CLASSICAL GREECE
Classical Greece is the name given to the period of Greek history from around
500 B.C. to the conquest of Greece by the Macedonian king Philip II in 338 B.C. This
period was marked not only by a brilliant culture but also by a disastrous war among
the Greeks, the Peloponnesian War.
The Challenge of Persia
As the Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean, they came in contact with
the Persian Empire to the east. The Ionian Greek cities in western Asia Minor had
fallen to the Persian Empire by the mid-sixth century b.c. In 499 b.c., an unsuccessful
revolt by the Ionian cities—assisted by the Athenian navy—led the Persian ruler Darius
to seek revenge. It is said that Darius ordered one of his slaves to say to him at every
meal, “Sire, remember the Athenians.” In 490 b.c., the Persians landed on the plain of
Marathon, only 26 miles (42 km) from Athens. There, an outnumbered Athenian army
attacked and defeated the Persians decisively. The Persians returned to Asia.
According to legend, news of Persia’s defeat was brought by an Athenian runner
named Pheidippides, who raced from Marathon to Athens. With his last breath, he
announced, “Victory, we win,” before dropping dead. Today’s marathon race is based
on this heroic story. Although the Battle of Marathon was a minor defeat to the
Persians, to the Athenians it proved that the Persians could be beaten and gave them
new confidence in their city-state. After Darius died in 486 b.c., Xerxes (ZUHRK•seez)
became the new Persian monarch. Xerxes vowed revenge and planned to invade
Greece. In preparation for the attack, some of the Greek states formed a defensive
league under the Spartans. The Athenians, however, followed a new military policy
insisted on by Themistocles, one of the Athenian leaders, and built a navy. By the time
the Persians invaded in 480 b.c., the Athenians had a fleet of about 200 vessels.
Xerxes led a massive invasion force into Greece. His forces included about 180,000
troops and thousands of warships and supply vessels. In spite of their differences,
Athenians, Spartans, and other Greeks were united by a common goal of defeating
the Persian invaders. The Greeks tried to delay the Persians at the pass of
Thermopylae, along the main road into central Greece. A Greek force of about 7,000
held off the Persian army for two days. The 300 Spartans in the Greek army were
especially brave.
When told that Persian arrows would darken the sky in battle, one Spartan
responded, “That is good news. We will fight in the shade!” Unfortunately, a traitor told
the Persians how to use a mountain path to outflank the Greek force. The Athenians,
now threatened by the arrival of Persian forces, abandoned their city. Near the island
of Salamis, the Greek fleet, though outnumbered, managed to defeat the Persians. A
few months later, early in 479 b.c., the Greeks formed the largest Greek army up to
that time and defeated the Persian army at Plataea (pluh•TEE•uh), northwest of
Athens.
The Athenian Empire
After the defeat of the Persians, Athens took over the leadership of the entire
Greek world. In 478 b.c., the Athenians formed a defensive alliance against the
Persians known as the Delian League. Its main headquarters was on the island of
Delos. However, its chief officials, including the treasurers and commanders of the
fleet, were Athenian. Under Athenian leadership, the Delian League pursued the attack
against the Persian Empire, eventually liberating virtually all of the Greek states in the
Aegean from Persian control. In 454 b.c., the Athenians moved the treasury of the
league from the island of Delos to Athens on the mainland. By controlling the Delian
League, Athens had created an empire. Under Pericles, a dominant figure in Athenian
politics between 461 and 429 b.c., Athens expanded its empire abroad while
democracy flourished at home. This period of classical Athenian and Greek history,
which historians have called the Age of Pericles, saw the height of Athenian power
and brilliance.
The Age of Pericles
By creating a direct democracy, Pericles expanded the involvement of Athenians
in their democracy. In such a system, every male citizen participates directly in
government decision making through mass meetings. In Athens, every male citizen
participated in the governing assembly and voted on all major issues. Every ten days
the assembly met on a hillside east of the Acropolis. The assembly passed all laws,
elected public officials, and made decisions concerning war and foreign policy. Anyone
attending the assembly could speak, but usually only respected leaders did so.
Pericles made it possible for poor citizens to take part in public affairs by paying
officeholders. A large body of city officials ran the government on a daily basis. Ten
officials, or generals, directed policy. The generals could be reelected, so individual
leaders could play an important political role. Athenians devised the practice of
ostracism to protect against ambitious politicians. On a pottery fragment (ostrakon),
members of the assembly could write the name of a person they considered harmful.
A person named by at least 6,000 members was banned from the city for 10 years.
Under Pericles, Athens became the center of Greek culture. Since the Persian Wars
had destroyed much of the city, Pericles began a massive rebuilding program with new
temples and statues that signified the greatness of Athens. Art, architecture, and
philosophy flourished. Pericles proudly called Athens the “school of Greece.”
Daily Life in Classical Athens
By the fifth century b.c., Athens had the largest population of the Greek city-
states. Before the plague in 430 b.c., there were about 150,000 citizens living in
Athens. About 43,000 of them were adult males with political power. Most residents of
Athens were not citizens. Foreigners living in Athens, who numbered about 35,000,
received the protection of the laws. They were also subject to some of the
responsibilities of citizens—military service and the funding of festivals. Slaves
numbered around 100,000. Slavery was common in the ancient world. Most people in
Athens—except the very poor—owned at least one slave. The very wealthy might own
large numbers. Those who did usually employed them in industry. Most often, slaves
worked in the fields or in the home as cooks and maids. Some slaves were owned by
the state and worked on public construction projects.
Economy and Society
The Athenian economy was largely based on farming and trade. Athenians grew
grains, vegetables, and fruit for local use. Grapes and olive trees were cultivated for
wine and olive oil, which were used locally and also exported. Athenians raised sheep
and goats for wool, milk, and dairy products. Because of the number of people and the
lack of fertile land, Athens had to import from 50 to 80 percent of its grain, a basic item
in the Athenian diet. This meant that trade was highly important to the Athenian
economy. The building of a port at nearby Piraeus (py•REE•uhs) helped Athens
become the leading trade center in the fifth-century b.c. Greek world. The family was
an important institution in ancient Athens. It was composed of a husband, wife, and
children, although Athenians also regarded other dependent relatives and even slaves
as parts of their families. The family’s primary function was to produce new citizens by
having children. Women who were citizens could take part in most religious festivals
but otherwise were excluded from public life. They were expected to remain at home,
out of sight in special quarters, unless attending funerals or festivals. If they left the
house, women had to have a companion.
An Athenian woman was expected to be a good wife. Her chief obligation was to
bear children, especially male children who would preserve the family line. She was
also expected to take care of her family and her house. She either did the housework
herself or supervised the slaves who did the work. Women were strictly controlled.
Women could not own property other than personal items. They always had a male
guardian: if unmarried, a father; if married, a husband; if widowed, a son or male
relative. Because they married at 14 or 15, girls learned their responsibilities early.
Their mothers taught them how to run a home, including how to spin and weave cloth.
Although many learned to read and to play musical instruments, girls were not
provided with any formal education. Women did not work outside the home unless
they were poor. Then they could only work at unskilled jobs, not skilled trades.
The Great Peloponnesian War
After the defeat of the Persians, the Greek world came to be divided into two
major camps: the Athenian Empire and Sparta and its supporters. Athens and Sparta
had built two very different kinds of societies, and neither state was able to tolerate the
other’s system. Sparta and its allies feared the growing Athenian Empire, and a series
of disputes finally led to the outbreak of the Great Peloponnesian War in 431 b.c. At
the beginning of the war, both sides believed they had winning strategies. The
Athenians planned to remain behind the city’s protective walls and receive supplies
from their colonies and navy. The Spartans and their allies surrounded Athens, hoping
that the Athenians would send out their army to fight beyond the walls. Pericles knew,
however, that the Spartan forces could beat the Athenians in open battles. The
Athenians had a better navy, but the Spartans had a stronger army. Pericles also
believed that Athens was secure behind its walls, so the Athenians stayed put. In the
first winter of the war, the Athenians held a public funeral to honor those who had died
in combat. Pericles spoke about the greatness of Athens and the strength of its political
system.
political system. (Read more on page 120.) In the second year of the war, a
plague broke out in the overly crowded city of Athens. The plague killed more than a
third of the people. Pericles himself died the following year (429 b.c.). Despite these
severe losses, the Athenians fought on in a struggle that lasted for about another 25
years. A crushing blow to the Athenians came in 405 b.c., when their fleet was
destroyed at Aegospotami (ee•guh• SPAH•tuh•mee) on the Hellespont. Within the next
year, Athens surrendered. Its walls were torn down, the navy disbanded, and the
Athenian Empire destroyed. The great war was finally over. The Great Peloponnesian
War weakened the major Greek states and ruined any possibility of cooperation
among them. During the next 66 years, Sparta, Athens, and Thebes (a new Greek
power) struggled to dominate Greek affairs. In continuing their petty wars, the Greeks
ignored the growing power of Macedonia to their north. This oversight would cost them
their freedom.
