Transcript Ancient Greece - Cloudfront.net

Ancient Greece
p. 8
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Lecture/Discussion
• Material from your reading
Why Ancient Athens?
• The Western World uses many Athenian
ideas about science, art, and social
organization.
• We will focus on social organization:
– Government (democracy, ethics)
– Philosophy (fairness, beauty, ego)
Government of the Few
• city-states
• Had jurisdiction over the city and
surrounding lands.
• Ancient Greece was not united, it was
a collection of city states
Monarchy
• a government ruled by a king/queen
Early Greek city states
• Sparta:
• The fiercest of all the Greek city states
– Its society demanded that its men and women be strong and
trained for war. Such a national attitude is called
• Militaristic society
• Depends on war to solve its national and
international problems
• Is always ready for war.
• Spartan Women
– Spartan women were freer than Athenian women, because they
were expected to fight as well as the men.
– Demanded that their husband and sons either come back from
war with their shields or on them…
One city-state changes
• Athens
Most Greek states had government systems
similar to Sparta except Athens
They developed a government that included
more people’s opinions.
Government of the Few
• Tyrant
• Greek word for a powerful and
unchallengable king
• (EC) A similar word, which today means a
non-royal person who takes control of a
country is…..
• dictator
People’s Government
•
•
•
•
Democracy:
Government ruled by the people.
Evolved in ancient Athens…..
First, tyrant had to share power with the land
owners
– have the right to make laws and taxes
• Later, merchants gained a role in the
government
Athenian Democracy
• legislature:
• A group of citizens, often elected, who have the
power to
– make laws,
• tax,
– declare war
• Jury
– A group of citizens who have the power to decide
innocence or guilt in a court
Athenian Democracy
• Pericles:
• Leader of Athens, 460-429 BCE
• His reforms included
– Legislative assembly met and voted many times a month,
– 6000 (all male citizens qualified) needed to make a vote legal
• Any number of required voters need to make a vote legal is called a
– quorum
– pay for office-holders (rich or poor citizens could hold office),
– jury service required.
Greek Philosophers
• Greek philosophy is also present in our
modern western societies.
• EC: The pioneer and perhaps the
greatest, was
• Socrates:
• He taught that a person’s actions must
lead to the “greater good” or they were
immoral.
Greek Philosophers
• Plato
• Socrates’ best student
• His principle belief…..
1. Reason (using evidence to prove the truth)
and not emotion to explain or decide
important things for society.
Greek Philosophers
• EC: Plato’s Academy: students worked to
(3)
– seek ethical principles,
– recognize perfect beauty,
– and learn how best to organize society.
Greek Philosophers
• Plato, wrote, (EC)
– The Republic,
• In it, he describes a perfect society or (EC)
– Utopia:
• Plato’s perfect society consisted of three social
classes (EC):
• workers,
• soldiers,
• philosophers.
– Philosopher-kings had to be specially trained in the ways of
utopian order to rule.
Greek Philosophers
• Aristotle:
• Plato’s greatest student
• Aristotle’s view of government
– run by agreed-upon rules (a constitution).
– An educated “middle class” would run it…..
• He felt they were not selfish as the nobles, nor ignorant as
the poor.
– Government’s job was to provide stability and justice.
– A leader’s job was to follow and operate the law for
the benefit of everyone.
EC Review
• Who believed that in an ideal society the
government should be controlled by a class of
“philosopher kings”?
• A. Pericles
• B. Solon
• C. Plato
• D. Aristotle
• How did you find the answer?
• I read and studied the text last night…..
Homework correction/notes:
Image, p. 9:
• Question:
• The development of iron weapons rather
than bronze.
p. 10, Solon of Athens
• Question
• Northeast
Standards Check, p. 11
• Question
• Tyrant (king)
• Nobles (landowners) demand and get
power (aristocracy)
• Later: Middle class (businessmen in
peace/warriors in war) got power
• In Athens, some common men got power
(Navy oarsmen)
Standards Check, p. 11:
• Question
• Confederated (united) Greeks fought
courageously and skillfully to defeat the
numerically superior Persians.
p. 11, The Persian Wars
• Question:
• Warrior on the right has a Greek helmet
and shield.
• Warrior on the left wears pants and has a
beard.
Thinking Critically. p. 12
• 1.
• Athenian citizens were directly involved with
government and were not governed through
elected representatives.
• 2.
• Both systems used majority rule, civic debate,
juries, courts, and rule of law
• Athenian citizens participated directly in decision
making while US citizens participate indirectly.
government
• EC: Of a city or citizen, or citizenship
– civic
• EC: What are your civic responsibilities,
today?
– Obey the law
– Contribute to/help the community
– Lead the community
Standards Check, p. 13
• Question:
• Athenian men participated in direct
democracy
– In the Assembly
• Served on juries
p. 14, Biography, Socrates,
• Question:
• He was constantly questioning others and
reassessing himself
Standards Check, p. 15:
• Question
• Socrates
• Defended democracy
– Even when it was used to judge him a traitor.
• Plato
• Distrusted it
– Could be abused by corrupt and ignorant leaders
• Blamed democratic process for prosecuting and executing Socrates.
• Aristotle
– Feared it could lead to mob rule (what if the ignorant and poor were
allowed to vote?)
– Respected stability and fairness it could bring.
Common Core Mini-Project
• Philosophers
Map Skills, p. 16
• 2.
• The places he conquered adopted some aspects of
Greek culture.
• 3.
• No.
– If one had the money necessary to afford the military and
government required to run it.
– Violent measures would be needed to keep people under
control.
• Yes.
– It would be very difficult to keep such a large empire united.
Especially during a time when transportation and communication
were difficult.
Greek Culture Changes
• A new Greek philosophy emerged during the
Hellenistic period.
• EC: It taught that practitioners could only
have true, personal peace, if they gave up
wanting things, envying others, and trying to
be better than others:
– Stoicism
• It is similar to an Indian philosophy, that started
a few hundred years earlier….
– Buddhism
Standards Check, p. 17
• Question:
• Alexander‘s expansion spread Greek
culture to Egypt and the Persian Empire
• Greeks settled in foreign lands, marrying
into, learning those cultures
– Hellenistic culture developed.
Alexander of Macedon defeating Persian Emperor, Darius
III, at the Battle of Issus, c. 333 BCE
Text, p. 18, The Republic, by Plato
• 1.
• He thinks tyranny is the worst form of government.
– People (the state) are poor, miserably degraded and enslaved.
– No state “has more lamentation and sorrow and groaning and
pain.”
• 2.
• A dialogue is a clever or interesting way to explain an
argument to some.
• To others, a straightforward essay would clearer.
Thinking critically, p. 19
• 1
– Are not capable:
• Aristotle warns that humans have the “element of the wild beast”
that makes them incapable of ruling fairly (just rule).
– Are capable:
• If officials act as guardians and ministers of the law, they are
capable of ruling fairly.
• 2
– Might have approved of Plato’s philosopher kings
• They were expected to rule justly and by the law.
– Might not have approved of Plato’s philosopher kings
• Expecting people to rule fairly and by the law is too idealistic and
impractical.
The Ancient Greeks before and
after Alexander of Macedon
• Pure Greek culture was EC called…..
– Hellenic
• Alexander of Macedon (the Great) conquered the
Greeks and then other peoples in the world.
• He mixed Greek Culture with the EC cultures of (4)
–
–
–
–
Persia,
Central Asia,
Middle East,
North Africa.
• The new culture that arose and would affect the
Western world EC is called
– Hellenistic
Review: What can you conclude?
• Which is a concept from classical Athens
that is central to Western socio/political
thought today?
A.Individuals should fight against nature and
society to achieve greatness.
B.Individual achievement, dignity, and worth are of
great importance
C.Individual recognition impedes societal progress.
D.Individuals play an insignificant role in shaping
ideas, society, and the state.
Brief Response
• Compare Points of View The table compares
the city-states of Sparta and Athens as they
existed around the mid-400s B.C. How would
a Spartan describe the ideal citizen? How
would an Athenian describe the ideal citizen?
What differences in the status of women do
you observe?
• chart