Greek Culture

[Ursus]

Preface

The civilization of ancient Greece is hard to define. It runs a stretch of time from the pre-history of some lost Minoan civilization to the incorporation of the Hellenistic East into the Roman Empire (with the Eastern Roman Empire surviving as a different but related entity until 1453). When most of people think of Ancient Greece, they think of the timeline from the end of the Greek Dark Ages to the rise of Alexander the Great

[Ursus]

Edited to add:

 

Oaths

 

Oaths were considered sacred, under the provinces of Gods like Zeus and Apollo. Greeks often swore oaths to each other and to the state as proof of loyalty. Breaking an oath was considered truly dishonorable. If someone were discovered to have broken an oath, usually they had to atone by dedicating a statue of whatever deity the oath was sworn to in the temple of that deity. Needless to say, such statues were extremely expensive. Oaths were not broken lightly.

 

*** Also edited to add the bit about Sappho under bisexuality. Thanks for the suggestion, Carolyn. :-)

[Marcus_Aurelius]

I think that the Greek Bisexuality shows us the way of life of the Hellenic tribes before invading Greece.I think it is about human evolution.Spending more time among men,they become quite interested in other men.(this is a clear indicator that the prehistoric hellenic people adopted war as a way of life which also shows they were pretty good in forging bronze weapons,I truly think they were the vikings of the pre-written history) This warlike character of the Hellenic tribes helped them in obtaining wealth through sacking villages and developing later a very advanced culture.This is my opinion about ancient Greeks.

[Ursus]

This thread bumped for Flavius, who requested something on the Greeks besides the Phalanx versus Legion thread.

[FLavius Valerius Constantinus]

Thanks for your outstanding reply Ursus. Now I have a lot more to learn.

[Ursus]

Any of the recent Hellenophile arrivals want to discuss this further?

[Kosmo]

Very nice summary!

Apollo and arete are not complete without Dionysos and excess. Achilles, Alcibiade and Alexander were powerfull models of a type of political excess, but greek art and mithology reflect a lot of excess from gods, heroes, men and a miriad of creatures.

[AEGYPTUS]

I Learned a lot form reading your summary Ursus. It is really interesting !! Might I ask where do you get all your information form? Do you have any links where you got all info form? Or books?

Edited May 26, 2006 by AEGYPTUS

[Guest Renato Delphinis]

An excellent summary of Greek Culture, I commend you Ursus.

[sythin]

I have a quick question about Macedonia. Is there any real reason for why Macedonia didn't campaign in southern Italy? They go about 2000+ miles in one direction, but never 50 miles across strait of Ortanto? Dose anybody have an explanation for this? The only theory I could come up with was that the Macedonians didn't have the male population to form an army at the time.

 

 

EDIT BY URSUS: this particular topic has been discussed ad nauseum on the military folder. You may search for it there or start a new thread on that folder.

[Ursus]

I Learned a lot form reading your summary Ursus. It is really interesting !! Might I ask where do you get all your information form? Do you have any links where you got all info form? Or books?

 

 

 

Ummm ... it was off the top of my head, but if you want books...

 

 

Martin, Thomas _Ancient Greece_

Burkert, Walter _Greek Religion_

Konstam, Angus _Historical Atlas of Ancient Greece_

Hornblower and Spawforth _Oxford Classical Dictionary_

Adkins and Adkins _ Handbook to Life in Ancient Greece _

[AEGYPTUS]

Thanks a lot Ursus I will try to get some of those and have a read through them. I do not know alot about the Greeks but hope to find out more from what you have given me.

 

Thanks again

[Ursus]

I recommend the Adkins and Adkins Handbook as a basic survey and intro.

[Guest melina11]

A precious success of golden age of Greek civilization, the magnificent complex Doric temple known as the Parthenon is the largest structure built in Greece & it has crowned top point of the city skyline since the 5th century B.C. The amazing Acropolis is perched upon a limestone mount towering above the city of Athens. The ruins of Acropolis consist of the Erechtheum, the Propylaea, the Temple of Athena Nike & the magnificent Parthenon.

 

 

Parthenon Greece

[sarahmoon]

I am new here and very interested in the day-to-day worship of the ancient gods from the viewpoint of the priests. Were they only called upon on specific holy days or were they "full-time"? Did they live in/near the temples or just somewhere in the city? What were their jobs?

Are there any books out there that go into detail on this subject?

Thanks

 

SarahMoon