1. Democracy and Greece’s Golden Age
Democratic principles and classical culture flourish during Greece’s golden age

2. 477-431 BC Intellectual and artistic learning
Golden Age of Athens
BC Intellectual and artistic learning

3. Pericles Skillful politician Inspiring speaker Respected general
Came from a rich and high-ranking noble family
Dominates life in Athens from BC (Age of Pericles)

4. One historian wrote:
“(He) no doubt, was a lonely man…He had no friend…(and) he only went out (of his home) for official business.”

5. Pericles had three goals for Athens
1. Stronger Democracy
Increased the number of public officials who were paid salaries
Creates direct democracy (citizens rule directly, not through representatives)

6. 2. Strengthen the empire
Takes over Delian League
Uses money to strengthen Athenian navy
Expands overseas trade
Sparta and other cities resent Athenian power

7. 3. Glorifies Athens
Uses money from Delian League to beautify Athens
Buys gold, ivory, marble; hires artisans to create works of classical art

8. Why would Pericles not have been satisfied with securing Athens’ political and economic strength? Why did he also demand the city-state’s artistic glorification?
It was a way for Pericles to honor and win favor with the Greek gods; Athenians thought surrounding themselves with beauty was valuable in itself.

9. Art and Architecture
Pericles builds the Parthenon-a large temple to honor goddess Athena
Within temple, sculptor Phidias crafts 30 foot statue of Athena
Sculptors create graceful, strong, perfectly formed figures

10. Statues from the Parthenon

11. Classical Art Harmony Order Balance Proportion Beauty
Idealized human body in motion
NOT realism
No emotion

12. Drama
Greeks invent drama as an art form; includes chorus, dance, and poetry
Two forms of drama; tragedy and comedy
Actors wore theatrical masks that exaggerated human expressions
Performed outdoors

13. Greek Theater in Athens

14. Tragedy
Tells story of heroes’ downfall; themes of love, hate, war, betrayal
Aeschylus
Euripides
Sophocles (Oedipus and Antigone) “Many are the wonders of the world, but none is more wonderful than man.”

15. Comedy Makes fun of politics and respected people Slapstick humor
Aristophanes

16. History
Herodotus-pioneered the accurate reporting of events (Father of History)
Thucydides-believed that certain types of events and political situations recur over time (see picture at right) Do you think that Thucydides was right in his assertion that history sometimes repeats itself?

17. Athenians and Spartans Go to War
Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC
WHY?
Hostility and ill-will as Athens grew in wealth and prestige
Called the Peloponnesian War

18. Peloponnesian War
Sparta had better army and inland location meant that it could not be attacked by sea
Athens had better navy
Pericles wanted to avoid land battles
Who held the advantage during the Peloponnesian War?

19. Plague in Athens
Sparta marched into Athenian territory, burning the food supply
Pericles brought people inside the city walls.
Plague strikes Athens in 430 BC
Kills 1/3 of population including Pericles
Athens and allies surrender in 404 BC
Sparta wins

20. Philosophers
After the war, rise of philosophers-thinkers or “lovers of wisdom”
Began to question their values
Believed universe is subject to absolute and unchanging laws
People could understand these laws through logic, reason
Sophist philosopher Protagoras questions the existence of Greek gods and said there was no universal standard of truth

21. Why might the ideas of Protagoras have troubled Athenians?
Athenians named their city-state for a goddess and built her a lavish temple, so they may have found Protagoras’ ideas insulting.

22. Socrates Believed in questioning, self-examination of values, actions
Believed there were universal truths
Used question-and-answer approach (Socratic method)
Left behind no writings-accounts of his life were written by contemporaries like Plato

23. Death of Socrates
Convicted of corrupting young people; sentenced to death in 399 BC
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
“There is only one good, knowledge and one evil, ignorance.”

24. How does the trial of Socrates reflect on Athenian democracy?
It suggests that Athenians set limits on freedom of speech when controversial opinions were expressed.

25. Plato Student of Socrates and founder of The Academy
Wrote The Republic about an ideal society ruled by a philosopher-king
Society would be divided into three groups-
Farmers and artisans,
Warriors
Ruling class.
The person in the ruling class with the greatest insight and intellect would be a philosopher-king.

26. Plato “Philosophy begins in wonder.”
387 BC established Athens school, the Academy, lasts for 900 years
Plato “gave thanks to nature, first that he was born a human being rather than a dumb animal; second that he was a man rather than a woman; then that he was a Greek not a foreigner; finally that he was Athenian born in the time of Socrates.”

27. Aristotle Student of Plato and founder of The Lyceum
Close to summarizing all of the knowledge up to his time
Biology, physics, psychology
Uses rules of logic for argument
His work provides the basis for scientific method (still used today)
Tutor of Alexander the Great