Plato & Aristotle From Raphael’s School of Athens

Hellenic Period BCE The battle of Plataea to the death of Alexander the Great

Hellenic Ideals With the final defeat of the Persian invaders, the Greek ideal became one of moderation and the balanced life. A balance between extremes Apollo and Dionysus

Apollo: associated with the urban life Dionysus: associated with the rural life. Drunken women known as maenads followed and worshiped him. In Athens, the drunken worship of Dionysus was transformed into a civic festival, the Dionysia.

Hellenic Ideals The fusion of the civic and the religious The Parthenon The Dionesia, a civic festival (from which tragedy was born)

Hellenic Ideals Classicism—a scholarly term denoting the principles expressed through the culture and arts of ancient Greece and Rome. Simplicity Balance Symmetry Order Restraint

Hellenic Politics The Hellenic Age can be divided into four distinct phases: The Delian League: a defensive alliance formed in 478 to prevent further Persian attacks. Wars in Greece and with Persia and the ensuing Thirty Years’ Peace. The Peloponnesian War ( BCE) Spartan and Theban hegemony and the triumph of Macedonia.

The Peloponnesian War ( ) When Corinth went to war with Corcyra in Western Greece, Corcyra appealed to Athens for aid. The Corinthians persuaded the Spartans to join together in the Peloponnesian League. The Peloponnesian War had begun

Greek Tragedy --Evolved from religious chanting and dancing in honor of Dionysus -- Not necessarily a dark, dismal play -- A play with a serious moral intention. -- Cathartic effects of tragedy

Greek Tragedy During the City Dionysia, three playwrights were invited to compose a cycle of 4 plays. -- Three tragedies + one Satyr Play Each playwright performed his entire cycle in a single day.

Greek Tragedy Aeschylus ( BCE) Sophocles ( BCE) Euripides ( BCE) The Oresteia Agamemnon -- the only surviving complete trilogy; proud and patriotic. Oedipus Rex Antigone -- the most philosophical of the early dramatists Medea The Bacchae -- a skeptical view of Greece and its “noble” values

Greek Comedy: Aristophanes In Lysistrata, Aristophanes points out the absurdity of the prolonged Peloponnesian War and, by implication, all war. In the play, Lysistrata, an Athenian matron, persuades the women of Athens and Sparta to withhold sex from their husbands until they sign a peace treaty.