Greek Achievements Chapter 5 Section 3

Key Terms Socrates Plato Aristotle Reason Logic Homer Lyric poetry Herodotus Thucydides

Greek Philosophy 500’s BC earliest Greek Philosophy Philosophia- lover of wisdom Height 400’s to 300’s Three greatest ◦Socrates ◦Plato ◦Aristotle

Socrates Born mid 400’s BC Interested in truth, justice and virtue Could make people and societies good “What is truth?” When the person answered he followed up with questions Socratic method

Plato Student of Socrates Left behind writings of his ideas Government topic of a lot of Plato’s work The Republic – government should be led by qualified people to make good decisions Philosophers should be the rulers

Plato Plato did not support Athenian democracy Wanted to make philosopher’s education more formal Founded the Academy Became most important site for philosophers to do their work

Aristotle Studied at the Academy Concerned with the nature of the world around him Applied philosophical principles to all knowledge Reason-means clear and ordered thinking

Aristotle Should use reason to learn about the world around them Make observations and think rationally Emphasis on reason helped to develop science in Europe

Aristotle Logic-the process of making inferences Could use what you know to infer facts ◦Birds have feathers and lay eggs ◦Owls have feathers and lay eggs ◦Therefore and owl must be a type of bird ◦Use reason to draw conclusions

Homer’s Epics Iliad and Odyssey most famous works Epics tell stories of great events Stories of the Trojan War Iliad last year of the Trojan War ◦Hector and Achilles ◦Greek victory over Troy

Homer’s Epics Odyssey tells the story of the heroes of then Trojan War ◦Odysseus angers the gods and wandered the sea for 10 years ◦Faces terrible dangers Homer’s epics had tremendous influence Became basis for Greek education system Students memorized long passages

Other Forms of Poetry Hesiod wrote descriptive poetry ◦Poems about gods and peasants Lyric poetry-named after a lyre (instrument) played while accompanying poems ◦Deal with emotion and desires

Other Forms of Poetry Sappho-women poet ◦Poems on daily life ◦Marriage ◦Love ◦Relationships with family and friends Pindar late 500’s early 400’s Wrote poems to commemorate public events (Olympic games)

History Greeks first people to write about and analyze the past Herodotus-lived during the Persian Wars ◦The Histories described major events of wars ◦Some he witnessed some told by others ◦Sources not always reliable

History Thucydides-lived during the Peloponnesian Wars ◦Included primary sources ◦Looked at sources critically ignoring unreliable or irrelevant information

History Xenophon-both a soldier and philosopher Fought in Persia 400 BC Concentrated less on sources and more on describing famous men Helped us to learn of Greek life in the 300’s

Drama Form of entertainment Chorus would recite the story Later actors took on roles Tragedies-focused on hardships of Greek heroes Three great Greek writers

Drama Aeschylus-wrote plays on ancient Greek myths Oresteia most famous work ◦Story of leader of Greek army after the Trojan War

Drama Sophocles- concentrated on suffering people bring on themselves Characters had fatal flaws Oedipus main character of three plays ◦Unknowingly kills his father and marries his own mother

Drama Euripides-tragedy brought on by irrational behavior Medea woman swears revenge on unfaithful husband, killing his new wife and family

Drama Comedies- wrote to expose flaws in society Aristophanes- poked fun at Athenian society ◦From government ◦Treatment of women ◦Mocked religion

Greek Architecture Wanted Athens to be the most beautiful Built ◦Temples ◦Theatres ◦Public buildings Added sculpture and paintings

Greek Architecture Grandest buildings built on the acropolis ◦Used marble and bronze Parthenon- massive temple built for Athena ◦14 years to build ◦200 feet long, 100 feet wide ◦Had doors and windows ◦Graceful marble columns ◦Huge gold and ivory statue of Athena

Sculpture Sculpted human form Paying attention to muscles in motion Tried to recreate what they observed Wanted statues to look lifelike Wanted physical perfection

Painting Only a few originals survive ◦Painted on vases ◦Plates ◦Other vessels Scenes from myths and legends Most red and black Greeks create murals Scenes from the Iliad and the Odyssey