Chapter 5-Greek Civilization

SECTION 1- THE CULTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE

Greek Mythology Myths- Traditional stories about gods or heroes.

Ancient Greeks believed gods and goddesses affected people’s lives and shaped events.

The 12 most important gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus. Zeus- The chief god

Athena- Goddess of wisdom and craft

Apollo- God of the sun and poetry

Ares- God of war

Aphrodite- Goddess of love

Poseidon- God of the sea and earthquakes

To find out about the future, the Greeks visited an oracle- a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess.

Temple of Apollo at Delphi- most famous oracle.

Greek Poetry and Fables

Epics- Long poems told about heroic deeds.

The poet Homer wrote “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey”. These were based on the war between Greece and Troy. The Battle of Troy

A Greek slave named Aesop wrote fables- short tales that teach a lesson.

Greek Dramas

A drama is a story told by actors who pretend to be characters in a story.

Tragedy- A type of drama in which a person struggles to overcome difficulties but fails.

Comedy- A type of drama that ends happily.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCm8W5RZes

Section 2- Greek Philosophy and History

Greek Philosophers Philosophy- Comes from the Greek word for “love of wisdom”.

Philosophers- Greek thinkers who believed the human mind could understand everything.

Pythagoras- Taught that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers. He believed all relationships in the world could be expressed in numbers.

Sophists- Traveling teachers who taught students how to win an argument and make speeches. They did not believe in absolute right or wrong, different perspectives.

Socrates/Socratic Method- Sculptor/philosopher, believed an absolute truth existed within each person. The Socractic Method used reasoning.

Plato- Student of Socrates, disagreed with democracy, believed people were driven by their own desires and he thought men and women should have equal rights to education and employment.

Aristotle- Student of Plato, believed people should do nothing in excess. He also studied many different government to decide which was best, wrote the book Politics. His ideas helped shape modern governments.

Herodotus- The father of history

Thucydides- The Greatest Historian of the Ancient World

Section 3- Alexander the Great

Phillip II

Macedonia- North of Greece

In 359 B.C., Phillip II became king of Macedonia. After building a great army, he attacked Greece after the Peloponnesian War.

The Macedonians crushed Greece at the Battle of Chaeronea.

Alexander the Great

Phillip II was murdered and as a result, his son Alexander took over at only 20 years old.

Alexander defeated the Persians. He also conquered Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria and Persia.

Alexander’s soldiers refused to go to India and many of them died on the return march.

Alexander was known to be a brave military leader. He kept a copy of the Iliad under his pillow, he idolized Achilles.

A legacy is what a person leaves behind when he or she dies.

The Hellenistic Era Alexander’s conquests marked

the beginning of the Hellenistic Era, Greek for “like the Greeks”.

Greek language and ideas spread to the non-Greek people of southwest Asia.

Alexander wanted to unite the people of his empire, Macedonians, Greeks and Persians.

After the death of Alexander, his generals fought for power and the empire soon divided. Greek culture was still prominent in the remaining cities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LsrkWDCvxg

Section 4- The Spread of Greek Culture

Greek Culture Spreads

Alexandria had a great library that had more than 500,000 scrolls.

Hellenistic Kings hired Greek sculptors to fill their towns and cities with statues.

Athens still remained the center of Greek theater.

Philosophy

Epicurus founded Epicureanism. Taught that the way to be happy was to seek out pleasure.

Epicurean- love of good food or comfortable surroundings.

Zeno developed Stoicism. Happiness came from following reason and doing their duty, not emotions.

Greek Science and Math

Astronomers study stars, planets and other heavenly bodies.

Aristarchus claimed that the sun was at the center of the universe and that Earth circled the sun.

Eratosthenes concluded that the Earth was round. He also used geometry to measure the distance around Earth.

Euclid wrote the book “Elements” which describes plane geometry (points, lines, angles, etc.)

Archimedes worked on solid geometry (spheres, cylinders, etc.) He also figured out the value of pi and created the lever and designed the catapult.