INTRODUCTION TO CLASSICAL ATHENS, 508 - 338 BC

There is a lot you won't be studying in this course. Like most Western Civilization courses, this course almost entirely bypasses the great civilizations of Africa, Asia and the Americas - which we hope you will be able to study some day with the help of Hope's history, literature and philosophy departments. But it also neglects important origins of "Western" Civilization, like Egypt, Sumer and other landmark cultures of the Near East. We are, moreover, skipping a history of the Hebrews, which would tell us much about the origins of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Maybe professors in the religion department can help you out on this score.

But the bad news isn't over yet. We're not even studying most of ancient Greece. In particular, there are two very early Greek civilizations - the Minoan (centered on the island of Crete) and the Mycenaen (centered on the Greek mainland) which can only be briefly mentioned here. These two civilizations, literate, highly urbanized and deeply influenced by Near East cultures, vanished suddenly under cataclysmic circumstances which are still something of a mystery to us, the Minoan around 1500 BC, the Mycenaen around 1200 BC. The fall of Troy as told by Homer in the IIliad is likely to have its basis in fact during the last decades of the Mycenaen period, when the mysterious Sea Peoples wreaked havoc on the Aegean coast and helped usher in a period of lawlessness known as the Greek Dark Ages (c. 1200-800 BC). City life, writing, trade and strong government effectively ceased during this period.

We are now getting closer to the focus of this course after the Dark Ages, after 800 BC, when Greeks rediscovered writing, trade and government in what is now called the Archaic period (800 - 500 BC). The most outstanding figure of this period is Homer, who (if he existed at all) composed the epic poems of the IIliad and the Odyssey from odes which themselves had been sung for generations. Homer's poetry served as the historical and spiritual base for Greek culture, and moral reflection on its lessons was central to Greek learning for several centuries. In fact, the Greek tragedies you will be reading are indebted to Homeric understandings of the human predicament, with their sense of human greatness and folly, the irresistible call of destiny, and the (frequently) unavoidable nature of tragedy.

Just as important, the Archaic period witnessed the rise of the polis, or city-state. All of Greece was dotted with these poleis, which frequently were at war with each other. This doesn't sound like a good thing, and these conflicts caused untold suffering and prevented the Greeks from uniting together until a foreign ruler - Philip of Macedon - asserted his authority over all of Greece in the late fourth century BC. But at the same time, the polis created a strong sense of identity among the people of the city-state, particularly the men, who were deeply involved in every aspect of city life, from its military defense to the creation of its laws.

This development was important in at least two respects. In the first place, it paved the way for democracy, "rule of the people," in which non-aristocrats were increasingly included in political decision-making. Keep in mind that this still excluded most people, such as women, slaves, foreigners and children. Whatever the seriousness of its limitations, a form of democracy began to appear in the sixth century BC in some - not all - of the Greek poleis. The democratic spirit also created a atmosphere of freedom, in which thinkers and artists felt free to express themselves in new, daring ways. The second development was just as important: The very importance of public life spawned a sense of civic pride, in which city-states tried to outdo each other in civic achievement. War was only one way to do this; athletic, artistic, literary, dramatic and other civic achievements were just as important. This competitive spirit among the Greeks unleashed "the search for excellence," in which individuals sought to bring fame and glory to themselves and their city-states by outperforming all of their competitors.

The reason why we are studying classical Athens from about 500 to 350 BC is because this city-state culturally outperformed all of its competitors. In 550 BC, Athens was still a rather insignificant place. But this began to change soon thereafter. The sixth century Athenian tyrant Pisistratus encouraged artists to come to Athens in order to enhance the reputation of himself and the city. In 508 BC, the Athenian Cleisthenes ended tyrannical rule and installed a democracy that was, with a few interruptions, to last until 338 BC, and which enjoyed its greatest days under the statesman Pericles. The role that Athens played in defeating the Persians at the battles of Marathon (490 BC) and Salamis (480 BC) cemented its leadership position in Greece. Moreover, it possessed a silver mine which allowed it build a large navy and impose its will on its weaker neighbors. Its central location on the Aegean also gave the city a strategic advantage. All of these factors made Athens the economic and cultural magnet of Greece during the fifth century BC. Merchants, artists and other skilled individuals from Greece and other parts of the Mediterranean came to Athens, and their presence had a leavening effect on the many talented native Athenians. The fifth century was a century of architectural achievement - often paid for by Athenian "allies" in the Delian Confederation. It was also the century of Greek tragedy, in which the three great tragedians - Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides - all lived in Athens. Other playwrights like Aristophanes also lived there, as did the eminent Greek historian Thucydides and, of course, the venerable Socrates. Athens was a center of learning, of drama and the arts, because Athenians thought that excellence in these areas was deeply tied to the vitality of the polis.

Later, things began to go wrong for the Athenians: Their city was greatly weakened by the Peloponnesian War against Sparta, which they lost after decades of fighting (431 - 404 BC). After that, they never regained their dominant position in Greece. Nor did they enjoy peace; fighting among Greeks continued. Enthusiasm for the polis waned, as people turned, often with cynicism about public life, toward their own private affairs. Still, fourth century Athens remained a vibrant intellectual center, boasting Greece's two greatest philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, each of whom ran his own philosophical school in the city. And Athenian democracy itself continued until the Greeks were defeated by Philip of Macedon in 338 BC. His son, Alexander the Great, would bring Greece and much of the Near East into what is now known as the Hellenistic Age, which both departed from, and was loyal to, the achievements of classical Greece - or should we say, classical Athens.

Thus this unit is about classical Athens in particular, and not about ancient Greece in general. But in some ways, this unit is more than just a narrow study of Athens between, say, 508 and 338 BC. "Athens" may also be interpreted as a magnificent expression of a Greek culture that had been around long before Cleisthenes, and which would continue long after Alexander the Great, and which still influences us today. And it is useful to know that "Athens" has been used by Christians to denote pagan learning, particularly philosophy. Ever since Paul preached at Mars Hill in Athens (Acts Chapter 17), Christians have struggled to determine their relationship to pagan (chiefly Greek) learning. "What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem?" the early Christian writer Tertullian asked. Tertullian (160-220 AD) thought the relationship was incompatible, but other Christians have clearly thought otherwise, including some of those you will study later on in IDS 171.

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