Archaic and Classical Greece
Chapter – 7
- The foundations of classical Greek civilization were laid in the Archaic Period (c. 750-500 BC), with the Classical Age lasting from c. 500 BC to the Macedonian supremacy in 338 BC.
- Greece was initially a collection of independent states, united by the Greek language, shared beliefs, and myths, but without a unified political state until the Macedonian conquest.
- The Greeks did not have a collective name for themselves until the word ‘Hellene’ became common, referring to Greek-speaking people. The territory they inhabited was called ‘Hellas’.
- The term ‘Greek’ is derived from ‘Graeci’, the name used by the Romans for the Greeks.
- Greece proper is a peninsula in southeastern Europe, surrounded by the Aegean Sea (east), Ionian Sea (west), and Mediterranean Sea (south).
- The Peloponnese is the southernmost part of mainland Greece, shaped like a palm, and was the home of Sparta, the most important state in the region.
- The Peloponnese is nearly an island, separated from mainland Greece by the Gulf of Corinth, with a narrow land strip connecting the two.
- Corinth is strategically located at the junction of the Peloponnese and mainland Greece.
- Megara was a well-known state located on the narrow land strip between the Peloponnese and mainland Greece.
- To the southeast of mainland Greece is the region of Attica, where Athens is located.
- To the north-west of Attica is Boeotia, with Thebes as its dominant city.
- Further north, along the Aegean coast, lies Thessaly, known for its plains suited for wheat cultivation and cattle rearing, although not ideal for olive or vine cultivation.
- Moving clockwise from Thessaly, Macedonia (home of Alexander the Great), Thrace, and the western coast of Anatolia follow.
- Macedonia is now shared between Greece, Yugoslavia, and Bulgaria, known for its extensive plains and horses.
- Thrace, part of which is in modern Turkey, was relatively backward but had silver and gold mines.
- The western coast of Anatolia had several Greek states, and the Greek-speaking inhabitants of Anatolia and the islands in the eastern Aegean Sea were called Eastern Greeks.
- The Aegean Sea has many islands, with a concentration in the Cyclades in the southern part of the sea.
- Crete is located south of the Peloponnese and the Cyclades.
- The Greeks also colonized parts of southern Italy and Sicily, where the settlers were known as Western Greeks.
- The Greek states that emerged after the Dark Ages were city-states, or more accurately, polis, a term used by the Greeks for these political units.
- A polis refers not only to the urban center but also to the surrounding countryside, and was distinct from the later Italian city-states.
- Unlike the Italian city-states, which were based on trade and commerce, the economic basis of the polis was primarily agrarian.
- The polis was characterized by its small size and high levels of participation by large sections of the population in the political process.