AncientGreece1.pptx

Ancient Greece
The Crucible of Civilization

The ancient Greeks where the first to look at the world around them with questioning eyes, having left behind a host of ideas, concepts, and art to provide the foundation of what we call “western civilization”.
culture

History
Greek civilization started around 2000 BCE to 1600 BCE.
Greece had its Golden Age in Athens around 477 – 431 BCE.
In 334 BCE, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, leader of the country of Macedonia to the north, conquered the Greeks and started what is called the HELLENISTIC AGE.

Religion
The Greeks were POLYTHEISTIC and did not all worship the same gods.
Some small villages worshiped the main gods and their own village gods.

Religion
There were hundreds of Greek gods (perhaps around 1,000).  Some of the most famous gods were Zeus, Hera, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Aphrodite, Athena, Demeter, Hermes, Ares, and Hades.
ZEUS surpassed all other gods in spirit, wisdom and justice and his wife HERA was the queen of the gods.

Olympic Games
They became a central aspect of Greek culture and in many ways were the most important factor uniting the Greeks, except for their language and mythology.

GREEK WOMEN: Greek women had very LITTLE FREEDOM outside the home. They could attend weddings, funerals, some religious festivals, and could visit female neighbors for brief periods of time.
Greek women

In their homes, Greek women were in charge. Their job was to run the house and to bear children.
Wives and daughters were not allowed to watch the Olympic games as the participants in the games did not wear clothes.
Greek women

The Polis (city-state) consisted of a city and its surrounding plains and valleys. The nucleus of the polis was the elevated, fortified site called the Acropolis where people could take refuge from attack. With the revival of commerce, a trading center developed below the acropolis.
acropolis

Contributions of Greek Culture to Western Civilization

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Drama
Aeschylus and Sophocles – Great play writers of Tragedy

Aristophanes – Great play writer of Comedy

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Poetry
Homer: The great blind story teller of Greece
His stories later were written in two epics:
1. Iliad
2. Odyssey

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Literature
Aesop’s Fables – Famous fables and scripts that provide great entertainment for children.
The fables are all very short stories to keep the attention of children.
Aesop’s fables feature familiar animals loved by children.

History
Herodotus – Greek historian who is known as the “father of history”
He wrote “Histories” which was about the conflict between Persia and Greece.
Thucydides – A Greek historian who wrote “History of the Peloponnesian War”.
He wrote about the conflict between Athens and Sparta

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Sculpture
Phidias – He is known as the Greatest Greek Sculptor.
He designed the Parthenon (the temple of the Goddess Athena).
Sculpted the huge Statue of Zeus at Olympus.

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Sculpture
Polyclitus – considered the most important sculptor of Classical antiquity.

Sculpture

THE RIACE BRONZES
Stephano Mariottini

architecture

Greek Columns Styles were classified according to their capital

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Doric
Column
Very plain and simple
Has no base

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Ionic
Column
Capital has scrolls
Has a base
More decorative

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Corinthian
Column
The most decorative capital
Roofs are flat

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Copy of the Parthenon in Nashville

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PAINTING
Attic vase painting – red-figure technique superseded the black-figure technique.

Music
Greek art depicts musical instruments and dance. The word music derives from the name of the Muses, the daughters of Zeus who were patron goddesses of the arts.

Science
Archimedes – Considered the greatest mathematician
Discovered the principles of density and buoyancy
Hippocrates – is the founder of medicine and the greatest physician of his time

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Science
Thales of Miletus was the first person to discover the laws of nature, therefore, the first scientist and the founder of natural science.
He became the first person to predict an eclipse.

Mathematics
Euclid – the father of geometry
Pythagoras – the father of numbers, he founded the Pythagorean theory

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Philosophy

First Philosophers

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Philosophy
The Republic – A series of imaginary conversations between Socrates and others.
Written by Plato.

Democracy
Democracy (rule of the people), the outstanding political achievement of the Greeks.

Democracy
All men are created equal.
Equal justice under the Law.
People are remarkable beings.
High regard for humanity.

Greek alphabet
The ancient Greek alphabet was the first true alphabet, because it was the first writing system in which every letter represents a specific sound that had letters representing vowels.
The Greek alphabet was based on the earlier Phoenician abjad, which only had consonants, but the Greeks repurposed Phoenician letters representing consonant sounds that did not exist in their language as vowels.
The Latin alphabet, which is the alphabet used today to write the English language and the alphabet that I am using to write this answer, is derived from the Etruscan alphabet, which is, in turn, derived from the Greek alphabet.

Language
The ancient Greek dialects are influential with much Greek vocabulary embedded in the Modern Greek and English languages.