Transcription
[Musique]
In this chapter dedicated to the ancient Mediterranean, we will study two very important political structures: the city of Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries, and the Roman Empire. First, let's examine the city of Athens in the 5th and 4th centuries BC.
The city of Athens built a vast maritime empire. Indeed, ancient Greece comprised numerous independent city-states, including Athens. These Greek city-states faced a common enemy: the Persian Empire. In 490 BC at Marathon and in 480 BC at Salamis, they won two resounding victories against the Persian Empire. Thanks to these victories, Athens established itself among the other Greek city-states as the city that had preserved the freedom of the Greek world.
Following its victories, Athens created the Delian League, a military organization comprising numerous Greek city-states. These were subjected to Athenian domination and had to pay tribute or supply warships. This Delian League lasted throughout the 5th century BC. However, during the Peloponnesian War, which pitted Athens and its Delian League against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League from 431 to 404 BC, Athens was defeated and had to dissolve the Delian League.
The particularity of Athens is above all its political system. Indeed, the Athenian democratic system remains a reference today. Athens was a democracy, more specifically a direct democracy. That is to say, Athenian citizens gathered in an assembly called the Ecclesia and voted by a show of hands on all matters concerning the city, such as laws, peace, or war. Other institutions existed, all managed by citizens. Citizens also elected magistrates who handled the city's daily management. There were different types of magistrates, but the most important magistracy was that of strategos. The best-known example among Athenian magistrates is Pericles, who held the strategos magistracy more than 15 times during the 5th century.
However, Athenian democracy had many limitations. Indeed, only 15% of the inhabitants of Athens—the citizens—participated in decisions concerning the city. Many were excluded from Athenian citizenship: women and children, metics (foreigners residing and working in Athens but not citizens), and slaves, who had absolutely no rights. The Athenian democratic system underwent numerous challenges and collapsed in 322 BC. Indeed, among the Athenian population, and especially among the Athenian elite, many criticized the democratic system. They reproached it for the fact that citizens from the popular classes participated in important decisions concerning the city. But the real threat to Athens came from outside, particularly from the Macedonians. The Macedonians, led by Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great, conquered the Greek city-states, and in 322 BC, he put an end to the Athenian democratic regime.
In a second part, we will examine the Roman Empire at the end of the 1st century BC. The Roman Republic experienced a profound crisis: the civil wars. In these civil wars, generals enriched by numerous conquests were opposed. Julius Caesar was assassinated. Then, Julius Caesar's nephew, Octavian, seized power. Octavian gave the illusion of maintaining the institutions of the Republic but in reality concentrated most of the power. He was the first emperor, under the name Augustus, and reigned from 27 BC to 14 AD. Octavian thus concentrated all powers, including religious power, being named Pontifex Maximus, chief of the Roman religion. He also had the status of a god, and an imperial cult was dedicated to him. The various emperors who succeeded Augustus retained all of his very considerable powers.
The Roman Empire was also a vast territory. Roman conquests began during the Roman Republic and ended with the Roman emperors. We can take the example of Trajan, who conquered Dacia, present-day Romania. In this immense empire, stretching from Britain and encompassing the Mediterranean, we observe a phenomenon called Romanization. Romanization is a phenomenon characterized by the spread of Roman culture throughout the Roman Empire. This diffusion was uneven, mainly concerning cities and the elites. Entire parts of the Roman Empire somehow escaped this Romanization; for example, Greek continued to be spoken in the East of the Roman Empire.
This Romanization was facilitated by the granting, in 212 AD, of Roman citizenship to all free men in the empire, thanks to Caracalla's edict. Romanization was also facilitated by what is called the Pax Romana. Indeed, in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Roman Empire lived in relative peace, which allowed for a flourishing of economic exchanges and thus facilitated the spread of Roman culture. The peoples affected by Romanization learned Latin and adopted the Roman way of life, including the Roman religion. Finally, the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire contributed to this cultural unification. Constantine, in 313 AD, tolerated Christianity within the Roman Empire, and finally, in 380 AD, Theodosius forbade all pagan cults and made Christianity the obligatory religion within the Roman Empire.
Thus, we have seen in this chapter that the ancient Mediterranean has left us many legacies. The Athenian model, the Athenian democratic model, is still a political reference today, and the Roman Empire led to the emergence of a common cultural whole in which all ancient cultures were mixed. [Musique]