Chapter 5
5-4 The Spread of Greek Culture
People
Theocritus poet during the Hellenistic Era who wrote
short poems about the beauty of nature
Aristarchus an astronomer who claimed that the sun
was the center of the universe at a time when other
astronomers thought that the Earth was the center of
the universe
Eratosthenes an astronomer in charge of the library at
Alexandria. He concluded the Earth was round &
measured the circumference of the Earth & distance to
the sun& moon using his geometry and astronomy
knowledge
Euclid most famous Greek mathematician & author of
the book Elements, which describes plane geometry
Archimedes a Greek scientist of the Hellenistic Era. He
worked on solid geometry (the study of spheres &
cylinders). He figured out the value of pi, the number
used to measure the area of circles & he invented
catapults, machines that hurled arrows
Places
Rhodes a Greek island in the southeast Aegean Sea;
Appolonius, author of the epic poem Argonautica, was
from here
Syracuse a Greek city-state where the scientist
Archimedes was from
Vocabulary
Epicureanism happiness through pleasure is the goal
of life
Stoicism happiness comes from doing your duty and
following reason, not emotion
astronomer a person who studies stars, planets, &
other heavenly bodies
plane geometry a type of mathematics that relates
points, lines, surfaces, and angles to each other
solid geometry a type of mathematics that deals with
spheres and cylinders