Skip to content

2. Society, Art, Architecture and Religion in Greek City-states

Ancient Greek Society: Athens vs Sparta 1 2 3 4

Culture in Classical Sparta 1

  • Sparta was an oligarchic city-state, ruled by two hereditary kings equal in authority (of the Agiad and Eurypontid families).
  • Spartan society was largely structured around the military and military training.
  • Inhabitants Classes:
    • Spartiates: Full citizens, who were the descendants of the original Dorian invaders.
    • Mothakes: Non-Spartan free men raised as Spartans.
    • Perioikoi: Free but non-citizen inhabitants.
    • Helots: State-owned serfs who were the descendants of the conquered populations; part of the enslaved non-Spartan, local population.
  • At the age of 20, a Spartan became a full citizen and was allowed to marry.
  • Female Spartans enjoyed status, power, and respect that was unequaled in the rest of the classical world.
  • Political Structure:
    • Ephors: Five annually elected officials who were responsible for the day-to-day running of the state.
    • Gerousia: Council of elders, including all men over the age of 60; they were elected for life.
    • Delphi: A famous ancient sanctuary that served as the seat of an oracle, who consulted on important decisions throughout the ancient classical world.
    • Apella: The General Assembly of all Spartan citizens.
    • Krypteia: A secret police force that was responsible for the discipline of the helots.
  • Military Training:
    • Trophimoi: foster sons, from other city-states, who were raised as Spartans or allowed to do military service.
    • Syntrophos: Helot’s sons who were adopted or sponsored by Spartans.
  • Helots:
    • Helots were given many privileges compared to slaves in other city-states; they outnumbered the Spartiates by a ratio of about 7:1.
    • Helots were originally free Greeks that the Spartans had defeated in battle, and subsequently enslaved.

Ancient Greek Society 2

The society of ancient Greece was largely composed of the following groups:

  • Male citizens: They were the most privileged group in ancient Greece. They had the right to vote, own property, and participate in the political process.
  • Semi-free laborers: They were free but had limited rights (E.g., Helots in Sparta).
  • Women: They had limited rights and were expected to stay at home and take care of the family.
  • Children: They were expected to be obedient and respectful to their parents.
  • Slaves: They had no rights and were considered private property.
  • Foreigners: They had limited rights and were not allowed to own property but to pay taxes.

The Education System in Ancient Greece 3

  • In Ancient Greece, access to education was determined by gender and class.
  • Girls were excluded entirely from education in Athens. Because schools were neither publicly funded nor state-run, the parents themselves had to provide a place for education.
  • Only those who could afford it could send their children to school.
  • Teachers Classes:
    • Grammatistes: Taught reading, writing, and arithmetic; including philosophy, literature, and political science.
    • Kitharistes: Taught music; including history, ethics, and wisdom.
    • Paedotribes: Taught physical education.
  • Private tutors were available to the elite.

Greek Art and Architecture 5 6

Classical Greek culture 5

  • Philosophy and Science:
    • One of the key points of Ancient Greek philosophy was the role of reason and inquiry. It emphasized logic and championed the idea of impartial, rational observation of the natural world.
    • Mathematics: Euclid, Pythagoras, and Archimedes.
    • Medicine: Hippocrates.
    • Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
  • Art, literature, and theatre:
    • Plays: tragedy and comedy were the most popular genres of theatre.
    • Playwrights: Sophocles and Aristophanes.
    • A playwright named Aeschylus introduced the idea of characters interacting with dialogue.
    • Around 670 BCE, Homer’s epic poems, The Iliad and Odyssey, were compiled into text form.
    • Greek sculpture from 800 to 300 BCE took inspiration from Egyptian and Near Eastern monumental art and, over centuries, evolved into a uniquely Greek vision of the art form.
  • The civilization of ancient Greece was immensely influential in many spheres: language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, and the arts. It had major effects on the Roman Empire which ultimately ruled it.

Greek Art 6

Religion in Ancient Greece 7 8 9

Religion without doctrine or clergy: The case of Ancient Greece 7

Religion in Ancient Greece 8 9

  • City-States:
    • Athene:
      • Democracy; the power is in the hands of the citizens.
      • Athens is the goddess of wisdom and war.
    • Thebes:
      • aristocracy; the power is in the hands of the nobles.
      • Founded on the site of the old kingdom of Boeotia.
      • The home of the mythological kings Cadmus and Oedipus who founded the city.
    • Corinth:
      • aristocracy; the power is in the hands of the nobles.
      • It has a strategic location separating the Peloponnese from the mainland.
    • Sparta:
      • Oligarchy; the power is in the hands of a few.
      • Spartans were descendants of the Dorian invaders who were descendants of the great hero Hercules.
    • Olympia:
      • The site of the Olympic Games.
      • The games were held every four years in honor of Zeus.
  • Helenus was the son of Deucalion and Pyrrha, the only two survivors of the great flood that was carried out by Zeus and Poseidon.
  • Greeks were direct descendants of Helenus; thus, there was a shared religious identity between city-states.
  • The language was also shared among the city-states.
  • Ice Age: no recorded history.
  • Bronze Age (3000-1200 BCE):
    • Two main civilizations: Minoans and Mycenaeans.
    • Three main gods: Zeus, Poseidon, and Athena.
  • Greek Dark Ages (1200-800 BCE):
    • Everything to this point was lost.
  • Greek Archaic Period (800-500 BCE):
    • The first archaeological evidence of the Greek religion was found.
  • Classical Greece (500-323 BCE):
    • The period of our focus in this course.

Greek religion in Classical Greece 8

  • There is no one founder of the Greek religion, but there are two important figures:
    • Homer: He wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.
    • Hesiod: He wrote the Theogony.
  • The most important Deities were the 12 Olympian gods:
    • Zeus: The king of the gods.
    • Hera: The queen of the gods.
    • Poseidon: The god of the sea.
    • Demeter: The goddess of agriculture.
    • Athena: The goddess of wisdom and war.
    • Apollo: The god of the sun and music.
    • Artemis: The goddess of the hunt.
    • Ares: The god of war.
    • Aphrodite: The goddess of love.
    • Hephaestus: The god of fire.
    • Hermes: The messenger of the gods.
    • Hestia: The goddess of the hearth; she was replaced by Dionysus, the god of wine; she was completely discarded from the works of Homer.
  • Gods were living in Mount Olympus; they became famous after the war against the Titans.
  • Sanctuaries:
    • It is a sacred place where the gods were worshiped.
    • Many sanctuaries have water sources.
    • Delphi: The most important sanctuary in Greece; it kept an eternal flame.
    • Olympia: The site of the Olympic Games; the temple of Zeus was built there.
    • Eleusis: The site of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
  • Temples:
    • They were a later improvement of the sanctuaries.
    • The temple is a building built on a sanctuary.
    • Parthenon: The most famous temple in Greece; it was dedicated to Athena.
    • Sparta and Athens chose Athena as their patron God; the olive tree was the symbol of Athens.
    • Corinth chose Poseidon as its patron God;
  • The Greek religion did not maintain a full-time priest; anyone could lead the ceremony, but it was usually delegated to someone important.
  • Divination:
    • It is the practice of seeking knowledge of the future or the unknown by supernatural means.
    • Oracles:
      • They were the connection between the gods and the humans.
      • Their prophecies were the well of the gods.
      • Delphi: the mouth of the god Apollo through vulcanic flames.
    • Seers:
      • They don’t have direct contact with the gods.
      • They were the people who could interpret the prophecies of the oracles, or the signs of the gods (omens).
      • There were far more seers than oracles.
      • They only answer yes or no questions.
      • They often accompanied armies on the march.
  • Animal sacrifices:
    • The Bull was the most prized animal for sacrifice.
    • Animal associations:
      • Zeus: Bull.
      • Apollo: Sheep.
      • Athena: Owl.
      • Hermes: Goat.

References

  1. Culture in classical Sparta. (n.d.). Lumen. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/atd-herkimer-westerncivilization/chapter/culture-in-classical-sparta/ ↩↩

  2. Cartwright, M. (2018, May 15). Ancient Greek society. In World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/483/ancient-greek-society/ ↩↩

  3. Garland, R. (2020, August 6). The education system in Ancient Greece. Wondrium Daily. https://classicalwisdom.com/culture/the-education-system-in-ancient-greece/ ↩↩

  4. Life in two city-states: and Sparta. (n.d.). Teachers’ Curriculum Institute. https://www.neshaminy.org/cms/lib6/PA01000466/Centricity/Domain/439/Chapter%2027%20-%20Life%20in%20Two%20City-States%20Athens%20and%20Sparta%20FULL%20TEXT%20with%20pictures.pdf ↩

  5. Classical Greek culture. (n.d.). Khan Academy. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/classical-greece/a/greek-culture ↩↩

  6. Greek Art – An exploration of Ancient Greek art and architecture. (2022, March 15). Artincontext. https://artincontext.org/greek-art/ ↩↩

  7. Tridimas, G. (2021). Religion without doctrine or clergy: The case of Ancient Greece. Journal of Institutional Economics, 18(4), 677-691. https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/99858243/religion_without_doctrine_or_clergy_the_case_of_ancient_greece.pdf ↩↩

  8. Historyden. (2018, November 28). Religion in Ancient Greece [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/T8HvPGoGUJg ↩↩↩

  9. See U in History / Mythology. (2017, November 29). The Greek city-states - ancient history #02 - see u in history [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/gcAPoY6l-Pc ↩↩