Ancient Greece
Early Greek thought
and philosophers
Science and Religion in Schools Project - Unit 3b
Map of Greece
Map of Ancient Greece
Map from home.triad.rr.com/warfford/ancient/grkmain.html
Timeline of key figures
CE
BC
Greek Dark Age
Greek Mycenaean Age
Greek Classical Age
Greek Archaic Age
Hellenistic Age
Trojan Wars
1600
1100
800
Thales
b.624
Anaximenes
b.585
500
323
Pythagoras
b.580
30
Aristotle
b.384
Empedocles
b.490
Democritus
b.450
Ptolemy
b.90
Key facts about ancient Greece

The Greeks invented democracy which
means ‘rule by the people’ (demos=people)
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This form of government dates from the 7th
century BC when Greece was a mass of
separate, independent city-states such as
Athens. The Olympic Games were held
every 4 years and date from the 8th
century BC.
Greek philosophy is world famous.

Early Greek achievements
The ancient Greeks gave us:
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Maths (Pythagoras)
Irrigation (Thales)
Atomic theory (Democritus)
Maps and geography (Ptolemy)
The concept of the elements
The forces of attraction and repulsion (Empedocles)
An awareness of condensation (Anaximenes)
The notion of cause and effect and
The methods of categorising all natural things (Aristotle)
Philosophical questions
Philosophy is concerned with two main questions:

What is the nature of reality?

What can we know for certain?
The Greeks tried to answer these questions
using logic, reasoning and argument.
Ancient Greece
Early Greek thought
and philosophers
Science and Religion in Schools Project - Unit 3b