Transcript Ancient Greece

Greece: The Beginnings of
Western Civilization
Impact of Geography
• How did geography affect the development of
Greece?
• In central & southern Greece, no one lives
more than 40 miles from the sea. Plato wrote:
Like frogs around a pond, we have settled
around the shores of the sea.
Pindus Mts.
Pindus Mountains at Delphi
Olive Groves
Delphi
Mt. Olympus:
Home for the
Gods?
Gulf of Corinth
Acropolis
(Parthenon)
Athens’ Acropolis
Athens: Past Meets Present
Agora at Base of Acropolis
Agora
Acropolis and Agora
Minoans
Santorini
(Atlantis?)
Cliffs at Thira
The Kaldeira
Fisherman & Boxers
at Akrotiri
Palace of Knossos
Labyrinth
Bull Leaping
Bull Vase
Linear B
Mycenae
Lion’s Gate
Grave
Coverings for
Infant
by
Schliemann
Mask of
Agamemnon
A Wall of
Troy (Ilium)
SW Gate of Troy
Excavation of Troy
The Tyrants
Draco
Solon
Cleisthenes
Vase tells story
of Pisistratus
fighting for
Athenian
Democracy
Persian Wars
Marathon Means Fennel?
Persian Wars
• Herodotus wrote History of the Persian
Wars
• Wars began in Ionia about 520 BCE
• Persians conquered the area
• Greeks eventually revolted with help of
Athens
• Darius put down revolt and vows revenge
on Athenians
• 490 BCE Persian fleet landed at Marathon
• Athenians won
• Sent Pheidippides back to Athens with
message
• 10 years later son Xerxes attacks
• Greeks lost at Thermopylae “Hot Gates”
but Spartan king Leonidas and 300
soldiers fought to last man
• Battle of Salamis – naval battle won by
Athens
• Battle of Plataea – Spartans beat the
remains of Persian army
• After war Athens took all the glory became
leader of Delian League
Age of Pericles
• Greek culture reaches peak – advances in
art and sciences
• Pericles – Athenian general determined to
rebuild Athens
• Has Parthenon built. Hires Phidias to
sculpt statue of Athena
• Makes a number of contributions to
ATHENS
Peloponnesian War 431-404
BCE
• Thucydides wrote History of the
Peloponnesian Wars
• Began as a competition for allies
• Spart and Atens went to war – fought off
and on for 27 years
• Plague swept through Athens killing ¼ of
the population (including Pericles)
• 4ll BCE Athens suffered internal revolt
• Persians helped Spartans and they
defeated Athens in 405 BCE
• Consequences of the war: weakened all
Greek city-states. Destruction of
resources, inept governments. Left
vulnerable to invasion
Thermopylae & Leonidas’ 300
*Herodotus recounted an incident that preceded the Battle
of Thermopylae. The Spartan Dienekes was told the
Persian archers were so numerous that when they fired
their volleys, their arrows would blot out the sun. He
responded with “So much the better, we'll fight in the
shade”. [Herodotus The Histories, Book Seven, section
226.]
Spartans Prepare for the Battle of Thermopylae
Decisive Battles: Thermopylae
Delian League & Athenian Empire
• League of Nations/UN
• Protection
• Dues
Golden Age of Greece
(480-430 BCE)
• Hellenic: pure Greek style
– ideal beauty, not realism;
– harmony, order, balance, & proportion
• Sophists:
– no absolute truth;
– what people see through their senses is the
source of knowledge;
– Man is the measure of all things
Greek Drama
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Honors Dionysus
Amphitheatre
Sophocles & Tragedies
Aristophanes & Comedies
Athens: City of Slaves &
Artisans
• Impact on technological innovation?
• Focused on philosophy, beauty, nature…
Discobolos by
Myron
Phidias
Parthenon
Peloponnesian War
Pericles
How does Pericles’
Funeral Oration compare
to Lincoln’s Gettysburg
Address?
Philosophers:
Search for Truth & Wisdom!
• Socrates: The unexamined life
is not worth living.
• Plato: We can easily forgive a
child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy of life is when
men are afraid of the light.
Ignorance, the root and the stem
of every evil.
• Aristotle: Republics decline into
democracies and democracies
degenerate into despotisms.
Philip of Macedon &
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
• 359 BCE – Philip II came to throne of
Macedonia
• 337 BCE – He temporarily united Greece
expect for Sparta
• Aristotle became Alexander’s tutor
• 336 BCE Philip assassinated at daughter’s
wedding (Pausanias – hired by
Olympia/Alexander?)
• Alexander conquered Persia, Syria, Egypt,
Mesopotamia, and as far as the Indus
River
• 323 BCE – Alexander died in Babylon of a
fever at age 33
Alexander’s Plan to Create a
World Empire
• 1. found new cities as cultural centers Hellenized people, they accepted Greek
culture
• 2. Merge Macedonians & Persians into
one ruling race
• 3. Be considered a divine monarch – a
god king
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Break-up of Empire
1. Antigonus ruled Macedonia
2. Ptolemy - Egypt
3. Seleucus - Syria
Hellenism (323-31 BCE)
• Cultural diffusion
• Blend of Greek, Egyptian, Persian and
Indian cultures
• Realism and movement
• Balance, harmony, symmetry
• Alexandria: cosmopolitan city
Philosophers
• Stoicism: show no emotion; divine power
controls universe; virtuous life in harmony
with natural law; avoid human desires,
power & wealth
• Epicureanism: happiness comes from
good conduct and absence of pain;
harmony of body & mind
– Romans: Eat, drink and be merry for
tomorrow we shall die!
Math & Science
• Aristarchus: estimated the sun was at
least 300x larger than the earth disproving
earth being larger than sun; geocentric
• Eratosthenes: estimated earth’s
circumference (24,662miles),
latitude/longitude
• Archimedes: estimated Pi; Archimedes
screw, catapults, laws of levers/pulleys
• Ptolemy: heliocentric
• Euclid: compiled geometry textbook The
Elements
Library & Lighthouse of
Alexandria
Venus di Milo
by Alexandros of
Antioch?
Winged Goddess
of Victory
aka- Nike of
Samothrace
MyMyronron
Socrates drinking hemlock