Download 8-1 The Culture of Ancient Greece

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8-1 The Culture of Ancient Greece
(Pages 376–385)
The mountain range of Mount Olympus was declared Greece’s first
national park in 1937.The area is home to about 1,700 plant species,
I.
Greek Mythology (pages 377–378)
A. Myths are traditional stories about gods and heroes.
B. The Greeks believed in many gods and goddesses. They thought these deities
affected people’s lives and shaped events.
C. The Greeks believed the 12 most important gods lived on Mount Olympus, the
highest mountain in Greece.
D. The Greeks followed rituals to win the gods’ favor. They hoped that the gods
would grant good fortune to them in return.
E. The Greeks believed in prophecy, or predictions about the future. Many Greeks
visited an oracle to receive a prophecy. An oracle was a sacred shrine where a
priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess. The most famous oracle was at the
Temple of Apollo at Delphi.
How did the Greeks believe their gods and goddesses were like humans? (Greek
gods and goddesses married, had children, played tricks on each other,
quarreled, and fought wars.)
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II. Greek Poetry and Fables (pages 379–380)
A. Greek poems and stories are the oldest in Europe and serve as models for
European and American poems and stories.
B. An epic is a long poem about heroic deeds.
C. The first great epics were the Iliad and the Odyssey, written by a poet named
Homer. The Iliad is about a battle for the city of Troy. The Odyssey is the story
of Odysseus, a Greek hero. Greeks believed these two epics were real history.
D. A slave named Aesop wrote many fables. A fable is a short tale that teaches a
lesson. Fables were passed from person to person by oral tradition.
Why were the heroes of Homer’s epics considered role models? (The heroes in
Homer’s stories had courage and honor. They worked to be the best they could
be, and they fought to protect their honor.)
III. Greek Drama (pages 382–383)
A. Drama is a story told by actors who pretend to be characters in the story.
B. The Greeks used drama as part of their religious festivals.
C. The Greeks developed two types of drama—tragedies and comedies. A tragedy
is the story of a person who tries to overcome difficulties but fails. A comedy is a
story with a happy ending.
D. Aeschylus was a writer who wrote a group of three plays called Oresteia. These
plays teach that evil acts cause more evil and suffering.
E. The writer Sophocles wrote the plays Oedipus and Antigone.
F. Euripides wrote plays about real-life people instead of gods.
G. Aristophanes wrote comedies that made fun of leading politicians and scholars.
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How are plays of today similar to those of ancient Greece? (Actors in plays of
today, like those of ancient Greece, wear costumes. Music and dance also occur
in many of today’s plays, as they did in Greek plays.)
IV. Greek Art and Architecture (pages 384–385)
A. Greek artists believed in the ideas of reason, balance, harmony, and moderation
and tried to show these ideas in their work.
B. Although Greek murals have not survived, examples of Greek paintings still exist
on decorated pottery.
C. The most important architecture in Greece was the temple dedicated to a god or
goddess. The most famous temple is the Parthenon.
D. Greek architecture included columns, which were first made from wood. Later,
the Greeks began using marble. Many of today’s churches and government
buildings have columns. E. Greek sculpture expressed Greek ideas.
What elements of Greek architecture are present in your school or in buildings in
your community? (Answers will vary, but could include symmetry and proportion
between building parts, the use of columns, pediments, pedestals, or materials
such as marble or tiles.)
WH6.4 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious, and social structures of the early
civilizations of Ancient Greece.
WH6.4.4 Explain the significance of Greek mythology to the everyday life of people in the region and how Greek
literature continues to permeate our literature and language today, drawing from Greek mythology and epics,
such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and from Aesop’s Fables.
WH6.4.8 Describe the enduring contributions of important Greek figures in the arts and sciences (e.g., Hypatia,
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Euclid, Thucydides).
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