Chapter 5 Section 3
Democracy and Greece’s Golden
Age
• Golden Age of Athens
• 477 B.C. – 431 B.C.
Pericles’ Plan for
Athens

Pericles was a
statesman who
influenced life in
Athens for 32 years.

Pericles had three
goals
1. Create a Stronger Democracy


Increased number of public officials and they were
paid
Pericles developed a direct democracy.


What is it?
Citizens rule directly, not through representatives
2. Athenian Empire



Pericles took money from the Delian League’s
treasury to strengthen the navy
Other members of Delian League were treated as
part of the empire
Peloponnesus cities (Sparta) resisted Athens and
formed their own alliances
3. Glorifying Athens

Without League’s
approval, Pericles used
money to beautify
Athens
Glorious Art and Architecture
• Wanted to create magnificent sculptures and
buildings like the Parthenon
Architecture
and Sculpture



Phidias worked on the
Parthenon
Works portrayed ideal
beauty not realism
These works became
known as classical art
Phidias
Drama and History
• Greeks created drama as an art form
and built the first theaters
Tragedy and Comedy



Tragedy: serious drama
about common
themes
Hero usually had a flaw
such as hubris.
3 tragedy writers

Aeschylus who wrote
Oresteia a story based
on Agamemnon


Sophocles wrote Oedipus
the King and Antigone
Euripides wrote Medea
Tragedy and Comedy Cont.d’

Comedies had
slapstick and crude
humor

Aristophanes wrote
The Birds and Lysistrata
History

Homer’s records are
not accurate.

Herodotus accurately
reported events

Athenian Thucydides
was the greatest
historian
Athenians and Spartans Go to War

Other Greek citystates looked at
Athens in a negative
way

431 B.C. Sparta
declared war on
Athens
Peloponnesian War




Athens vs. Spartans
Athens had a stronger
navy, Sparta had a
stronger army
Pericles wanted to
avoid land battle and
attack on the sea
Spartans marched
into Athenian
territory and burnt
their food supply
Peloponnesian War Cont.d’

Pericles brought
people into the city
walls


Food could be brought
by ships that sailed into
the ports of Athenian
colonies.
2nd year of war a
plague swept through
Athens killed 1/3 of
the population
including Pericles.

421 B.C. a truce was
signed
Sparta Gains Victory

Peace didn’t last

415 B.C. Athenians
sent a fleet with 20,000
soldiers to Sicily
attempting to destroy
Syracuse, Sparta's ally

413 Athens was
defeated

In 404 B.C. Athenians
and allies surrendered
Philosophers
Search for Truth


Athenians questioned
Democratic
government
Philosophers emerged
to seek the truth and
based their findings
on two assumptions

1. The universe is put
together in an orderly
way and subject to
absolute and
unchanging laws.

2. People can
understand these
laws through logic
and reason.
Philosophers Search for Truth

Protagoras, a
philosopher in the
Sophists group,
questioned the
existence of
traditional Greek
gods
Socrates





Critic of the Sophists
Stated absolute standard
did exist for truth and
justice
Either people admired
him or thought he was
strange
He encouraged students
to examine their beliefs
Asked them questions to
show that people had
contradictory opinions

These question/answer
sessions led to the
Socratic method
Socrates Cont.d’




399 B.C. he was
brought to trial for
“corrupting the
youth of Athens” and
“neglecting the city’s
gods”
Socrates said his
teachings were good
Jury condemned him
to death
He drank hemlock
and died
Plato
 Student
of Socrates
 Founded a school
called the Academy
 Wrote his most
famous work, The
Republic
 Described his perfectly
governed society

Not a democracy
Plato Cont.d’
 His
ideal, citizens fell
into three groups

Farmers and artisans,
warriors, and ruling
class
 His
rivals, Socrates and
his pupil Aristotle
PLATO
ARISTOTLE
Aristotle
 Questioned
the nature
of the world and human
belief, thought and
knowledge
 Invented a method for
arguing according to
logic.
 This provides the basis of
the scientific method
used today.
Aristotle Cont.d’
 Opened
a school
called the Lyceum.
 Alexander, son of
King Philip II of
Macedonia, was one
of his most famous
pupils
 Taught him at age 13
until he was called
back home at age 16.