ACHILLES AND EARLY GREECE

Week Two

super/sur = over/above/beyond

superior

superman

surprise

un = not/none

unconscious uncertain untidy

bi = two

binary

bimonthly

bicycle

Hector Andromache

I. The Iliad and the Human Condition

“. . . there at last his own generous wife came running to meet him, Andromache . . . She came to him there, and beside her went an attendant carrying the boy in the fold of her bosom, a little child, only a baby, Hector's son, the admired, beautiful as a star shining . . . Andromache, stood close beside him, letting her tears fall, and clung to his hand and called him by name and spoke to him: 'Dearest, your own great strength will be your death, and you have no pity on your little son, nor on me, ill-starred, who soon must be your widow.’ Hector answered, 'All these things are in my mind also, lady; yet I would feel deep shame before the Trojans, and the Trojan women with trailing garments, if like a coward I were to shrink aside from the fighting; and the spirit will not let me, since I have learned to be valiant and to fight always among the foremost ranks of the Trojans, winning for my own self great glory, and for my father.” . . . Then taking up his dear son he tossed him about in his arms, and kissed him, and lifted his voice in prayer to Zeus and the other immortals: 'Zeus, and you other immortals, grant that this boy, who is my son, may be as I am, pre-eminent among the Trojans, great in strength, as am I, and rule strongly over Ilion; and some day let them say of him: "He is better by far than his father,” as he comes in from the fighting; and let him kill his enemy and bring home the blooded spoils, and delight the heart of his mother.”

AchillesHector

I. The Iliad and the Human Condition

Troy (2004)

I. The Iliad and the Human Condition

I. The Iliad and the Human Condition

Depicts many elements of the human condition: life, love, depravity, suffering, redemption, death

Late fifth-century manuscript

Greek Cities and Colonies of the Archaic Age

dis = not/none

disorganized

disconnect

disrespectful

inter = between/among

Internetinterstate interpreter

circ = around

circlecirculatory circumference

II. Bronze-Age Greece

A. Islands of peace Minoan cultures Relatively

equitable social structures

Unfortified towns

II. Bronze-Age Greece

B. Mycenaean culture of war Walled

cities, extensive militarization, economic stratification (1600 BCE)

Mycenaean citadel

II. Bronze-Age Greece

C. Greek “dark age” Constant rivalry and

warfare Overpopulation and

migration Written language lost Steady decline from

1200-700 BCE Death mask

III. Archaic Greece (700-500 BCE)A. Polis

Foundation of Greek life

Origins: an elevated area (acropolis) that held the agora

First republic: a true monarchy replaced with an aristocratic republic.

Limits: women and slaves

Hoplites: fighting in community

III. Archaic Greece

“Greek Gods and Goddesses”

B. ReligionPolytheism

Anthropomorphism

Temples: Olympia and Delphi

Rationality

III. Archaic Greece

Arrichion

III. A Tale of Three Cities

A. Wealthy Corinth

B. Martial Sparta

C. Democratic Athens

Scenes of Corinth

A. Wealthy Corinth

Geography: a rich coastal plain and an isthmus

Wealth: role of the isthmus

Crossing the Corinthian isthmus

Paul and Corinth

Paul’s Corinth not the same—at least not physically

Visited twice Wrote at least two

letters to Corinth that reflect the difficulties of trying to spread the gospel in a cosmopolitan city

quad = four

quadruped quadrant quadruplets

trans = across/through

transportation trans-Atlantic Transformers

Mal = bad/wrong/ill

malnutritionmalignant

malfunction

B. Martial Sparta

Martial structure

Society: Warriors, helots, and perioikoi

Government: At the head of the government were two kings who served as the commanders of the state army

B. Martial Sparta

Peloponnesian League

Alliance: In place by 500 BCE and led by Sparta

Power: Made Sparta the most powerful polis; defense from Persians

Social control Eunomia: elevation of

duty and patriotism over individual interest. All about unity.

State control

King Leonidas I

C. Democratic Athens

Cleisthenes and democracy

Reform: After a series of tyrants, Cleisthenes seeks to democratize the state

Council of Five Hundred: all male citizens over the age of 30 must serve at least one term

LimitsThe father of

Athenian democracy

The Pnyx, the meeting place of Athenian citizens

Paul and Athens

“Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he argued in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the market place every day with those who chanced to be there. Some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers met him.”

--Acts 17:16-18}

IV. Epilogue

Orders of classical architecture Corinthian Doric (Sparta) Ionic (Athens)

A democracy of limits Elevation of principles: of freedom,

equality, and civic involvement Irony: But often based on oppression and

exploitation