Ancient History Part 2 Question 1 Women's Rights --Sparta Ironically, Spartan women had many privileges and considerable rights. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, Spartan men were, from an early age, warriors and were subject to being away from the family for long periods of time, thus leaving the household in the woman's care. Women were able to own land, make important decisions, exercise nude, compete in athletic events, and do many other things that were usually reserved for men. Another main reason for their unusual freedom was the respect they received because they were able to bear children. This alone was enough to give them considerable rights because of the high value placed on heirs, namely male heirs. Women in Sparta were not only afforded these rights, but many were also literate, involving themselves in intellectual pursuits. This makes sense when we compare Spartan women with the women during our own WWII. While the men were away, the women were forced to take on the jobs that would normally never have been given them. However, these privileges lasted longer for Spartan women since the warrior life of the Spartan male began at an early age and ended late. These rights were nearly the direct opposite of those given to women in Athens during the same period. --Athens While Spartan women had rights due to the absence of Spartan males, Athenian women were denied even the most basic rights. They were expected to stay at home although the exception to this rule was during religions festivals when women were permitted to venture into society. Women took care of every aspect of running a household, much the same way women in other cultures have been, including raising children, educating girls, cooking, weaving, making clothes, fetching water, keeping the house clean, etc. In essence, women were condemned to live a secluded life at home bearing children and providing food and other necessities to their husbands. Despite the "forward thinking" of the Athenians, life was almost assuredly easier and happier for women in Sparta although the loss of the men in their lives would have been hard to handle for someone who wasn't brought up to accept that as a way of life. Culture--Literature, Poetry, and Art --Sparta While Sparta wasn't exactly known for its cultural development, it did bring forth a few contributions. Not surprisingly, the main focus of Spartan poetry was war and the glory of being a warrior followed closely by nature and the beauty surrounding the Spartan people. Art, too, depicted war scenes and successes and glorified the warriors as heroes of Sparta. --Athens What Sparta was lacking, Athens made up for tenfold. Architecture, art, poetry, music, drama, philosophy, and science were all abundant in Athenian society. Athenian architecture was a drastic change from previous types of buildings and continued to evolve through time. One of the most well-known buildings in the world were built in Athens, that being the Parthenon. Other accomplishments include the temple of Athena Nike and the theatre of Dionysus. Athenians devoted much money to the building of temples to worship their gods as well as to public buildings where governmental meetings would be held and religious ceremonies would be celebrated. Drama, both tragedy and comedy, were also perfected by the Athenians. Playwrights such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides wrote tragedies that dealt with every-day, yet perhaps made more dramatic, aspects of life such as the decision between good and evil, governmental affairs, the family, and human nature. Later, comedies were developed and often poked fun at government officials or policies as well as philosophers. Yet one other arena Athenians made leaps in is art and sculpture. We begin to see figures evolve from the flat, stiff 2-dimensional beings we saw in Egypt. Now, we were seeing figures in more natural poses as well as a focus on what Athenians considered to be ideal beauty. In later years, however, this movement would change and the concentration of artists would move towards realistic portrayals of everyday people they saw in marketplaces and engaging in normal activities. Society --Sparta Spartan society was by no means pleasant. Because of the Messenian wars and the near-loss of Sparta, officials became paranoid to the point of turning Sparta into what has been called a "military camp." Much like other Greek societies, Spartans devoted themselves to celebration and support of their city. However, the main difference between Sparta and other cities is the "duties" each person was required to perform. Children, if not born healthy, were deemed unfit to live and were cast out into the countryside to die. This was especially true of males since they would become the future Spartan warriors and needed to be their healthiest in order to do battle. At an early age of around 7 years old, male children were taken from their families to be trained as warriors in schools that would, today, be the equivalent of our Navy Seals. While males were able to marry after a certain age, they were not allowed to live with their wife until the age of 30. Military service didn't end until the age of 60. In a way, the life of a Spartan wasn't unlike that of a monk, save for the military service. They lived simple lives without many material possessions and without much time to dedicate to leisure activities. --Athens Athenian society, in contrast to that of Sparta, was much more relaxed. Even slaves had more rights than were usual at the time. In certain instances, such as those who worked in construction, they were even paid a wage for their work. Men were the only ones involved in public life as well as government and even male slaves were excluded from these areas. Families were much the same as they are today, consisting of a husband, wife, and children. Family life was very important as its primary role was to produce offspring who would become citizens of Athens and only children of married parents who were both citizens could become citizens. Relationships between older men and younger males was also common and homosexual behavior was widely accepted, although this was mostly practiced by the upper classes. These relationships were both physical and educational and the older male acted as a "mentor" of sorts to the younger male. Government --Sparta It is not surprising that Sparta had a very stable and well-planned out government. While it wasn't a true democracy, the paranoia and distrust Spartans felt for outsiders led them to develop a government that met their needs. This government was a complex hierarchy and at the top were just 5 men called the Ephorate. These men had power over virtually all other parts of the government including, if they had "divine" reason, the king. Under these men was the council, consisting of 30 men (2 kings and 28 nobles under the kings), all of whom were finished with their military careers-- i.e. Over 60. This council was elected by a group of Spartan males over 30, and this is where the small part of democracy steps into play. This tightly bound form of government was necessary, in the Spartan's mind, because of the severe amount of distrust that resulted from the Helot revolts the Spartans felt were serious threats. --Early Athens Even though Sparta had a shred of democracy in its government and early Athens had a more "democratic" government, there were similarities between both of them. Athens had never faced destruction from an invader like the Messenians, so they never developed a fear of the "outsider" like Sparta did. Thus, since the Athenians weren't paranoid like the Spartans, their form of government took on a more relaxed approach. The king was eventually replaced with an elected body called the Archons who ran the state and the council who elected them, the Areopagus. However, since the Archons decisions were subject to the approval of the Areopagus as well as the Archons were elected by the Areopagus, this council had the real control and not the appointed Archons. In these different hierarchies, there runs a similarity to the Spartan government even if it's a small one. --Athenian Democracy A major deficiency in the management of crops and land helped cause a dramatic decrease in the price and production of wheat. While the nobles were getting wealthy off of oil and wine, the lowly farmers were getting deeper and deeper into debt. Lands were not allowed to lie fallow and Athens began importing wheat at the same time the production of it began to plummet. Soon, the farmers were selling their families and themselves into slavery in order to pay for their debts. This problem was exacerbated by the increasing wealth of the governmental officials and the gap continued to widen. The stage was set for a revolt led by the farmers. In trying to prevent this situation, the wealthy officials decided to hand power over to Solon, who immediately dismissed all debts. Entering into slavery as a means to pay debts were outlawed and some of the people who had been enslaved because of this reason were brought out of slavery. With these changes also came drastic alterations to the main government of Athens. The people were divided up into four classes based on their level of wealth. In turn, the two highest classes made up the Areopagus and the third class was allowed to vote 400 people, 100 from each of the original four tribes of Greece into which this class was divided, to a council who would provide a check and balance system to make sure that the Areopagus didn't have too much control. Even the lowest class, the peasants, were involved in this governmental system. They were allowed to be members of an assembly who would vote on laws presented to them by the council. Soon, their power extended to that of the court where they would hear both military and civil cases. In later developments, Athenian government would evolve even more towards the democracy we know today. A council was made up of citizens over 30 years of age who were drawn each year by lot. All free men would be on an assembly that could veto any laws the council brought forth as well as being the only member of the government that could declare war. As a final protection from one person gaining power, ostracism was implemented after many years. This meant that citizens whom the assembly thought might be getting too powerful. While still very different from our own government, Athenian democracy played a definitive role in the evolution of democracy. Conclusion Even though Sparta and Athens were both Greek city-states, they varied widely in their practices. Art, philosophy, and creativity were the norms in Athenian society although women had considerably less rights than they did in Sparta. Military training and heroism were celebrated as an important part of the Spartan male ideal. While there were similarities in the hierarchies of early Athenian and Spartan governments, soon, Athens would adopt a much more democratic and "equal" form of governing the people. Today, when people think of the Spartan military machine, they picture a near Nazi-esque type of forced servitude, however I would suspect that the people of Sparta took great pride in being such a powerful empire. As was evident in the actions of the women who lost husbands and sons to war, it was a great honor to die in battle. In contrast, we picture Athens as a colorful and vibrant city with masses of cultural and artistic settings and objects. The irony of these images is that for women, it was often the opposite. In the rigid Spartan lifestyle, women had much more freedom than they did in Athens which was much more relaxed. Question 8 The Development of the Rational Mind Geography and Agriculture No one knows for sure just what caused the Greeks to begin the quest to understand their surroundings. There is no doubt that geography is a major contributing factor. While the Egyptians were largely subject to the ebb and flow of the Nile and much of their religion, and therefore their way of life, was developed from this idea. They attributed floods or droughts to the will of the Gods and thus, spent a large part of their time trying to appease them. However, the Greeks were different. They were surrounded by mountainous regions that prevented mass growing of crops other than plants and trees that could grow on the hillsides. They had no cyclical forms of disaster that they could focus on and attribute to the Gods. Also because of the mountainous regions in which they lived, they became separated from one another thus, developing very different ways of life. Too, their land was relatively limited in size and they formed small cities as a result. A desire for expansion coupled with great pride in one's home town translated into warring between these cities as well as an even stronger sense of belonging among individual civilians within their own group. It's no surprise that these individuals eventually developed a unique way of looking at the world that was drastically different from those who came before. A Brief Word on Trade Because of the fact that the Greeks didn't have much farming land, they had to import much of their products. However, they were able to produce a few commodities themselves that weren't available in most other places: grape vines for their fruit and, more importantly, wine and olive trees for olive oil and, to a lesser extent, cured olives. Olive oil was the ultimate in exportable products because it didn't perish easily. Olive oil was being used in many other countries, but wasn't being produced very much outside of Greece. Their climate lended itself to the production of olive trees so much that they became known for their olive oil. Wine, too, was a commodity, but was not as well known as olive oil mainly because it was being produced in other areas and therefore, was not as "hot" an item. Because of this trade between the Greeks and other cultures, even though it's not cited as a reason in most texts, I believe the Greeks were able to trade ideas with other cultures that may have contributed to their "enlightened" thought. While other cultures were trading, they were mostly importing items, not exporting them. The Greeks would have been exporting olive oil to many other countries. The difference lies in the exposure they got to other ideas and ways of life because they were venturing into other lands and being immersed in them, not sitting idle in their own home city waiting for traders to come and deliver goods. So in their travels, no matter how subtle the exchange and absorption was, some ideas had to have mingled and been subconsciously adopted into the psyches of the Greek traders to be brought back to their homeland. Even if these acts weren't the sole reason, they no doubt added something to the development of free though and other ideas. Political Development Because of the way Greek cities developed, each one had their own policies, each one independent of the other in thought and practice. The main differences between the Greeks and everyone else was in how their political systems evolved. While the Egyptians regarded their kings as divine in nature, the Greeks began to form what would eventually become democratic societies. This enabled them to develop a much more independent way of thinking because they didn't feel governed by the Gods as much as Egyptians did. This belief would also enable them to overthrow their own leaders as the tyrants did when they were not happy with the way things were being run. All these things lead to an independent way of viewing the world and thus, questions begin to be asked. Gods While the Greeks did have their Gods and they were important to them, they didn't live in the same kind of fear or servitude as the Egyptians did. The Greeks did feel that good things would happen if they pleased the Gods, however, I don't think they lived in an unquestioning world as the people who came before them did. Perhaps more important, however, was that the Greeks somehow leapt past viewing themselves as being at the mercy of their Gods and thus, were able to move beyond concentrating on appeasing the Gods' wishes and into the realm of reasoning. While the Egyptians attributed the rising of the sun, the annual flooding of the Nile, and other natural occurrences to their Gods, the Greeks asked why these things happened and began philosophizing about them. Nature was a prime subject to be understood by the Greeks and somewhere, someone began trying to master the environment through understanding it instead of merely attributing it to the will of the Gods. Most Greeks did still believe the Gods were responsible for acts of nature, but the important thing here is that SOME Greeks crawled out of that darkness of thought and into the light of reason. Clearly, many stories about the Gods were borrowed from surrounding regions and probably mostly from Egypt. The Big Deal with Greek Philosophy For the first time in Western history, people were beginning to question their surroundings, to hypothesize about why things happened, and to try and rationalize the natural environment. Up until this point, people merely led their lives without wondering why, but were content with the explanation that the Gods were responsible. Early Greek philosophers were interested in knowing more. No doubt this was, in part, because they wanted to know how better to control their lives. Ultimately, it is the natural evolution of mankind to ask questions because control is so important to human beings. Under the right circumstances, when allowed to question, philosophy, wonder, and the pursuit of truth will be fostered. It was only a matter of timing and the right environment. An big reason why Greek philosophy is so important isn't how it got started, rather, it's because of where it led down the road. Western thought, mathematics, physics, and other areas of study all originated in Greece and that is enough to make it one of the most important developments in history. Without Greek thought, we may not be where we are today, whether it be for good or bad. An important point to make regarding consciousness and the Greek mind is that the Greeks weren't just pondering things, but that they set out to ponder things. The difference here is in the intent rather than the action itself. It is certain that people before the Greeks had thought of different ideas and ways of doing things, but until this time, the act of pondering wasn't a state to obtain. To say they thought of thinking is to say that they concentrated their efforts on the act of thinking about their surroundings, it didn't just happen. What may have started out as an accidental observation turned into a series of thoughts made by many philosophers. While their ideas were markedly different in many ways, the fact remains that they THOUGHT rather than just lived their lives according to what they were told. Thus, the birth of the rational mind occurred within Greek society. The Philosophers and Their Borrowed? Ideas One of the most amazing things about Greek philosophers was how seemingly advanced they were considering the societies that came before them. When one reads about ideas brought forth by people like Heraclitus, Empedocles, The Pythagoreans, Aristotle, Anaxoragus, and Plato, they can see ideas that are mirrored in other societies both prior and future. Some beliefs are similar to this in Buddhism which, originating before the advent of Greek philosophy, could have been a contributing factor. However, I am not sure if this is realistic considering the distance between India and Greece. Gradually, I suppose, some of the ideas could have made their way over to the Mediterranean. Other religions, like Zoroastrianism and Judaism may have played parts in the development of Greek philosophy because we see vague similarities between them, but I don't think anyone can say for certain that they did. It is possible that the Greeks, especially the ones in Athens, developed free thought all on their own. However, this is unlikely that by some chance, a group of people would leap beyond everyone else no matter how different their society was. Often, groups of people are given credit for coming up with this incredible new way of thinking, yet when we look deeper into history, we find out that even they copied ideas. Anaximander's idea of a fifth element, what I consider to be the "spirit" and he calls the apeiron; the Pythagoreans' believe in reincarnation of the soul; and Heraclitus's idea of the harmony between opposites like light and dark, day and night, right and left, good and bad, which mirrors the Buddhist's idea of the Yin/Yang. All of these ideas are clearly illustrated in Buddhism and could be borrowed or could have developed independently, but there is no denying that the similarities are there. Conclusion While we see both differences and similarities between Greek thought and what came before, we cannot completely take credit away from the Greeks for their developments and contributions to Western philosophy. Undeniably, they played a major part in sparking science and philosophy and shaping future ideas and religions. We may never know just what brought about this great change in the human mind, but I am not sure that is the most important thing here. Greek philosophy played a huge part in the development of the world we currently know and I feel the focus here should be on looking at just why their ideas made such an impact on our society. Other ideas have developed over time, but for some reason, Greek philosophy sticks with us. Perhaps it is just a subtle but unique way our world and people evolved before and after the Greeks that lends us to define ourselves the way we do, but something in Greek philosophy spoke to those who came after and thus, passed down their legacy. Question 9 Question: Why are the Greeks so well known for their scientific achievements? In what areas did they concentrate? How were they different from civilizations who came before them or were they? Answer: The Inquisitive Mind While the Greeks weren't the first civilization to question their surroundings, they were the first to take such an active role in understanding it. Prior to them, we have the Egyptians who wanted to understand life, death, and nature, but did so in a more spiritual way rather than with a rational mind. We see explanations for floods, famines, and sickness that are attributed to the Gods rather than to plain old science. Other civilizations as well, failed to look at things in an objective manner. For numerous reasons, the Greeks, however, were different. Their quest to understand nature led them to take a philosophical and rational approach to understanding their world. This is not to say all Greeks took this approach and there was still a great deal of irrational thought. Gods were still held in high esteem and were worshipped by most people. In fact, the one of the main reasons Athens was so great was because of the way the people paid homage to the Gods. But in any even, rational thought did enter the picture with the Greek philosophers who also studied math, astronomy, physics (that was even called the philosophy of nature), and medicine. Mathematics When one views the history of math, there is no denying the Greeks were the first major contributors to the subject. While there may have been ideas floating around before, the Greek philosophers took on the subject of mathematics and gave much to it. The most well-known mathematicians during this time were the Pythagoreans, Plato, and Euclid, although homage needs to be paid to Thales, Aristotle, and Aristarchus, all who contributed to mathematics, and much to astronomy or other sciences. The Pythagoreans Even though we're not sure exactly who came up with the Pythagorean theorem since the Pythagorus never produced any of his own works. The theorem is credited to him because the group it came from bears his name, however, Pythagorus was definitely a forefather of mathematics and philosophy. Contrary to popular belief, Pythagorus didn't come up with the theorem on his own, he was just the first to prove it. But as proof of a theorem is all-important in the world of mathematics, he is considered the founder of the theorem. Plato When people think of Plato, they usually think of Philosophy. But what is mathematics? It is merely a type of scientific philosophy of equations and rules tied in with other sciences that govern our world. While Plato himself never contributed much to the study of math, he formed a school whose members would ultimately solve many of the riddles that plagued the Greek thinkers. For this, Plato gets credit for influencing mathematics from a remote point. Without his school, theorems or ideas may have taken much longer to be solved. Euclid Now we come to the person most well-known in math out of all of the Greek mathematicians, Euclid. Studying under the pupils at Plato's school in Athens, Euclid amassed a great knowledge of math. While Euclid did not come up with anything of great importance, what he is famous for is organizing all the theorems, ideas, and mathematical laws that preceded him. The geometry we study today is a brief testament to Euclid in that most texts only include a fraction of what Euclid combined in his texts called The Elements. Because of this, Euclid is given partial credit for the spread of geometry into other countries. Astronomy The Greeks were also fascinated with the cosmos, as we still are today. Some of their ideas were profound due to the fact that it took hundreds of years to finally convince the rest of the world that they were true and others were complete duds. Of the ones who were correct, Aristarchus has got the vote for being the most foresighted. He believed in the heliocentric model of our solar system stating that the sun is in the middle and the planets, including earth, revolve around it. This is an idea that would result in executions in later centuries mainly because people, namely the church, believed the earth was the center of the universe. While Anaxoragus believed the earth was flat, he did, however, believe that the sun was not a God as most people did, but believed it was a hot stone, which we all know is not correct. He was correct, though, in his belief that the moon did not shine on its own, but reflected the sun's light and that eclipses were caused by the earth's shadow. Medicine When one thinks about medicine, perhaps the name that comes to mind is Hippocrates, after all, the hippocratic oath is the one doctors take when they become medical doctors. There were two schools of thought in ancient Greece. One was led by Asclepios, whose followers believed in supernatural causes for illness and disease as well as for cures that would heal them. On the contrary, Hippocrates and his followers believed in natural causes for death and disease and used a rational approach to diagnosing and treating people. In their need to immortalize their heroes, the Greeks eventually turned Asclepios into the God of healing. Even his family was revered for their supernatural healing powers, especially his daughter who gives her name to the word "hygiene." While Asclepios didn't contribute much to the actual practice of medicine, we still see his symbol today in the serpent wrapped around the staff used as a symbol of healing. Hippocrates, the "father of medicine," practiced around 400 BC on the island of Cos where he eventually founded a medical school. The big thing about Hippocrates was that he refused to go along with the idea that the Gods were responsible for illness. Instead, he used observation to determine what was wrong with a patient. While his ideas would eventually be proven wrong, the mere fact that he thought about reasons for illness rather than attributing them to the Gods is reason enough to pay him homage. He also introduced the idea of ethics into medicine and required his students to swear an oath, part of which includes patient confidentiality. Conclusion In many ways, the Greeks were much like their predecessors. However, they made leaps and bounds in the fields of philosophy and sciences of all kinds, which they felt were a kind of philosophy in their own rite. Many of their ideas were wrong, however, I think the most important thing here isn't that they were right or not, it was that they were pondering and rationalizing their environment rather than merely giving in to the myths passed down to them. Many Greeks, especially peasants, still believed in the Gods and all of their mythology, and as is mirrored in future times such as the Renaissance, we see that the majority of the people who are doing the thinking are the wealthy citizens of a country. If the Greeks did borrow ideas from other cultures, which they probably did on some level, they were still the ones who passed them down to us. We may never have come as far as we have if it had not been for the Greeks. Then again, we may have come farther if the great library of Alexandria hadn't burned destroying much of what the Greeks and other civilizations had discovered.
Copyright © 2001 Lissa Noelle Metz |