1. Greece
“We are all Greeks.”
-Shelley

4. Pre-“Greek”—Aegean Culture
(Bronze age— BCE)
Cycladic —marble statues
Minoan King Minos--Knossos: Goddess with Snakes, Bull Jumper (Arthur Evans discovered Knossos)
Mycenaean —mainland Greece. Schliemann discovered Troy and the Mycenaean culture. They built great palaces and were preoccupied with death.

6. Cycladic BCE

7. Cycladic Period
BCE

8. Cycladic Period ca BCE

9. Minoan 2000-1400— see Crete/Heraklion

10. Minoan 2000-1400 Seafaring kingdom Seemingly safe and secure society
Human sacrifice
Minotaur was the child of the queen and a sacred bull
1700 BCE the great earthquake

11. Palace at Knossos ca. 1500 BCE

14. Labyrinth “House of the Double Ax”

15. Double-axes of Knossos

16. Bull-leaping mural on palace walls

19. Palace of Minos, Knossos c. 1700-1300 BCE

20. Thera/Santorini or the Lost Continent of Atlantis

21. Santorini

22. Goddess with Snakes—Knossos c. 1700-1550 BCE

23. Mycenaean

24. Mycenaean 1600-1200 Aggressive and militant Cyclops legend
1200 BCE Mycenaean attacked Troy (in present-day Turkey). Hence, the basis for the Iliad and Odyssey.

25. Lioness Gate Mycenae 1250 BCE

26. “Mask of Agamemnon”
Mycenaean ca. 1500

27. GREEK CULTURAL PERIODS
Heroic Age— BCE
Greek City-State/Persian Wars— BCE
Athens/Golden Age BCE

28. Heroic Age— BCE
Dorians (see map) destroyed the Mycenaean empire—ca. 1200
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey (NB the individualism of these epics)

30. Dipylon Vase c. 8th century BCE

31. Greek City-State/Persian Wars—750-480 BCE
200 City-State reflected the terrain of Greece
Competitive among themselves, but unified against Persians
Marathon 490 BCE—land defeat for Persians
Salamis 489 BCE—navel defeat for Persians
Herodotus—sociologist and historian

32. Heracles & Lion c. 525 BCE

33. Athens/Golden Age 480-430 BCE
Athens was the big winner in the wars with Persia
The result was Camelot for a half-century
508 BCE—Athens becomes first democracy (people- power)
NB the power structure of Athenian society
Athens vs. Sparta
Pericles’ contributions to democracy and to the Peloponnesian Wars ( BCE)
Olympic games 776 BCE—naked athletes

34. Greek Drama

39. Greek Philosophy Practical explanation of the natural order
Objective, logical vs. subjective, intuitive
Naturalism and its philosophies—pre-Socrates
Sophists—concerned about the “Hows”
Socrates
Plato
Aristotle

40. Socrates (ca BCE)
Examine ones life by questioning everything, which resulted in his questioning of the Greek Assembly.
The Assembly claimed that he was corrupting the minds of young people and not believing in the gods.

41. Quotes from Socrates:
“By all means marry; if you get a good wife, you'll be happy. If you get bad one, you'll become a philosopher.”
“Do not do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”
“Envy is the ulcer of the soul.”
“Remember what is unbecoming to do is also unbecoming to speak of.”
“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.”
“Children today are tyrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyrannize their teachers.”

42. Plato ca. 427-347 BCE Academy—precursor to the university
Plato discussed and examined various theories of government
Rejected democracy
Plato believed that the best form of government (“polis” or state)
Government in three parts: (1) the “philosopher kings” (2) the warriors (3) the masses
Cosmic Forms

43. Aristotle—384-322 BCE Student of Plato at the Academy
Aristotle ( BC) was a resident alien in Athens. Unlike Socrates and Plato, he was not a citizen of Athens. Aristotle was the best student of Plato, but he did not believe in everything that Plato preached. Plato believed in absolute knowledge, which he believed philosophers could have if they kept pure and practiced philosophy. According to Plato, a person can reach absolute knowledge by attending his university and practicing philosophy and mathematics. Unlike Plato, Aristotle did not believe in absolutes. He believed that the ultimate goal or reality (“telos”) of all things is determined by their function. For instance, a chair’s ultimate reality (“telos”) is determined by its creator (“cratftsman”). From the very beginning, the creator of the chair has an idea of the ultimate goal (“telos”) of the chair when he was gathering the wooden materials (“matter”) to create the chair. For Aristotle, therefore, the ultimate reality of things is determined by the design that their creator had in mind when he created the thing. Thus, instead of having a philosopher-king rule society, Aristotle believed that it depends who are the best people available. If there is only one person with the skills and knowledge of ruling, then the correct government (“polis”) is a monarchy (“one ruler”). If there is more than one person—for instance, there are three or four good rulers—then the correct government is an aristocracy (“best rules”). Still, like his mentor Plato, Aristotle also though that a democracy (“rule of many”) was the worst type of government. Aristotle also started a school called the Lyceum, and, like Plato’s Academy, it formed the basis of our university education.
Many scholars believe that Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are among the best thinkers in Western history. To this day, many of our ideas find their origins in these Greek philosophers. For example, our concepts like form and matter, psychology, political science, physics, biology, logic, ethics, and the transmigration of souls all find their origins in Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. These Greek philosophers analyzed and traced the concept and evolution how individuals, families, friends, and communities form basic building blocks for our governments and its institutions.
Aristotle— BCE
Student of Plato at the Academy
Aristotle was said to have been the last person on earth that understood everything that was known at the time
Peripatetic philosopher
Unmoved mover
NB his philosophy regarding the sexes
Golden Mean
State over the individual

44. Greek Culture and Art: Greek Horizontal Ever-changing Experimental
This worldly
Democratic
Chaotic
Egyptian
Pyramidal
Static
Traditional
Other worldly
Autocratic
Unity/continuity

45. For an interesting world timeline: