Unit 2: Greece -- Golden Age to Alexander Flashcards
direct democracy
-form of government in which citizens rule directly
and not through representatives
-majority rule decides vote
-practiced in Athens by approx 500 BC
classical art
- standard = Greek values of harmony, order, balance, and proportion
- perfected / ideal beauty, not realistic
- no emotion
tragedy
a serious drama in Greece, had themes like love, hate, war, or betrayal; featured a main character or hero (Oresteia, Oedipus the king, Antigone)
-hubris
comedy
contained crude humor and slapstick situations; made fun of politics and respected ppl and ideas of the time (The Bird, Lysistrata)
The Peloponnesian War
- war between Sparta and Athens (431-404 BC)
- As Athens grew in wealth, prestige, and power, other city-states began to veiw it with hostility
- Tension grew between Athens and Sparta
- Sparta had a stronger army, Athens had a stronger navy
- both groups of leaders believed that their city had the advantage
- Sparta declared war on Athens in 431 BC
- Athens surendered in 404 BC
philosophers
- means “lovers of wisdom”
- determined to seek the truth, no matter what
- believed that (1) the universe is put together in an orderly way, and subject to absolute and unchanging laws and (2) ppl can understand thses laws through logic and reason.
- Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
Socrates
- philospher
- encouraged Greeks to question themselves and their moral character
- believed that there are absolute standards for truth and justice
- no writings
- 399 BC: accused of “corrupting youth of Athens” and “neglecting the city’s gods” and was condemned to death (poisoned = hemlock—->slow-acting poison)
Plato
- student of Socrates
- wrote “The Republic”, which was about hos vision of a perfect governed society (not democracy)
- his ideal society = groups (farmers and artisans, warriors, and ruling class)
Aristotle
- Plato’s pupil
- tutor for Alexander
- questioned the nature of the world and of human belief, thought, and knowledge
- invented method for arguing according to the rules of logic, which he applied to problems in psychology, physics, and biology
- his works provided the basis of the scientific method that is used today
Philip II
- king of Macedonia, at 23 years old, from 359 - 336 BC (incresed power in Macedonia)
- Alexander’s dad
- only 23 yrs old when he became king
- conquerd Greece in 338 BC
- wanted to revenge the Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC
- killed (stabbed to death) at his daughter’s wedding by a former guardsman
Macedonia
- kingdom located just north of Greece
- had a rough terrain and a cold climate
Alexander the Great
- Philip II’s son
- became king when he was 20 years old (336 BC)
- taught by Aristotle (science, geography, literature)
- loved the Illiad (Achilles’ heroic deeds), keeps a copy under his pilllow
- conquered Persian Empire
- At India, his army mutinied.
- married a Persian woman, dressed like a Persian, had Persian ceremonies, had Persiams in his army
- died at age 32
Darius III
- Persian king
- vowed to crush Macedonians but ran away when the Macedonians broke through his army lines
- tried to negotiate a peace settlement but Alexander refused
- ran away again when the Persian line crumbled at Gaugemela
- Alexander was looking for him found him killed by one of his provincial governors on a deserted spot south of the Caspian Sea
How was Philip II able to conquer Greece?
- Battle of Chaeronea
- the Greeks couldn’t agree on a single way to unite and fight Philip (Macedonians). By the time they did, it was too late. The Macedonians defeated the Greeks.
- his phalanx was 16 soldiers across and 16 soldiers deep, each armed with a 18 ft pike (Greeks had 8ft spears)
- had a cavalry that was used to crush his enemies after his phalanx broke through enemy lines
How does the concept of hubris from Greek tragedy apply to the PeloponnesianWar?
Hubris means excessive pride, In the Peloponnesian War, both Sparta and Athens believed their own city had the advantage. Also, Athens was so confident that they tried to destroy Syracuse, one og Sparta’s wealthiest allies, but unfortunatly lost.
Was the rule of Pericles a “golden age” for Athens?
Yes because he strengthened the Athenian democracy by allowing all citizens (rich and poor) hold office and get paid. Also, he strengthened Athenian navy and persuaded the Athenian assembly to buy gold, ivory, and marble to beautify Athens.
What was the goal of the Delian League?
to punish Persia (gather contributions/money, built a fleet, sail to Persia + burn/attack/loot cities, share loot/money)
absolute truths
- absolute beauty (no opinions)
- Like Helen in the Iliad
Why do you think Alexander adopted Persian customs and included Persians in his army?
Since he married a Persian woman, he had to show her respect to the Persians and give them rights. Also, he probably wanted to bled cultures and make the Persians feel at home under his rule.
-tolerance, teamwork, security
Hellenistic Period
- blend of different cultures (Egyptian, Persian, Indian cultures)
- 3 kingdoms = Antigonid kingdom(Greece, Macedon), Seleucid kingdom(Mesapotamia), and Ptolemaic kingdom (Egypt)
- Koine = popular spoken language in Hellenistic cities, “direct result of culture blending”, simplified form of Greek, spoken by common ppl, used in Bible
- after Alexander’s death
Euclid
- nickname = “Beta” second best (at everything)
- mathematician
- taught in Alexandria
- his work is the basis of geometry (propositions & proofs) taught today
- Elements (Euclid’s best known book), had 465 geometry proofs and propositions & all things he and others knew about geometry.
Archimedes (of Syracuse)
- Hellenistic scientist
- studied at Alexandria
- estimated value of pi (ratio of the circumfrence of a circle to it’s diameter)
- explained the law of the lever
- invented the Archimedes screw (raised water from the ground) and the compound pully (lift heavy objects)
Alexandria
- Egyptian city founded by Alexander the Great
- contained a library, museum, lighthouse, and the glass coffin with Alexander the Great
- the museum and library were an early university (instistute of advanced technology)
- center of commerce (business activities) and Hellenistic civilization
- trade ships came from all over the Mediterranean and the Nile Delta to Alexandria
- land trade = from Seleucid kingdom (Middle East)
- by 3rd century BC (300 BC), it had become an international community with rich mixures of customs and traditionsfrom Egypt and Aegean
- population = half a million ppl
- had advances in math (geometry), astronomy, philosophy, art, and architecture
- ancient Alexandria was found under the bay (under water) of modern Alexandria
Aristarchus (of Samos)
- astronomer
- estimated the Sun was 300 times the size of Earth (but it acually is 1.3 million times the size of Earth)
- proposed that the Earth and other planets revolved around the Sun (astronomers refused his therory and accepted Ptolemy’s view that the Earth was at the center of the solar system for the next 14 centuries)
Eratosthenes
- astonomer, mathematician, poet, historian
- director of the Alexandrian Library
- tried to calculate Earth’s true size (his calculated that the Earth’s circumfrence is between 28,000 and 29,000 miles but modern measurements put the circumfrence at 24,860 miles)———>look at Eratosthenes handout
Stoicism
- school of philosophy
- founded by Zeno (Greek philosopher)—–>Stoic
- believed that ppl should live virtuous lives in harmonywith the will of god or the natural laws that God established to run the universe
- preached that human desires, power, and wealth were dangerous distractions that should be checked
- promoted social unity and encouraged followers to focus on what they could control
- believed that God had a duty for all of us and we had to do our best to be happy with it
Epicureanism
- school of thought
- founded by Epicurus——-> Epicurean
- taught that gods who had no interest in humans ruled the universe
- believed that the only real objects were those the 5 senses perceived
- main goal of humans = achieve harmony of body and mind
- taught that the greatest good and the highest pleasurecame from virtuous conduct and absence of pain
- believed that the key to happiness is moderation (middle)
Colossus of Rhodes
- bronze statue
- more than 100 ft high
- one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world
- 225 BC = toppled during earthquake, bronze was sold for scrap
Hellenistic Art
- realistic—–>wrinkles
- has emotion
- statue = Laocoon (priest of Troy): warned Trojans that the Trojan horse was a trap but bitten to death by a sea serpents along with his 2 sons
- Nike = goddess of victory
How did Eratosthenes calculate the circumfrence of the Earth?
- he found out that at noon on June 21 (summer solstice) in Syene, the sun was directly overhead. The buildings didn’t cast any shadows and the sun’s reflection could be seen at the deepest part of the deepest well. This couldn’t happen anywhere else…….
1. He paid a man to “pace off” the distance from Alexandria to Syene. It turned out to be 5000 stadias.
2. At noon in Alexandria, he measured the shadow of a vertical stick in the ground. The measurement turned out ot be 7.2 degrees.
3. He supposed that the distance from Alexandia to Syene was 7.2/360 (degrees) = 1/50th of the circumfrence of the Earth.
4. 7.2/360 = 5000/x = circumfrence of Earth
What was the similarity between Stoicism and Epicureanism??
They both ask the question “how can a person be happy?”
What happened to Alexander’s Empire after his death?
- 3 Macedonian generals fought for control of the empire.
- they each took different parts if it
- Antigonus became king of Macedonia——->Antigonid kingdom
- Seleucis took most of the Persian Enpire, which became known as the Seleucid kingdom
- Ptolemy took the title of pharaoh in Egypt (took Alexander’s body to Egypt and told the ppl that the gods told him that is is to become pharaoh, that is how the glass coffin with Alexander’s dead body ended up in Alexandria) ——–> Ptolemaic kingdom
- they rules with complete power
How did trade contribute to cultural diversity, in the Hellenistic city of Alexandria?
- Trade ships from all around the Mediterranean sailed to Alexandria
- land trade came from the Seleucid kingdom
How did Euclid influence some of the developments in astronomy during the Hellenistic Period?
Eratosthenes and Aristarchus, who were both astronomers used Euclid’s work to figure out the circumference of the Earth (Eratosthenes) and how big the sun is compared to the Earth (how many times bigger—> Aristarchus).
