Greece’s Golden and
Hellenistic Ages
Arts of the Golden Age:
Architecture
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Athens was the center of culture in Greece’s Golden Age
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Acropolis was the center of the original city state
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Parthenon was the finest example of Greece Architecture
• white marble temple built in honor of Athena
• Series of columns surrounded the structure
• Athena statue was 38 ft high, made of ivory and gold
The Arts of the Golden Age:
Painting

Greek Vases illustrate
everyday life and
mythological events
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Originally adopted styles
from Egypt
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Began with painting animals
then human figures
The Arts of the Golden Age:
Sculpture
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Used Mathematical proportions to make sculptures looks
lifelike
Myron sculpted The Disc Thrower
Phidias sculpted Athena and Zeus
• Zeus statue was considered one of the seven wonders
of the world
Praxiteles
• Sculpted figures that were lifelike & natural in form and
size
• Expressed the Greek admiration for the beauty of the
human body
The Nature of Greek Art:
Simplicity and Balance

Glorified human beings
• Reflected ideals of beauty and strength
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Symbolized pride in the city state
• Art meant for public enjoyment
• Honored and thanked the gods
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Beliefs in harmony, balance, order, and moderation
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Combining beauty and usefulness
Rise of Philosophy
Rise of Philosophy

Study of basic questioning of
reality and human existence
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Nature is based on natural laws
and truths
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Discover truth through reasoning

Known as cosmologists- studied
the nature of the universe

Democritus- developed the
atomic theory
Socrates

Education was the key
to personal growth

Students should THINK
for themselves

Socratic Method used
questions to teach
Socrates
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Believed unskilled people should not
hold position of power
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Mocked the Sophists

Accused of denying the existence of
Greek Gods
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Accused of teachings corrupting the
youth
• Found guilty and executed
Plato
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Founded the Academy
for teaching philosophy

Wrote in dialogues or
imaginary discussions
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Dealt with government,
education, justice, and
religion
Plato
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Theory of Forms
• Believed perfection existed in theory not in reality
Humans consisted of the soul and the body
“Republic”
• Describes Plato’s view of the perfect society
Ideal government was Aristocracy
• not by birth or wealth
• Rulers chosen by wisdom, ability, and high ideas
Aristotle
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Believed that logical study led to truth
Collected facts and organized them into systems
• Collected, described, and classified plants and
animals
Ethics
• Tried to learn What brings people to happiness
Poetics
• Analyzed what makes a good or bad play
Believed that monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy
was good forms of government
Math, Medicine, and Science

Pythagoras
• Everything could be
explained by Math
• Developed the Pythagorean
Theorem
• Built on the ideas of the
Egyptians
Math, Medicine, and Science

Greek philosophers
• Did not specialize in any one field of study
• Thought natural world could be explained by the
natural laws
• Thought rules that govern the universe can be
identified, gathered, and observed
Hippocrates
Hippocrates
Hippocrates
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Founder of medical science

Wrote between 60-70 medical studies
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Based on observation, experiment, & experience
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Taught disease comes from natural causes, NOT as
punishment from gods
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Rest, Fresh Air, and diet are the best cures
History
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Herodotus
• 1st historian of the Western world
• Father of History
• Careful to note “when he seen something”
or “was told something”
Thucydides
• Believed studying the past helps
understand human nature
• Worked to make his findings fair and
accurate
Greek Theater: Drama

Written in poetic form

Male actors with trained voices played women's role

Carved outdoor theaters into hillsides
•
Orchestra is where the actors/chorus performed

Audience relied on the chorus to describe the time
and place
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Performed in connection with religious festivals
•
Great Dionysia was Athens major drama competition
Greek Theater: Tragedies

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Main character struggles against
fate/events
Heroes punished for displaying Hubris
• Sin of pride
• Offended the gods and doomed the
hero to a tragic end
Aeschylus
• wrote about religion and
relationships between gods and
people
Greek Theater: Tragedies

Sophocles
• Defended many traditional Greek values
• Oedipus Rex was a perfect example of a tragedy
according to Aristotle
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Euripides
• Questioned old beliefs and ideas…(Socrates)
• Trojan Woman showed the pain and misery of war
Greek Theater: Comedies

Originated at Great Dionysia Festival

Included both tragic and humorous figures

Main characters solved the problems

Aristophanes
• Clouds- pokes fun at Socrates for
theories about education
• Used comedy to make people think
about the cause and effect of war
Philip II of Macedon

King of Macedon from 359-336
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Gained power by recruiting his
own army

Organized army into Phalanxes
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Goals
• Restore order in Macedon
• Win control of Greece
Philip II of Macedon
Philip II of Macedon
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Demosthenes
• Greatest Athenian orator
• led uprising against Philip II
rule

Philip II defeated Thebes and
Athens to unit all of Greece
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Assassinated in 336 B.C.
Alexander the Great

Succeeded King Philip at
20yrs of age

Received both classical and
military training

Ultimate goal was to conquer
the known world

Empire reached from Greece
to the Indus River
Alexander's Empire
Hellenistic World

Alexander purposely spread Greek culture

Kept empire together by governing with Persians,
Greeks, and Macedonians

Created a new “Greek-like” way of life known as
Hellenistic culture
• Combination of Greek, Mediterranean, and Asian
cultures

Infighting tore apart Alexander’s Empire
Learning and Commerce

Spread of the Greek culture helped the “middle
ranks” thrive

Alexander built many cities during conquest

Old values faded; New Value brought freedoms
• Women appeared more often in public & received
new rights regarding property

More people considered to be “Greek”
Religion

Kings in Egypt and Asia
• encouraged practice of ruler worship
• Provided people with sense of civic duty
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Mystery Religions
• Cults introduced worshipers to secret teachings
• Secrets of life after death and immortality
Philosophy
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Cynicism
•
Live simple and naturally
Skepticism
•
Universe is always changing, all knowledge is uncertain
Stoicism
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Divine reason directs the world
Greatly influenced Roman and Christian thinking
Epicureanism
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Limit desires
Epicurus taught to seek pleasure & avoid pain
Science:
Math and Physics
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Euclid
• showed how geometric
statements flowed
logically from one another
• Elements is the basis of
many Geometry books
Archimedes
• Calculated the value of pi
• Invented the Archimedes
Screw
Science: Medicine

Hellenistic doctors learned from the Egyptian art of
embalming to examine and catalog the parts of the
human body

Studied bodies of executed criminals
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Herophilus
• Concluded that the brain is the center of the
nervous system
Science: Astronomy and
Geography

Used principles of geometry to track the stars

Aristarchus believed the earth and the planets moved
around the sun

Geographers knew the earth was round

Eratosthenes calculated the distance around the earth