INTRODUCTION TO ANCIENT GREEK HISTORY

General Foundation

Specific Foundation / Core

The course is also offered to exchange programme students.

- Τo familiarize students with the research methods and methodology applied for the study of Ancient Greek history. - Τo offer an overview of Ancient Greek History from the Mycenaean to the end of the Hellenistic Period.

The aim of this course is to give an overview of Ancient Greek History from the Mycenaean to the end of the Hellenistic period (ca. 1600 – 30 B.C.) by focusing on the civic institutions, the social and economic structures, as well as on facets of the cultural, religious and intellectual life following the main chronological periods. The following main topics will be addressed: The political and social organization of the Mycenean states, the Greek colonization and the consequences of those migrant movements, the emergence of the city-state (polis), the aristocratic ideology and culture of the Archaic period, the institution of tyranny, the formation of the Spartan constitution, the birth of the Athenian democracy, the Persian wars, the rise and fall of the Athenian empire, the Peloponnesian war, the Spartan and Theban hegemonies, the rise of Macedonia, Alexander the Great and the conquest of the East, the creation of the Hellenistic world, the character of the Hellenistic monarchy and the administrative system of the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Roman expansion to the East and the end of the Hellenistic world. Week 1. Definition of the subject – The chronological context – periodization of ancient Greek history – The geographical boundaries of the ancient Greek world – Sources of ancient Greek history with emphasis on historiography. Week 2. Mycenaean Period I: Sources of the Mycenaean period – The tablets of Linear B as historical sources – The geography of the Mycenaean world – Theories about the origin of the Mycenaean monarchy – Political organization of the Mycenaean states. Week 3. Mycenaean Period II: The social structure of the Mycenaean states – The organization and structures of the Mycenaean economy – Theories on the collapse of the Mycenaean world: "The Dorian invasion"; Demographic changes in the Greek world. Week 4. Geometric Period I: Terminology – Sources: Homeric epics as historical sources – Types of political organization during the Geometric Period: The emergence of the city-state and the Homeric polis; the ethnos; The Homeric kingship. Week 5. Geometric Period II: Social structures: The aristocracy and their sources of power and prestige – Economic structures – Culture (from orality to literacy: reception and adaption of the Phoenician alphabet) – Religion. Week 6. Archaic Period I: Sources – Political structures and developments: The ruling aristocracy; Identity and values of aristocracy – The Second Colonization and its political, social and economic consequences – Economic developments: Networks of trade – The invention of coinage and the consequences of the monetization. Week 7. Archaic Period II: Social developments: The hoplite revolution – The social crisis of the Archaic Period: The example of Athens and the Solonian Constitution. Week 8. Archaic Period III: – The emergence of tyranny: The tyranny of Peisistratids in Athens – The reforms of Cleisthenes – Sparta: Constitution and Society. Week 9. Classical Period I: The Ionian revolt and the Persian wars – The Delian League – The Pentecontaetia – The Peloponnesian war – The hegemony of Sparta – The rise of Thebes – The intervention of Persia in the political affairs of the Greek cities. Week 10. Classical Period II: The Panhellenic Idea – The rise of Macedonia – Philip II – Alexander the Great – The campaign in the East and the creation of a multi–ethnic states. Week 11. Hellenistic Period I: The formation of the Hellenistic kingdoms – Political geography of the Hellenistic world (Hellenistic kingdoms – federal states – city-states) – Political structures of the Hellenistic states – The kingdom of Pergamon – The ideology of monarchy and the cult of the Hellenistic rulers. Week 12. Hellenistic Period II: Stages of the Roman expansion in the East: Macedonian and Syrian wars – The dissolution of the Macedonian kingdom and the creation of the province of Macedonia – The creation of the province of Asia – Subjugation of Ptolemaic Egypt, and the end of the Greek independence. Week 13. The transition from Greek to Roman history.

Mycenaean period, Archaic Period, City-state, Athens, Persian Wars, Peloponnesian War, Macedonia, Hellenistic World

16-11-2023