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Culture of classical greece

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500 BCE – 405 BCE CULTURE OF CLASSICAL GREECE
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Page 1: Culture of classical greece

500 BCE – 405 BCE

CULTURE OF CLASSICAL GREECE

Page 2: Culture of classical greece

POPULATION OF CLASSICAL ATHENS

• By 430 BCE, there were about 150,000 citizens living in Athens.

• 43,000 were adult males with political power

• There were 35,000 foreigners, who received protection of the laws but did not participate in creating laws.

• Around 100,000 slaves lived in Athens at this time

• Slavery was very common; most citizens owned at least one slave.

• Slaves worked in industries (manufacturing, making things)

• Slaves also worked in the fields

• Most slaves worked in homes as maids, cooks, or tutors

• The State of Athens owned slaves that worked on public construction projects

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ATHENIAN ECONOMYThe Greeks ate mainly the Mediterranean triad, wheat (or barley or millet), wine, and olive oil. They also grew vegetables, especially legumes (lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas). Possibly they ate more fish than most other Mediterranean people. Also, because of their feelings about sacrificing meat, they may have eaten meat less than other people did.

Because of the number of people and lack of fertile land, Athens had to import between 50 and 80 percent of its grain (wheat, barley, millet). This meant TRADE was highly important to the Athenian economy.

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ATHENIAN ECONOMY

Piraievs Port

Trade was important to the Athenians. They had a major port at nearby Piraievs, which was one of the leading trade centers in the Greek world. Through the Piraievs port, the Athenians could trade throughout the Mediterranean.

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GREEK FAMILY – ROLE OF WOMEN• There was no marriage ceremony as we know it today. Your parents arranged it,

and then there was a party, and the girl's parents paid a dowry to the man, and then the girl moved into the man's house. Girls were married at 14 or 15 and their primary role was to bear children (especially males) and run the household. If they were both citizens, and she lived in his house, then they were legally married. If she moved out of his house, then they were divorced.

• Wealthy Greek women hardly ever went out of the house alone. Mostly when they went out it was to go to weddings and funerals and religious ceremonies, or to visit other women. Poorer women, who didn't have slaves, did go out to get water from the fountain, and sometimes to work in the fields or to sell vegetables or flowers in the marketplace.

• Women were citizens who could participate in religious festivals. Otherwise, they were excluded from public life. They could not own property and always had a male guardian: father, husband, brother, uncle.

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GREEK RELIGIONThe Greeks were very religious; their religion affected every aspect of their lives.

Greeks considered religion necessary for the well-being of the state.

There were temples dedicated to the gods and goddesses in every major Greek city.

The Greek gods and goddesses were known as the Olympians, because the Greeks believed they made their home on Mt. Olympus.

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GREEK GODS & GODDESSES

Page 8: Culture of classical greece

• The Greeks believed the Olympic gods were descended from the Titans Chronos and Rhea. The sons of Chronos and Rhea were:

• Zeus

• Hades

• Poseidon

GREEK GODS

Zeus was the chief god, the “father” of the gods. He was represented by lightning, as his weapon of choice was the lightning bolt.

Hades was the god of the Underworld. Zeus’s brother, he was envious of Zeus’ role on Mt. Olympus.

Poseidon was the god of the sea and earthquakes. He is represented by the horse, his gift to mankind.

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• Chronos and Rhea also had three daughters:

• Hestia

• Demeter

• Hera

GREEK GODDESSES

Hestia was the virgin goddess of the home and hearth.

Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, horticulture, grain and harvest.

Hera was queen of marriage, women, childbirth, heirs, kings and empires. She was both wife and sister to Zeus

Page 10: Culture of classical greece

• Apollo – God of truth, poetry and light; although he is associated with the sun, he is NOT the god of the sun (that is Helios, who drives the sun across the sky).

• Ares – God of war and courage. He is the son of Zeus and Hera.

• Dionysus – God of wine, parties, festivals and chaos.

• Hephaestus – God of fire, metalwork, and volcanoes. Husband to Aphrodite.

• Hermes – God of Travel, trade, and messengers. Son of Zeus and Maia.

• Aphrodite – Goddess of love and beauty. Married to Hephaestus, she had many adulterous affairs, including with Ares.

• Artemis – Virgin goddess of hunting, childbirth, and plague. Daughter of Zeus and Leto, twin sister of Apollo.

• Athena – Goddess of wisdom, warfare, and strategy. Daughter of Zeus, who birthed her whole from his forehead.

OTHER OLYMPIANS

Page 11: Culture of classical greece

ROLE OF RELIGION

• Very little religious doctrine, humans needed to please the gods who could control them.

• The Greeks performed rituals in temples upon altars. They sacrificed animals and made gifts of food. Rituals are ceremonies or rites.

• The afterlife was gloomy, but the Elysian fields were available to those who lived an exemplary life.

• The Greeks held many festivals to honor the gods, including holding the Olympics.

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ORACLES• An oracle is a sacred shrine where a god or goddess revealed the future through a priest

or priestess. The Greeks would ask the oracle questions and receive answers channeled through the god or goddesses’ priest or priestesses.

• The most famous of all the oracles was the oracle of Apollo located at Delphi. The oracle’s responses to questions were interpreted by priests and given in verse (poetic) form to the questioner. Heads of state often traveled to Delphi to consult with the Oracle.

Often the oracle’s responses could be puzzling and difficult to figure out. For example, Croesus, the king of Lydia, was told that if he attacked the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire. When he attacked the Persians, he lost his entire empire to the Persians

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GREEK DRAMA

Greeks created drama as we know it today.

They wrote and acted plays in outdoor amphitheaters.

The first Greek plays were tragedies, which were usually presented in a trilogy – a set of three plays (think of the great trilogies we see in film today – those stories are based on a concept nearly 5000 years old!).

Only male actors were allowed in the theaters.

Page 14: Culture of classical greece

• Aeschylus wrote tragedies. He is the author of the only trilogy that was passed on complete from the Greeks.

• He wrote the Orestia, the story of Agamemnon, a hero in the Trojan War, and his family after his return from the war.

• Euripides was also a playwright in Greece. He wrote realistic characters and stories, but he was controversial because he used his plays to question traditional values, war, and the nature of good and evil.

GREEK PLAYWRIGHTS

• Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex, the story of Oedipus. In this story, the oracle of Apollo at Delphi predicts Oedipus will kill his own father and marry his mother.

• Despite all attempts to prevent this, Oedipus does kill his father and go on to marry his mother – a story of misunderstandings, mistaken identities, and tragedy.

Oedipus Rex

Page 15: Culture of classical greece

PHILOSOPHY• Philosophy means “love of wisdom”.

• Early Greek philosophers were concerned with the development of critical or rational thought about the nature of the universe.

• Many philosopher / teachers tried to explain the universe on the basis of unifying principals, like math or science.

• Sophists were one group of traveling teachers who rejected the unifying principles of the universe. Instead they believed:

• There is no absolute right or wrong – what is good/bad for someone might be different for another

• Importance of persuasive speaking (rhetoric)

• True wisdom occurs in the pursuit of one’s own good and self improvement

Page 16: Culture of classical greece

SOCRATES

• Socrates was a sculptor who loved philosophy.

• He left no writings behind, what we know of Socrates was from the writings of his students.

• Socrates used a teaching method that is still used today and is named after him – the Socratic Method.

• The Socratic Method uses questions and answers to lead students to see things for themselves by using their own reason.

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SOCRATES• Socrates believed all knowledge is already present in

each person and could be brought forth with the right questions.

• Socrates believed the “unexamined life is not worth living” and that an individual’s ability to think and reason was one of his most important contributions to philosophy.

• Socrates liked to question authority, which led him to trouble with the Athenian government. After the Peloponnesian War, the Athenians were not as open to public debate. Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens by teaching them to think for themselves.

• Socrates was sentenced to death by a jury; he drank a poison, hemlock and died.

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PLATO • Plato was a student of Socrates.• Plato is considered to be one of the

greatest philosophers of Western Civilization.

• Plato was a prolific (extensive) writer. • He was fascinated by the study of

reality and endeavored to answer the question: • How do we know what is real?

• Plato believed a higher world existed in which the form existence took never changed. He believed these forms were made of reality and that only a trained mind could become aware of and understand this higher form. • To Plato, things we perceive with

our senses are really just reflections of the ideal form – so a tree really represents the higher form of “treeness”.

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PLATO’S REPUBLIC• Plato explained his ideas about government in a work called The Republic.

• Plato did not think democracy was the best form of government.

• He believed people needed to live in a just and rational state in order to achieve a good life; democracy did not suit achieving a good life.

• Plato’s ideal state was one in which people were divided into three groups:

• Philsopher-Kings: The upper class, they would rule based on wisdom that melded political power with philosophy so that the ruler would make the best choices for mankind.

• Warriors made up the second class and were responsible for protecting society.

• The masses made up the third group and consisted of people not driven by wisdom or courage, but instead tried to meet their own desires. These people included those who produced art, tradespeople, and farmers.

• Plato believed men and women should have the same education and access to all positions – which sets him apart from other men of his era.

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ARISTOTLE

• Aristotle was a student of Plato’s.

• Plato established a school known as the Academy.

• Aristotle studied at the academy for 20 years.

• Aristotle did not accept Plato’s theory of ideal forms.

• Aristotle thought that by examining objects we could perceive their true form, but unlike Plato, he did not believe that these forms existed in a separate or higher world of reality.

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ARISTOTLE• Aristotle analyzed and classified things based on observation and investigation.

• He wrote about many subjects, including:

• Ethics, Logic, Politics, Poetry, Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Physics

• Until the 17th century, most science was based on Aristotle’s ideas and classifications.

• Aristotle also wrote about government. He wrote a work titled Politics that described three ideal governments, depending on the people:

• Monarchy

• Aristocracy

• Constitutional Government

• Aristotle believed a Constitutional Government was the best form for most people.

Page 22: Culture of classical greece

• What we know of Greek history is primarily because of two historians.

• Herodotus was the author of The History of The Persian Wars. This work is considered the first real “history” of Western Civilization.

• He wrote of the struggle between the Persians and the Greeks.

• He traveled widely and questioned many people to get information for his history book.

• Herodotus credited divine forces (gods) as causing or participating in the Persian wars.

• The other major Greek historian, Thucydides, is considered the greatest historian of the ancient world.

• He was an Athenian general who fought in the Peloponnesian War.

• The Athenian Assembly exiled him when he lost a battle against Spartan forces.

• He wrote his History of the Peoloponnesian War while in exile.

• Unlike Herodotus, Thucydides did not blame the gods for human events. He tried to be as accurate as possible with his facts.

• Thucydides believed the study of history was important to understanding the present.

GREEK HISTORY

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SPAA

Socrates Plato Aristotle Alexander the Great

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GREEK ART

• Greece set the standard for art in the Western world (Europe and the United States).

• Greeks studied the human form and produced sculpture and paintings to represent humans.

• The classic style of Greek art was based on the ideals of reason, moderation, balance, and harmony in all things.

• Greek sculpture developed a classical style that included lifelike statues.

• Sculptors were after ideal beauty, not realism.

• Used mathematics to find perfect/ideal ratios and proportions

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ARCHITECTUREGreek architecture in its most important form was the temple dedicated to a god or goddess. The temples had walled rooms that housed statutes and treasures of the deities.

The rooms were surrounded by a screen of columns that made the temple an open structure. In the 5th century BCE, the Greeks started using marble for theircolumns and temples.

The Parthenon was built in 447 BCE (it was finished in 432 BCE) and was dedicated to Athena, the patron goddessof Athens. It demonstrates the pinnacleof classical architecture: calmness, clarityand freedom from unnecessary detail.

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DECLINE OF CLASSICAL GREECE

• Remember after the

Peloponnesian War,

Athens, Sparta and

Thebes warred for

power

• Meanwhile, Macedonia (Northern Greece) was becoming more powerful.

• Alexander the Great, king of Macedonia conquered all of Greece and beyond.


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