Greek Society
Traces the growth of societies, empires, and modern governments in Greece.
Mycenaean Society in Bronze-Age Greece
The concept of a unified Greece is a relatively modern one. Prior to national independence in the early 19th century, the region now known as Greece was home to many distinct cultures, societies, and civilizations. The earliest of these Greek states were the Mycenaeans, who took strong cultural influences from the earlier Minoans. Records from this time still exist, written in a prototypical Greek language known as Linear B. They reveal an advanced society focused on military power, worship, and trade. A wanax, or king, appears to have served as both a religious and political leader. A secondary figure, the lawagetas, translates to ‘leader of the people’ and may have held a military role. An elite warrior caste, the heqetai, ruled over a larger lower class of farmers and craftsmen.
Societies of the Greek City States
The fall of the Mycenaeans ushered in several centuries of sparse recordkeeping and little social progress. When Greek civilization surfaced again, it had fragmented into a number of autonomous city states. A city state, or polis, controlled a certain amount of territory beyond the city itself. Each operated under its own system, with its own social classes and customs.
Most famous and influential of these city states was Athens, now the capital of modern Greece. Athenian society transitioned to a direct democracy in the 5th century BCE. Every citizen possessed the right to vote on new laws and important decisions, including the exile of prominent people. Only a small portion of Athenians were citizens, or free men who had completed military service. Women, slaves, and foreigners were excluded from the decision-making process. Slavery was common throughout the Mediterranean world, and slaves possessed few rights or protections. The free lower classes who could not vote were called metics. These were often resident foreigners or freed slaves.
The other major city state of Ancient Greece was Sparta. Its population, much smaller than that of Athens, emphasized a highly disciplined and militaristic culture. Women of Sparta enjoyed higher status than those of Athens, including access to education and the ability to own property. The Spartans also relied on slavery to a greater extent than the Athenians. This was due in part to the high specialization of Spartan men, who served almost exclusively as soldiers. Their slaves, or helots, endured harsh treatment, including periodic purges and public humiliations. The Spartans were ruled by two kings in cooperation with an oligarchic council. Male citizens could express their opinions at periodic council meetings.
Among the other city states of Greece, Corinth is also notable for its politics. Unlike Athens and Sparta, Corinth generally welcomed outsiders. The state shifted from an aristocracy to the reigns of tyrants, or kings, in the 7th century BCE. By the 6th century, however, it had transitioned to rule by a large oligarchic council.
Byzantine Social Structures
The Greek city states fended off invasion, traded, and warred with each other for many centuries. The Peloponnesian Wars, mainly waged between Athens and Sparta, dragged many of the other poleis into the fray. A weakened Greece fell under the control of the Roman Empire. Despite this, many of the city states remained intact and exerted a strong cultural influence over Rome. When the empire broke apart in the 4th century, the eastern, Greek-speaking half emerged stronger. The Byzantine Empire, reigning from Constantinople, would come to dominate the Mediterranean for a thousand years.
Byzantine society functioned much like the Roman Empire as a whole. A powerful emperor headed the state, supported by nobles, clergymen, bureaucrats, soldiers, and the lower classes who held it all together. Social mobility, while uncommon, was possible by wealth or merit. Byzantine society was highly diverse for its time, drawing merchants and craftsmen from as far as China, Northern Europe, Baghdad, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Women were subservient to men but could own their own property and businesses. Slavery continued as it had in Rome and Ancient Greece, fed by successful conquests. The royal court also employed many eunuchs, who were prized for their inability to participate in dynastic feuds and politics.
Greeks Under the Ottoman Empire
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Byzantine Empire crumbled and was replaced by the Ottoman Turks. For the Greek-speaking, Orthodox citizens of the new empire, this change had some significant consequences . As religious minorities, Greek Christians were forced to pay a jizya tax. They were second class-citizens and had little legal recourse against Muslims. In the early period of the empire, Christian families were required by law to give up male children to serve in the Ottoman military. The millet system, however, granted relative autonomy within Greek communities. Most people continued to work as farmers and merchant sailors. Their role supplying food and revenue for the Ottomans made them valuable members of the empire.
Greek mercantilism expanded access to Europe and fueled the growth of an educated middle class. These two factors made possible the Greek independence movement, which developed alongside other nationalist movements in Europe. Europeans powers like France, Britain, and Russia were eager to erode the power of the declining Ottomans. The Greek War of Independence, waged from 1821 to 1830, witnessed massacres committed by both sides. It ended with a Greek victory and the founding of its modern state in 1830. Some regions with Greek historical roots, such as Crete, Thessaly, and Macedonia, remained under Ottoman control.
Modern Greek Society
The Kingdom of Greece’s first two kings were Bavarian and Danish, selected by European powers to form a stable national foundation. Instead, their reigns were plagued by corruption and financial crises. After a military coup in 1909, the early 20th century saw Greece embark on a new era of military expansion. Conflicts with Turkey continued, culminating with the Greek Genocide of 1914 to 1922. This prompted a stream of refugees into the kingdom, further destabilizing its politics. After swinging from monarchy to republic to another military dictatorship, Greece entered World War II. Despite fierce resistance, the nation fell to Italian and German forces and was occupied until 1944. The end of the war brought no relief, as the nation then slid into a civil war between communist and anti-communist factions.
This period of violence and political turmoil continued until 1974, when military rule subsided in favor of the Third Hellenic Republic. For the remainder of the 20th century, Greece experienced a period of growth, prosperity, and peace. The global economic crisis has had a lasting impact on the nation and its people. Austerity measures and high youth unemployment continue to strain Greek society. An estimated 4 percent of its population emigrated between 2008 and 2016. Protests and political reforms continue as the nation seeks to regain its former prosperity.
References
Brewer, David. Greece, the Hidden Centuries: Turkish Rule from the Fall of Constantinople to Greek Independence. I.B. Tauris. 2012.
Clogg, Richard. A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press. 2013.
Doumanis, Nicholas. A History of Greece. Macmillan. 2009.
Martin, Thomas R. Ancient Greece. Yale University Press. 2013.
McGlew, James F. Tyranny and Political Culture in Ancient Greece. Cornell University Press. 1996.
Molloy, David. “End of Greek Bailouts Offers Little Hope to Young.” BBC News, BBC, 19 Aug. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-45207092.
Schofield, Louise. The Mycenaeans. Getty Publications. 2007.
Stamouli, Nektaria. “Greek Bailout Ends, but Underlying Problems Remain.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 22 Aug. 2018, www.wsj.com/articles/greek-bailout-ends-but-underlying-problems-remain-1534874419.
“The World Factbook: Greece.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 14 Aug. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/gr.html.
Thomopoulos, Elaine. The History of Greece. ABC-CLIO. 2012.
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