This post will be a comparison of Greek poleis, or city-states, with some of their preceding and contemporary Near Eastern neighbors, along with some of the reasons the Greeks collectively experienced successes and failures. The comparative section of this post will focus on the social and religious aspects of Greek poleis in respect to their Near Eastern neighbors. The section of the post discussing the successes and failures of Greece will mostly focus on the arts, sciences, philosophy, politics, and war.
Each Greek polis is unique and comparing the Greek poleis collectively to the Near Eastern empires that existed before or during the existence of the Greek city-state is difficult. Due to this unique segmentation, the scope of characteristics to compare are greatly reduced, resulting in only a few characteristics that all poleis practiced. Two shared major characteristics of the poleis were slavery and funerary cults.
Slavery was very common in a Greek polis and was also common in the Near East civilizations. Owning slaves was an effective way for both the civilians of Greece and Near Eastern kingdoms to abstract their wealth, as Professor Thomas E. J. Wiedemann writes in his book, Greek and Roman Slavery.
Since Greek social philosophers lacked a clear concept of serfdom, they tended to assimilate Helots and similar groups to slaves - as do modern Marxists, keen to demonstrate that ‘slavery’ was the typical method of abstracting surplus wealth in all Greek states.
There were common uses for slaves between civilizations, as well as unique uses. For example, both the Greeks and Near Eastern civilizations forced slaves to become “members of the household” (Culbertson, Indrani 11) to perform tasks around the home and assist their masters. Uniquely though, members of a Greek polis did not “breed” their slaves as some of the neighboring Near Eastern kingdoms did (e.g. Egypt) (qtd. Garlan).
Another characteristic shared between Greek poleis was the presence of funerary cults. Although the word “cult” has taboo connotations today, cults certainly weren’t unusual in the era of the Greek city-state. Both Greek poleis and Near Eastern nations had funerary cults, a collection of beliefs and practices that focused on the afterlife and the deceased in order to affect the afterlife’s course or the course of the life of the one who practiced it. At the core these cults were very similar between Greek poleis and their Near Eastern neighbors, but as expected each nation had their own unique ways of performing these funerary cults (Karoglou). Greek poleis had what is called the “Greek hero cult”, the hero being an idolized ancestor that certain Greeks would worship. These heroes were believed to live in between the state of a powerless dead mortal and an all powerful god, better known as a demigod (qtd. Ogden 113-14). In Egypt, the goddess Isis (wife of Osiris and mother of Horus), was worshiped in funerary cult fashion. Interestingly, the funerary cult of Isis over time spread to some Greek poleis and a temple to Isis was founded in Athens during the fourth century B.C. This cult common to both the Greek poleis and kingdom of Egypt is also recorded as having had a major impact on the Ptolemies’ political and militia strategy during the third century B.C (Karoglou).
Much like comparing the collective and unanimous characteristics of Greek poleis, assigning “successes” and “failures” to the Greeks collectively is quite challenging. This is mostly because each polis was unique and sometimes nearly polar opposites of each other (as in the case with Sparta and Athens). So for this section, the segmentation of Greece, caused by Greek poleis, will be ignored and all the successes and failures of the Greeks will be combined as if each city-state collectively and equally (even though they certainly did not) contributed to the successes and failures.
Some of the most notable and obvious contributions that the Greeks contributed to the ancient world were their advancements in philosophy, science, and art. In philosophy, the Greeks excelled and gained much knowledge of the world around them. They broke away from using mythology to explain the world and instead focused on using reason and logic (“Ancient Greek Philosophy”). The Greeks also made great leaps in the sciences, making astounding discoveries such as the mathematical constant of Pi and developing analog computers such as the Antikythera mechanism that attempted to predict astronomical events. In art, the Greeks advanced sculpting, architecture, and much more. Success in the Greeks architectural ability is perhaps most obvious in the temples they built, specifically the Parthenon. These are only a few of the successes the Greeks obtained.
Failures are a part of every civilization and the Greeks were not exempt. The prominent failure of the Greeks is that they were eventually defeated by the Macedonias. This was the result of many factors, including the failure of the major polis (i.e Athens, Sparta) not allying and instead conflicting with one another. This left the Greeks vulnerable to outside invaders such as Philip of Macedonia. Another failure, in the case of Athens, was that over emphasis on philosophy and the search of an almost utopian lifestyle had left the city-state with less diligence in defending the city-state from an attack.
As unique as Greek poleis were, they also had similar characteristics to their Near Eastern neighbors, but which also included some differences. These shared characteristics included slavery and funerary cults, both major parts of Greek poleis. Both Greece and the Near East had these characteristics, but some differences in practice existed. Greece also had its successes, such as advancements in philosophy, science, and art. Some of these advancements still hold a legacy today. Along with these advancements also came failures for the Greeks. Divisions between poleis and other numerous failures of the Greeks left them open for attack and they were ultimately defeated by Macedonia. Though Classical Greece has long fallen, they have left us a legacy we can appreciate today.
“Ancient Greek Philosophy” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 June 2016.
Culbertson, Laura, and Indrani Chatterjee. Slaves and Households in the Near East. Chicago: Oriental Intstitute of the U of Chicago, 2011. Print.
Garlan, Y. Slavery in Ancient Greece. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1988 (1st edn. 1982). Print.
Karoglou, Kiki. “Mystery Cults in the Greek and Roman World.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http:// www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/myst/hd_myst.htm (October 2013)
Ogden, Daniel. A Companion to Greek Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub., 2007. 113-14. Print.
Wiedemann, Thomas E. J. “Introductory Outline.“ Greek and Roman Slavery. London: Routledge, 1988. Print.