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Unit 2 Greek Culture. Greek Culture The Historical Context 1200 B.C. War between Greece and Troy...

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Unit 2 Greek Culture
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Unit 2 Greek Culture

Greek Culture

The Historical Context1200 B.C. War between Greece and Troy

5th century B.C. Greek culture reached a high point

---Failure of Persian invasion---Establishment of democracy and flourishing of S.P.L.A.& HW

Civil war between Athens and Sparta

4th century B.C. All Greece ruled by Alexander, King of Macedon

146 B.C. Romans conquered Greece

Greek Culture

Social and Political Structure Athens was a “democracy”. The economy rested on an immense amou

nt of slave labour. The Greeks loved sports.

Olympic GamesThe world’s foremost amateur sports competiti

on (1896)

Greek Culture

Homer 700B.C. Author of ancient Greeks’ epics

(1200-1100 B.C.)

The Iliad

Trojan War

Greek: Agamemnon, Achilles, Odysseus

Trojan: Hector The Odyssey

Return of Odysseus after the Trojan War

to his home island of Ithaca.

Greek Culture

Greek Culture

Lyric Poetry Sappho (612-580 B.C.) woman poet

- The most important lyric poet of ancient

Greece

- Noted for love poems of passionate

intensity

Pindar (518-438 B.C.)

Best known for odes celebrating the

victories at the athletic games.

(the 14 Olympian odes)

Greek Culture Drama - Developed in the 5th century B.C. - Performed in open-air theatres, actors wore masks

Writer Works Tragedy/Comedy

Characteristics Noted for

Aeschylus(525-456 B.C.)

Prometheus Bound, Persians, Agamemnon

Tragedy Only two actors and a chorus;Written in verse

Vivid character portrayal and majestic poetry

Sophocles(496-406 B.C.)

Oedipus the King, Electra, Antigone

Tragedy Add a third actor and decrease the size of the chorus.

Strong impact on European literature. Some plots adopted by later writers. “the Oedipus complex”

Euripides (484-406 B.C.)

Andromache, Medea, Trojan Women

Tragedy Mainly about women; more of a realist; characters less heroic, more like ordinary people.

The first writer of “problem plays”

Aristophanes (450-380 B.C.)

Frogs, Clouds, Wasps, Birds

Comedy Loose in plot, satirical in tone, full of clever parody and acute criticism.

Contemporary events and direct attacks on well-known people of the day

Greek Culture History

Herodotus (484-430 B.C.)Father of HistoryWrote wars between Greeks and PersiansFull of anecdotes, digressions, and lively dialogue

Thucydides (460-404 B.C.)More accurate as an historianWrote wars between Athens and Sparta, between Athens and

SyracuseTrace events to causes and bring out the effects

Greek Culture

Philosopher Ideas

Pythagoras (580-500 B.C.)Founder of scientific mathematics

All things are numbers.

Heracleitus (540-480 B.C.) Fire is the primary element of the universe.Everything else has arisen out of it.All is flux, nothing is stationery.The strife between the opposites produce the harmony.

Democritus (460-370 B.C.)One of earliest philosophical materialists

Speculate about the atomic structure of matter.“For all men good and truth are the same, but pleasure is different for different men.It is repentance for what has been shamefully done that sets life right.He who does wrong is more unfortunate than he who is wrong.It is right, since we are human, that we should not laugh at human misfortunes but lament them.”

Philosophy and Science

Greek Culture Greatest Names in European

Philosophy Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

Teacher of PlatoThe dialectical method of argumentPut on trial on a charge of “injuring the city”Condemned to death

Greek Culture Greatest Names in European

Philosophy Plato (428-348 B.C.)

Student of Socrates and teacher of AristotleWrote famous Dialogues to record SocratesIdealism

Only “ideas” like beauty, truth, goodness are completely real

The physical world is only relatively real

Many of his ideas were absorbed into Christian thought

Greek Culture Greatest Names in European Philosophy

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.)Plato’s pupilThe great humanist and the great man of science meet

Wrote epoch-making works on logic, moral philosophy, politics, metaphysics, psychology, physics, zoology, poetry, rhetoric.

Did much to form the philosophical, scientific and cosmological outlook of an entire culture.

Works that are still important now Ethics, Politics, Poetics, Rhetoric

Differ from his teacher in many ways Emphasize direct observation of nature, theory should follow

fact; Plato relied on subjective thinking. Idea and matter made up concrete individual realities; Plato held

ideas had a higher reality than the physical world.Man’s aim in life is happiness

Greek Culture

Schools Philosopher Ideas

Sophists Protagoras(500 B.C.)

Man is the measure of all things.

Cynics Diogenes(412-323 B.C.)

He decided to live like a dog and the word “cynic” means “dog” in Greek. Reject all conventions, advocate self-sufficiency and extreme simplicity in life.

Sceptics Pyrrhon(360-272 B.C.)

Not all knowledge was attainable.

Epicureans Epicurus(341-270 B.C.)materialist

Pleasure is the highest good in life; not sensual enjoyment, but freedom from pain and emotional upheaval; could be attained by the practice of virtue.

Stoics Zeno(335-263 B.C.)materialist

Opposed to the Epicureans. The most important thing in life is not pleasure but duty. One should endure hardship and misfortune with courage. Virtue is the sole good in the life of a man. If he has to die, he should die nobly.

Contending Schools of Thought

Greek Culture Science

Democritus Put forward the first atomic theory.

Plato A mathematician.

Archimedes Did important work not only in geometry, but also in arithmetic, mechanics, and hydrostatics.

Mathematics, the purest of sciences, was applied in acoustics, optics, geography, Statics and astronomy.

Aristotle Contributed to Zoology, started methodical research, laid massive foundations for modern science.

Euclid Well-known for his Elements, a textbook of geometry and in use until the early years of the 20th century.

Greek scientists deduce theories and build up systems.

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

Art

Greek art is a visual proof of Greek civilization. Architecture

the Doric style (masculine style): sturdy, powerful, severelooking and showing a good sense of proportions and numbers, monotonous and unadorned.

the Ionic style (feminine style): graceful and elegant, shows a wealth of ornament.

the Corinthian style: ornamental luxury. Famous temples: the Acrpolis at Athens (437-432 B.C.);

the Parthenon (447-432 B.C.).

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

SculptureThe earliest Gods, stiff, lifeless wood carving;

7th century B.C. Size became bigger and life-size, stand stiff;

5th century B.C. Beauty of the internal structure of

human bodies and mythological figures.

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

Discus Thrower

- relaxation and contraction of the muscle

- sense of body movement

- good sense of harmony and

the balance of opposites

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

Venus de Milo

- the most famous

- broken arms

- symbol of beauty,

grace and health,

a personification of vitality and dignity.

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

Laocoon group about 125 B.C.

- a priest of Troy

- he was suffered a slow death

and killed by serpents with

his sons for he warned the

Trojans against Greek attack

- the expression of Laocoon’s

face-fear, sympathy and terror

Greek Culture Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery

Pottery a result of domestic needs and needs for foreign trade Varying shapes (jars, utensils) Beautiful paintings (everyday scenes, animals, figures in Iliad and

Odyssey) Vases from Attica Black-figure paintings & Red-figure paintings

Greek Culture Impact played a vital part in the Renaissance in Italy and other European countries

Spirit of Innovation - invented mathematics, science and philosophy - first write history - speculate the nature of the world Supreme Achievement philosophy, science, epic poetry, tragedy, comedy, lyric poetry, historical

writing, architecture, sculpture, etc. Lasting Effect - the bold effort they made to understand the world had an enduring effect on later generations; - in literature, countless writers quoted, adapted, borrowed; - Byron’s Isles of Greece - Shelley’s Hellas and Prometheus Unbound - Keats’s Ode on a Grecian Urn


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