Monday - Greece's Golden Age - 477-431 BC
Persians were defeated and they could work on building themselves up
Drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture, and science flourished
Also known as "Pericles"
Three goals for Athens
- Strengthen Athenian democracy
- Hold and strengthen the empire
- Glorify Athens
Athens started to be very cocky - Sparta didn't like that
Stronger Democracy
Increased the number of paid government jobs which benefited people who were not wealthy
Instituted direct democracy
Hold and Strengthen Empire
Helped establish and eventually led the Delian League after the Persian Wars
- Alliance of Greek city-states
Grew Athens Navy
Started domination other city-states which led to conflicts
Glorify Athens
Used money from the Delian League to buy gold, marble, and ivory
Used money from the Delian League to hire artists, architects, and workers to build buildings and sculptures
Phidias was hired to build the Parthenon
Greek sculptors focused on beauty, not realism
Classical Art focused on simplicity and being well proportioned
Tuesday-
Pericles plan to win Peloponnesian War, built wall from Athens to the sea
Philosopher - someone who tries to explain the nature of life
- Socrates
- taught by asking questions
- method of question is still called a Socratic seminar
- "There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance
- Plato
- Student of Socrates
- Started a school that lasted 900 years
- Wrote a book called The Republic
- Talked about a perfectly governed society, not a democracy
- In his ideal all citizens would fall into three groups
- Aristotle
- Student of Plato
- He wrote about science, law, poetry, government, etc. taught Alexander The Great
King Philip II of Macedon
Goal was to take over all of Greece and then to get revenge by taking over the Persian Empire
Became King of Macedon in 359 BC
Macedonians lived in mountainous villages, not city-states
Macedonians considered themselves to be Greek but were looked down upon by the big city-states
Philip II built up his military and eventually invaded and defeated the Greek city-states
Used the phalanx and cavalry to great effect
Alexander the III of Macedon (Alexander the Great)
Took over for his father Philip
Ruled Greece and its empire for only 13 years
was taught by Aristotle
Died from high fever - possibly from typhoid fever or malaria
Wednesday - watched video
Thursday -
After taking power, Alexander eliminated his opponents to the throne and then moved to consolidate Greece
Alexander then turned east to take over the Persian Empire and achieve the goal of his father
After losing some battles, Darius III retreated quickly and offered Alexander all lands west of the Euphrates River
Alexander liberated Egypt from the Persians
Alexander was welcomed into Egypt and made a Pharaoh
After conquering Egypt, Alexander moved into Mesopotamia and finished the job of defeating Darius III and all the Persians
Continues West into India but soldiers revolt and Alexander decides to turn back even after Indian armies
He died of an unknown illness before he could return to Greece
Greek Empire then split into three sections
- Greek city-states led by Antigonous
- Egypt led by Ptolemy
- Former Persian Empire ruled by Speculus
Leaders all ruled with absolute power - Democracy was not used
Cultural diffusion between east and west (mostly based on Greek culture)
Spread of Hellenistic Culture
Hellenistic culture became common all throughout the Greek Empire
- Greek, Egyptian, Persian and Indian cultures mixed
- Language - Koine
- Trade flourished
- Cities were forming
- science and technology flourished
- philosophy and architecture flourished
Friday -
Euclid established geometry
Archimedes estimated the value of pi and the law of the lever
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