Download The Culture of Ancient Greece

Coach McCrotty
Greek Mythology
 Myths—are traditional stories about gods and heroes
 Expressed the Greek’s religious beliefs
 Believed gods and goddesses affected people’s lives and
shaped events
 Built impressive buildings to impress the gods as their
religious temples
Greek Gods and Goddesses
 Greeks believed they controlled nature.
 Zeus—controlled the sky and threw lightning bolts
 Demeter—made the crops grow
 Poseidon—ruler of the sea and earthquakes
Greek Gods and Goddesses
 Mount Olympus—highest mountain in Greece and
where the 12 most important gods lived
 Zeus—chief god
 Athena—goddess of wisdom and craft
 Apollo—god of sun and poetry
 Ares—god of war
 Aphrodite—goddess of love
 Poseidon—god of the sea and earthquakes
Greeks Gods and Goddesses
 Gods had special powers
 Looked like human beings and acted like them
 Greeks sought the favor of the gods
 Rituals—a set of actions carried out in a fixed way
 Prayer
 Gifts
 festivals
Greek Oracles
 Prophecy—a prediction about the future.
 Greeks believed that gods gave prophecies to warn
them about the future in time to change it
 Oracle—a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess
spoke for a god or goddess
Greek Oracles
 Delphi—Temple of Apollo was the most famous oracle.
 Greeks would send messengers and a priestess would
answer the questions
 A priest would translate them
Greek Poetry and Fables
 Poetry and Fables are the oldest in the Western world
 Epics—long poems told about heroic deeds.
 Homer—wrote the Illiad and the Odyssey during the
700 B.C.’s
Illiad
 Prince of Troy kidnaps the wife of the king of Sparta
 Greeks attack Sparta
 Battle lasted for 10 years
 Trojan Horse
Odyssey
 Story of Odysseus
 Describes the journey home from the Trojan War
 Battles witches, storms, and giants and took Odysseus
10 years to get home
Who was Aseop
 Aesop—Greek slave in circa 550 B.C.
 Wrote famous fables
 The Tortoise and the Hare
 Sour Grapes
 A wolf in Sheep’s Clothing
 Fable—short tale that teaches a lesson
 Point out human flaws as well as strengths
 Animals talk like people
 Ends with a message or a moral
Greek Drama
 Drama—is a story told by actors who pretend to be
characters in the story
 Tragedy—a person who struggles to overcome
difficulties but fails and as a result, has an unhappy
end
 Comedy—a story filled with humor and has a happy
ending.
Greek Stories
 Dealt with 3 big questions:
 What is the nature of good and evil?
 What rights should people have?
 What role do gods play in our lives?
 Four best know writers
 Aeschylus
 Sophocles
 Euripides
 Aristophanes
Greek Writers
 Sophocles—is a dramatist who used painted scenery
and three actors to tell a story
 Euripides—dramatist who questioned traditional
thinking about war
 Aristophanes—wrote plays that poked fun at
politicians and encouraged the audience to think
Greek Art and Architecture
 Greeks wanted to inspire people to base their lives on
reason, moderation, balance, and harmony
 Made pottery
 Architecture—is the art of designing and building
structures.
 The most important architecture was the temple
dedicated to the god or goddess
 Best known example is Parthenton
Greek Art and Architecture
 Large columns supported many Greek buildings
 First carved from wood
 Then marble
 Columns are common features of churches and
government buildings
 The White House and Capitol were modeled after the
Greeks
 Temples were decorated with sculptures