1. The Greek Mind
Chapter 10.2

2. Greek Thinkers
500 B.C. to 350 B.C was known as the Golden Age of Greece.
Art, architecture, literature, and philosophy thrived
Philosophy is a Greek word meaning “love of wisdom”

3. The Sophists
Sophists were teachers that traveled from one polis to another.
They taught all subjects, including rhetoric, the art of speaking and debate.
Didn’t believe the gods had power over humans
Challenged Greek traditions
Taught winning was better than seeking the truth

4. Socrates Lived in Athens and trained to be a sculptor
Loved philosophy and teaching
Believed in absolute truth and knowledge is in everyone
Didn’t leave written records but students wrote about him
Asked questions as teaching strategy – Socratic method
Wanted students to question and think for themselves

6. Socrates After Peloponnesian War, open debate wasn’t trusted in Athens
Leaders feared his influence
Arrested in 399 B.C. and charged with encouraging the young to rebel
Found guilty and sentenced to death by poison
He was given the opportunity to leave Athens, but refused saying he had to follow the law.

8. Plato Student of Socrates
Quit career in government after death of Socrates
Became a teacher and founded the Academy in Athens
Wrote The Republic, plan for society and government
Wanted philosopher kings to rule
Didn’t think common people could think for themselves
Believed women should have more rights

9. Aristotle 335 B.C. started the Lyceum school
Taught the “golden mean”, live moderately
His methods of studying science influenced modern science
Wrote Politics, a book on government
Believed best government had features of monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy
Influenced later governments including the U.S.
Alexander the Great was his student

10. Greeks and History Herodotus Thucydides
435 B.C. wrote a history of the Persians Wars
“Father of history”
Researched the events and questioned many people
Still believed gods played a role in events
Thucydides
Wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War
Believed on people made history
Wanted eyewitness accounts
Believed one could learn from mistakes of the past

11. The First Scientists
Believed natural events could be explained by logic
Thales studied astronomy
Pythagoras believed every relationship could be expressed in numbers.
Pythagorean Theorem

12. Ancient Greek Medicine
Hippocrates – “father of medicine”
Believed disease was from natural causes
Traveled all over Greece treating the sick
Hippocratic Oath – list of rules for doctors on how to treat patients
Doctors today use the Hippocratic Oath