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Ancient Greece Introduction creative thought. Greek thinkers laid the Ancient Greece was the birthplace of foundations of science and philosophy by Western civilization about 2,500 years ago. seeking The magnificent achievements of the ancient happened in the world around them. Greek Greeks in government, science, philosophy, writers created new forms of expression, and the arts still influence our lives. which Greek civilization developed chiefly in logical explored explanations human for what personalities and emotions. Greek civilization reached its height small city-states. A city-state consisted of a in Athens during the mid-400's B.C. city or town and the surrounding villages and farmland. The Greek city-states were fiercely independent and often quarreled The land among The territory of ancient Greece consisted themselves. But their chiefly of a mountainous small size and peninsula that jutted into constant rivalry had the certain advantages. numerous islands near the Citizens of a city-state peninsula, and the west were strongly patriotic, coast of Asia Minor (now and many citizens took part part in public affairs. The most advanced Mediterranean of Sea, Turkey). The peninsula made up mainland Greece. It city-states established separated the Aegean Sea the and the Ionian Sea. A thin world's first democratic strip of land linked the governments. The best-known city-states southern part of the mainland, called the were Athens and Sparta. The ancient never mainland. became united into a nation. However, a Rocky common Greek Peloponnesus, to the northern part of the language, city-states much of ancient Greece. The most fertile land lay in the small bound the people together. The Greeks called valleys and along the coast. In those areas, themselves Hellenes and their land Hellas. the Greeks established their city-states. The They thought of themselves as different from city or town of each city-state served as a all center of trade, government, and religion. peoples, whom and covered culture other religion, land they called barbarians. The Greeks usually fortified a hill, called an The ancient Greeks prized their freedom acropolis, within the city for defense. In and way of life. This way of life stressed the addition, walls surrounded some cities to importance of the individual and encouraged protect them from invaders. At the center of 8 each city was the agora—an open area that of each community in time developed their served as a marketplace and meeting place. own customs and dialect. The two main Ancient Greece had a warm, dry climate. groups of Greek peoples were the Dorians Summers were hot, and winter temperatures seldom dropped below freezing. and Ionians. Annual By the 700's B.C., the Greek world rainfall on the mainland ranged from as much consisted of many small, independent city- as 50 inches on the west coast to less than 20 states. Within each city-state, the Greeks inches on the east. distinguished Ancient Greece lacked adequate farmland, between citizens and noncitizens. Only citizens could own land and rainfall, and water for irrigation, and so crop take production consisted of women, slaves, and serfs. Unlike provided was limited. mountains in government. of marble for considered personal property. building construction and clay As a result of trade, many city- for making bricks and pottery. states But other noncitizen population made up mineral deposits. Timber was of Greeks from other city-states plentiful at first. However, it and of foreigners. and Greece had few slaves, Noncitizens amounts limestone huge The part serfs also were had not a large became increasingly scarce as the people cut down many Family life trees without replanting the The forests. The shortages of food and husband headed household in and responsible was ancient for ancient Greeks to depend on household overseas children. In prosperous families, needed and ran its members. for wife Greece natural resources forced the trade The the raised the the goods. The poor conditions at home also led the wife supervised slaves, who looked after many Greeks to found overseas colonies and the children and did most of the work. trading posts. In this way, the Greek world Women also spun thread and wove cloth, expanded the even in wealthy families. A woman was under Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea and the legal control of her father before she came to include southern Italy and the island married. After marriage, she was under the of Sicily legal control of her husband. along the shores of Greek The people At that time, usually arranged their children's marriage. Most girls married in their Greek civilization began to develop about 2000 B.C. parents people midteens, but many men married around age from 30. When a girl married, she received her somewhere to the north arrived in Greece and share of the family's money or property as a established small farming villages. The people dowry (gift). Her husband controlled the 9 dowry but had to return it if they divorced. Higher education in ancient Greece Normally, the dowry would pass on to her consisted of the study of law, medicine, children. philosophy, or rhetoric (public speaking). In the 300's B.C., the Greek philosopher Plato Education founded a school in Athens known as the In general, only the children of citizens Academy. Plato's most brilliant pupil, received an education in ancient Greece. Very Aristotle, later founded a similar school in few girls attended school, but some learned Athens, the Lyceum. to read at home. Most children also learned a few practical skills from their parents or from Food, clothing, and shelter slaves. City-states differed in the kind of The Greek diet was based on wheat and education they valued. barley, which were used to make bread, In Athens, teachers operated cakes, and porridge. The Greeks separate also ate a variety of fruits and general vegetables. Their chief sources of and protein were eggs, poultry, and physical education. The fish. The Greeks used olive oil, general and they sweetened food with schools for studies, music, schools reading, taught writing, arithmetic. At and honey. music Greek men and women wore a the belted garment of linen or wool. small, harplike lyre. The Most men's garments hung to the physical knees. A woman's garment fell to education activities running, or sacrifices, lamb, and goat. to sing and to play the aulos animal they enjoyed roasted pork, beef, school, students learned flutelike After included jumping, the and ankles. In cold weather, Greeks draped a cloak over their wrestling. Older boys learned to handle such shoulders and arms. Sandals were the chief weapons as the spear and sword. footwear. Education in Sparta differed greatly from Greece's mild climate enabled the people education in Athens. The Spartans wanted to to carry on many activities outdoors, and so build a tough, warlike people, and considered most houses were small and simple. Most reading and writing much less important than poor families lived in one- or two-room military training. At the age of 7, boys were houses built of sun-dried bricks with floors of sent to military camps, where they learned to hard-packed earth. Wealthy Greeks lived in accept severe discipline and to endure harsh larger, more comfortable houses built around conditions. Even girls engaged in physical a courtyard. The houses had separate rooms competition, for cooking, eating, and sleeping. Stones or which shocked most Greeks outside Sparta. tiles covered the floors. 10 Religion festivals, were held every four years in honor The Greeks believed that certain deities of Zeus. Victory in the games was the highest (gods and goddesses) watched over them and honor an athlete could achieve. directed daily events. Families tried to please household deities with offerings and Farming & Manufacturing ceremonies. Each city-state honored one or Most ancient Greeks lived by farming or more deities as protectors of the community herding. Most farmers worked alone or with and held annual festivals in their honor. the help of a few slaves. The entire family The Greeks believed that their deities helped with planting and harvesting. Farmers could foretell the future. People flocked to raised pigs, grew wheat and barley, and shrines called oracles to consult priests and tended olive groves and vineyards. Sheep and priestesses. Deities supposedly spoke through goats grazed on poorer land. The Greeks the priests priestesses questions and to answer and reveal produced surplus of olive oil, wine, and wool, which they exported. the future. The Greek a ancient Greeks deities manufactured human products by hand. Many beings, except for their craftsmen worked alone. immortality and There were also factories powers. with 20 to more than resembled superhuman all For example, they showed such emotions as 100 workers, many of them slaves. These love, jealousy, and anger. The chief deities workers specialized in the different skills lived on Mount Olympus and were known as needed to make such goods as pottery, Olympians. Zeus and his wife, Hera, ruled armor, and clothing. Individual city-states over became Olympus. Other Olympians included known for certain products. For Aphrodite, goddess of love; Apollo, god of example, Athens was famous for its decorated music and light; Ares, god of war; and pottery, Megara for woolen garments, and Athena, goddess of wisdom. Corinth for jewelry and metal goods. Large crowds gathered for religious festivals in ancient Greece. At these festivals, athletes competed as Philosophy originated in ancient Greece wrestling, boxing, foot and chariot races, during the 500's B.C. The word philosophy jumping, and Religious comes from two Greek words meaning love of festivals also colorful wisdom. Many of the questions that were plays. asked by Greek philosophers would today be Several religious festivals brought together considered subjects of scientific inquiry. The people from throughout the Greek world. The earliest philosophers speculated about the processions, in javelin such throwing. included and events Philosophy feasts, performances of Olympic Games, the most famous of these underlying substance of the universe and how 11 the universe operated. Later philosophers Some of their conclusions anticipated findings investigated the nature of knowledge and of reality and sought to define such notions as Democritus said all things consisted of atoms, good and evil. tiny bits of matter that cannot be divided. In Socrates, the 400's B.C., Greek stated that the earth revolved around the philosophers. Socrates taught by carefully sun. But most Greek thinkers argued that the questioning sun, stars, and planets moved around a his most Aristotle In the 200's B.C., Aristarchus of Samos first the and science. are considered Plato, modern important listeners to expose the weaknesses of their ideas and arguments. Plato explored justice, and such good subjects as government. stationary earth. beauty, Aristotle Architecture summed up the achievements of Greek architects, Greek philosophy and science. His sculptors, and painters made authority on many topics remained important contributions to unquestioned for more than 1,000 the They to years. achieve an ideal of beauty Most people in ancient Greece arts. based on strove harmonious were suspicious of philosophers proportions. and their theories. They continued influential architectural works to believe in traditional values and were traditional religion. In 399 B.C., an temple Athenian jury sentenced Socrates arrangement of to around long, death, charging him with corrupting young men and not believing in chamber. The the gods of the city. influential styles temples. most A Greek consisted a Greeks for The of an columns inner developed three columns—the simple Doric, the graceful Ionic, and the ornate Science Corinthian. The best-known temples were Greek scientists, like Greek philosophers, believed in an orderly universe, built on the Acropolis in Athens during the which 400's B.C. operated according to laws that people could discover. They based many of their theories Government on logic and mathematics. They also made A small group of wealthy men governed careful observations of nature and, at times, most city-states of ancient Greece. This form conducted experiments. But Greek scientists of government, in which a few powerful rarely tried to solve practical problems, and people rule, is called an oligarchy. During the so their discoveries had little influence on 500's B.C., some city-states began to move technology and everyday life. toward democracy. They granted all citizens The ancient Greeks were pioneers in the right to vote on government policies, hold medicine, physics, biology, and mathematics. political office, and serve on a jury. However, 12 many poor citizens could not afford the time during this period. For example, the Greek from dramatists making democratic a living to government. participate Aeschylus, Sophocles, and women Euripides wrote many of their masterpieces. and slaves had no political rights, even in the The leading Greek architects and sculptors democracies. built the Parthenon on the Acropolis. Athens became However, in successful Sparta was the most powerful oligarchy democracy of ancient Greece during the 400's in ancient Greece. Citizens made up only B.C. In 508 B.C., an Athenian statesman about 10 percent of the population. Most named Cleisthenes extended voting rights in people were serfs who farmed the land. Two the assembly to all free adult men. He kings, who inherited their thrones, headed created a council of 500 members, which was the army. Sparta was governed by 5 officials, open to any citizen. His reforms thus gave called ephors, and the gerousia, a council every made up of 28 elders and the kings. Citizens citizen a the chance most to serve in the government. Every male Athenian citizen had elected the right to vote in an assembly that passed members of the gerousia to life terms. Sparta laws and determined government policies. had a citizen assembly. But citizens could not The voters also elected Athenian generals. propose issues for debate in the assembly. Each year, the citizens drew lots to select a Among the Greek city-states, only Sparta had council of 500 men. This ephors to one-year terms and a standing army. council ran the day-to-day business of government Military and prepared the bills that Most city-states trained the assembly debated and young men in the art of warfare voted on. Jurors were also and chosen Some male citizens to take up arms in wealthy Athenians disliked time of war. Athens had the their largest navy, which included by lot. system of required able-bodied government. They felt that hundreds the each powered by 170 oarsmen. poor dominated government and the took of all large warships, A battle formation known as advantage of the rich. Most a phalanx dominated Greek Athenians, however, warfare from the 600's to the cherished their democracy. 300's B.C. To form a phalanx, During the 400's B.C., Athens reached its armed foot soldiers lined up in a loose height of power and prosperity and was the formation, usually eight rows deep. On the center of culture in the Greek world. Pericles battlefield, two opposing phalanxes marched was the leading Athenian statesman from 461 toward each other. Then, the soldiers fought to 429 B.C. Many remarkable literary and with spears and swords until one side broke artistic accomplishments took place in Athens 13 and ran. The Hellenistic Age Alexander the Great, Philip's time, Greek culture continued to influence the son, lands Alexander had conquered, and Eastern succeeded his father at the age of 20. In ideas reached Greece. 334 B.C., Alexander carried out Philip's plan to invade Persia. In a brilliant campaign, Alexander conquered the entire The Greek heritage Persian The ancient Greeks laid the foundations of Empire in less than 10 years. His empire Western civilization. Modern democracies owe extended from Greece to India. Alexander's a debt to Greek beliefs in government by the bloody conquests furthered the spread of people, trial by jury, and equality under the Greek ideas and the Greek way of life to law. The ancient Greeks pioneered in many Egypt and the Near East. Alexander died in fields 323 B.C. His generals divided his large empire including biology, into successor states, with Greece remaining philosophy, and under Macedonian control. The period of such important literary forms as epic and lyric Greek history following Alexander's death is poetry, history, tragedy, and comedy. In their known as the Hellenistic Age. The period pursuit of order and proportion, the Greeks lasted until 146 B.C. in Greece, when the created an ideal of beauty that strongly Romans took control of Greece. During that influenced Western art. that rely on systematic thought, geometry, history, physics. They Krentz, Peter. "Greece, Ancient." World Book Student. World Book, 2009. Web. 30 Nov. 2009. 23 14 introduced