world history chapter 5c democracy and greece’s golden age
TRANSCRIPT
Pericles’ Three Goals for Athens
• Strengthen Athenian Democracy• Hold and strengthen the Empire• Glorify Athens
Stronger Democracy
• Increased the number of paid public officials
1. More citizens became engaged in self-government
2. Political rights were still limited to those with citizenship status
• He introduced Direct Democracy-citizens rule directly and not through representatives
Athenian Empire
• Pericles used the Delian League’s treasury to build 200 warships and made Athens the strongest navy in the Mediterranean
• The navy controlled waterways and trade
Glorify Athens
• Pericles used the Delian League’s money without their approval to beautify Athens
• All works on the Acropolis were built this way including the Parthenon
Greek Styles in Art
• Greek sculptures
1. Phidias-Greatest Greek sculpture and creator of the statues of Athena for the Parthenon and Zeus for Olympia
2. Phidias’ work characterizes Greek classical art in the values of order, balance, and proportion
Greek Drama
• The Greeks invented drama and built the first theaters in the west
• Theaters were expressions of civic pride and a tribute to the gods
Greek Theater is Divided into Two Parts-Tragedy and Comedy
• Tragedy- Serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, or betrayal
-Key Writers-Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides
• Comedy
-Scenes filled with slapstick situations and crude humor
-Key Writer-Aristophanes
Spartans and Athenians Go To War
• Peloponnesian War
1. In 431 B.C., Sparta declared war on Athens over a dispute of one of its Colonies
2. Pericles attempted to avoid land battles with Sparta and Sparta avoided sea battles
3. Sparta eventually invaded Athenian lands
Plague
• Plague strikes Athens in the second year of the war and Pericles is among those that die. 2/3 of Athens population dies from plague
1. 27,000 Athenians are also lost in a campaign against Syracuse, Sicily
2. In 404 B.C. Athens surrenders
Greek Philosophers Search for Truth
• Greek Philosophy is based on two assumptions:
1. The Universe (land, sky and sea)is put together in an orderly way and subject to absolute and unchanging laws
2. People can understand these laws through logic and reason
Sophists
• They questioned peoples beliefs and ideas about justice, and other traditional values
-Leading proponent was Protagoras
-”Man is the measure of all things”
Socrates
• He was a critic of the Sophist• He believed that absolute standards did exist
for truth and justice• “The unexamined life is not worth living”• He was condemned to death for corrupting the
young
Plato
• He was a student of Socrates’• He wrote down his conversations with Socrates• He Wrote The Republic
-It sets forth his vision of a perfectly governed society
-His government has citizens fall naturally into three groups: farmers,
artisans/warriors and the ruling class
-He believed in a philosopher-king
Aristotle
• He was a student of Plato’s• He invented a nature of arguing according to
rules of logic• His work provides the basis of the scientific
method today• His most famous student was Alexander the
Great