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

1600 1100 800 500 323

BC CE

30

Trojan Wars

Greek Mycenaean Age

Greek Dark Age

Greek Archaic Age

Greek Classical Age

Hellenistic Age

Thales b.624

Anaximenes b.585

Pythagoras b.580

Empedocles b.490

Democritus b.450

Aristotle b.384

Ptolemy b.90

Key facts about ancient Greece

The Greeks invented democracy which means ‘rule by the people’ (demos=people)

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:

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