ADAM IVES - GAMES DESIGN
Greek History
Further Research
Timeline of Events
So far I have looked into Ancient History as a whole and narrowed down the subject to one specific period, the Ancient Greek civilisation. With further research, I have created a timeline of key events and those that might not be as popular, but I thought were interesting and worth mentioning. You can find this below.
1600 BC - Beginning of the Mycenaean Period (Last phase of the Greek Bronze age)
1100 BC - End of the Mycenaean Period. Begging of advanced culture and civilisations.
650 BC - Rise of the Greek Tyrants. Power-hungry opportunists maintained power by using tyrannical force and aggression.
430 BC - Bubonic Plague hits Athens. Disease spread through the city, and devestation and chaos took over. Hundreds died in the streets.
336 BC - Rise of Alexander the Great. Alexander came to power after the death of his father King Philip II. During his reign, his military took over a large portion of civilised Europe, Asia and went as far as Egypt.
Previously I have stated that I thought a Timeline would be beneficial to me, as it would allow me to possibly find new interets that i could explore further. But on reflection, this wasnt a useful task to me. Most of the events I have found didn't particularly excite me, and I ended up feeling like I was writing them down for the sake of it. So, from now on, I plan to write about what interests me about Ancient Greece in particular, and why I chose this period of time. If I find accompanying research that leads me down different paths of topics, then I will include them, otherwise what follows will be strictly what interests me in particular.
1250BC - The Trojan War - Between the Achaean Greeks and the city of Troy
776 BC - First Olympic Games. Started to honour Zeus the father of all Greek Gods.
445BC - 429BC - Reign of Pericles Pericles ruled over Athens during this period, reforms were instated, many of which aided the poor. Education also became more refined.
404 BC - End of the Peloponnesian War. This 27-year war ended with the Spartan victory against Athens. Athenian democracy was replaced with Spartan control.
146BC - Battle of Corinth. Romans took control of the Greek Peninsula and other key Greek territories.
Pyramids of Giza
Architecture
The architecture of Ancient Greece seems to stand out to me most when thinking of ancient architecture. This is not said to deflate the architecture of other time periods. The Ancient Egyptians were terrific architects and managed to organise and build pyramids in Cairo which have stood the test of time and existed for thousands of years. In Indonesia in the 9th Century, during the Sailendra Dynasty, the Borobudur temple was constructed. This is a beautiful devotion of faith and the masonry alone shows precise attention to detail which is awe-inspiring. Both are fantastic examples of beautiful and inspiring architecture which existed in the ancient world, however, in my opinion, both are not examples of what everyday life would have been like. Although they are remarkable creations, I am more interested in the simplicity and intrigue of Greek Architecture. greek Architecture helps portray what daily life would have looked like. The remains of pillars which once belonged to libraries and communal buildings paint life in Ancient Greece to be similar to what life is like nowadays. The architecture of Ancient Greece helps me to relate to the people and better understand the culture. A lot of other Ancient Architecture from other periods makes me feel like the buildings were made for one person otherwise the amount of detail would not be present. Whereas Greek Architecture has a romance to it, it feels like cities filled with every day people would have been jaw-dropping, built entirely for the people living there rather than a God or man in high power.
In regards to Ancient Greek Architecture, I personally prefer the style of Doric architecture, for me it is more aesthetically pleasing. The simple and classic design doesn’t try to stand out too much in my opinion. Whereas Corinthian architecture seems like a display of wealth and tries too hard to be exquisite. The design for corinthian architecture seems over the top and too complex in my opinion, so comparing the two, I prefer the quaint look of Doric Architecture. Ionic architecture appears to be a middle stage between the two architectural designs. It is moderately simple, however, does strive to present more detail than that of Doric Architecture. Personally I do not like the design of Ionic Architecture as it feels basic and cliché. The design of Ionic architecture pillars, to me, feels like it would be the obvious candidate for a gift shop souvenir. You can see below the different types of Greek Architecture and examples of it in real life.
The Borobudur Temple
Aesthetic
Aside from the aesthetic of the cities and towns of Ancient Greece and the architecture that accompanied them, I'm also interested in Greece due to its landscape. Greece and its controlled islands have a vast variety of landscapes, ranging from beaches to forests, to mountains, to large sparse fields. The country and region contain beautiful colours that help build an atmosphere of life in the area. The aesthetic and culture of Greece draw me to the country, the history and ruins feel alive and I can immerse myself into the region when researching the period of ancient Greece or when seeing it displayed in films, books or shows. The landscapes are captivating and different from anywhere else. When I compare this to other ancient civilisations, I personally believe that the aesthetic of Greece is stunning. The sites of Mayan civilisations in comparison are also beautiful, and the wildlife that inhabits the area help to bring it alive, but I lack the ability to relate to the Mayans. Their civilisation, like the Egyptians, were centred around large monuments for one person or one God, and their landscapes, although beautiful, lack a range.
Below you will find a wide range of Greece landscapes.
Culture
Ancient Greek culture was surrounded by art, literature, science, mathematics and social classism. In Athenian society culture and society was built around social class, people were grouped into one of four distinctions, the upper class, the middle class, also known as the metics, the lower class or the freedmen and the slave class. Modern-day western society almost represents this sort of system, with the exception of the slave class.
Upper-class society referred to those born to Athenian parents, such people were regarded as citizens to Athens. The upper class maintained power and influence and grew richer and richer. The aristocracy would spend there time concerned with politics and military planning, however other members of the upper class such as merchants would focus primarily on manufacturing and trade. The social elite could spend there time in education learning and practising mathematics, science or philosophy. To summarise, the upper class were focused on maintaining power over society and broadening their knowledge.
The metics were free people, however, were foreigners to Athens. As they were not Athenians their rights were not granted to them, and they could not own land or involve themselves in politics. Some metics were lucky to be entrepreneurs, working in commerce, industry or banking, but the majority worked as cooks, gardeners or builders.
The freedmen were former slaves but gained freedom and worked in agriculture, or in lower-paid jobs in the city.
Personally I love the culture of Ancient Greek society, especially surrounding city life. Ancient Greek society is similar to modern western civilisations, and a lot of practices and thinking have grown and developed from this period. I love the culture of ancient greek over other periods because I cant relate to this period of time, it seems realistic to me. I also really appreciate that knowledge was valued, society seemed to want to grow and build upon itself, whereas with other time periods I feel like life was centred primarily around Gods and religion. The Aztecs spent there time building monuments and making sacrifices in the hope of keeping the sun rising, the Egyptians built monuments for gods and pharaohs and spent there lives mostly concerned with religion and social class. The greeks, however, although they did have rituals concerning gods, they also introduced banking and other practices essential to every day life, and they encouraged learning as well.