ANCIENT GREEK CIVILIZATION

INTRODUCTION

Ancient Greece is the civilization belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity and beginning of the Early Middle Ages with the rise of the Byzantine era following Justinian I. At the center of this time period is Classical Greece, which flourished during the 5th to 4th centuries BC, at first under Athenian leadership successfully repelling the military threat of Persian invasion. The Athenian Golden Age ends with the defeat of Athens at the hands of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War in 404 BC. Following the conquests of Alexander the Great, Hellenistic civilization flourished from Central Asia to the western end of the Mediterranean Sea.

Classical Greek culture had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe, for which reason Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization.

HISTORY

Archaic Period (750 - 500 BC)

The Archaic Period in Greece refers to the years between 750 and 480 B.C., more particularly from 620 to 480 B.C. The age is defined through the development of art at this time, specifically through the style of pottery and sculpture, showing the specific characteristics that would later be developed into the more naturalistic style of the Classical period. The Archaic is one of five periods that Ancient Greek history can be divided into; it was preceded

by the Dark Ages and followed by the Classical period. The Archaic period saw advancements in political theory, especially the beginnings of democracy, as well as in culture and art. The knowledge and use of written language which was lost in the Dark Ages was re-established.

Classical Period (500-336 BC)

Classical period of ancient Greek history is fixed between about 500 B. C., when the Greeks began to come into conflict with the kingdom of Persia to the east, and the death of the Macedonian king and conqueror Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. In this period Athens reached its greatest political and cultural heights: the full development of the democratic system of government under the Athenian statesman Pericles; the building of the Parthenon on the Acropolis; the creation of the tragedies of Sophocles, Aeschylus and Euripides; and the founding of the philosophical schools of Socrates and Plato.

Hellenistic Period (336-146 BC)

Period between the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great and the establishment of Roman supremacy, in which Greek culture and learning were pre-eminent in the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. It is called Hellenistic (Greek, Hellas, "Greece") to distinguish it from the Hellenic culture of classical Greece.

SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Greece in the Archaic Period was made up from independent states, called Polis, or city state. The polis of Athens included about 2,500 sq kilometers of territory, but other Polis with smaller areas of 250 sq kilometers.

Greek Society was mainly broken up between Free people and Slaves, who were owned by the free people. Slaves were used as servants and labourers, without any legal rights. Sometimes the slaves were prisoners of war or bought from foreign slave traders. Although many slaves lived closely with their owners, few were skilled craftsmen and even fewer were paid.

As Athenian society evolved, free men were divided between Citizens and Metics. A citizen was born with Athenian parents and was the most powerful group, which could take part in the government of the Polis. After compulsory service in the army they were expected to be government officials and take part in Jury Service. A metic was of foreign birth that had migrated to Athens, to either trade or practice a craft. A metic had to pay taxes and sometimes required to serve in the army. However, they could never achieve full right s of a Citizen; neither could they own houses or land and were not allowed to speak in law courts.

The social classes applied to men only, as women all took their social and legal status from their husband or their male partner. Women in ancient Greece were not permitted to take part in public life.

PHILOSOPHY

Ancient Greek philosophy focused on the role of reason and inquiry. In many ways, it had an important influence on modern philosophy, as well as modern science. Clear unbroken lines of influence lead from ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophers, to medieval Muslim philosophers and Islamic scientists, to the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, to the secular sciences of the modern day.

Neither reason nor inquiry began with the Greeks. Defining the difference between the Greek quest for knowledge and the quests of the elder civilizations, such as the ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, has long been a topic of study by theorists of civilization.

LITERATURE

Ancient Greek society placed considerable emphasis upon literature. Many authors consider the western literary tradition to have begun with the epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey, which remain giants in the literary canon for their skillful and vivid depictions of war and peace, honor and disgrace, love and hatred. Notable among later Greek poets was Sappho, who defined, in many ways, lyric poetry as a genre.

A playwright named Aeschylus changed Western literature forever when he introduced the ideas of dialogue and interacting characters to playwriting. In doing so, he essentially invented "drama": his Oresteia trilogy of plays is seen as his crowning achievement. Other refiners of playwriting were Sophocles and Euripides.

Philosophy entered literature in the dialogues of Plato, who converted the give and take of Socratic questioning into written form. Aristotle, Plato's student, wrote dozens of works on many scientific disciplines, but his greatest contribution to literature was likely his Poetics, which lays out his understanding of drama, and thereby establishes the first criteria for literary criticism.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Ancient Greek mathematics contributed many important developments to the field of mathematics, including the basic rules of geometry, the idea of formal mathematical proof, and discoveries in number theory, mathematical analysis, applied mathematics, and approached close to establishing the integral calculus. The discoveries of several Greek mathematicians, including Pythagoras, Euclid, and Archimedes, are still used in mathematical teaching today.

The Greeks developed astronomy, which they treated as a branch of mathematics, to a highly sophisticated level. The first geometrical, three-dimensional models to explain the apparent motion of the planets were developed in the 4th century BC by Eudoxus of Cnidus and Callippus of Cyzicus. Their younger contemporary Heraclides Ponticus proposed that the Earth rotates around its axis. In the 3rd century BC Aristarchus of Samos was the first to suggest a heliocentric

system, although only fragmentary descriptions of his idea survive. Eratosthenes, using the angles of shadows created at widely separated regions, estimated the circumference of the Earth with great accuracy. In the 2nd century BC Hipparchus of Nicea made a number of contributions, including the first measurement of precession and the compilation of the first star catalog in which he proposed the modern system of apparent magnitudes.

The Antikythera mechanism, a device for calculating the movements of planets, dates from about 80 BC, and was the first ancestor of the astronomical computer. It was discovered in an ancient shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera, between Kythera and Crete. The device became famous for its use of a differential gear, previously believed to have been invented in the 16th century, and the miniaturization and complexity of its parts, comparable to a clock made in the 18th century. The original mechanism is displayed in the Bronze collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, accompanied by a replica.

The ancient Greeks also made important discoveries in the medical field. Hippocrates was a physician of the Classical period, and is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is referred to as the "father of medicine" in recognition of his lasting contributions to the field as the founder of the Hippocratic school of medicine. This intellectual school revolutionized medicine in ancient Greece, establishing it as a discipline distinct from other fields that it had traditionally been associated with (notably theurgy and philosophy), thus making medicine a profession.

ART AND ARCHITECTURE

The art of ancient Greece has exercised an enormous influence on the culture of many countries from ancient times until the present, particularly in the areas of sculpture and architecture. In the West, the art of the Roman Empire was largely derived from Greek models. In the East, Alexander the Great's conquests initiated several centuries of exchange between Greek, Central Asian and Indian cultures, resulting in Greco-Buddhist art, with ramifications as far as Japan. Following the Renaissance in Europe, the humanist aesthetic and the high technical standards of Greek art inspired generations of European artists. Well into the 19th century, the classical tradition derived from Greece dominated the art of the western world.

CLOTHING

Greek clothing was very simple. Men and women wore linen in the summer and wool in the winter. The ancient Greeks could buy cloth and clothes in the agora, the marketplace, but that was expensive. They were often decorated to represent the city-state in which they lived. Women and men wore essentially the same type of clothes. These clothes were not fitted or shaped for the body but were draped over the body in soft folds.

Ancient Greek clothing was typically homemade and the same piece of homespun fabric that was used as a type of garment, or blanket. From Greek vase paintings and sculptures, we can tell that the fabrics were intensely colored and usually decorated with intricate designs.

Clothing for women and men consisted of two main garments-a tunic (either a peplos or chiton) and a cloak (himation)

MATERIALS

Clothes in Greece were made out of three types of materials. The most frequently used material was wool, which was woven from very coarse to very soft. Women and men in Greece wore nearly the same kind of clothes. These clothes were not shaped or fitted to the body, but were instead draped over the body in soft folds. There were basically four types of clothes, which were all rectangles.

COLOURS

The colors used during this period were bright hued, such as green, indigo, yellow, violet, dark red, dark purple. Colors that were from the Earth were also used. The motifs used ranged from geometric designs like the dentil and arrangement of circles and squares to vegetable forms like the ivy, water leaf and laurel.

CHITON

A chiton was a type of tunic worn by Greek men, and was often made of a lighter linen material, as men were often outdoors more often, and would require the more comfortable clothing (especially in the summer). It could be draped over both shoulders, or over only one. When it was draped over one shoulder, usually the left, it was known as an exomie. This type of chiton was usually worn for horseback riding, work, or exercise.

Ionic Chiton:

This garment was of Phoenician origin and was often seen as a female garment. It was made of thin woolens, probably like crepe and similar to materials that are still woven in Greece. This garment was cut with enough width from two pieces that were sewn together along the top of the extended arm. It was frequently pleated and long and sometimes trailing. This garment was often sewn or caught together all the way down the right side with the left side left open. Men and women wore this garment in many ways. Most of the time the chiton was worn with a short wrap called the chalmydon.

Doric Chiton: This was a garment worn to the sixth century and was made up of wool died indigo, madder or saffron and was frequently patterned. The upper edges of this garment was folded over to hang down on the breast, then it was folded round the body and caught together on each shoulder by pins leaving the arms uncovered. Despite the fact that it was open down the right side, it was held in place by the girdle, over which it was bloused. In places like Attica and Corinth, it was sewn together down the side below the waistline. As time passed, this garment grew wider and was known as the Doric chiton. The over-fold also deepened with time so that it was included in the girdling or hung over and concealed the girdle. When it was not girdled, the over-fold could be raised over the head, as a shawl.

Differences between the Doric and Ionic Chiton

The length of the overfold - longer on the Doric Chiton. The Doric Chiton waistline declined so that the lower edge of the blouse could reach the

hipbones - formed by pulling the excess cloth above the girdle.

Helenic Chiton: It was worn by women from about 300 BC to 100 BC, this variation of the Doric chiton was narrower and often belted just below the bosom.

HIMATION[]

This is a rectangle piece of wool with weighted corners that is slung over the left shoulder, leaving the right arm free. Married women wore it with the corner of the head like a shawl. Older Dorian women wore it as their only garment. This garment also served as a blanket. This garment was available in natural colors like white, brown, black, crimson, died scarlet and purple. Sometimes it had selvages, woven patterns and embroidery.

PEPLOS

The peplos was a simple sleeveless outer garment worn by the women of ancient Greece up to the early part of the sixth century B.C.E. Like many Greek garments, the peplos was formed from one large rectangle of woven fabric, which was folded and pinned in specific ways to become a gracefully draped tunic-like cloak.

The peplos was usually woven to order for each individual. Most peplos were made of wool, though some wealthy women had them made of fine linen or silk. Wealthier Greeks could afford to have their clothing dyed in bright colors and patterns; stripes and dot prints were popular for peplos. The garment was a long rectangle, from six to ten feet in width and usually one or two feet longer than the height of the wearer. When worn, the fabric was folded over at the top, so that about eighteen inches of fabric hung down, then the folded fabric was folded again lengthways to form a tube with one open side. The wearer stepped into the tube and secured the top at the shoulders with fibulae, fasteners that resemble safety pins, creating a garment with a sort of cape or overblouse.

Common Material Patterns of the Peplos

checks wavy lines stripes flowered designs

CHLAMYS[]

The most common cloak worn by young Greek men between the seventh and first centuries B.C.E., the chlamys was one of the few items of ancient Greek clothing worn exclusively by men. It was a short cape, fashioned, like most Greek styles, from a single rectangle of fabric fastened with a pin at one shoulder. Woven of coarse woolen cloth, the chlamys offered the wearer warmth and protection from the weather, while still giving freedom of movement to the active Greek man. It was a short, warm cloak that was preferred by soldiers, horsemen, and travelers, and those who wanted to imitate the dashing fashions of these adventurous young men.

Usually a rectangle of woven wool, measuring approximately seventy-two inches by fifty-four inches, the chlamys could also be rounded at the edges. The cloak was worn by draping it over the left shoulder and pinning it together over the right shoulder. This left the right arm free to hold a sword or a horse's reins, while covering most of the rest of the upper body.

GREEK BATTLE DRESS

Greek warriors of battle wore tunics of leather with metal plaque reinforcements. Helmets and leg protection called greaves added more skin coverage. The metal battle dress itself was valuable since it had to be crafted by skilled metalworkers. The higher the rank the better the dress armours and shield was crafted, and possibly, the more protective it became.

Some of the decorative metal elements paid homage to favourite Gods the Greeks thought would take care of them in battle and in the afterlife. One characteristic of the Greek helmet was that it almost totally enclosed the head and sometime had moveable sides, (but no visor) enabling the soldier to push back the face cover when at ease. Horsehair crests made the helmet an impressive sight.

Greek light infantrymen wore double felt or leather tunics and leather greaves. All wore the Chlamys in battle as a cloak or as a left arm wap for battle blows protection.

ARCHAIC PERIOD –

breastplate – it was made from metal plates or disks mounted on a fabric corselet; held up by shoulder straps.

Helmet – it was made of either leather or bronze, had a chin strap and high crest intended to make the warrior look more fearsome

Greaves – shaped leather or metal protectors for lower legs; wide metal belts; shields

Cloak – of rough wool Barefoot of high boots

CLASSICAL PERIOD –

For common soldier – cuirass made from leather. Close- fitting, shaped body armour, Metal belt, greaves

Heavily- armed infantry – metal or leather cuirass with a row of leather tabs hanging down from cuirass at waist to protect lower part of the body

Helmet – became more protective, having extended pieces to cover the cheekbones, nose, jaws and neck, with or without crests

Chlamys – style cloak worn Barefoot or high boots

GREEK SHIEDS AND HELMETS

Greek shields used for drama productions appear more realistic when they create the illusion of weight. To achieve this gravitas, either add metal weights the reverse side or better still add heave metal decoration to the front. Grecian helmets shows were ornate and high, which made soldiers appear taller and more aggressive. Horsehair crests made the helmet an impressive sight. The height of the helmet would also have helped absorb or deflect the sword blade attack.

THEATRICAL COSTUME

The theatre was important in Greece and gradually acquired a traditional style of costume through which the theater- goer could immediately identify the characters. Male actors played all of the parts in both comedies and tragedies. Tragic actors wore a tragic mask, either tall wigs or tufts of hair fastened to the mask, and thick soled platform shoes. Kings, queens, gods, goddesses, happy characters, tragic characters and slaves, each had a specific style of dress, special insignia, or colour that identified them.

J EWELRY

Ancient Greeks had an affinity for earrings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, and rings, made of metal and semiprecious stones. Precious metals were also used, but gold became popular only in the 6th century BC.

Jewelry evolved over time. During the Archaic period, jewelry pieces were simple and mainly functional. Such were the pins or brooches used to fasten the himation or the chiton, or the seal rings used to seal letters and important documents. By Hellenistic times goldsmiths had mastered their craft and jewelry featured an exquisite design and composition.

Different types of jewelry were produced in the Hellenistic period of Ancient Greece-Necklaces, earrings, pendants, pins, bracelets, armbands, thigh bands, finger rings, wreaths, diadems, and other elaborate hair ornaments.

Bracelets were often worn in pairs or in matched sets. Pieces were usually inlaid with pearls and dazzling gems or semiprecious stones-emeralds, garnets, carnelians, banded agates, sardonyx, chalcedony, and rock crystal. Artists also incorporated colorful enamel inlays that dramatically contrasted with their intricate gold settings.

Elaborate subsidiary ornamentation drew plant and animal motifs, or the relation between adornment and the goddess, Aphrodite, and her son, Eros. Popular designs for earrings included; Airborne winged figures, such as Eros, Nike, and the eagle of Zeus carrying Ganymede up to Mount Olympus.G

FOOTWEAR

The sandals were the common footwear for both men and women. The Greek sandal featured several straps, which stretched between the toes to the ankle in various fashions. They were minimal, light, and left the foot almost bare. Although high heels are considered to be a 16thcentury invention, already in ancient Greece women tried to make themselves taller by attaching cork sole to the leather sole. For travel or warfare, men wore fitted shoes – ankle-high or mid-calf length –and boots that either laced up or stayed on the foot with the help of a criss-cross thong at the toe.

HATS AND HEAD DRESSES

Headgear came in different shapes and styles. There were several variations of a cone-shaped hat. The bonnet was another known style. The pilos was a brimless skull cap made from felt or wool. Women wore scarves, wrapped around the head. The saccus featured a tassel at the back

as well as nets or snoods to hold the hair back. The petasos was made of woven straw. It featured a brim that could be turned up or down, and could also be fastened at the neck by a ribbon.

Hats for men included fitted caps and the petasos, usually worn with the chlamys. Its wide brim provided shade in summer, or kept rain off the head. Phyrygian bonnet was a brimless cap with a high padded peak that fell forward.

HAIR STYLES

Hair styles for men and women were initially similar. In the early ages men wore their hair fussy with curls forming a crown around the forehead or braids wound around the head. But styles eventually were simplified and long hair became acceptable only for the elderly male, young men or boys.

Hair styles were known by names: the kepos was unkempt, the Hectorean style involved cutting and combing the hair backward into curls and the Theseid featured strands of hair worn short at the forehead while the rest hung down longer at the back of the neck.

Young girls let their hair fall freely. Older women wore their hair long and let it fall loose over the shoulders. They could also wear their hair parted in the middle, waved, and scraped back so as to expose the ears. Sometimes, three or four strands, or spiral curls, were sectioned from the rest of the hair and styled so they hung down over the forehead while the rest of the hair hung down loosely at the back. Bands, ribbons, diadems, or strings of pearls added sophistication to hairdos.

BEAUTY AND GROOMING

Make-up was used by most women. It consisted in applying a white base color to the face, rouge to the cheekbones, and painting one’s lips. The base color was often made of lead, which could have fatal consequences, while the rouge was made from vermilion or vegetables. Women would also use eye make-up, which involved Egyptian kohl and shadows in different colors. Eyebrows were groomed and, painted black.

Perfumes were very popular, especially the essences of violet, mint, myrrh, marjoram, and thyme. The Greeks often applied different scents to different body areas.Women conditioned their skin on a daily basis, used depilatories to remove body hair, and used different concoctions on both their face and body. Good physical shape was important for both sexes, although only men were allowed in the palestra – a complex devoted to exercise.