Homer: Eighth Century, B.C.E.

"The Iliad and the Odyssey tell the story of the clash of two great civilizations, and the effects of war on both the winners and the losers. Both poems are about the Trojan War, a mythical conflict between a coalition of Greeks and the inhabitants of Troy, a city in Asia Minor. These are the earliest works of Greek literature, composed almost three thousand years before our time. Yet they are rich and sophisticated in their narrative techniques, and they provide extraordinarily vivid portrayals of people, social relationships, and feelings, especially our incompatible desires for honor and violence, and for peace and a home" (222).

You may recall the opening chapter of your text, which recounts a Dark Age for Greek society. This period came after a nearly 600-year reign by the Myceneans. Not until the eighth century, B.C.E., when a nomadic trading people, the Phoenicians, introduced a variety of formal writing, did Greece have a written literature: instead, Greek history was preserved during this 'dark age' through the recitation of folk legend, as in the Iliad and the Odyssey epics. Your text points out the irony that an "illiterate bard" who sang the lines of the great epics did so against the emergence of written texts--and the fact that if recited in full, the Homeric poems would have held audiences for up to twenty hours. The editors conclude that these poems ascribed to Homer were the work of either a bard who became literate, or the collaborative work of bard and scribe (223).

The term "epic" translates from Greek as "story" or "word" and focuses on the exploits of heroes. Further, as narratives of their culture's history, the epics Iliad and Odyssey became well-known throughout the ancient world, appearing as murals on pottery and interiors, and represented in countless ways through performance and committed to memory.  

Introduction to Greek Epic Poetry: The Iliad

The term 'epic' refers to a 'word, story, poem'"; a "lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation"(1).

The Iliad (Song of Ilium) is an epic poem that tells of the last weeks of the Trojan War: a clash between two ancient civilizations, the Greeks and the Trojans, and the impact of this clash on both cultures. Though the epic poem serves as a kind of mythos for the historical evolution of Greece's early history, the narrative conveys enduring and human themes concerning "social relationships and feelings, especially our incompatible desires for honor and violence, and for peace and a home" (222).

The historical background of the Iliad begins in about 2000 B.C.E., on the island of Crete. The inhabitants, a people called the Myceneans, initiated a great empire of enormous 'fortified cities' constructed around 'central central palaces.' The tools and weapons that they used were mostly made of bronze--thus historians refer to this period of Mycenean industry as the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age endured for approximately 600 years until the civilization disappeared in around 1200 B.C.E. All traces of the Mycenean culture, including the syllabary--a method of writing in which syllables were designated by symbols--vanished. A dark period ensued, until writing was reintroduced by the Phoenicians.

Although 'literature' and writing, in the traditional sense of the words, disappeared during this period of 'darkness,' Greeks kept alive their historic and mythic past through an oral tradition: legends and myths about a glorious past were transmitted verbally from generation to generation. In the case of the Iliad and its sequel, the Odyssey, recitation of either of these epics would have lasted several hours--much longer than any one bard could manage at once. Scholars believe that perhaps these epics were the productions of an "oral poet or poets who became literate" and were thus able to record the content of each epic in writing (223). As posterity would suggest, these epics have exercised a pervasive power not just in the ancient societies of Greece and Rome, but in the modern world of literature as well.

Background Synopsis of the Iliad

The epic poem the Iliad is also referred to as the Song of Ilium, as Ilias is another title for Troy. Our text provides a compact synopsis of the epic, which begins in medias res: the actual action of the epic commences in the final year of the war.

"Paris, a prince of Troy, son of King Priam, had to judge which of three goddesses should be awarded a golden apple: Athena, goddess of wisdom; Hera, the queen of the gods--a representative of power; or Aphrodite, goddess of sexual desire. He chose Aphrodite, and as his reward she gave him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta, as his wife. Unfortunately, Helen already had a husband: Menelaus, brother of the powerful general Agamemnon. When Paris took Helen with him back to Troy from Mycenae, Agamemnon and Menelaus mustered a great army, a coalition drawn from many Greek cities, including the great heroes Achilles, the fastest runner and best fighter, and Odysseus, the cleverest of the Greeks. So began a war that lasted ten years, until Odysseus finally found a stratagem to enter the city walls of Troy. He built a wooden horse, filled it with Greek armed men, and tricked the Trojans into taking the horse into the city. The Greek soldiers leaped from the horse and killed the male inhabitants, captured the women, and razed the city to the ground" (223-4).

Themes:
Rage (Particularly that of Achilles': "his rage against the Greeks shifts into an inhuman aggression against the Trojans")
Heroic Code (Death for Glory)
Indecision
Homecoming
Respect
Honor
Fate
Conflict 
  -between mortals and gods
  -among men

Hierarchy
Mortality
Loss
Ransoming of Human Bodies

Characters: Achaeans (Greeks)
Achilles: Leader of the Myrmidons (minions); Son of Thetis, a nymph
Agamemnon: King of Mycenae; Greek leader
Odysseus: Commander and king of Ithaca
Menelaus: King of Sparta
Helen: Wife of Menelaus
Diomedes: King of Argos
Ajax the Greater: King of Salamis
Ajax the Lesser: Partner to Ajax the Greater
Patroclus: Achilles' companion
Nestor: King of Pylos, advisor to Agamemnon
Clytemnestra: Wife of Agamemnon

Characters: Trojans
Hector: Son of King Priam of Troy
Aeneas: Son of Aphrodite
Priam: King of Troy
Paris: Lover to Helen
Polydamas: Commander 'whose advice is ignored'
Hecuba: Priam's wife
Helen: Daughter of Zeus, wife of Menelaus
Andromache: Wife of Hector, Mother to Astyanax
Cassandra: Priam's daughter
Briseis: Trojan woman whom the Greeks captured; Achilles' spoil

The gods' role in the Iliad provides a sharp contrast to the mortal participants of this war: they, unlike their mortal counterparts, can "participate in the war but cannot die." Thus their resilience makes readers acutely aware of the impermanence of life. In other ways, they mirror humankind's follies and mistakes, because "there are conflicts about hierarchy, just as there are on earth: sometimes the lesser gods refuse to recognize the authority of Zeus, just as some Greek chieftains sometimes refuse to bow to Agamemnon. But on Olympus, all quarrels end in laughter and drinking, not death. The most important fact about all the warriors in the Iliad is that they die" (226). Yet, before departing this world, mortals must face the pain of loss, uncertainty, war, violence, grief. 

The Gods of the Greek Pantheon

One of the most significant themes in Homer's Iliad is that of the role of the gods in the lives of mortals. The Greek pantheon features numerous gods who preside over specific aspects of nature or serve specific functions in the complex relationships among humans. The gods reside at Mount Olympus, the mythical home of the gods where Zeus presides.

In the Iliad, as in most other examples of Greek epic and drama, the gods seldom interfere in the lives of mortals--unless called upon to do so. The modus operandi for most gods is not typically beneficence or protection of mortals; rather, most are fairly self-serving, performing roles similar to that of the trickster, in which they exhibit the heights of human folly. When Thetis appeals to Zeus to intervene in the war between the Greeks and Trojans, she asks him to allow Troy the upper hand so that the Greeks will recognize the value of Achilles. Zeus reluctantly agrees, fearful of the grief he will endure from Hera. An argument ensues between these divine royals: Hera accuses Zeus of interfering with mortals; later, their son, Hephaestus begs his mother not to ire Zeus, because his temperament will spoil the festivities of the gods. The scenario emerges as an ironic contrast to the real-life war taking place among mortals, and the internal conflicts that occur between players Achilles and Agamemnon. 

Greek myth and the corresponding gods that populate them have endured and pervaded western literature and culture. Later, as the Romans adopted the pantheon, gods were renamed with latinate titles, and their dominions modified and expanded. The greco-roman pantheons continue to inspire and influence all facets of western culture in music, literature, art, and advertising. 

Hera: Wife and sister to Zeus; goddess of women and marriage. Roman counterpart: Juno

Zeus: "Father of the gods and men"; god of the sky and thunder; Roman counterpart: Jupiter

Apollo: Son of Zeus and Leto; Alternately the god of illness and good health; twin brother to Artemis; "light and sun, healing and plague, music and poetry" are associated with Apollo. 

Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty; associated with Hephaestus and Adonis; awarded Paris the gift of Helen, wife of Menelaus. Roman counterpart: Venus.

Artemis: Goddess of the hunt, chastity, the wilderness. Daughter of Zeus and Leto; Twin sister to Apollo. Roman counterpart: Diana.

Athena: Patroness of Athens; Daughter of Zeus and Metis; Roman counterpart: Minerva.

Hephaestus: Son of Zeus and Hera; God of blacksmiths, artisans, craftsmen. Roman counterpart: Vulcan.

Lucretius: On the Nature of Things/De Rerum Natura

"The epic On the Nature of Things, by Lucretius (ca. 99-55 B.C.E.), is the only surviving work of an Epicurean Roman poet. Epicurus was a Greek philosopher who lived in the fourth an third centuries B.C.E., and whose philosophy emphasizes tranquility or peace of mind as the primary goal of human life. Epicureans believed that false beliefs--about the origins and nature of the universe and about death--and false fears about the gods are the primary sources of human anxiety." In fact, the modern adaptation of the word epicurean refers to someone who loves luxury. 

Epicureans "were not atheists" as the text reports, but imagined the gods as separate from humanity, living at the perimeter of the universe in a state of perpetual harmony and contentment. Unlike the gods of the creation epics we've studied so far, and those of many religious traditions, the gods of the Epicurean mind had nothing to do with the creation of the universe or human dealings. 

                                               en.ela.mobi

Lucretius, or Titus Lucretius Carus, about whom little is known, is thought to have had an upbringing of wealth and prosperity, having received an education in Philosophy as well as in Greek and Latin. His poem, On the Nature of Things, though lost for many centuries, seems to have had great influence on the poet Virgil and on the Atomists--philosophers who theorized that the universe was composed of two principles: Atom and Void. Atoms, which float independently or in 'clusters' are the building blocks of solid matter in the atmosphere (1). Our text points out that Lucretius stages an 'interplay' between the pragmatic and the fanciful--between 'science and mythology': while he rejects the notion of gods ruling the universe, his first lines intone the power of the goddess, Venus (Aphrodite), to "control every aspect of life on earth". Could this predilection to combine the scientific and the beatific be complimentary or contradictory? Further, what can be said about his remark that "Too often Religion Herself gives brith to evil and blasphemous deeds"? 

The Birth of Monotheism: Great Hymn to the Aten

The Pharaoh Akhenaten worships the Aten (Wikipedia.com)

King Akhenaten (Pharaoh Amenhotep IV), with whom the Great Hymn of the Aten is associated, introduced Atenism: a new religious form that centered on a single god called Aten. This religious development was a radical change from the traditional polytheistic forms of ancient Egypt, which imagined Aten merely as a minor god in the pantheon of Ra, the sun god. Until Amenhotep's religious revolution, Aten was identified symbolically by a disc, representing the gods alliance with the god, Ra.

During the first years of his reign in the 14th century B.C.E., Akhenaten instituted a religious revolution--alternately referred to by scholars as the Atenist Revolution or the Armana Heresy, in which the Pharaoh ordered the sole worship of this god, erasing all references to polytheism on temples and public buildings; further, no longer was Aten represented by a disc, but through phonetic orthography.

In Year Five of his reign (ca. 1346 B.C.E.), King Amenhotep commenced building a capital city, Akhetaten in what is now Amarna, removing the locus of political and religious power from Thebes. Scholars observe that this removal metaphorized the king's realignment with the god. In observance of the divine rule of kings, Amenhotep IV officially rechristened himself Akhenaten, which translates to "Spirit of the Aten." Once there, the alignment was cemented and the hierarchy was clear: "the Egyptian people could worship Akhenaten; only Akhenaten and Nefertiti could worship Aten" (1).

There is controversy among Egyptologists concerning whether the cult of Aten was in fact truly monotheistic: The proto-monotheism that the Pharaoh introduced acknowledged only one god; however, some theorists believe the worshipers acknowledged the possible existence of other, minor gods. This practice is referred to as henotheism (Norton 29). 

The Hymn: According to scholars the hymn suggests that despite the presence of a priesthood "devoted to Aten, only to Akhenaten had the god revealed itself, and only the king could know the demands and commandments of Aten, a god who remained distant and incomprehensible to the general populace" (2). Although the 

hymn confers access to Aten exclusively to the king, the stele 

(pictured above) implies that "his family was part of his inner 

circle); in other words, that Aten was in fact accessible to the 

royal family. 

In this video an actor recites the Great Hymn to the Aten: As you listen to the recitation, think about how the lines are altered or extemporized. What do these alterations mean to your reading of the Hymn?

A Brief History of the World

5500–3000 B.C. Predynastic Egyptian cultures develop (5500–3100 B.C.); begin using agriculture (c. 5000 B.C.). Earliest known civilization arises in Sumer (4500–4000 B.C.). Earliest recorded date in Egyptian calendar (4241 B.C.). First year of Jewish calendar (3760B.C.). First phonetic writing appears (c. 3500 B.C.). Sumerians develop a city-state civilization (c. 3000 B.C.). Copper used by Egyptians and Sumerians. Western Europe is neolithic, without metals or written records. 3000–2000 B.C. Pharaonic rule begins in Egypt. King Khufu (Cheops), 4th dynasty (2700–2675B.C.), completes construction of the Great Pyramid at Giza (c. 2680 B.C.). The Great Sphinx of Giza (c. 2540 B.C.) is built by King Khafre. Earliest Egyptian mummies. Papyrus. Phoenician settlements on coast of what is now Syria and Lebanon. Semitic tribes settle in Assyria. Sargon, first Akkadian king, builds Mesopotamian empire. The Gilgamesh epic (c. 3000 B.C.). Systematic astronomy in Egypt, Babylon, India, China. 3000–1500 B.C. The most ancient civilization on the Indian subcontinent, the sophisticated and extensive Indus Valley civilization, flourishes in what is today Pakistan. In Britain, Stonehenge erected according to some unknown astronomical rationale. Its three main phases of construction are thought to span c. 3000–1500 B.C.            www.english-heritage.org.uk 2000–1500 B.C. Hyksos invaders drive Egyptians from Lower Egypt (17th century B.C.). Amosis I frees Egypt from Hyksos (c. 1600 B.C.). Assyrians rise to power—cities of Ashur and Nineveh. Twenty-four-character alphabet in Egypt. Cuneiform inscriptions used by Hittites. Peak of Minoan culture on Isle of Crete—earliest form of written Greek. Hammurabi, king of Babylon, develops oldest existing code of laws (18th centuryB.C.). 1500–1000 B.C. Ikhnaton develops monotheistic religion in Egypt (c. 1375 B.C.). His successor, Tutankhamen, returns to earlier gods. Greeks destroy Troy (c. 1193 B.C.). End of Greek civilization in Mycenae with invasion of Dorians. Chinese civilization develops under Shang Dynasty. Olmec civilization in Mexico—stone monuments; picture writing. 1000–900 B.C. Solomon succeeds King David, builds Jerusalem temple. After Solomon's death, kingdom divided into Israel and Judah. Hebrew elders begin to write Old Testament books of Bible. Phoenicians colonize Spain with settlement at Cadiz. 900–800 B.C. Phoenicians establish Carthage (c. 810 B.C.). The Iliad and the Odyssey, perhaps composed by Greek poet Homer. 800–700 B.C. Prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah. First recorded Olympic games (776 B.C.) Legendary founding of Rome by Romulus (753 B.C.). Assyrian king Sargon II conquers Hittites, Chaldeans, Samaria (end of Kingdom of Israel). Earliest written music. Chariots introduced into Italy by Etruscans. 700–600 B.C. End of Assyrian Empire (616 B.C.)—Nineveh destroyed by Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians) and Medes (612 B.C.). Founding of Byzantium by Greeks (c. 660B.C.). Building of the Acropolis in Athens. Solon, Greek lawgiver (640–560 B.C.).Sappho of Lesbos, Greek poet (fl. c. 610–580 B.C.). Lao-tse, Chinese philosopher and founder of Taoism (born c. 604 B.C.). 600–500 B.C. Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar builds empire, destroys Jerusalem (586 B.C.).Babylonian Captivity of the Jews (starting 587 B.C.). Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Cyrus the Great of Persia creates great empire, conquers Babylon (539 B.C.), frees the Jews. Athenian democracy develops. Aeschylus, Greek dramatist (525–465B.C.). Pythagoras, Greek philosopher and mathematician (582?–507? B.C.). Confucius (551–479 B.C.) develops ethical and social philosophy in China. The Analects or Lun-yü (“collected sayings”) are compiled by the second generation of Confucian disciples. Buddha (563?–483? B.C.) founds Buddhism in India. 500–400 B.C. Greeks defeat Persians: battles of Marathon (490 B.C.), Thermopylae (480 B.C.),Salamis (480 B.C.). Peloponnesian Wars between Athens and Sparta (431–404B.C.)—Sparta victorious. Pericles comes to power in Athens (462 B.C.). Flowering of Greek culture during the Age of Pericles (450–400 B.C.). The Parthenon is built in Athens as a temple of the goddess Athena (447–432 B.C.). Ictinus and Callicrates are the architects and Phidias is responsible for the sculpture. Sophocles, Greek dramatist (496?–406 B.C.). Hippocrates, Greek “Father of Medicine” (born 460B.C.). Xerxes I, king of Persia (rules 485–465 B.C.). 400–300 B.C. Pentateuch—first five books of the Old Testament evolve in final form. Philip of Macedon, who believed himself to be a descendant of the Greek people, assassinated (336 B.C.) after subduing the Greek city-states; succeeded by son, Alexander the Great (356–323 B.C.), who destroys Thebes (335 B.C.), conquers Tyre and Jerusalem (332 B.C.), occupies Babylon (330 B.C.), invades India, and dies in Babylon. His empire is divided among his generals; one of them, Seleucis I, establishes Middle East empire with capitals at Antioch (Syria) and Seleucia (in Iraq). Trial and execution of Greek philosopher Socrates (399 B.C.). Dialogues recorded by his student, Plato (c. 427–348 or 347 B.C.). Euclid's work on geometry(323 B.C.). Aristotle, Greek philosopher (384–322 B.C.). Demosthenes, Greek orator (384–322 B.C.). Praxiteles, Greek sculptor (400–330 B.C.). 300–251 B.C. First Punic War (264–241 B.C.): Rome defeats the Carthaginians and begins its domination of the Mediterranean. Temple of the Sun at Teotihuacán, Mexico (c. 300B.C.). Invention of Mayan calendar in Yucatán—more exact than older calendars. First Roman gladiatorial games (264 B.C.). Archimedes, Greek mathematician(287–212 B.C.). 250–201 B.C. Second Punic War (219–201 B.C.): Hannibal, Carthaginian general (246–142 B.C.),crosses the Alps (218 B.C.), reaches gates of Rome (211 B.C.), retreats, and is defeated by Scipio Africanus at Zama (202 B.C.). Great Wall of China built (c. 215B.C.). 200–151 B.C. Romans defeat Seleucid King Antiochus III at Thermopylae (191 B.C.)—beginning of Roman world domination. Maccabean revolt against Seleucids (167 B.C.). 150–101 B.C. Third Punic War (149–146 B.C.): Rome destroys Carthage, killing 450,000 and enslaving the remaining 50,000 inhabitants. Roman armies conquer Macedonia, Greece, Anatolia, Balearic Islands, and southern France. Venus de Milo (c. 140B.C.). Cicero, Roman orator (106–43 B.C.). 100–51 B.C. Julius Caesar (100–44 B.C.) invades Britain (55 B.C.) and conquers Gaul (France)(c. 50 B.C.). Spartacus leads slave revolt against Rome (71 B.C.). Romans conquer Seleucid empire. Roman general Pompey conquers Jerusalem (63 B.C.). Cleopatra on Egyptian throne (51–31 B.C.). Chinese develop use of paper (c. 100 B.C.). Virgil, Roman poet (70–19 B.C.). Horace, Roman poet (65–8 B.C.). 50–1 B.C. Caesar crosses Rubicon to fight Pompey (50 B.C.). Herod made Roman governor of Judea (37 B.C.). Caesar murdered (44 B.C.). Caesar's nephew, Octavian, defeats Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Battle of Actium (31 B.C.), and establishes Roman empire as Emperor Augustus; rules 27 B.C.–A.D. 14. Pantheon built for the first time under Agrippa, 27 B.C. Ovid, Roman poet (43 B.C.–A.D. 18). *All information in this post borrowed from infoplease.com 1

Welcome!

Hello, Students. Welcome to English 2310, World Literature. I am Dr. Julie L. Lester, and I will be your instructor for this course.

I am looking forward to sharing with you some of the most compelling and generative texts from all parts of the world. We will be studying some ancient texts from Babylonia, Persia, India, and of course, Anglo-Saxon Britain, and the New World.

I hope this will be an enriching and exciting course for you, and I have designed this website as our guide. Each week I will be posting material to supplement our lessons: this material includes additional information about authors and the historical contexts they occupied, items to consider in your research, as well as a 'go-to' site for course information such as study guides and essay specifications. I hope that this site will serve adequately to help you along with this course and its content.

Please take a moment when you can to peruse the site, explore the links, and become acquainted with the content.

I anticipate a rewarding semester!
JL

Ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean Cultures

Early civilizations could only arise in areas near natural resources: lakes, forests, pasture land, and fertile soil. Because the success of these civilizations depended vitally on their nearness to resources, the most successful and thriving civilizations were those ‘of the Mediterranean basin’ in the Nile Valley, ‘where annual floods left large tracts of land moist and fertile under the Egyptian sun,” and the “valleys of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, which flowed through the Fertile Crescent, a region centered on modern Iraq. Cities arose that became the hubs of politics, government, and control of lands: Nineveh, Babylon, and Memphis (7).

                                                 Map of the Fertile Crescent (Wikipedia)

Development of cities depended on human (usually slave) labor. In fact, most early civilizations relied on slaves for a variety of purposes from manual labor on farms and construction of homes, the creation of household items to caring for and educating children (6). The editors of our text caution us not to “idealize” these ancient cultures and civilizations, as they fully exploited and took full advantage of slave labor (6-7). Following the second millennium, the civilizations of the Greeks and Romans emerged. Cross-communication among these ancient cultures was common, as is made evident in the languages, architecture, and art forms that existed in each separate culture. “Greek sculpture,” our text observes “and architecture of the seventh century B.C.E…show heavy debts to Egypt, and striking similarities between Green and Near Eastern myths are probably the result of Mesopotamian influence” (7-8). Through trade and commerce, these civilizations, like modern civilizations, intersected and influenced one another in myriad ways.

Religion

Our text asserts that nearly all ancient cultures were polytheistic: that is, they observed a pantheon of several gods, rather than identifying a single, all-powerful god. The Great Hymn to the Aten suggests one exception among early Egyptians whose rulers were creating ‘a new cult to the sun god. The Hebrew Bible suggests a further exception, and, unlike other religions of the time, insists an inter-connectedness between religious faith and a moral code. Other polytheistic civilizations worshiped gods that frequently demonstrated a level of immorality and misrule; however, the Hebrew god Jehovah of the Old Testament aligned faith and morality as a principle of his followers (8).

 The Greeks

Origin of the Hellenes is still unknown.

Linear B: A writing system developed on continental Greece.

Contiguous culture on the island of Crete called Minoan after King Minos of legend, and suggested the civilization of Mycenae.

Dark Ages of Greece: Last century of the second millennium B.C.E., the “great palaces were destroyed by fire” and the civilization seems to have disappeared, taking their writing system along with it. During this ‘dark’ period, the Greeks initiated an oral tradition of storytelling that would evince the great epics the Iliad and the Odyssey (9). By the 8^th Century, B.C.E., the dark ages came to a close and literacy returned, if in fits and starts.

Ancient Greece

The terrain of Greece of the eighth century B.C.E. was geographically fragmented: cities were kept isolated from each other by walls and mountains. The distribution of government among Greek city-states mirrored this geographic outlay. There was not a single, unified body politic, but one of ‘fragmented’ city-states that ruled themselves independently. Different dialects flourished, as did differences in custom. Members of independent city-states regarded one another not as neighbors, but as rivals.

Language and Writing

As the Greek civilization expanded across the Mediterranean and Asia Minor, they adopted the Phoenician system of writing into their own language. Here they added symbols designating vowel sounds, and, following the same path of evolution as other language systems, the Greeks used this language for contractual, civic, and economic purposes.

By the sixth century B.C.E, the Persian Empire was the largest and most powerful civilization. Seeking to expand their empire, the Persians launched a series of attacks on Athens and Sparta—chief cities of the Greek civilization. However, the Greek troops managed to defeat the Persian invaders at Salamis and Marathon (490-479 B.C.E). This triumph ennobled the Greeks, and afterward followed a period of “literary and cultural achievements” (10).

Greek Culture and Politics, Fifth Century, B. C. E.

The city of Sparta was led by oligarchical rule, which “used strict military discipline to maintain control over a majority of underclass.” Conversely, Attica was ruled by a “Democracy.” In its conventional meaning, “Democracy” indicates that all members of a state can participate in civic activity. However, in Greece: women, slaves, and metics (‘resident aliens’) were denied civic involvement (10). The startling victory over Persian attack resulted in record civic pride and enthusiasm: Greek architecture thrived during this period, resulting in monuments such as the Parthenon, built in honor of the goddess, Athena. 

Athens became a cultural and intellectual center in the 6th and 5th centuries as the period saw the rise of literature and prose, science, philosophy and medicine, and the theater became a gathering place for patrons seeking escape, entertainment, and culture. Rhapsodes, professional actors, performed for crowds by bringing life to folk tales and the epics Iliad and Odyssey. 

Though egalitarian in most regards, Athenian culture and politics--as well as intellectual life--barred much of its populace from their involvement in civic activity and education. While slaves were prohibited from civic life, women were denied both voting privileges and education. Young boys were trained in the classic literature of Homer and Virgil, and were prepared for life in the politics of the culture. Sophists (wisdom teachers) instructed young males in the "techniques of rhetoric, as well as the more substantial subjects...government, ethics, literary criticism, even astronomy" (13). 

Perhaps the most important and renowned sophist of his time was Socrates: an Athenian citizen. Ordinarily, parents chose to employ their children's instructors from other parts of Greece. Socrates explored politics and philosophy through dialectic: a technique of finding truth and reason through a series of questions and answers (13-14).

                                                   Socrates (arquehistoria.com)

Rome

Much like the civilization of Athens at its peak, Rome emerged as an unrivaled world power following a series of wars with Carthage, a North African empire. However, the civilizations of Rome and Athens differed in philosophy, legal structure, and social systems in significant ways. Rather than democratic rule, the Romans created a Republic, which was governed by a Senate, the Assemblies, and Magistrates. The Roman governmental design would become the model for the United States system of government (18-19).

Other differences between these two great civilizations are more nuanced. Our text states that "[t]he Greeks believed that arguing, strife, and competition can be good, since they inspire us to outdo others and improve ourselves . The Romans, by contrast saw conflict as deadly: it was what, in Roman mythology, led the founder of the city, Romulus, to kill his twin brother, Remus". 

The Roman credo centered on civic unity and tradition, (mos maiorum, or "the custom of the predecessors") and instilled in its citizens (among others) the virtue of civic duty (pietas). The Romans were great legislators, architects, city builders, and statesmen, developing a system of law and legal code that have "formed the model for European and American law" (19). The language of the Romans, Latin, became the backbone of modern "Romance" languages: Spanish, Italian, Romanian, Portuguese, and French.

                                                 Romulus and Remus and their Mother (Wikimedia.org)

 With the rise and fall of these earliest and most powerful of civilizations, poets, historians, and philosophers arose to ponder the nature of existence: what it was to be a Roman citizen; an Athenian. What was life's purpose? The nature of Man? These early civilizations, and others, contributed thoughts on the emergence of civilization and what elements gave life and existence order, harmony, and meaning.