Lectures (Video)
- 1. Introduction
- 2. The Dark Ages
- 3. The Dark Ages II
- 4. The Rise of the Polis
- 5. The Rise of the Polis II
- 6. The Greek "Renaissance" - Colonization and Tyranny
- 7. The Greek "Renaissance" - Colonization and Tyranny II
- 8. Sparta
- 9. Sparta II
- 10. The Rise of Athens
- 11. The Rise of Athens II
- 12. The Persian Wars
- 13. The Athenian Empire
- 14. The Athenian Empire II
- 15. Athenian Democracy
- 16. Athenian Democracy II
- 17. The Peloponnesian War, Part I
- 18. The Peloponnesian War, Part I (cont.)
- 19. The Peloponnesian War, Part II
- 20. The Peloponnesian War, Part II (cont.)
- 21. The Struggle for Hegemony in Fourth-Century Greece
- 22. The Struggle for Hegemony in Fourth-Century Greece II
- 23. Twilight of the Polis
- 24. Twilight of the Polis II and Conclusion
Introduction to Ancient Greek History - Lecture 8
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Lecture 8 - Sparta
In this lecture, Professor Donald Kagan explores the rise, fall, and significance of tyrannies in the Greek polis. He argues that the various tyrannies in the Greek world had both negative and positive aspects, which need to be appreciated. For instance, on the one hand, tyrannies promoted economic, commercial and artistic advances. On the other hand, tyrannies ruled absolutely and curbed the freedom of the polis. Finally, Professor Kagan intimates that tyrannies in many ways were a necessary step in the development of the classical polis. In short, through tyrannies, the power and influence of the aristocracy was broken and the hoplite farmer grew greater in significance.
Prof. Donald Kagan
CLCV 205 Introduction to Ancient Greek History, Fall, 2007 (Yale University: Open Yale) http://oyc.yale.edu Date accessed: 2008-12-31 License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA |