In reference to the last lecture...

Greece and the Aegean during the  Bronze Age

1. The Problem: Certainly the Greeks themselves considered the history of this period, from about 2000-700 BC, to be more in the realm of legend than of history, nonetheless, the patterns of political, social, economic and religious life of "classic" Greece [ca. 490-400 BCE] were in large part defined during this millennium. In particular, two concepts / patterns are critical for the development of western values:
   1. The definition of heroism and its articulation in the literature of the west
   2. The notion of empathy. 
2. What we need to do is to identify some of the basic patterns of Mediterranean life--different from the riverine cultures of the ANE.
   1. Limited resources. The geography of the Aegean; geographical realities for agriculture, herding, grains, fish, meat, urban development. => need to trade and easy to do so by sea.
   2. Semi-nomadic migration.  Key term:  Warrior bands. Archaeological evidence points to disorder and instability. Consider Minoan and Mycenaean Culture (at least the walls) Legends and/or folk tradition (as distinct from myth) confirm and supplement the archaeological record.  The evidence, both legend and archaeological, suggests an intensely competitive warrior class, periods of prosperity interrupted by periods of internal (blood feud) and external (invasion) crises. The social structure reflects this reality of warrior bands.
3. As we turn to Aegean...
   1. Chronology --regular pattern of migration!! Waves (not large numbers, but continuous) of warrior bands.
      1. Mycenaen sword; armor, citadel, reconstruction.
      2. Late Bronze Age: (1300-1150). This age ended with the invasion of the Sea Peoples, mixed bands of raiders traveling with whole families; connected to fall of Troy and of the Hittites; generally disrupted the economic life of the eastern and central Mediterranean.
      3. Trojans and Achaeans late bronze age. Troy, reconstruction, played an important role to play in trade (in metals??) and in defense of Aegean, namely to protect the northern frontier.
   2. What we learn from the evidence...legend and archaeology: Aspects of these legends appear in many literary sources, in the folk tradition. Morover, archaeology supports the general story line. Iit is reasonable to believe that the legends constitute a valid record of the pre-historic past.
      1. Society clearly aristocratic/ "war lords"; tales of heroes, nothing of the "common man"; confirmed in Homer and Greek tragedy.
      2. The prevalence of blood-feud (fratricide; parricide; cannibalism; incest) and lawlessness indicates that bronze age society generally lacked institutional structures for the maintenance of order; note plot and themes of the great Sophoclean trilogy "The Oresteia" and the concern to establish institutions of human justice; blood feud was always a threat to high and low alike.
4. HOMER'S ILIAD  (summary). A recently discovered portrait. Book VI of the Iliad as an example. Homer lived long after the events he describes.
   1. Life is suffering: tragic that so many heroes die and do so in their prime; even more tragic that so many more lament.
   2. Still, one can live with dignity and die with honor; one will then be remembered; ensures a kind of immortality a quality denied to beasts. Vase painting from Wuerzburg depicting the scene from Iliad VI. Hector and Andromache in the middle; a 20th cent. variant;  // Andromache mourns; and mourns.
   3. The significance of empathy.
5. Values in an extended sense: Homer allows for a considerable measure of individualism but it is tempered by conventions; not just how many one kills: ...
   1. The agon: to gain control of scare resources, not just for personal consumption, but because success ensures survival of dependents. Shepherd of his people is most common descriptor of the true Homeric hero.
   2. Reputation for arete depends upon one's success in this competition; one gains honor and wealth because one provides protection and ensures food. Homer accepts the reality of warfare, his didactic poetry mitigates its most flagrant abuses.
      1. arete also involves respect for conventions --how society protects itself; note especially courtesy and treatment of suppliants / compensation.
   3. Critical for further developments in Greek history and western culture is the highly developed sense of empathy; Homer does not demonize the enemy,
   4. As in the ANE,
      1. gods not effective guarantors of justice; hardly just themselves; voices of conscience and appetites; ethical behavior arises from human conventions;
      2. through ritual, prayer and sacrifice, the gods can be constrained to some degree.
6. More generally, the western concept of 'true' heroism is defined. Hero puts collective good ahead of self; can recognize the humanity of his opponents and 'knows' the meaning of suffering.