Transcript 10/20 Aim: How did the geography of Greece influence its history?

10/20 Aim: How did the geography
of Greece influence its history?
Do Now: Study the
physical map of
Greece and list the
physical features
that you see that
might have
influenced
Greece’s history?
Effect of the Mountains
• 80% of Greece is Mountains
• Difficult to unify! caused many city-states to
develop each with their own government! Ex.
Athens and Sparta
• Greece was not one unified empire!
• Polis – Greek word for city
• City-states were
competitive and
fought each other
Which Contributions of Ancient Greece were
Most Important to Western Civilization?
Stations
The Philosophers
Socrates – The first of the Athenian Philosophers. By the time he was 40, he began
to think of the world around him. He wandered the marketplace asking people
questions like “what is wisdom? What is beauty? What is the right thing to do?” He
encouraged people to use logic and reason to understand the universe rather than
simply explaining natural occurrences to be the work of the gods. Eventually, he was
put to death for this. He was accused of corrupting the city’s youth and failing to
respect the gods.
“Since human reason is the most godlike part of human nature, a life guided by human
reason is superior to any other… For man, this is the life of reason, since the faculty of
reason is the distinguishing characteristic of human beings.” – Socrates
Plato – Student of Socrates and one of the greatest philosophers of all time.
Like Socrates, Plato emphasized the importance of logic, reason and rational
thought. He rejected democracy because he believed that people, in
general, were pretty ignorant and therefore needed a “guardian” to regulate
every aspect of their lives.
Aristotle- Studies at Plato’s school and also emphasized the importance of
logic and reason. He agreed with Plato on the issue of government, but was
different in that he was more interested in how the real world worked. He
was very interested in biology and the classification of plants and animals in a
way that would make sense.
Democracy
Democracy was not the first type of government present in Athens.
Before democracy, Athens was ruled by a few, wealthy elite called
tyrants. This oligarchy limited the power to a very few people.
Democracy, on the other hand, was a government structured to
serve the people. Unlike our representative democracy today,
in which we choose representatives to vote on elections and
issues, back in Athens, citizens would convene and openly vote
directly. That’s why their democracy was known as a direct
democracy
Democracy in Greece was limited, however. You must be a citizen to
participate in the democracy, and in order to be a citizen, you had to be a
man born in Athens. So unfair!
“ Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a democracy.. As
for social standing, advancement is open to every citizen, according to ability. While every citizen
has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we reward our most distinguished citizens by asking
them to make our political decisions. Nor do we discriminate against the poor. A man may serve his
country no matter how low his position on the social scale. - Pericles
Poetry and Drama
Poetry: Homer (750 B.C) – the author of the epic poems The Iliad and The
Odyssey. To people living in classical Greece, these epics play very much the
same role as the bible. The Iliad is our chief source of information about the
Trojan War, although the story involves gods, goddesses, and even a talking
horse. For centuries, most people regarded the Trojan War purely as legend.
Though most details still remain lost in legend, modern scholars agree that the
Trojan War was an actual event!
Drama – Tragedy: Sophocles, a tragic playwright wrote Antigone in 441
B.C. In this play, Antigone defies the king’s order and buries her brother,
who was killed while leading a rebellion.
Creon: And still you dared to overstep these laws?
Antigone: For me, it was not Zeus who made that order. Nor do I think your orders were so strong that
you, a mortal man, could overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws… I know I must die… but if I
left my brother dead and unburied, I’d have cause to grieve as now I grieve not.
Drama – Comedy: Comedies were humorous plays that mocked people or customs.
Through ridicule, they criticized society. Almost all surviving Greek comedies were
written by Aristophanes. In Lysistrata he tells what happens when the women of
Athens together force their husbands to end a war against Sparta. Hysterical!
Miss Weinstein’s Inadequate Retelling of The Illiad
The Greeks believed that the Trojan War lasted for ten years, and this story happens in the tenth year
of the war, when both sides were really sick of being at war, and the Greeks were sick of being away
from home. The Iliad begins with a fight between the leader of the Greeks, King Agamemnon of
Mycenae, and the Greeks' best fighter, King Achilles (The Greeks lived in a lot of little city-states, and
in the Bronze Age each one had its own king, but Agamemnon was leading them all during the war).
The Greeks had won a battle and were splitting up the booty (the stuff they had captured). Everybody
had a pile of stuff. Achilles had gotten a woman among his stuff, to be his slave, whose name was
Briseis (brih-SAY-iss). But Agamemnon decided that HE wanted the pretty Briseis, and he just took her
from Achilles, saying that he was the head of the army so he would do what he liked. Well, Achilles
was so angry that Agamemnon took Briseis from him that he refused to fight for the Greeks anymore
and just sat in his tent and sulked. Without their best fighter, the Greeks started losing battles.
Finally Achilles' best friend, Patroclos, I’ll call him Pat, thought of an idea. He put on Achilles' famous
armor and went out to fight. Both the Greeks and the Trojans thought Achilles had come back to the
battle and the Greeks won a big victory, but Pat was killed in the fighting: he might dress like Achilles
but he could not fight like him. When Achilles heard that Pat was dead, he was ashamed of how he
had been sulking. He agreed to fight again. Now the Greeks really started to win. So the best Trojan
fighter, Prince Hector, came out from Troy to fight Achilles. They fought for a long time, but finally
Achilles killed Hector. Hector's father, King Priam, came to Achilles at night to ask for his son's body
back, and Achilles gave it to him.
After the events of the Iliad and the death of Hector,
the Trojan War still wasn't over. Neither the Greeks
nor the Trojans seemed to be able to win, until one
of the Greek kings, Odysseus of Ithaca, had an idea.
"Build a big wooden horse on wheels," he said, "big
enough for a bunch of Greek soldiers to hide inside
it." So the Greeks did. Then the Greeks all pretended
to sail home (except the ones hiding inside the
horse!). They acted like they had given up and left.
But really they hid just around the corner. Soon the
Trojans found the horse. "What is it?" they asked
each other. Nobody knew. (The Greek soldiers hiding
inside kept very quiet). Then they found a Greek
soldier hiding nearby. He said (though this was part
of the trick) that the other Greeks hated him and
they had left him behind. So the Trojans asked him
what the horse was for. He said it was an offering to
Athena. Well, the Trojans didn't want to upset
Athena either, so they rolled the big horse into the
city of Troy. It was so big it wouldn't go through the
gate, and they had to tear down a piece of the city
wall to get it in. They left it at the temple of Athena,
and then the Trojans had a big party to celebrate the
end of the war. (Still the Greek soldiers inside the
horse kept very quiet). Finally everyone fell asleep,
and NOW the Greek soldiers came out of the Trojan
Horse and killed the guards on the walls. They
signaled to the other Greeks to come attack Troy.
They could get in now because the walls were torn
down. There was a big battle and the Greeks won.
The Trojan
Horse
The Olympics
Once every four years, men from all over Greece came to compete in a great
athletic festival in in western Greece (Women were not allowed to
compete). This was called the Olympic games because the place was
called Olympia. It was a religious festival to honor the Greek gods Zeus
and Hera and took place every 4 years. Like today!
Once all the men had arrived, they spent a month practicing and training
together in a big palaestra, or gym, with a sand floor. They had to follow strict
rules. Judges (also all men) watched the men train, and picked out only the
best ones to actually complete in the races. They Olympics began with
religious sacrificed of pigs and rams to Zeus.
Events of the Ancient Olympics included Chariot races, horse riding, running,
discus, wrestling, boxing, and long jump. Of course, to show off the
achievements of the human body, they competed in all of these events
naked! Yikes! This is probably why married women were not allowed to be
spectators at the games.
Art and Architecture
Sculpture: Greek sculpture focused on the beauty and grace of the
human body; especially the bodies of young, athletic, naked men.
Women, of course, were only sculpted with clothing on. They
sculpted the “ideal” human form showing no imperfections.
Architecture: Architects in ancient Greece
often built temples to the gods. Most famous is
the Parthenon which was built for Athena, the
goddess of wisdom. This temple is a perfect
example of what classical Greek architecture
entailed. Greek columns supported the roof
structure which was almost always detailed with
a triangular structure called a pediment. This
style of architecture has been so admired that it
has been copied by different architects from
Ancient Rome through modern-day America!