World History
Ms. Areces
Chapter 5 Guided Notes
Ancient Greece
Section 4: The Glory That Was Greece
Greek Philosophers
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There were some Greeks who thought events were not only at the
______________________________________________________________
o We could use ______________________ and ____________________________
to find causes for things that happened
o These people were called philosophers (“_______________________________”)
They explored many subjects: mathematics, music, _______________ (rational thinking)
o They thought that reason and observation would help them discover
__________________________________________________________________
Other Greek philosophers were interested in _________________ and
____________________________________
o Ex: What’s the best kind of government? What standards should rule human
behavior?
In Athens, a group called the _________________________ began to question accepted
ideas
o Success was ________________________________________ than moral truth
o Rhetoric, the art of _______________________________________, could help
clever men to advance in their careers
o Older citizens accused the Sophists of undermining
_________________________________________________________
Socrates was one of the most outspoken critics of the Sophists
He did not write any books, but spent most of his days lounging in the marketplace,
asking people about their beliefs
He used what we now call the Socratic method
o Posing a ___________________________________________________ to his
students and challenging them to examine the implications of their answers
o The questions often led people to ______________________________________
o To Socrates, this helped people
__________________________________________________________________
o A lot of people just thought Socrates was annoying
When he was 70 years old, he was put to trial for “corrupting the city’s youth and failing
to respect the gods”
o The jurors condemned him to _______________________, and he accepted it
We know about Socrates from his student, ___________________
Socrates’s death led Plato to _______________________ democracy, so he left Athens
for 10 years
World History
Ms. Areces
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o When he returned, he created a school called the Academy where he taught and
wrote about his own ideas
He emphasized the importance of reason—this is how people could discover unchanging
ethical values, recognize perfect beauty, and learn how best to organize society
In The Republic, Plato described his own version of a perfect society
o The state should _________________________________________ for society’s
best interests
o Society is divided into ______________ groups
 _______________________ to produce necessities of life
 _______________________ to defend the state
 _______________________ to rule (the wisest would be the philosopherking)
Generally, he believed that men were superior to women
o But he knew that some women were superior to men and those women should
serve in government as philosophers
Plato’s most famous student, _____________________________________, developed
his own ideas about government
o He studied all different forms of government, but found that a
_________________________________________________________________
was the best
He thought that people should use the “_________________________________” to live
o Meaning they find a happy medium between _____________________________
o Promoted reason as the ____________________________________ for learning
He set up a school called the Lyceum to study all branches of knowledge
o The first European universities almost 1500 years later based their courses on his
teachings
Architecture and Art
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Greek architects wanted to convey a sense of __________________________________
to reflect the harmony and order of the universe
o Best example is the _________________________________, which is dedicated
to the goddess Athena
o It is basically just a rectangle with columns supporting a gently sloping roof
Greek architecture is still widely _______________________________
o We can see many public buildings that have adopted the Greek columns
Early Greek sculptors carved figures in _______________________________ (probably
imitating the Egyptians)
But by 450 BC, they began to emphasize _________________________________
While the poses were lifelike, they were __________________________
o They showed gods, goddesses, athletes, and famous men in their most
_____________________________ forms
The only Greek paintings to survive are on ____________________ and other pottery
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Ms. Areces
o They show women carrying water from wells, warriors racing into battles, and
athletes competing in javelin contests
o The scenes are designed to fit into the shape of the pottery
Poetry and Drama
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Ancient Greeks also developed their own style in ____________________________
o It is called “_________________________________” because it is known to be
elegant, balanced
But the most important contributions were in the field of ______________________
o Greek plays evolved out of religious festivals, especially those held in Athens to
honor Dionysus—the god of fertility and wine
Plays were performed in outdoor theaters with __________________________________
o The actors wore ______________________________________ and
______________________________________
o A chorus would sing or chant comments on the action
Greek dramas were usually based on popular ___________________________________
o Playwrights discussed ______________ and ______________ issues or explored
the relationship between people and the gods
The most famous Athenian playwrights were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
They all wrote ______________________________, plays that told stories of human
suffering that usually ended in disaster
o The purpose was to _________________________________________________
o Ex: The Oresteia, Aeschylus shows how a powerful family is torn apart by
betrayal, murder, and revenge
 Audiences see how ____________________ can cause horrifying
misfortune and how the gods could bring down even the greatest heroes
o Ex: Antigone, Sophocles tells the story of a woman he buries her dead brother’s
body even when it is against the law because he led a rebellion—she is sentenced
to death for breaking the law
 It explores what happens when an individual’s ______________________
conflicts with the __________________________
o Ex: The Trojan Women, Euripides shows how women are the
_______________________________________________
 He questions the fact that maybe humans _________________________,
instead of the glamorous idea that the gods control it
Some Greeks wrote _____________________, humorous plays that mocked people or
customs
Almost all surviving Greek comedies were written by Aristophanes
o Ex: Lysistrata, he shows women of Athens banding together to force their
husbands to end a war against Sparta
Even though it’s funny, comic playwrights _____________________________________
o Just like political cartoons do today
World History
Ms. Areces
The Writing of History
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The Greeks also applied observation, reason, and logic to the
_____________________________________________________________
Herodotus is known as the “Father of History” in the western world because he was the
first true historian
o Before writing about the Persian Wars, he visited many lands
_____________________________________________________________ and
__________________________________________________________________
o He understood that many of his sources would be ____________________ and
many had conflicting accounts
o He still wrote the story of the Persian wars as a ___________________________
of Greek love of freedom over Persian tyranny
o He also invented conversations and speeches for historical figures
Thucydides wrote about the Peloponnesian War (not as happy for the Greeks to talk
about)
o He had lived through the war and vividly described its ______________________
and _______________________________________________ on those involved
o He was Athenian, but he tried to be fair to both sides
Both writers set standards for future historians
o Herodotus stressed __________________________________________________
o Thucydides showed _________________________________________________