Discovering the humanities 3rd by henry m sayre 2016 chapter 02

Discovering the Humanities
THIRD EDITION

CHAPTER

2

The Greek World: The
Classical Tradition

Discovering the Humanities, Third Edition
Henry M. Sayre

Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates
All Rights Reserved


Learning Objectives
1. Outline how the Cycladic, Minoan, and
Mycenaean cultures contributed to the
later Greeks' sense of themselves.
2. Define the polis and explain how it
came to reflect the values of Greek
culture.


Learning Objectives
3. Describe how Pericles defined and
shaped Golden Age Athens.
4. Characterize the values of the

Hellenistic world in terms of politics,
philosophy, and art.


The Acropolis, Athens, Greece. Rebuilt in the second half of the 5th century
© Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens [Fig. 2.1]

BCE.


The Greek World
• Athens was the center polis of the
Greek world in the fourth and fifth
centuries BCE.
• About 8,000 isolated poleis, or citystates, composed Greece
• The poleis of city states consisted of an
urban center surrounding a natural
citadel, which was called an acropolis.


The Greek World
• At the foot of the acropolis was the
agora, a large open space serving as a
meeting place, marketplace, and civic
center.
• The stoa was the principal architectural
feature of the agora.
 It consisted of a long open arcade
supported by colonnades, or rows of
columns.

The Greek World
• Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was a
philosopher who pursued eudaimonia,
"the good or flourishing life."
 This attitude of striving for complete
excellence defines Athens in the Golden
Age.


Greek. The Stoa of Attalus, Athens, Greece.
150 BCE.
© Craig & Marie Mauzy, Athens [Fig. 2.2]


The City-states of Ancient Greece.
[Fig. Map 2.1]


Bronze Culture in the Aegean
• Seafaring cultures took hold in the
islands of the Aegean Sea.
• The later Greeks considered the
activities and culture of Bronze Age
Aegean peoples as part of their own
prehistory.
 Their word for the way they knew them
was archailogia, or "knowing the past."

The Cyclades
• The most famous artifacts of the
Cycladic people are highly simplified
Neolithic marble figurines in an abstract
style that appeals to the modern
viewer.
• The function of these figures is
unknown, but they might have been
created for a mortuary purpose.


Figurine of a woman from the Cyclades. ca. 2400–2100 BCE.
Marble. Height: 17".
Antikensammlung, Staatliche Museen, Berlin. © 2013. Photo Scala, Florence/BPK,
Bildagentur für Kunst, Kultur und Geschichte, Berlin [Fig. 2.3]


The Cyclades
• They later created elaborate wall
frescoes depicting everyday events—
probably under the influence of the
Minoan culture to the south (Crete).
 The painting Miniature Ship Fresco was
discovered at Akrotiri.
• It was preserved due to the eruption of a
volcano at the center of the island of
Thera.

Minoan Culture in Crete
• Many motifs in the frescoes of the
Cyclades also appear in the art
decorating Minoan palaces on Crete.
• Unique to the Minoan culture is an
emphasis on the bull, associated with
the legend of King Minos and the
Minotaur.


Minoan. Miniature Ship Fresco, left section. Room 5, West House, Akrotiri, Thera.
Before 1623 BCE. Fresco. Height: 15-3/4".
National Archaeological Museum, Athens. akg-images/Nimatallah. [Fig. 2.4]


Female Deities
• Ample archeological evidence tells us
that the Minoans in Crete worshipped
female deities.
• It is likely that Minoan female
goddesses were associated with a cult
of vegetation and fertility.
 The snake is an almost universal symbol
of rebirth and fertility.


Closer Look: Bull Leaping Fres
co

Bull Leaping (Toreador Fresco). The palace complex at

Knossos, Crete.
ca. 1450–1375 BCE.
Fresco. Height approx. 24-1/2".
Archeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy,
Athens. [Fig. 2.5]


Closer Look: The Snake Goddess
or Priestess from Crete

Snake Goddess or Priestess, from the palace at Knossos, Crete.
ca. 1500 BCE.
Faience. Height 11-5/8".
Archeological Museum, Iráklion, Crete. © Craig & Marie Mauzy,
Athens. [Fig. 2.6]


The Palace of Minos
• This enormous palace was loosely
organized around a central courtyard,
with spaces designated in no
discernable order or design.
• Hundreds of wooden columns were
painted bright red with black capitals,
or sculpted blocks that top them.


The Palace of Minos
• Copious representations of double axes
decorating the palace provided the

base, "labrys," for the Greek word,
"labyrinth."
 The association of "labyrinth" with
"maze" came from the inordinately
complex layout of this palace.


Minoan. Reconstruction drawing of the new palace complex at Knossos, Crete
(color drawing).
ca. 1500 BCE.
Stephen Conlin © Dorling Kindersley. [Fig. 2.7]


Grand Staircase, east wing, palace complex at Knossos, Crete. ca. 1500 BCE.
As reconstructed by Sir Arthur Evans. © Roger Wood/Corbis. [Fig. 2.8]


The Legend of Minos and the
Minotaur
• The story of the Minos and the Minotaur
is a creation or origin myth.
• King Minos prayed that a bull might
emerge from the sea so he could
sacrifice to the god Poseidon, but he
kept it for himself.
• Angered Poseidon took revenge by
making Minos's queen, Pasiphae, to fall
in love with the bull.

The Legend of Minos and the
Minotaur
• The Minotaur was the result of union
between Pasiphae and the bull.
• Minos ordered Athens to sacrifice 14
young men and women each year to
the Minotaur.
• Theseus was victorious in defeating the
Minotaur using a sword given to him by
Minos's daughter and a spindle of
thread leading him out of the maze.


Mycenaean Culture on the
Mainland
• Mycenaean warriors from the Greek
mainland invaded Crete in about 1450
BCE.
• They valued the Minoan culture,
especially their metalwork, but the
Minoan and Mycenaean cultures
differed vastly.