Greek Gods and Goddesses Begin note for classical Greece

Greek Gods and Goddesses Greek people believed that the Gods and Goddesses controlled nature. These deities controlled every aspect of a person life. If a person were to anger the Gods, they would be subject to his or her wrath for the rest of their life. These Gods and Goddesses lived on Mt. Olympus.

Limited Power Greek gods and Goddesses were not all powerful. Even thought these Gods and Goddesses had special powers, they looked like humans, they married, and they even had children. They also fought wars and played tricks on each other.

Sacrifices Most of the Greek people decided that they would like to stay in the favor of the Gods and Goddesses. Therefore, they needed to offer the Gods sacrifices. The sacrifices would be made at a temple that was made specifically for that God.

ZEUS Zeus was king of all of the Gods He was also the God of the sky, rain, and lightning He also ruled over all of Mt. Olympus

Hades Hades was God of the underworld

Hades Hades was God of the underworld He was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon He was the husband of beautiful Persephone He was the owner of human souls

Aphrodite Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty She was the wife of Hephaestus

ORACLE AT DELPHI The Greeks believed that each person had a fate or destiny. They also believed that certain people could prophesy about the future of other people. One of the most famous was the Oracle At Delphi. She was located at the Temple of Apollo.

ORACLE AT DELPHI CONT. The Oracle was a woman who sat deep inside the temple in a room where steam hissed from the earth. She sat on a special tripod and listened to questions. Then the priest would interpret her answers. She frequently gave answers in the form of riddles. Many heads of states would send envoys to seek her council.

Greek Poetry and Fables Greek poems ad stories are some of the oldest in the world. The earliest of these is called an epic. These epics were long poems telling of heroes of old and great battles. Homer wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey, about the war between Troy and Mycenaea.

Aesop and his Fables A Greek slave named Aesop began to write his now famous fables around 550 B.C. Each one of the fables ends with a moral or a lesson. One of the most famous is “The Tortoise and the Hair”.

Greek Philosophers The word philosophy means “love of knowledge”. Many Greek thinkers believed that the human mind could understand everything on earth and in the heavens. These people were called Philosophers. Most of these philosophers were also teachers.

PYTHAGORAS Pythagoras was a Greek philosopher and mathematician. He came up with the Pythagorean Theorem A²+B²=C²

Sophist The sophist were teachers in the ancient Greece. They traveled from city to city teaching people. They said there was no absolute right or wrong.

Socrates Socrates was originally a sculptor who loved philosophy. He did not like the Sophist. He invented the Socratic method. He was put to death by the Athenian leaders

Plato Plato was a student of Socrates. He put forth many ideas about government in his book called the Republic. He also believed that men and women should be very close to equal. He also established a school called the Academy

REPUBLIC Plato said government should be set up in levels Philosopher kings and rulers Warriors Everyone else.

Aristotle Aristotle attended Plato’s Academy. He opened his own school called Lycenum. He wrote more than 200 books. He also came up with the golden mean.

Herodotus He wrote the history of the Persian Wars. He is considered the father of history. He thought that the God’s played a huge role in the course of wars.

Thucydides Thucydides fought in the Peloponnesian Wars. He stressed the idea of having accurate facts. He saw war as the act of humans and politics, not Gods.

Review Who is the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi? Who is Zeus and where did he live? Who is Aphrodite? Who is Hades and where did he live? What is a philosopher? Name three philosophers and what they contributed