Crete
• earliest center of civilization
• home of the Minoan civilization
• involved in trade and
colonization
Mycenaean Civilization
• military fervor
• adapted Minoan culture
Dorians
• little known of them
• great warriors
Greek Dark Ages
• smaller, isolated villages
• had little outside contact
Homer
Iliad
Odyssey
“Homeric Age”
Greek Mythology
• stories that explain beliefs
• 12 chief gods and goddesses
• deities lived on Mount Olympus
anthropomorphic
exhibiting human forms
and attributes
Greek Mythology
polytheistic
•
•
•
•
no powerful priesthood
lacked otherworldliness
little magic or astrology
lacked a creed or system
of ethics
Olympic Games
• honor of Zeus
• physical prowess
• rare examples of Greek
city-state cooperation
Greek Cities
• polis = city
• acropolis = strong city
City Government
•
•
•
•
monarchy = rule by one
oligarchy = rule by a few
tyranny = rule by force
democracy = rule by the
people
Greek Colonization
Syracuse = most important
colony
Greek Colonization
•
•
•
•
metropolis chose a leader
leader chooses site
colonists and leader set sail
land partitioned; laws and
rituals established
• new city-state on its own
Sparta
• southern tip of the Peloponnesus
• militaristic state
• state controlled every part of
the citizens’ lives
• oligarchy government
Peloponnesian League
• led by Sparta
• included neighboring citystates
• purpose = oppose Athenian
democracy
Athens
• northeastern tip of the
Peloponnesus
• commercial power
• independent and
individualistic
• democracy
Athenian Governments
• monarchy in the early days
• oligarchy for a limited time
Solon
reforms for the common man
• forbade making debtors into
slaves
• created the Council of Four
Hundred
Athenian Governments
• democracy
- instituted by Pericles
- became the standard
Delian League
• led by Athens
• made up of Greek citystates
• purpose = offensive and
defensive measure against
Persia
Persian Wars
• Persia retaliates for colonial
rebellions
• focused on punishing
Athens
Battle of Marathon
• Athenians outnumbered 3 to 1
• Athenian army defeated
Persian cavalry
Thermopylae
• Persians outnumbered the
Greeks
• centered on a narrow pass
Spartan Monument
“Tell them in Sparta,
passerby, that here
obedient to their orders,
we lie.”
Battle of Salamis Bay
• used the Athenian naval plan
• a great victory for Athens
Pericles
His reign made Athens
• the pinnacle of the ancient
world’s culture
• a democratic city-state
Peloponnesian War
• pitted Greek against Greek
• a whale vs. an elephant
Peloponnesian War
• Phase 1: Athenian victory
• Phase 2: Nician Peace
• Phase 3: Persian intervention
Macedonians
• King Philip II
Division of Alexander’s Empire
• Antigonids in Macedonia and
Greece
• Ptolemies in Egypt
• Seleucids in Syria and Persia
• Chandragupta in India
Greek Culture
• exalted man
• respected restraint and
balance
• appreciated beauty, strength,
and freedom
Greek Motto
“Nothing in excess, and
everything in proportion.”
Hellenic = Greek culture
the cradle of Western culture
Hellenistic = like the Greek
Greek culture conquered
the world
humanities
a formal study of
human thought and
culture
Greek Focus
• philosophy and science
the human mind and
• literature
reasoning
human life powers
and activity
• sports
• art height of human physical
performance
beauty and perfection of
the human form.
Philosophers
• lovers of wisdom
• believed man was basically
good
Socrates
• asking questions and
analyzing answers
• Virtue is knowledge, and
ignorance produces evil.
Plato
• most famous student of
Socrates
• established the first school
of philosophy and science
anarchy
breakdown of
government and
order
Plato’s Republic
those with desire
• needed virtue = temperance
those with spirit
• needed virtue = courage
those with reason
• needed virtue = knowledge
Plato’s view of reality
• something must be permanent
to be truly real
• reality lay in the next world
• physical world = shadows of
next world
Aristotle
• Plato’s most famous student
• believed reality lay in this world
• best work dealt with logic
syllogism
a way of reasoning
Aristotle’s Organon
the syllogism
• three parts: major premise,
minor premise, conclusion
• Formula= a implies b
c implies a
therefore: c implies b
example
1) All Greeks are human.
2) Aristotle is Greek.
3) Therefore, Aristotle is human.
example
a
b
1) All Greeks are human.
c
a
2) Aristotle is Greek.
c
b
3) Therefore, Aristotle is human.
false example
a
b
1) All cows have four legs.
c
b
2) My cat has four legs.
c
a
3) Therefore, my cat is a cow.
Epicureanism
• proposed by Epicurus
• promoted avoiding pain and
fear to achieve happiness
and pleasure
Stoicism
• proposed by Zeno
• promoted that man accept his
fate and exercise self-control
Pythagoras
• philosopher and mathematician
• universe could be explained in
mathematical terms
• Pythagorean Theorem
Hippocrates
• “Father of Medicine”
• illnesses come from
natural causes
Euclid
“Father of Geometry”
Elements
Archimedes
discovered the principle of
the lever
Archimedes
“Give me a spot to stand
on and a lever long
enough, and I will move
the earth.”
Eratosthenes
• calculated the circumference
of the globe
• formulated the lines of
latitude and longitude
Herodotus
• “Father of History”
• chronicled the Persian
Wars
Thucydides
• wrote about the
Peloponnesian Wars
• works were even more
accurate and objective
Sophocles
• wrote tragedies
Aristophanes
• wrote comedies
Greek Art
Urns
• used to hold cremated
remains
• decorated with scenes of
everyday life, great events,
or the gods
Greek Art
Sculpture
Three phases
• archaic
• classical
• Hellenistic
archaic period
Egyptian influence
classical period
height of Grecian achievement
Hellenistic period
simple beauty replaced with
frenzied emotion
classicism
governed by reason,
restrained and orderly,
universally true, good and
beautiful and . . . harmonious
with society
Greek Art
Architecture
• height during the “Golden
Age”
• copied by future
generations
Greek Columns
Three styles
• Doric
• Ionic
• Corinthian