Monday-
Democracy and Greece’s golden age
The Golden Age of Athens
477-431 BC
Came about after Greece defeated the Persians
Drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture, and science flourished
Also known as the the Age of Pericles
Led athens in the Peloponnesian War
Pericles Plan for Athens (461-429)
Three goals
Strengthen Athenian democracy
Increased the number of paid government jobs which benefitted people who were not wealthy
Instituted direct democracy
Power to the people
Majority rules
Hold and strengthen the empire
Helped established and eventually led to the Delian League after the Persian Wars
Alliance of Greek city-states
Grew Athens navy
Starting dominating 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 sculptures focused on beauty, not realism
Classical Art focused on simplicity and being well proportioned
Greek Drama- Tragedy and Comedy
A tragedy was serious drama about common themes such as love,hate, war, or betrayal
The hero usually was an important person and often gifted with extraordinary abilities
A tragic flaw usually caused the hero’s downfall, usually excessive pride
Sophocles wrote Oedipus the King, a famous tragedy
A comedy contained scenes filled with humor
Playwrights often made fun of politics and respected people and ideas of the time
Aristophanes was a famous writer of comedies
The fact that Athenians could listen to criticism of themselves
The start of History
Herodotus pioneered the accurate reporting of events
Thucydides believed that certain types of events and political situations recur over time
Studying those events and situations would aid in understanding the present
The approach Thucydides used in his work still guide historians today
Peloponnesian War 431-404
Fought between Athens and Sparta
Came about as a result of Sparta not liking Athens growth of wealth and power in the area
Athens was acting like a bully
Sparta had a better army, Athens had a better navy
With the help of the plague that hit Athens, Sparta eventually won
Tuesday
Athens Built a wall to the sea
Rise of the Philosophers
A philosopher is someone who tries to explain the nature of life
After losing the Peloponnesian war people in Athens turned to philosophers
Socrates
An Ancient Greek philosopher
Socrates taught by asking questions
Method called the Socratic methods
Put on trial and found guilty for “corrupting the youth of Athens
Put to death by hemlock
There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil,ignorance
Student was Plato
Plato
Student of Socrates
He started a school called the Academy that lasted 900 years
Wrote The Republic
The book talked about a perfectly governed society not a democracy
In his ideal society all citizens would fall naturally into three groups farmers and artisans warriors, and the ruling class
The person with the intellect from the ruling class would be chosen king
Aristotle
Student of Plato
He wrote about science, art, law, poetry, government, etc
Taught Alexander the Great
He who studies how things originated will achieve the clearest view of them
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
Considered themselves Greek but were looked down upon by the big city-states
Philip II Built but 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, in 336 BC
Philip was assassinated at his daughter’s wedding by a former bodyguard (Pausanias)
Ruled Greece and its empire for only 13 years (336-323)
Due to his great accomplishments, became known as Alexander the Great in Greece, but not Asia
Died from high fever-possibly from typhoid fever or malaria
Wednesday
Video
Thursday
After taking over for Philip alexander eliminated his opponents to the throne and then moved to consolidated Greece
Alexander then turned to take over Persia to continue the goals of his father
After losing some baths Darius III retreated quickly and offered all lands west of the Euphrates river
Alexander the Great refused and said he would take the entire Persian empire
In 332 BC- he moved to Egypt and took over
Crowned him Pharaoh
Founded the city of Alexandria Egypt
After conquering Egypt he moved into Mesopotamia and defeated Darius III and the persians and burned the city in Persepolis
Alexander the Great moved into India
Ran into a pretty strong Indian army
So he decided to turn back
His troops were tired 11 years 11000 miles
Monsoons of India were taking a toll on him
Alexander the Great died from disease shortly after
Split into 3
Greek city-states: Antigonus
Egypt: Ptolemy
Former Persian: seleucus
Greek was the common language in the known world
Leaders ran with absolute power
Basically dictates
Cultural diffusion between east and west
The spread of hellenistic culture
Became common all throughout Greece
Greece, Egyptian, Persian, and Indian mixed
Language Koine
Trade
Cities developed
Science and technology
Philosophy
Architecture
Flourished
Friday
- Went over test stuff
Comments