Final Flashcards
(63 cards)
Delian League
Founded in aftermath of Persian War in 478 BCE. Under Athenian domination. Met in Delos, which held the treasury. Allies would contribute money and ships. Promised to be allied forever. First mopped up lingering Persians, then took Skyros. Naxos left in 470, which set a precedent. Athens increasingly controlled it like an empire
Cimon
An aristocrat and conservative. Field commander of the Delian League. Every victory he took brought money to Athens, making him popular. Took Eion in 476/5 and Skyros in 474, which brought a lot of booty. Engineered ostracism of Themistokles, playing on rumors of Medism. Popularity fell after Spartans ejected Athenians during the Messenian revolt of 464. Replaced by Ephialtes
Aeschylus
Playwright. Lived from ~525 to 453. Present at the battle of Marathon and served at Salamis. Saw rise of Athens to being a major power. Wrote the Oresteia, a trilogy of Agamemnon, Libation-Bearers, and Eumenides
Athena
Orestes and the Furies ask her to pronounce a judgement in deciding whether or not Orestes was in the right. She says she can’t do it herself, so convenes jury of Athenians to decide, thereby flattering the city. Declares that Orestes was right to kill Clytemnestra because the mother is the less important parent since she did not have one
Apollo
Acted as advocate for Orestes’ cause and defended him at the trial. Asserted that he had to kill his mother
Orestes
Son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Killed her for killing his father, then haunted by the Furies for it. Flees to Delos, where the priestess tells him to go to Athens for help. There, Athena and a jury of Athenians pronounce his innocence.
Eumenides
What the Furies become after the decision of Athena and the Athenian jury. Less aggressive deities with a more subservient role.
Athens’ Changing Hegemony
Athens increasingly viewing themselves as the proper lords of Greece and the Aegean. Begin to exert direct control over the members of the Delian League, especially after they rebel.
First Peloponnesian War
Started when Athens Allied with Argos. Lasted from 460 to 445 BCE. Athens lost the battle of Tanagra in 457 and the allies rise up. Athens then decided to help the Egyptian rebels against the Persians, sending an armament there in 455/4 that was completely destroyed. Led to them moving the treasury in 454 to Athens. In 450, the Thirty Year Truce established with Sparta. Delian League allies incorporated into the Athenian Empire and klerouchies sent to oversee them. In 450/49, the Peace of Callias
Peace of Callias
- Athens makes peace with the Persian Empire and ends their support for the Egyptian rebels. Athens effectively controls Greek poleis in Ionia. Pericles responsible for the recall of Cimon to engineer this treaty.
Congress Decree
Pericles declares it in 449. Sent emissaries throughout Greece to decide on what should be done. Sparta didn’t come because they could not win either way. They decide that the seas still need policing and so the Delian League must continue. Athens sees this as a valuable service and the allies could not disagree. Athens turns into an empire
“Tightening Up of Tribute” (Kleinias Decree)
- Authored by Kleinias, father of Alcibiades. Identifying seals will be made for tribute payments to prevent fraud. Boule will inform ekklesia which poleis paid in full and which fell short. Inspectors sent to oversee the cities.
Brea Foundation
- Land distributors would elect one person from each tribe to receive land in Brea. Thetes and zeugites were selected as colonists
Phoros
Phoros is the tribute that allies had to pay to Athens. Athens begins keeping records in 451 to see which allies paid. No phoros in 449/8. Collection resumes in 448/7. More effective collection in 447/6
Klerouchy
After the 450 Thirty Year Truce, Athens sends out garrisons (klerouchies) to oversee their allies.
Klerouch
Athenians that were allotted a part of land in the allies’ territories and who oversaw their administration. Particularly liked by thetes because they could get property and status
Chalcis Decree
446/5. Chalcis, a town in Euboea, had rebelled against Athens. Athens forced them to swear that they would not rebel against them or support rebels and that they would defend Athens. Anyone who refused to take the oath would lose their rights to property
Sophists and sophism
Initially, sophists connected lessons on speaking with ones about morality. Taught people to speak better because that was how they got status and political power. Later sophists decoupled the two. Prioritized aesthetics and sound over the justice of the argument. Obfuscated the argument to make audiences have to think more about what it means
Nomos vs physis
The former is tradition and traditional ways. Physis is how things really are in the world. Athenians drifted towards the latter over time
Protagoras
Early sophist who declared that man was the measure of all things
“Man is the measure of all things”
Declared by Protagoras. Part of the drift towards anthropocentrism and away from the divine in Athens. Emphasis on physis
Architecture of the Parthenon
Designed by Phidias. Relied on optical illusions to make it appear perfectly straight, like having columns bulge out (entasis), having the floor of the temple curved, and building on a slight inclination
Art of the Parthenon
On the outside was Doric columns, on top of which had 92 metopes depicting scenes of civilized Greeks defeating eastern barbarians, an allegory for the Persian War. Inside was the continuous frieze that depicts the Panathenaia. West side has the architrade that depicts the miracle of the olive tree. East side has the birth of Athena. Athena Parthenos, a gold and ivory sculpture, is inside and depicts her holding Nike and a shield and snake, with the shield portraying Phidias and Pericles
Gods’ laws vs. man’s laws
Central conflict in Antigone. Antigone believes in obeying the natural law of burying her family, but Creon believes man’s law is supreme. Allegory for the conflict between tradition and modernity in Athens at this time
