Download Classical Greece #3 (Greeks #4)

GREEKS #4
I.
GREEK RELIGION
A.
GENERAL REMARKS
1.
NO DISTINCTIVE RELIGION PER SE LIKE TODAY
2.
NO ORGANIZATIONAL CHURCH OR DOCTRINES
3.
RITUALS NB NOT BELIEFS
4.
POWER OF GODS WAS WHAT NB TO GREEKS
5.
BOTH PLATO & ARISTOTLE SPOKE OF AN ABSOLUTE GOD
6.
BUT GREEKS AS A WHOLE NOT MONOTHEISTIC PEOPLE
7.
THEIR CULTURE PERMEATED W/RELIGION
B.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR RELIGION
1.
AS LOW ANNUAL RAINFALL & LITTLE FRESH WATER
a.
EVERY WELL OR SPRING CONSIDERED HOLY
2.
RELIGIOUS RITES OF POLEIS NB TO FOLLOW
3.
ANALOGY OF OUR ALLEGIANCE TO FLAG
4.
TOOK STEPS TO KEEP IN CONTACT W/GODS
a.
OFFERED PRAYERS & HYMNS & SACRIFICES
b.
CONSULTED ALL KINDS ORACLES
c.
HAD COUNTLESS SHRINES W/IMAGES OF GODS
5.
WHILE 5TH C B.C. GREEKS NO LONGER BELIEVED LITERALLY IN
HOMERIC GODS
6.
CONTINUED TO BELIEVE RELIGIOUS TRADITION VITAL TO HEALTH OF
STATE
7.
GREEKS UNLIKE HEBREWS DID NOT THINK IN TERMS OF SINS OR
SINFULNESS BUT RATHER IN TERMS OF DEFILEMENT
8.
GREAT MANY THINGS COULD DEFILE
a.
COMMITTING COWARDLY ACT
b.
MURDER
c.
OTHER CRIMES
d.
BIRTH OR DEATH IN THE HOUSE
9.
WHEN 1 WAS DEFILED WOULD HAVE TO BE CLEANSED
a.
USUALLY THRU SACRIFICES
C.
MYSTERY CULTS
1.
AMONG LOWER CLASSES ANCIENT FERTILITY DEITIES REMAINED
IMMENSELY POPULAR
2.
DEMETER = GODDESS OF GRAIN
3.
DIONYSUS = GOD OF WINE
4.
THESE TWO ALMOST IGNORED IN HOMERIC EPICS BUT FAR MORE NB
TO GREEK PEASANTRY THAN DEITIES OF OLYMPUS
5.
BOTH OFFERED FOLLOWERS HOPE OF PERSONAL SALVATION &
IMMORTALITY
a.
ABSENT FROM OLYMPIC GODS
6.
THESE CALLED MYSTERY CULTS
7.
& WERE OTHERS TOO
8.
MOST NB FOR ATHENS WERE ELEUSIAN MYSTERIES
a.
IN HONOR DEMETER & PERSEPHONE
D.
DIVINATION
1.
MAJOR PART OF GREEK RELIGION
2.
TRYING TO DETERMINE WILL OF GODS
3.
ANY SPECIAL SIGN SUCH AS UNUSUALLY FLOCK OF BIRDS TAKEN AS
2
E.
II.
OMEN & HAD TO BE ANALYZED
4.
BEFORE UNDERTAKING ANYTHING NB, SUCH AS WAR, GOVT ALWAYS
CONSULTED ORACLES
ORACLES
1.
ORACLES - PEOPLE WHO WENT INTO HYPNOTIC TRANCES &
SUPPOSEDLY SPOKE WORDS OF GOD
2.
DELPHI
a.
MOST FAMOUS
b.
SUPPOSED TO SPEAK IN VOICE OF APOLLO
c.
TROUBLE W/THIS ORACLE WAS ITS UTTERANCES TENDED TO BE
VERY OBSCURE, OR AT BEST COUCHED IN RIDDLING TERMS
d.
ACTUAL ORACLE AT DELPHI ALWAYS UNEDUCATED YOUNG
WOMAN OF THE REGION
(1)
ONE WHO HAD REVEALED A TENDENCY TO HYSTERIA &
IRRATIONAL BEHAVIOR,
3.
EVEN PLATO THOUGHT ALL QUESTIONS OF MORALITY SHOULD BE
POSED TO DELPHI ORACLE
GREEK DRAMA
A.
GENERAL REMARKS
1.
GOLDEN AGE ACHIEVED MOST NOTABLE TRIUMPHS IN DRAMA,
LITERATURE , ARCHITECTURE & SCULPTURE
2.
GREEK DRAMA - 1ST PLAYS OF WESTERN HX
3.
THEIR POETRY & PROSE ALIVE & RELEVANT TODAY AS WHEN WRITTEN
4.
PLAYS DEAL W/UNIVERSAL ISSUES
5.
PLAYS STILL PERFORMED TODAY
6.
EVERY GK CITY HAD A THEATER
7.
COMBINATION OF TRAGEDIES & COMEDIES
8.
ACTORS MEN ONLY
9.
WORE OVERSIZED MASKS SO PEOPLE AT BACK COULD SEE THEM
10.
ACTION ACCOMPANIED BY CHORUS
a.
GROUP OF ACTORS PERIPHERAL TO ACTION WHO COMMENTED
ON WHAT WAS HAPPENING
B.
GREAT TRAGEDIANS OF 5TH C ATHENS
1.
GK WORD TRAGEDY MEANS GOAT SONG
a.
GOAT SYMBOL OF DIONYSUS & POPULAR FORM OF SACRIFICE TO
HIM
2.
AESCHYLUS
a.
pROMETHEUS BOUND, AGAMEMNON
3.
SOPHOCLES
a.
OEDIPUS REX, ETC., ANTIGONE
4.
EURIPIDES
a.
MEDEA
C.
COMEDY
1.
COMEDY AS WELL AS TRAGEDY HAD ORIGINS IN GK RELIGIOUS
FESTIVALS
2.
ARISTOPHANES C 445-385 BC.
a.
SPECIALIZED IN TOPICAL SATIRES
b.
COMMENTS ON WHAT HE FELT TO BE WEAKNESSES OF HIS
FELLOW ATHENIANS
3
c.
d.
ATHENS ALWAYS READY TO MAKE WAR,
SO IN LYSISTRATA HAS GROUP OF WOMEN COMMANDED BY
SHREWD LYSISTRATA REFUSE THEIR HUSBANDS UNTIL MEN
AGREE TO GIVE UP WAR
III.
GREEK MEDICINE
A.
GENERAL REMARKS
1.
GKS CONSIDERED FOUNDERS OF MODERN MEDICINE
2.
HIPPOCRATES
a.
SEMI-LEGENDARY FIGURE OF 5 C B.C.
b.
ATTRIBUTED W/1ST MEDICAL TEXTS
(1)
INITIALLY REVOLVED AROUND DIET
(2)
DIFFERENT DIETS TO CURE DIFFERENT ILLS
3.
MANY REMEDIES & PURGES TAKEN OVER FROM EGYPTIANS
4.
BIGGEST EMPHASIS IN GK MEDICAL SCHOOLS ON OBSERVATION
a.
LEARNING TO RECOGNIZE DISEASES BY OBSERVING SYMPTOMS
5.
AESCULAPIUS - GOD OF MEDICINE
a.
HIS STAFF ON HIPPOCRATIC OATH
IV.
GREEK ARCHITECTURE & SCULPTURE
A.
3 BASIC ORDERS OF COLUMNS & CAPITALS
1.
DORIS, IONIC, CORINTHIAN
B.
DESIGN OF TEMPLES
C.
SCULPTURE
1.
IMPORTANCE OF MALE NUDE FIGURES
V.
GREEK HISTORIANS
A.
GENERAL REMARKS
1.
SAME SPIRIT WHICH INSPIRED GREEK RESEARCH INTO HUMAN NATURE
LEAD TO INQUIRY ON HUMAN ACTIONS
2.
MADE GREEKS 1ST TRUE HISTORIANS
3.
THEIR ACCOUNTS OF PAST EVENTS GRADUALLY CHANGED FROM
LEGEND TO VERIFIABLE FACT
4.
HISTORY VIEWED AS BEST WAY TO INSTILL MORAL VIRTUE
B.
HERODOTUS 5-4TH C B.C.
1.
FATHER OF HISTORY
2.
1 OF FIRST WESTERN WRITERS TO WRITE HISTORY W/ATTEMPT AT
TRUTH
3.
HISTORY OF THE GREEK & PERSIAN WAR
4.
WROTE 1 OF MOST ENTERTAINING BOOKS EVER
C.
THUCYDIDES
1.
ATHENIAN GENERAL WHO EXILED FOR LOOSING SO WROTE HISTORY
OF WAR BETWEEN ATHENS & SPARTA
a.
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR
2.
"MY WORK IS NOT A PIECE OF WRITING DESIGNED TO MEET THE TASTE
OF AN IMMEDIATE PUBLIC BUT WAS DONE TO LAST FOREVER"