HUM 2220 Greek and Roman

J Fitzgerald HUM 2220 1

Humanities & Employment

How can the humanities help prepare us for employment?


Surveys show that employers are looking for the following things:

• Writing skills• Speaking skills• Computation skills• Social skills• Reading skills


Employers Realize

The more high-tech we become…


Humanities: Greek & Roman

Laocoon, by Agesander, et al, of Rhodes, late 2nd centuryB.C., Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy


Employers Realize

• Technology can lead to isolationism

• This results in a loss of humaneness

• Humanities help keep us humane


Humanities & Definition

“...Humanities is about who we are, who we were, and who we will be…

it is the study of humankind and its achievements, both glorious and humble…

It is...the study of the human experience, an experience that is universal and timeless…” --Vandermast


Humanities & History

• History has a flow• The flow of history is rooted in ideas• Ideas determine actions


How Ideas Spread

• Geographically• Sociologically• One discipline to

another


How Ideas Penetrate the Culture

• Philosophy• Art & Music• General Culture


Levels of Discussion

• Theorhetical• Emotional• Table Talk


Divisions of History

Ancient Middle Modern Post-modern


Greek & Roman Timeline1000 BC 400 323-146 133-476ADHeroic Age Classical Period Hellenistic Period Roman


Dominant Ideas of the Greeks

The Polis

The Gods

Philosophy


Dominant Ideas of the Romans

Republican Rome

Imperial Rome


The Legend of Theseus

According to Greek legend, the hero Theseus,

the son of Aegeus,

king of Athens, was born and brought up in a distant land.

his mother did not send him to Athens until he was a young man able to lift a stone under which his father had put a sword and a pair of sandals.


Theseus Arrives In Athens

When Theseus arrived in Athens after many adventures,

he found the city in deep mourning. it was again time to send to Minos, king of Crete,

the yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens

to be devoured by the Minotaur. • This was a terrible monster, half human and half bull.

Theseus offered himself as one of the victims, hoping that he would be able to slay the monster.


Thesues Reaches Crete

When he reached Crete, Ariadne, the beautiful daughter of the king, fell in love with him.

She aided him by giving him a sword,

with which he killed the Minotaur,

and a ball of thread, with which he was able to find his way out of the winding labyrinth where the monster was kept.


Theseus Returns

Theseus had promised his father that if he succeeded in his quest he would hoist white sails on his ship when he returned; it had black sails when he left. He forgot his promise. King Aegeus, seeing the dark sails, thought his son was dead and jumped into the sea. The sea has since been called the Aegean in his honor. Theseus then became king of the Athenians. He united the village communities of the plain of Attica into a strong and powerful nation.


Theseus Is KilledTheseus was killed by treachery during a revolt of the Athenians.

Later his memory was held in great reverence. At the battle of Marathon in 490 BC many of the Athenians believed they saw his spirit leading them against the Persians.

After the Persian Wars the oracle at Delphi ordered the Athenians to find the grave of Theseus on the island of Skyros, where he had been killed, and to bring back his bones to Athens.


Theseus’ Remains Carried to Athens

The oracle's instructions were obeyed.

In 469 BC the supposed remains of Theseus were carried back to Athens.

The tomb of the great hero became a place of refuge for the poor and oppressed people of the city.


Minoan Civilization: 3000-1300 B.C.

Developed on Crete highly organized bronze age culture

Built large towns served as centers for ruling families & religious leaders

In 1900 Arthur Evans discovered the palace at Knosis covering 5.5 acres


Characteristics of the Minoans

Palace walls Decorated with vivid paintings & porcelain pottery

Elaborate jewelry Was worn by figures pictured

StoreroomsWere found with huge oils jars

bathrooms W/drainage, waste shoots & ventilation


Minoan Religion & MythologyCalled Minoan after King Minos

who was according to mythology the son of Zeus and Europa, a Phoenician princes

Worshiped the mother goddess whose symbol was the double bladed ax called the labrys

The maze of rooms in the palace recall the Greek myth of the labyrinth

Daedalus built a labyrinth to house the maneating Minotaur (half-man, half-bull)


Mysterious End of the Minoans

The Mycenaeans conquered the Minoans c. 1400 B.C.

Knossos was abandoned for unkown reasons

Both cultures became a source for later Greek mythology


Mycenae 1900-1100 B.C.

Mycenaean life also centered around the palace complexes

The lions gate (left) opens to the citidel of Mycenae

escavated by Heinrich Schliemann


Mycenaean Characteristics

Power center of MediterraneanProsperous traders from Egypt to ItalyMilitaristic: fortress-palaceHero worship,

later influence on Greeks

Trojan war: reality & myth (inspiration for Homer’s Iliad.

c. 1200 B.C. Mycenae mysteriously fellinvasion, internal strife, natural causes all suggested as responsible for fall


The Dark Age

The death of one civilized order

The birth of a new civilized order


Early Greece

Zeus or Poseidon, ca 460-450 B.C. National Museum, Athens, Greece


Early Greece:Three Periods

The Heroic Age (c. 1000-750 B.C.)

Age of Colonization(c. 750-600 B.C.)

Archaic Period (c. 600-480 B. C.)

Apollo, from pediment of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, ca 460 B.C. Museum Olympia.


The Heroic Period

First three hundred years of iron agelimited contact with other Mediterranean peoples

First great works of literature known as epic poems: Illiad & Odyssey (heroic themes)

Development slow

Geometric visual art


The Age of Colonization

Greek travelers & merchants explore lands east & west

Many new ideas & artistic styles brought to Greece


The Archaic Period

Foreign influences absorbed

Paved the way for the Classical Period

Victory over Persians in wars lasting from 490-479 B.C.


Polis: City-State

After fall Mycenaeans Greece was divided regionally/geographically into city-states.

Athens - Attica

Thebes - Boeotia

Sparta - Laconia, etc.


City-States in Ancient Greece


Athens as an Example

The polis was the center of political, religious, social, and artistic lifeCitizens maintained a strong sense of loyalty to the polisThe individuals identity was tied to the polisMap of ancient Athens


The Acropolis: Athens

A fortified, elevated citadel

Or hilltop fortress around which life revolved in the Greek city-states

(Left) The famed Athenian Acropolis, a hill about 260 feet high


Architeture of Acropolis

The Propylaea, by Mnesicles, 437-432 B.C. Temple of Athena Nike, 427-424 B.C.The Erechtheum, 421-405 B.C. The Parthenon, by Ictinus and Callicrates, 438-432 B.C.

Model of Acropolis


The City-State: Glorious & Humble

Each city developed its unique artistic styleThis led to competition

Competition led to bitter & destructive rivalries

Rivalry produced unsurpassed development and internal struggles

It proved an insufficient base for the larger superstructure


Greek Gods

Zeus - Father of Gods & MenHera - Wife of Zeus, Queen of HeavenPoseidon - Brother of Zeus, God of SeaHephaestus - Son of Zeus & Hera, God of FireAres - God of WarApollo - God of prophecy, intellect, Music & Medicine


Greek Gods Continued

• Artemis - Goddess of Chastity & Moon• Demeter - Earth Mother, Goddess of Fertility• Aphrodite - Goddess of Beauty, Love & Marriage• Athena - Goddess of Wisdom• Hermes - Messenger of Gods, God of Cleverness• Dionysus - God of Wine & Emotions


Greek Gods & Western God

• Greek• polytheistic

• dualistic - good & evil

• amplified humanity

• limited knowledge

• limited power

• mutable

• finite

• not transcendent

• Western• monotheistic

• omnibenevolent - all good

• supreme spirit

• omniscient

• omnipotent

• immutable

• infinite

• transcendent


Homer & Epic Poems

• Iliad & Odyssey • held in high esteem for centuries

• Homer is their accepted author• regarded as the first & best Western literary figure

• although little is known about him

• verbal tradition

• passed down by professional bards (storytellers)


The Iliad

• Takes place during the final year of Greeks siege of Troy

• Only indirectly concerned with Trojan War• Its subject

• is really the anger of Achilles & its consequences

• Its message or moral• be prepared to take responsibility for our actions• wrong actions effect more than ourselves, even

those we love


The Story• Agamemnon

– Commander of Greek forces– Angers Apollos by taking Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses

& priest of Apollo, as a spoil of war– He refuses to return her to her father unless he takes another– He takes Briseis who is Achilles spoil

• Achilles– The Greeks most powerful warrior & hero– He avenges the actions of Agamemnon by withdrawing his

military support– This results in the death of his best friend Patroclus


The Odyssey

• Odysseus encounters:– The island of the

Lotus-Eaters, the one eyed Cyclopes, the Aeolian wind

– Laestrygone cannibals– The enchantress Circe– Hades, the nymphs of

Siren, Scylla & Charybdis, the Isle of the Sun, Calypso


Art In Heroic Age• Painted pottery is all

that remains from 1st 300 yrs. of Greek art

• Pottery decorated with abstract geometric designs

• Two divisions of period:• Protogeometric (1000-

900 B.C. text p. 40)• Geometric (900-700

B.C. left)

Dipylon Amphora. c. 750 B.C. Height4’11’’. National Museum, Athens. Or-iginally grave marker. Note: dead man& mourners on main band.


Characteristics of Geometric Art• 1000-900 designs:

concentric circles & semicircles (text 40, 2.2)

• Qualities of clarity & order begin to show

• 900-700 linear designs zigzags, triangles, diamonds, meander (maze pattern), human & animal figures


Art in Age Of Colonization

– City-states ruled by small groups of aristocrats

– Their graves marked by Amphoras– Two centuries of peace led to prosperity– Ruling class became image conscious

regarding city-states– They began to function as patrons of the arts– Festivals became competitive sites for artists


Greeks Go Abroad

• Italy & Sicily were colonized to the west• Egypt & Black Sea region to south• Asia minor to the east including

Phoenicians & Persians– Rivalries persisted in colonies

• Greece art & life profited from rich culture in Near East.


Visual Art In Corinth & Athens

• Corinthian art used variety of eastern motifs– Sphinxes, winged

humans, floral designs

– More colorful

• Athens was slower to respond

Red-figure amphora: vase of Meidias, 5th century B.C. Archaeological Museum, Florence, Italy.


Beginning of Greek Sculpture• Greek settlers in Egypt

given land mid-7th cent. by pharaoh Psammetichos I

• Egyptian sculpture influenced Greeks

• Small number of figures are repeated

• Kouros & Kore

Left, Kouros of Anavysos, ca 550-525 B.C. Right, Standing Statue, uninscribed,Egyptian XII Dynasty.


Beginnings of Greek Sculpture Continued

• By 600 B.C. Greek Art changed

• From abstract to realism

Copyright © 1994-1996 Zane Publishing, Inc.Kore, ca 510-500 B.C., National Museum, Athens, Greece


Progress of Greek Sculpture

• Calf-Bearer. c. 550 B.C.

• First break from traditional stance


Architecture: Doric & Ionic

• Archaic period marked by many temples in Doric Style

• Also influenced by Egyptian models

• Doric order c. 600 B.C.• Ionic style used in

classical period 5th cent & later

The Basilica, ca 530 B.C., Paestum, Italy


Doric & Ionic Columns

• Comparison of two styles

• Ionic left• Doric right


Doric Style

• Doric Simpler & grander

• Columns:– have no base & rise

from floor– Columns taper toward

top– Have 20 flutes (vertical

grooves)


Ionic Style

• More elaborate– Tiered base– 24 flutes– spiraled capitals


Corinthian Style

• Discussed in chapter 4


Greek Dance & Music• Frequent references show music was central to Greek

life• History of Greek music problematic

• little evidence exists today• less than a dozen fragments exist• the earliest from 5th century B.C.• understanding of notation makes performance impossible

• Greeks believed music had a divine origin• played important part of everyday life• important in religious context• Plato & Aristotle wrote about Greek music theory & it

was part of the general education curriculum


Modal Music

• Greek music was centered around modes or scales– Each mode had the power to change behavior in a

spefific way– Olympus (from Asia Minor) was the mythological

founder of music

• Musical instruments included the lyre, kithara & the aulos

• Music was mainly vocal


Dance in Early Greece

• Played central role in drama• Little is known about dance, but some is

pictured in visual arts• It was both religious & social• Like all art, dance too told a story


Literature

• Literature between Homer & Archaic period is limited

• Hesiod c. 700 B.C. is exception– Theogony - origins of

the world– Works & Days -

disadvantages of being poor & oppressed


Lyric Poetry• Homer for aristocrats• Lyric poetry concerned

w/poets own thoughts & feelings

• Sappho most significant lyric poet

– First women lyricist w/ legacy– Born c. 612 B.C. at Lesbos– Wife, mother, poet, teacher– Both her beauty & passion

have been debated


Herodotus (484-420 B.C.)

• First Greek Historian• Called the “Father of History”• Great Story teller• Wrote History of the Persian Wars (an

account of the final years of archaic period)


Herodotus’ Weaknesses

• Not scientific• Did not understand military strategy• Interpreted events in terms of personality

rather than political or economic


Herodotus’ Strengths

• Impartial• Free from national prejudice• Acute observer• Recorded voluminous information• Provided his own evaluation of the

reliability of his sources


Herodotus’ Analysis

• Based on Philosophical & theological presuppositions– The Persians were defeated because they were

morally in the wrong– Defeat was due to hubris or excessive ambition

& pride– Greek victory an example of right over might– Also that the gods guarantee the triumph of

justice


Herodotus to the Modern Reader

• Greeks were successful because they were united against a common enemy

• Victory led to the Classical Age - the greatest period in Greek history


The Classical Period 479-323

• Victory in Persians wars produced optimism– No limit to possibilities of human development– Level of civilization rarely ever achieved– High point last half of 5th cent.– Golden Age of Greece– Drama, historiography, town planning, medicine,

painting, sculpture, math, government, philosophy


The Classical Ideal

• Greece’s conquerors spread their ideas– Macedonians, Romans

• Greeks did not live in peace– Inability to practice own ideals– War between city states

• Success of Classical Age– Belief that quest for reason & order gave unifying ideal– Central principle: existence can be ordered &

controlled, human ability can triumph over chaos


Philosophy

• The early philosophers were not great because of the answers they gave; they were great because of the questions they asked


The Presocratic Philosophers 585 B.C.

• Study of nature• What is everything made of? • All things consist of some basic “stuff” or Arche

– Thales – water– Anaximenes – air – Heraclitus – fire– Anaximander – an indefinite or boundless realm– Parmenides – whatever is, is– Empedocles – earth, air, fire, water (basic elements)– Leucippus & Democritus – atoms


The Sophists

• The Study of humankind & human behavior• Five core beliefs

– Atheists– Naturalists– Relativists– Materialists– Mechanists– Hylozoists


Sophists

• Protagoras – “man is the measure of all things” Knowledge is relative to each person

• Gorgias – nothing exisirs, if anything does exist you couldn’t know it, and even if you could know it you couldn’t communicate it

• Thrasymachus – injustice to be preferred to justice, might is right, people should aggressively, pursue their own interests, justice is whatever is in the interest of the stronger…


Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

• Life overlapped with sophists• 1st real giant in History. of Phil.• Goals

– shift attention from means to end– define key terms i.e. “justice”

• Why he was executed– impiety against Olympian Gods– corrupting the youth of Athens


Socrates: Major Elements

• Major elements:– The unexamined life is not worth living

• reason separates us from animals (when humans fail to examine their lives they are subhuman/animal-like)

– The well being of a person’s soul is more important than their body

– Better to suffer injustice than to commit injustice– Virtue is knowledge

• The reason why most people do wrong is ignorance


Plato’s Writings

• Early Dialogues– Primarily Socratic

• Middle Dialogues– Mixture of Plato’s and Socrates’ ideas

• Later Dialogues– Socrates doesn’t appear at all


Seven Ideas Plato Opposed

• Atheism– Plato knew there was a Divine something

• Olympian Religion

• Greek Mysteries Religions



• Empiricism– All knowledge through sense perception

• Plato’s alternative was rationalism



• Relativism– Plato was an absolutist

• There are standards which are absolute and unchanging.



• Hedonism– belief that pleasure is

the highest good.



• Materialism– Plato was an Idealist



• Naturalism– Plato was a supernaturalist



• Mechanism– Belief that reality was a machine.– No purpose to anything that happens in nature.

• Plato was teleologist.

• He believed that a mind is at work in the universe.


Plato’s Dualism (Three Kinds)

• Metaphysical • The Ideal and the Physical Worlds

– Theory of the Forms• Plato believed that human beings lived in two

different worlds.

• The worlds of being and becoming

• The lower and the upper world


Plato’s Dualism (Metaphysical)

• The Lower World– The world of physical things– Everything is changing

• The Upper World– The World of Forms

• A Form is an eternal, unchangeable and universal essence.


Plato’s Dualism

• Epistemological– Experience and Reason


Plato’s Dualism

• Anthropological– Body and Soul

• Negations of Body/Soul Dualism in Socrates – The unexamined life is not worth living.– The well being of a person’s soul is more important

than his body.– Better to suffer injustice than to commit injustice.– Virtue is knowledge.


Classical Period 479-323 B.C.• Victory in Persians wars

produced optimism– No limit to possibilities

of human development– Level of civilization

rarely ever achieved– High point last half of 5th

cent.– Golden Age of Greece– Drama, historiography,

town planning, medicine, painting, sculpture, math, government, philosophy Laocoon, by Agesander, et al of Rhodes, late 2nd

centuryB.C. Vatican Museum, Rome, Italy


The Classical Ideal• Greece’s conquerors spread

their ideas– Macedonians, Romans

• Greeks did not live in peace– Inability to practice own ideals– War between city states

• Success of Classical Age– Belief that quest for reason &

order gave unifying ideal– Central principle: existence can

be ordered & controlled, human ability can triumph over chaos

The Acropolis, Athens


Classical Impact

• Emphasis on order affected religion

• Also affected political & cultural life– democratic

government• ecclesia - directing

council

• boule - magistracies

• Juries


The Athenian Tragic Dramatists• Three Great Masters

– Aeschylus– Sophocles– Euripides

• Theater was a religious ritual & considered sacred groud

• Each author submitted four plays (trilogy & satyr) performed consecutively on same day


Dramatic Sources• Religious sources• Mythology

– dealt with relationship between human & divine– actors served as priests of Dionysus

• masks

• elaborate costumes

• raised shoes were worn• Chorus

• a groups centrally involved in the action • represent the point of view of the spectator• reduces intense emotions of principals to more human terms

& comments on them


Aeschylus 525-456 B.C.• Earliest Playwright, died before Classical period• Work Shows

• deep insight into human weakness and dangers of power

• maintains belief that right will triumph in the end

• the process of recognizing right is painful

• one must suffer to learn one’s errors

• process is inevitable, controlled by divine force of Justice personified under the name of Zeus

• maintains optimism in spite of violence


Aeschylus’ Dramas• Oresteia trilogy– first prize in festival of 485 B.C.– subject is growth of civilization

• the gradual transition from primitive law of vendetta to the rational society of civilized humanity

• Agamemnon (first play)– the tension between seeking the good of the individual

or that of the public• must make choice between sacrificing his daughter Iphigenia

• he sacrifices his daughter

• he is murdered by his wife


Aeschylus’ 2nd & 3rd Plays

• Libation Bearers– Centered around the principle of violence breeds

violence with Agamemnon & Clytemnestra’s son Orestes

• Orestes kills his mother with the ecouragement of his sister Electra

• is tormented by the furies - the goddesses of vengence

• The Eumenides (The Kindly Ones)– violence can only end through power & reason


Sophocles 496-406 B.C.

• Antigone– Thebes has been attacked by forces under

Polynices – Polynices is killed– Creaon forbids anyone to burry Polynices– Polynices sister disobeys stating religious &

family rights are above the state– Creaon’s sttubornness bring tragedy for him

and Antigone


Sophocles: Oedipus the King

• The choice between good & evil is never clear or easy and sometimes impossible

• He insists that we must revere the forces that we cannot see or understand makes him the most traditionally religious of the tragedies

• Doomed before his birth to kill his father & mary his mother

• attempts to avoid fate, he fails, and blinds himself


Euripides 484-486 B.C. & Aristophanes 450-385 B.C.

• Hates war & senseless misery• Political satire & fantasy


Greek Tragedy: Definition

• “An imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with every kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of dramatic action, not narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purifications of these emotions.” --Aristotle


Six Parts of a Tragedy

• Plot (the most important)• Character (2nd in importance)• Diction• Thought• Spectacle (leat important)• Song


Elements of Plot

• Beginning• Middle• End• Does not require single person as the hero

to achieve wholeness• Must be long enough to move sequence of

events “from calamity to good fortune,” or “from good fortune to calamity”


Further Elements of Tragedy• Utilizes surprise• results from reversal

• results from recognition

• or to arouse pity or fear

• It’s complexity arises from cause & effect which proposes to the audience a plausible rationale for the action

• The tragic hero must be a noble individual who brings about his own downfall by error or frailty


Visual Arts In Classical Greece

• Classical Features– Balance– Order– Realism– Motion– Naturalism– Proportion– Symmetry


Myron (Mid 5th)• Most Famous 5th century

sculpor• None of his originals

survived• There are a number of

copies of his most famous piece: Discus Thrower

• realistic treatment of action• idealized portrayal of

athelete


Polyclitus Doryphoros (mid 5th) • One of greatest sculptors

– Devised a mathematical formula for representing the perfect male body

– Wrote book: The Canon • “ideal beauty consists of a

precise relationship between the varios parts of the body

• Spear Bearer (left) to illustrate theory


The Ideal of Polyclitus

• Chrysippus (280-207 B.C. wrote

• “…beauty consists of the proportion of the parts; of finger to finger; of all the fingers to the palm and the wrist; of those to the forearm; of the forearm to the upper arm; and of all these parts to one another as set forth in The canon of Polyclitus.”


Architecture• Designers concerned with

proportion & interrelationship of varios parts to the whole

• The Propylaea, by Mnesicles, 437-432 B.C.

• Temple of Athena Nike, 427-424 B.C.

• The Erechtheum, 421-405 B.C.

• The Parthenon, by Ictinus and Callicrates, 438-432 B.C. Copyright © 1994-1996 Zane Publishing, Inc.


Parthenon: Acropolis• Work began on Acropolis

in 499 by Phidias (greatest sculptor of his day) & Pericles

• Parthenon (parthenos or virgun for goddess Athena) was first building constructed (447-438 B.C.)

• Its sculpture done by 432 B.C.


Ground Plan of Doric Temple

• Temple of Zeus example of first great architecture following Persian Wars

• Construction begun 470 & completed in 456 B.C.

• Largest Doric temple in Greece

• Illustration Classical preoccupation with proportion


Temple of Zeus at Olympia• The distance from the

center of one column to the center of the next was the unit of measurement for the whole temple

• Thus the height of each column is equal to two units

• The combined length of a triglyph and metope equals half a unit


The Acropolis• The Acropolis remains the

symbol of the golden age• Intended to perpetuate the

memory of Athens’ glorious achievements

• Instead it is a reminder of the gulf between classical ideals & realities of political existence in 5th c.


The Acropolis

• The fundraising of Parthenon symbolizes this gap between ideal & real

• Funding was provided by transfering of money from Delian League

• The League fund was an interstate war chest


Parthenon: Pediment

• The figures in the pediments are freestanding

• Left: Isis from pediment


Parthenon: Frieze

• The frieze is carved in low relief

• The middle section of a horizontal band of decoration on a building; usually a carving in stone

• Left : Detail of Seated Gods


• The metopes are in high relief


Propylaea

• The Propylaea served as the entrance to the Acropolis

• Begun in 437 B.C.• Unusual design in that

it used both Doric (front) & Ionic (Back) columns


Erechtheum: Porch of Maiden• The Erechtheum is an

Ionic temple of complex design (421-406)

• Uneven ground level was chief technical problem architect faced

• Roof rests not on columns but on the famous caryatids


Visual Art 4th Century

• Praxiteles – Hermes

• the gentle melancholy• view of male body as

object of beauty

– Aphrodite of Cyrene• view of female body as

object of beauty• 1st attempt at sensuality

• Scopas & Lysippus (see text p. 96)


Hellenistic Period (322-146 B.C.)

• Alexander’s generals couldn’t agree on successor after his death causing the empire to split

• Syria, Egypt, Pergamum, Macedonia remained at odds until conquered by Rome

• Yet each spread Greek culture• Hellenistic from hellenize “to spread”• Alexandria, Egypt was greatest of all Greek

learning centers


Hellenism

• The memory of Alexander’s spirit of adventure & experiment caused a new creative spirit that was more emotional & expressive

• Artists allowed themselves to depict a kind of righteous confusion

• Contrasts of light & shade & appearance of perpetual motion

• The wealthy patron replaced the state as promoter & provider of the Arts


The Roman Legacy

• Origin of Western tradition– Greece (intellectual)– Rome (language, law, politics)

• Roads

• alphabet

• calendar

• symbol of civilization

• spread of ideas especially Greek & Christian


Etruscans

• Late 8th century was time of great activity in Italy• The Latins were a agracultural people in the Tiber

valley– establishes small villiage that was to become Rome– inflenced by Etruscan technology, art & architecture– Etruscans were expelled by Romans in 510 B.C.


Roman Republic

• Rome considered itself a Republic• Similar government to Greek city-states only less

democratic– two chief magistrates or consuls, elected for one-year

terms by male citizens– principal assembly was called Senate

• most members from aristocratic families

• power cocentrated in upper class or patricians

• lower class or plebians allowed to form its own assembly & tribunes represented their interests


Republic Continued• The meeting place of assembly was the forum• Conflict between patricians & plebeians was

ongoing, but never seriously threatened the stability of Rome

• 247 B.C. marked the passing of the Hortensian Law which made decisions of plebians binding

• 3rd & 2nd centuries were marked by the expansion of the empire


Republic Continued

• 1st century resulted in the whole Hellenistic world being conquered and divided into– provinces– protectorates– free kingdoms

• Expansion resulted in poor administration


Literature

• Roman energy centered on political & military affairs

• Little time for literature– Ennius (239-169) father of Roman poetry, works are

lost– Plautus (254-184)– Terence (195-159)

• first Romans to have works survive in quantity• adaptation of Greek comedy• elaborate plots, everything sorted out in last scene


Literature Continued• Catullus (80-54 B.C.)

• romantic themes• ecstacy• disillusionment & despair• direct expression of emotions• similar to Sappho

• Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.)• most famous Roman• politician• general• administrator• historian


Literature Continued

• Cicero (106-43)– lawyer– consul– conflict with Caesar– 100 letters published– orator

• Philosophy– Lucretius - Epicureanism– Cicero & Senaca (8 B.C. - 65 A.D.) Stoicism


Roman Law

• Caesars Ius Civile– original creation of Rome– model for later law– edited by Justinian (527-565 A.D.) Corpus Iuris Civilis– influenced many in 20th century– international– universal– based on natural law, absolutes, equity


Education

HUM 2220 Greek and Roman