Why Ancient Civilizations Fall. Rise and Fall of Two Civilizations: Greece and Rome - Essay Example

Why Ancient Civilizations Fall Civilization Civilization refers to the way of life of a people that has attained a high level of social organization. The basic unit of society is the family, several families grouped together make a tribe, and several tribes working for a common goal make a people or nation that share a common way of life or culture. When the culture attains a large size and an advanced character such as the way it assures peace and order, justice, defense from other people's acts of war, how the culture is transmitted, and so on, the culture is said to attain the level of civilization (Diamond 12-13). Civilizations develop when people band together because they have a common purpose that they want to attain. In order to achieve this, these people agree to live together in peace because they share the same history, language, beliefs, and attitudes to life. They get to distinguish themselves from other people who may share some, but not all, of these ways of life. However, people living together as a society and using the same resources may not agree on how the resources would be shared, so they either allow someone to be their leader, usually one with the qualities that everyone admires in that society (Diamond 421). The historical evidence also shows that civilizations develop in certain geographic areas that are ideal in supporting large groups of people, their food supply, that are easily accessible by common means of transportation, and easy to defend from other people who may be after what they have (Diamond 496-499). This is why the ancient civilizations developed in fertile lands close to rivers and seas, because sailing was the common form of transportation across long distances and when a group of people decides to go on their own, they travel by sea or rivers and set up their own social unit where they end up. This is the case with the two civilizations that would be discussed next, that of Greece and Rome. Rise and Fall of Two Civilizations: Greece and Rome What became Greek civilization had its foundation in the ancient culture of the Minoans from the island of Crete and their conquerors, the Mycenaeans from the Aegean mainland of what is now Greece. The Minoans laid the foundations of Greek civilization more than 5,000 years ago. They had attained a high level of culture and became rich by trading with other people along the Mediterranean Sea (Diamond 3-4). Around 1375 B.C., the Minoans were conquered by the Mycenaeans, who then began spreading their competitive, creative society throughout the Aegean, starting a cycle of building and destruction that lasted for centuries. Greek society became poor and illiterate because of the wars that took place continuously in the region (Diamond 3, 14). When the Greeks could not take it any more, the ordinary people started grouping together and organizing themselves into City States under strong democratically chosen leaders. The wars continued until Philip of Macedon conquered most of the Greek City States through military strategy and statecraft (Noble et al. 39-45). Philip's son, Alexander the Conqueror, continued his work and expanded the Greek Empire and spread Greek civilization to Asia and Africa, resulting in cultural fusion where the Greek civilization influenced and was influenced by foreign cultures. After Alexander's short reign, his successors continued what he started, making Greece richer culturally and economically. The arts flourished, and so did the status of women, and science, and philosophy. The cultural mixtures that resulted as the Greeks interacted with other peoples of the Mediterranean transformed Greece's political, religious, and philosophical traditions. All these resulted in greater diversity and freedom, contributing to an increase in social divisions as people believed in different things and lost sight of the common things they believed in. Suddenly, instead of the people in the society enjoying what they had in common, they began being divided in their way of thinking, the goals they shared, and their attitudes to how resources are to be shared and how they wanted to be ruled (Diamond 180). This is how Greek civilization fell. Just like overeating, they grew economically and attracted people from throughout the known world who came with their own ideas. Thus, by opening itself to different influences, some of which distracted the people, especially the rulers, from the few common aspects of the culture they shared, Greek society became weaker and became more vulnerable to the next great civilization that was fresher, stronger, and that shared the same ambitions Greece had sustained for thousands of years: Rome. Archaeological evidence shows that the Roman civilization, influenced greatly by the Etruscans in the north, had early connections to Greece through colonizers (Noble et al. 137-145). The Archaic Roman monarchy was a class-based social and political system. The rising Roman nation, at the center of the Italian peninsula, was open to immigrants, integrating them into its military, politics, and socio-economic life as it evolved from a monarchy to a republic where magistrates, patrician senators, and plebeian assemblies shared power. Political conflict in the early republic was chaotic, and for two hundred years until 287 B.C., the plebeians fought for more political and legal powers from the patricians. The politics was messy, but the basic unit of Roman society - the household - was enjoying economic, political, and domestic order. Fathers ruled their families, their authority respected by their wife, children, and slaves. This extended to a patron-client relationship in society where good faith marked the exchange of material favors for political support and loyalty. This model shaped Roman domestic politics and foreign affairs and helped turn it into the most powerful nation in the Mediterranean by 146 B.C., conquering other neighboring peoples and kingdoms and unifying Italy, defeating Carthage, a naval and commercial power in northern Africa, and conquering Greece and Macedonia. Made rich by conquered land and riches, Rome's rich became richer while the poor became poorer. Human greed, the increasing numbers of poor people and refugees from neighboring conquered nations, and the growing power of military leaders led to years of domestic and foreign unrest that was placed under control by a powerful triumvirate that was eventually dominated by Julius Caesar as dictator until his assassination in 44 B.C. Not until the rule of Octavian (Augustus) did peace come to Rome and her empire. This led to economic and social riches and the rise of Roman cultural, literary, and artistic achievement. Despite the renewed political conflicts upon the death of Octavian, Rome continued to expand and flourish for two hundred years until the multi-ethnic empire began becoming weaker (Diamond 14). While foreign and domestic threats increased, political fights in Rome's government made it difficult to defend its over-extended borders. At the same time, military officers and politicians grew in envy and became greedy. Corruption led to higher crime rates in the capital. Corruption in society also weakened the Roman social structure's basic unit - the household - as discipline and respect for authority were lost and families fought within and against each other. The effect was social and economic deterioration. However, long after the barbarians sacked Rome and put an end to the Empire, Roman civilization continued to influence the world (Noble et al. 203-220). Summary and Conclusions The formula for the rise of civilizations has been the same: a powerful tribe conquers other tribes and forms a nation; powerful nations conquer others and spread their own way of life. The civilization, in turn, is influenced by other cultures, both for good and bad. Military power and ambition helped spread the civilization to other countries, but as the center of the civilization expands, the structure of society becomes too large as people from other places who are also after the good things move to the place where they can find it: Rome or Greece. Soon, the ability of the people in the civilization to govern and support itself declines. Weakened by having too much wealth, having more people who do not share the same high goals and qualities that made the civilization rise, and blinded by power, ambition, and greed, society starts to crack from inside starting with its most basic unit, the family household. This small crack becomes bigger as families start fighting against each other until the balance of power tilts to favor a stronger opponent, a rising nation that is more disciplined, ambitious, and hungry. Thus, like an animal that is eaten by a more powerful one, this formerly great but weakened civilization staggers and then falls down, "digested" into a new way of life, and waits for that time in the future when the cycle would once again be repeated. Works Cited Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. New York: Penguin, 2005. Noble, Thomas F.X., Barry S. Strauss, Duane J. Osheim, Kristen B. Neuschel, William B. Cohen, David D. Roberts & Rachel G. Fuchs. Western Civilization: The Continuing Experiment. Volume 1: to 1715 (Dolphin Edition). New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. Read More