Formation and Evolution of Greek Culture by Shiang-Ho Tseng
Formation and Evolution of Greek Culture
Shiang-Ho Tseng
(1) Early Greece
Although genetically the Greeks did not belong to a single race, they shared a common same language and culture. Foreigners who came in contact with them treated them as one single race and called them “the Greeks.” And they themselves also self-identified as Greek. It is not known where they came from. We only know they belonged to the Indo-European system and that they in four branches migrated gradually to the Greek Peninsula between the 19th and 15th Century B.C., mixed with the natives, accepted the long-existing local culture there—the Aegean Culture—and nevertheless kept their own Arian language, religious beliefs, and political thoughts.
The Greek Peninsula is a pleasant and beautiful place. Yet its winter is bitterly cold and its summer is hot and dry. It is hard for human beings to make a living there. River water washes down like running falls in winter. It dries to the bottom in summer. The mountains are often dry and seldom have trees. The plains are small and narrow and grow very little grains. Luckily, the seashores and ports are long and many. The winding coastline makes it easy for people to access the sea. In order to survive, the Greeks often robbed and fought wars or settled overseas into new homes.
Between the 14th Century and the 12th Century B.C., the Greeks gradually migrated to the Aegean Sea islands and the seashore of Asia Minor. During the early 12th century B.C. they fought with the people of Troy and won, thus occupying their land. The Greeks thought this was their greatest honor. Their heroes’ deeds were circulated in the form of short songs and long poems—the Iliad, allegedly by the blind poet Homer. Encouraged by the Iliad, the Greeks developed their national spirit. Although we do not know how accurate is the story in the Iliad, its historical background and its description of the Aegean Culture of the Bronze Age are good reference materials for historians and archaeologists.
The early Greeks resided in scattered villages and lived a half-nomadic half-agricultural life. But gradually they gathered together to form city-states. Often, due to separation by hills, the cities developed their own different organizations. But within each city, citizens met one another every day and developed close relationships. The concept of city-states was very strong.
The Greeks had their common religious beliefs and each city-state had its own guardian deity. These beliefs might increase their patriotism, but religion had little influence on politics. Wars of ancient Greece were fought for worldly interests and conflicts, not for religious reasons. Political systems also were not limited by religion; each city-state developed its own system according to the circumstances it faced. Kings, aristocrats, plutocrats, and usurpers took turns leading and eventually there was democracy. But rule by divine right, such as seen in Egypt or India never developed in Ancient Greece.
(2) Development of Dictatorship and Democracy
From mid-8th Century B.C. to mid-6th Century B.C., large numbers of Greeks migrated to the shores of the Black Sea and the western part of the Mediterranean Sea. Commerce also developed as they competed with the Phoenicians who had previously dominated the Mediterranean Sea trade. Commerce stimulated the rise of industry. In society, the so-called middle class appeared—a new class aside from the aristocrats and the commoners. As a result, political organizations also experienced many changes. Generally speaking, there were two kinds of political organizations, as represented by Sparta and Athens.
Established by the Dorians, Sparta is located at the southern tip of the Greek Peninsula. Before the 7th Century B.C., its life style and political organization was similar to that of the other Greek city-states. But after the beginning of the 6th Century B.C. everything changed. Although we do not know the reasons and details of these changes, we do know that they were due to the conquer of Messenia. During the 8th Century B.C., products of the Greek Peninsula were limited and economic difficulties often occurred. The land of Sparta is arid and its people were poor. In addition to migrating overseas, Sparta also began to invade their neighboring big city-state Messenia. It took them nearly 100 years and many wars to finally conquer Messina completely, annex its country, and enslave its people. As a result, the economic conditions of Sparta were gradually improved. However, during the 7th Century B.C., assisted by the unfriendly neighbors of Sparta in the southern part of Greece, the Messina revolted and almost conquered the Spartans. After that, Sparta carefully defended against the Messenians. The population of Messenia was 20 times that of Sparta. In order to effectively control them, Sparta turned all its citizens into soldiers for life. Luckily it had vast land to award to the people according to their numbers and was tilled by agricultural slaves. The Spartans, free from agricultural labor, could concentrate their effort on military affairs. From that time on, the Spartans gave up all material pleasure, and even gave up their own private life and freedom of will. There was only country for them, no family; only group, no individual. The country could do anything to its citizens, even kill them. Thirty senators and five supervisors were elected from the aristocrats to manage everything in the country, and “citizen’s council” existed in name only under the dictatorial politicians. All the human and material capabilities were in the hands of the government, who required the absolute loyalty of its people. Sparta gradually dominated southern Greece and organized the Peloponnesian League with itself as the leader. By the end of the 6th Century B.C., most city-states in southern Greece had joined the League.
On the other hand, Athens had changed its political system from monarchy to aristocratic democracy in the 7th Century B.C. With easy access to the sea, Athens gradually developed commerce and industry. Its culture became richer and its political system became more democratic; entirely different from Sparta.
In 621 B.C., Draco first created the written law code. It was severe and hard, yet much better than the previous laws. Later, due to the early rise of commerce and industry as well as the dogmatism of the aristocrats, the rich in society became richer, the poor became poorer, and some people fell to slavery because of debts. So, in 594 B.C., Solon was selected to make new laws.
Aristocrat by birth, Solon was very sympathetic to the commoners. He released them from all their debts. He also engaged in political reform and gave commoners political rights, thus laying the early foundation of democracy. Although his laws were not perfect and did not bring peace, after they were reformed by Cleisthenes around 508 B.C., they became very practical—the model of democracy of the Greek world and the inspiration for later centuries.
(3) The Persian War and the Sudden and Tremendous Rise of Greek Culture
Although the Greek city-states in Asia Minor bordered the foreign races, the neighboring Lydians, who liked the Greek culture very much, were friendly to the Greeks. The Lydians, because of their strong commerce and military, had been a defender of the coastal region city-states since the 7th Century B.C. As a result, although military leaders had risen to prominence in West Asia, the inhabitants in these small city-states had peaceful and happy lives. However, between 546 and 540 B.C., Lydia was conquered by the newly rising Persia, and the Ionian states also fell one after another. They all became part of the Persian Empire. Persian power gradually invaded westward, reaching Thrace of Eastern Europe. Thus the Greek Peninsula could no longer enjoy everlasting peace. In 499, B.C., Ionia revolted. Athens and Eretria gave it support. When the revolt was put down in 494 B.C., Persia considered conquering Greece in order to avoid future trouble.
In 492 B.C., Persian King Darius attacked Eretria and Athens. Eretria was totally destroyed. Athenian troops fought the big Persian military at Marathon and defeated the Persians, killing 6,000 of them. The rest retreated to their ships. Athenian troops returned quickly to Athens. The Persians thought they were well prepared, so returned home.
Ten years later, (480 B.C.), Xerxes, son of Darius, sent hundreds of thousands of Persian troops again to fight the Greeks. They came from the land and the sea, aiming at conquering Greece. The Greek city-states usually had differences among themselves and conflicts of interest. They failed to band together at this critical time. Only the Peloponnesian League under the leadership of Sparta, Athens, and a few other states fought the war of resistance. The northern states did not resist and some surrendered. As a result, the mighty Persian military marched from the north down, and only met resistance at a place called Thermopylae. Leonidas, the King of Sparta, led a few thousand soldiers and held the mountain path. The Persian army battled a few days but could not defeat them. Then, the local people accepted a bribe from the Persians and showed them a secret shortcut to the top of the mountain. The Persians were able to reach the mountain top. Leonidas and the 300 Spartan soldiers all died in defense. Although the Spartans were defeated, their heroism long survived in history and Spartan military spirit was fully demonstrated.
The Persian army then attacked Athens. Athens, after the Marathon War, had accepted the policy suggested by Themistocles and expanded its navy. At this time, it moved its women and children to safe places and put young men on warships. They lured the Persian army to the narrow Salamis Bay and defeated them. Xerxes was worried about the unsettled situation at home, so he led the majority of his navy back home, only leaving his general Madonius in Greece.
In the following year (479 B.C.), Sparta army attacked northward and fought the Persians at Plataea. Madonius died in the war. His generals led the Persian army out of Greece and the Persian-Greek War was finally over.
The Greeks had won the Persian War because their spirits were high, they were determined to defend their homeland, and their narrow plains were unsuitable for the Persian army to move easily. But there was another reason: The Persian Empire, newly established, was concerned about the effects of a defeat on their reputation and dared not to be insistent. As a result, defeat in this war did not have great importance attached to it. On the other hand, the Greeks were buoyed by their victory and their confidence greatly increased. Their culture entered its golden age in the following decades actually due to the victory in the Persian War.
There was a long history of commerce in Greece, and its navy beat the Persians gloriously during the Persian War. So, it was natural that the Greeks expanded toward the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea. Among the various Greek states, Sparta had the greatest military might. Yet Sparta did not have well-developed commerce and industry, nor did it have a navy. So after leading the Greek city-states in overseas development, Sparta lost all interest expansion. On the other hand, Athens rose up as a leader. It organized the League of Delos in 479 B.C. and gradually gained supremacy on the sea.
From the end of the Persian War till 404 B.C. when it was defeated by Sparta, Athens was supreme among the Greek states. It developed democratic political systems, commerce, and culture, and entered its glorious age. Its great political personality Pericles ruled Athens for more than 30 years—a golden age that historians call “the Periclesian Age.”
During the Periclesian Age, all adults except for women and slaves could participate in politics. They could draw lots to gain positions. Except in the military and the diplomacy—all talented people could have their chance to succeed. The standard of living was elevated. Class struggle was eliminated. The rich provided the government for its needs. The poor were provided enjoyment by the government. During the festivals, there were all kinds of plays for entertainment. The famous works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes are celebrated even today.
As Athens became a strong military power, it kept on expanding and eventually clashed with the great land power Sparta. The result was the so-called “Peloponnesian War.” The war was on and off for decades till 404 B.C. when it finally ended with the great Spartan victory. After that, Athens no longer dreamed of becoming an empire. It concentrated on improving its domestic affairs, and from then on till the Greek world was conquered by the Romans, it was always the lighthouse of culture of the Greek world.
(4) The Eastward Conquering of Alexander the Great and the Spread of Greek Culture
After the Peloponnesian War, the Athens Empire collapsed. After the beginning of the 4th Century B.C. Sparta also declined. Between 371 and 362 B.C., Thebes of the north was the strongest state, but this situation ended with the death of its leader Epaminondas. Unexpectedly, the final leadership of the Greek world went to the backward poor state in the north—Macedonia.
Macedonia is a mountainous state with little farmland. Its ruling class and seashore inhabitants were Greeks and racially mixed native tribes lived in its mountainous regions. In 359 B.C., Philip became the king of Macedonia. He enlisted the excellent sons of Greek families and native tribes, mixed them into one army, personally trained them, and treated them all as equals. Philip let them live the same kind of life, rewarded them for their military successes, and elevated them for their talents, thus gradually changing Macedonia into a highly militaristic country. Its army had great discipline and absolutely obeyed their leader. Gradually, the soldiers moved back into society and became its leaders on the strength of their family status and organizational ability. They led all the people into being loyal citizens of their king. Philip first conquered the natives of the Danube River and Thrace and then led his army southward. He defeated the united army of the Greeks in 358 B.C. at Chrorona and organized the Hellenic League. Unfortunately, as he was about to fight Persia in the east, Philip was assassinated.
After his death, his son Alexander succeeded him as king. At this time, most of the barbarian races in the mountains and Greek city-states rebelled. Alexander successfully subdued them and assumed the leadership of the Greek League. He wanted to lead his army eastward in 354 B.C., yet in consideration of his weak navy, he first conquered Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, especially their seashore lands. The Persian Empire was at this time weak inside although strong outside and its weak king was unable to defend his country. When he died, Persia fell. Alexander marched eastward. Having conquered all the land of Persia, he then entered India, reaching the Indian River valley. At that time, the geographical knowledge of the Greeks was limited. They knew nothing about China and thought India was the end of the world. As he was about the enter the Ganges River valley, Alexander sensed that his soldiers were tired of fighting, so he decided to lead them back home. He reached Babylon and wanted to conquer the shores of the Red Sea. But at this point he suffered a strange disease and died with high fever at the age of only 33.
Alexander had unprecedented vision and a broad mind. He wanted to establish a great worldly empire. He thought all mankind had the same origin, belonged together politically, and should gradually mix together their blood and culture. He wanted to use the Egyptian financial model, the Persian political organization, and the Greek military and commercial system. He wanted to introduce the Greek culture but also respect the local cultures, natural exchanges, and intermarriages between the east and the west. Although his time was too short and he could not realize his dreams, the Romans later accepted his inspiration and gradually realized his dream.
After the death of Alexander, his generals fought among themselves and successively established their own kingdoms around 306 B.C. Wars continued till 276 B.C. when Alexander’s empire was divided finally into three parts. The Antigonus Dynasty ruled Macedonia and dominated the Greek Peninsula, the Ptolemy Dynasty dominated Egypt and had great sea power, and the Selencus Dynasty had its capital at Syria, claiming the kingship from Western Aria to northern India. Among the three Greek kingdoms, the Syria Kingdom had the most land, the most complicated races, and the most inconvenient transportation. So, it was hard to keep its kingdom united. Around 305 B.C. the Maurya Dynasty of India declared independence. Around 262 B.C. the Pergamum inside Asia Minor also established its own country. In 250 B.C., Iran became independent. Syria became the Parthia Kingdom. Between 255 and 230 B.C., the Greek governor in Bactria established the Bactrian Kingdom. As a result, the Syrian Kingdom could only keep the coastal regions and the valley of the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers.
Although Alexander’s empire split, under flying flag Greek culture spread to faraway lands. In his busy fighting life he had established more than 70 cities in his empire, most of which were called Alexandria. Today we can identify 25 such cities, although only one of these—the one near the mouth of the Nile River—is stilled called Alexandria today. All these cities, due to the migration of Greeks into them, became centers for the spread of Greek culture. Even in the faraway China, Greek artistic style can be seen in Buddhist statues.
Later, as the empire split into three parts, their leaders all enthusiastically promoted Greek culture. They emphasized education and respected scholars, especially in Egypt. Scholars in Europe, Asia, and Africa gathered in the museums at Alexandria and their studies were funded by the government. There were 530,000 volumes in the library of this museum, divided into eight categories with a 120-volume catalogue. Euclid drafter his immortal work of geometry here. Before the Romans conquered the shores of Mediterranean, all of its eastern part belonged to the Greek world. The Greek language was the common international language for commerce, diplomacy, and learning. Greek arts, sciences, and philosophy also spread from here. Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile River, Bergomum of Asia Minor, Antioch of Syria, and Rhodes of Asia Minor were all centers of Greek culture. After the 2nd Century B.C. the Romans occupied Macedonia, Syria, Bergomum, and Egypt, competing with Parthia for supremacy in Western Asia. The Kushan Empire again united Bactria and northern India in the latter half of the 1st Century A.D. Thus Rome, Patria, and Kushan divided the Greek world, but continued to use its cultures. Around 182, King Vasudeva of Kushan was converted to Brahmanism. In 226 A.D., the new Persian Sassanidae Dynasty replaced Parthia. It was after these that Greek culture gradually disappeared in India and Central Asia.
After the eastern conquest of Alexander, due to the change of political situation and the development of commerce and industry, the Greek culture itself also underwent great change. Science developed from pure theories to applied inventions. For instance, aside from discovering many rules of algebra and geometry, Archimedes also discovered many rules regarding gravity and floating bodies. He used level, sinew, and cogwheel to make a machine that could move ships. He said: “Let me stand at a right spot, then I can turn this earth!”
Aristotle’s research led to the development of biology. Scientists already knew that vessels held blood instead of gas, brain and not heart controlled thoughts, nerves transmitted feelings, and pulses revealed health. The achievements in astronomy and geography were even more astonishing. During the 3rd Century B.C., scholars knew that the earth was round and their estimate of size was close to reality. Eratosthenes had watched the sun from two different angles and calculated the circumference of the earth as 28,000 miles, only 3,000 miles more than the actual measure. He declared that sailing westward on Atlantic Ocean, one could reach India. Aristarchus said that the sun was much larger than the earth, that the earth turned on its own axis once a day and also circled around the sun. Other motors using the power of water or wind and maps surveying the earth and the sky had also been invented at this time.
Philosophy had progressed from metaphysics to practical guidance for living. In addition to the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle, there were the three schools of Hellenistic philosophy: Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Cynicism. Stoicism advocated suppressing feelings; disregarding life, death, happiness, and pain; and using one’s natural reason to attain perfection. The Epicureans despised the theories of religion and soul, and advocated metaphysics only. They equated perfection to the greatest happiness, saying that to seek happiness one had to first give up enjoyment, in order to have peace and content of the inner heart. Cynicism stressed understanding of oneself and living according to one’s own personality. All three schools emphasized personal freedom and despised things like the collective authority of the group.
Literature transformed from tragedy to comedy, from historical poems to expressing feelings, from glorification of religion to descriptions of life. Menander and Theocritus were the greatest men of letters. Menander’s poetic drama described the daily life of the common people. Theocritus chanted farm life and natural scenery. Both were peaceful and humane.
Architecture, painting, and sculpture gained independence from religion and became lively, natural, and realistic art of realistic life. The Egyptian lighthouses and palaces, the stone statue of Gaul chieftains of Bergamun, and many painting about natural scenery and still life reflected daily life and had nothing to do with religion.
Generally speaking, after 404 B.C., when the wall of Athens was torn down after defeat, the separation of Greek city-states gradually disappeared. After the eastward conquest of Alexander, all the products of the Greek city-states gradually became the culture of the world.