1. CHAPTER 8: Ancient greeks
Lesson 1: the greek Culture

2. Greek Beliefs
City-states separated politically but shared a common culture.
Same languages, beliefs and customs, and myths
Who were the Greek Gods?
Gods look and Act like human Beings.
Marry and have children and often times with act like them by playing tricks on each other.
12 most important gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus
Gods could come and go as they pleased but humans stopped at gates of clouds

3. All city-states worship Zeus and then pick one god as protector.
Zeus: King God
Athena- Goddess of wisdom and crafts
Apollo- god of sun and poetry
Aphrodite- goddess of love
Ares- god of war
Poseidon- god of the seas and earthquakes
All city-states worship Zeus and then pick one god as protector.
TO win favor of gods, people perform rituals (an action that is part of a religious ceremony.
With temples and at home, offered gifts to the gods, and festivals honoring Gods and goddesses.
Held feasts and sacrifices

4. Greek Oracles: Every 4 years athletes compete in athletic competition
For glory of Zeus and held at city of Olympia
Called the Olympic Games
Beginning in 776 B.C. ancient Olympic games took place for over 1,000 years
1896 first modern Olympic games.
Greek Oracles:
Believed everyone have a fate or destiny
Also in prophecy (prediction about the future)
Gods gave prophecies to warn people about the future in time to change it.
Oracle: a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess.
Most famous at temple of Apollo at Delphi
Priestess sit in stool in chamber and listened to questions
Priests translate her answers
Leaders and messengers traveled to Delphi to ask for advice.

5. Temple of Apollo in Delphi

6. Epics and Fabies
Greek poems and stories oldest literature in Western Civilization
Used as models for writing more modern works
Ex: Shakespeare- borrowed plots and settings for dramas, organized his plays similar to how Greeks organized theirs.
First stories were epics- The Illiad and the Odyssey
Composed by homer during the 700s B.C.
Epics based on stories about a war between Greece and city of Troy

7. The Trojan Horse
Illiad: Prince of troy falls in love with Helen, wife of a greek king
He kidnaps her and by doing so the Greeks get angry and attack troy
Greeks cant get in so they try tricking the trojans by constructing a hollow wooden horse.
Trick trojans into believing they have won, let the horse in and Greek invade the city.
Odyssey: story of Odysseus, a greek hero from the Trojan War.
Describes his trip home after the trojan war
Faces storms, monsters, and witches
Returns home to wife after 10 years
Epics seen as real stories

8. Aesop’s Fables “The fox and the Grapes” or “The boy who cried wolf”
Lived and told stories in 550 B.C.
Don’t believed he existed but stories due and known as fables (a short tale that teachers a lesson)
Animals speak and act like people; stories meant to be funny and teach a lesson or truth.
“The Hare and the Tortoise”
Stories told during the Golden Age of Greece (about 500 B.C B.C.)
Part of Greek oral tradition

9. “Fox and the Grapes”
“The Hare and the Tortoise”
Illiad:
Oydessy:

10. The Impact of Greek Drama
Created and performed the first dramas
Drama: story told mainly through the words and actions of a cast of characters.
Two categories- tragedy and comedy
Fifth century B.C.: four writers emerged as greatest Greek dramatists or writers
Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes
Aeschylus the earliest greek dramatist
Wrote Oresteia- set of three plays
Greek kings return from trojan war and troubles to follow
About revenge and murder
Good triumphs over evil

11. Sophocles: great Athenian writer
In plays accepted suffering as way of life
Stressed courage and understanding
Antigone: is it better to obey or do what we believe to be right?
Euripides: wrote about ordinary human beings in realistic situations
Ancient greece only men could be actors
Most famous greek writer was Aristophanes- work full of satire
How Greek Drama Developed:
Form of showing loyalty to city-states
Chorus presented story through singing and dancing
Dramas then use many actors creating action and conflicts

12. Greek Art and Architecture
Characteristics of greek art became artistic style we now call classical
Every greek city-state have temple dedicated to god or goddess
Sculptures decorate temples- human body favorite subject of Greek artists

13. CHAPTER 8: Ancient greeks
Lesson 2: the greek mind

14. Greek thinkers
500 b.c. and350 b.c. golden age where art, architecture, and literature flourished
Great time for thinkers
One type of thinker as involved in creating a new body of knowledge known as philosophers.
They created philosophy- love of wisdom
Developed the study of history, political science, biology, an logic

15. The sophists Group that traveled from polis to polis
Made living through teaching
Taught math, science, and history but were best known for teaching rhetoric (art of public speaking and debate)
Did not believe god influenced actions and rejected idea if absolute right or wrong.
Accepted money for teachings
Other philosophers not agree and believed they lacked ideals and values.

16. Who was socrates? Originally a sculptor but loved philosophy
Lived in athens and spent most of time teaching
Information found in student writing not official records
Harsh critic of sophists
Believed in absolute truth and all real knowledge within each person
Socratic Method: philosophical method of questioning to gain truth.
No lecture, just questions until students answered
Some athenian leaders feared this
Before athenians could speak freely but when they lost the Peloponnesian war, new leaders limited their freedom

17. 399 b.c. Socrates was arrested
Charged with urging young people to rebel against the gov’t
Found guilty and sentenced to death
Given opportunity to leave athens but stayed and gave one more speech
Plato’s Ideas:
One of socrate’s students
Became a teacher and found a school named the Academy
Recorded his ideas
The republic : ideal society and government
Society organized into three groups
Philosopher kings- ruled with logic and wisdom
Warriors: defened society through the use of force
Rest of the people: produce food, clothing, and shelter

18. Who was Aristotle? Noted dislike of Athenian democracy
Believed common people did not think for themselves and could be easily influenced into making decisions
Believed “philosopher kings” were intelligent and well-educated
Thought they would place the needs of the community ahead of their own needs.
But was willing to grant more rights to women – that they should have the same opportunities for education and jobs that men have.
Who was Aristotle?
Wrote more than 200 works on government, astronomy, and political science
335 B.C. started a school called the lyceum
Taught students the ‘golden mean’ – people should live moderately
Loved science- studied the stars, plants, and animals (carefully recorded observations)
Classified things according to similarities and differences

19. New History and Science Ideas:
Studied and compared the governments of different city-states to try and find the best political system
Politics: divided government into three types
Monarchy: rule by one person
Oligarchy: rule by a few people
Democracy: rule by many
Best government has features of all three
Chief executive would serve as head of state
Council or legislature would assist the leader and supported by the people
Influenced our gov’t
New History and Science Ideas:
Investigated the natural world

20. The Greeks and History Believed legends and myths were true
435 B.C. greek thinker Herodotus wrote a history of the persian wars
Gods played a role but tried to separate fact from fiction
Questioned many people to get information and investigated their truthfulness of the sources
Considered the father of history
Thucydides: general in the Peloponnesian war
Two greek city-states of athens and sparta fought in this conflict for 30 years
War to be a major event in world history
The history of the peloponnesian war
Gods not affect human history
Accurate and impartial
Explore causes and effects
Believe people learn from the past

21. The First Scientists
Believed natural events could be explained logically
Thales:
First important greek scientist
Born in mid 600s B.C.
Astronomy and mathematics
Discoveries by observing and thinking
Pythagoras: universe follows same laws that govern music and numbers
All relationships can be expressed in numbers
Pythagorean Theorem
Ancient Greek Medicine:
Hippocrates- ”Father of Medicine”
Diseases from natural causes
Traveled to help the sick, diagnosed different diseases, and discovered own treatments
Hippocratic oath