The Influence of the Ancient Greeks

The Arts

• Adults had enough leisure time to explore the arts

• Terra-cotta figurines date back to 675 bce – stiff unrealistic looking

• Venus de Milo – natural and realistic style of Sculpture (Hellenistic period)

• Idealistic – try to represent humans in their ultimate form (beauty and strength) (Calssical Period

Greek Sculpture

Early Terra-cotta Realism

Architecture

• Greek Temples - rows of columns with a low peaked roof

• Did not use the arch• Decorated area between the column and the

roof was called the frieze. They often told stories of great battles

Ancient Athens

Parthenon

Literature

• Homer wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad (Story of Troy)

• Hesiod – wrote poems that gave us insight in the daily lives of average Greeks ( “Works and Days” and “Theogny”)

• Lyrics –shorter personal epics that express feelings (Sappho was a great lyric poet)

• Fables –short concise tales that use animal characters to convey a moral message (Aesop’s tales

Aesop’s Fables• The Ant and the Grasshopper In a field one summer's day a

Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.

Sappho’s Lyrics

• THE MOON• by: Sappho• tHE stars about the lovely moon Fade back

and vanish very soon, When, round and full, her silver face Swims into sight, and lights all space.

Greek Theater

• Greeks liked to write tragedies and comedies.• These plays would influence the writing of

Shakespeare• Greek theatres were the center pieces of the

city-state• Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripedes -

Tragedies• Aristophanes - Comedies

Amphitheatres

The Philosophers

• Personal conduct and Morality• Others on the world around them• Socrates – questioned ideas that were accepted

during his life time. Question and answer method• Plato – wrote the Republic (focused on Politics) 4

virtues truth, wisdom, courage and moderation• Aristotle – observed the world around him

(Astronomer). Also a biologist and added the third step of the scientific method

Socrates Plato

Quotes by Aristotle

• A friend to all is a friend to none.• All human actions have one or more of these seven

causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire.

• Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody's power and is not easy.

Mathmatics

• Thales of Miletus – angles at the base of an isosceles triangle are equal

• Pythagoras – Right angle triangles c 2 = a 2 + b 2

• Archimedes – area of a circle and weighing the density of an object (Water displacement)

Pythagorean Theorem

Medicine

• Hippocrates – Hippocratic oath is still sworn today by all doctors. He found a medical school

• Greeks used a lot of herbs and potions• Some of their practices were based on

superstition• You got your right to practice medicine based

on your success to cure illness

Astronomy

• Earth was round and moon orbited the earth• Aristarchus – Sun was the center of the

universe• Very close to calculating the length of the year

(365 days 5 hours 55 minutes and 12 seconds) about 6 minutes off.

• Lunar calendar 354 days with 12 lunar months. 3 out of every 8 years contained 13 months