Lecture 2: The First Cultural Context—Greece and Rome
o Technology was advanced in architecture (aqueducts, temples,
baths), warfare, and seafaring. Cities were large and crowded.
Slave labor supplied energy for mining, transportation,
farming, and household management.o Politically, it was a world of empire (Parthian, Hellenistic,
Roman), with city-states (poleis) exercising greater and lesser
autonomy within provinces answerable to central authority.• Certain aspects of “Mediterranean culture” preceded and persisted
through changes of imperial rule.
o Society was stratified both at the larger level (with a small
nobility and a large slave class) and at the level of the
household; in both, male dominance prevailed.o The practice of patronage (benefaction) served to mitigate
differences in status and wealth: Patrons gave benefits to
clients and clients responded with honor.o Honor and shame were powerful motives for behavior at every
level, although the pertinent “court of opinion” could vary.o The dominant religious system was polytheism, in which divine
power was distributed among personal beings of a higher order
who governed diverse aspects of the world. Interestingly, this
system mirrored the social world: The gods were the patrons
who provided benefits to humans, and humans were obligated
to pay honor and glory to the gods.The Influence of Greek Civilization
• Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Mediterranean world
established the imprint of Greek civilization that endured for
centuries—in the East, over the entire 1,500 years covered by
this course.• Alexander’s vision was to extend the civilization of the classical
period of Athens to all of the known world so that there would be no