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Chapter 6 Notes/Study Guide – Golden Age of Greece and the Hellenistic Age – WH 1.5 e, f, g
WH 1.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient Greece in terms of its impact on
Western civilization by:
e) P1 characterizing life in Athens during the Golden Age of Pericles
Why was the leadership of Pericles important to the development of Athenian life and Greek c
culture?
Athenian culture, during the Classic Era, became one of the foundation stones (important
influences) of Western civilization.
P2 Golden Age of Pericles (425 BC to 450 BC) mostly occurring between the Persian and the
Peloponnesian Wars)
 Pericles extended democracy; most adult males had equal voice.
 Pericles had Athens rebuilt after destruction in Persian Wars; the Parthenon is an example of
this reconstruction.
 Golden Age of Pericles was the apex (height) of Greek culture, political and cultural influence
on Western Civilization.
f) P1 citing contributions in drama, poetry, history, sculpture, architecture, science,
mathematics, and philosophy, with emphasis on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
What were some important contributions of Greek culture to Western civilization?
P2 Contributions of Greek culture to Western civilization

Drama: Aeschylus, Sophocles
o
o
P3 Aeschylus: was the earliest writer of Greek tragedies whose plays exist in
complete form. Before Aeschylus, tragedies had a single actor who could only
respond to the questions or suggestions of the chorus. Aeschylus increased
the number of actors to two, which created dialogue that permitted
interaction between characters. Aeschylus's greatest work is the Oresteia
(458 B.C.), which consists of three plays forming one drama. They are
Agamemnon, Choephori (The Liberation Bearers), and The Eumenides (The
Furies). These plays tell of the violence after the return of King Agamemnon
from Troy.
P3 Sophocles: a writer of Greek tragedies whose plays deal with a struggle of
a strong individual against fate. Sophocles added a third actor, fixed the size
of the chorus at 15, and used scene painting. His best known is Oedipus Rex
(Greek word for King). Sophocles was born at Colonus, near Athens. He
served as an Athenian general and as a member of delegations to other
states. He also played an active role in the religious life of Athens.

Poetry: Homer (Iliad and Odyssey)

History: Herodotus, Thucydides
o
P3 Herodotus: was the first Greek historian. He is famous for the nine books he wrote on
the rise of the Persian Empire, the Persian invasions of Greece in 490 and 480 B.C., the
heroic fight of the Greeks against the invaders, and the final Greek victory. Herodotus
was born at Halicarnassus, in Asia Minor (now part of Turkey). He traveled widely in
Greece, the Middle East, and North Africa. Although Herodotus questioned the accuracy
of many of the stories he repeated, scholars have confirmed much of his information.
o

P3 Thucydides: a Greek historian of the 400's B.C., is famous for his History of the
Peloponnesian War. The war took place from 431 to 404 B.C., but the History is
unfinished and ends at 411 B.C. He set out to produce an accurate, unbiased account of
the war. He visited battlefields and talked to survivors from both sides. He also analyzed
the underlying political causes of the war. Thucydides reported political speeches as a
way of showing opposing viewpoints and reasons for certain actions. They know that
Thucydides was a citizen of Athens, born into an aristocratic family. He fought in the
Peloponnesian War and became a general. In 424 B.C., he was accused of failing to
protect the city of Amphipolis and was banished from Athens. During his exile, he worked
on his history. He returned from exile in 404 B.C.
Sculpture: Phidias
o
P3 Phidias: was the greatest sculptor in ancient Greece. His artistry was largely
responsible for the High Classical style of sculpture during the 400's B.C. Phidias
is best known for his designs for the sculptures on the Parthenon. None of
Phidias's statues survive, but ancient authors describe a great statue of Athena
Parthenos. It stood in the Parthenon and was more than 35 feet (11 meters)
high. Phidias was most famous for his gigantic statue of the seated Zeus, which
he created for the temple at Olympia. Each of these two huge statues had a
wooden core that was covered with gold and ivory.

Architecture: Types of columns included Doric (Parthenon), Ionian, and Corinthian

Science: Archimedes, Hippocrates
o
o
Archimedes: was the most original and profound mathematician of ancient times.
Archimedes, a Greek, was also a physicist and a mechanical engineer. In the
ancient world, he was best known as an inventor. His surviving writings rank
among the masterpieces of scientific literature, especially On the Sphere and
Cylinder. Archimedes was born in Syracuse, the largest Greek settlement in Sicily.
He probably went to study in Alexandria, Egypt, then the chief center of Greek
learning. There, Archimedes studied with disciples of Euclid, a famous Greek
mathematician. Archimedes spent the rest of his life in Syracuse. When the
Romans captured Syracuse, the Roman commander Marcellus ordered that
citizens of Syracuse be left unharmed. However, according to one story,
Archimedes was killed by a soldier while working on a geometry problem.
Hippocrates: was a well-known ancient physician who practiced medicine on the
Greek island of Cos. Long after his death, Hippocrates became the most famous
person in ancient medicine. Hippocrates' fame probably resulted from about 80
anonymously written medical works that became part of the collection of the
Library of Alexandria after about 200 B.C. Those writings became linked with
Hippocrates and are known by scholars as the Hippocratic corpus. Hippocrates is
often called the father of medicine. This image of him emerged from the writings
of Galen, a great physician who lived during the A.D. 100's and 200's. To Galen,
the Hippocratic oath served as a model for the ethical practice of medicine.
Today, many graduating medical students still take an oath modeled on this text.
Hippocratic medicine taught that diseases had natural causes and could therefore
be studied and possibly cured according to the workings of nature. Under
Hippocratic medicine, a well-trained physician could cure illness with knowledge
gained from medical writings or from experience. Modern medicine is still based
on this assumption.

Mathematics: Euclid, Pythagoras
o
o

Euclid: a Greek mathematician, is often called the father of geometry. He
compiled, systematically arranged, and wrote portions of the mathematics
textbook Elements. Euclid began with accepted mathematical truths called axioms
and postulates. From them, he logically demonstrated 467 propositions of plane
and solid geometry. Euclid's textbook has probably had a greater influence on
scientific thinking than any other work. Euclid wrote on most branches of
mathematics that were known in his time. But only a few of his other writings
have survived. It is known that he taught mathematics at the Museum, an
institute in Alexandria, Egypt.
Pythagoras: was a Greek mathematician. Pythagoras was famous for formulating
the Pythagorean theorem, but its principles were known earlier. The theorem
states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the
sum of the squares of the other two sides (a2+b2=c2)). About 529 B.C. Pythagoras
founded a school (brotherhood) among the aristocrats of Crotona, Italy. The
people of Crotona were suspicious of the Pythagorean brotherhood because its
members were aristocrats. The people killed most of the members in a political
uprising. Historians do not know whether Pythagoras left the city some time
before the outbreak of violence and escaped death there, or was killed in it.
Philosophy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
o
o
Socrates: was a Greek philosopher and teacher. Socrates was one of the most original,
influential, and controversial figures in ancient Greek philosophy and in the history of
Western thought. He redirected philosophy toward a consideration of moral problems
and how people should best live their lives. Socrates urged his fellow Greeks to consider
as the most important things in life the moral character of their souls and the search for
knowledge of moral ideas like justice. He was credited with saying "the unexamined life
is not worth living." Socrates was born near Athens, and spent most of his life in Athens.
He criticized some assumptions of the Athenian democratic system. Hostility arose in
Athens toward Socrates. At the age of 70, Socrates was brought to trial and charged with
"not believing in the gods the state believes in, and introducing different new divine
powers; and also for corrupting the young." Socrates was convicted and sentenced to
death. He could have escaped from prison, but he felt morally obligated to follow the
court's decision, even if it was unjust. His arguments for his action are recorded in Plato's
Crito. Plato's Phaedo describes Socrates's calm in the face of death and his drinking of
the poison, hemlock, which the Athenians used for the death penalty. The dialogue form
was probably invented by Plato to portray the Socratic method or dialectic. The method
consisted of asking questions like "What is courage?" of people who were confident of
the answer. Socrates, claiming ignorance of the answers to the questions, would
gradually show the people's beliefs to be contradictory.
Plato: was a philosopher and educator of ancient Greece. He was one of the most
important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. In 387 B.C., Plato
founded a school of philosophy and science that became known as the Academy. The
Academy was one of the first centers for higher education. Such subjects as astronomy,
biological sciences, mathematics, and political science were investigated there. His most
distinguished pupil at the Academy was the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Plato wrote in a
literary form called the dialogue. A dialogue is a conversation between two or more
people. Plato's better-known dialogues include The Apology, Cratylus, Crito, Euthyphro,
Gorgias, The Laws, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Protagoras, The Republic, The
Sophist, The Symposium, Theaetetus, and Timaeus.
o
Aristotle: a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist, was one of the greatest and most
influential thinkers in Western culture. In his own writings, Aristotle considered,
summarized, criticized, and further developed all the intellectual tradition that he had
inherited. Aristotle and his teacher Plato are usually considered to be the most important
ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle was born in Stagira, a small town in northern
Greece. His father, Nichomachus, was the personal physician of Amyntas II, the king of
nearby Macedonia. Amyntas was the father of Philip of Macedonia. When Aristotle was
about 18 years old, he entered Plato's school in Athens, known as the Academy. He
remained there for about 20 years. In 343 or 342 B.C., Philip II, king of Macedonia,
invited Aristotle to supervise the education of his young son Alexander. About 334 B.C.,
Aristotle returned to Athens and founded a school called the Lyceum. Soon after
Alexander died in 323 B.C., Aristotle was charged with impiety (lack of reverence for the
gods) by the Athenians. They probably resented his friendship with Alexander, the man
who had conquered them. Aristotle had not forgotten the fate of the philosopher
Socrates, condemned to death on a similar charge by the Athenians in 399 B.C. He fled
to the city of Chalcis so the Athenians would not, as he said, "sin twice against
philosophy." He died in Chalcis a year later. Aristotle's writings are usually divided into
three groups: (1) popular writings, (2) memoranda, and (3) treatises.
g) P1 explaining the conquest of Greece by Macedonia and the spread of Hellenistic culture
by Alexander the Great.
How did the empire of Alexander the Great establish a basis for the spread of Hellenistic culture?
P1 The Macedonian conquest of Greece followed the weakening of Greek defenses during the
Peloponnesian Wars.
P1 Alexander the Great adopted Greek culture and spread Hellenistic influences throughout his vast
empire.
P2 Phillip II, King of Macedon
 The Macedonian conquest of Greece followed the weakening of Greek defenses during the
Peloponnesian Wars.
 Phillip conquered most of Greece.
P2 Alexander the Great
 Established an empire from Greece to Egypt (to the south) and to the margins of India to
the east).
 Extended Greek cultural influences to Egypt (especially Alexandria) and much of Asia.
 He spread Hellenistic influences throughout his vast empire.
P2 Hellenistic Age
 Blend of Greek and oriental (Asian) elements
 Spread of Hellenistic culture through trade during the reign of the successors of Alexander
the Great.
Chapter 6 Notes/Study Guide – Golden Age of Greece and the Hellenistic Age – WH 1.5 e, f, g
WH 1.5 The student will demonstrate knowledge of ancient Greece in terms of its impact on
Western civilization by:
e) P1 characterizing life in Athens during the Golden Age of Pericles
Why was the leadership of Pericles important to the development of Athenian life and Greek
culture?
Athenian culture, during the C________________ Era (Ancient Greek and Roman Era), became one
of the foundation stones (important influences) of W____________________ civilization.
P2 Golden Age of P
and the P
(425 BC to 450 BC) mostly occurring between the Persian
Wars)

Pericles extended d________________; most adult males they had equal voice.

Pericles had Athens rebuilt after destruction in Persian Wars; the P________________ is an
example of this reconstruction.

Golden Age of P______________ was the apex (height) of G_____________ culture,
political and cultural influence on Western Civilization.
f) P1 citing contributions in drama, poetry, history, sculpture, architecture, science,
mathematics, and philosophy, with emphasis on Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
What were some important contributions of Greek culture to Western civilization?
P2 Contributions of Greek culture to Western civilization

D________________: Aeschylus, Sophocles

P3
: was the earliest writer of Greek t_________________
whose plays exist in complete form. Tragedies had a single actor who could only respond to
the questions or suggestions of the chorus. He increased the number of actors to two, which
created dialogue that permitted interaction between characters. Aeschylus's greatest work is
the Oresteia (458 B.C.), which consists of three plays forming one drama. They are
Agamemnon, Choephori (The Liberation Bearers), and The Eumenides (The Furies). In these
plays tell of the violence after the return of King Agamemnon from Troy.

P3
: a writer of Greek tragedies whose plays deal with a
struggle of a strong individual against fate. He added a third actor, fixed the size of the
chorus at 15, and used scene painting. Of the more than 120 plays Sophocles wrote, seven
complete ones have survived. His best known isOedipus R_______ (Greek word for King). He
served as an Athenian general and as a member of delegations to other states. He also
played an active role in the religious life of Athens.

Poetry: H_____________ (Iliad and Odyssey)

H________________: Herodotus, Thucydides
o
P3 ___________________________: was the first Greek historian. He is famous for the
nine books he wrote on the rise of the Persian Empire, the Persian invasions of Greece in
490 and 480 B.C. and the final Greek victory. Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus, in
Asia Minor (now part of Turkey). In about 444 B.C. Herodotus settled in the colony of
Thurii, which Pericles was then founding in southern Italy. It has been said that he died
and was buried at Thurii.
o

S__________________: Phidias
o

P3 __________________________: a Greek historian of the 400's B.C., is famous for his
History of the Peloponnesian War. The war took place from 431 to 404 B.C., but the
History is unfinished and ends at 411 B.C. He set out to produce an accurate, unbiased
account of the war. He visited battlefields and talked to survivors from both sides. He
also analyzed the underlying political causes of the war. They know that Thucydides was
a citizen of Athens. He fought in the Peloponnesian War and became a general. In
424 B.C., he was accused of failing to protect the city of Amphipolis and was banished
from Athens. During his exile, he worked on his history. He returned from exile in
404 B.C.
P3 ______________________: was the greatest sculptor in ancient Greece. His artistry
was largely responsible for the High Classical style of sculpture during the 400's B.C.
Phidias is best known for his designs for the sculptures on the Parthenon. None of
Phidias's statues survive, but ancient authors describe a great statue of Athena
Parthenos. It stood in the Parthenon and was more than 35 feet high. Phidias was most
famous for his gigantic statue of the seated Zeus, which he created for the temple at
Olympia.
Architecture: Types of columns included D_____________ (Parthenon), I_____________,
and C__________________

S__________________: Archimedes, Hippocrates

____________________________: was the most original and profound mathematician of
ancient times. Archimedes, a Greek, was also a physicist and a mechanical engineer. In the
ancient world, he was best known as an inventor. His surviving writings rank among the
masterpieces of scientific literature, especially On the Sphere and Cylinder. Archimedes was
born in Syracuse, the largest Greek settlement in Sicily. He probably went to study in
Alexandria, Egypt, then the chief center of Greek learning. There, Archimedes studied with
disciples of Euclid. Archimedes spent the rest of his life in Syracuse. When the Romans
captured Syracuse, according to one story, Archimedes was killed by a soldier while working
on a geometry problem.

_______________________: was a well-known ancient physician who practiced medicine on
the Greek island of Cos. Long after his death, He became the most famous person in ancient
medicine. Writings of medical works that became part of the collection of the Library of
Alexandria after about 200 B.C. became linked with Hippocrates and are known by scholars
as the Hippocratic corpus. Hippocrates is often called the father of medicine. The Hippocratic
oath served as a model for the ethical practice of medicine. Today, many graduating medical
students still take an oath modeled on this text. Hippocratic medicine taught that diseases
had natural causes and could therefore be studied and possibly cured according to the
workings of nature. Under Hippocratic medicine, a well-trained physician could cure illness
with knowledge gained from medical writings or from experience. Modern medicine is still
based on this assumption.
M__________________: Euclid, Pythagoras


____________________: a Greek mathematician, is often called the father of geometry. He
compiled, systematically arranged, and wrote portions of the mathematics textbook
Elements. He began with accepted mathematical truths called axioms and postulates. From
them, he logically demonstrated 467 propositions of plane and solid geometry. Euclid's
textbook has probably had a greater influence on scientific thinking than any other work.
Only a few of his other writings have survived. It is known that he taught mathematics at the
Museum, an institute in Alexandria, Egypt. He came to Alexandria shortly after 300 B.C. at
the invitation of the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy I.

__________________________: was a Greek mathematician. He was famous for
formulating the Pythagorean theorem, but its principles were known earlier. The theorem
states that the square of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the
squares of the other two sides (a2+b2=c2)). In about 529 B.C., he settled in Crotona, Italy.
Pythagoras founded a school (brotherhood) among the aristocrats of that city.

P_______________________: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

_____________________: was a Greek philosopher and teacher. Socrates was one of the
most original, influential, and controversial figures in ancient Greek philosophy and in the
history of Western thought. Before Socrates, Greek philosophy focused on the nature and
origin of the universe. He redirected philosophy toward a consideration of moral problems
and how people should best live their lives. Socrates urged his fellow Greeks to consider as
the most important things in life the moral character of their souls and the search for
knowledge of moral ideas like justice. He was credited with saying "the unexamined life is
not worth living." Socrates was born near Athens, and spent most of his life in Athens. He
criticized some assumptions of the Athenian democratic system. At the age of 70, Socrates
was brought to trial and charged with "not believing in the gods the state believes in, and
introducing different new divine powers; and also for corrupting the young." Socrates was
convicted and sentenced to death. He could have escaped from prison, but he felt morally
obligated to follow the court's decision, even if it was unjust. As a philosopher, Socrates is
more important for his philosophical methods than for any specific doctrine. The dialogue
form was probably invented by Plato to portray the Socratic method or dialectic. The method
consisted of asking questions like "What is courage?" of people who were confident of the
answer. Socrates, claiming ignorance of the answers to the questions, would gradually show
the people's beliefs to be contradictory. Socrates was the first philosopher to make a clear
distinction between body and soul and to place higher value on the soul.

_______________: was a philosopher and educator of ancient Greece. He was one of the
most important thinkers and writers in the history of Western culture. In 387 B.C., Plato
founded a school of philosophy and science that became known as the Academy. The
Academy was one of the first centers for higher education. Such subjects as astronomy,
biological sciences, mathematics, and political science were investigated there. His most
distinguished pupil at the Academy was the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Plato wrote in a
literary form called the dialogue. A dialogue is a conversation between two or more people.
Plato's better-known dialogues include The Apology, Cratylus, Crito, Euthyphro, Gorgias, The
Laws, Meno, Parmenides, Phaedo, Phaedrus, Protagoras, The Republic, The Sophist, The
Symposium, Theaetetus, and Timaeus.

_________________________: a Greek philosopher, educator, and scientist, was one of the
greatest and most influential thinkers in Western culture. In his own writings, he considered,
summarized, criticized, and further developed all the intellectual tradition that he had
inherited. Aristotle was born in Stagira, a small town in northern Greece. His father was the
personal physician of Amyntas II, the king of nearby Macedonia. Amyntas was the father of
Philip of Macedonia. When Aristotle was about 18 years old, he entered Plato's school in
Athens. He remained there for about 20 years. In 343 or 342 B.C., Philip II, king of
Macedonia, invited Aristotle to supervise the education of his young son Alexander. About
334 B.C., Aristotle returned to Athens and founded a school called the Lyceum. Soon after
Alexander died in 323 B.C., Aristotle was charged with impiety (lack of reverence for the
gods) by the Athenians. He fled to the city of Chalcis. He died in Chalcis a year later.
Aristotle's writings are usually divided into three groups: (1) popular writings, (2)
memoranda, and (3) treatises.
g) P1 explaining the conquest of Greece by Macedonia and the spread of Hellenistic culture
by Alexander the Great.
How did the empire of Alexander the Great establish a basis for the spread of Hellenistic culture?
P2 Phillip II, King of M__________________

The M____________________ conquest of Greece followed the weakening of Greek
defenses during the P________________________ Wars.

Phillip conquered most of G__________________.
P2 A

the Great
Established an empire from Greece to E________________ (to the south) and to the
margins of I_______________ (to the east).

Extended Greek cultural influences to Egypt (especially A_________________) and much
of A__________.

He spread H____________________ influences throughout his vast empire.
P2 Hellenistic Age

Blend of G______________ and orienta(A_______________) elements

Spread of H_______________________ culture through trade during the reign of the
s_________________ of A________________________ the Great.