HIS3931 – Classical Precedents09/07/2007 07:28:00

Speaking about discussion sections

Main themes for today

• power and ideology

The Classical Greek and Hellenistic period

• Hellenistic

o derived from the Greek

o not pure Greek

Significance of long-term influence of Greek culture and

political forms

• tremendous

• aristocracy, theocracy, and democracy

• empire building

Greek society

• Identities

o Romans coined the term Civilization

 the root of it civitas

 “of the citizens”

  used it to distinguish themselves from the

inferior people living outside the cities

 they had a proud sense of themselves

compared to outsiders

o they used the term barbarian to distinguish

the outsiders

 their tongues sounded like gibberish to

them

• Slavery

o Important to the economy

o acquired mainly as a result of war

o Athens

 some slaves were used for household

services and mining

 about 270k in 5th century 2Athens

 80-100k were slaves

o Sparta and others also used slaves

 Helot (un-free labor)

  Agricultural work and vastly outnumbered

the citizens of Sparta by a ratio of 10:1

o System was oppressive

 However, slaves could gain money on

their own

Greek Empire Building

• By the 5th century

o all along turkey, black sea, northern Africa and

southern France and Spain

• Northern Africa

o The Greeks set colonies in order to relieve the

high populations in the current colonies and

cities

o also provided grain supplies and wine and

cooking oils

• From the mid 5th century

o Threats from the Persian Empire

o an alliance of the most powerful Greek city-

states defeated Persian and spread the Empire

of Athens

o Rise of Athens

 naval league, headed by an Athenian

 Athens was the authoritarian over the

allies and the colonies

 Athens received lots of resources from

those colonies and allies, however, it also

accounted for tensions in the future

 Establishment of settlers and extraction of

resources

o After the initial cooperation between Sparta

and Athens they go into war

 The Peloponnesian Wars

 Sparta wins
  Since Athens was so powerful this leaves

a great void of power, this leads the

Macedonian Empire

• Macedonian Empire

o Persian became Alexander The Great’s

primary target

 Comes back to Egypt and Babylon

 The Persian Emperor runs away and

Alexander follows him into India

 Once in India he had some battles

 After 7 years the armies and his

generals were tired and made

Alexander turn back

o Alexander The Great

 A new kind of warfare

 wars aimed at conquest

  the Greeks viewed themselves as

posing their will to the world through

conquest

 Did not rule directly

 he rules primarily through locals

(Satraps)

 becomes a feature of all the following

empires, however, there were some

differences here and there

 The elision of knowledge and power

 bringing together knowledge and

power

 it is important to know about the

cultures of the people he is

encountering

 it wasn’t just about taking the army

and conquering but also about

learning
 The people were focused more on

Alexander than on the Empire

 he ordered to be worshipped as God

• the same happened with Caesar,

Napoleon and Hitler

 Universalism and Cosmopolitanism

 Universalism

• something without limits

 Cosmopolitanism

• the encountering of the different

cultures and toleration of those

differences

 Alexander was the first Emperor with

Universal ambitions

• He wanted the empire to expand

throughout the world

• he did not want to make a

universal Greek culture

 • he rejected Aristotle and follow

Greeks

o he wanted to reunite east

and west

o encouraged inter-marriage

of the cultures

• embrace diversity

Talking points on the Alexander Movie

• the attitude of his soldiers toward him

• “we are in a new world”

• Alexander died before he realized his vision

o the subsequent empires did have some kind of

universalism and cosmopolitanism (pg. 13 in

the book)

The Empire of Alexander

• short-lived
 • used locals for power

• and was primarily focused on him, thus his death

killed the empire

The Roman Empire

• by the 5th century BCE the Romans began to define

a separate existence

• had their own alphabet based on the Greeks

• Republic and Citizens

o Citizenship

 You had the right to serve in a elite

military unit and got paid more to do so

 the right to inherit from other roman

citizens

 the right to marry other roman citizens

 could hold office in the imperial

administration

 could be spared of harsh punishment

  if roman you had a different trial and

punishments than outsiders

 this were the rights of all roman citizens

no matter rich or poor

 this distinctions become very important

over time

o slavery was one of its basic features

 spread steadily as agriculture became

increasingly commercialized

 brought in from Spain, Africa, Germany,

all over the empire

 worked in mines, often under brutal

conditions

 large agricultural estates

 the roman economy became dependent

on slaves

 this need for labor helped the policy of

expansion
• Roman Expansion and Crisis

o Strong army

 Used the army to gain control of central

Italy

 next moved down to southern Italy

o Reasons for expansion

 To establish their reputations they went to

war and take over lands (consuls)

 they needed slaves

 they wanted to be safe and wanted a little

“buffer zone”

• Punic wars

o Roman v. northern Africa

o a series of three wars

o in the third war they decided to completely

destroy carthage

 spread salt in the fields of carthage

 made slaves of anybody left alive

 • Slavery treatment of conquered peoples

o “thorough and ruthless”

o in the 2nd and 1st century BCE at least 2 million

people were slaves in the roman empire

o In the mid 4th century

 Rome began to grant citizenship to lands

over their power

• In the metropole

o A lot of economic tension

o slave revolts

• These problems led to the Empire of Augustus

Empire of Augustus

• Adopted son of Julius Caesar

• Octavian (previous name)

• absolute master of the roman world

• maintained the expansion of war

• he chose the name Caesar Augustus for specific

reasons
 o it distinguish himself from his predecessors

• created new institutions

o tolerance for local autonomy

 a shift from the republic period where

local regions did not have much power

 the preservation of existing local leaders

 no creation of elaborate bureaucratic

system

o military organization

 the threat of force was always there

 planned, systematized, and standardized

 in new areas they maintained large

outposts

 a lot of times the army generals were the

local political leaders

o systematic law

 over-arching system throughout the

empire
 greatest intellectual achievement

 legacy of international law

 relationship between the people and the

state

 the idea of just and unjust wars

 the extension of citizenship

 conquered areas could have their

people become Roman citizens

 “Civis Romanus Sum”

• I am a Roman Citizen

 full access to roman law

 in 212 AD all free inhabitants of the

empire were given roman citizenship

 this led to a cosmopolitan policy that

was key to the longevity of the

empire
  the Romans granting these

citizenship policies thought that the

empire would reach the whole world

• by 180 AD the empire began it’s long decline

o the empire was too large to maintain

The Roman Model

• a “model empire”

• pg. 19 - Rome has provided most of the culture

from it’s point on

Housekeeping things
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09/07/2007 07:28:00