Today in class we took a test to finish up the unit of Ancient Greece. We also had to turn in our 1000 word paper about Ancient Greece.
Gods and Goddesses
- What is unique about the Greeks' relationship with their gods is the interaction with the humans
- Poseidon (god of the sea) interfered with the Odysseus trying to return home
- Aphrodite (goddess of love) had lovers of both gods and men
- Dionysus (God of wine) was the son of Zeus (a god) and of Semele ( a human princess)
- And on and on and on...
Who's who in the Pantheon
- Zeus: ruler of heaven and earth; father of Athena; god of the sky, weather, thunder, lightning, law, order, and justice.
- Had a temper and was known to hurl thunderbolts
Athena
- Goddess of wisdom, skill, warfare (and peace), intelligence, battle strategy, and handicrafts.
- She was born from Zeus' head fully formed and armored.
- A special patron of heroes: such as Odysseus
- She was the patron of Athens (the city was named after her).
Just a few of the many...
Apollo - God of music, arts, knowledge, healing
- Zeus was his father, Artemis was his twin sister
- He's associated with the sun, his sister with the moon
Poseidon - god of the sea, rivers, floods, earthquakes
- Brother of Zeus, king of the sea and waters
Aphrodite - Goddess of love, beauty, desire, sexuality
- Her lovers include Ares (god of war), Adonis (demi-god of desire), and Anchises (a mortal who father a baby)
Demeter- Goddess of grain, harvest, agriculture
- Zeus's sister
The Fighting Spartans
- Greeks were certainly a warlike people: especially the Spartans
- Spartans were known for their tough, ruthless infantry: Soldiers who fought on land
- Spartan boys trained from the time they were seven
- Real Spartans were much more fearsome than those oily gym rats in the movie 300 (IMHO)
A Naval Power
- Athens had a great infantry, too, but nothing could compare with their navy
- Their most effective weapon was trireme
- A technological marvel
- Fastest ship in the world at the time
Rowed by up to 170 men on three levels
- Could be used as a battering ram
- Agile, fast
The Phalanax...
- Close rank, dense grouping of warriors
- Armed with long spears and interlocking shields
- Soldiers would advance slowly toward the enemy, until they broke through their ranks
Socrates
- Looked to science and logic (not the mythological gods) for explanations of how the world worked
- The Socratic method fostered critical thinking
- "The unexamined life is not worth living"
- Socrates was charged with serious crimes: Impiety (disrespecting the gods), Corrupting the youth of Athens
- At his trial, he described himself as a stinging gadfly, and Athens as a lazy old horse
- Did not deny what he had done; asked for free dinners
- Found guilty by an Athenian jury, and sentenced to death by drinking poison hemlock (nasty way to go)
Plato Carries On
- Plato was a student and follower of Socrates
- He wrote out Socrates' teachings, and described his trial in Apology
- Republic was Socrates' discussion of justice and the ideal state - one of the most influential books on philosophy ever written
Aristotle - So ambitious...
- Aristotle was a student of Plato
- He helped foster the idea of Athens as an intellectual destination
- His school - the Lyceum - focused on cooperative research - building on knowledge gathered from all over the world
Did Aristotle invent the internet?
- Not exactly, but he did dream of having the sum of mankind's knowledge easily accesed in one location
- He wrote extensively on such topics:
Logic - physics - biology
Ethics - politics - rhetoric
Motion - theatre - poetry
Metaphysics - psychology - dreams
- He also tutored Alexander the Great
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