Ancient Greece

The Minoans Lived on the island of Crete Had great power in the Mediterranean Sea

The Minoans They had sophisticated art Enjoyed building palaces Decorated them with FRESCOES FRESCO: ground up paint in limewater mix

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Minoan Decline No one knows why this powerful civilization stopped to exist THEORY: Volcanic eruption on Thera Released Toxic gas Caused Tsunamis

Indo-Europeans Indo-Europeans Began to settle in mainland Greece

The Mycenaeans Replaced the Minoans Lived and grew on Mainland Greece Leading City: Mycenae Surrounded by massive wall about 20 feet thick Adapted Minoan writing system Advanced in Bronze & Iron

The Trojan War 1200 B.C. – Mycenaean kings fought a 10 year war with Troy Struggle for control of a crucial waterway in the Aegean Sea * Troy

Helen

Kidnapped?

Caused War

                                                                           

                                                                          

The TROJAN Wall!

How do we get in???

AH HA! The Trojan Horse of Course!

Copyright © Clara Kim 2007. All rights reserved.

Who fought? 1. Delian League: Athens and other small city states that supported democracy 2. Peloponnesian League : Sparta and other city states that supported an oligarchy.

Causes of War After the Persian War tension was building for years. Athens had supreme power and others resented them. Controlled the Delian League

Athens vs Sparta Sparta = strongest land power in Greece Athens = strongest sea power in Greece

Spartans Athens

Who Won? SPARTA!

How Did Sparta Win? Sparta was located inland so it could not be attacked from the sea Athens could be attacked by sea and land Athens tried to move its people behind the acropolis and plague broke out = weakened Athens

Acropolis

Acropolis

Effects of the Peloponnesian Wars Ended the reign of Athenian greatness Corruption replaced good citizenship People lost faith in democracy Sparta’s is taken over by Thebes Macedonia becomes the next great power

Greek Mythology

Homer The Greeks lacked writing, so they learned about the Trojan war through spoken word Greatest Greek story teller was a blind man named Homer.

Homer

The Iliad and the Odyssey Two epic poems composed by Homer about the Trojan War. Epics – Narrative poems that tell about heroic deeds. The heroes of The Iliad are Hector and Achilles. The Odyssey is about a 10 year journey home of Odysseus and his adventures along the way.

The IlLiad and the Odyssey

Greek Myths Greeks developed a rich set of Myths, or traditional stories about their gods Greeks have a polytheistic religion. This means they believed in many gods

Greek Myths Myths explained changing of the seasons and the mysteries of nature. Greek gods/goddesses had many of the same qualities as humans: Love Hate Jealousy Greek gods competed and fought with each other constantly. Gods lived forever on Mt. Olympus

Mt. Olympus Home of the Gods

Zeus King of the Gods Ruler of Mt. Olympus God of sky and thunder

Hera Wife of Zeus Goddess of Marriage

Poseidon God of the sea, earthquakes, and horses Brother of Zeus

Hades God of the Underworld Brother of Zeus

Athena Goddess of Heroes and WISDOM Patron Goddess of Athens

Ares God of War Patron god of Sparta

Aphrodite Goddess of love, lust and beauty

Hermes God of trade/travel Messenger of the gods

Contributions of Greek Culture to Western Civilization Copyright © Clara Kim 2007. All rights reserved.

Pericles A wise and able statesman who led Athens through its golden age He was honest and fair Skillful politician and inspiring speaker Had popular support for 32 years

Three Goals for Greece Strengthen democracy 2. Hold and strengthen the empire 3. Glorify Athens School of Athens

1. Strengthen Democracy Introduced Direct Democracy: a form of government where the citizens rule directly and not through representatives. Pericles extended democracy so that most adult males had an equal voice

2. Strengthen Athenian Empire Strengthened Athens’ navy It was the most powerful navy in the Mediterranean Athens’ strong navy ensured the safety of its empire

3. Glorify Athens Pericles rebuilt Athens after the destruction of the Persian Wars Built the Parthenon using marble, gold and ivory.

sculpture Phidias: Known as the Greatest Greek Sculptor Designed the Parthenon (the temple of the Goddess Athena) Sculpted the huge Statue of Zeus at Olympus

Parthenon Temple of Athena, the patron Goddess of Athens

architecture

Doric Column Very plain and simple Has no base

Ionic Column Capital has scrolls Has a base More decorative

The most decorative capital Corinthian Column The most decorative capital Roofs are flat

Greek Art Greek art reflected: A. Order B. Balance C. Proportion This is why Greek art works are examples of CLASSICAL ART

Greek Art Sculptors tried to create graceful, strong and perfectly formed art. Tried to capture movement and sculpted bodies in what they thought was perfect physical form

Poetry Homer: Great blind story teller of Greece His stories later were written in two epics: 1. Iliad 2. Odyssey

history Herodotus – Greek historian who is known as the “father of history” He wrote Histories which was about the conflict between Persia and Greece Thucydides – A Greek historian who wrote History of the Peloponnesian War. He wrote about the conflict between Athens and Sparta

Greek Drama Greeks invented drama and built the first theaters in the west Greeks wrote 2 kinds of plays: 1. Tragedy – Serious drama about themes like love, hate, war or betrayal 2. Comedy – dramas filled with humor and were satires which means they poked fun at customs or respected people

Greek Drama Famous play writers Drama – Aeschylus, Sophocles Comedy – Aristophanes Plays were performed in outdoor theaters

Socrates Greek philosopher that believed absolute standards did exist for truth and justice Encouraged Greeks to go farther and question themselves and their moral character

Plato A student of Socrates, set forth a vision in his book, The Republic, for a perfectly governed society In his society, all subjects would fall naturally into three groups: farmers and artisans, warriors, and the ruling class

Aristotle A student of Plato, questioned the nature of the world and of human belief, thought, and knowledge Invented a method for arguing according to rules of logic, which were later applied to the fields of psychology, physics, and biology; his work provides the basis of the scientific method used today. Teacher of Alexander the Great

Science Archimedes – Considered the greatest mathematician Discovered the principles of density and buoyancy Hippocrates – Founder of medicine and the greatest physician of his time

mathematics Euclid – Father of geometry Pythagoras – Father of numbers, he founded the Pythagorean theory

Alexander the Great and Hellenism Hellenistic Culture

Alexander the Great Son of Phillip II the king of Macedon He conquered most of Greece Alexander will establish an empire from Greece to Egypt and up to the edge of India He adopted Greek Culture and spread Hellenism throughout his empire

Hellenistic Culture It is the blend of Greek culture with Egyptian, Persian and Indian influences

Alexandria An African city which was the center for trade and Hellenistic culture This city became an international community with a mix of customs and traditions

Ancient Library of Alexandria Contained a collection of 500,000 papyrus scrolls and masterpieces of ancient literature Was the first true research library in the world Scholars produced commentaries on ancient worlds of literature

Science and Technology Astronomy- Aristarchus estimated that the sun was 300 times bigger than Earth and that the sun was the center of the universe Nobody accepted this theory. Instead they thought the Earth was the center of the universe

Math and Physics Euclid – Opened the school for geometry in Alexandria Archimedes accurately estimated the value of pi ( )

Philosophy SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT: 1. Stoicism 2. Epicureanism the belief that there was a divine power that controlled the universe Believed everyone should live in harmony with natural law 2. Epicureanism - taught that the universe was made of atoms and ruled by gods who didn’t care about humans