Chapter 3 Outline
A. The Earliest Europeans
1. by 4000BC, farming and village life had spread throughout the continent
2. by 3500BC, increased population and wealth led to complex religious structures
B. The Barbarian Way of Life
1. common way of life as result of migrations of Indo-European nomads (c.2500BC onward) from the steppes that bordered Europe on the east
2. languages
a. ancestor languages of Greek and Latin
3. elites of warriors
4. farming and village life
5. In this way, Europe came to be inhabited by peoples who spoke mostly Indo-European languages; who were skilled in farming, metalworking, trade, and warfare; and who were fairly well organized on the local level, but had no cities, written records, or fixed structures of government
6. c.2000BC-1000AD these barbarians came into contact with civilization
7. the first such European barbarian people to make contact with civilization were the Greeks - their civilization, the first to emerge in Europe, was the first to definitively be labeled “Western”
II. The Aegean Encounter (LO2)
A. Minoan Civilization
1. c.2200BC a distinct civilization known as Minoan arose on the Aegean island of Crete
2. Minoans drew wealth from control of the seas and trade with eastern Mediterranean lands, especially Egypt
B. The Arrival of the Greeks: Mycenaean Civilization
1. when the Greeks made their way to the Aegean, they seem to have been a European barbarian people much like any other
2. eventually they came under the influence of nearby Crete
3. by c.1600BC Greek chieftains had established settlements along the mainland’s southern shore and on some islands
4. Mycenaean Greeks
5. struggles between Mycenaeans and Minoans for control of the commerce of the eastern Mediterranean lasted until c.1400BC, with the destruction of Minoan towns, perhaps as a result of Mycenaean conquest
C. The “Dark Ages”
1. Mycenaean civilization lasted until shortly after 1200BC due to the conquest of the Sea Peoples
2. c.1150 BC Myceneae was sacked and all settlements deserted - in addition, the population dropped, and writing fell out of use
3. this led to the eclipse of civilization for almost 400 years, known as the Dark Ages (1150 - 750 BC)
4. but the Greeks themselves survived and even expanded their territory
D. The Renewal of Greek Civilization
1. c.800 BC the Aegean region recovered
2. population expansion led to founding of colonies, c.800-600 BC
3. the Greeks joined the Phoenicians as the leading commercial and seafaring nation of the Mediterranean
4. a common religion
5. new developments
a. use of iron tools and weapons
b. coined money
c. borrowing of Phoenician shipbuilding and warfare techniques
d. writing and the alphabet formed the Greek language
III. Citizens and Communities: The Greek City-States (LO3)
A. City-States and Citizens
1. notion of citizenship seems to have originated partly in geography
2. hoplites: Greek infantrymen equipped with bronze helmets and armor, round shields, long spears, and short swords
3. city-state, citizens, tradition, and myth
B. Monarchy, Oligarchy, Tyranny, Democracy
1. in the earliest times, communities were ruled by kings
2. monarchy then gave way to new forms of government that distributed power more widely among male citizens
a. oligarchy: a minority of citizens dominated the government, and the power of the majority was limited in various ways
3. but other city-states gave more power to the majority (particularly those that developed into large commercial centers)
a. in these city-states the common people were too numerous and active to ignore,
b. in these cities, social conflicts sometimes led to the emergence of tyranny (rule by a dictator)
c. but tyranny was often only a passing phase on the way to democracy (all government decisions were made by the majority of male citizens)
4. although Greek city-states had many features in common, each was individual in character
C. Sparta: The Military Ideal
1. Spartans were descendants of Greeks who had conquered part of the Southern mainland: Laconia
2. by 800BC they were a minority of landholders ruling over a majority of helots (noncitizens forced to work for landholders)
3. Messenian helots, however, frequently rebelled
a. this forced Spartans to accept a governmental system that put them under almost total domination by a few among themselves
4. by 500BC, policy decisions had been taken over by a council of elders
5. thus the Spartan government was a leading example of oligarchy
6. Spartan male life was dedicated entirely to the service of the state
7. the relative freedom of Spartan women aroused both admiration and disapproval among other Greeks
8. to protect this way of life, Spartans tried to seal off their city-state from outside influences
D. Athens: Freedom and Power
1. c.800BC many old-established communities in the Attica peninsula merged to form a single city-state that was known by the name of the most important community: Athens
2. over the next 300 years, Athens grew to become the wealthiest and one of the most powerful city-states, largely as a result of overseas trade
a. produced and exported wine and oil
b. workshops produced weapons, pottery, and articles of silver, lead, and marble
c. these were trade overseas for metal, timber, and grain
3. with a rising population and greater wealth came social and political conflicts
a. usually between aristocrats and increasingly numerous dēmos
b. in conflicts with the aristocracy, the dēmos could generally find aristocrats to lead them whom they respected and who wanted their support
4. as a result, Athens passed through several stages of political growth, beginning with monarchy and including both oligarchy and tyranny
a. eventually political power was extended to all adult male citizens, with aristocrats becoming leaders instead of rulers
5. The Persian Wars
a. in the sixth century BC, the Persians had conquered a realm that stretched from the border of India to the Nile and the Aegean
b. now the empire was within striking distance of the Greeks, and Persia conquered the Greek city-states in western Asia Minor
c. when Athens aided a rebellion by these city-states, Persian king Darius sought to extend his empire into mainland Greece, c.494BC
d. the Persians lost the decisive battle of Marathon in 490BC
e. then in 480BC, the Athenian navy crushed the Persians at Salamis, and the Spartans faced the Persians on land at Thermopylae and then at Platea
6. when final peace was made with Persia in 445 BC, Athens was the controlling power of the Aegean Sea
7. after Persia’s defeat, Athenian democracy entered a “Golden Age”
8. the workings of democracy
a. a Council of Five Hundred and roughly one thousand public officials were chosen annually by lot
b. chief military officers, the Ten Generals, were chosen each year by vote of the male citizens
c. adult male citizens were a minority of the population of Athens
i. the rest of the population was composed of adult female citizens, adult noncitizens, and children
ii. adult male citizens probably made up no more than one-fifth of the total adult population
iii. the remaining four-fifths had no say in government
9. men and women in Athens
a. women were highly visible in religious affairs
b. not much is known of women’s life lower down the social scale or outside the city
10. slaves
a. were a diverse group; not all of them lived lives of total subjection and powerlessness
b. most slaves were non-Greeks, or the descendants of non-Greeks
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