Transcript Democracy and Greece*s Golden Age

Democracy and
Greece’s Golden
Age
Democratic principles
and classical culture
flourish during Greece’s
golden age
Golden Age of Athens
 477-431 BC Intellectual and artistic learning
Pericles
 Skillful politician
 Inspiring speaker
 Respected general
 Came from a rich and
high-ranking noble
family
 Dominates life in
Athens from 461-429
BC (Age of Pericles)
 One historian wrote:
 “(He) no doubt, was a
lonely man…He had no
friend…(and) he only
went out (of his home)
for official business.”
Pericles had three goals for Athens
 1. Stronger Democracy
 Increased the number of
public officials who were
paid salaries
 Creates direct democracy
(citizens rule directly,
not through
representatives)
 2. Strengthen the
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empire
Takes over Delian
League
Uses money to
strengthen Athenian
navy
Expands overseas trade
Sparta and other cities
resent Athenian power
 3. Glorifies Athens
 Uses money from
Delian League to
beautify Athens
 Buys gold, ivory,
marble; hires artisans
to create works of
classical art
 Why would Pericles not have been satisfied with
securing Athens’ political and economic strength?
Why did he also demand the city-state’s artistic
glorification?
 It was a way for Pericles to honor and win favor
with the Greek gods; Athenians thought
surrounding themselves with beauty was valuable
in itself.
Art and Architecture
 Pericles builds the
Parthenon-a large temple
to honor goddess Athena
 Within temple, sculptor
Phidias crafts 30 foot
statue of Athena
 Sculptors create graceful,
strong, perfectly formed
figures
Statues from the Parthenon
Classical Art
 Harmony
 Order
 Balance
 Proportion
 Beauty
 Idealized human body
in motion
 NOT realism
 No emotion
Drama
 Greeks invent drama as an
art form; includes chorus,
dance, and poetry
 Two forms of drama;
tragedy and comedy
 Actors wore theatrical
masks that exaggerated
human expressions
 Performed outdoors
Greek Theater in Athens
Tragedy
 Tells story of heroes’
downfall; themes of love,
hate, war, betrayal
 Aeschylus
 Euripides
 Sophocles (Oedipus and
Antigone) “Many are the
wonders of the world, but
none is more wonderful
than man.”
Comedy
 Makes fun of politics
and respected people
 Slapstick humor
 Aristophanes
History
 Herodotus-pioneered the
accurate reporting of
events (Father of History)
 Thucydides-believed that
certain types of events and
political situations recur
over time (see picture at
right) Do you think that
Thucydides was right in his
assertion that history
sometimes repeats itself?
Athenians and Spartans Go to War
 Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC
 WHY?
 Hostility and ill-will as Athens grew in wealth and
prestige
 Called the Peloponnesian War
Peloponnesian War
 Sparta had better army
and inland location
meant that it could not
be attacked by sea
 Athens had better
navy
 Pericles wanted to avoid
land battles
 Who held the advantage
during the
Peloponnesian War?
Plague in Athens
 Sparta marched into
Athenian territory,
burning the food supply
 Pericles brought people
inside the city walls.
 Plague strikes Athens in
430 BC
 Kills 1/3 of population
including Pericles
 Athens and allies surrender
in 404 BC
 Sparta wins
Philosophers
 After the war, rise of
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philosophers-thinkers or
“lovers of wisdom”
Began to question their
values
Believed universe is subject to
absolute and unchanging
laws
People could understand
these laws through logic,
reason
Sophist philosopher
Protagoras questions the
existence of Greek gods and
said there was no universal
standard of truth
 Why might the ideas of Protagoras
have troubled Athenians?
 Athenians named their city-state for a
goddess and built her a lavish temple,
so they may have found Protagoras’
ideas insulting.
Socrates
 Believed in questioning,
self-examination of
values, actions
 Believed there were
universal truths
 Used question-andanswer approach
(Socratic method)
 Left behind no writingsaccounts of his life were
written by
contemporaries like Plato
Death of Socrates
 Convicted of corrupting
young people; sentenced
to death in 399 BC
 “The unexamined life is
not worth living.”
 “There is only one good,
knowledge and one evil,
ignorance.”
 How does the trial of Socrates reflect
on Athenian democracy?
 It suggests that Athenians set limits on
freedom of speech when controversial
opinions were expressed.
Plato
 Student of Socrates and founder
of The Academy
 Wrote The Republic about an
ideal society ruled by a
philosopher-king
 Society would be divided into
three groups-
 Farmers and artisans,
 Warriors
 Ruling class.
 The person in the ruling class with
the greatest insight and intellect
would be a philosopher-king.
Plato
 “Philosophy begins in wonder.”
 387 BC established Athens
school, the Academy, lasts for
900 years
 Plato “gave thanks to nature,
first that he was born a human
being rather than a dumb
animal; second that he was a
man rather than a woman; then
that he was a Greek not a
foreigner; finally that he was
Athenian born in the time of
Socrates.”
Aristotle
 Student of Plato and
founder of The Lyceum
 Close to summarizing all
of the knowledge up to
his time
 Biology, physics,
psychology
 Uses rules of logic for
argument
 His work provides the basis
for scientific method
(still used today)
 Tutor of Alexander the
Great