht house was filled wlth thc wunds ol thelr lamenta.
tion. But praentty when he had had enough ,f tean and reuvered
Irit t'onporure, the Gx€Qllcnt Achlller leapt from hh chalr, and in
{ltnfdssio,t hr lhe man's grey head and grey beard, took him by
the arm and raised him. Then he spoke to him from his heart: "You
are indeed a man of sonows and have suffered much. How could
you dare to come by younelf to the Achaean ships into the presence
of a man who has lilled so many of your gallant sons? You have a
heart of iron. But pray be seated now, here on this chain and let us
leave our sorrottt, biner though h?, ore, locked up in our own
hearts, for weeping is old omfort and does linle good. We men are
wretclled things, and the gods, who have no cares themselves, have
woven sonow into tke very patteru of our lives.'
Source: Homer, lhe I.liad,outtr-f. V, Rieu (Harrrondswonb
England: Penguin Books, 1950). ',
Question: t{hatsultural values and attitudes is Homer
rrying to convgyin tbil ligsaSeZ
slalr:s has been the subject of much controversy.
Nrvcrthcless, Gree'k wotren did nttt enjoy the same rc.-
gal arrtl personal slatus as their Egyptian countcrparts.
Tlrr'tlrelically, even Greek vrontelt who hatl lreerr
irorn lo citizen farnilies had no politica) . ighrs. Men ex-
crciscd w()men's judicial rights for tlrer.n oecause female
sralLls \vas that of pcLnldn(]llt legal nrinor. Wonten did
liavc dowries, which protecred then- to some extent if
tlrey rvere divorced or widowed, but divorce.seerls t()
have treen rare. The Athenians, like most ancienr
Grecks, made extraordinary efforts to segregate the
scxcs. Respectable women of the citizen class stayed at
tronrc cxcept for occasional attendance at festivals, sac-
41 Chapter 2
r lllr'('l lr lltr' tlrr',rlr't, rvlrlrr'' nt{llr' t('lrlllv(rh {lt'('(}lllll{1.
nicrl ilrlrrt, lt ir tlrorrgltt llt,rl ttrt'tt ,tllo rlttl tltc sltollplttg
lo [1,1,yr llrr,ir wivl, nrrrl tl,rugltlt'tr ltottt t'rtttittg lttttl
( {}il1$('l witlr rltrrr}f{(,r's, Worrr,'il w('l(' ('v('lt cxp('('lc(l l(t
,rr rrltf lr,r'l,rif f rl(,il\ witlrirr lltt''lrrtttt'. 'l'ltc attdron,' a
looln wlrcr.(, nlerr rcc'ivt'rl tltr.ir rttalc'gttgtts, was
strictly oll-lirrrits lo worrrcrt, attrl itt tttatty Grcck lttlttscs
it lrad n s('l).rr',llr ('nlrolr('s l() tlle slrc('1,
Ut;dcrlyirrg tlrcsc llra<titcs was lltc cot'tvlclion,'
voict'd lrc<prcrrlly lly Grcck 1^ntcrs, thal womcn wcre
irrcapabre oI r'ontrrrllirig tlrt'ir scxr"rality. A worttatt stts-
l)c('tg(.i rrl lr;rvirrl.| a c'lrilrl l)y $orrlc{,n(: olllc'r lllan hgf
l.rwfrrl lrrrsharrrl crrdarrgt'r't'tl tllc st.1tr,rs oI ltt'r olher
r ltlleirt,n, wlro rrrlglrl locr' llrclr (lllz('n$lllt ll' chal.
It'rrgt tl ir'r rorrrt lry or, r'rrt'rtry', l'or tltis r'('(lsotl, lltc ltead
ol a farrrily lrarl tlrc rillllt to kill rrry nrarr wlro scduccd
lris r ;'llt', tl,rrr6lrtcr., (rr .rny ol lit'r lt'rrralt' t'clal lvc uttder
lris protr'< l,or,, Ar onc ollcrrdcrl ltttrlrattrl salcl ltt a l'a,
nrous casc: "The lawgiver lSolonl prescribed death for
for adrtltery hc<arrst: lrc who a<lricvcs his end; by persua-
siOn thcrel,y corrupts thc rrrind as well as the body of
tlrc wrrman . . . ilrcl gains access t<l all a man's posses-
sionb, ,rrrtl r.t5tt, (l(,ulrl ol Ilr r'lrlltlrctt'r l)dfenldgp,"
Tlte adultcrous wonran coLrld rrot, ltowever, be killed
because shc wirs lcgally and rn<lrally irresponsible. If
r.narried, her husband could divorce her; if single, she
ruired her prospects for finding a husband and spent
the rest of her lif -'as a virtual prisoner in the house of
her father or guardian. Desp.te these sanctions, adul-
tery may not have been as uncomuron bs scholars
once beiieved.
By modern standards. women of middle- and upper-
class'families remained virtual prisoners. They were
married early, often at age l4'or 15, to much older men
who were chosen for them by their families. Women al-
most never received.a formal education, although a few
upper-class women, like the sister of the statesman
Cimon, were We]l educateC. Much of rheir time was
spent spinning and sewing because Greek clothing wds
simprc and could easily be manlfactured at home. This
does not mean, however, that Greek women were
without influence. They managed their husband's
hou.ehold, controlled the dornestic slaves, and raised
the childre,r. Their husband's economic survival de-
pended on their efforts, and literary sources indicate
that the nren of the iamily consulted them regularly on
both buiiness rnatters.and on tlre political issues of the
day. Child-rearir-rg made them, as in most societies, the
guardians of societal values, not only for the children
but for tireir husbands as wrll. In Greece, as elsewhere,
a propertied widovz might enjoy considerable influence
if she did not remarry.
.From a modem perspective, poor and foreign women
led more interesting lives. Many worked rrr sold goods in
the marketplace, activities that \vere essentiiLl to the sur-
 I:tt;rtttt:2.7 Plnn oJ a Grcck
I-lousc, This ltorrsc wati part ol a rt,si-
ricnlial bhx'k ()n tllc south skrpc ol tlrr.
n rc()[)a,jus irr Atlrcrrs. Judgirrg lry irs
size arrrl krcaliorr n(.ar lhc tr'rrlcr ol
l{r!vrr, it l)r(,l,al)ly hckrrrgcd lo a l)r()s-
lx'r()us lra(lesrnan. Tlrc drawirrg orr thi'
lclt shows ils location rclativt to ()thcr
l,uilrlirrgs in lhc block and t<l tltl agrrra.
l'lrc stalls of thc ag.rra are shown ar llrc
t()l) l(,ll,cthcr with thc sloa, or covcr cd
Jrortico, lhal pr(rtcflcd thcm frorn sun
arid rain. Thc drawing lo th(, righl
shows lhe probablc fulrctron ol thc
rtxrrns. Thc shadcd arca was uscd only .
t)y rne n. Note that the men,s and
rv()m(.n's arcas of .thc h,ruse I ad scpa-
ratc cntrances {arr()ws) and tltal no in----
lcrior acccss appcars hclweer,t thcln.
E$.
vival of their families ancl that guaranteed them a free-
dom of ntovement unknown to their wealthier sisters.
Sirch women, however, normally lacked the protection of
an economically stable and politically privileged famili..
Prostituti ln. Segregation of th6 sexes led.to an ac_
ccplance of male extramarital relations with slave and
foreign women. prostitution was common, and at the
higher leVels of sociery, Athenian men valued courte-
sans. or hetairai (het-eye'-ree), as companions at ban-
qLlets and other social occasions from which respectable
wonlen were excluded. Courtesans were often highly
educated. Some-such as Aspasia, rhe misrress ritne
lifth-century statesman pericles-achieved consider-
able fame and could hold their ovrn ip intellectual dis-
c()urse, but they were still regarded as prostitutes.
Asllasia ended 'rer.days as the madam of an Athens
lrltltheI.
Homosexuality. Hornosexuality, too, was regarded
lry rrrany Gieeks as normal, and in some cases praise-
\vonhy (see Greek Attitudes Toward Sex and lvtarriage).
Soldiers, for example, wcre thought to fight more
bravely when accompanied by ttreir ntale lovers. Many
ol tlrese relationships formed in the gymnasia, where
nren of the citizen class trained for war or aahletics. It
was nol uncontmon for a youth to b(.come sexually in-
volved wilh an older man who then s3rved as his men-
tor in intellectual as well as athletic matters. Such
1\
I
i
is
li
I
3
/
l 1
1
.rl
I
Ir-
o 'P-
IT :
j:
&
*
i?.
arrangemenrs were widely accepted. The Greeks, how-
ever, did not view homosexuality as an orientation tha;
p:ecludc"d sexual relations with women or a conven-
tional family life. Funhennore. homoselual promiscti-
it1 could ruin a man's repuration or lead to exile, arid
many regarded it as inlerior to married love.
As in many other cultures, Greek men and women
may have belonged in ef.ect to separate societies that
met only in bed. If true, this would also acc,tunt for the
widespr:ad acceptance of lesbianism. Greek men may
not have cared about sex between women because it
did not raise the rSsue of inheritance. The term lesbiat'
cones from the Ionic island of Lesbos, home of Sdppho
(c. 610-580 acr), a \voman and the greatest'of Greek
lyric poets. Euiopeans of a later age found her erotic
poems to other women scandalous (see Document 2.3),
and their renown has perhaps unfairly eclipsed thr.
much wider range of her work in the minds of all but
the most determined classicists.
Although Athenians, like other Greeks, were re,-
m4rkably open abour sexual matters, they did not
abandon themselves to d.-bauchery. Self-control re-
mained the essence of rhe ideal citizen, and the Greeks
admired sexual resrrainr as much as they admired mod-
eration in the consunlption oi food and drink and phys-
ical fitness. A man rvho wasted his wealth and cor-
rupted his body was of no value ro rhe polis, which was
always at risk and demanded nothing less than excel-
lence in those who would defend it.
Ancient Creece to the End of tirc Peloponnesian Wars 45

GnErr Ar:rrruprs Townnp,sux AND ^l\Innnlncr
Crcek at.titudes toward sex and marriage arosc oul of thc
irrlrurc's pcrception of wonten as morally and intellectually
infcrior to mcn-a perception we see clcarly in Xenophon,s
Oeconomicus (Household Management). In plutarch,s Dialogue on
l.ove, lhe character Protogenes uses the same perception lcl
rlcfcnd homosexuality, bur rhe dialogue shows that rhe
Creeks w€re as conflined about tbis iss ue as are the cultures
ol today. Sappho's poem to her lover Atthis (see Document
2.3) is a tire examplc of lyric poetrv and a graphic ill,r51ys-
rion llrar. although the law tolerated lesbian relationships,
\vonlcn could rarely be masters -iffin
of their emotional fate.
Xenophon\ "'fhe Roie of the Athenian WiJr"
from Oeconomicus (Householil Management)
In this excerpt, Ischomachus tells Socrates how he'began to
rrain his l5-year-old bride., Like most. Greek husbands.
Ischomachus would have been far older than his wife. His
parronizing views reflect conventional Athenian thinking.
luell Socrates, as soon as I had tamed her anC she was relaxed
enough to talk, I asked her the following question: ',Tell me, my
dear" saiC I, 'do you ,mderctand why I married you and why
)'lur parents gave you to me? you know as well as I do that nei-
ther of us would have had troubl,'finding someone else to share
our beds. But after thinking abcut it carefully, it was you I chose
and ne your parents chose as the best parttierfwe could
find for
The Military Polis. of Sparta
(c. 700-500 ncr)
Sourh of Athens, in-a remot: valley of the peloponnese,
la1, 5,',onu-u polis very differenr from, ancl one-founh
the size of, Athens. Sparta produced few poers and no
phikrsophers. Its unrvalled capital, built on a raised
rrrtlur-rd to keetrl it from the floodwaters clf the river
Ertr()tas (You-ro'-tas), was said to resenrble an overgrown
villagc. The Spartans engaged in no cornmc.rce to speak of
arrd lii,cd almost entirely fronr tlte proceeds of agricul_
Irrrt,. Lone afrcr othcr Greeks had adopted coinage, they
ctlrrt itrtre d t0 trse iron bars as their only crtrrency. Because
llrc Sparrans wrote little, we kn<tw them chiefly through
tlrt' rvrilings of forcign political tlteorists. By all a, counls,
Sparta rvas a ntilitary state-grim, poor, rigidly col-lserya_
livc, and distinguished only by its rnagnificent army and
tlrc sirr6ilc-minded discipline of irs cilizens.
Early History. The first Spartans were probably a band
ol Dorians who established their polis on tle ruins of an
46 Clnpter 2
i
t
I
i,:
our.home and children. Now if God rcnds us children, vrc shell
think about how best to raise them, Jor we share an interest in se-
curing the hest allies and support for our old age."
t
:i:
M7 wife answered, "But how un I help? What am I capable i3
'3.
of doing?It is on you that everything Cepends. My dury, my 4
mother said, is to be well behaved."
:Oh, by Zeus," said !, "my father said the same to me. But the
besl:behavior in a man nnd wom;tn is that which will keep up
lheir property and increast it as Jal us may be done by honest and
legal means. . . ." .
"It seem: to tue that God adapLJ .yomen's nature to inCoor and
mali's to outdoaor work. . . . As Nature has entrusted woman witli
guarding the house,'rcld supplies, and a timid nature is no disad-
vantage in such a job, it has endou ed women with more fear than
man It is more proper for a ucman to stay in the house ihan out of
doon and less so for a man !: be indoors instead of o;J. . . . you
m.u!:t stay indoors and send out the servants whose work is outside
and'superise those who work indocrc, receive what is brought in,
give tut what is to be spent, plan ahead what is to be stored and
for
ensure that provisiotts for a year are not used up in a month. . . .
Mary of your duties will give you pleasure: for instance, if you te:ach
spinning and weaving to a slave who did not know how to do this
whm you got htr you double ys2.7 usefulness to yourself.-
Fronr Xenopho,, "Oeconomicus" in Julia O,Faolain end Lauro
Martiles, Not in God's Image: l+,omen in Histo4, from the Greek to the
Victonans (London: Temple Sntirh, l97i).
earlier society. Under. a dual monarchy in which two
hereditary kings exerted equal powers in war and reli-
gious rr^atters, rhe Spanans displaced an earlier ruling
class that was prot ably Dorian as well, allowing these pe-
rioikoi (per-ee'-ee-kee) ro retaln property and personal
freelonr within their own communities. The original pre-
Dorian inhabitants became sens, or in Spanan terrns,
helo';s (hell'-uts). Bourrd ro the properties o n which they
worked, they differed fronr slaves only in thar they do not
seem to have been sold as individuals. Arou td 725 scn. '
Sparta conquered the neighboring polis of Me.;senia and
reduced its inhabirants to serfdom as well.,_li:tots now
putnun-rbered Spartar-rs by a pr.obable ratio of l0-to-1.
The conquest o{ Messenia and the serfdom of its inhabi-
tants nade Sparta agriculturally self-sufficient, a siruation
almost unique antong the Gr.'ek states. It even provided
a mrdest surplus for exporr) a,though Spanan citizens
were forbidden to engage directly in trade. Unfortunately,
their success forced the Sparrans to live as an armed mi-
nority surrounded by a hosrile popularion. In rhe Second
 I'!:::;;cl.'s Dialogue on Loue
Dcbatcs (or dialoguesl over thc rclalive mcrits of homoscx-
r.ral anci hctcroscxtral
love wcrc conrmonplace in ancicr-rl
Crcccc. Plutarch, uris dehate,s aLlrlor, lived in the firs1 ccn-
lury cE. Hc was an avid p'opagarrdist for Hellen jc valucs,
arrd his works arc thought to rcflcct the attitudes of thc age,
FIerc, Protogenes, who believes that wrrrnen are incapable of
tnre feeling or inteltect, argues thet love is almosr hy dcfini-
lion homoscxual. His friend Daphnaeus, who
apparen.ly
rcpresents Plutarch, vehemently disagrees.
" Do you call marriage
and the union of man and wife
"hame-
ful?" interposed Daphnaeus, ,,there can he no bont mlre sacreLt.,,
"Such unions are necessary
fa, the pfopgation of rhe .ace,',
said Protogenes, "and so our lawgivers have been careful to endow
them with sanctity and exalt them before the populace. But of true
Love the women\ apartment has no shred. For my part I deny
that the word "lovc" can be apptrcd to the sentiment vou
feel for
women and girls, no more than ,love,
Jlies can be said to milk, or
bees h ney, or victualers and Zoolcs can be said to have
amorous
feelings for the be eves and fowl they fatten
in the dark . . .. A ito_
ble love rvhich attaches to a youthfu.'
[male] spirit issues in excel_
lence upon the path of
friendship. Frcm these desires for women,
even if they turn out well, one may enjoy only physical pleasure
and tlrc satisfaaion of a ripe body.,'
Messr nian War (c. 650 ncr) the helots of both communi_
ties rose against their masters and; with rhe heln of some
rrciglrlroring ciries, came close to destroying the Spanan
state. The survival of an independent Sparta required a
corr])lere reorganization of their society.
Lycurgus and New Spartan Government. The
Sparrans artributed their reorgar"tizarior.t to the leg_
cndarr' figure of Lycurgus (Lic-kur,-gtrs), but rhe new
Pr.rclitt,s alrnclst certainly cvolved over tin)e. By the
IiItlr ct'.tu11,BCE, thc nr'narcl-ry,s influer.rce had bec.r'e
sr'\,crcl)' linrired. A Council of Elders, conrposed of
rrvcnrr'-eight lnen over the age of 60, advised thcnt and
scrvcd as a kind clf appellate court in reviewing their le_
{al decisions.Tlte ephors (rlf,-ors), a cornmirree of five,
ran ll)e govcrnrrellt. Thly cor-rducted foreign policy.
n,atcheri ovcr the helots, and could, if necessary, rtver_
ridc the rnilitary t'lecisions of the kings. Bc,th gr()ups
rvere clected by an assembly composed of all Spartan
nrales over thc agc of 10, the eph<lrs for I -year renrs,
lAfter mwch argument, Dayhnatus responds:l ,'lf we exawine
the truth of the matter, Protogenes, the passion for boys and for
trcmcn derives from one and the same Love, but if you insist on
disunquishing between them for argument,s sake, you will
fnd
that the Love of boys dces not comp )rt himself decently; he is like a
l,rte issue, born unseasonably, illegitimate, and shady, who drives
out the elder and legitimate love. It was only yesterday, my
fiend,
ar lhe day before, after lads began to strip and bare themselves
foi
exercise that it oept surreptitiously into the gymnasia with its al-
Iurements and embraces, and ,hen, littte b.y little, when it had
Ie dge,J its wings fr,;il in the palaestras, it could no longer be held in
clte:k; now it abuses and befoub that noble conjugal Love i,rhkh ,
assures immortality to our mortal kind,
for by procreation it rekin-
dles our nature ..uhen it is extinguishcd.
"Protogenes denies there is ple,zsurein the L,,ve of boys: he does
;o out of shame and fear He must have some decent pretext
for ail
tachment to his young beauties, and so he speatcs :tf
fr,iendship and
exce llence. He coverc himself wilh athlete,s dust, tal gs cold
baths,.
raises his eyeb-ows. and declares he is chastely pl.,tosophizing_to
oulward view and because of the iaw. But when night
falls and
all is quiet then 'sweet is th; fruit when the keeper is gone., ',
Sorrrce: Plutarch, -Dialogue on -ove,- in ed. and trans. Moses
Haclas, On Love, the Family,.and the Good Life: Sekcted Essays of
Ptutarch (New York: Menror Books, 1957, pp. 307_30g).
the councillors for life. Unlike Athens, Sparta restricted
citizenship to thosc who'owned land. elihougntfr..itl
ilen assembly voted by acclamation on all important
inatters, the ephors usuaLy negotiated the decisions in
advance before presenting them to the r teetings for ratr
ification. There seems ro have been little of the vigorous
public debate that characterized Athenian society.
Life in the Spartan polis. The aristocraric character
o. Spartan government st"uck Greeks as old-fashioned,
hut they adurired its effectiveness and stability. The so-
cial system over which tLe government presided was
stranger. Fr0m the sixth century BcE onward, everything
in a Spartan'-; life was subordinated to the security of thc
polis (see Document 2.4). Infants who appeared physi
cally unfit were killed. At age 7, males were taken from
their mothers and trained to fight, endure pain, and sur-
vive y7i15nut supplies in a hostile countryside.
At age 20,
tlrey entered a phiditia (fid-ish'-ee-a), a kind of barracks
community where rhey would live for most of their
.ltrient Greece to the End oJ.the peloponnesiatr Wars 47
 SnrpHo's "Tol
In this lyric, Sappho, a poetess {rom the island ol Lesbos,
larnents her parting lrom a woman she loved. It is evident
ftat the families 9f the two women, or some other third
party, perhaps a husband, has forced their separation.
So I shall never see Atthis apin,
and really I long n be dead,
although she.no cried biturly
when she left and said to rns,
I.
"Ah,what'anighilarewesuffercd ,' :" . i. . ., :;
I sytear I go unwiliingly.'
Sappho,
And I answered, "Go. and be nappy.
.--
But remcmber me, for sure\r you :. ..
know how I wonhippedyou. If not, : (\brv york santarn Bools, 1962). By permission,of VJillis
then I want you to remember all
the exqiisite days wc shareC; ; :.
how when near me ycu would adorn
your hanging lock with vbks and
: is. "
lives. The phiditias dined in public or-r Hyacinthian Street
in thc same mess tents thcy used in rvar. These rjinners,
ral her rhan the life of thc' agora, provided Spanan males
rvith lnost of their social interaction.
Although allowed to marry, younger Spanans could
visit their wives only in secret, and family life in the or-
clinary sense was discouraged. 3ecause the Spartans
rvrote little, we know nothing of their attitude toward
homosexuality, but, as Greeks who found them odd in
every other respect did not mention ir, it must have been
similar to that of th: Athenians. Their neilitary obligatiorr
ended only at the age of 60. To the Spartan, etemal vig:
iiance was the price of survival. Unrike most Greeks. rhey
periodically expelled fortigners from the state as a secu-
rity precaution. TIade bnd agricultural work were forbid-
clen them; fitness, discipline, and courage were prized.
The Status of Women in Sparta. Spartan women
\vere renowned throughout Greece for their indepen-
clcrrce and assertiveness. They appeared in public. rode
lrorscs, and said what they thought. Because the Spartan
rvarrior paid dues to his phiditia from the proceeds of land
rvorkc'd by the helots, that work was supervised to some
cxtent by Spartan women. Althorrgh not e:ipected to
Iight. women received extensir e physical training on the
theory that a strong mother produces strong children.
Spartan women dressed simply and wore no jewelry.
They could hold land in their own right and were capa-
ble of dealing with hostile and rebellious helots. Their
c()urage, like that of the Spartan men, was legendary.
48 Chapter 2
roses and your sapling throil
neckle$ of a hundred blossoms;
your young fksh wa ich with kingty
as you lean( near my b,rgasts on
sofi couch whery deliwu girb
".
rl all that an tonian uull defire; :
we,went to evgy hill, !.|k:,i
holy place; ant|.when early tpring., ,::,
,
Ithe woods with noises oj blrds , ,1
a choir of nightingales-we"twti
if:'in soliude were wandeing therti."
*,i
.';:r{!
. S,ffce: Sappho :To Arthis,l in lvillii Barnstone, Greek Lyrit
l
Barnstone. . .
'. .,#i:
'ffit.
Q;gestion: What point does Sappho make about the situa-
tio-n of women in Greek socic'ty?
Spartan Foreign Poiicy. The constant threat of
helot insurrection made Spartans wary of foreign en-
tanglements, and the Spartans followed a policy thal
was traditionally ciefensive and inward-looking. This
changed in the course of the fifth century ncr, when
the Persian invasion and the subsequent expansion of
Athens lorced them to take a more active role. They
would eventually be drawn irrto a fatal rivalry with the
.rrthenians, whose army was inferior but whose supe-
rior navy and greater wealth made them formidable an-
tagonists. The story of those struggles forms the politi-
c;il b,ackground of thb Greek'classical age.
Trtr PEnstnN Wnn
(499-479 scE)
Greek isolation fronr thc turbulent politics of the Asian
land mass came to an abrupt end with the, advent of the
Persiarr War of 499479 scE. The tiny :.tates whose
competition with one another had tong ;ince beconre
traditional now faced the greatest military power the
world had yet known.
The Persian Empire. The Persians were an Indo-
European people fron'r ,the Iranian highlands who
€rrrerged in the sixth century BcE as the dominant
pCwer in the vast region between Mesopotamia and
India. By the end of the sixth century BcE, the ruling
elite had adopted Zoroastrianism, a religion preacheci
 DrscRrpfloll oir n Spnnrarq CHtLpHoop \ ' :. ;:
XENc)r HoN's :_

r:RoM THr CorusrrrJTroN oF THE I,ncrp,ulnoNlANs", .li:,f ii.,;t

;4 i ,.,.',_ .,.t.,p;
Thii from Xer:cphon is or.e of several descriptions of ii, ,t * rhe;.would thus be bett:r prepafga
passage
n ho 4ramg*'ii;iii
Spartan values as perceir ed by other rlreeks, many of whom i: uld. As ro rhe
food, he required tite prefei u O;rinS-with'iin
were bolh attracted and repelled by them.
D9P altractecl them. 't moderate amount of it thttt
thrtt thc bryiwiuta nerrr-ifrriAi,
sufu
the brys woutd never froi';
In other Greek cities, parents who profes to give their sons the best 'o Y o:o .*!tld. kttow, what it wy to .qq with tleir hlngd un
cduution place their boys under the care and control of a mual ru- "l (!;f' n, 31*a that thosc who undemv':nt this ,"i:A_! \
tt:r'i : ro *1Y*.wo1k1w onyl i*p,t
tor as soon as the;,can undersrard what is said io ini^,
rhem ssiaot 1o tesrn tetters, musk, and the exerckes of ""ithe '* o* \,!eulr i!t: Yry*{
allow.dffy::f-fy:!":!!"i!!,I!lr'::,
:::,y!:
!,'q
gfvins He tl'efi u alleviau their
- :t'., It was not on acaunt of a difli*dty'ln
wrestling ground. Morewer, they soften the chitdren's feei Uv
them sandals, and. pamper their bodi:: with changu Aornins, '\:
"f :-' enuuraled them t0,,t .
nrt,l it is customary to allow them as much
food as they can eat 1et their,foo! bl'cunninil'''
I-rw1sus, on the contrary, instead fleaving ,a prnir",i)t- ,-; malplay wJto iyends tu y,Ini*irO .li;:iiiA
point
nt a slave to acr t .tt,/. gave
act as tutor, thp iu,tt
dnvp the mnttn,tua the
nf controllmg
du,y of .a ,tl":, ana
and PMy Ine
t ^i a
tt " bcys ,^ tfu decelver"t" lie y
and t:e ambush h di
in qll
",#,!!o! n make lecslver
gapture, he my$.
memper d the class from which the highest ofires are
fitkd, in fact '
7

to Lr..
Lv the 'Wardm"
rrutucn aJ he 6
as ne called. ne
is cauea, give tn6
ae gave pe60n authonty
this-penon to ';;...----l-
authority t0
doubt then' that allthis edug1rtil;
n-,a-k
":.-
punkh
,them severely in cnse of m, sandud. He also assigned' to him the boys more resourge;ful try
}
a staf of youttu provtded uth whips to chastise them inen ;. fighling 'nefl'' ' :.: ' r: ,;:''"r+$j''Y-l: :l
ne&sstry. . . . rnsteoA oysopni; ;;; i;;;t-';;;i';';; ,'- -;E
,o,,,.., x.oopi,o,, ,r. .j#ii;fitfui
quired them to harden their fea by g"tng withot t shoes. He ii"ori.i."i cr"rrdi
believed .'. soip,
i '-"'
thatifthishabitwerecaltivateditwouldenable:hemtoclimbhilb,-UniversityPress,l925).
.l '"
more easily and descend steep stopes with tess dange ;; r;;r;;; ,f
..

letting them be pampered in tlu matter of :bthing. he introduced Questio4: What was the purpose of
the custom of wearing one garment throughout the yea4 believing
,..;,.
scilbed ih dris passage? ;r '; ." :

't,-;a !
lj:: ',
. ..i;tr :r:
:'i,
I

by the prophet and reform.. ?,r.our,.r (sometimes
called Zarathustra). A dualistic sysrem in r^,hich Ahura
Mazda, the god of light, truth, and goodness contends
eternally wirh Ahriman. rhe god of darkness and evil,
Zoroastrianism conderrrned images of the gods and
maintained the highest of ethical precepts. Its radical
distinction between good rnd evil influenced early
Christianit_v, and Ahriman has been seen by some as a
protorype of rhe Christian Satan.
Under Cyrus I "the Great,, (c. 595-529 BCE) the
Persians conquered Babylon, together with Egypt, Syria,
Palestine, and rnosl of southwest Asia. Like the Assyrians,
the Persians used cavalry, rlany of thenr armed with
bows, to pin down rhe,ener.ny's infantry trntil their own
inlantry cotrld destroy tlrer.rr. But trnlike the Assyrians.
Pcrsian goventnteltt of colrquered pcoples -,vas ger-rerally
bt'nign. It avoided atrocities, excepl in casc,s ,of ou.tright
rcbellion, autl asked only that new subjects pay rribure
and provicle troops {or the arrly. Because tlte persians
typically preservetl local ir.rsriturions, many parts of the
lonller Assyrian Erlpire welconred them as liberators.
Origins of the Per:sian-Greek Conflict. Greek in-
volvemenl with the persian Empire began when Cyrus
the Great conquered the kingdom of Lydia in 546 scr.
Located in southwestern Asia, Lydia was heavily influ-
enced bri Greek culture and famous .or its wealth. The
Lydians are credited with the invention of modern
coinage. Under the fabulously wealthy king Croesus
(Kree'-s.rs), Lydia estaolished a'loose dominance ol'er
the Ionian communities'of thi western Aegean. When
Lydia fell, the Persians assumed control of its Greek de-
pendencies. ln'499 scr, several Ionian states rebelled
against local ruiers bacl<eo by persia and asked main-
land Greeks to help. Sparta, worried about the intelhal
threat of helot rebellion, refused, but Athens arid the
'Euboean
city of Eretrii (Air-uh-tree'-ya) sent twenty-
Iive ships. Athenian rhetoric stressed their city's ancient
and senri'nental ties to lonia, but the Athenians also
feared a threat to tlreir vital supply of grain imported
frorn the Crimea if Pc'rsia controlled the approache-s to
the Black Sea.
In a short-livcd triumph. the lonians and their.allies
managed ro burn Sardis, the Lydian capital. persia soon
reestablished control over southwestern Asia and in
190 ucE dispatched a reraliatory expedition against
Eretria and Athens. The Persians destroyed Eretria, but
Athens fought and defeated the persian ilrmy; 3s

Ancient Greece to the Etrl of the Peloponnesian Wars 4l

 jj
.t ilrr'lnl lfr0w l(|r r0lllllllll[|,
Alt llttrtllll lat' lttlttlt'lttr to !'ar'
licr pallcys, I rlrclllcli wcrc
r,ipcttrlve , ottd ottly lltc dls'
(()vrfy rrl licw sllvcr rlcptttiltt, 3
*l
nl l,ottrch)ll itr Attlt'n tttndt' $
t I rt'ir trrttslrttt'tkltt 1lossllrlc,

Arllsttti tt('('tlcd tlrc sltlltti ftl

bct'attsc Grcck dcfc'rslvc
rlr'.rt{l{y w.lli CtiltclltlAlly tt1

rraval. But llrc lrlallt Pcrtian

anlry was ttrarcltlng south
roword Alltctls along thc
Lrrrollcan slttlrc aller crttss'
irrg thc Dardanellcs 'fr<lm
sorrtlrwc,t Asia. Tltc arnty
depcnded {or its suPPlies on
a llccl of pcrhaPs ?00 lri'
rcnles manned bY Persia's
Phoenician and Ionian al'
lies. At the narrow Pass of
Tlrc'rrnclpylae (Thur-moP' -
uh-lee), Themistocles hoPed
to delay the Persian land
forces long enough for ad-
Persian War battles
verse v/eather and a naval
f1
Invasion route of Xerxes's armY
action at nearbY Artemi-
sium to dePlete the Persian
Invasion route ofX;rxes's navy
fleet (see Document 2.5).
The Spartan5, under
their king Leonidas (Lee-a-
rrye'-duss). coordinated a
heroic defense at Thermo-
pylae but fell rvhen the in-
vaders found a u'aY to flank
the Spartan Posiiion. Off-
shore, the Greeks iought an
Marathon. The marathoR as a modein Olympic event indecisive naval battle with'a Persian force, that, as'
coiltnlerlcrates the achievement of a courier who Themistocles predicted, had been weakenedrry a series
broug,ht the news to Athens, 22 miles away- This vic- of eanier storms.'Still, tllese actions provided time to
tory, achieved in the absence of the feared Persian cav- evacuate Athens and take the Greek fleet to a position
alr1,, gave rhe Greeks confidence in their ability to de- near the island of Salamis. Thc Athenians and their al-
fcat an enemy who until then had been regarded as lies hoped that by forcing a sea battle in the narrow wa-
irrvirrciblc. ters belween the island and the mainland they could
compensale for the greater sneed and maneuverability
The Persian Invasion of the Greek Mainland. of the Persialr fle,'t.
Tlrat confit'lence was tested in 480 sct, whet' the new
Persian entperor, Xerxes (Zurk'-seez), launch:d a full- Battie of Salamis. Xerxes's arlrly entered the de-
scalc invasion of Greece by land and sea. It was a n"easure serted city of Atherrs and'burned it. Shortly thereafter
ol Greek distrnity rhat only thirty-one citi('s out of several the Greek triremes dcstroyed half of his fleet in the
battle of Salamis (Sal'-a-mis), one of the greatest naval
hrrntired attempted to resist. Sparta and Athens took the
engagements in history. As Thenristocles had foreseen'
leatl. Themistocles (Theh-mis'-tuh-cleez), who domi-
the Persians crc,wded into the narrow strait and could
natctl Athenian politics at the time and advocated sea
powct u;ed his influence to build a fleet of 200 triremes not maneuver properly. The Greek ships, although
ilr anticipation of a Persian attack. The trireme was a slolvgr, carried more fighting men and found it easy to
lalgc, contplex warship with three ranks of oarsmen and ram' and overwhelm their opponents as they came in'

50 Chaptu 2
 a

> frrc;t,nti 2.8 Pcrsian. rrat sca. Grecce was now rjiviclcd into two-increasirigly
()uard of thc Period qf the
ii €()nrt)ctilivc alliancc systcms. i
I)arsian Wt rs. Part ol a largcr
r
lrit'zt' rnarle ol polychrorrrc
glazctl bricks rlcpi<ring rows ol
The Delian .,nd Pcloponnesian Leagues. The'lizc
.j'ol
grrards, pcrhaps tlrc "inlnor-
its flcct rnadc Athcns the drlrninant partner in thc
tals" who nradc rrp thc king's )clian Lcague, and although rhe Arhenians initigll,;r
pcrsonal lxrdygtrerd. Fror the maintaincd the rhcroric of friendship, they used thb{a}-
Paface <rf Darius I 1522486 Iiarrcc to further thcir own purposcs. Undcr Cimqn,s
iic':) at susa. ' leadcrship, Athens sor"rght to control grain supplies iny.he
,r, Aegean and to improve it; access to shin's timber Fnd
'.1, precious metbls by seizing lew territory. Heavy tribgtes

swelicd the Athenian tre?sury. Some of the conquftcd

Salamis marked the tum-
ing point of the war. Wi,h-
out the support of his
fleet, Xerxes could -not
supply his troops. Leaving
a garrison to winter at
Plataea in Greece, Xerxes
and the main portion of
his army returned ro
Persia. The Greeks de-
feated this garrison in the summer of. 479 ncr and the
Per sians fled, never to return. At the same time, a fleet
under Sparran command dislodged the trnemy from
the Ionian coasr in the battle of lvlycale (Mik,-uh-lee).
THr PuopoNNEjrAN Wnns
(460-404:scr)
The Persian threat had been repelled but not extin-
guished. Under the direction of Themrstocles, the
Athenians began to rebuild their city, forriiying its port
at Piraeus and construaing the Long Walls that pro.
tected the road connecting the two. After Themistocles
was ostracized in 472 BcE (the great enemy of the
Persians ended his life as a persian governor in south-
west Asia), his successor, Cimon (Kee,-mon), continued
the work. Then, in the winter of 479,477. scE, Athens,
as the leading Greek naval power, joined with a number
of its allies ro form the Delian League (taking irs name
from the lonian island of Delos), an association dedi-
caled to protectint the cities of the Aegean from
Persians and pirates. Although Sparta had led the war
on land, it did not join, preferring instead to concentrate
on the helot problem and on strengthening irs own
Peloponnesian League. By 467 scE, the Athenian
navy and its Delian allies had secured the coasts ol
southwest Asia and achieved unquestioned dominance
land was distributed ro poor cirizens of Athens. flnd
i, wealtlricr Athenians acquired prop!'rty in allied cilies
r withour regard for local
law. The true nature of '$he
league was revea!'jd wheri ihe island of Thasos tricrJ to
' withdraw from it in 46\ ecr. Athens treated the vrritn-
, drawal as a rebellion and laid siege ro the island fcr 2
; years. League members and some Athenians begarr to
.l think of the leagrre as a I Athenian ernpire.
' . Corinth, Arhen's chief commercial rival and an allv of
: Sparta, had long argued against what it saw as the
Athenian imperialism. Now hoth Delians and pelo-
Donnes;ans began to fear that Athenl sought nothing less
than political lregemony over the Grerk world. As long
as Cimon, an aCmirer of Spana, controll _.d Athenian pol-
icy, every effori was made to avoid open c,rnflict with the
Peloponnesian League. Bu: he, too, war: ostracized in
461 ncr. arrd war followed immediately,
Pericles and Further Democratic Reform in
Athens. The removal of Cimon coincided with a fur-
ther democratizarion qf Athenian government under
the leadership of Ephialtes (Ef-ee'-all-teez) and his
'younger colleague Pericles (per'-i-kleez) (c. 495429
. rcr). The Pi rrslan War and its aftermath had for the
$rst
r time involved large numbers of poor Litizens in combat,
-,.especially in-the navv. nlthough theoretipally equal; in
', practice the poor were barred from holoing office pe-
.- cause they coulci not affold to live without payi while
;serving on,uiies or in the Council. After the wir, ttleir
i clainrs to full panicipatio:'r in civic life could no lorfter
be ignored, and Pericles, who would play a dominant
'role in Athenian politics for more than l0 years, built
lris career on changes that further liberalized the system
,
, created by Cleisrhenes.
r Rea,izing that most people could not afford to serve
the polis, ,he reformers adopted the policy of paying men
for publicservice, from deme . reprel;entatives on the
Corrncil to members of a jury a measure paid for by the
rvealth accumulated in Cimon's day. Citizenship,. which
'now became more valuable than evel was restricted lor
the fint time to nten with two citizen parents, but by z;50
sca Athens had becon-e a participatory democracy in
which every male citizen could play a role. Some have
ireld that this deinocratization contributed to the tremen-

Anciart Greece to the End of the Peloponnesian Wars S!

 ': ' ' ""., '.rri .*

A TnlnEME-A MoPrnnt "

$, ,

s:*
Thc trireme was thc basic Greck warship of the Persian and {.-l
.&.
Pcloponnesian Wars. A developmenl from earlier desigtrs, its 's::
.ff
distinguishing feature was the addition of a third rarrk of ',tr
.z
rowcrs, seated nearest the watet who provided greater s
specd and ramming power. The Tfireme Trust reconstructed $
thc trireme Olympias, shown here in sevcral photographs, on
*
E
F
thc basis of ancient evidence, and the Greek navy commis- l

sioned her to service in 1987. i+

.$
t;: .

Thc.Ram. This image shows rhe formidable ram at the bow

(froni) oI the ship. When enemie't reinforced their hulls
against the ram. as they did during the Peloponnesian Wars,
the oiremes began to carry marines; using grappling irons to
pull an enemy ship alongside. thc marines boarded it and
fought hand-to-hand with javelin and sword' The painted eye
is found on many vessels in the Mediterranean today' In lolk'
lore, it helps the ship fi,rd its way and ward off danger'

The Olympias. Like triremes at rhe batrle of Salamis, the

olynpias is propelled by 170 rowers arranged on three vertical
decks. Ancient sources indicate a rowing speed of 7 knots (c. E
nrph), but this speed is not sustainable over long distances.
Square sails rigged on two masts supply the power for long
l/oyages. The trireme was meant for battle; its advanta;e dur-
ing the Persian War lay in.its rowers' abilitr' 'o guicklymaneu-
ver the trireme, ram the wooden hulls of Per;iatr ships, and
abandon them to sink. 'fhe triarch, or commatrder, sits in the
stern (back) behind the'two tillers that control the rteering
oars. There is one steering oar on each side of the ship, and at
full power each steering oar retluires two $eersmen. One can
imagine the coordination among commander, rowers, and
steersmen that success in battle would require.
k
..*
K
f:
Tke Anongr*att'. of the Tiireme's Ocrs.''This photo
from the shB's side shows how the three tiers of oars were.
arrarrged. The top rank ol rowers sat on benches that extended
outboard lronr the hull. Most rowers on Greek warships were
not slaves, but free cttizens of the poorer classes.

dous flowering of high culture in the classical or Periclean
age (sec Chapter 3); others havc lreld that it fueled the in-
creasingly aggressive and reckless character of Athenian
lxrlicy. The two arguments are not incompatible.
The Beginning of the Peloponnesian Wars. ln
rhe First Peloponnesian War (450445 BcE) the Delian
League defeated both the Peloponnesians and their
Persian allies, but when several Delian alli.1s rebelled
against the arrogance of Athenian leadership, Pericles
agreed to a 30 years' peace. He balanced his skills as an
oiator and .popular leader with prudence, but the
peace, which enabled Athens to recover its strength and
reorganize its empire, lasted only l4 years. In 435 sce,
war broke out between Corinth and Corcyra. Corcyra
was a former Corinthian colony in the Adriatic that had

52 Chaptn 2
 ' ':llt lion in'nsn-
under: 'nrn9
r, ir:
@ttur!
ti::i''. 4Eif.ho.4',qtil,
't"y...t
i'lratuiff;eltk,
rclnedthgm; S
it{;';--l::.-' '.*

been neutral in the First Peloponnesian War. The and killed one-third of the people gathered rhere. The
Athenians feared the l()ss of their naval dominance if historian Thucydides (Thoo-sid'-uh-deez) described the
Corcyra's powerful fle et fell jnto Corinthian hands. symptoms of the disease in great detail, but they do not
When Athens allied itself with Corcyra, Corinth correspond precisely to anything in modern mediciire.
protested to the Peloponnesian League, claiming again An enraged public drov: Pericles from office. They re-
that the Athenians wanted total hegemony over all the called him. but he died soon after of the pestilence, and
Greeks. Attempts at negotiation failed, and in 431 scr rhe city eventually abandoned his defensive polir.ies.
the Spanans invaded tlLe Attica peninsula. , '.The more aggregsive stratggy
advocated by Cleon, who fol-
The Second Peloponnesian War. Realizing that 'lowed Pericles as leader of
the Spanans could not be defeated on land, Pericles the popular faction. at . first
allowed them ro occupy rhe Athenian countryside. succeeded. The Athenians
People from the rural demes crowded into the city. fomented popular revolu-
Although the Athenians mounred cavalry raids tions in a nun:ber of cities
against Spartan garrisons, the major thrust of its pol- and supporteC democratic
icy was to launch amphihious expeditions against factions within them while
Sparta's allies. Pericles reasoned that because Atnens the Spartans predictably
was wealthy and its fleet conrrolled the seas, the ciry backed their opponents. The
could survive on imports for up to 5 years before fur- Athenians then fortified
ther tribute had to be demanded from members of Pylos on the western coast of
the Delian League. Spi rta's Peloponnesian allies were Messenia and defeated a
nrore vulnerable and would, he thought, sue for Spartan fleet that had becn
peace within 3 years. sent to drive them out. Mole
than 400 Spartans had to
The Plague at Athens. Unfortunately, a grear plaguc' take refuge on a nearby is-
struck Athens in the second year of the war (432 ncr) land. This was a significant Pericles

Ancietrt Creece to the End of the Peloponnaian Wars 53

 'F

j.:l::: 'tS: Whcn Clcon dicd in the uh-

jr':if;.i lfp*.w^*
(43fSo4 rcn) succcssful attcnll)t to relieyc
Amphilxrlis, Alcibiades (t.l-
suh-byc'-ah -dcczl, an un-
scruyrukrus young aristociat
'ryho had lrccn a pupil or tpe
,lhilosoJrhcr Sor rates, stft-
cccdcd him as the domina.,rl
voicc in Athcnian politrcs.
Under his guidance, Athel,s
supported a Persian governor
and his'son in their revcilt
against the king. Persia; whictr
had remained neutral, norv
had reason to back Spana ;f
hostilities resumed. Then tn
415 scr, Alcibiades convince.l
the Athenians to mounr a
greilt expedition against
Sicily. It was a brazen attempt
to acquire rlew resources by
sp"rr. and its allies
broadening the scope of the
L war, and it failed. Syracuse
I erl.n, and rs allies
alone proved equal ro Athens
l.@] P".rirn E.pir"
in wealth, population, and
ffi *"u,r",,
naval preparedness, and tl,e
rest of Sicily backed Syracuse.
The areas rhat supporred Athens (tne Delian League) and The Sicilians, with their supe-
those that supponed
s-parta (the Peloponnesiarr League) are shor,rm in contrasting
corors. rq;ither with rior cavalry, .disrupted the
the areas that remained neutral. The inses shows Athens, its po4%t Athenian siege and defeated
6aeus, and
the 'Long Walls" that protected the road between them.
their a:my on land. In 413 ncr,
they destrol'ed the Athenian
fleet. The Ath:nians lost 200
ships, more than 4,500 of
portion of Sparta's fighting elite. Withour a navy and their own men, and perhaps 20,000 of their allies.
faciug yet another helot revoh, the Spanan, *"r. d.r_
Ahhough Athens rebuilt its fleet and c.rntinued the
pe rate to.recover their men and sued
for oeace. struggle, its allies deserted'one by one., fhe Spartans,
Once again. overconfidence betrayed tire Athenians. cked by Persiarr 'money, raunched a series of naval
b';
Dreaming of total victory, they refused to negotiate.
campaigns against them. Most were unsuccessful,'but
Instead they attacked the nearby city of Megara and in 405 BcE, they desrroyed a newly rebuilt Athenian
then invaded .the rich agricul.ural region of Boeotia fleet at Aegospotami (Eg-goss-pot,-a-mee). Lysander,
(Bolr-ee'-sha). Both efforts failed, and several of their
ttre Spartan commander, cut off his enemy;s grain sup-
allies went over to the Spanans. Thus strengthened, the plles by seizing'the Dardanelles. Faced with starvation,
Spartan general Brasidas captured Amphipolis, the the Atheniahl'lsurrendered uncondirionally in 404 sce.
nr()st in)ponant Athenian base in tht. northwestern The Peloponnesiarr Wars were over.
Acgean. When relief efforts failed, it was rire Athenian;s
tun) to ask for a trtrce.

The Sicilian Expedition and End of the Wars.

The resulting peace of Nicias (421 ncr) accomplished lit-
tle, in part because several important cities on both
sides of rhe dispute refuse,l to accept it. Hostilities con_
tinuetl, although Athens and Sparta remained only in-
directly involved. Both sides attempted through diplo_
nlacy to lure away .each other,s ailies, but internal
laclions and instability hampered Athens in its efforts.
54 Chapter 2
CorucrusloN
Bearing little resemblance to the civilizations created in
the river valleys of Egypt or Mesopotamia, early Greek
seciety did not oevelop out of a common effort to mold
a hostile environment. Nor did it ever achieve true eco-
nirmic or political unity. Greek society rested on d corrlr
non culture rooted in Homeric values and devoted to
the survival and life of ti.e separate and independent

;xrlir;. llut whilc tlrc p rlis Irccarrrc thc silc of rhc first
rltnrocmrics, ils ilrsrrlar, crtrrrpt'litivc psyclrokrgy rnadc
it rlilliculr. il rrot irrrpr;.,sibk', lor thc Grccks to unilc or
Io livt. at pcacc with onc arrothe r. Evcn whjlc <lrivin,r
oll tlrt, I,crsiarrs, lnrrclr ol tlrr, Grcck world ha<J si<lcri
t.jtlr tltc crrclny <trrt ol rivalry witlr cilhcr Athcns,
sl)arta, ()r (rr)c of tltcir allics. Thc failrtre of Athcrrs_rlr
Slrarta-to krrgc an cffcctive panhcllcnic alljancc crc-
att'<l a powcr vacLlunl that wruld cvcnlually bc fillcd by
tlrc Maccdonians, a ;lcoplc wh<1, although relatcd t<l thc
Crccks, did nor sharc thc ctrllurc <lf the ptrlis. As a re_
sult, tlrc indcrcndcncc of the polis would bc gravely
cornllr<lnriscd. Athcns itscll lell under the conlrol ol.thc
Thirty Tyrants, a group of c<lllabrlrators ,,vho ruled with
SJrarlan support. The Athc,nian enrp!re disintegrated
ar::j i1s rrade diminished, allhorg{r it remained the cul-
trrral lrcan of the Grcek world for centurles t() come.
As the next chapter revcals, ancient Greece slands at
thc bcginning of Western civilization. Its aestheric ideals
and its commitment to human self-developmenr, com-
pctition, and linear thought transformed everyrhing ir
touched and laid the fuundations c,f the first character_
istically Western culture. The struggles of the fifth ccn_
tury BcE coinci<ted with thc greatest intellectual and
artistic achievements o. classical Greek crvilizatir_rn. but
they also marked rhe b:ginning of its end.
Reuiew Questions
f1
!.
! For Further Study
Readings :f
Davics, J<rlrn l(cnyon, Dcmotraqt and Class,tcal Greeca,fi.nrJ
cd. (Carnb'idge, MA: Harvar(1, l9g)). Covcrs polqtics
:i and nrorc lr<>n 479 IrcE to llic strugglc bclwccn Altrens
and Tlrt'Irr.s.
, Carlan, Yvon, Slavery in Ancient Crcece , trans. J. Lloycl
(lthaca, NYl Corncll, 1988).
: Just. Rogcr, Women in Athenian Law t/e (Nrw
' York: Routledge, 1988). A comprelrcnsivcand trealnreru,
Oslrornc, Robin, Grete in the Making, 12004791 tct;
(Ncw Yrrrk: Rourledgc, 1996). Thc origins of Greek5o_
ciety from the time <lf tle migrations.
Sarrsone, David, Greek Athletics and the cenesis of Short
{Berkeley: University of Calitor:nia press, lggg).
Websites "
http ://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html :
The Ancicnt History Sourcebook. The section Ancient
Greecc contains information on every aspect of Greek
. life from the Minoans to phitip II of Macedon plus,
complete texts of the ,najor ancienr Greek historians,
including Herodotus and Thucydides.
h up : / / home p age.m ac.co m /cparada / G M L/ index. h unl
Greek Mythology Lir'rk by Carlos parada. A vasr
compcndium of text. irnages, and maps. Terrific
', scholarship and resource.
l
t
.:,'

. Based on the Documents in this chapter, how did I InfoTtac College iddition
'.
Greek mythology and the poems attributed ro Visit the source collections at http://infotrac.thomson
Homer influence the developrfent of Greek culture? learning.com ar.d use the search functiorr
"wirh
the fol-
. Using Athens as an example, how would you de_ lorving key terms.
scribe the development ()f the polis from its ori_ Using Key Terms, enter the search r .rms:
gins to the emergence of a democratic svstem of Greek history Peloponnesian War
government?
. Why did Spana develope,i into a conservarive mili_ Using the Subject Guide, enter the search term:
tary state? Greek mythotogy
. How did the Delian League become a kind of
Athenian empire, ar.rd how did this development
contribute to the coming of the peloponnesian Wars?

Ancient Greece to the Enil of the peloponnesian Wars j;5

 *
.i}\3
4.

ll^|{l,YClrr|:Cl1nNt)|.I.sN|r|C|-|l]o|{s '4,
-!: '
Tltc Eastcrn Mc<litcrrarrcap linkc<l thc ancicrrt world arxl provitlcd a matrix for thc growlh of civiliz;.rtions in Grc'ccc antl thc ;s
M irl<llc East. Noticc rhcir simultarrcous cvcntsj-thcir bcginrrings, conqucrls. and migrations. Thc rcasons bchind the conncctions,
]I
,\
aswcllaslhcirrelationship.ifany,tothcbcgirrningsofthe lronAgc,rcmainunclcar NolicctoothcctlmpetitionbclwecnGreekc
.rrrtl Phoenicians frrr colonics, . nd Phocnicia's hcad slarl. In Grcccc l)roper, thc lottg period oflcn rcfcrrcd to as thc Grcck Dark Agcs
crrrlctl in rhc cighth ccntury with thc inlnrduction of tht' alphatrct (lhc beginnings of Grcck litcraturc) and the Hoplitc phalanx.
T

] 500 scr -ll-- l4OO Bcg-'/y'- l2O0 sce -#- 8OO scr 7OO sce 60O scr 50C sce 400 acn
G nrece
*Bcginnings of Mincan Civllization on Crete
rMycer.aean Conquest of Crete (l4OO) - +
Greek JJark Ages (c. f2UF8{X))
5:DGffiM
ET
Dorian and Ionlan
Migr-tions
H'
Phrygians Defeat.Hittites
'Introduction of an Alphabet
*flomer's The lliad (fl. 850)
.
nffiitl
Hoplite Phalanx f ntruduced
*Hesiod's Work and Days

Age of Greek Colonization

*First Greek Colony at Naples Ope Is
*Sappho's Poems
*Greek Colony Founded at Marseilles
*Spartans Conquer Messenia

Age of the Tyrants

*Second Messenian War at Sparta .
*Cleisthenes Makes Democratic
Reforms at Athens
rThe Persian lYar
n
The Peloponnesian Wars
(,'r5(F404 BcE)

Mtpprr Eesr
:
'e1
*Begirrnings df Egyptian.€ivilization
*Beginnings of Mesopotamian Civilization

56 Chapter 2
 #$etptn 3
Gnrrn CurruRE Ar{p Irs
F{ rlui\TrsTrc DrrrusroN

r,/
f,.-1h lZl Rce, ar Baclra in whar is now Uzbekisun, Alexander rh,: Great
,{ maried Roxana, a princess from Sogdiana, dividing a loaf of bread with
her according to the local custom. Al'eran.lcr had never been mucb interested
rn women. Hc had led his army ol Greeks and Macedonians to the-furthest
Iimits of the known world, conquering Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Lre persian
Empire. This marriage had nothing to do with love or even with politics in
tire normal dynastic sense. It wa: to be a visible symbol of the unity between
cast and wesr, a r,nity that Alexander believed necessafy if his con<;trests
were to be preserved. By?ll acct,unts, the wedding ceremony offendeil
his Greek followers without greatly impressing his new Asian subjects.
.\lexander died 3 years later far away in Babylon. Shortly thereafter, his gen-
erals rnurdered Roxana and their infant son in an effon to simplify the prob-
lem of Alexander's inheritance; although this piece'of political thea; r ended
badli,, ir was nor enrirell, without meaning.
For all its violence and insecurity, the age of the penian and pelopcnnesian
Wars had been for the Grecks, and in panicular for Athens, a tirne o! unparal-
leled creativity. The inrensity of life in the midst of almost perpetual crisis
called forth rheir best efforts, not only in wdr an<il politics but also in a.rt, litera-
ture, and philosophy. The conquests ofAlexander s-tread Greek culture anC
values to the limits of the known world. The process, however, was one of dif-
f usion rather than imposition. The peoples of the Ivliddle East retainc"!-
their
rlar';:r
own identities while adopring
Greek ideas, and the Greeks
changed through contacts with
ancient siyiliznllgn5 whose :ul,
t ural norms di{lered' radically

from their own. The result was

a rich and cosmopolitan fusion
that is usually referred to as the
Ilellaristic Age.

,t',

lal)lcr 3 bcgit.s witlt a discttssiott ol llrt' art. lilcraltt'e,
rrtl tlrorrgltt protluccd by Crcck civilizaliort at ils l)cak. lt
tlrcrr describcs how Philip It tll'Maccdon look advanlagc
ol Grcc'k distntity lo lay th('ftlttnclaliotts ol a Maccdtlnialt
Irrpire, ancl ltow itis son Alcxal.dcr tltc Grcal cxltant'ctl
llrat crrrrlirc to thc ltordcrs of India. li crtrr:'ludcs wlth a
dcsrriJrtion ol thc tltrcc grcal Hcllcllistic ki lgdorlrs ihat
wcrc crealcd altcr Alcxandcr's dcath antl ol the vibrant
ctrlt u re tlrey prtlduccd.
Artr AND Lt'rrnn'ruRu
I}J CLA.SSICAI GNI'NCN
$3O-32O ncr)
Greek Drama. Npwhere were Grcek valttes, social at-
titudes, and conduct more evidcnt than in drama.
Plays, likc athletic contesls, accor,tlxrtied many reli-
gious festivals. Actors who were oiten paid by the city
performed the plays during the day irr open-ait am-
phitheaters that had been donstructed at public.ex-
pensL. Men wbaring masks played all of the roles, both
nrale and female, and spoke their lirtcs in verse. A male
chorus provided explanation and cotnnlentary. In.fifth-
century Athens, as many 10,000 people mighi attend a
single performance. The first plays were tral3edies, a
dranratic form thought to have been inventetl by the
Atlrenian Thespis around 530 nce. The thcmes o' Attic
in Atttca,
tragcdl' (the form of tragic drama developed-exceptions
with
or the region of Athens) came rare
from niythology or from Homer and drew their dra-
matic. power frcim irreconcilable conflicts. often be-
twcen the demands of the gods and those of the state or
fanrill'. In these plays, the hero. who might be either
male or female, sometimes prevails, althoug^r only after
great suffering. More often he or she is undone by an
unsuspected personal flaw or by hubris, the pride born
'of overconfidence. To the audience these dramas pro-
vided not only catharsis, a Grt'ek word meaning emo-
'tional release, but a warning to the. arrogant and to
/,'those rnsho would make in-rportant decisions without re-
.'gard to their moral complexity.
Anrong the greatest of the Greek dramatists were
Aeschylus (Es'-ki-lus, c. 525456 acE). whose tragedies
are rhe first to have been preserved, and Sophocles
(Sahf'-uh-kleez, c.495406 ncr), whose Antigone, Oedipus
Rex, Elcctra, and other works continue tb'inspire modern
authors. Euripides (You;rip'-uh-deez, c. 484 406 rcr)
was nlore popular in the fouith century BcE than in his
own rirne. His later plags diluted the original tragic for-
mula and led tl"re way to more personal and u:'theroic
thenrcs. Comedy displays a similar progression. The plays
of Aristophanes (Air-iss-toff'-uh-neez, c. 45G-388 ncr)
and his contelnporaries, usually known as thc Old
Comedy, provided political sati;e with a razor's edge. As
58 Clnptu 3
i'j..
d
liEl
rS
i!'
.E
::6
{I
I
l,
Flcunt 3.1 The Theater at Epidaurus. The best pte:ierved
Greek thearer is at lipidaurus in the northeast cornef ol the
Pelopon:resian Peninsula. It was built to provide entertain'
ment for rhose who visited the city's fatrous temple of
A;clepius, god of healing. The stone seats are built into the
side of a hill. A low sill of white limestone marks off the or-
chestra and 5tage, but no attempl has,been made to restore
the backdrops, stage sets, and other structures behind it. The
acousti:s are so good that, withour raising his or her voice, an
actor,@n be heard irl the rear seats.
I
the third century BcE progressed, comedy lost its public
tocrs'tno ,rrn.i
o love stories and domestic'situations
whosdplots continue to inspire' modern scriptvwiters.
The lnventiou of History in Classical Greece.
The Gieeks may' also be said to have invented history.
Earlier peoples preserved king lists and inscriptions that
recorCed the doings of royalty. The Hebrews chronicled
their ihistory to illun:inate God's pur'poses, but the
-literature. The first
Greeks made history a branch of
writg to do this was Herodotus (Huh-roc!'-uh-tus, c.-
aga42O ncE). whose history of the Persian War was
written specifically "to presen'e the'memory of the past
by putting on record the astonishing achievements both
of otrr own and of the Asiatic peoples; secondly, and
more particularly, to show how the two races came into
conllict.' The result is both history and anthropology-
an entertaining tour of the aircient world, its cultures,
and its myths. The story of the war itself comes only
towdrd the end of the book. However, his portraits of
individual leaders are unfor5'ettable, and he deserves
his title, "the father of history."
Th,: history of the Peloponnesian Wars by the
Atherrian Thucydidds (Thoo-sid'-uh-deez, c. 4604O4
pcr) is,different. Exiled for his role as a naval comman-
der in the ill-fated attempt to relieve Amphipolis,
Thucydides was determined to trnderstand the past be-
cause he believed that human nature was constant and
 rhar lrist,ry tlr.rcrirrt'r('r)(,als itscrf. Ir r;;rc krr'ws
trrc
rrasr. ir rh.rrl<l bc lxrssillk' l, av<li<J sinrilar ,risrakcs in
thc. Irrlurt, (scc Docrrrrrr lrt 3.1 Other culturcs
1. had be_
licvcd that history ntrjvcs in cyclcs ancl that, as
thc lrib_
lical arrtlror of Ec. lcsiaslcs said irr a nolablc
<icparlure
l.r' .lcwislr tradilion, ,,tllcrc is n' new thing trnde r the
sun." Bur rlrc Grccks, beginninli wirh Thucydidcs,
used
rhis ancicnl r.totion to jusrtly the systematicstrrdy
of his_
rory. lr was am()ng thc nr.sl their.achicve-
tr)cnts. Marry of thc beilcr Roman 'riginaihislorians
'f studied
Irisr.ry t, av'id the milakcs .,f thc past, and
the idea.
rcvivcd dr rirrg the Retreissance, remaincd
influcnrial
rrnril wcll inro the lwentieth, century.
Architecture in Classical Greece. Greek arr, 1oo,
scrvcd. public purloses. .{lthoug}fa
fine aesthetic selrse
cxre nded ro eve ryday objects such
as je,welry, armor,
and dec'rared pottery, thc greatest
artisiic achievement
of ancient Greece was its monumental
sculpture and
architecrure. The Greeks builr temples
to the gods who
protected thc polis or tc house the
oracles wlro n trrey
c,nsuhed on all important occasions.
These structures,
r.r,hose function was as much
civic as religious, were
subrle adaptati(r;)s of earlicr Egyptian
or Minoan ideas.
Consrrucrion was basic porr_*d_tintel;
the g-,nius lay
in rhe proportions and the details. an
lnner sancruary
'l::: l:orrsed the statue of the dei,y fo.med the
heart of
the temple. It was surrounded Ly a
colonnade sup_
porting a sloped roof with triangulir
pedimenrs ar each
end. Greek archirects made thJcolumns,
which might ttatrs. {e*
or might not have decorated .rpi,t;,
dle and tapered them genrly to*u.l
;j;er at rhe mid_
the top rf, counter_
acr the optical illusion known as p6t,,//ax,
therebv mak_ does Thucydideb
ing them appear straight. The frieze,
,tr" ."oul"irr",
and the p€diment; were decorated
with sculptured re_
liefs of gods, goddesses, and hero:s.
Sculpture in Classical Greece. Greek sculpture was
concerned almost exclusively *il
,h.;;-,rr"yat of the
hunran.figure. Early statues had a formal,
abstract qual- tastes. Like the conventit.rns of Greek architecture,
ity, with a power and dignity that reflecred they
jecs: gods, goddesses, heroes, their sub- have been restored to tenirorary a"*r""r,..
and athletes. Male figures Uy classic re_
were almost invariably nudes, a preference 'zivals in more modem times.and remain
that reflected an underlying
the Greek_willingness to appear naked oart of the Westem visual tradition.
in games and on
thc battlefield and that non_Greeks found
;;;C;; - Unfonunately, rhat vision may be hisr ,rically mis-
leading. lvlost of Greek arr-was destroyel
the early, or archaic period, fe male by the early
figures were invari- Christians, who saw ir as idolatrous if noi
abll' ,:lorhed. Gradually, during the s]xth obscene, and
cenrury BcE, modern raste has b.,en fornred largely by Roman
sculptors began to work toward a copies.
nore lifelikc image. Painting, which to ntany ancient Greeks
By the fifth century BcE, s(ulprors such as phidias *u, *or.-i*_
(Fid'-ee-us) had achieved a level lorqnt than sculprure, iras been lost enrirely. The
of skill that has never Greeks loved colot and sr'attres preserved
bcen surpassed. but realism war not only in their
their goal. Faces and un{ecorared state were once brilliantly painted.
figures reflect an idealized vision Some
of t rmai b.auty rarely even had pre<.ious stones for ey-es. The overall
seen in ltature. Female nudes, reflecting impres-
a sensuality sion must have bee n very unlike the serene
hitherto seen only in the portrayal of menlbecame appearance
nron. The aesthetic conventions developerl
com_ tliat later generations associated with classicism,
by phidias and
and. rhe. fourth-century BcE master praxiteles the more refined modern critics of tt e eigh
(prax_sit,_ eenth and
uh-leez) trecame the basis of later Hellenisticand nineteenth cenruries would orobably haie
Roman
found the
statues gaudy.

Greek Culntre anil lts Hellenistic Dffision

uni
,l j
 $

t
lh c'msclvcs prinrarily with :!i:
T:

thc physical wqrld. Most of

thcm bclicvcr! thar the
t
r{
scnses provide an unreli4ble
!:
gr'idc ro rr''lity and there-
fore tried to look beneath
appearances l.o discover the
trLtc ,basis. oI matter. With
onc excepti()n, thcy believed
that basis to be a permanent
and unchanging element or
elements. The opposing view
of Heraclituq (Hair-uh-cly,"
tuS, 'c.. 500 ncr)-that the
univcrse was in ? €unStaflt
state of movement-at first
found few supporters. Some,
Iike Thales, argued that all
matter was ultimately com_
Ftcunr 3.2 The Parthenon,.on the A*opotis of Nthens. The most famous--;and
posed of water; other: be-
largest-temples constructed inancient Griece, one.f rhe lieved thai
tfre panhenon *"r i.r,g;.d by the archirect the basic element
Ictinus in pannership with callicrares and dedicated was eanh. Eventually.
in 432 scE to Atheia parrhenos, the pa- Empe-
tron goddess of Athens. Spana invaded Athens docles (Ern-ped'-uh-cleez) of
in the foilowing year u, pu* or the second
Peloponnesian war' The use of tl,e Doric crder
is unusually gru."tut. The magnilicent sculp-
tures that once adorned rhe pedimenrs were carried
Acragas (c. 490-430 zcnl
a*ay Ly'ttr. aritrstr ano nray now be named the four basic ele-
seen in the British Museum.
meitt,; as earth, air, fire, and
water. Later accepted by
r {ristorle. this theory served
Gnntx TrroucHT FRoM THE as tha basis for scientific invesrigation of tfre physical
univcrse unril the scientific revolution of modern
Pnr-SocRATrcs ro ARrsrorr,E times. An alternative view, prtposed at about the same
(c.55O*322BCE) time by Leucippus (Loo-sip,-us) of Miletus ,rnd his

The earliest Greek thought concerned the nature

'univep5,', of the
physical or physics, and was formulated jn
terms that suggest Egyptian or'Mesopotamian
influ- .nci
ence. According io tradition, the sixth_tentury
philosopher Thales (Thay'-reez) of Milerus
introduced
geonr€try and astronomy to Greece after
visiting Egypt.
He may also have encountered there the idea
that the
universe was based ultimately upon water. But
Gr.eek
thought developed differ",ntly front that of rhe
Egyptrarrs rn several importanr respe(.ts.
From rhe be_
gi'nirig, perhaps because of the stru*ure of their
ran-
!ruagc, the Greeks sought lo dernonstrate in the clearest
yrossible way the logical connectior
between srare-
nrcnts. This in turn forced theur to confront the prs[_
lerrr of epistemology, or how we know
wh.t we
know. Can our physical senses be trus:e d, or
can we
understand rhe world only through the inrellect? FlcuXt 3.3 The Architectural Orders, The capitals ar rhe top
Logic,
epistemology, and physics rentain among of a Greek column were always rnade in one of three
the central designs
concerns of Western thought :o this day. or architectural orden. The Ionic :rrder is shown at
the lefi;
the simpler Doric in rhe middle; and the Corinrhian,
with its
The Pre-socratic philosophers. The pre- Socratics decoration of acanthus leaves, on the right. The
Romans
(the philosophers who preceded Socrates) adopted these orders as the European i,ichitects from
the
concerned Renaisr;ance to the present did.

60 Chaptu 3
THg EvolurroN or Grurx SculpTuRE
Crcck sculpture clranged .lranratically during the Persian and
Pelo;ronnesian ',Vars. Works from the sixth century BcE are
generally rt ferred lo as Archaic. Ihe figures usually appear in
a full frontal pose or in profile and have a static, {or,nal look.
Male figures normally appear nude or nearly so; womcn are
Iully clothed. By the middle oI the fifth c€ntury, rhe figures
have become three dimensional and natural, althorrgh fiill
idealized. Sculprors still sought to ponray perfect beauty ir a
sercnc, atmosphere. Womer were often ponrayed in the nutle.
A century later, in the time of Alexander the Great scrqity
has been banished. The sculptors of the age used their tect,ni-
cal mastery to show emotion and violent movement.. .

,*
) The figure on the left is a
kore (masc. koros| Irom the
.'.:1.-ni rn acropolis, c. 52n
ece. Figtrcs of this kind
were used as tomb markers
or votive statues and are
one of the most common
forms of early Greek seulp-
ture. Although more deli-
cately modeled than most,
this piece is still formal. two-
dimensional, and somewhat
abstract. On the righr is a
Roman copy of tlre famor.s
Aphrodite by Praxiteles.
Although the sratue reflects
a certain classical serenity,
the sensualiry,is, by earlier
Greek standards, renrark-
able. In archaic times, only
male figures rvere portrayed
in the nude.

pupil Democritus (Dem-nrock'-ruh-tus), held that
evcrything was conposed of atoms, invisible particles
tlrat combined and separated to produce the various
forms of ntatter. Like the arguments of Heraclitus. it
found little supporr.
If these early philosophers speculated on ethical
rllatters, their writings on the subject have been lost,
but the proper conduct of life was vitally important to
oeople who lacked a moral code based on divine reve-
lation. Pythagoras (Pirh-ag'-oh-rus), who founded a
school at Croton in Italy around the year 500 scr,
taught ethics based in part on his belief in the religious
cult of Orpheus. In the course of his studies, he discov-
ered the mathematical basis of musjcal harmony and
decided that the fundamental organizing principle of
the universe was numerical. This idea, like his theory

Greek Culture anil I* Hellenistic Dffision 61

il

llt,tt fftt, lidltlt ft'vnlvt'rl dfttttrrrl rlt(, lr1tr, wpttltl p1.v.
ir rlr'fr'\t llg tn Inlur llrlrrkt,rs,
"t lte Sophlf,tt$. tl1 thc llltlr ((,nrury ltcti, ntost pt,nplt'
rvt'rt' lc*rr'trilt1; llle J)rofl1('al nrts ()l fllutoric irnrl ltrtrsrrl-
siorr, as wcll os cthlci, f rorrr lrc Sophists. Tlrcsc irirrcr.-
.urt t(,fl('lrlF{ fltorgcd hlglr lccr lol llrcir $tlrvle.r's lrrrt ol.
lr'rctl rrrlthilrg lcss lltan o ltrcsr'r'iptiorr frlr srrccuss irr
llri\,iltr nrrd putrllc llfi., Thclr tt'.rt'lrin1;s votlc(1, brrt rrrosl
rvrr(, fulrJecllvlefr, As Protirgrlror, tltc lDrr$l l'0rrrorrs
0l ihcrr,r, said, *Man ls the measure., He mcant that iltc
individual's pcisonal experience, however imperfect in
an absolule sense, is thc only conceivable birsrs for
knowlr:dge rrr judgnrcnr. Everylhin3 is relative to lhe'
individual's percepti0n.
The implications r,f this view we;qprtrfoundly dis-
turbing. Exrreme Sophists held that truth was objectively
unknowable. Law and ev.cn the polis were based on con-
vention and mutual agreement, not fundautental princi-
ples. Some went so far"as to claim that jusrice was merely
the interest of the strong and that the gods had been in-
vented by clever men as a ryleans of s<lcial control.
Socrates. Socrates (Sock'-ruh-teez, c. 470-399 zca)
wrote nothing. Wandering the srreets of Athens, he
asked questions intended to revcal the responder,s un-
derlying assumprions about human values and.institu-
tions. Using logic and irony, he would then qUes'ion the
validit , of those assumptions.
His purpose, unlike that of
the Sophists whgm he other-
wise resernbled, was to {ind
an objective basis for ethical
and political behavior. He
made no promiser and took
no fees, but his qr,tesrions
wqre rarely ope4-enJed and
made people feel foolish.
Socrates tried the patience
of the Athenians severely. In
399 scn, they executed him
for corrupting the youth of
Athens and inventing new
gqds. The charges were
Socrates
largely speciclus and rt fle.cted
Athenian wariness of chal-
lcrrges to the polis-Socrates, although himself of hum-
ble origins; {avrlred arislocracy as the ideal form of gov-
crnment and mocked democratic notions then in favor.
Plato. As a young man from an aristocratic Athenian
fanrily, Plato lPlay'-toe,428-i47 acE) toyed with the idea
ol a political career unril the aftermath of the Sicilian ex-
pedition and the execurion of Socrates convinced him that
ptllitics was inconrpatible with a good. conscience.' Around
the year 387 scE, he founded The Academy on the out-
62 Chaptr 3
i;ii.
;
\klrlf ol Atlrcnrr, n kitrtl ol ill\tllul(, lol irrlvrrtlt,rl tlrttllgs ltt '
r, rallr(,r r r,r t ir's, t l lr, pl tyr, lr ol sr ir"lr rccs,
rlkrsoplty, o r trl pl
fllotn lr.rrl lrrt,tr 0 tilu(l(.nt ol'Sor'rnlt's nrttl rrrarlu hltn :;r'
tlrc lcarlirrg ('lrala('tcr lrr a scr;cs ol l'anrorrs dlatogueS* T'
pltil{rsopl ricirl argrrrrrcrrls irr rlrarrr rtic lorrrr-t hat lrcc;inrc ri
.r rnrxk'l ol plril<ts<lplric writilrg li)r cclttrtrics l(, c()lilc. The
f.
r'lr{f0r'llr Sot'r',1(,!i rcllccts tll(, itrtlll(,r'$ vicws, Witlr tlrc "1
('xcql)tion ol tltt, 'lltna,'rrJ, .r lale r rllahrgrrc tlrat dcals wltlt ,
rrrsmokrpy onrl rrr.rlllerrratits, rrrosl ol l'lalo's cliakrg,ttcs 1;
cxp,irrc rpr(1,tlrrlrs of cllrlci, r,rllrdtlorr, t{ovcrntil(.rtl, 6fld r
rcfiglrrrr. Tl*' Republlc describes thc idcal slare, in which
philosophers rule accordinll to tltc highest principlcs of *
wisr,rrn, whcrcas the dialoguc 'Prllagzras argues aga;nst ';
the felativi.rrr of thc SoJ.l1i.rr. '
i.
Platonic rdealism. Tlre irrrderlying principle of
Plato's dialogues is the theo,;y of forms (see Document I
3.2). Plato argued :hat the form of a rhing has an objec- ;
tive rcality of its own. This "universal" or idea of a thing l
,
exists.apart from any objecr perceived by tlre senses and ,'
can be -undcrstood only by ,the intelle,,'t. ,B.rcause the
senses are deceptive, understanding can be achieved
only through the k.lowledge of forrns. When extended
to srrch universal qlaliries as justice or beaurlr, .he the-
ory of forrns becornes the basis for absolute ptandards
that can be ap1 rligi to hulnan conduct, botl, public and
priva'te. To Plato; the relativism bf the Sophists was an il-
lusign. Platonic Idealisrn (als<l known as Realism, be-
cause.it affirnts tltr: reality of ideas) was one pole of the ,
epistenrological debate that wrrr-rld occupy iv.rt.rn phi- '
losophl' {or cenruries. Sulijectivism was the other.
BecaLuse the argumenr dealt with what was real and
whdt n'as knorn: able, the position of philosophers on
epistemology influen'ced and in some cases determined '
theil view of everything else,
Aristotle and the Study of Logic and Science.
Arigiotle (Air'-'-rs-srot-uhl. 38.t-322 nce) was the mosr :
famous of Plato's pupils. After studying at platd's
Acaderny until,Plat-o's death, Aristotle served as tutor to
the future conqueior Alexander the Great. In 336 BcE, '
Aristotle established his own school at Athens-the
Lyce^unr. His followers were known in later years as the.
Peripatetics after the covered walkway or peipatos un-
der{whiclt th('y mel, Most'of the enormous body of .
wot'k attribured to him appears to be deri ,zed from.lec,
ture notcs and other nraterials collected'by the
Peripatetics in the course of thgir studies.
Although he accepted Plaro's theory of forms, Aristotle
rejected the notion that they were wholly separate from ,
empirical reality. He relied heavily upon observation, es-
pecialll, in his scientific work. Flis basic viewpoint, how-
eveq remained, like Plato's, te,leoiogical. Both thinkers, in
other rvords, believed that things could be understood i
only in relationr to their end or purpose (telos in Greek). To
Aristotle, for example, action"; must be judged in terms of ,
 l.

The par:rble of -hc cave describes

in graphic terms t}'s difference be-
tween ser se perctptions and real-
ity, which can be perceived onrT
through thought. The caye is a
metaphor for'the world of sense
rr ' impressions in whi& nothing
is as
,.",1,1 it appear5, and to plato all people

; are prisoners within ft. The author

'i' is speaking tohis friend Glaucon.
"Piauiirten dweA*g in a sorr of
subterranean cavern with 4long en-
"i trance gpen to the light on its entiri
j':, :i':" ;;;.-;;:,
. . .. wath. Conceive off',:;;';;;;;
llqqn as having
tleir legs and nicls fetterea gon "hitdhood, so thit they reruain
in the ume spot, able to look forward onty, ana pr*eitla by the .

pinure
Itter fron turning theirlwads. further ttn ttgt t 1ri^ o
fire burning hlgher up and at a distanu behind them, and be-
tween thcfre and the pisonen and above
them a road along
which a low wall has been built, as the exhibiurc
of puppet-shows
have partitions before tru men themserves above
which thn show
the puppeu."
ti'
-,,r.". ,

tire resuh rhey produc., un .thicJl principle rhat in

rne- rensively on brology, phy;ics, and human psycholcgy
dieval rimes would form the basrs of natuial law.
In poli_ and was responsible for collecting and tiansmittiig
tics, this. led him to an impassioned defense
of the poiis as mucir of what is known about the pre-socratic philoso_
the best form of social organiz-ation. Although theie
con_ phers. His method was to observe natural phenomena
tributions to ethics and
-rolitics *.r. .rror.riously impor_ and to understand them in terms of what he called the
tant, Aristotle's greatest influence lay elsewhere.
'four causes.- These were not causes in the modern
.sense but rather aspecrs of a problem that had to-oJ
Logic. The process by which statements are formed
considered in its solutioir. The four causes are the mat-
,and relate to one another. that is, logic, was central to
ter our of wbich a thin; is made (material cause), its
Greek discourse. Aristotle was rhe fiist to analyze
this form or shape (formal cause), the purpose ,it is in_
process and, in so doing, codified a logical
method that tended ro fulfill (final cause), and the force thar brings
dominared formal thought until rhi twentierh cen_
it into being (efficienr cause).
tury. Irs basis is the syllogism, an argument that in
its These causes are di:,covered by logical inference
simplesr form says thqt if all A is e anO all C is
A, rhen from empirical observations. Aristotle made no effort
all C nrust be B. A tradirional example is: .All men are
nr<lrlal. Socrates is a nran. Therefofe. Socrates
to create predictive muthematical models based on
is these inferences and did not artempr to verify thcm
Morlal.- Aristotle wenr far beyond this, and his six
through experinrent. His method was therefore unliiie
treatises ol logic, known collectively as the
O.rganon, rhat of modern science and produc.d diff....rt results.
describe many types of syllogisms, the formarion
and Scienrists no longer believe that the process by which
categorization of statements, and the nature of lan_
a physical change occurs can be fully explain.d Uy it,
guage irself.
final cause or teleological purpose. Since the seven_
teenth century they have asked different questio;rs
Science. In the physical sciences. Aristotle,s influence
and have rejected most of Aristotle,s conclusipns
dominared thought until the scientific revolution
of about the behavior of matter. Still, Aristotle,s observa-
the sixreenth and seventeenth cenluries. He wrote
ex_ tions and hypotheses set the agenda for more than

Greek Culture anil Its Hellenistic Dffusion 63


1,000 years of speculation, while his teleological bias
and preoccuparion with qualitative descr:ptions (the
material and formal causes) was a compelling. if not al-
ways productive, influence on later thought. His insis-
tqnce on careful observation.a.nd logically gonglrycted
argument remains a part of the scientific tradition to-
day. No other thinker has had such a powerful impact
olr laler generations
TH r MncEpoNrAN CoNqursrs
ro 325 sct
Aristotle lived in the twilighr of classical Greek civiliza-
tion. Although he probably did little ro inspire them,
the exploits of his pupil Alexander of Macedon, known
as Alexander the Great, changed the prolitical struc-
ture of the Greek world and spread Greek values ancl
ideas throughout the Middle Easr. Inevitably, those val-
ues were changed and diluted in the process, and the
culture that emerged from the MaceConian conquests
was at the same time more cosmopolitan and less in-
tense rhan that of the ancient polis.
64 Chopter 3
folpwing the passages from the trachea throughout the ': " ,6
w4-tte lungs. Si
11S. -
ffirlunl has more blood than all the other parts, for the whole d
lup is snoW, and through ea.:h perforation brancfus of the ' :*i: tl
ggept vein proczed. ?hose persons are deeived who say that the '?
lgils are empty, drawing their unctuiions from disseaed ani- 'i,
which all blood has escaped.'Qf all thc uiscera, the ',I'i' '*
K!,frt*
frf;rt ako ontains blood, and in the lungs th.: blood is not in ,t $
th(iungs themselves but in the vehs.by which th ry are perfo-
'&i
rutcd, But in the hea.t itself the btood is In each uf the uvities; ,1,
but.the thinnest blootl is in the mil.dle caviti'.
ii
.1.
5. Bgneath the lungs is that division o.f the tninkwhi:1.,is called
tlQiliaphragm, It is united n the ribs, the hypoch.,,tdriac re-
gttil', and the spine. In the center is a sfiooth membranow .l
.?
ffifr
.:
and there are viins enenaing through it.
'.':
FromAristotle,'History ol Animals " in Source. Book of Mediul ::
-.
-"i
Hbuty, ed. Logan Clgndenning (New lork: Dovcc 1960, pp.
tt 7,l.
.i
.i.
,i:
Quection: How does Aristotle's refusal to dessibe how
this rinatomical system actually worked reflect the basic
stancb of nearly every Greek scientific philosopher with the
excepdon of Heraclitus?
The Decline of Greece
The Theban Hegemony. The end of the pelopon-
nesian Wars had left the Greek states under the politi-
cal influence of Sparta. The Spartant;, like the
Athdnians before them, soon made themselves hated
by interfering with the interSral policies of their alliei.
Athens and Thebes combined against them, and in
371 rBcE a fheban'army undei the command of
Epaininondas (Epp-pam'-in-on-dus, c. 4I0-162 acr)
defeated the Spartans at Leuctra. Sparta's role as a ma-
jor power ended, and'a new cra oi military innovation
began. Epaminondas had given careful thought to a pe-
culiarity of hc plite warfare. Hoplites carried their
shields on the left. In combar they shifted toward the
right, away from the point of impact. This threw the
phalanx out of balance, but the consequent strength-
ening of its right side meant that the right frequently
won. the bartle. Epaminondas took advantage of this
oddity and weighted his phalanx heavily to the left.and
held back the right. This unbalanced formation, sup-
porteC by cavalry on his right flank, enabled him to
crush the Spartans at their strongest point and envelop
them. Ihe use of deep formations, effectively supported

FlcrrRl, 3.4 The Theban Forma;iort. The rop drawing shows
thc rraditionai patiern of hoplirc warfare with rhe shicld
of cach lirrmarion slowly giving way as the battle
side
develops.
Thc lrolt<tnr drawing shows how Eparnin<lndas weighrcd
his
roflratiOn "t Leuctra t() crush the Spartans al their str()nsesl
point (the "weapon side,', or right).
for rhe first time by cavalry would be greatly expanded
b1, rhe Macedonians.
Although supported by the relative wealth of Boeotia,
Theban hegemony lasted no longer tharr thar of the
Spanans. The Athenians h.rd revived their alliance
svs_
tem in the years immediateli before Leuctra and, fearing
Tl-reban ambition, soon turned it against Epaminondas.
81' 362 BcE, the peloponnesians had also reconstituted
thcir confederacy, and although Epaminondas defeated
thc combined forces of Athens und Sprrtu at Mantinea,
lre tlied in the bartle. Deprived of his ieadership. Theban
nrilirary power declined. Without rhe stimr,rlus of
fronr Thebc.s or Sparta, the .seconcJ.'Athenian Empirc
rhreats
crlllapsed and Greece revcrred to rs tradirional
starc t,f
tlisorganizaIion.
Economic and political Decline of Greece. A cen-
trrry of warfare had brought economic decline and
social
lcnsion to the Greek cities. The Carthaqinians encroached
trpon their ovenieas markets while the Greek cokrnies
in
Itall,becarne, of necessity. more self-sufficienr. As exports
dinrinished, thousands of Greeks sought employmenr
.as nrerceltaries. One such group found itself stranded
#l
\
,\
,, irr Mcst)lx)lanlia wlrcrr rhc schcmcs ,rt'rheir a'irrio,.,
' utrploycr nriscarricd. A lcadcr of lhc cxpeditior$ tht
Alircrrian
' (c'. $1-350 writcr antl military lhcorist Xcrro+phrlrr
Hcl) lclr a riviiJ a(.counr of thcir march b tht
lllack Sca coasl ar)d salcty. Xt,rrophon a rcl rh,e care'br ot
,,. [lltarninorrdas slrow t'rat Grcck fighting nren ha{, losr
nolhinll ol thcir skjll and valor. Thc arristic. and intcl.
-, lcctiralaclticvirlcnts ol the fourth ccntrlry scr denron.
stralc ti)ai rhe culture was alivc and well. But forall its
cvidcnt vigor, Grcecc had bccome a political uu.,i,,rn.
Philip II of Macedon and the End of Greek
Independence. Thc Macedonians filled that vacr, um.
Ancient Macedonia octupied the broad plain at tht
hcad of the Thermaic Gulf in northeasteri Greece. It:
peoplc lpoke a dialect of Greek, but their sclcial and po_
litical instirutic,ns Ciffered from those of the pcleis. ihe
population was almosl entirely rural and, by Greek
starrdards, widely scattered. Rich pastures encouraged
tlre raising of horses. Macedonian society y,,as therefore
dominated by a landholdrng arisrocracy that fought on
horseback, usually against the neighboring hill tribes
whose raids posed a f_.onstant threat to ttre couritrv,s
borders. Heredirary kings tried ro rule with or *iti,oui
" coopcration from the aristocracy, and internal strife was
I contmon. To other Creeks, the Macedonians seemed
: primitive, but their l-rorneland was rich in timber, min_
: erals, and agricultural res()urces. Many believed that iI
Macedon could achieve stability, it would one day be-
a major power. ,
' corne ,'
Philip tI (382436 nce) achieve.l that goal. philip
was a younger son of the Macedonian :oyal family who,
while a hostage at Thebes, had observec' the militarv re_
forms of Epaminondas. His brother dieo in 359 ncl and
left Philip as regenr for rhe yourhful ,heir, ,{.myntas IV.
Cunning and energetic, philip used his-position to re_
move political rivals and suppress rhe loial hill tribes. In
. 357 through 356 scr, he. seized Amphipolis and 1hen,
Mt. Pangaeus with its ricl deposirs of gold and silver. At
about this time he also usurped his nephew,s throne.
With his political I ase sicure, and fortift.a Uylir.
wealth of Mr. pangaeus, philip noved to extend his
r power over Greece as a whole. Through warfare,
, bribery, and skilled oiplomacl,, philip piayed upon
the disunity of the Greeks. The Atrreniin o.ito,
Demosthenes (Duh-malts,-thuh-neeze) tried to rallv
them with his philippics. a series of speeches attacking
Philip as a ruthless barbarian, but by this time it wai
too late {or them to mount an effective resistance. In
ace, Philip defeated a poorly organized army of
:.38
, Thebans and Athenians at Chaeronea and became
master of the Greek world. For rhe most part, philip
, wore -ris new authority lightly. He secured u
' of acceprance -.usu.L
not interfering in local politics, but
' his plan to leadbythe united Greeks ,rgainst persia did
not marerialize in his lifetime.
Creele Culture and Its Hellenistic Dffision 65
.f

ilitary t-cgacy of Philip ll' I'lrilip ll lcfi a formi-
bk'lcgac'y. Nol only did hc t:lritc tltc Grccks, but lrc
r t rcatt'd lhc army with wlrich ltis son Alexandcr lll,
lrc (irc'at," wrlrtl<l c()r1(ltlcr trtttsl ol tlte ktrrlwlr world.
rc lrc'art ol lhc Mac"clottiatt arll)y rclllaincd sonlc
,000 cavalry arntcd willt swrtrd alrtl spcar, the so-callerl
of thc king. Thcy wcre supported by in-
Irrrlrarriorrs
nrry (lrawn up in the Maccdonian phaianx, a forma-
iorr rlrat dillcrcd substantially frotrl that of rhe hoplires.
' t)casanls of Macctlonia cLruld not afford hoplite
iqrriprncirt, and lhcir geogrdphical isolation made in-
Irsivc training difficult. Philip solved these problems by
rrarrg,,,,o 1,,., nren in deep formations and arming them
irh spcars krnger than those used by the hopiites. l"y
g,lrring in tightly closed ranks, the Mac-edonians could
thcrclry prcsent an almost inipcnetrable front withottt
hr: nccd lor highly specialized combat ;kills.
' lioplitcs were added to the Macedonian ranks as
Philip's system of alliances grew. He also rt cruited mer-
cenary hursemen from Thessaly, whic-r bordered
Macedon on the south, and supplemented his infantry
ith slirrgers, bovvmen, and javelin th,'owers. T\e ge-
nius of Philip (and Ale.xa.nder) lay in the ability to co-
ordinatc these varied elements and to make even the
cavalry fight as a disciplined tactical unil instead of as
individual champions. But the Macedonians were
equally atlentive to the problems of siege craft. Philip
introcluced 1<l the Aegean world the techniques and
siegc engines developed by Dionysius, the [rant of
Syracuse, and used them successfully against lerinthus
and tsy'zantium. He was planning an attack on the
Persiarr Errpire when he was assassinated in 336 scr'
possibly at the instigation of his wife.
Alexander the Great
In 10 years \134424 rcE). Philip's son Alexander used
this formidable army to conquer the Persian Empire and
extend his authority from Greece to Egypt and from
Egypt to lndia. Alexander's
military exploits have rarelY
becn equaled, but his charac-
ter rc'ntains sonething of a
mystery. After putting down a castemers. His idualism, if such it was, was accompa-
rebellion anong the Greeks,
the 22-year-old Alexander
marcl.red rtrlo Asia Mirior at
the head of about 37,000
men. In ll4 scE, he defeated
the Persians at the Granicus
River in what is now TtrrkeY,
and in the following year, he
gained control of the Ionian
citics of the eastern Aegean. In
l3l, his victory over a supe-
rior lorce under the Persian Alexanilq
66 Chaptu 3
I
crrpcr<tr'Daritts a1 Isstts in prcse n''day Syria opcned the &
way to Phocrricia and Egypt. When'Ilrc and Gaza f'rll to J
tlre sicge engitr':s tlf thc Grecks, ligypt surrcndcred and
Daritts offcrcd hinl evcrything wcst of the Euphratcs
Ilivcr in rettlrlt l<lr lrcace. Alcxandcr, nrlw pharaolr tlf'
Egypt, rclused. Aftcr establishing a ncw Egyptian capi-
tal, wh[ch hc named Alexandria aftcr hi;nself, he in'
vade d Mesopotamia.. Anothc'r victory ovcr the Persians
at Gaugarnela in present-day Iraq (331 ucr) opened the-
way ltr Babylon and ultimalely t<,' the Persian capitals of
Susa and Perseryrlis (prescnt-day Iran), whcre he was
named Fmperor of Persia. After Darius was assassinated
by one of his own governors, Alcxander spent 3 years
fighting in the east beforc his army lnutinied and forced
him to turn toward home. By this time he had pcne-
tratc'd into wltat is now India.
. Nearly all of Alexander's maj<lr battles, on the
Granicus in Asia Minol at Issus in Syria, at Gaugamela
on the iipper Tigris, and on the Hydaspes in lndia, were
brilliant cavalry actions in whi:h the infantry played
only a secondary role. His sieges were consistently suc-
cessful, and his ability to hold a multiethnic army to-
gether on hard campaigns in ur'familiar territory attests
to an €xtraordinary capacity for leadership. Even after
the Macedonians mutinied and demanded to return
home, he preserved their loyalty by officially making
them his kinsmen.
His purposes, however, are not entirely cleat.. Many of
his contemporaries sarv only personal ambitior. Arrian,
the chlonicler of his campaigns, said, "if he had'lc'und no
one else to strive with he would h,ave striven wiih hittr-
self." Others, inciuding Plutarch,, detected mr"re noble
nrotives \see Alexander the Greatl . Alexander's publicists
encouraged the notion of a vast state based on universal
brotherhood. He pro:laimed the equality of all subjecrs
regardless of religion or ethnicitl and gave this policy
tangible form by marrying Roxana,. a princess from
Sogdihnh in central Asia.
H.jotuy also h-ve hoped to spread the benefits of'
Hellerfic culture, but Jre seems to have stressed this only
in dealing with Greeks. Not all Greeks were convinced.
They resented his acceplance of loreign customs and his
tendepcy to claint, divine attribut:s when dealing with
nied by utter ruthlessness and by a casual brutality ag-
gravatcd by heavy drinking. When he died in 323 scr
at the age of 32, he left'no successors and only the most
geneial plan for the governancc of his realms.
Tnr Hnlr,rNISTlc KtNcPoMs
(323-330 scl) .
The Division of Alexander's Empire. Alexander's
death led to a prolonged struggle among the Macedonian
generals. Although Roxana was pregnant when he died,

3.1. THs CoNqursrs oFAT.S>InNDER THE Gnrnr (SS+SZ4
scr) ANn rHr Hrr,lgNrsrlc Klrlcpoaas fHnr for.1oweo
sclcuc,.l rnonrrchy f
@l
,-, ,,, ,!n" ,,( n$uc |
! 1,"rg,,,,,"n" molarchy
I nnrigonid rronarchy
. dorn:; slra.cd a certai, v,
l,rr,lrnraic monarchy
,r",,,,,uu r*ugua
dorns dillcred widely fror
0nc arr<l1lrer. If 1he l<inr
nccr ol Greck culturc,; tltt,
llrotllerrrs wcrc Unique ar
lor rrtorc tIr.tn it cehtu,
lhcy rrraintained a rivalr
that sornctimcs degencratr
lnl() ()l)cn war.

Foreign Policies of th
Hellenistic Monarchie
The chief foreign policy go
of the Ptolcmies was to prr
tect the Nile delta from fo
eign invasion. This require
the maintenance of a larp
navy and; from the Egyptia
point of view, control ovr
Phoenicia and the STria
coast, which supplieC th
Alexander's armies marched several thousand miles in the
fleet with timber and navr
coruse of his conquess. The stores. The Seleucids resiste
Hellenistic kingdoms founded by his generals remained
under the control of their de- Ptolemaic claims to Svr,a bt
scendants until the rise of Rome iq the first century
BcE.
cause they needed th
Mediterranean ports t
maintain rheir trade with th
tncre was ncl immediate successor. The commanders at
west. After a series cf rvars, the Selerrcids ultirnatel
first divided the empire into governorships, wirh the in_ gained control of both S1,ria and palestine, but not befor
tention of preserving it for the conqucror,s unborn heir,
the Antigonids, too, became enran$ed in the neb t
but they soon fell to fighting among themselves. In the Ptolemaic diplomacy. Fearing an alliance between th
civil warr that followed, Roxarr-a and her solt, rogether ' Seleucids and the Antigonids. the ptolemies supporre,
rvith several of the generals, were murdered. Tlrree main
the growth of pergamum as a buffer state between th
successor states under Alexander,s generals A ntigonus. . two kingdoms and, whenever possible. stirred up ..nri
Seleucus, and ptolemy emergecl from the sharnbles.
Macedonian sentimenr in Greece. This usually m_.an .

l\lacedon, much of Asia Minor, and a dominant position

support for one of the two leagues of city_states tha
in the Greek alliance fell to Antigonus (3g2_301 acE). formed in third-centrtr)/ Greece: the Aetolian League ir
The descendanrs of prolemy (d. 2Sl scr) ru,ed Egypt as
the west central part of the'Greek peninsula and thr
iis Thirty-Third Dynasty until the dearh of Cleopatia in
?n Bc:, while Seleucus (d.2gl
Achaean League, headed by Coiinth, in northen
ncr) establishecl an empire Peloporrnese. Eglprian policy collapsed when, in abou
based on Sl,ria and Mesopotanria.
AIi three dynasries, the antigonids (An-rig,-o-nids),
. 230 BcE, the holemies also formed an alliance vzitl
Sparta. The frightened Achaeans turned to tht
rhc Ptolemies (Tol'-uh-meez). and the Seleucids (Se_
.Antigonids for help. and the ptolemies, under attack b1
Ioo'-sids), are called Hellenistic, as is the er.rirc period
the Seleucid king, Antioc\us III, -the Great," could dt
from their founding to the death of Cleorrarra VII of nothing to prorect the A.'tolians. In the end Antiochu:
Egypt in 30 scn. The term itself v,as coined in rhe nine-
conquered Syria, phoenicia, and palestine, and tht
teenth century and seems to havt implied a clilution,of Aetolians allied themselves with a new power ther
Greek values, I)articularly those o. rhe polis. If so, it is
emereing in the west: Rome.
unduly patronizing. Thc Hellenisric period was one of The struggles amcng the Hellenistic kingdoms, al-
tunprecedented cultural borrowing and transrnission.
though occasionally dramatic, seem ro have had littlt,
Icleas, religions, and artistic morifs from Egypt and
the impact on everyday life. The most important social ancl
l\4iddle East fused with those of rhe Greeks and spread
economic effect was a periodic influx of slaves into tht,
throughout the Mediterranean rnrorld. Science. philoso_ labor market as one side or the other succeeded in tak_
phy, and the ans flourished. But the term is unfortu_
ing large nunrbers of captives. As a result, slavery be-
nate for another reason. It implies a uniforntity that did
came increasingly important to the Hellenistic econ_
n()t exisl. Politically and socially, the successor king_ omy, forcing free laborers into marginal occupations or

Greek Culture and Its Hellenisttic Dffision 67

 ALExqNDEF, THE Gnmr
Alcxarrtlcr's character and motivcs ntystified his c,rntempo-
raries. 'l\ayo very differcnt picturcs of ti,c conquerorican
be
Io,rnd irr w<lrks by the same author, It is n<lt impossible,
of
corrrsc, rhat thc sclf-indulgcnl violencc'described by
Plurarclr in his Life of Alexander could coexist with rnotjves of
thc highesr kind. But was Arexander's devotion ro universal
brorherlrood a pr<-,paganda. ploy Jesigned to funher his per_
sonal arnb rions? Those who knew him could not be
sure.
A Positive View of Alexaniler\ Conquests
Plurarch, who wrote the important Life of'ffixande4
believed
in rhe conqueror's..civilizing" mission and dedication to the
unjversal brotherhood of humankind. In this Oratio
lspeechl
he makes the best possible case for his hero,s motiyes.
Alexander did not follow Aristotle's arlvice to treat the Greek
as
a leadet the barbarians as a mastq, cultivating the as
former
friends and kinsmen, and treating the latter as animals or plants.
Had he done so his kingdom would have been with warfare,
filled
banishments and secret plots, but he regarded nimself as divinety
senl to mediate and govern the world And those whom he
failed
Io win over by persuasion he overpowered in arms,
bringing them
outrigl-rt unemployment. By the end of the third cen_
IuF\/ the ciiies of all three kingdoms were struggling
BCE,
rvirh rhe social problems created by poveny.
Creete under the Antigonids
In the Antigonid kingdom, life wenr on largely.as be_
fore. alrhough without the endless warfare of Greek
againsr Greek that had characterized the classical pe_
rioti. Under Maccdonian rule the states retained their
separate identitiel,, but loss of control over foreign and
nrilirary affairs blunted rhe intensiry of their political
lifc. N<lt even the formaticn of the Achaean and
Aetolian leagues could restore it. Economic decline
conrinucd. Poor yields as a result of erosion and soil ex_
harrslion forced l;,ndowners to compensate by experi-
nrcnring with fertilizers and new agricuhural tech-
niqrrcs. These methods were modestly successful, bu,
for sntall farmers their cost was prohibitive. Large es_
lales, nrany of them worked by slaves, became more
contnton. For thousands of Creeks. service as nterce_
naries or as administrators in the other Hellenistic kirrg_
donrs rentained the most promising route to success.
68 Clnpter 3
Iogethc; from every land, ,ombining) as it were in a loving cup,'
thair livcs, customs, mar-iages. and manners of tiving. . . :
For he did not cross Asia like a robbe:,., nor did he have it in
rrind lo ravage and a 'spoil it for the booty and loot presented by
such an unheard-of stroke of fortune.. .lnstead.he conducted him_
self as he did out of,t desire to subject all the races in the world to
one rule and one form oJ governmen4 making all mankind a single
peopla. Had not the divinity that sent Alexa,der recalled his
soul so
soon, tircre would have been a single law, as it were, watching over
all mqnkind, and all men would have looked to one form of justice i
as ilrcir ommon suL:rce of light. But ,tow. that portion of the wuild ri
that nytr'beheld Alexanier has remained as if deprivzd of the sun.
,;
'i
From Plutarch, "De Alexandri Magni Fonuna ast Vinute, Orario I,,
in Sounes in Westen. Ciilization: Ancient Greece, ed. and trans.
Trues{g$ S. Brown (New york: The Free press
[Simon 6 Schuster],
1965, pp. 199-2001.
'i
:::
Alexaniler Murilers a, Friend
Plutarch was well aware of another side of Alexander,s per_
sonality. In this extract from his Life of Alexander, the con_
queror appears as violent, drunkea, and superstitious. lt also
The Seleucid Monarchy
The Seleucid kingdom absorbed most of these ambitious
folk. Alexander had esrablished almost seventy Greek
citiesin what had bee4 the persian Ernpire. He sought
to provide homes for his veterins and ior those fleeing.
overpopulaticln in their native lan j. He also hoped to es-
tablish'trustworthy cenrers of administration in a vast
region populated by dozens of different ethnic and reli_
gious groups. The Seleucids greatly expanded this policy.
The new cities rrieC to Cuplicate as far as possible the life
of the polis. ln the years after Alexander,s death, the
wealth extractcd front his conquests paid for the con_
struction of renrples, rhearers, atrd other public buildings
in the Greek sryle. Greek law and Greek political insti_
tutions were inrposed, but these cities, for all their mag_
nificence, rentained ctrltural hybrids thronged with peo_
ple of many cuhures. Ur-rlike rhe citizens of a polis, ihey
hacl neither gods nor an.cestors in common.
The Greco-Macedonian lllite. The Seleucids re_
spected the cuhural and religious sensibilities of their
subject: but preferred to rely on Creek or Macedonian
!
i;
r,l
s
fl
 *
.,4&,

rcvcals that the tension

belwcen the Macedonians and
Alexander,s ncw Asian subjeos 'tl'e Macedonians and not pay ,.oh,
,""r'lrr'rr.uter than thc for ir?',
pay for it,', Cleitus retorted...Jusr
but we Macedonians drd
Oratio seems to suggcsr,
our eJlons . . .,. [After much more
rhink of th;rr*";r;;;;;;r;l
After the wmpany had dru.nk of thi;] Atex;t:,ii, ,ou{ ,o tongb
r good deal somebody began afirol his rage: he hurled one of ti, opitu
lhe verses of a man named pranichr, to sing on ,i, hit him, r,.
make fun of some Macedonian
. .-. *i,ri io been witten to
then tookd around
for hk.aagger one ,ii,, uii"ro,
"Otr, . . .
had,,;
defeated by the barbariat
ammonden *io"i)o ,rontly been already.removed it ou,/ oJ nara?
way. and the other crowded
,;^ and bess,:d him to he quiet . ... n, iirii,,iiirrn*a
fenseat,iir..,tr,i',r]r;::::it;f:::;:r:ll:#:,;#r{ |yi.1
tlve way . . . Alexander seized a tnen, *)_
with obvious pleasure and
bld the man ,o rniinoi.' cpn*, .reitusa"r,";;;*r';::,;':;:n;r::;,;{y;r1#i*f " ^_^ -rr,;
had atready drunk bo much
nature, beume angrier than
*no
a,d w4s ,r;;;;;;;,'r,-tempered
by
h!:nthrough. with a roar of poia
ona a groon.-wn)
::
ewr and shoutd that it was (c;me tu himself
and saw his friends stariing
teU*naul ,
Maedonian; not right onouni nim speechless
for to be insulted in,o, prrur* rii^iiono,u:tnd he snaxhed thc u,eapon
emies, even en_ out of th; dcad body and
if they had me plunged it into his own would have
tlan ;0" t;
t hwe ;;;' #;,:;:f;# f;Ii;:;::Xf ff: by seizins a, n",*
throa-r ir,n,
ii ",,,)-],-l',"--1."i
:il'Ii;:;Tfrhad
notfo.stailed.hin .
{,ot,::was tryins to disstyie coiarai or;,;;rr,
. There he spent the rest of the
pkading his own case.
Aithis ckit^ **ri ,l'irrfe;
he must be
,:.{,
rirn,
o:, in an agony of remorse.. a, ur, "na
*, _ili'i'i[r'8,,o*_
back, 'ya, it war my cowarai" ana shouted n, ui ,liotrrua
tnot ,orri"rririii.'1", ut:prtlg by srief,
groans but unable rc speak
yourcelf
.the
son of the gods, wneu
who cail
you were tuming your
.deep
ak:rmed at hk silence,
a *ri,'*i, ni, friends,
Spithridate's sword. And back to forccd thri, iay into'iir'r#, u, poia ro
it k the hleer' sy 111ese Macedonians ,:
ylli! .f(t you so great that you disown your
.. .
:y::: yh:: :ry of them said, except when eiianaer the di-
inaae
ctatm,to be the "own father and
son of Ammon (the ngyptAn
goili:-' ::;;f;;::,'l'i;,;!!,i,'!i'i,iiifol"::i#:beenor-
These words made ,llexander
yriiur. ,,;;-;**,.
he c.ried out,
"do you think you
can keep on speaking From Plurarch. .Life of Alexander,-
of me like this and stir up in The Age ofAlexander trans.
Ia.r Scott-Kitven (Harmondswonh,
trK. p."irii nrrt.
"iltr,,

solcliers and adnrinisrrarors

for the
,l gover.ing. The Greek poprruil""day_to_day blrsiness
tie cities, rein_
torced unril rhe second
..;;t;.;fi,,rn,g.u,ion
"rt
from
creece. formed a dominanr,
hesive, elite. Their.own
ufihough,rr,; especially co_
origins *.i. alu.rre and
their
perspective essentially
rional ries ro their new
caree;st. rn.r r.r*.0 few
emo_
ho;nes
pared ro go elsewhere
if ";;,;;;; usually pre_
oppor,u"iiv^trr*ked.
Syrians. persians. and
nabydrii;;;';i"^*ade up The the
bulk of the population, adopted
clrsro*s whire retaining their
, f"* ii."t ideas and
o*n .uirJJ idenrities.
Seleucid Societv. The-result
was a cosmopolitan so_
ry.lreld togerhei rargery
cie
by mirirary
-f,inrln'aing
force, The cities
rcrnaincd unsrable amalgams
,,i erhnic
illl^r:,1,'""s sroups. rn+ nuo ,r,.i,
rrons and popular assembiies
sessions of rhe king and
admi,nisrra_
uu, *.r.]i.g"ily the pos_
had to o"ri*iiiiim through
enrissaries ro prorec their
rnon. Koine, a universal
interesi;. ;;;;were com_
Greek dirt;.;";;;lved as
language of rrade and.admini;;;;'b* the
displaced Aramaic or the never fuily
Middle Easr.
o,t., ,*g""", ,n. ancient
In the countryside, Gleek"iinfl,,ence
mained neglgible. Village
socicties retained their tra_
ditional strucrure even.when
tfr"y U...r.re part of the
royai domain and naid taxes
Royal grants allotted,o*.
ai...riv-i" the crown.
of tfr._-;;. cities while
orhers became leeally ,uur..t
landholders. The iorms .land
i.;'u ;"#r, .oi. privare
of tenure, taxation,.and
provincial a tlm.inistration
were t igfrf V il".rr..
The Seleucid Emnire survived
tor nearty 300 years,
Iargely because its cities
urro p.oui.r.";;;
basis for resisrance to the common
""
..o*rr,-u.rJ bl*_uur"_u.rtit
the coming of the Fomans_it
faced no serious outside
thr3ars. The conflios with
tfre profemie,;;.. palestine
and syria and with the
Antigon;;;;;; pt.r,rrions of
Asia: Minor wt re lar
t^t':,,t-tj:lqo bt ll-t. eilrly second
cenruly scE. Border
;i;;;: lfi:,ilx ;'.:i'j':'l# ,ill:i:
"# and.in A,i,
royal adrninistration
empire ra ir ed to ;;;,:,1f1:::iil
cosmcpolitanism "offered
:?T::ffi .i:.,li:
at least'ro_.--of them in-
creasr-d opportunities for
profit.
Ttade and the Economy.
Untir the disorders of the
re_ first c..'ntury acr, the eastern
empire enjoyed ,relative
Greek Culture and lts ttril*irti, D!ffus;ion 69

n Hnr,r.tNisiidffi*t""; corrrnic:r
rhis marriaie contract, dated 3ll ncs; between Heracleides
and Demetria, n Greek couplt from the island of Cos on the
shores of fuia Minor, demonstrates how the status of women
hacl improved srnce the days.of classical Athenian law. It not
only mentions Demetria's mother but also takes the infideli'
ties of the husband as seriousiy as those oI his wife.,
Heracleides lakes Dcmctria of Cos as hk law!'ul wife, He receives
he rfrom herlathet Wtine! of Cos, and from her mothen
Philotis. He is a free man and she a free woman, She bings vith
her clothes and jeweh worth 1000 drathmas. Heradeides will pro'
wde Demetria with all the requireniens of'1free woman,
,They
shall live il: whatever place seem: best to Leptines anil Heradeides'
If Demetria is four,d n lave rlone someking liliicti diigril$ hcr
husband, she shall bse everythtng she brought
Heracleides shall amtse her befor e three ,nen chaien,by llr.p(r
111" t t'Ier4stgi/ss shall not be permitted to wrong Denctria by
keeptng anotircr woman m hauing cltildrer. by ot6fl1iry"t+6tnan, nor
to harm Demetria in atty uay under any pre&..lf ,H.lqkles
found n have done'such a thmg, Demetria shall
three men whom they shall have seleaed t tgether. Herarkides shall
then pay Demetria back the I00A drachmas she brought as dowry
and a further 1000 dradtmas in Alemndian tilrll 6 recomPeflse
From Pr€aux, Glaire, "Le Statut de la femme i l'€poquc hell6nis'
rique, principalment en Egypte,'in Julia O'Faolain and Iauro
Manines, Not in God's Image:Wonen in History from the Greek a the
victorians (London: Templg Smith. 1973).
Question: What are the major differences between the le-
gal status of Demetria as a married womet.ald lhaq of the
Athenian women aeicriUea in Chapter 2? ',:.:"
;' 1..,.,"r.'1 I ;..,..:r.;:. r:.:.:. t:.-i:itii{j:j.tfi,-.i}i!.,',,tr'.'
t'\
prosperity. The Seleucids imposed no internal lrade bar-
riers and guaranteed the safety of caravans a5 a matter
of policy. Even when its leaders were fighting over
Alexander's inheritance. the entire Hellenistic world
had been open to comnerce. ,\ merchant in Damascus
or Babylon could trade unimpeded with Greece or
Egypr.The more adventurous sent their goods into India
tlr traded with Carthaginians and Romans in the wesl.
Pcrhaps the mosl enduring of Alexander's legacies was
thc creation of a great world market in goodsiand ideas.
This, more than anything else, led to r hat traditionalists
called a dilution of Greek values. Under the influence of
S),ria and Egypt, Greek legal traditions and even the sta-
tus of women began to change (see Document 3.4).
The Jews in the Seleucid Empire. Hellenistic cul-
ture, for all its richness and sophistication, was not uni-
70 Chaptn 3
*'
".i
i,
'.:
t'4
s
1,
vcrgblly adntirc<i. Among thosc who rcsislcd it tnosl pcr-
sistlrrtly wcrc thc Jcvrs. Thc dispcrsiotts of thc sixth cen- ?
turl ri( t: lt,r<l crcatcd a vast Jcwislt cxilc population. The U
largcst ttl lhcsc ctirnnrunirics'were in Alexandria and$
Bal.rykrn, but ,rirtually cvcrY city irt thc ancient world'h
had Jcrvish rcsidcnls. Most wcl c artisarls or stnall trades- n-
m(:;). Whilc somc evclrtually assimilaled to tltrc dcgree$
or anothcr, oth('rs gJthercd togethcr in closc-knit com-'
r.nunitics to J)rcscrve their rc,igious and cultural identity. $
In lsrae l artd Judaea, a remnant o[ impuverished l
p€SsilIits hcld on. reinforcco aftcr the Persian conquest i
of Bairylon by small numbers of the dcvt;ut wh<l sought
to l'etLl n to thcir homcland. In 516 IlcE thcy rcbuilt the
Terlple at .lcrusalem. Not as grand as the Temple of '
Stilonr<ln, it served a) the center of Jcwish faith and as-
pirations rrntil the Roman: destroyed it in 70 cr.
The Talmud. the glue that held the many Jewish'
ri'i1(.hei..ln'd " cc,nrmunilies together was the teaching of prophets and
of dcvotion to the Law. as syrrtbolized by the gradual evo-
lution-of th: Talmud from rhe fifth century BcE on- ,
ward.'The Prophets, many of whose writings have been
k prcserved in the Bible. exhcrted the Jews to remain,
auux him before {aith{ul. The Talmud is a collection of commentaries by
rabbis (the Jewish word for teachers), who sought to
uncovcr the full meaning of thre Mosaic Law and apply
it to every conceivable circuntstance. This process of
cornrnenlary. rvhich continlles t<lday, was celltral to the
developlnertl <tf mature Judaism. but certain aspects of
it iryere not unopposed. The biblical books of Jonah and
of Rutir nray be veiled Prt.,iests agairtst what many saw
as an increasingly narrorv and overly proscriptive faith'
The Maccabee Revolt. In general, the Hellenistic
monarclries followed a policy of toler;nce and granted
Jev,ish cornmunities a lneasure of auto,nomy that al-
lowed thern to govern themselves by their own law.
'L'he conflict betw.'en Hellenism and Hebra'i5m was nev-
'erheless fundamental. A life lived accordin.l to divinely
revealed law was incontpatible with the ,(ireek lov€ of
speculation and with aesthei.ic standards based on the
beauties of natuie and the perfection of the human
body. That conflict became violent when the Seleucid
mrnarch. Antiochus IV Epiphanes (c.2l5-164 ecr), vi:
olated the principal of tolerance by introducing the
w'orship o{ Zeus to the tenlple at Jerusalem. A revolt led
by the Mac cabees, the five sons of the priest
Mattathias. rc'sulted in the restoration of an indepen-
drnt Jervish state.
Pharisees and Sadducees. In later years the dynasty
forrnded by tlre 1436s3lrces ernbarked upon a policy of '
expansiotr and forced con\iersions to Judaism. This was
opposed by the Pharisees, who sought a return to the
law and to trad tionalJewish values. A bloody civil war
between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as the sup'
porters of the dynasty wert: known, ended only with
 THr )lwtsH Srnucc[E AGArNsr HnlluNrsM
Thc First anci Sccirnd Book of Maccabces tells the slory o[
thc struggle againsr thr hcllcnizing policies of Anriochus
Epiphanes from the standpoint <lf cSscrvant Jcws. Thc
books arc not found in the Hcbrew Bible but are acceptcd by
Catholic Christians as pafl of the Biblical canon and by
ProtestaDts as part oI the Apc:rypha.This translati<tn is raken
fr.rm the Apocrypha. Although each book has a dif{erent au-
thor, they follow roughly the same chronolo;y.
The Hellenizing of Jewish Cu!:ure
(2 Macc. 4:7-15)
Jason obtained the high priesthood by corruprion, promising the
king in his petition 360 talents of silver and gtt talents from other
revenues. When the king had unsentcC and he hqd taken ofice,
he immediately brought his countrymen over lo tl,e Greek way of
living. He set aside the royal ordinances :specially favoring the
Jews .t, . and abrogating the tawlul ways of tiving he introduced
new customs contrary to the Law. For he willingly established a
gymnasium right under the citadel, and he made the
finest of the
yc;mg men wear the Greek hat. And to sttch a pitch di,l the cultiva-
tion of Greek fashions and the coming-in of
foreign customs rise . . .
that the priests were no longer earnest about the services of the at-
tar, but dkdaining the sacrifices, they hurried to tal<e part in the
unlau,ful exercises of the wrestling school, after the summons b
the discus fhrowing, regarding as worthlesslhe things their
forefa-
thers valued, and thinking Greek stunTards the
finest.
Roman intervention in 64 ncE and the abolition of the
moriarchy in the following year. Although political inde-
pendence was lost, the danger of .Hellenism had been
avoided. The Romans made no effort to interfere with
the Jewish faith, and the pharisees emerged as rhe dom-
inant faction in religious lifc.-both at home and in the
scattered communities of thc dispersion. I then srored the grain and released it to the export fna
E3;,pt under the Ptolemies
Egypt trnder the Prolemies co-rrrasted vividly with the
decentralized ernpire of the Seleucids. Egypt was a far
nrorc homogcneotis society than llrat of the old persian
Enrlrire, and Prolenry I (d. c. 282 rce) had lirtle difficulry
irt subslituting his ou n nrle for that of the pharaorrs.
Altcr rcaching an accommodation with the c()untry,s re-
ligious leadcrs, he established a royal despotism that
reachcd into every corner ol Egyptian life. With the ex-
ccplion of three Greek cities, only one of which was es-
tablished by the Ptolernies, all of the country,s land had
uNDER THn Srlrucps
The Reuolt of the M,rccabees
(1 Macc. 2:2i-27, 42-45)
lAfter Antiochus ordered that the people of a Ji uish ,o*n.roirtro
lo Zeu::l a Jew went up before the eyes of all o{ them to olfer sacri
fice as the king commanded . ., . And Maltalh:as saw him and wa
Jilled with zeal, ar d his heart was stirred, and he was very Wop-
erly roused to anger, and ran up and.slaughtered him upon the
altar. At the sa,ne time he Lilled the king's fficer who was tnting
to compei them to saoifce,,an t he tore down the altar . . . Then
Matlathias cried out in a loud voice in the town and said 'Let
everybody who is zeaious 1r the Law and stands by the agreimer
come out afi:r me. i.
Then they were joined by a company oi Hasiileans, warlilce
Israelites, evety one a volunteer for the Law. And all who ha.l fle.
to etcape harsh treatment joined them and reinforcea them . ;.
And Mcttathias and his friena:s went about and tore down th| al
tars. and fo' cibly circumcisad all the uncircumcised children frlgy
found within the limits of tsrael. And they drove the anogan4be.
fore them, and the work prospered in their hands. So they rejqte,
the Law from the hands ofthe heathet and their kings, and'
would not let the sinners triwnph.
,
From lre Apocrypha, rrans. Edgar J. Goodspeed (New york: l
I Random llouse, 1959).
T
i
i.
Question: What was the cause oI the .rewish revolt again
the Seleucids?
!
long been regarded as rhe properry of the king. a Lrg
and efficient bureaucracy.mdnaged royal monopoligs i
essential goods and collected rhore than 200-diff,-irer
taxes. The most impor'tant of these monopolies was i
grain. Roydl offlcials distributed seed ro the peasarits i
return fcr a subsrantial percentage of their yields. Tht
ket when prices were high. Grain was Egypt's leadir
expon, and th: profits from this trade were immens
The crown also held a cc,mplete monopoly on the,prr
duction'of vegetable oils (which it proteoed with.i t
percenr duty on inrported olive oil) and partial monol
olies ou virtually every other commodity from meat r
papyrlls. Policy was based on extracting the maximur
amount of wealth from the country. By the middle ,
the second century BcE, many peasants had becomc ,le
perare, but be ing in a narrow valley surrounded I
desert, they had nowhcre to flee. The ptolemies contit
ued to pile up a great treasury until the fall of thrr d
nasty in 30 scr.
Greek Culture and lts Hellmbtic Dffusion

The Cily of' Alcxandria. Thc Plolcmics lavislrcd
rrrrrclr of that wcaltlr ()n lhcir capital at Alt'xandria.
T'lrc tity lracl bcctr fotlltclcd ott thc sh(,rcs of tltc
Mcrli(t'rrarrcarr by Alexattcier, A causcway connectcd
llrt' rr;u row ,1f l5lrorc island of Pltaros to thc mainlatld,
lorrnirrg two spacious lrarbors, onc of which w,rs
lirrkc<l lo ncarby l-akc Mareotis l:y a canal..A sccond
carral conncctccl tlrc lakc with lhc wcstern branch of
tlre Nilc. Tlris cnormous port sottrt formed the nuclcus
ol rire Mcditerranean's largest city. Under the first and
sccorrcl Ptolemies, rhc populatiotr of Alexandria gre'w
to rrerriy 500,000 Greeks, 'Mrccdonians, Egyplrans,
3y161 llr,r,s lts people drerv tlreir water supply from
vast cisterns built. berieath the city, .rnd a lighthouse.
said ro have been more than 400 fgg tall. was con-
structed on Pharos.
Thc cosmopolitan nature of its ;opulation and the
patronagc of the Ptolemies rnade Alexandria the cul-
tural and intellectual center of the Hellenistic world. Its
center !,.as the Museum, which was a kind of research
institute, and a libra:y that collected rtaterials from
every literat€ culture known to the Greeks. The crown
ruscd some of its vast revenues to subsidize these insti-
tutions as well as the scholars who attended ther,r, and
tlre learned flocked to Alexandria from all over the
j\lediterranean basin.
F{ r,r.LENrsrrc Scte Nce .,
I) rtt r.osoPHY, AND RELTGIoN
(j2 5-1OO scu)
Tire encouragement of the Ptolemies and the i^rtellec-
tr-ral foundations laid down b1'Aristotle made the third
cerltury acr a period of extraordinary achievement in
science, mathematics, engineering. and navigation.
Nothing like it would be seen again until the scientific
revolution ol the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Hellenistic Scienre and Technology i teachings of Hippocrates, a semimythical figu,e who is
Mathematics and Cosmology. Sonre of the work
donc at Alexandria was scholarship-,he compilation
arrd transmission of earlier ideas. The Elements of
Geometry, composed early in the century by Euclid
(Y()u'-k'id), contained little that was completely new
trut becarue the basis of geometric instruction until mod-
crn tinres. Hellenistic speculations on cosrr'ography (the
study of the universe) and physics were more original.
Aristarchus (Air-is-tar'-kus) of Samos (c. 310-230
uca) disputed Aristotle's theory that-the Earth was the
center o{ the universe. He reasoned, without benefit of
relescopes or other instruments, that the sun was larger
than the Earth and that the planets were far more dis-
rant fnlm one another than Aristotle had imagined. The
72 Chapter 3
s,.
,a!
9i..
'hust llrcrcfore bc thc c/:nter around which the
srrrr '*,"
Eartlr ancl plancts revolvcd. Eratosthenes (Air-uh-
.Sr
s
talrsl-lhuhn-eez.) of Cyrene ((.276-194 ncnl, a mathe-
niatician wlro slrcnt mosl of his life as ltcad of the
Library at Alcxandria, foundcd mathcnratical geogra-
phy..lrrmong other things, he calculated the circtrmfer'
cnce. of thc Earth to within 50 milcs of modern esti-
n:atei and devised a calendar that used leap years'
Likc much of Hellenistic science, these theories t'rore
little fruit until scholars reviv'-'d them in the sixteenth
cenlu:y. Roman and medicval scholars accepted the
viera'of Ptolemy of Alexandna (fl.1.27-145 cr), who
believcd with Aristotle that the Earth was the center of
lhc universe. The authoriiy of Aristotle in Roman ind
medieval timcs was too great to permit the acceptance of
aheriocentric, or sun-centereri, universe without inde:
pendent pr<-rof, and the telescopes and navigational in-
struments needed to support the theories of Aristarchus
and r,ratosthenes had not yet been'inverited. In physics.
cosmology, and biology, where Theophrastus (d. c. 287
ecr) us.ed the methods of Aristotle to classify plants and
anirqals discovered in the east, the inspiration of
Hellenistic science .,vas largell, Greek.
Physics. The achievements of Archimedes (Ar-ki-
mee'-deez) of Syracuse (c. 287-21 2 ncr) stand at the
beginning of modern physic '. Archirrredr:s, who studied
at Alexandria and who was'a friend of E'ratosthenes.
spe-rt most of his life in his native city. A close associate
anC perhaps a relative of the ruling dynasty,.:re was val-
ued'for his work on catapults; compound pu,leys; and
the screw of Archimedes, a helital device for,lifting wa-
rer out of wells, mineshafts, anci the hulls of ;ships. Most
of these devices had both military and civilian applica-
tions, but Archimedes regarded them as little better
than toys. He is oest knor,r n for his work On Plane
Equilibriums. which descrit,es the basic principle of
Ieveys, and.for his discovery thqt solids can be weighed
by measuring the amount o^ liquid they displace.
IV1edicine. In medicihe, however, two ancient traditions
merged. The GreeKHippocratic tradition was b.ased on the
supposed to have liveC on the island of Cos in the fifth
century scr. The Hippocratic Oath attributed to him is still
rev€yed by doctors (see Document 3.5). The main feature
of the Hippocra'tic tradition was the theory of the humors.
Until late in the eighteenth century most doctors be-
lieved that the human body contained four humors:
blood, black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm. Good health
dep,:nded <,n keeping these humors in perfect balance,
and nedicatiou was tlpically prescribed if one or more of
therrr were either deficient or present in excpss. An excess
of blood, for example, could be reduced by bleeding. .
The Alexandrians added Egyptian surgery and
anatonry to the Hippocratic tradition and passed their
findings on to the Romans. They also passed on a fun-
 Documrrtr 5.5
,f,iillf,if,,
. i;. " :,i
THr Hrprocdimc Oars
ri;*,.

The origins ir'. l'#''

"t "ipil.ratic
oath are unclear..Hippocrates ,*,
brothers, and to ,et ch them ro,, i,i
,}1 upon his siudents, "#r'^,
;i,
ii,nno,t or indenruo, ,o i*pon precept, "*;irf i
il::,:T:""1:1,:",::::-yr-:1T :1,n
'r,"
nrrt ..n- q';r;';;;;;;fee ;;;i;
,1*i,*yo,yupik
;: ;r':,#'r:;:ff: r:r::' :lW
orat

:K::til:JffJil.'ffiHil :::ll-'lj,o,:11':":::::: '3

text : ,'r,:;;;ii
appear throughout the Middre Ages. The firsr parr
who have takn the pnvsiaai'sbal
,ririi);i;;.;;;;;;;r**r;;;:;:;::i;,:#:;;j
of the

;t:j:.#:::tj:'"*,:::lJT1Tjl1.-1,T":,er
. eand appren and judsment, but never with a view;i rnjury and
n
points mentioned do not accord with ancient
,n, "*iiri.
tice. The second dears with medicar erhics, bu' "1;iii *rii.it'i';;;;;;r:r:;;;r:T;:;W;;:,'
ro'n.'ot
?'ro
Greek practic r. di ,o, ro, will I suggar such a uuite. siitarty I will no
othcr Iiterature anributed ,o uippo"tui.r i"a irr sioot -
be ,, ) ,,rin*on n n,.<na, ta ta,,aa ^L^a:^- i--,i.)-:rt ,,.,'r: {:. '. "l

diJ not object to suicide. some schotan berieve rr,ul

,r,.'_. f;"
;,";;;:;i;;;;;;'r;;;,'ulri',iii,,?,"{i,#T:#!uyi
oath-aftsr the appearance of $i;craftsnun therein.
::T:::t:::: ill":::j ll i,l',
ctt11{li!r,1te qa$ taren by nLodern physiians ar their rnto whctsoever hoases r inkr. iwitt mtet

jn yo rnqonani respects. The prohibition against iexual j{ .;_

lations with.patients is more clearly stated, i"
and the distinc_
tion between medicine and surgery has been
abandoned.. il*i,i ,il,iii!fffff:#itrifig#a;
Undl the r..ineteenrh c€ntury, surgeons were ^*, if it be what shrr,o
a separate_ divulge,holdingsuchthingstoUr,^ii"*i..*r*:;ffiffi.i
and inferior-profession. The names in the - ." --y*''.
invocalion are this iott nnt! hron!;t s^r q-., t -^:- e-- -.--,,
those of dre various gods responsible for
hearth and .;;';;';;;;;"iiii;ff
healing.
r-' "'J -
I swear iy Apollo Physician, by Asclepius, "r
panacea, the opposite uf"it ^t
by Health. by
^rv'cw'' i"Tu""!{:
"ii,i::,t:;r;ffiy;r#;irffi .
and by al1 the gods ard goddesses, making tlrrm
ty wituesses, that From
I will carry ouL according to my abitity and judgment,
this oath -The
Hippocraric oath,. in Logan Clenden ,rr, ,o;rij,l ,0r.,.,,
, Book of Medicai airtoy lNew york: Dover, t96o pp. lG-15).
and this indtnture. To hold my teacher in this l
;rt equal to my
own parcnts; to make him partner in my livelihood;
need of maney to share mine
when in
he is Questions: How does the oath protect tbe medical proiir-
tsi,on?
with him; to con$ider his farnily as How does it prorect the padent? . : ,-, ,-

danrcntal difference of opinion that would

bedevil the fanrill nrartered. The arts reflected this new indivicru-
Western medicine until the nineieenth
century. By 2g0 alism. Hellenistic drama abandoned the great thbmes
PCr, the physicians oJ AlgXandria had become eirher of
tragic conflict in fa'or of domestic comedies that,dealt
Dogmatics, who studied anatomy in the hope
of un_ with ltrve stories and other events o., parro.rul_f.""i.
derstanding how rhe body wor<ed, or fmpirics,
stressed the practical arts of diagnosis
who "
The rvorks of Menander (c 300 acE; are.typical of this
and cure. A third qenre. Pocrrl', much of i: written by
group, less reputable to modern cyes but popular and to.'*o*.r, .*_
in plored personal themes in elegant short verses known.as
thc'ir own day, practiced magic.
epigranrs, rlany of n,hich were collected in antholologiis.

Hellenistic Literatut e and ,Lrt Hellenistic Art. painiing antl sculpture flourished as
Literature. Greeks of the classical era had never be'fore. Ancient comntentators claimed that
derived painring esllecialll, rcached unprecedented levels of
much of tl'reir identity frorn tlre polis and assurtred ex_
that cellcnce. Orving to the perislrable nature of the colors,
the gtxrd life could be liveci only wi.thin its
social frante_ all of ir has been lost. Irr sculprure, ;nuch of which has
ivork. In the great er.trpires of llellcnistic tinles,
that br'en preserved in Roman copies, m,rny of the best
lranrcrv<trk no l<lnger existcd. For the Greco_Macedonian
artisrs abandoned rhe serene classicism of phidias and
clite, cut off frrlrl their homelands and living
essentiaily Praxireles and sought to express emotic,rl through
as n)crcenarirs, the grarifications of private the
life gradually dranratic arrangentent of their figures, ai;onized facial
replaced those of the organic cornrnunity.
For the non- expressions, and exaggeratid muscular
Greck masses with their long history of subjection te nsioh. The ta_
to mous statue of Laocodn and his sons is an ouBtanding
alicrr cnrpires, there was no issue: only
lhe individual and exanrprle. Others chose humble figures from everyday

Creek Culture ard Its Heltcnistic Dffusion 73


Flculll, 3.5 Laocoijn and His Sots.. This monumenral
scuiplrrre lronr Pe rgantunt is ar, example of the way in which
I{cllenistic artists used f<trmal arrangcment, exaggerated mus_
culalrrrc, and ag<llrizcd facial exprcssions to portray ernotion.
Thc' scre nc classicisnt of praxireles ancl his contemporari,:s has
lrc.r aba'rl.rrcd. E'c' rhe thentc, an episode |rom The Iliad in
rvhiclr tlre .r;ods senl scrpeltts to destro), the Trojan pne:t
I-aocoiin arrd l'ris children, is choscn for irs emotional impact.
l'he work as shorvn is probably a Roman c_opy.
life and portrayed thent in syntparhetic detail. What_
cver rheir subjecr, the artists of rhe Hellenistic age
achieved new heighrs of technical virtuosity that would
astonish and at times dismay the critics of a later age.
Hellenistit Tlrcuglfi at,d Religion
Philosophy. Hellenistic philoscrphy, roo, reflecred rhis
shift in values, abandoning political theory in favor of
individualistic prescription3 for the good life. The philo-
solthic school known as the Cynics carried this ten_
rierrcy further than auyone else. They argued that the
bcst lile was lived ciosest to nature and that wisdom lay
in abandoning worldly goods and ambition. Diogenes
lDyc-ahj'-uh-neez, d. j20 BCE), their mosr effectivc
spokcsnrau, delightc'ci in exposing the folly and vanity of
others. Popular legencl has it that he lived in a tub anil
carried a Ianrern wrrh whicl: he lroped-unsuccessfully_
to lind an ltouest nran.
flre srni65. Artrong those attracted to the teachings of
the Cynics was Zeno (c.'335-2$ scr). A nat:ve of
74 Chaptu 3
I)h,<tcnic iarr Cyprus, Zcno cslablishcd a school at'
All:cns narncd the Stoa aft,:r thc l)ortico in thc Agora
whcrc his disciplcs rtct. Thc Stoics, as I ley wcre
callcd, bclicved that living in harrlony witlt naturc was
('sscillial. Tlrcy idc.ntilicd naturc wirh thc divinc prirr-
cipfc <rr logos. lach human Llcing and each olrjcct hacl
llrc logos witl-in it and actcd according 1o a divine, pre-
delernrirrcd plan. This plan, althorrgh good in itself,'
rright not always work in the Lcst interests of a partic-
ula'r individual. Sickness, death, and misf<lrtune were
all part of a providential order lhat could not be es-I
caped but on y endured. : ,..
Those rvho believed in thi; theory f,,rund it para- i'
doxically liberating. To rhe Stoic, only moral qualities,.
such as prudence, courage, folly. and intemperantelf
we,re good or l-ad. Weal.th, plcasure, beauty, and
health were morally indifferent because they were es- ,
sel tially srares of mind-the producrs of feeling or
passion. The wise person, regardless of condition,
should realize rhar it is not vvhat happens but how
one reacts ro ii that determines the good life. The goal
of wishom wls therefore apatheia, or indifference to
what is morally neutral, coupled with ethical behav-
ior and.the cultivation of personai qualities that are
morally good According to the Stoics, anyone could
achieve this goal. Men and women, slaves and
pri irces, all possessed the same divine sparli. Although
the conditions of th.-'ir Iives might differ, they were all
inhcrently, equal.
Unlike the teachings of rhe. Cynics, Sroicism was
based on physical and epistemological principles derived
at sonte distar.rce from Aristotle. It offered not only an
ethical code but also a nteans of understanding and ac-
cepting an often-hosrile universe. Of all the philosophi_
. cal schools of late antiquity, ir was the most popular
amf,ng ed'lcated people. It lrecsms the dominant belief
among rhe Ronran upper classcs and would strongly in-
flu'-nce the development of .Christian theology.
Eplcureanism. Stoicism's chief rival was Epicur- :
eariism. Epicuii rs (Ep-i-cure'-us, 341-270 ecr) was born
to an Atlrerrian fanrily on rlle island of Samos and es-
tablished a school at Arhens known among other things
for being open to women. Epicurus argued, as
Lerrcippus and Democritus had done, that the universe
wa:; contposed of atoms that combined and recombined
in an infinire variety of parterns. Growth and dissolution
were inevirable, but Epicurus rejected the kind of provi-
dential order clair.ned by the Stoics. In the absence of such
an order, rhe greatest good from the human point of view
was pleasr,rre, and the search for pleasure should be the
philosopher's primary goal. By pteasure, Epicurus meant
peace of rnind and the absence of pain, not the active.
pursuit of dissipation. He sought a quiet life, removed ,
from the troubles of the world and governed by the
 l;rr; uHr. 3.6 Al cx andrr
artd l)iogenas.'t-lris painrirrg
lr1' I lrt' rrinr.lt.t'rrlh-r.t.rrt rrry
I'rt.n< lr pailrlcr Nitolas Arrtlrt;
,\1()nsi.-)u illustrat t.s a faltrorrs
\r{)ry tllal rr.rrrairrcrl .t poJlrrlnr
rrrlrjt'tl lrrr ((. ttltri(.s. Alt.xarr,k,r
llrc (;r(.at, c0rrrlrrcror rrf llrc
rvorlti, srrJlposcrlly wcrrt to lltt,
(.i,r)i( t)ltilos()plrt.r anrl askcd
lrjrrr il lhcrc was anythinli lj(
rorrld tlo for lrinr. I)iogcncs,
rvho lrad no horrlc and lived by
lrr'!.lgirrll. sai(1, "ycs, you coulcl
slnn(l a littl', lcss tlclwccrr nrc
,rrrd rltc slr." Thc talc illus-
tratcs lllat p0wt,r is uscless to
rir(,rruly ethicai pcrson, al lcast
,rs "crhical" was defined by
{.ynic philosophy.

l)lincil)le of ntoclr:rarion in all tlrings. Even the gods Because rhe Romans adopted most of these religions
should nor be feared, bu. enrular..d in therr Olympian
they are discussed ar greater length in Chapter 6.
detachurenr front tht, things- of this world.
Epicureanism, roo, had its followers, but detachment
from tire world did not always.recommend itself ro
those rvith practical responsibilities.
(loxc t-us toN
Unlike rhat of the Jews, the culture of ancient Greece
Helleni_stic R$igion. Like all philosophical was profoundly humanistic in the sen:e that Greek
schools. Stoicism and Epicureanism appealed piimar-
rhinkers emphasized the cultivation of viltue and the
il;' ro rhe educated. Thc mass of 'peopt. 'in tlr" good life within a social insread of a reilgrous frame-
Hellenisric world found solace in retig-ion. This in
it- work. Greek artists concentrated almost :xclusively og
se lf v'as a relatively new development,
at leasr among th" hurnan form, rvhile poets found inspiration in thE
tht Greeks, for the gods of Olympus had oflered littli heroic dignity of men. and women in the face cf
to rheir worshipers beyond i, conditional protection
tragedl'. This in:ense concentration on the human ex-
lrom rheir wrarh. In tlre classical age, while rhe pe rience was coupled with an'extraordinary
lcarned rook refuge in philosophy, ordinary spirit of in:
men and quiry. Other ancienr socieries, notably the Egyptians
\v()nten had resorted to supc.rstition and a helpless
arrd. Mesoporamians, harl rich speculative traditions,
rf'sr!lnation to Tt'che, or fate.
but the Greel s rvere unique in insisting on a rigorous
For urarry in rhe Hellenistic kingdor;-rs, Tlche re_
feirm of logic in which the connections between each
tairrctJ hcr p.wcrs, lrul .lhers emtrraced wirat
are cailcd p,rrt of a staternent had to be made perfectlll clear.
nlystqry religions. Mysrery rcligions claimed to guar_
These habits of thought, rogerher with a mass of
rllrce pcrs()nal intnrortality, often through the inter_
learnir:g and specuiation dra.,vn from the nost diverse
v('nli()n o{ a god tlrgoddess who cartre to fanh
in htr- sources, were rhe Greek legacy to Western society. Fiom
nian frlmr and suffered for tl.re sins of humankind.
the beginning the Greeks were borrowers. They had a
Most, although r-rot all, had eastent r(x)ts. Among
the rare ability td absorb the ioeas and beliefs of otheis with:
nrorc inrportant were the cult <lf Serapis, encouraged
lry or'lt thrcatening their own sense of what it neant to be
Pttller 11'1, ancl the far more ancicnt veneration
<lf Isis. Greek. When, in the Hellenistic age, they penetrated to

Gteele Culture and lts Hellnistb Diffusion 75

',.
 tf

,I riv
ff
.',9\
'
'#l
:. S!
tlrt'r'rlgcs ol llrl
krrown w()rl(1, lltis lt'rrrlclrr'r act'lt't-alcrl. 'l.kryrl,:i. l:. lt., (; t('(l; \(i(n&'
alttr Arislotlt' {Nt:w York',
\
lrlt'rrrlrrls lrolrr t'vt'ry arrr'it'rrl ('ullUt'(' wcrt' .r, ''rplt'rl arrrl Njrrton, |()7.]). ,\n oulsl;rnrlinrl lrrir'l srrrvt'r ol arr itng: \
lr.rrrslorrrrt'rl a<r orrlitrg to tlrt'ir owlr rrct'tls arrrl lrrr,cor p$r'tarrt lopit., 1,, i

( ('l)lir)ns. Irr so rloirrl.l llrt'y irrrposcrl a kirrrl ol ilrlt'llcctrral 'liSlrarJrlt's, ii. W., ,\lttir.s, l.lritttt't;tttl.t. Att,l SttptiCs. A$
rrrrity tlr.rt, il it distortt'rl sotrrt. tlrirrgs arrrl tr('!.ll(:(l('(l ()llt- liitroltrttiotr. to I lt'llani\tit t'ltil.,\0|h, {l.orrrlorr. ltoutlctlgcf, i
('r'\, \vl\ passt:d orr,inlatl to llrc llorrrarrs and lr()nl lll(' 1.e96). A r'lt'.ir cxlrla nali()rr ol llcllt'rristit llrotrrltl irr I5i ',

Iloln, rtr lo tlrc rrto<lcnt W('st('nl wrrr-l<1. For gootl or ill, lia.rgcs.
tlrr'.rtrricrrl rvorltJ is vicwcrl 'ltr'()ugll (ircr.li cycs. .iwallrarrk, f. W., 'l ltc llcllctti,ttic Wot lJ, rcv, .,t:
-llrc slanilard
(rlarrrlrrirl!.le . MA: llarvarrl, l99li. strn,cf.
rr.,l llrc IIt'llt'rtisli. cra. {
Ilevie.ut Questiotts
.
e
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What Jrrrlrlic Jrrrr l)()scs w'cr(' Grcck ar1 arrd litt'raturc , InfoTrac College Edition
irrtc'r<lcd i() 5crvc? Visit llrc s0tirLc collc(lir)ns aL ltllp://inltttrac thontso4
r Whal ltrndanrt'rr1al qrrcsliorrs raix'd try altci('lrl le,rtrtrittq.r'ot: arrd usc tlrc' ,car<lr furrcliorr rvith thc f<ll-
(,rt'r'k lllrilo.olllrcrs rcn,.tirr :ntl)ortanl ltlrlay'/ lowing kt'r' tcrrr:".
. I-Iorv did thc Hcllcnistic agc achicvc rhc partial irrrc- Using l(c1,Tcrrrts, cntcr 1hc scarclr tcrnrs:
graliorr ol Greck and notl-Grcck culturcs in both Creek ltiston, Altxander lhe (iraat
politics ar)d rll()Llghr'? A rL h int,'d,,\
. What was thc tlasis oI thc conflict bctrvccir Jrrdaisnt
and l-lcllcnisrn? Web Siteq
tnuv.[o rd h a m. e du / h a I s a II/a n cie n i / asbo o k.h nn I
hrtcrrrct Arrcicr.rt Histor; Srlurcclro<lk. Maintained by,
For Furt|rer Study I
.:Ft;rd|l.tI-ttUnivcrsit1,,thissite()ntaill5seCti0n5on
Read ings I ' Grcek art, lireralure, and trre Hcllcnistic cra, as rvcll
Boardnran, John, Greek Art,4th cci. lNerv York: Thantes .' as a qrlocl
se lectiolr ol cloctrnrents and literarv soLrrces.

arrci IJtr<lsolr, l9()6). A classic. rvt+,rv.rtIttt .rrih .got'/li,tttl /11reek/ inde x.htm I
IJarrilt<rn, J. R., Alexander thc Grcat (Pirrsbtr rqlt: Ur.ri- , Grcck Mcdicine is a site nrailrtaincd by, the National
vcrsirv of Pitisburgh Prr-'ss, 197) 1. A gtlod, acccssi'.rlc ' Litrrarv ol Meclicinc and tne \ationalrlnstitutes of ,'
lr iortra lllry. Hcalth. It corrtains nraterial <llt Greek nredicine :;
Lrskr,, AIbin . llistorv of Greek Literanrre, trans. .1. Willis ; fronr earliest timcs through the Hellenistic period.
and C. cle Hccr (Nerv Yt'rk: Crorvell, l9(;l). Srill rlrc irlcltrtliIrgHippocratcsandtheHippocraticoatlr,
standard trearrllcnt of a r crv broad subiect.

Visit the Western Civilization Companion Web Site tbr resources specific to this textbook:
. http :
|
/ history.wadsworth.com/ hause12 /

& The CD in the back of this book and the Westem Civilization Resdurce C,jnter at http:llhistory.

s wadsworth.com/westent/ offer a variety of tools to help ),ou succeed in this course, including ac-
cess to quizzes; images; documents; interactive simulations, maps, and timelines; movie explo-
rations; and a wealth of other sources.

7(t Chapnr -l