Download Ancient Greece Themes 3-6

Announcements
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PROGRESS REPORTS!
Unit III Test will be next Friday March 20, 2015
2MP Project due March 23, 2015.
Once you finish you quiz, bring it to me with
your notebook, if I have not already graded it.
When finished:
• Get out your questions on Athens: Birthplace
of Democracy.
– You will put your name on the paper I will give
you. That is the only information you will put on
it.
Turnitin.com
• ID: 9348199
• Password: clarke3
Ancient Greece
Themes 3-6
Writing
Math and Science
Arts
Trade
Greek Achievements
Main Idea
The ancient Greeks made great achievements in philosophy, literature,
art, and architecture that influenced the development of later cultures
and ideas.
Objectives:
• Students will explore the types of literature the Greeks created.
• Students will discover how Greek philosophers influence later
thinking.
• Students will identify the aims of Greek art and architecture.
When finished:
• Get out your answers to the questions on the
video, Athens: Birthplace of Democracy.
• Put your name on the piece of paper I give
you. That is the only thing that needs to go on
the paper.
Theme 3: Writing (Greek Literature)
Other Greek literature remains, with a great many works still popular today. Greeks
excelled in poetry—both epics and other forms—history, and drama.
Homer’s Epics
Iliad and Odyssey
• Most famous works are some of
earliest
• Iliad tells story of last year of war, two
heroes—Achilles and Hector
• Epic poems of great events and heroes
• Odyssey tells story of heroes from the
war, with Odysseus who was forced to
wander the sea
• The Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed
to poet Homer, tell stories of Trojan
War
These two works became basis for the Greek education system.
Other Forms of Poetry
Greeks wrote many types of poetry besides epics
• Hesiod wrote descriptive poetry about works of gods, lives of
peasants
• Greeks also created lyric poetry
– Named after the lyre, musical instrument often played to accompany
reading of poems
– Lyric poems do not tell stories, but deal with emotions, desires
History
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Among fields for which Greeks best known
Greek authors wrote about and analyzed own past
First major Greek historian, Herodotus
Lived in Greece during wars with Persia; described battles and public debates in The
Histories
Primary Sources
Describing Famous Men
• Thucydides lived during
Peloponnesian War, wrote about it
• Another early historian, Xenophon
fought in Persia after Persian Wars
• Included primary sources, like
speeches he heard delivered
• Concentrated less on sources, debates,
more on describing famous men; had
less critical style
• Looked at sources critically, ignored
unreliable, irrelevant ones
• Work has helped us learn what life was
like in 300s BC Greece
Drama
While the Greeks wrote histories to preserve the past, they created a new form of
writing for entertainment—drama, the art of playwriting.
Athenian Roots
Development
• Earliest dramas part of festivals
• Dramas became more complex
• Dionysus, god of wine and
celebration
• Individual actors took on roles of
specific characters in stories
• Group of actors called a chorus
• Two distinct forms of dramas
developed, tragedy and comedy
• Recited stories
Distinct Forms
Tragedies
• Focused on hardships faced by
Greek heroes
• Three great writers
– Aeschylus, Greek myths
– Sophocles, suffering people
brought on selves
– Euripides, tragedy brought
on by chance, behavior
Comedies
• Many comedies were satires,
plays written to expose flaws of
society
• Aristophanes greatest Greek
comedy writer
• Plays poke fun at aspects of
Athenian society, from
government to treatment of
women
Theme 4: Math and Science (Greek Philosophy)
Despite their condemnation of Socrates, the people of ancient Greece were great
believers in philosophy. The word philosophy itself comes from the Greek word
philosophia, meaning “the love of wisdom.”
Background
Socrates
• Earliest philosophy
traced to 500s BC
• First great Athenian
philosopher
• Reached height in
Athens during 400s,
300s BC
• Little known of his
personal life
• Inspired by greatest
philosophers—
Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle
• Students’ writings,
including Plato’s, put
forth his ideas
Broad Concepts
• Writings give clear
picture of Socrates’s
thoughts and how he
taught
• Socrates interested in
broad concepts of
human life—truth,
justice, virtue
Philosophy of Socrates
Asking Questions
Socratic Method
• Socrates believed philosophers could
learn what made good people,
societies by asking questions
• By working through series of
questions, Socrates thought people
could discover basic nature of life
• Started with basic questions, like
“What is truth?”
• Method of learning through questions
called the Socratic method
• Socrates followed up with more
questions
Plato
• One of Socrates’ students, became great philosopher in own right
• Left behind great number of writings that record ideas on wide variety of topics,
from nature of truth to ideal form of government
• The Republic argues that government should be led by philosophers
Theory of Government
• Philosophers most qualified to make good decisions
• Did not support Athenian democracy in which all men could take part
• Plato wanted to make philosopher’s education more formal
• Founded the Academy, which in Plato’s lifetime became most important site for
Greek philosophers to do their work
Aristotle
The Third Philosopher
• Aristotle was among students who studied at the Academy
• More concerned with nature of world that surrounded him
• Tried to apply philosophical principles to every kind of knowledge
Emphasis on Reason and Logic
• Emphasis on reason, logic
• Reason, clear and ordered thinking; use reason to learn about world
• Observe carefully, think rationally about what one has seen
Inferring New Facts
• Aristotle also helped develop field of logic, process of making inferences
• Example: birds have feathers, lay eggs; owls have feathers, lay eggs; therefore, owl
must be a type of bird
Theme 5: Arts (Greek Architecture and Art)
Beauty
Architecture
• Athenians enjoyed beauty, both
written and visual
• Athenians wanted their city to be most
beautiful in Greece
• Expressed love of written beauty
through literature; visual beauty
through architecture, art
• Built magnificent temples, theatres,
public buildings
Enhancements
• To enhance appearance of buildings,
added fine works of art, painted and
sculpted
• Grandest buildings built on acropolis,
at city’s center
Parthenon
• Most magnificent on acropolis
• Massive temple to Athena
• Begun by Pericles, 447 BC
• Took 14 years to build
Greek Architecture and Art
Parthenon impressive not for sheer size, but for
proportion
• Designers careful not to make too tall, too wide
• Parthenon more than 200 feet long, 100 feet wide
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Had doors, no windows
Surrounded by tall, graceful columns
Above columns, slabs of marble carved with scenes from myths
Ruins appear white today, but parts originally painted in vivid hues
Huge gold, ivory statue of Athena stood inside Parthenon
• Parthenon was paid for with money from the Defense Fund
of the Delian League.
1687 was the year when the Venetians attacked Ottoman Athens. They shot at
the Parthenon, which was at that time used to store gunpowder.
Unsurprisingly, it blew up, leaving a big, clearly explosion-shaped hole in the
two long colonnades along its side.
http://pretzler.net/blog/2011/10/13/building-the-parthenon/
Sculpture
Human Forms
• Greek sculptors among finest world has ever known
• Particularly adept at sculpting human form; studied people at rest, moving
• Tried to re-create what they saw, paid particular attention to muscles
Lifelike, Not Realistic
• Greeks wanted statues to look lifelike, active, not necessarily realistic
• Portrayed subjects as physically perfect, without blemishes, imperfections
• Greek statues almost all depict figures of great beauty, grace
Roman Copies
• Few original works remain; most copies made a few hundred years later
• Roman artists made many copies of greatest Greek statues
• Many copies survived even after original statues destroyed
Painting
• Only a few original Greek paintings survive
• Best preserved are paintings on vases, plates, other vessels
• Scenes from everyday life, or from myths, legends
• Most use only red, black; still convey movement, depth
Larger Paintings
• Little evidence of larger works; written sources say Greeks created murals in many
public buildings
• Often included scenes from Iliad, Odyssey; showed aftermath of battles, rather than
battle itself
• Themes similar to tragic drama popular with Athenians
Theme 6: Trade
Greek city/states traded heavily with one another and
also throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
 Imported
 wheat and slaves from Egypt, grain from the Black Sea (especially
via Byzantium), salt fish from the Black Sea, wood (especially for
shipbuilding) from Macedonia and Thrace, papyrus, textiles, luxury
food such as spices (e.g.: pepper), glass, and metals such as iron,
copper, tin, gold and silver.
 Exported
 Included cereals, wine, olives, figs, pulses, eels, cheese, honey, meat
(especially from sheep and goats), tools (e.g.: knives), perfumes, and
fine pottery, especially Attic and Corinthian wares.