UNIT 5 ANCIENT GREECE

Structure
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Geographical Features
5.3 The Early Greek Civilizations
5.3.1 The Minoan Civilization
5.3.2 The Mycenaean Civilization
5.3.3 The Dark Age

5.4 The Archaic and Classical Period

5.4.1 Conflict of Landed Aristocracy and Peasantry: Reforms Start
5.4.2 Transition to Democracy
5.4.3 Conflict with Persia: Formation of Delian League
5.4.4 Democratic Political Structure: Emergence of Deme
5.4.5 Slave Labour
5.4.6 Development of Philosophical Thought
5.4.7 The End of the Classical Period

5.5 Summary
5.6 Exercises

5.1 INTRODUCTION
While the Achaemenids were building a vast empire which extended in the
west to the shores of the Aegean Sea and included many Greek settlements of
Anatolia, in Greece itself a brilliant civilization was taking shape. The pattern
of development of ancient Greece represents an exception during the age of
empires. Greece was unique in that it was the centre of a great civilization but
did not develop into an empire or even a territorially large political state. The
historical experience of Greece therefore needs to be examined from the point
of view of its distinctiveness.
Circa 500 BC marks the beginning of the classical age of Greece, the most
glorious phase of ancient Greek civilization. The classical age lasted from
c. 500 BC to the Macedonian conquest of the Greek states in 338 BC. The
classical age represented the culmination of a long historical process during
which the foundations of Greek civilization were laid. By about 2000 BC the
large island of Crete in Greece had emerged as the centre of the first Bronze
Age civilization in Europe. This was the Minoan civilization which flourished
between 2000 and 1400 BC.
In our discussion in this Unit first we will familiarize you with the geographical
spread of the Greek Civilization. This would be followed by a chronological
development of Greek civilization. This has been divided into two major
sections i.e. i) Early Greek Civilization and ii) Archaic and Classical Period.
The former has three main epochs the Minoan Civilization, the Mycenaean 67
Ancient and Medieval Civilization and the Dark Age. The latter has been discussed together in one
Societies section. In this section, we have taken note of specific developments and
features of whole period. The most important feature of the period is conflict
of landed aristocracy with peasants, and transition to democracy. Formation of
Delian league and emergence of Deme are other important events. In the end a
brief account of the development of philosophical thought in Greece would be
provided.

5.2 GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES

Before we proceed to examine the evolution of Greek civilization it would
be useful to outline the geographical features of Greece. It should be noted
that when we speak of ancient Greece we are referring to an area that was
much larger than the present-day state of Greece. The Greek world in antiquity
encompassed western Anatolia, Thrace, the islands of the Aegean Sea, Crete,
Cyprus, mainland Greece, southern Italy and Sicily.
Mainland Greece is an irregularly shaped peninsula in south-eastern Europe,
enclosed by the Ionian Sea in the west, the Aegean Sea in the east and the
Mediterranean Sea in the south. The southern part of the peninsula is in the
shape of a palm which extends into the Mediterranean. This is known as the
pelosponnese. The Peloponnese is almost an island, separated from the rest of
the mainland by the Gulf of Corinth. A thin strip of land connects the north-
eastern corner of the Peloponnese with the mainland. The prominent ancient
city of Corinth is located at the junction of the Peloponnese and continental
Greece. Beyond the narrow strip of land which forms the bridge between the
Peloponnese and the mainland lies the region of Attica in the east. Attica is
bound by the Aegean Sea on all sides. Athens is situated in Attica. To the
north-west of Attica is the area called Boeotia. Thebes was the dominant city
of Boeotia. Further north, along the Aegean coast, is the region of Thessaly.
Moving in a clockwise direction from Thessaly we come to Macedonia and
Thrace. Macedonia was the home of Alexander the Great. Thrace, part of
which now constitutes the European zone of Turkey, is the easternmost part
of southern Europe. It is separated from Asia by the Sea of Marmara. Crossing
the Sea of Marmara brings one to western Anatolia. Western Anatolia and the
Greek Peninsula lie on either side of the Aegean Sea.
The Aegean Sea was the geographical nucleus of the ancient Greek world. In
the Aegean Sea itself there are a large number of islands of varying sizes. Off
the west coast of Anatolia are some large islands such as Lemnos, Lesbos,
Chios, Samos and Rhodes. Then there is a group of islands concentrated in the
southern Aegean. The islands of this group are collectively called the Cyclades.
The large rectangular island of Crete is situated south of the Peloponnese and
the Cyclades. It may be mentioned here that Greek settlers had also colonized
some areas of southern Italy and Sicily. These settlers are collectively referred
to as Western Greeks.

5.3 THE EARLY GREEK CIVILIZATIONS

The early Greek Civilizations would be discussed in three parts the Minoan
Civilization, Mycenaean Civilization and the Dark Age.

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5.3.1 The Minoan Civilization Ancient Greece
In deciding the chronology of ancient Greece the Minoan Civilization can be
considered as the first Bronze Age civilization of the region. The civilization
emerged towards the end of third millennium BC and flourished till around 1400
BC. The civilization came to light in the early 20th century through the efforts
of Sir Arthus Evans who conducted the diggings in the region. This was named
after the legendry king Minos of the Crete mythology. The ruins are available
in a number of towns the most prominent being Knossos, Phaistos and Mallia. It
seems that palaces were the most prominent structures in these centres. Besides
being centres of political authority the palaces were also centres of economic
activity.
Sheep rearing and wool production were main produce of rural economy.
Wheat, grapes and olives were main agricultural products. The goods were
brought from rural areas to the cities for redistribution and trade. It seems that
the Minoans had trading links with Egypt, Anatolia, the Lebanese Coast, Cyprus
and Aegean through the sea routes. The Minoans had developed writing. The
script remains undeciphered. It has been named Linear ‘A’. It seems to have
been used for trade and exchange.
The Minoan civilization of Crete came to an end around 1400 BC. Natural
calamities, triggered by a major volcanic eruption in the southern Aegean,
might have caused its sudden collapse. Eventually Crete was overwhelmed by
colonizers from mainland Greece who, while they borrowed some aspects of
Minoan civilization, developed a new Bronze Age civilization — the Mycenaean
civilization.
5.3.2 The Mycenaean Civilization
Whereas Crete was the centre of the Minoan civilization, the Mycenaean
civilization was a product of mainland Greece. This civilization, which
flourished between c. 1600 and 1200 BC, came to light as a result of the
pioneering excavations of Heinrich Schleimann. The civilization is named
after the site of Mycenae (Mykenai) situated in the north-western corner of
the Peloponnese. Other major Mycenaean sites are Tiryns, Pylos, Thebes,
Orchomenos and Knossos.
When we speak of the Mycenaeans we are not referring to a single political
entity but several distinct settlements which formed separate states. These
states were ruled by warrior chiefs. The chiefs usually bore the royal title
wanax (or anax) and ruled over their territories from fortified palace complexes
which dominated the Mycenaean urban centres. A powerful warrior aristocracy
and an elaborate bureaucracy constituted the ruling elite. The fortified palace
complexes exercised extensive control over the respective economies of the
Mycenaean states through centralized bureaucratic structures. This bureaucracy
regulated virtually every aspect of the economy. The Mycenaeans had an
extensive foreign trade. Oil, pottery and textiles were their main exports. They
imported gold, copper and tin. Society was highly stratified with the ruling elite
having access to a large surplus. The Mycenaean chiefs were buried in large
beehive shaped tombs (tholoi) or in large chamber tombs. The resources that
would have to be mobilized for constructing these tombs, as well as the fine
craftsmanship of the objects found in them, leave us in no doubt as to the wealth
possessed by many of the Mycenaean chiefs/kings.
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Ancient and Medieval The Mycenaeans have left behind abundant written records which provide us
Societies with details about the role played by the palaces in the economy. The Mycenaeans
evolved a script which is referred to as the Linear B script. The Linear B script
was deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris. Ventris found that the language of
the script was an early version of the Greek language. The Mycenaeans were
among the earliest Greek-speaking people to settle in the peninsula. The Greeks
were a branch of the Indo-European people and their migrations must be viewed
in the context of the tribal movements of the third millennium BC which we
have discussed in Unit 10. The language of the Mycenaeans was somewhat
different from that spoken by later Greek settlers and is labelled by scholars as
‘proto-Greek’. This is the language of the Linear B script.
The Linear B records that have survived are mainly in the form of clay tablets.
They are invariably inventories or accounts and contain no references to political
history or religious practices. They were obviously compiled by palace officials
to keep track of the surprisingly large number of transactions that the palace had
to undertake in order to regulate a wide range of economic activities. The fact
that the script exhibits a great deal of uniformity throughout the Mycenaean
area shows that the bureaucracy, or at least the professional scribes, were drawn
from a close-knit group with links extending over several parts of the peninsula.
The Mycenaean civilization lasted till c. 1200 BC. Another round of tribal
migrations coincided with the simultaneous collapse of Bronze Age civilizations
in the eastern Mediterranean by 1200 BC. In the traditional periodization of
ancient Greek history the four centuries from 1200 to 800 BC are referred
to as the Dark Age. Mycenaean cities went into decline, the Linear B script
disappeared and trade was disrupted. It was traditionally believed that Dorian
invasions (Dorians were a Greek-speaking tribe which settled in the southern
Peloponnese where Sparta is located) were responsible for the destruction of
the Mycenaean civilization, although this picture has now been completely
revised. Source material for this period is rather scanty. Hence the term ‘Dark
Age’ is used for this period.
5.3.3 The Dark Age
The Dark Age lasted for nearly four centuries, coming to an end in c. 800 BC.
The significance of this date is that around this time two great Greek epics,
Iliad and Odyssey were written. Their composition is attributed to a poet by
the name of Homer. These epics mark a turning point in Greek history. With
Iliad and Odyssey written records are once again available for ancient Greece
after a long gap. Apart from their great literary merit, these epics are a very
rich historical source. The two works are part of the tradition of epic poetry.
The main theme of Iliad is the war of a coalition of Greek states against the
state of Troy (the ruins of ancient Troy are located in the northwestern corner
of Anatolia). According to the story narrated in the epic this war, known as the
Trojan war, lasted for ten years. Odyssey recounts the adventures encountered
by Odysseus, one of the heroes of the war, on his homeward journey after the
conclusion of the campaign. The epics give us some idea about various aspects
of contemporary religion, mythology, beliefs, food habits and dress.
Scholars earlier held the view that Iliad and Odyssey were inspired by events
which had taken place in the Mycenaean age and spoke about that period. There
can be no doubt that some of the stories in these epics are derived from the
70
Mycenaean era. They show an awareness of an earlier civilization in which Ancient Greece
great heroes, kings and warriors lived. It was therefore thought that the Homeric
epics were essentially a portrayal of Mycenaean society. The reinterpretation
of these poems, particularly in the light of the more exhaustive archaeological
evidence, has allowed scholars to view Iliad and Odyssey as compositions of
the Dark Age. The actual details of everyday life contained in them relate to the
closing phase of the Dark Age and these indicate a break with the Mycenaean
social formation.
Historians now divide the Dark Age into two sub-periods: i) 1200 to 1050
BC and ii) 1050 to 800 BC. In the first sub-period Mycenaean urban centres
declined and there are signs of extensive depopulation. The archaeological
evidence reveals a sharp decline in population between 1300 and 1100 BC.
Settlements are fewer and are smaller in size. Tribal migrations, at times
violent, were also taking place in this period. The Mycenaean economy based
on centralized regulation by the palace bureaucracy collapsed around 1200 BC.
With it written records in the Linear B script also disappeared. Long distance
trade was disrupted making it difficult to procure copper and tin for producing
bronze objects. The reasons for this kind of widespread disintegration are still
not clear and continue to be debated by scholars.
A little before 1000 BC a new economy and social structure began to emerge
in Greece. By this time tribal migrations had resulted in Greek speaking
people occupying the entire peninsula. Simultaneously the Aegean islands
and the western coast of Anatolia were incorporated in the Greek linguistic
zone. Southern Italy was also in the process of being colonized. The major
Greek dialects evolved in this period. There were three major dialects: Ionic,
which included the subdialect Attic spoken in Athens; Doric; and Aeolic. A
significant feature of this period was the introduction and dissemination of
iron technology from c. 1000 BC onwards. This period marks the transition
to the iron age. The origins of iron technology remain obscure. However the
archaeological evidence that has accumulated over the years indicates that
Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia pioneered the use of this metal. It is not
difficult to explain the rapid advance of iron in Greece once the technology
became available. The people of the area had to depend wholly on imports for
their supplies of copper and tin. The decline of eastern Mediterranean trade
after 1200 BC created problems for Greek metallurgy because the supply of
copper and tin could not be maintained. The introduction of iron offered a
viable alternative. Since Greece had adequate deposits of iron ore the Greek
states with their limited resources would have preferred the use of this metal
rather than exchange their meagre surpluses for imported copper and tin. Iron
technology became one of the factors that contributed to the recovery which
took place in the period between 1050 and 800 BC.
The end of the Dark Age saw the revival of writing in Greece. We have seen
that the Linear B script had already disappeared with the collapse of Mycenaean
civilization. When the Greeks began using a script towards the end of the Dark
Age it was a new script. This script was borrowed from the Phoenicians. The
Phoenicians had evolved a script (c. 1500 BC) which was based on the phonetic
principle. The symbols in this script stood for different sounds, i.e. it was an
alphabetic script. The Greeks adopted the Phoenician script and modified it to
suit their language. The Homeric epics were written in the new Greek alphabet.
71
Ancient and Medieval Greek society as reflected in the Homeric epics was very different from that of
Societies the Mycenaean period. It was simpler, largely self-sufficient with little trade or
exchange, and did not have powerful kings. In the latter half of the Dark Age the
Greeks were divided into a large number of petty-states. These states were ruled
by kings or chiefs with limited authority. They had to share political power with
other members of the elite. In many states, such as Athens, monarchical rule
had come to an end by the beginning of the Archaic Period and was replaced by
oligarchical political structures.

72
 Ancient Greece
5.4 THE ARCHAIC AND CLASSICAL PERIOD
The period following the Dark Age is referred to as the Archaic period (C. 800
– 500 BC). The foundations of classical Greek Civilization were laid in this
period. The period from 500 BC to 338 BC is generally referred as the classical
age of Greece. Some prominent changes take place in archaic and classical
period and need specific dicussion. However, the division into these two
periods is not always very sharp and there is lot of overlapping and continuity
in various aspects of society, economy and culture. In view of this we would
like to discuss it as one broad period of ancient Greece. The developments and
institutions of the whole period would be analysed in this section. Wherever the
features are clearly demarcated and can be distinctly confined to either of the
periods it would be mentioned during the course of our discussion.
5.4.1 Conflict of Landed Aristocracy and Peasantry: Reforms
Start
The Archaic Period (c. 800 – 5000 BC) witnessed an intense conflict between
the landed aristocracy and the peasantry throughout Greece. The origins of
this struggle may be traced to the latter half of the Dark Age when historical
changes had placed landowning aristocrats in a strong position. Between c.
800 and 600 BC the landed aristocracy consolidated its hold over land and
the political structures of the Greek states. This led to the impoverishment
of the small landholders. In their desperation the small landholders put up
a tough fight against the aristocracy. The constant upheavals caused by this
struggle reached a point of crisis by c. 600 BC. Sections of the aristocracy
realized that unless some way was found out of the crisis their own prosperity
would be threatened. Consequently they were forced to initiate reforms which
incorporated concessions to the peasants.
We have some information on the reforms undertaken at Athens. The evidence
from Athens is supplemented by references to other states and shows that
similar historical developments were taking place in large parts of Greece.
In 594 BC the Athenians resorted to the solution of nominating an arbitrator,
named Solon, to carry out reforms. On the basis of a consensus Solon was vested
with wide- ranging powers for a specified duration. The most radical reform of
Solon was the abolition of debt bondage. This had emerged as one of the most
serious problems faced by the peasantry. Impoverished peasants, who often had
meagre holdings located in difficult terrain such as hillsides, had to take loans
from wealthy landowners. When poor peasants failed to repay their debts they
were forced into bondage. Laws pertaining to repayment of loans had stringent
provisions which required a person who was unable to pay back a loan to accept
bondage to the creditor. Peasants were thus simultaneously being deprived of
their land and were being reduced to the status of slaves. The major demands
of the peasantry were redistribution of land and abolition of debt bondage. The
abolition of debt bondage under Solon implied that henceforth Athenian free
peasants could not be enslaved if they failed to repay their loans. The existing
debt of the peasants was cancelled.
Nevertheless, Solon did not carry out redistribution of land. He did, however,
introduce changes in the political system which gave ordinary Athenians the
right to participate in government. We will discuss these later in the context of
the evolution of Greek democracy. The abolition of debt bondage prevented the 73
Ancient and Medieval enslavement of the impoverished peasants, but in the absence of land reforms the
Societies aristocracy continued to possess a disproportionately large share of cultivable
land. After 594 BC there was a shortage of rural labour. The big landowners,
who required labour to cultivate their large holdings, solved this problem by
increasingly employing slaves brought from outside.
Not surprisingly there were fresh upheavals in Athens within a few decades of
Solon’s reforms. Similar conditions prevailed in other states where incomplete
reforms or no reforms had taken place. In these disturbed conditions some
political leaders carried out a series of coups and assumed dictatorial powers
in their respective states. This development completely altered the nature of
governance in a large number of Greek states. The events at Athens typify the
process. Peisistratus was the person responsible for the coup at Athens. He first
attempted to seize power in 561, but was unsuccessful and had to flee from the
city. He eventually managed to succeed in 545 BC. Peisistratus installed himself
as supreme ruler of the city, setting aside existing constitutional arrangements
and defying oligarchical institutions.
What was emerging was a new form of government for which contemporaries
used the term ‘tyranny’. Rulers like Peisistratus who had usurped power in
this manner were called ‘tyrants’. A significant aspect of Greek tyranny was
that it had considerable popular support, mainly from among the impoverished
peasantry and from groups which had accumulated wealth through trade but
had traditionally no access to political power. When Peisistratus seized power
he took over public wastelands that had been occupied by the aristocracy and
distributed these among the small or dispossessed peasants. He also confiscated
the property of some of the rich landowners who had gone into exile following the
establishment of tyranny and gave these to needy farmers. The policies pursued
by Peisistratus had a twofold outcome. First, the position of the peasantry was
stabilized. Second, the monopoly of the entrenched landed aristocracy over the
political structure was broken. Peisistratus died in 527 BC. He was succeeded
by his son Hippias.
This appeared to be an attempt to transform tyranny into dynastic rule and
caused much resentment among the people. In any case, the historical relevance
of tyranny was now over. In 510 BC Hippias was overthrown. This date marks
the beginning of classical democracy at Greece.
5.4.2 Transition to Democracy
In the Classical Period, and subsequently, the Greeks referred to the age of
tyranny with intense dislike. Yet it should be borne in mind that tyranny speeded
up the transition from oligarchical rule to democracy. The tyrants helped to
undermine the institutions through which the aristocracy has so far exercised
political power. This phenomenon was not confined to Athens alone. At Corinth
the tyrant Periander came to power c. 600 BC. A little before Periander, Cypselus
had overthrown the Bacchidae--the ruling aristocratic group at Corinth. We
also have information about other tyrants. Polycrates became tyrant of Samos
c. 545 BC and Lygdamis seized power at Naxos around the same time.
The tyrants were instrumental in doing away with the traditional hereditary basis
of political power. The Greek aristocracies were close-knit hereditary elites.
They enjoyed power not merely because of their wealth but more significantly
by virtue of their birth. The aristocratic families automatically held all executive,
74
judicial, and military positions. That is why we refer to the political structures Ancient Greece
of the Greek states during the Archaic Period as being oligarchical in nature.
The tyrants struck at the roots of this oligarchical control, thereby creating
conditions for the transition to democracy. During the course of the Archaic
Period a number of Greek states evolved into democracies. Some of the earliest
democracies that we have information about were those of Chios and Megara
where democratic institutions had come into existence around c. 600 BC.
Even though the degree of democratization varied from state to state, it would
not be incorrect to say that in Greece by the beginning of the Classical Period
common people participated in the political process to a much greater degree
than what we find in other contemporary societies. This was a fundamentally
new system of government, especially for societies with class differentiation.
Polis was the term most frequently used to denote those political entities in
ancient Greece which had some aspects of democratic functioning. The forms of
government of the various polis (plural poleis) ranged from purely oligarchical
on the one hand, to the mature democracy of Athens on the other. In between
stood the states, probably the majority, with elements of oligarchy combined in
varying proportions. The states about which we have information do not show
any homogeneity in the structure of the polis. Athens and Sparta had emerged
as the two leading poleis in Greece by the beginning of the Classical Period.
The historical evidence is also quite uneven. While we have many details about
Athens, and to a lesser extent Sparta, contemporary sources tell us very little
about important democracies such as Corinth and Syracuse.
The polis was territorially a small political entity. The size of the population
was also relatively small. Given the constraints of ancient society, democracy
would not have been functional had the polis been large either territorially or
in terms of its inhabitants. This point needs to be emphasized because Greek
democracy was a direct democracy. In modern democracy the people choose
their representatives who then legislate and govern on their behalf. In ancient
Greece, democracy implied participation by all the citizens in the basic organ
of the democratic system, namely the assembly.
The concept of citizenship was a restricted one. Only the indigenous, native,
residents of a polis (and their descendants) were recognized as citizens.
Citizenship rights did not extend to all inhabitants, not even all the free
inhabitants. Firstly, women were excluded. Only male adults enjoyed the
privilege of being citizens in the political sense. Secondly, all those who were
not original residents of the polis, or were considered outsiders for some reason
or the other (e.g. if they were a conquered community and had been deprived
of their political rights), did not form part of the citizen body. In Sparta the
free non-citizens were called perioikoi; at Athens they were known as metics
(metoikoi). Many of the traders settled at Athens were metics. Of course slaves
had no rights whatsoever.
One should add here that only citizens could own land. There was also a close
link between citizenship rights and military service. The Greek states did
not maintain standing armies of professional soldiers. To a large extent this
was because they lacked the resources for financing such an army. All free
adult males of the community were expected to render military service. In
other words, the citizens were simultaneously soldiers. Citizens had to equip
themselves with their fighting gear out of their own resources, something that
75
Ancient and Medieval was possible only if they possessed some land. The backbone of the Greek
Societies armies was the hoplite infantry (foot-soldiers). The overwhelming majority of
the hoplites were small and middle farmers. We could say that Greek armies
were essentially armies of peasant-citizens.
The citizens of the Greek polis could exercise their right to participate and vote
in the assembly, which was the basic right of citizenship, by personally attending
the meetings of the assembly. One had to actually go to the meetings of the
assembly, usually held in some open space in the city-centre, in order to exercise
this right. Such a conception of democracy would have been unworkable if the
respective Greek states possessed a big area or a large population. The actual
task of governance was carried out through a smaller body, the council. With
the decline of monarchy, real power had passed into the hands of oligarchical
councils dominated by the hereditary landed elite.
Given its nature and large size the assembly could not meet very frequently.
Even when it met it could only debate and vote on few issues. This gave
the council wide ranging authority for intervening in the functioning of the
assembly. Usually the council convened the assembly (unless dates were
traditionally fixed), prepared its agenda, and guided its sessions. To some
extent this was intended to be a check on the assembly. The council was a very
powerful body in most states and though in many cases its membership was
monopolized by the landed aristocracy yet at least at Athens it had become
genuinely representative by c. 500 BC.
Athens has a special significance in any discussion on Greek democracy due to
the scope of its accomplishment. Moreover, our knowledge about the political
structure of Athens is more extensive than that of other states. It may be stated
at the outset that in terms of the development of its democratic structure Athens
was an exception rather than the rule in ancient Greece. We have already
stated that Solon made changes in the political system which gave ordinary
Athenians the right to participate in the government. His reforms (594 BC)
represent an important stage in the evolution of Athenian democracy. Solon
revived the Athenian assembly which had not met for a long time and had
ceased to function. He simultaneously constituted a new Athenian council
called the boule. This council had four hundred members and it superseded
the old oligarchical council. The old Athenian council, called Aeropagus, was
an organ of the aristocracy. Membership of the latter body was traditionally
monopolized by a hereditary elite known as the ‘Eupatridae’. The Aeropagus
was not abolished, but its functions were curtailed till eventually it ceased to
play an important role. The boule now became the main centre of political
power. Membership of the boule was based on property qualifications and not
on hereditary right, which in itself was an innovation.
Solon divided the Athenian citizens into four classes. The property or wealth
possessed by a citizen determined the class in which he was placed. Right at
the top were the pentacosiomedimni, who possessed land which yielded at
least 500 medimnoi (a unit for measuring the quantity of grain) of wheat, or
its equivalent value in wine or oil. Next were the citizens whose land yielded
at least 300 medimnoi (hippeis). The third category was that of owners of land
yielding at least 200 medimnoi. Those belonging to this class were called the
zeugitai. The zeugitai were small and middle peasants who also constituted the
main strength of the Athenian hoplite infantry and could not therefore be easily
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ignored. Right at the bottom were the thetes who had property yielding less than Ancient Greece
200 medimnoi. The thetes were the poor peasantry. We can see that political
participation was intimately tied up with landownership and the amount of land
owned by a citizen determined his place within the political structure.
Membership of the boule was open only to the first three classes. The
impoverished sections, i.e. the thetes were excluded from the council. In other
words the council was essentially a body of the rich and middle peasantry.
Qualifications for public offices corresponded to the four-fold class division.
The first two classes held the principal political and military offices. The
zeugitai held minor offices. The thetes only had the right to participate in the
meetings of the assembly.
After the overthrow of Hippias in 510 BC the political structure was further
reformed. The crucial democratic reforms at the beginning of the classical
period are attributed to Cleisthenes, who for some years was the most important
political figure at Athens following the end of tyranny. A brief outline of some
of the key political events in Greece during the Classical Period might be useful
for a better understanding of the evolution of the political structure of Athens
in this era.
5.4.3 Conflict with Persia: Formation of Delian League
Greek history in the latter half of the sixth century BC has to be viewed
against the backdrop of the westward expansion of the Persian empire. We
have already discussed this in detail in Unit 4. Persian expansion into western
Anatolia, the Aegean and mainland Greece coincided with the phase of tyranny
and the beginning of the Classical period at Athens. Between c. 500 and 480
BC the states of the Greek peninsula were locked in a fierce contest with the
Achaemenids. Sparta was at this time the foremost military power on land.
Athens was the main naval power, though it also had a fairly strong army. The
Athenians had built a strong navy which played a leading role in the conflict
with Persia. Themistocles was the architect of Athenian naval strength. The
Greeks pooled together their resources under the leadership of Athens and
Sparta in order to resist the Persian onslaught (for details of Persian campaigns
in Greece refer to Unit 4).
Whereas the decisive battles of Salamis (480 BC) and Plataea (479 BC) had
halted the Persian advance into the Aegean Sea, the threat of further Persian
campaigns still remained. The Greek states were aware of the need to pool
together resources on a long-term basis to thwart further invasions. No state
had the capacity to fight the Persians entirely on its own. On the Peloponnese
there was a strong military alliance under the leadership of Sparta. With this
arrangement the Peloponnesians were better placed to defend themselves. The
problem was much more serious for the Aegean islands and the coastal states
since they had no such mechanism. It was as a solution to this problem that
Athens, after Salamis and Plataea, took the initiative to form a confederation
of states under its own leadership (487 BC). This confederacy has come to be
known as the Delian League. The Delian League derived its name from the
island of Delos where the common treasury of the confederacy was located. The
primary objective of forming this confederacy was to maintain a strong navy in
the Aegean Sea. The members of the Delian League made regular contributions
for this purpose.
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Ancient and Medieval Once the Persian threat receded, the Athenians transformed the character of
Societies the League. They used their dominant position within the League to utilize
its resources for promoting its own interests. From a voluntary confederation
the Delian League gradually became an empire ruled by the Athenians. The
contributions to the League now became enforced tribute payable to Athens.
The wealth that the empire, and control over the Aegean Sea, brought to Athens
was crucial for sustaining its democratic institutions in the Classical Period and
keeping discontent in check.
Having established its hegemony over the Aegean, Athens tried to expand its
empire by including the Peloponnese in it. This brought it into conflict with
Sparta. A prolonged military contest between the two states ensued. This is
known as the Peloponnesian War which lasted from 431 to 404 BC. By 404
BC Athens had been defeated by Sparta and its navy was destroyed. For several
decades after that Sparta remained the major Greek power, though it was
subsequently challenged by Thebes. The conflicts among the Greek states after
the Peloponnesian War gave the Persian an opportunity to interfere in their
affairs, and thus to become politically dominant in Greece.
5.4.4 Democratic Political Structure: Emergence of Deme
The hundred years between the overthrow of Hippias and the defeat of Athens
in the Peloponnesian war witnessed the growth of a highly evolved democratic
political structure at Athens. This structure owed a lot to the initiatives of
Cleisthenes (c. 507 BC). Athenian citizens had been traditionally divided into
four Ionian tribes. These traced their descent from the tribes or clans which had
originally settled in Attica. Following the political reforms of Solon, each tribe
sent one hundred members to the boule. Cleisthenes did away with the kinship
principle for grouping the citizens, and replaced it with ten residential tribes or
phylai. These new phylai were based on a radically new concept. The phyle to
which a citizen belonged was determined by the place where he resided and not
by his kinship ties.
The primary unit of the democratic structure established by Cleisthenes was the
‘deme’. Every citizen was first and foremost a member of a particular deme.
The deme was the smallest geographical unit into which the polis of Athens was
divided for political purposes. There were 139 demes in all. The demes were
responsible for maintaining registers of citizens. They had their own local elected
governments, including an assembly and officials. The local governments were
headed by the demarchos. Cleisthenes reformed the boule as well. The strength
of the council was raised from four hundred to five hundred members. Fifty
members were selected from each of the ten phylai. Membership of the boule
was thrown open to all citizens, including thetes. Any citizen over the age of
thirty was eligible for membership of the boule. The main executive and military
officials of the polis were the archons. Ever since monarchy had come to an
end in Athens the archons had been the chief executive and military officers.
Throughout the Archaic Period the aristocracy had monopolized these posts.
During the Classical Period the archonship was gradually made an elective post
and it became possible for ordinary citizens to hold these positions. Despite its
limitations, Athenian democracy was an outstanding achievement.

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5.4.5 Slave Labour Ancient Greece
A distinctive feature of ancient Greek civilization was the widespread use of
slave labour in various sectors of the economy. There is evidence of the presence
of large numbers of slaves in other ancient civilizations, such as those of Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Persia and the Hittites. The Mesopotamian and Hittite law codes
indicate that institutionalized slavery existed in these civilizations. However the
scale of slavery was qualitatively different in ancient Greece. Here for the first
time in history slave labour was used extensively for production. The initial
pool of slaves was formed of prisoners of war. This source was supplemented
from within the community by those who were enslaved due to their inability
to pay loans (debt bondage). Nevertheless wars brought captive slaves in much
larger numbers. The earliest slaves in Greece, as in other societies, were women.
Women slaves formed a significant portion of the workforce in Mycenaean
palaces. For example, the palace at Pylos had at least 550 women engaged in
textile production. In the Linear B tablets the term used for slaves is doeri.
The Homeric epics also contain numerous references to women being enslaved
during wars.
By the Archaic and Classical Periods slaves were to be found in every sector of
production, especially in mining, handicrafts and agriculture. Some historians
are of the view that the role of slavery in Greek agriculture has been exaggerated
and that the agrarian economy depended mainly on the peasantry and free
labour.
At the end of the Dark Age Sparta was already using slave labour on a scale
that was unprecedented. Sparta had annexed the territory of Messenia located
in the southern Peloponnese and had converted the entire population of this
area into slaves. The Spartans introduced a peculiar form of slavery called
‘helotry’. Helots were slaves who were owned collectively by the entire Spartan
community. Agricultural land in Messenia was divided into holdings called
kleroi and allotted to Spartan citizens. These holdings, alongwith the land
already possessed by the Spartans, were cultivated with the labour of helots.
Since there was considerable social differentiation in Sparta, the kleroi were not
distributed equitably. The aristocracy got a much bigger share.
The distribution of helots was regulated by the state. The state assigned a certain
number of slaves to each family depending upon its requirements for labour.
The difference between helotry and other types of slavery was that helots were
not owned individually. Moreover, they were allowed to maintain family ties.
The children born to the helots had the same status as their parents.
This meant that Sparta was able to meet its requirements of slave labour from
among the Messenians for several generations. It should not be assumed that
helotry was a more humane form of slavery as some scholars have suggested.
Helotry was a more primitive form of slavery which in turn reflected the relative
backwardness of Spartan economy. Private property was not fully developed in
Sparta and there were many tribal survivals in its social organization. Helotry
was prevalent in other Greek states as well, as for instance in Thessaly, Crete
and Argos. In other parts of Greece privately owned slaves increasingly became
a typical feature of Greek society and economy. Several terms were used to
describe such slaves, the most common being doulos.

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Ancient and Medieval In Athens slaves were mostly privately owned. These slaves were regarded as
Societies property and bought and sold in the market as commodities. The prosperity
of Athens during the Classical Period rested on the expansion of slave labour.
Historians have offered figures for Athenian slaves during the fifth century BC
ranging from 60,000 to 110,000. It has been estimated that of these, nearly
20,000 to 30,000 worked in the Athenian silver mines. Besides agriculture and
mining, slaves dominated handicraft production and were engaged in various
kinds of domestic and menial work. It is necessary to emphasize that while
there was slave labour in every sector of the economy, free labour was also to
be found in all types of production (see also the discussion on Roman slavery
in Unit 6).
5.4.6 Development of Philosophical Thought
The ancient Greece may be credited with a very rich intellectual contribution.
Due to constraints of space it would not be possible for us to go into detailed
analysis of the Greek philosophical tradition. We intend to familiarize you with
some basic factual information on the philosophical thought that developed in
Greece. Their intellectual tradition touched many aspects of human society and
knowledge. History, Philosophy, Mathematics and Medicine were some of the
main areas influenced by the ideas of the Greek thinkers. The development of
democratic traditions in Greece helped in creating an environment conducive to
intellectual discourse and growth.
The Ionian School of thought (c. 600 BC) was one of the earliest philosophic
traditions. Thales, Anaximandes and Anazemenes were the main proponents of
this school. They were mainly concerned with the basic elements of nature (air,
water earth) and their driving force. Pythagoras, an outstanding thinker believed
in the transmigration of the soul and laid emphasis on achieving harmony for the
soul. He was involved with the study of nature, musical scale and mathematics.
However, he is most famous for his geometrical theorem which states that, in a
right angled triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the
sum of the squares of the other two sides. Hippocrates was one of the outstanding
thinkers of the classical period in the area of medicine. He gave medicine a
scientific foundation replacing magical cures. He believed in treating diseases
by diagnosing on the basis of examining the symptoms scientifically.
Herodotus (c.484 — 425) is called ‘the father of history’ for giving it a distinct
identity as a branch of knowledge. History which was treated as a mix of facts,
fiction, myths, legends, fables and anecdotes was given a new meaning based
on authentic facts and their verification. He wrote detailed accounts of Persian
wars. He widely travelled and gathered information about various countries.
He always verified and evaluated his information before writing his accounts.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle are considered as the most towering thinkers of
the classical Greek Philosophy. Socrates (469 - 399 BC) is credited with a shift
from thinking about nature to thinking about the nature of human existence.
The refinement of various categories of philosophy was his major contribution.
His student Plato (427 – 347 B.C.) established an academy at Athens and taught
philosophy. He is regarded as an ‘idealist’. He argued that things have no
independent existence outside our minds and believed that experience is unreal,
only ideas are real. He influenced later Arab and Western thought in a big
way. Plato’s disciple Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C) held ideas which were different
80 from those of his teacher. He disagreed with Plato’s view that experience
was unnecessary to understand reality. He was a keen student of Science and Ancient Greece
studied plants and animals. Both Plato and Aristotle were opposed to the idea
of involving masses in all decision making processes. They held the view that
people have a limited role to play in the government. This was, to some extent,
a reflection of the thinking of the elite in Athens who believed in curtailing
democratic rights.
5.4.7 The End of the Classical Period
The Classical Period came to an end in 338 BC when the Macedonians
subjugated the poleis of the Greek peninsula and the Aegean Sea. Macedonia,
just as other regions located north of mainland Greece, had been a relatively
backward area. Using improved military techniques and the resources of the
Macedonian plains, King Philip II (382-336 BC) created an empire which
eventually included the Greek states of the peninsula and the Aegean. In 338
BC Philip defeated the Greek city-states at Chaeronea and placed them under
Macedonian rule. With the Macedonian conquest the era of the polis came to
an end. As a political entity the polis ceased to exist after 338 BC. Philip II
was succeeded in 336 BC by his son Alexander the Great who founded a vast
empire.
Alexander launched a massive expansionist programme following his
accession. His primary aim was to destroy Persian power in West Asia so as
to consolidate Macedonian rule over the entire region. By 330 BC Alexander
had conquered the Persian empire after defeating the last of the Achaemenid
emperors (Darius III). His subsequent campaigns brought him to the banks of
the Indus. Alexander died at Babylon in 323 BC. The eastward expansion of the
Macedonian empire under Alexander had made Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia,
Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan and some parts of Central Asia and northwest India,
Macedonian-ruled territories. Following the death of Alexander some of the
outlying regions of the empire were lost but the greater part of Alexander’s
territories remained under Macedonian control.
Alexander had left no heir to his vast empire and had made no arrangements
for appointing a successor. A bitter power struggle among his leading officials
and military commanders (referred to as the ‘Diadochi’ or successors) broke
out after his death. This struggle lasted almost till 275 BC. The empire was
eventually partitioned among three of the Diadochi — Seleucus, Ptolemy and
Antigonus. The dynasties of these successors ruled over their respective portions
of the empire: the Seleucids in Iran, Mesopotamia and Syria; the Ptolemies in
Egypt; and the Antigonids in Macedonia.
The period from the death of Alexander and the founding of the Seleucid,
Ptolemid and Antigonid empires down to the time when Rome became the
supreme power in the eastern Mediterranean (c. 300 to 30 BC) is referred to as
the Hellenistic age. The successor states which came into existence as a result
of the division of Alexander’s empire are called Hellenistic kingdoms. The
Hellenistic kingdoms were governed by a Macedonian/Greek ruling elite and
Greek became the official language of Iran, West Asia, Egypt and the eastern
Mediterranean. Greek also became the chief language of intellectual discourse
in this area. The Hellenistic kingdoms created conditions for disseminating the
accomplishments of classical Greek civilization over a large part of West Asia
and in Egypt. Since the Asian and north African territories of the Hellenistic
kingdoms were centres of grand ancient civilizations, the Greek ruling classes 81
Ancient and Medieval of these empires adopted several customs of their subjects. This gave rise to a
Societies dynamic cultural tradition which may be conveniently labelled as Hellenistic
civilization.

5.5 SUMMARY
The Greece as we mentioned earlier is a unique case in the age of empires as it
was a centre of great civilization but did not develop into an empire. In this unit,
we tried to give an overview of around 2000 years of ancient Greece. It is not
possible to give details of all aspects of such a great civilization in one Unit. We
have, therefore, confined our discussion to some of the salient features of Greek
Civilization. In the early phase which is roughly upto c.800 BC we studied the
development of Minoan, Mycenaean and Dark Ages.
The Archaic and classical periods witnessed some significant social and political
developments. Conflict of peasantry and landed aristocracy and subsequent
transition to Greek democracy were important changes. The period between
500 BC and 480 BC witnessed regular conflict with Persian Empire. As a result
attempts were made in Greek states to pool together their resources to face
the external aggressions. Confederacy so formed came to be known as Delian
League. During classical period democratic political structures got strengthened
with the formation of Deme. Extensive use of slave labour in various sectors of
production was one of the unique features of Greek history during the classical
period. We also provided a brief account of the development of philosophical
thought in particular contributions of Herodotus, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
The end of the classical period of Greek history has been discussed in the last
section of the Unit.

5.6 EXERCISES
1) Analyze briefly the early Greek Civilizations.
2) How did transition to democracy happen in ancient Greece?
3) Write short notes on slave labour and the Delian league.
4) Discuss the ideas of ancient Greek philosophers.

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