A Brief History of Ancient Greece: Politics, Society, and Culture

384 Pages·2004·10.45 MB·English

by  Sarah B. Pomeroy

A BRIEF HISTORY OF
ANCIENT GREECE
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TITLE PAGE
A BRIEF HISTORY OF
ANCIENT GREECE
Politics, Society, and Culture
Sarah B. Pomeroy Stanley M. Burstein
Hunter College and California State University,
the City University of New York Los Angeles
Graduate Center
Walter Donlan Jennifer Tolbert Roberts
University of City College and
California, Irvine the City University of New York
Graduate Center
New York • Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
2004
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York
Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai
Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata
Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi
São Paulo Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto
Copyright © 2004 by Sarah B. Pomeroy, Stanley M. Burstein, Walter Donlan,
and Jennifer Tolbert Roberts
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
www.oup.com
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A brief history of ancient Greece : politics, society, and culture / by Sarah B. Pomeroy . . .
[et al.].
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-19-515680-3 — ISBN 0-19-515681-1 (pbk.)
1. Greece—History—To 146 B.C. I. Pomeroy, Sarah B.
DF214.B74 2004
938’.09—dc22 2003060873
Printing (last digit): 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
For Our Children and Grandchildren
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CONTENTS
List of Maps xi
Acknowledgments xii
Preface xiii
Time Line xv
Introduction 1
I Early Greece and the Bronze Age 12
Greece in the Stone Ages 12
Greece in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages
(c. 3000–1600 BC) 13
Greece and the Aegean in the Late Bronze Age
(c. 1600–1150 BC) 22
II The “Dark Age” of Greece and the Eighth-Century
“Renaissance” (c. 1150–700 BC) 36
Decline and Recovery (c. 1150–900 BC) 36
Revival (c. 900–750 BC) 41
Homeric Society 44
The End of the Dark Age 53
III Archaic Greece (c. 700–500 BC) 61
The Formation of the City-State (Polis) 61
Government in the Early City-States 63
The Colonizing Movement 65
vii
viii Contents
Economic and Social Divisions in the Archaic Poleis 68
Hesiod: A View from Below 71
The Hoplite Army 73
The Archaic Age Tyrants 75
The Arts and Sciences 76
Panhellenic Institutions 87
Relations Among States 88
IV Sparta 91
The Dark Age and the Archaic Period 91
The Spartan System 95
Demography and the Spartan Economy 100
Spartan Government 103
The Peloponnesian League 105
Historical Change in Sparta 106
The Spartan Mirage 107
V The Growth of Athens and the Persian Wars 110
Athens from the Bronze Age to the Early Archaic Age 110
The Reforms of Solon 113
Peisistratus and His Sons 116
The Reforms of Cleisthenes 122
The Rise of Persia 122
The Wars Between Greece and Persia 127
VI The Rivalries of the Greek City-States and the
Growth of Athenian Democracy 138
The Aftermath of the Persian Wars and the
Foundation of a New League 139
New Developments in Athens and Sparta 142
The “First” (Undeclared) Peloponnesian War (460–445 BC) 143
Pericles and the Growth of Athenian Democracy 145
Literature and Art 148
Oikos and Polis 157
The Greek Economy 161
Contents ix
VII Greece on the Eve of the Peloponnesian War 166
Greece After the Thirty Years’ Peace 166
The Physical Space of the Polis: Athens in the Fifth Century 169
Intellectual Life in Fifth-Century Greece 177
Historical and Dramatic Literature of the Fifth Century 179
Currents in Greek Thought and Education 189
The Breakdown of the Peace 193
Resources for War 198
VIII The Peloponnesian War 200
The Archidamian War (431–421 BC) 200
Between Peace and War 211
The Invasion of Sicily (415–413 BC) 213
The War in the Aegean and the Oligarchic Coup
at Athens (413–411 BC) 217
The Last Years of War (407–404 BC) 220
IX The Crisis of the Polis and the Age of Shifting Hegemonies 225
Oligarchy at Athens: The Thirty Tyrants 226
The Trial of Socrates (399 BC) 227
The Fourth Century: Changing Ideas, Continuing Warfare 230
Law and Democracy in Athens 235
The Fourth-Century Polis 238
Philosophy and the Polis 241
X Phillip II and the Rise of Macedon 254
Early Macedon 254
Macedonian Society and Kingship 255
The Reign of Philip II 258
Philip’s Plans for Greece 265
XI Alexander the Great 270
Consolidating Power 271
From Issus to Egypt: Conquest of the Eastern Mediterranean
(332–331 BC) 278