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

Aristophanes – Great play writer of COMEDY Drama Aeschylus and Sophocles – Great play writers of TRAGEDY Aristophanes – Great play writer of COMEDY

Poetry Homer: The 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

Sculpture Phidias – He is known as the greatest Greek sculptor He designed the Parthenon (the temple of the Goddess Athena) Sculpted the huge Statue of Zeus at Olympus

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

Mathematics Euclid – the father of geometry Pythagoras – the father of numbers, he founded the Pythagorean theory

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

Philosophy

Socrates – Believed that asking questions led to knowledge and truth. The question and answer approach known as the Socratic method comes from his ideas. “The Unexamined life is not worth living.” Plato – Founded “The Academy,” his philosophy was about how societies should be governed. He wrote about a “perfectly- governed society” in his work, The Republic. Aristotle- believed everything in the natural world could be explained with logic. His ideas led to the Scientific Method. Political Thinker Scientific Thinker

Pictures Cited Slide 1 – Clip art 2006