And hellenic colonization



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LYDIANS AND THE

GRECO-PERSIAN PERIOD


I.

Persians: replace the Medians as ruling power in Iran







A.

extent of the Empire










1. before the battle with Croesus, the Lydian King, in 546 BC

a. Halys in Central Anatolia: West

b. River Oxus in Central Asia: East

2. after the battle in Sardis (546 BC)

a. Western Anatolian coastal area: West

b. Central Asia: East, including

1) Syria (Near East)

2) Mesopotamia (Near East)

3. Egypt





B.

Persian capitals










1. Ecbatana

a. in Hamedan, Iran

b. it was the capital of the Medians as well

2. Pazargadae: original capital of the Persians

3. Susa

a. capital after the conquest of Babylonia



b. the beginning of the renowned “royal road” which ended in Sardis, the

capital of the Lydian Kingdom in the West









4. Persepolis: the last capital, perhaps summer residence of the Persian kings,

because Susa always remains the official capital






C.

religion: Zoroastrianism










1. Zoroaster (Zerdüşt): the teacher of the religion

2. Zendavesta: the book compiling Zoroaster’s teachings

3. Ahuramazda: the symbol of the religion w. wings

a. Ahriman: evil

b. Ormazd: goodness








4. fire temples: where a symbolic fire always burns (symbolizing both evil

and goodness at the same time)






D.

art and architecture










1. architecture

a. fire temples: high tower-like buildings

b. palaces: quite large with many halls

c. apadana: large throne hall for audience

1) many columns to support the roof of the large hall

2) also seen in other parts of the Near East: eg.Urartu in the Iron Age









2. architectural decoration

a. reliefs depicting royalty mostly

b. friezes also outside buildings

1) like the lines of soldiers in Persepolis

2) for those, who are not allowed to go in, to see and admire from the

outside, something similar to the ceremonies inside











c. relief tile decorations esp. in Susa

1) influence of Assyria and Babylonia

2) Persian novelty: figures in relief

d. foreign influences

1) Mesopotamian: tile decoration

2) Anatolian

a) Ionian type columns but without fluting (esp. in Pazargadae)

b) pyramidal tomb in Pazargadae: reminiscent of the one in Sardis

(both may be Egyptian influence in turn)








e. column capitals

1) quite different from the Anatolian of the period

2) protomes of animals (two) back to back

f. basic style

1) formality in positions and postures: in that respect compares better

w. Eastern Anatolia, Mesopotamia and Egypt

2) contrast w. esp. 5th cent. Greek tendencies

a) laxness and freedom in position (even the deities in the Parthenon

frieze)

b) tendency to show esp. male human body naked



c) clothes also in free falling draperies







3. not much sculpture in the round (one eg. head of a young prince or a queen)







4. tombs

a. tomb chamber built of stone (like the pyramidal tomb in Pazargadae)

b. usually carved as tomb chambers in rocks: eg. Nakş-i Rüstem, the royal

necropolis of the Persians









5. not much pottery known

6. royal treasures: eg. Oxus Treasure

a. omphalos bowl: compares well w. contemporary Lydian work

b. gold vessels: usually embossed like their counterparts in the West

c. head of man: compares well w. even the later Roman portrait tradition


II.

Western Anatolia in brief at the time of the Persian conquest




A.

Lydians







1. capital: Sardis

a. most of the ruins restored today are Hellenistic and Roman

b. Lydian levels excavated

1) House of Bronzes area: w. the hasty burial of a young girl after the

Cimmerian attack








2) part of the Lydian fortification wall: reinforced after the

Cimmerian attack

3) Lydian Market

4) some Lydian shops and houses (Pactolus North)

a) house decoration: painted terracotta plaque friezes

b) lamp shop w. early style oil lamps























5) gold refinery area

a) work areas for

- cupellation: refinement of gold or silver

- cementation: separating gold and silver from the natural alloy

electrum

b) kilns


c) possibily shops of private jewellers

d) shrine: for Cybele

- altar w. lions only

- poss. compares with a tomb painting in Tarquinia, Italy,

probably painted by a Lydian artist who had fled to Italy after

the Persian conquest

- figure of the goddess was not found

e) minting of coins

- coins: invention of Lydians

- denominations: Stater and Hekte (1/6 of a Stater)

- decorations as legend: lion and bull (hand pressing results in

irregular shapes)

- state controlled and guaranteed

6) acropolis: fortification walls of the Lydian Period partly

excavated, well worked stones








2. cemeteries

a. simple inhumation graves around Sardis: with small burials gifts

1) Şeytanderesi

2) İntepe

b. pyramidal tomb: influence of Egypt?

c. Bintepeler: royal cemetery of the Lydians

1) between the Gygean Lake and Sardis

2) many tumuli (tumulus: artificial grave mound covering a tomb

chamber)

a) crepis wall: wall surrounding the chamber

b) tomb chamber

c) earth piled on the chamber









3. pottery: more of the Orienatalizing style, which was influenced by

Lydian pottery

4. treasures

a. Lydian kings extremely rich, the richest was Croesus, the last king of

the last dynasty, the Mermnadae

b. the aristocracy also quite rich, the so called “Treasures of Croesus” from

Uşak actually come from tombs of the rich (recently returned by the

Metropolitan Museum of Art)

5. Lydian inscription

a. different from the Greek alphabet

b. proper names deciphered

c. not many examples









B.

Greek colonies







1. all along the coastal areas of Anatolia

a. Western Anatolia

b. Mediterranean / spreading North and South because Lydians

c. Black Sea / do not allow them to spread inland









2. tax paying to the Lydians (first to the Phrygians in the 8th cent. BC),

they pay taxes to the Persians after the Persian conquest



III.

Greco-Persian period in Anatolia: 546 – 334 BC




A.

Persian administration







1. provinces (satrapies) and appointed governors (satraps): a number of them

in Anatolia

2. military troops stationed at strategic points (army also includes

Greek mercenaries)

3. network of roads

a. for trade (caravans)

b. moving of troops

c. messengers (on horseback)

1) changing at stations at regular intervals

2) covering the whole span of the empire within a week

4. organization of spies, called the “ears of the King”





B.

Art and Architecture of the period: a synthesis which can be called

“Greco-Persian”









1. Greek and Persian in detail

2. mostly Persian in concept

a. monumental tombs

1) Monument of the Nereids: now in the British Museum, orig.

fr. Xanthus

2) Mausoleum of Halicarnassus: also in the Brit. Mus.

a) built for Mausalos, the Satrap of Caria

b) by his wife Artemisia









b. mixed creatures: basically oriental concept

IV.

Anabasis of Xenophon/ The Return of the Ten Thousand




A.

group of Greek mercenaries returning from Babylon







1. they cross the whole of Eastern Anatolia after many adventures

2. finally they reach the sea near Trebizond






B.

important event which put into the Greek mind that the East could be penetrated












MACEDONIANS AND

ALEXANDER THE GREAT

I.

Macedonia in Philip II’s time




A.

extent of the kingdom: 336 BC







1. Macedon proper: including Therma (Thessalonica) and Chalcidice

2. Thrace : Northeast

3. Epirus : West

4. Euboea : Southeast

5. Attica : “

6. part of Peloponnesus: South

7. Greek colonies of Western Asia (certain amount of control over them): East





B.

Capitals







1. Aegae: West of Thessalonica, modern Vergina

2. Pella : to the Northeast of Aegae






C.

the frontiers formally established after the Battle of Chaeronea: 338 BC (Alexander as Crown Prince takes part in the battle)

II.

Philip II’s tomb in Vergina




A.

the tomb chambers excavated in the great burial mound







1. the tomb destroyed in ancient times

2. looted tomb

a. burial gifts all looted

b. wall paintings

1) important

a) because almost all original 4th cent. Greek painting has been

destroyed in time

b) known mostly through descriptions of ancient writers or Roman

copies








2) nature of the paintings

a) Hades in a chariot abducting Persephone (daughter of Demeter) to

the underworld

b) heavily draped sitting woman of middle age

- the actual woman buried?

- or Demeter symbolizing her









3. Philip’s tomb

a. front façade

1) boar hunting scene on the frieze

a) indicates that it is a man’s tomb

b) season: autumn (bare trees) right time for hunting

2) triglyph alternating w. undecorated metope (below the frieze)

3) pilasters (piers treated as columns)

4) heavy stone doors









b. chambers

1) main chamber (entered fr. the vaulted roof by the archaeologists)

a) sarcophagus: opposite the door to the antechamber, containing

a gold casket

- Macedonian sunburst symbol on the lid

- contents: Hellenistic style diadem w. oak leaves and acorns

(gold), purple fabric, burnt bones (washed w. wine)










b) burial gifts

- bronzes in one corner: greaves, vessels, shield cover, iron tripods,

Mac. diadem of kings, lantern, sponge in

good condition.

- silver and bronze vessels in the other corner

- body armour (corselet) made of iron plates covered with cloth and

leather, lion’s head adornments (gold): at the center of the room








2) antechamber

a) sarcophagus

- on top of it ostrich feathers (queen’s trappings)

- gold casket inside: smaller than the other, simpler in decoration,

but has the sunburst symbol, contains

burnt bones, purple fabric threaded w. gold

wrapped around the bones

- Cleopatra’s (last wife of Philip II) sarcophagus?









b) burial gifts

- on the doorstep of the door leading to the main chamber

- beautifully decorated gold quiver

- two bronze greaves

- one is shorter than the other

- Philip was lame

- other things around (pottery, etc.)








c. the data pointing to the fact that this is Philip II’s tomb

1) one of the greaves is shorter than the other (Philip was lame)

2) small ivory portraits: recalling the five statues of Philipeion in

Olympia


a) one resembling the known portraits of Philip II

b) young man resembling the known portraits of Alexander

3) Macedonian diadem of ruling king

4) Philip being the only Mac. king who died in the years the tomb

is dated to


III.

Alexander the Great’s conquests and journeys




A.

Anatolia







1. visiting of Troy and Achilles’tomb







2. Battle of Granicus: 334 BC







a. Mac. warfare

1) renowned Macedonian phalanx

2) tactic of attacking slantwise (echeloned)

3) Alexander leading w. his immediate companions as shock brigade

4) about 30.000 men altogether

b. Persian warfare

1) long established formal tactics

2) lack of rapid movement

3) about 100.000 men altogether








3. visiting of Sardis (where only the Hellenistic temple of Artemis

remains from that period)









4. visiting of Ephesus

a. the cult center of Artemis of Ephesos









1) following the cult of Cybele (Cybebe) of Lydia and Phrygia

a) Kupaba of the Neo-Hittites

b) Hepat of the Hittites

c) female figurines of the prehistoric periods (Early Bronze Age,

Chalcolithic, Neolithic)

2) archaic Artemision: burnt the year Alexander was born, 356 BC

3) Alexander offers to pay for the new one (some sources say Ephesians

did not accept this offer

b. he is not much welcomed by Ephesians








5. visiting of Miletus: Milesians did not readily accept Alexander

6. visiting of Didymaion: Hellenistic temple of Apollo in Didyma

7. visiting of Halicarnassus: Alexander gives the throne to the rightful heir,

the old Princess Ada, the sister of Artemisia and

Mausalos, the former Satrap of Caria

a. 4th cent. Mausoleum

1) one of the seven wonders of the world at the time

2) the word mausoleum is derived from the proper name of Mausolos

in allusion to his monumental tomb

b. the rest of the 4th cent. remains almost totally missing these days

8. travels in Lycia: the area best known for its interesting shaped sarcophagi

a. Trysa


b. Phaselis

9. travels in Pamphylia

a. Perge : monumental Hellenistic gate

b. Aspendus : nothing of the Hellenistic Period

c. Side : part of the city wall still Hellenistic








10. inland towards the mountains

a. Termessus

b. Sagalassos in Pisidia (Lake District)

11. visiting Gordion: former capital of Phrygia (legend of the knot cut by

Alexander w. one blow of his sword)

12. Central Anatolian plateau on the way to Ancyra (Ankara)

13. Cappadocia

14. Cilician Gates and Cilicia

a. Alexander suffers from his first severe attack of illness

b. cured by his own doctor from childhood

15. Battle of Issus: 333 BC/critical moment when Alexander the Gr. (III) and

Darius III come eye to eye






B.

Egypt




C.

Babylonia




D.

Persia: Battle of Gaugamela near Arbela in 331 BC/ final victory of

Macedonians over the Persians






E.

Central Asia as far as Oxus River (Kingdom of Bactria founded after the Macedonians leave Central Asia)

IV.

Death of Alexander: 323 in Babylon




A.

second severe attack of illness: high fever of the plains




B.

death







1. either caused by the actual high fever

2. or poisoned through medicaments




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