Ancient Greece Civilisation

Ancient greece timeline

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Periods	Military Events	Political / Social Events	Cultural Development
6500-3000 Neolithic		Permanent farming villages	Domestication of plants and animals; pottery
3000-2100 Early Bronze Age (Early Helladic 2800-1900)		Social ranking emerges villages and districs ruled by hereditary chiefs	2500 Widespread use of bronze and other metals in the Aegean
2100-1600 Middle Bronze Age (Middle Helladic 1900 - 1580)	2100 - 1900 Lerna and other sites destroyed	2100 -1900 incursions of Indo - European speakers into greece	2100 - 1900 Indo European gods introduced into Greece 2000 First palaces in crete 1900 Mainland contact with crete and the near East 1800 Cretans develop Linear A writing
1600 - 1150 Late Bronze Age (Late Helladic 1580 - 1150)	1500 - 1450 Mycenaeans take over crete 1375 Knossos destroyed 1250 - 1225 "The Trojan war" 1200 Invaders loot and burn the palace centers	1600 Mycenae and other sites become power centers; small kingdoms emerge 1400 - 1200 Height of Mycenaean power and prosperity 1200 - 1100 Palace system collapses	1600 shaft graves 1500 Tholos tombs 1450 Linear B writing 1400 New palaces in Greece 1200 Cultural decline
1150–900 Early Dark Age (Submycenaean 1125–1050) (Protogeometric 1050–900)		1050 Small chiefdoms established, migrations of mainland greeks to lonia 1000 Dorian greeks settle in the mainland and the islands	1050 Iron technology 950 Monumental building at lefkandi
900 - 750 / 700 Late Dark Age (Early Geometric 900–850) (Middle Geometric 850–750)		900 Population increases; new settlements established; trade and manufacture expand 800 Rapid Population growth	800 greeks develop an alphabet; earliest temples built 776 Traditional date of first Olympian games
750 / 700 - 490 Archaic Period (Late Geometric 750-700 )	730 - 700 First Messenian War 700 - 650 Evolution of hoplite armor and tactics 669 Battle of Hysiae 650 Second Messenian war	750 - 700 City states emerge 750 Overseas colonization to the West begins 670 - 500 Tyrants rule in many city - states 650 colonization of Black Sea area begins; earlist Known stone inscription of a low; "Lycurgan" reform at Sparta; The "Great Rhetra" 632 Cylon fails in attempt at tyranny in Athens br 620 Law code of Draco in Athens 600 Lydians begin to mint coins	750 - 675 lliad and odyssey composed 720 "Orientalizing period" in art begins 700 Hesiod; period of lyric poetry begins 600 Beginnings of science and philosophy (the "Presocratics") 582 - 573 Pythian, Isthmian, Nemean games inaugurated Peisistratus expands religious festivals at Athens 530 Athenian red - figure technique 5th-century rationalists and scientists; Hippocrates; advances in medicine; increase in literacy
490 - 323 Classical Period	490 Battle of Marathon 480 - 479 Persian Invasion of Greece 463 Helot rebellion in Sparta 460–445 “First” Peloponnesian War 431–404 Peloponnesian War 415–413 Sicilian campaign 403–377 Sparta the most powerful state in Greece 395–387 Corinthian War 377–371 Athens the most powerful state in Greece 371–362 Thebes the most powerful state in Greece 359 Defeat of Perdiccas III 338 Battle of Chaeronea 336 Invasion of Asia by Philip II 335 Revolt of Thebes 334 Battle of Granicus 333 Battle of Issusbr 331 Battle of Gaugamela 330–327 War in Bactria and Sogdiana 327–325 Alexander’s invasion of India 326 Battle of the Hydaspes	486 Decision to choose Athenian archons by lot 482 Ostracism of Aristides 477 Foundation of Delian League Growth of democracy in Athens 461 Reforms of Ephialtes at Athens 454 Athenians move treasury from Delos to Athens Flourishing of Greek trade and manufacture 445 Thirty Years’ Peace 429 Death of Pericles 423 Thucydides exiled from Athens 421 Peace of Nicias 411–410 Oligarchic coup in Athens; establishment of Council of 400; regime of the 5000 404–403 Regime of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens 399 Trial and execution of Socrates Fourth century: Rise of class of rhetores at Athens; economic inequalities and social stasis throughout Greece Serious population decline in Sparta; impoverished class of “Inferiors” at Sparta; increasing amount of property in hands of Spartan women 359 Accession of Philip II 357 Marriage of Philip II to Olympias 356 Birth of Alexander the Great 356–346 Third Sacred War; Peace of Philocrates 338 Assassination of Artaxerxes III; foundation of Corinthian League; marriage of Philip II and Cleopatra 336 Accession of Darius III; assassination of Philip II; accession of Alexander III 335 Destruction of Thebes 333 Alexander at Gordium 331 Foundation of Alexandria 330 Destruction of Persepolis; death of Philotas 329 Assassination of Darius III 328 Murder of Clitus 327 Marriage of Alexander and Roxane	Classical style in sculpture 470–456 Construction of temple of Zeus at Olympia 458 Aeschylus’ Oresteia 451 Pericles carries law limiting citizenship at Athens Herodotus at work on his Histories 447–432 Construction of Parthenon at Athens Sophists active in Athens 428 Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus 425 Aristophanes’ Acharnians 415 Euripides’ Trojan Women 411 Aristophanes’ Lysistrata 399–347 Dialogues of Plato; foundation of the Academy 356 Philip II’s Olympic victory 355 Demosthenes’ first speech 347 Death of Plato 346 Isocrates’ Philippus 338 Death of Isocrates 335 Aristotle returns to Athens; founding of Lyceum 331 Visit to Siwah by Alexander

INTRODUCTION

Historians who study ancient civilizations have the daunting task of following the path of societies and cultures on the basis of scant sources. Actually, as past civilizations go, ancient Greece has left us a comparatively rich record. Even so, we possess only a tiny fraction of what was originally there. Inevitably, then, many aspects of society and culture, even in the most well-documented periods of Greek antiquity, cannot be viewed in bold relief. Yet there is good news, too. Every year new discoveries are made that continue to enlarge our fund of information, while, at the same time, new ways of looking at the old sources have broadened our perspectives.

SOURCES: HOW WE KNOW ABOUT THE ANCIENT GREEKS

Sources are the raw material of history out of which historians weave their stories. Just about everything preserved from antiquity is a potential source for the history of antiquity. Our sources fall into two broad categories: the physical remains, which include anything material, from bones to buildings, and the written remains, which include the words of the Greeks themselves or of others who wrote about them in antiquity. Of course, the line between the material and the written is often blurred, as in the case of words scratched on a piece of pottery, or an inscription carved on a stone pillar.

Given that our primary sources are at least two thousand years old, and in many cases much older, it is not surprising that most of them require rehabilitation or reconstruction even before they can be of substantial use. But, fortunately, historians do not have to examine them from scratch. They rely on archaeologists to excavate, classify, and interpret most of the material evidence; paleographers to decipher and elucidate the texts written on papyrus and parchment; epigraphists and numismatists to interpret inscriptions on stones and coins. Without the expertise of those specialists who process the raw sources, the work of historians would not be possible.

Archaeologists study past societies primarily through the material remains— buildings, tools, and other artifacts. They create a history of the material culture on the basis of the changing patterns that they discern in the physical record. Historians, on the other hand, primarily use documents, inscriptions, and literary texts to construct a narrative of events and the people who were involved in them: what they did, why they did it, and the changes brought on by their actions. Nevertheless, both disciplines are engaged in a single collaborative project, the reconstruction of the lifeways of the Greek peoples over time.

RETRIEVING THE PAST: THE MATERIAL RECORD

Ancient Greece lies underground. Except for a few stone buildings, mostly temples, which have survived above ground, everything we have has been dug up from beneath, very often from dozens of feet below the present surface. Materials decay, and the soil of Greece is not good for preserving things. Accordingly, artifacts made of wood, cloth, and leather are rarely found. Metals fare better: gold and silver last almost forever; bronze is fairly durable; while iron is more subject to corrosion. Another material, which is virtually indestructible, is terra-cotta, clay baked at very high temperatures. Clay was used in antiquity for many different objects, including figurines and votive plaques, but most of our clay objects are vessels that have been found by the thousands in graves and other sites. It was mainly on the basis of pots that archaeologists were able to construct a chronology for prehistoric and early historic Greece that could be translated into actual dates.

Clay pots were made wide-bellied or slender-bodied, long-necked or widemouthed, footed or footless, with one, two, or no handles. Some pots, such as the perfume flasks called aryballoi, stood only two or three inches high; others, like the pithoi used for storing olive oil and grain, were often as big as a human being. In the ancient world, clay vessels had to be made in all sizes and shapes, because they served virtually every purpose that a container can serve. They were our bags, cartons, and shipping crates, our cooking pots, bottles, and glasses, as well as our fine stemware and “good” china bowls. Because their basic shapes remained much the same, yet they underwent gradual changes in style and decoration, pots could be placed in relative chronological sequences. Earthenware from one site is cross-dated with examples from other sites, thus confirming that site A is older or younger than sites B and C. But the big breakthrough for establishing “absolute” or calendar dates comes about when a datable object from an outside culture is found amidst the Greek material. Such an object might be a scarab inscribed with the name of an Egyptian king. Since the actual dates of his reign are known independently from the Egyptian king-lists, it follows that the Greek objects found with it in that deposit belonged to approximately the same time. Through the repeated process of establishing key cross-dates, a workable chronology emerges that allows us to place an object, or grave, or building in real time: “late fourteenth century BC” or “around 720 BC.” Today’s archaeologists also have at their disposal more scientific techniques for dating objects and sites, such as measuring the radioactive decay of organic materials (carbon-14 dating).

Yet, notwithstanding the considerable success that modern archaeology has had in bringing the ancient past to light, the fact is that wordless objects can tell us only so much about how people lived, what they experienced, or what they thought.

RETRIEVING THE PAST: THE WRITTEN RECORD

Ancient writings were inscribed upon many different materials including clay, stone, metal, and papyrus (and from the second century BC on, parchment). Most of the written sources that have come down to us were composed in the Greek alphabet, which was introduced in the eighth century BC; but we also have clay tablets from a very brief time in the second millennium BC that were written in a syllabic script called Linear B

With the rapid spread of the alphabet came a torrent of written texts that would continue unabated throughout the rest of antiquity. Unfortunately, most of this has been lost; yet that so much has survived is something of a miracle in itself. We may lament that of the more than 120 plays written by Sophocles, one of the most famous of the fifth century BC dramatists, only seven have come down to us whole. We are grateful, however, to have as much as we have. After all, 20,000,000 words are stored in the electronic database of Greek literary texts written down from the late eighth century BC to the second century AD.

The most common medium for writing in the ancient Mediterranean was papyrus (the paper of antiquity), which had been used in Egypt since the third millennium. Papyrus sheets were made by bonding together layered strips sliced from the papyrus reed; these were then glued together to form a long roll, 20 or more feet long. Words were written horizontally to form columns, which the reader isolated by scrolling back and forth along the roll. A papyrus roll could hold, on average, a play of about 1,500 lines or two to three “books” of Homer’s IliadorOdyssey. Every text had to be copied by hand (usually by slaves), a time-consuming and expensive proposition. The ancient Greeks were fairly assiduous in preserving the authors from their past. A reader visiting the great library at Alexandria during the first century BC would have had access to about 500,000 book-rolls, while the collection at Pergamum is said to have exceeded 200,000 rolls.

But already by this time the process of selection had begun. The Alexandrian scholars themselves appear to have used the term “those included” to denote a list of authors who were deemed most worthy of being studied in schools. Naturally the “included” writers had the best chances for survival. And as literary tastes continued to change during later antiquity, many manuscripts ceased to be copied and crumbled into dust. Fortunately, papyrus endures well in a hot, dry environment, as in the desert sands of Egypt, where many thousands of Greek papyri, dating from the fourth century BC onward, have been found. Most of these are contemporary documents; however, papyri rescued from desert dumps have also preserved major literary works from all periods of Greek antiquity that otherwise would have been lost completely. In addition to texts originally written on papyrus, hundreds of inscriptions on stone and metal, including coins, survive that range in subject matter from private funerary epitaphs and dedications to public decrees, treaties, and laws. The latter are especially valuable, because they preserve information about public life that is seldom recorded elsewhere.

Our sources vary in both quantity and quality according to time and place. For the Mycenaean Age (c. 1600–1200 BC), we have a wealth of material evidence (including the Linear B tablets) that permits a fairly detailed picture of the society. For the subsequent period, the Dark Age, down to the eighth century BC, material remains are very sparse and there are no written records. After the seventh century BC, however, when both material and literary remains start to proliferate, we begin to have a dynamic picture of change and continuity. The picture will show how the Greeks responded to environmental pressures with ideas and technological innovations, how they interacted as individuals within communities and as communities within communities, and how they developed a distinctive culture while preserving individual distinction.

Our literary sources are a diverse group, written in many different genres, that is, categories of composition defined by form and content. These include various types of poetry such as epic, lyric, tragedy, and comedy, as well as the prose genres of history, biography, oratory, and philosophy. Naturally, modern historians rely especially on the writings of ancient historians and biographers, but the other genres, both of poetry and of prose, are no less essential as sources.

Of course, there is a big distinction between mythical and historical narratives of the past. We don’t expect historical veracity from Homer’s account of the Trojan War. At the same time, not even an historian who strives for veracity can give us a truly objective and unbiased account of the past. The ancient historians, no different from us really, aimed to convey only what they deemed historically significant. Because they selected some facts to the exclusion of others, even two roughly contemporary historians—the fifth-century Herodotus and Thucydides, for example— would necessarily produce different accounts of the same past events. Another limitation of our written sources is that, with very few exceptions, they are all produced by a privileged group: urban males, mostly from the upper class. In order to illuminate the lives of women, the very poor, and slaves, who do not generally speak for themselves, historians employ a variety of strategies, often drawing upon feminism, Marxism, cultural studies, and other interdisciplinary approaches.

Ancient greece religion

The belief in supernatural forces and beings that control the natural world is probably as old as humankind. Nearly as old are cult and ritual—the acts of devotion to the gods—and religious myths, the suppositions about the gods told in story form as part of ritual activity. Among agrarian peoples, the relationship of mortals to immortals revolves around the continuation of the fertility of the land and animals. To appease the gods, who can bestow or remove the blessings of nature at will, the people make communal displays of respect, including sacrifices of food and animals and even humans at times. The Minoans and Mycenaeans were no exception; they honored their gods with processions, music, and dance, and propitiated them with gifts and sacrifices. The slaughter and butchering of animals on outdoor altars was the most solemn ritual. There may even have been human sacrifice among the early Minoans.

In Minoan art the principal recipient of worship is a goddess, dressed in the Cretan style and placed in outdoor settings that feature trees and other vegetation, and animals. Similar scenes appear on Mycenaean frescoes, vases, and gold and silver rings. The ubiquitous goddess figures depicted in Minoan-Mycenaean art are thought to be representations of an ancient Aegean mother goddess, who presided over nature and fertility. In that case, we must infer that the fertility goddesses brought in by the Indo-European speakers were assimilated into the artistic form of the Aegean nature mother.

Ancient greece Literature and art

A word commonly attached to the art and literature of the earlier fifth century is “grandeur.” During this vigorous era of transition, talented poets, painters, architects, and sculptors carried the traditions of the sixth century throughout the wider Greek world, while in Athens the defeat of Persia was marked by innovations in tragic drama so striking as to constitute a new art form.

Lyric Poetry

Lyric was a necessary precursor of tragedy, and its practitioners were among the most distinguished writers of the fifth century. Simonides (c. 556–468 BC) is remembered chiefly as the unofficial poet laureate of the Persian wars. He was probably in Athens when the Persians invaded Greece, and his epitaphs for the war dead (such as the one cited in Chapter Five) became to Greek literature what the Declaration of Independence and the Gettysburg Address are to Americans (only easier to remember, since they were in verse).

Sicilian tyrants were well known for their interest in culture, and both Simonides and his nephew Bacchylides benefited from their patronage. Though both were famed for their success in the genre known as the epinician ode, that is, poems written epi-nike ¯ (“upon [an athletic] victory”), the verdict of posterity went rather to Pindar. At the courts of Sicilian tyrants as well as elsewhere in Greece, Pindar enjoyed the favor of the rich and powerful. His world view was diametrically opposed to that of democrats in Athens and elsewhere. Like Theognis, Pindar took it as axiomatic that merit was inherited. His many odes, rich in allusion and soaring in language, share a deeply held belief in an old-fashioned heroism—an excellence that takes as its starting point the assumption that men of worth spring from illustrious families that can trace their origins ultimately to divine ancestors. Writing numerous epinician odes, he was also disposed to associate physical prowess with all-around virtue. By connecting recent achievements with divine blood and tracing the ancestry of his subjects, he was able to elaborate his poems with powerful myths about gods and ancient heroes. His concern with the notion of excellence lent a lofty and inspirational quality to his verse.

The Visual Arts

Greek painters and sculptors shared a fascination with both the human and the divine. Throughout the decades of change and growth that mark the fifth century, the plastic arts reveal a powerful drive to organize the world in accord with harmony, balance, and proportion. During the fourth century, Plato, in the blueprint for the ideal society he described in his dialogue The Republic, would identify justice as the condition that is obtained when all parts of the soul and state are in balance. The connections Plato posited between beauty and truth underlay much of the Greek view of the world throughout the Classical period.

Greek painting and sculpture achieved what they did within the constraints posed by a variety of conventions. Bronze and marble, the customary materials for sculpture, were difficult to work with and did not lend themselves to naturalism. The two generations or so that followed the Persian wars mark a period of transition during which Greek artists begin to emancipate themselves from the canons of the Archaic period, as a spare austerity comes to distinguish Classical styles from those that had gone before. Some of the changes may have had to do with a rejection of eastern influences in the wake of the bitter conflict with Persia; the ties with the Near East that were so conspicuous in Archaic styles now seem more tenuous. The visual arts also become less static during these decades, and action becomes important. Conveying a strong sense of movement in a still medium is no small achievement. Some of the most outstanding artists of these decades managed despite the constraints of their craft to build a sense of anticipation and excitement.

To be sure, the tranquility of Archaic sculpture persists in some of the work of this period. It is evident, for example, in the bronze charioteer dedicated at Delphi in the 470s by Hiero’s brother Polyzalus after his victory in the chariot races at the Pythian games. The eerie stillness of the body and the garment that falls from it in perfect folds show precisely the discipline and self-control that Pindar celebrated in the aristocrats who carried off prizes in these events.

Probably the free-standing sculpture that conveys the most dramatic sense of movement to come was the so-called diskobolos (“discus thrower”) of the Athenian sculptor Myron, who was known for his striking realism: Admirers commented that a bronze cow of his on the Acropolis could easily be mistaken for the real thing. Though the bronze diskobolos Myron made around 460 does not survive, a variety of Roman copies enable us to appreciate the pent-up energy the athlete is about to unleash as he hurls his arm forward leaning into the throw.

The relief sculpture with which Greeks adorned their temples offered still greater opportunities for storytelling. One key example is the temple of Zeus at Olympia, completed between 470 and 456 BC just when the dramas of Aeschylus were defining the Attic stage. Excavations have brought to light remarkable sculptural groups on the portions of the temple known as the pediments—the elongated triangular spaces under the roof that sat atop the columns and cried out for decoration. In the temple of Zeus, each pediment extended for over 80 feet from left to right and rose in the center to a height of 10 feet. The west pediment celebrated the triumph of order and civilization over the animal-like barbarism represented by the Centaurs, who in their characteristic drunkenness had sought to disrupt the wedding of the hero Peirithoos to Deidameia only to find themselves worsted in the melee by Peirithoos and his friend Theseus. In the center of the relief stands a figure whom most scholars identify as Apollo upholding the principles of civility.

The east pediment portrayed a more complicated story—an episode in the life of Agamemnon’s ancestor Pelops, who won his bride Hippodameia in a chariot race arranged by her father Oenomaus, an event associated with the beginning of the Olympic games. Numerous figures in the scene depicted on the temple have survived, including one of the most remarkable individuals depicted in relief sculpture, a pensive seer who even before the race has begun knows what is going to happen (Figure 6.5b). (Although the race was fixed, Pelops managed to defeat the duplicitous Oenomaus, who was killed, and marry Hippodameia.)

Grave stelai also provided an important venue for relief sculpture. Although most commemorated the deaths of men, women and girls were depicted on their tombstones as well. One of the best preserved funerary reliefs of the fifth century offers a tender portrayal of a little girl holding her pet doves. This poignant reflection of the dead child makes clear that for all their preoccupation with war and civic engagement the Greeks could also feel private losses deeply.

Thousands of vases survive from the Classical period. Neither vases nor works of sculpture are easy to ascribe to any particular artist; by convention, painters are often known simply by the subject matter of their most memorable works or the places where they were or can be found (e. g., the Berlin painter, the Pan painter). Like sculpture, vase painting of the earlier fifth century was focused on the human figure, to which the curving surfaces of the vessels lent a sense of movement and grace. Even more than in drama, in which actors’ faces were covered by masks, the possibilities of facial expression are limited by the medium, and character portrayal is weak; we are often given a clear sense of what the dramatis personae of the vase are experiencing at the moment in time the artist has chosen to capture, but little understanding of who they have been over their lifetimes, what their driving anxieties or concerns were. The figures on Greek vases are portrayed in action, not contemplation—they almost never appear to be posing for the artist—and we ask ourselves not only, “What are they thinking? What are they feeling?,” but also frequently, “What has just happened, and what will happen next?” As in the Archaic period, classical vases frequently took their subject matter from mythology, as in the fine vase in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston depicting on one side the murder of Agamemnon and on the other that of his murderer Aegisthus.

Unlike sculpture, however, painting was as likely to treat mundane scenes of daily activities as it was to portray deeds of epic proportion. Vases have provided social historians with a wealth of information about how people spent their time at work and at play, showing women and men in a variety of activities; shoemakers, blacksmiths, agricultural workers, and other laborers are portrayed going about their tasks. We are indebted to vases for images of domestic space and the depictions of women from all social groups. Vases that were used at drinking parties for mixing and drinking wine frequently show prostitutes entertaining men. Some women are shown playing pipes, others are engaged in various stages of flirtation, and some scenes are frankly pornographic. Common prostitutes were often slaves. A woman of higher status who nevertheless mingled with men and received pay for her services was known as a hetaira. Such women were likely to be metics (see pp. 163–164) , either ex-slaves or freeborn, who—like male metics—gravitated to Athens because it was a commercial center. A few of these women, like Aspasia, the common-law wife of Pericles and the most famous hetaira of all, participated actively in the intellectual life of their male associates. In contrast, many paintings on vases used by respectable women depict wedding scenes, or women visiting tombs or sitting at home spinning wool or adorning themselves, often in the company of other women.

Ancient greece Economy

Like women, slaves were a “muted group.” Though they are ubiquitous in literature and the visual arts, their names and thoughts were not recorded, and few have left their mark on the historical record. We do know that the work of slaves did not always take place in the oikos. Large numbers of slaves were employed in the craft industries, some working for their owners and others rented out by them. Their jobs tended to be gender specific. Men worked in factories making swords, shields, furniture, pottery, and other items, while women often worked in textile-related industries. Inscriptions recording expenses incurred in construction on the Athenian Acropolis show that slaves were paid the same as free workers. Of course, the wages of slaves who were rented out were paid to their masters.

By no means were all craftspeople slaves; Aristotle in fact contended that most craftsmen were rich. Greeks whose social and economic status allowed them some choice, however, shunned work that made them subject to the commands of another person, and this included most craft fields. Such a life, they believed, was demeaning to a free male citizen. Unlike farming, to which a certain nobility was always attached, manual work performed indoors was despised by many wealthier Greeks and known by the name “banausic” labor, which means literally work performed over a hot furnace, and distinctions between skilled and unskilled labor were often ignored. It may be that the leisured classes disdained indoor work because of its connection with slaves and women. Litigants in Athenian courtrooms enjoyed making snide remarks about their opponents (or their opponents’ relatives) ever having held any kind of job or even having run a business, and political theorists—who always came from the upper classes—contended often that strenuous indoor work ought to disqualify people from voting on the grounds that it damaged the mind as surely as it compromised the body. Most Greeks, however, had limited choices about how to support themselves and their families, and there is no reason to believe that those who worked for others or performed indoor manual labor were embarrassed about their professions. Tombstones frequently boasted of craft skills; surviving examples include epitaphs of a woodcutter and a miner. As elsewhere, the ideology of literate elites was at odds with the daily practice of ordinary people.

The disdain with which some Greeks regarded paid labor did not prevent a great deal of work from getting done or a good bit of money from being made. Sometimes, however, revenue was the product of imperialism and other forms of exploitation. Without the tribute from subject allies it would have been difficult for the Athenians to initiate the system of state pay for state service and thus significantly expand the proportion of citizens able to participate in the business of government. Democracy was not entirely dependent on empire; the Athenians lost their empire in 404 BC but continued to have democratic government for several generations until their conquest by Philip of Macedon in 338 (and in many respects democracy persisted even after that). But it certainly seems to have received its impetus from the surplus funds generated by imperial tribute. The splendid buildings with which the Athenians began adorning the Acropolis shortly after relocating the treasury in Athens certainly owed their existence to imperial revenues; no empire, no Parthenon. In addition, the empire’s maritime nature meant that it served as the organizing principle of Greek trade. The centrality of the Athenian Empire to commercial life became abundantly plain in the late 430s when the Athenians banned Megarian merchants from trading in imperial ports, claiming they were simply making rules for their own sphere of influence as stipulated by the Thirty Years’ Peace. The consequences of this move were fatal to Megarian trade, and outrage over this prohibition was one cause of the long Peloponnesian War of 431–404.

Agriculture and Trade

Before the nineteenth century AD most people in the world made their living by agriculture, and fifth-century Greeks were no exception. It was trade, however, that united the far-flung states that ringed the seas, and the routes over which material goods traveled also served as vital conduits for the exchange of ideas. Most trade went by boat, land traffic being a slow and expensive business over rocky roads; the cost of carting heavy goods by land might well exceed the price of the goods themselves.

The diversity of natural resources in the ancient world made trade a necessity; no polis had everything, and some poleis had very little indeed. Athenian commerce especially was driven largely by the need for grain to feed a large population. Athens was by far the most populous of the Greek cities, with a population that normally varied between 200,000 and 300,000. Grain might come from north or south. One crucial source was the Black Sea region, which also provided hides, cattle, fish, hemp, wax, chestnuts, iron, and slaves. For this the Athenians exchanged wine and oil, sometimes in decorated vases. These exports were themselves often resold elsewhere; the Phoenicians often sent Attic vases to Egypt, and a good deal of secondhand pottery from Athens has been discovered in Etruria in Italy. Italians also bought a good deal of Attic pottery firsthand. Another key granary lay in Egypt, where Attic olive oil was also traded for papyrus, ivory, glasswork, slaves, and exotic animals. Carthage provided textiles; Etruria fine bronzework and boots; Sicily pigs, cheese, and grain; Phoenicia purple dye and dates. Corinth exported its own wares as well as serving as an intermediary between east and west, sending out tiles and metalwork. Already in the fifth century it seems that some silks from China made their way to Greece via Scythian intermediaries. Arabia exported perfumes, and Persia carpets. Important sources of metals were identified early: Cyprus for copper, Spain for tin, Laconia as well as the Black Sea for iron, Thasos and Mount Pangaeus in northern Greece for gold. All these goods flowed throughout the Greek world, but most of all they flowed into Piraeus.