The Medieval World

Ancient Greece 01 - Early Writing Cultures

There is something magical about the written word. It connects us to the past in a way no other technology can. With the advent of writing, the historian's profession was born. In this chapter, we will be exploring the earliest writing cultures. Throughout the chapter, pay particular attention to how environment shapes writing. We will look closely at twowriting cultures: Mesopotamia and Crete. It should be noted, my intention in this chapter is not to present a chronological history of these regions but rather present an examination of the writing culture of each respective place. If you would like a more chronological treatment of these regions, please see the links at the end of the chapter.

Ancient Greece 02: The Ancient Mediterranean

Welcome to the Ancient Mediterranean. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with it because it's going to be our home for many lectures to come. It is impossible to study Rome without first contextualizing its place within the Mediterranean and the reason for this can be explained by simply analyzing the name of this body of water. Mediterranean. Stop and think about this word. Have you ever considered what it means? If you go to Saudi Arabia and ask what it is called, the Arabic word will be a cognate of the same word in all Western languages. It is Latin in origin and those who speak Italian, French, or Spanish may find a few familiar words embedded within its name. Mediterranean is a combination of two Latin words: medius, which means middle, and terra which means land, world, earth. Roughly translated Mediterranean means "the middle of the world."

Ancient Greece 03: The Dark Ages and Homeric Society

After the Mycenaean culture collapsed, Greece entered into a period where no written record exists. This would become known as the Greek Dark Ages (c. 1200-900 BCE). During this period, historians are entirely dependent upon archaeological records. Our historical records are circumspect at best because they were written centuries after the period. Nevertheless, they are valuable. These sources shall frame our discussion.

 

Ancient Greece 04: The Greek Renaissance

When the Dark Ages end in the eighth century BCE, we enter a new period of Greek history. Historians call this period Archaic Greece. It will last from the reemergence of writing in the 8th century to c. 480 BCE. The reason why we enter a new period is because of this reemergence of writing. Writing is not, however, the only change that occurs. It is the symptom of political, economic, and social changes that occurred during the eighth century. The changes of the eighth century shall frame our discussion.

Ancient Greece 05: The Polis

At the end of the Dark Ages, a new system was firmly entrenched across Ancient Greek. This new system was that of the poleis, the plural of polis. You have heard this term numerous times in previous lectures. Polis, as you should know by now, is often translated as "city-state". It is dangerous to use this term, however. The polis does not have a true definition in modern English. That is because the concept of the ancient Greek polis does not survive in the English speaking world. City-state is merely a close translation. To rectify this problem, I recommend thinking about the polis in Greek terms by asking a fundamental question. What was a polis? This question will frame our entire lecture.

Ancient Greece 06: Ancient Greek Geography and Military

In an earlier lecture, I emphasized the role of geography in the Ancient Mediterranean in general. In this lecture, I want to zoom in on Ancient Greece and study its geography. As we will see throughout this lecture, geography and proximity to water defined how certain civilizations developed in Ancient Greece. I also want to expose you to the names of Ancient Greek locations, i.e. the Peloponnese, Attica, etc. These will be vital for future lectures, so as we go through this lecture make sure to take time and familiarize yourself with these terms. In addition to this, I want to also discuss the general way in which Ancient Greek militaries organized themselves. In the previous lecture, I spoke of how the polis organized the military and declared war. In this lecture, I am more interested in what battle formations looked like and how the militaries of various poleis were generally structured. As will become clear in future lectures, the way in which the Ancient Greek poleis organized themselves militarily was both a strength and a weakness, so great a weakness, in fact, that it would ultimately lead to their downfall when Macedonia, a kingdom in the north moves southward to conquer them.

Ancient Greece 07: Sparta

This lecture on Sparta is the beginning of a few lectures in which we explore some of the poleis of Ancient Greece. As we saw in the previous lectures, the Ancient Greek world had many different poleis with many forms of government. In this lecture, I want to look at one specific polis, Sparta. In this lecture and the next two on Thebes and Athens, I want to pay particular attention to what made each polis unique. In other words, what made Sparta, Sparta and what made a Spartan, a Spartan.

Ancient Greece 10: The Persian Wars

In the past few lectures, we have seen how certain poleis structured their government and we have learned a bit about Ancient Greek geography and military organization. In this lecture, we begin discussing the fifth century. We are going to focus in this lecture on the Persian Wars. I will spend very little time discussing the salient elements of the Persian Wars. Instead, I will provide a quick overview so that I can discuss the effects of the war. In the next lecture, we will be looking at the Peloponnesian War. The way in which the Persian War ended and the subsequent decades of political changes to Ancient Greece sets the stage for the Peloponnesian War.

Ancient Greece 11: The Peloponnesian War

In the last lecture we witnessed the Persian Wars. We saw that the Greeks ultimately defeated the Persians as they advanced into Greece twice during the early fifth century. We also saw that these invasions resulted in three chief shifts in Greece. First, the Greek poleis were temporarily unified in the Delian League. Second, we saw that Athens took advantage of the Delian League to expand their own empire. And third, Sparta challenged Athenian authority and formed the Peloponnesian League. All of this took place between the 480s and 440s. By the 430s, the divisions in Greece were so strong that civil war had become inevitable. This civil war is called the Peloponnesian War and it shall be the focus of this lecture. This was the most pivotal war in Ancient Greek history because it will set the Greek poleis up for failure and invasion from Macedonia.

Ancient Greece 15: Hellenism

In the last lecture, we saw the rise and fall of Alexander the Great. This lecture will be quiet brief as I am less interested in historical events and people and more interested in a concept that spread after the death of Alexander the Great. This concept his Hellenism.

Ancient Greece 20: The Pyrrhic War

In my lectures on Rome, I detail the rise of Rome in the Italian Peninsula. This lecture is one of three designed to discuss Rome in the contexts of Hellenism. Remember, when Greek power waned and even after the death of Alexander the Great, Hellenism remained very much alive. In these three lectures, we will be examining how Rome interacted with Greek kingdoms by examining a series of wars, The Pyrrhic War, the Macedonia Wars, and the Achaean War. This lecture studies the first of these, the Pyrrhic War.

 

Achilles - Strings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100463

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Ancient Greece 21: The Macedonian Wars

In the previous lecture, we examined the Pyrrhic War between Rome and King Pyrrhus of Epirus. I noted that this was the first war in which Rome came into contact with Hellenistic and Greek military tactics on the battlefield. In this lecture, we are going to pick up nearly 60 years after its conclusion in 272 with the Macedonian Wars which will begin in 214 and not end until 148 BCE.

 

Achilles - Strings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100463

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Ancient Greece 22: The Achaean War

In the last lecture, we saw Rome go to war with Macedonia in four separate wars. After Rome finally defeated the region after the Fourth Macedonian War, they quickly faced an uprising in 146 known as the Achaean War. It was a war that pitted Rome against an alliance of Greek poleis in Achaea and the Peloponnese. In many regards, this was rather like a final stand against the Roman Republic. While this war was very short, it is worth exploring it in full.

Achilles - Strings by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100463

Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Rome 01: Early Writing Cultures

There is something magical about the written word. It connects us to the past in a way no other technology can. With the advent of writing, the historian's profession was born. In this chapter, we will be exploring the earliest writing cultures. Throughout the chapter, pay particular attention to how environment shapes writing. We will look closely at twowriting cultures: Mesopotamia and Crete. It should be noted, my intention in this chapter is not to present a chronological history of these regions but rather present an examination of the writing culture of each respective place. If you would like a more chronological treatment of these regions, please see the links at the end of the chapter.

Rome 02: The Ancient Mediterranean

Welcome to the Ancient Mediterranean. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with it because it's going to be our home for many lectures to come. It is impossible to study Rome without first contextualizing its place within the Mediterranean and the reason for this can be explained by simply analyzing the name of this body of water. Mediterranean. Stop and think about this word. Have you ever considered what it means? If you go to Saudi Arabia and ask what it is called, the Arabic word will be a cognate of the same word in all Western languages. It is Latin in origin and those who speak Italian, French, or Spanish may find a few familiar words embedded within its name. Mediterranean is a combination of two Latin words: medius, which means middle, and terra which means land, world, earth. Roughly translated Mediterranean means "the middle of the world."

Rome 03: The Ancient Italian Peninsula

In the past lectures, I spoke about the Ancient Mediterranean. We saw that this was a belligerent political arena fraught with peril. We saw that the annual calendar was developed around agriculture. Men fought with neighboring communities in the Summer but returned home to tend to their crops in the Fall. Today we are going to zoom in and look more closely at the Italian Peninsula in particular just before Rome began to dominate its neighbors. What is the geography of the Italian Peninsula? What kind of crops are particularly suited to grow there? How was early Italy divided? What was the chief form of government on the peninsula? What languages were spoken? Why was Rome particularly suited to grow effectively? These are some of the questions that shall frame our discussion.

Rome 04 - The Mythical Origins of Rome

In this lecture we are going to explore how Rome viewed their earliest history and how that balances against fact. Early cultures rarely have an accurate view of their earliest past. 

Rome 05: The Institutions of the Roman Republic

After the Rome's regal period, they entered into what is known as the Roman Republic. The word republic comes from the Latin words res publica, which literally translates to "the public thing." The republic was, by definition, a system that belonged to the people. In this lecture we are going to explore what a republic is, what it meant to the Romans, its strengths and weaknesses, and some of the important institutions and social structures that constituted the Roman Republic. While our chief concern will be the offices of the government and military, we will pay special attention to the ways in which the Romans categorized and classified their people. Because we are dealing with Roman terms, many of the key words you encounter in this lecture will be Latin. There is, unfortunately, no way around this. Nevertheless, I will try to keep these terms to a minimum.

Rome 06: The Conquest of Italy

In the past few lectures, we have contextualized Rome and its place within the Mediterranean Sea generally and the Italian Peninsula specifically. Today we are going to be looking at how Rome grew to conquer the Italian Peninsula. More importantly, we are going to look at how they handled those they conquered and some of the remedies Rome came up with to handle their rapidly expanding empire. I want to again emphasize this term empire. You are going to hear me use it regularly. If you are reading this lecture, then you will notice I am using a lowercase "e". This is intentional.  When we speak of the Roman Empire with a capital "E", we are speaking about the period of Roman history known as the Empire which begins after Augustus. For right now, we are using a lowercase "e" because Rome had an empire long before Augustus' reforms. Think about that word "empire". Any idea where it comes from?  It comes from a Roman term imperium , which means "command". As Rome grew to dominate other people, they began to have an empire throughout which they commanded over various peoples. And their empire begins in this lecture as they conquer the Italian Peninsula.

Rome 07: The Punic Wars

In the last lecture we saw the rise of Rome on the Italian Peninsula. In this lecture, I want to focus on the first major encounter Rome had with a non-Italian adversary. This foe was Carthage.

Rome 08: The Social and Political Changes

In the past few lectures, we have discussed the ways in which Rome expanded. We saw them first attack their neighbors and expand their empire across Italy. Next, we saw them turn their attention to Sicily resulting in the First Punic War. The First Punic War forced Rome to rapidly and effectively produce a navy capable of defeating the chief naval power of the Mediterranean, Carthage. With a navy and the control of important islands, Rome began to expand into the western and then eastern portions of the Mediterranean through the Second and Second Punic Wars and the Macedonian Wars. At the end of these lectures, I tried to briefly discuss some of the radical changes these wars and this expansion wrought. I would like to expand on these ideas during this lecture.

Rome 09: Scipio Aemilianus and the Gracchi

This Rise of the Individual, as I call it, is both the natural result of Roman expansion and increased wealth and a testament to the strength of the Roman Republic but it is also the beginning of the end of the Roman Republic. Beginning in the second century, Rome had outgrown the institutions that it had. One theme that I will continue to emphasize over the next eight lectures is that Rome would not, or more likely, could not change their political and social structures quickly enough to accommodate for their rapid expansion. As a result, that would allowed them to emerge so quickly in the Western Mediterranean as a dominate force would ultimately be their undoing as they drifted into civil war at the end of the first millennium. This lecture marks the beginning of that story.

Rome 10: Second Century Military Changes

In the past lectures, we’ve seen the political results of these developments. In this lecture, I want to focus on the militaristic results, that is, how these changes in Rome affected the military. Remember, to be in the Roman military, one had to be somewhat wealthy because it was a self-funded enterprise. What will happen to the military when their ranks dwindle because fewer can join? This is a question Rome faced in the second century and one that we shall discuss in this lecture.

Rome 11: Marius and Sulla

In this lecture, I want to discuss the immediate effects of these reforms by looking at two individuals, Marius, the man responsible for these reforms, and Sulla. If humans have archenemies, Sulla was Marius’. In other words, we are going to look at the effects of these Marian Reforms and the reaction to those effects. What should become clear by the end of this lecture, is that Romans used the precedents of the second century, specifically the events surrounding Scipio Aemilianus and the Gracchi, to gain personal glory, honor, power, and wealth. In other words, they placed the individual over the state. 

Rome 16: The Age of Augustus

In the previous lectures, we saw the rise and fall of the First Triumvirate and the assassination of Julius Caesar. Caesar came to power through civil war, in which he challenged the Roman state and campaigned against his former ally, Pompey. In the end Caesar was successful, that is, until he was assassinated by his fellow Roman aristocrats who viewed him as a threat to the state. Remember, Rome still viewed their system of a Republic as intact, despite the fact that Caesar declared himself dictator in perpetuity. Even after his death, they still viewed the Republic as salvageable. What they did not realize, is that they had far outgrown the bounds of the Republic. In this lecture (and the next), we see how one man comes to power and changes the Roman state to better facilitate its size. Such changes require a single individual to have central authority. This lecture marks the beginning of Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire under Augustus, the aristocrat formerly known as Octavian.