Western Civilization Template
Transcript: Greece Trade of unique goods to and from the areas of Greece and Rome led to the expansion of their realm, with increased population, power, and diverse ideas. Unlike Mesopotamia and Egypt, Greece was not in a river valley, and the land wasn’t very fertile. It was fertile enough that Greece managed to have a small surplus of food, but without trade it wouldn’t have been enough to grow a large population. Greece was situated right next to the Mediterranean Sea which made it a very good central location for trade. As trade increased, so did the surplus of food and the number of people who came through Greece, increasing the population hugely, especially in the region of Attica. Although Greece didn’t have a huge surplus of agriculture, they did have a huge production of olive oil and wine (pleasure products that they didn’t really need) that they could trade for grain and other items. Cities in Greece began to rely more on trade and commerce than on agriculture, which created the idea of a city not centered entirely on agriculture or getting its main profit from agriculture, which at the time hadn’t been heard of often. Because the trade caused this huge population growth for Greece, especially in Attica (where Athens lies), a lot of political strain grew from overpopulation. Athens tried to fix this by governing with democratic principles, but because of the great trade, Athens was becoming very rich and the majority of people who were receiving that money were already-rich land owners. Also, many of the luxury products that were being imported to Greece were all being given to the rich landowners. This further increased tension between the classes. Trade also increased the nationalism of Greece, because now the more than 400 colonies could connect with each other, and all realized the significance that the Greek nation had to the rest of the world because trade had caused such a massive population and spread of goods and ideas. In order to be able to trade easily with each other, everyone in Greece had a unified religion – they believed in the polytheistic set of Olympian gods led by Zeus - and language and currency, which didn’t always happen often in ancient times. With the rise in material trade came the rise in Slave Trade. In Athens, the slaves numbered 1/3 of the total population, and everyone but the extremely poor owned at least one slave. In Sparta slaves outnumbered the citizens at 10:1. Overall in Greece, although it is hard for historians to determine the exact number of Slaves there must’ve been, the amount of slaves outnumbered Greek citizens. Agriculture and other household chores were taken care of because of the slaves, which left Greek’s to be able to focus on more cultural things such as writing, art, and education. In turn, people with these talents were able to spread their work around the world using the trade that was so important for creating slaves in the first place. During Alexander the Greats rule of Greece called the Hellenistic Era, trade had a huge factor on the three states of Greece (Antigonid, Ptolemaic, and the Seleucid) In the Antigonid area, trade was huge and Athens flourished, causing extreme overpopulation and causing many of the citizens to move to the Seleucid region. The Ptolemaic empire was the wealthiest empire because of trade, and first started to come up with the definition of a monopoly in trade – they had monopolized salt, beer, and textiles. The Seleucid empire was very populated because of trade and the overpopulation that it caused for the Antigonid. Many Greek and Macedonian colonists flocked to this area, further populating it and bringing in more diverse ideas. Greek culture traditions were formed through the trade system. Not only did the huge trade system in Ancient Greece create surplus of food and goods, it created a surplus of ideas. Greek cultural traditions started to take inspiration from many of the people they traded with such as Mesopotamia and Egypt. Because of this Greek citizens were polytheistic and believed in the Greek Gods – such as Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades; although as time went on and trade increased, ideas of a one true eternal God began to filter in through the trade routes from other places such as Rome or Egypt. This was the first time that one true God had ever been thought of before in Greece, and it laid down the pathway for Christianity to eventually be accepted. Rome Trade increased the difference between rich and poor in Rome because, just as in Greece, the rich people were those who got all of the expensive luxuries. This really angered the lower classes greatly and eventually they went through the “Struggle of the Orders” which led to the lower classes gaining more rights. Overall trade led to more rights for the poor. The increased material trade in Rome also led to increased slave trade. Although this may not seem morally better, it was definitely better financially and socially for Rome. The trade also shaped Rome’s
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