Download Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Common themes with other civilizations?
 What makes Greece stand out?
 Where do we see traces of it in modern
West?

Greece

The polis
 Greek
city-state
 Plural: poleis
 Consisted of city,
surrounding territory
Greece

Athens

DEMOCRACY (demokratia): rule of the people

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
Assembly, for citizens
Judiciary
Greece’s great naval power
Greece

Sparta
 Xenophobic,
closed
military society
 Resented Athens
 Spartan military

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Boys’ education 
HOPLITES
Austerity
Formidable!
Greece
Greece

Origins of Persian Wars
(499-479 BC)
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Origins in Anatolia
Greeks revolted, petitioned
Athens for aid
Destroyed major Persian
cities
Persians crushed rebellion,
sought revenge
Greece

The Battle of Marathon
(490/91 BC)


Persians launched invasion
of Greece
The fighting
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24 miles from Athens
Athenians outnumbered
Yet Athenian victory!
Messenger ran to Athens
with news?
Greece
Phalanx
Greece

The Conflict Continues


New invasion launched
under Xerxes
BATTLE OF
THERMOPYLAE (480 BC)

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
Location of strategic
hidden road betrayed to
Persians
Leonidas et al. defended
pass
Greece now open to
Persians!
Ultimate Greek victory
Thermopylae
Greece
Trireme
Greece

Questions?
Greece
Greece

The Olympics
 Celebrated
at temple
of Zeus, Olympia
 Ceremonial games
inaugurated 776 BC
 “Panhellenic” event
 Many games
 Victors  prizes
Myron, Diskobolos (5th cent. BC)
Greece

Greek Religion

Communal
 Olympian gods
 Oracles
Greece
Greece
Greece

Greek Poetry
 Early

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poems: epics
Long, narrative tales
about heroes
Recited, sung to
audience
 HOMER


Homer

(ca. 725 BC)
Blind?
Relied on oral tradition
Iliad, Odyssey
Greece
Greece

Greek Theater
 Social,
religious
 Tragedy
 Comedy
Greece
Greece
Theater at Epidauros, Greece
ca. 335 BC
Greece

Greek Sculpture
 Fascination
with
human body
 Emphasis on
“Idealism”
 Favorite: idealized
nude male
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (ca. 450 BC)
Greece

The Akropolis, Athens
 Reconstructed
after
Persian Wars
 The Parthenon
(447-438 BC)
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
Temple dedicated to
Athena Parthenos
“Ideal” temple
Greece
The Parthenon
Greece
Phidias, Athena Parthenos (ca. 440 BC)
Greece

Plato (427-348 BC)
 Disciple
of Sokrates
 Worldview


“Theory of forms”
Dualistic
 Explored
ideal state in
The Republic
 Founded Academy,
Athens
Greece

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

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Disciple of Plato
Emphasized scientific
observation
Studied, categorized
political systems in Politics
Misogynist!
Founded Lyceum, Athens
Greece

Hippocrates of Cos
(ca. 460-370 BC)
 “Father
of Medicine”
 Belief: illness comes
from problems in body,
natural causes
 Prescribed natural
remedies
 Disciples stressed
keeping meticulous
records
Greece

Questions?
The Hellenistic Period
The Hellenistic Period

Alexander the Great
(r. 336-323 BC)
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Prince of MACEDON, king
at age 20
Tutor: Aristotle
Educated in Greek culture
Secure position in
Macedon and Greece 
Persia!
The Hellenistic Period

Alexander’s Conquests
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Invaded, conquered
Persian Empire
(334-327 BC)
Traveled as far as India
(327 BC)
His “unacceptable”
behavior  mutiny
Alexander died at Babylon
(323 BC)
The Hellenistic Period
The Hellenistic Period

The Hellenistic Period
(323-30 BC)

“HELLENISTIC”
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
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Refers to spread,
transformation of Greek
culture throughout
Alexander’s empire
Common language: Greek
Foreigners became Greek
by participating in Greek
culture
Center of Hellenistic culture:
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt
Pharos, Alexandria
The Hellenistic Period

Questions?
Ancient Greece
Common themes with other civilizations?
 What makes Greece stand out?
 Where do we see traces of it in modern
West?
