Download WH CH 4.4 The Glory that was Greece Notes

Philosophers
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Socrates
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Plato
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Aristotle
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Architecture
Theater
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Drama
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Comedies
Herodotus
Thucydides
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The Glory that was Greece
These thinkers tried to use reason and observation to explain causes for
events.
They studied things such as math, music, and logic. Some developed skills in
rhetoric, (skillful speaking).
This man introduced what has become known as the Socratic Method.
He would ask questions and encourage people to really think about their answers.
He was seen by the authorities as a threat to the values of Athens.
At 70 he was arrested for corrupting the young people. He was found guilty and
was sentenced to kill himself by drinking hemlock.
Like his teacher Socrates, Plato did not approve of democracy.
He wrote a book, The Republic, in which he talked about the perfect society.
There would be three classes of people
(1)
the workers,
(2)
the soldiers,
(3)
The ruling class of philosophers, with one philosopher-king.
He taught his ideas at his school known as the Academy.
Like his teacher Plato, Aristotle favored rule by a single strong leader.
At his school, the Lyceum
He helped people learn how to make rational decisions and established the basis
of the scientific method.
Courses in the early European universities were based on the work and ideas of
Aristotle.
Will become the teacher of Alexander the Great
One of the best examples of Greek architecture is the Parthenon.
Like all Greek art it was based on the values of balance, order, and proportion.
Greek plays were performed in large outdoor theaters with very little scenery.
Actors wore elaborate costumes and masks.
The first plays were tragedies, stories that told of human suffering. Some of
the great writers were:
Sophocles- He wrote about a family torn apart in Antigone.
Euripides – He showed the harsh life of Greek women in his plays The Trojan
Women and Medea.
Aeschylus- In Orseteia he showed that even powerful families could be torn
apart by the gods.
Were written to mock people or customs of the present time.
The greatest writer of comedies was Aristophanes
 “Father of History”
 Wrote The Persian Wars
 unbiased- though still reflected his own views
 Believed Greeks won because they were morally right (right vs. might)
 History of the Peloponnesian War (Sparta vs. Athens)
 Athenian, but tried to be fair to both sides
 father of "scientific history", because of his strict standards of evidencegathering and analysis in terms of cause and effect without reference to
intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work.