Download Ancient Greek and Roman Literature

Journal Topic
Essential Question:
What are the main focal points for
studying the cultures and ancient Greece
and Rome?
“The life which is unexamined is
not worth living.”
--Socrates
At Your Desks…
• Copy Homework:
–Read and take notes on pp. 198-201
–Bring in 1st drafts on Thursday (with
pencil, pen, highlighter)
• Read and take notes on pp. 106-113
Extra Credit Assignment
• Read one of the following selections from the
textbook and, in a 3 paragraph essay, discuss
the speaker’s view of Greek culture and the
Greek way of life
– The Funeral Speech of Pericles (pp. 180-188)
– from The Apology (pp. 190-195)
The Heroic Age
•
•
(Mycenaean Era)
Legends of Greek
mythology are “born”
–
King Minos
– Agamemnon (Trojan
War)
• Development of early
Greek culture
The Epic Age
• Iliad and Odyssey
created
• Greek alphabet
developed (alpha – beta)
• Beginnings of Greek arts
Political Contributions
• City States (“polis”)
–
–
–
–
Ex. Sparta and Athens
Ruled by a king
Separate but shared common cultural bond
Called themselves Hellenes (descendants of
Hellen
– ancestor of sole “flood” survivor – see The Deucalion,
p. 64)
– Shared common social and religious institutions
– Olympic Games established
Political Contributions (cont.)
•
Athens and Sparta
–
Sparta – militarism, conservative culture, oligarchy
(power and rule in hands of a few)
• living a Spartan lifestyle meant you were sternly self- disciplined,
rigorous, required little comforts or luxuries
–
Athens – established democracy (rule by the people),
emphasis on culture and comfort
Political Contributions (cont.)
•
Pericles and the Golden
Age
–
–
–
•
ruled Athens for 30 years
“stressed middle course
between extremists”
patron of the arts,
literature, philosophy
Built The Parthenon
(temple of Athena)
The Parthenon
Ruins in Greece
Reconstructed in Nashville
The Parthenon
Artistic Contributions
• Lyric poetry
– Brief, intensely personal, emotional
– Poems often set to music (lyre) [performance
art]
– Monody – poetry for a single voice
– Choral – poetry for many voices (chorus)
Artistic Contributions (cont.)
•
Greek Drama
–
Athenian playwrights:
Aeschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides
The Tragedy consider
questions involving:
–
•
•
•
•
human suffering
free will
moral responsibility
limits of knowledge
Contributions in Philosophy
• Socrates (lover of
wisdom)
• the Socratic method
– questioner explores
the implications of
another’s position in
order to stimulate
thinking/illuminate
ideas
Famous Quotes of Socrates
• As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.
Beware the barrenness of a busy life.
• I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and
that is that I know nothing.
• From the deepest desires often come the deadliest
hate.
• Let him that would move the world first move
himself.
• Wisdom begins in wonder.
Contributions in Philosophy
•
•
Plato (student of
Socrates)
Developed The
Academy
–
(first institution of
higher learning)
The Grove of Plato
Famous Quotes of Plato
• Better a little which is well done, than a great
deal imperfectly.
• Courage is knowing what not to fear.
For a man to conquer himself is the first and
noblest of all victories.
• Human behavior flows from three main
sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.
• He who commits injustice is ever made more
wretched than he who suffers it.
Contributions in Philosophy
•
•
•
Aristotle (Plato’s student)
Developed a
comprehensive system of
philosophy (included
logic, morality, science,
etc)
Wrote The Poetics, an
analysis of the principles
of tragedy
Famous Quotes of Aristotle
• We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is
not an act, but a habit.
• You will never do anything in this world without
courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next
to honor.
• I count him braver who overcomes his desires than
him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest
victory is over self.
• At his best, man is the noblest of all animals;
separated from law and justice he is the worst.