Aim: How did the Greeks use the Olympics and theater to honor their gods?

Aim: How did the Greeks use the Olympics and theater to honor their gods? January 31, 2014

I. The Olympics (started in 776 B.C.) • Held every four years in the middle of the summer to honor Zeus. Took place in Olympia. • Athletes from the different city-states and Greek colonies in Africa, Italy and Asia Minor would compete. • All wars between the city-states temporarily stopped during the Olympics.

D. Olympic Events • Chariot Racing • Boxing • Pancratium: combination of boxing and wrestling • Pentathlon: running, jumping, discus throwing, wrestling, and hurling the javelin. The winner was considered the best all-around athlete at the Olympics.

II. Theater → Drama as we know it is invented by the Greeks! • Plays were presented in outdoor theaters as part of religious festivalshonoring Dionysus. • Simple: No sets, three actors in masks, chorus for narration. Only men could perform.

C. The first Greek plays were tragedies: Stories about suffering. Most tragedies had similar characteristics: • The main character is a tragic hero: Great leader who is strong and respected. • Tragic hero is brought down by hubris (having too much pride, thinking that he is greater than the gods and can change the fate the gods have in store for him) Main tragic playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides *Sophocles wrote Oedipus Rex

D. The Greeks also liked comedies: Plays with happy endings 1. Comedic playwrights like Aristophanes made fun of politicians and famous people

Aim: What contributions did the Greeks make in philosophy? • Do Now: • What is philosophy?

I. What is philosophy? • Philosophy: An organized system of thought. Comes from the Greek word “love of wisdom.” • Greek philosophers believed that man has the ability to understand the laws of naturethrough reason.

II. Socrates (469 B.C. – 399 B.C • Believed in the power of the human mind to understand and improve the world. • Created the Socratic Method: • He would ask his students a series of questions (“What is courage?” “What is truth?”) and encourage them to examine and discuss their responses. Why does Socrates believe that this is the best way to teach? Do you agree?

C. Famous Socrates quote: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” What did he mean by this?

III. Death of Socrates • In 399 B.C., Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens (why would Athens be scared of someone like Socrates?). • Jury found him guilty →forced him to drink a cup of hemlock (poison). What does this show about Athens?

IV. Plato (428 B.C. – 347 B.C.) • Student of Socrates, opened “The Academy” (1st university in history) to continue Socrates search for wisdom

B. Views on Government → Rejected Democracy! Wrote The Republic (his ideal government). 1. Highest group: Philosopher-kings (should be in charge of the government). 2. Middle group: Warriors 3. Lowest group: Ordinary people (were not smart or responsible enough to have any role in the government).

V. Aristotle (384 B.C. – 322 B.C.) • Student of Plato • Believed you should gain knowledge by collecting information, making hypotheses and then testing those hypotheses through observation, experimentation and classifying information (he was building on the ideas of an earlier scientist named Thales).

C. Views on Government → Studied existing governments in his book Politics (did not try to come up with an ideal one). The three he found to be best were: 1. Monarchy 2. Aristocracy 3. Constitutional Democracy

Aim: How did Philip II and Alexander the Great conquer Greece and build an empire? Do Now: What happened during the Peloponnesian War? Why was Greece so weak after this war?

I. Alexander’s Father: Philip II • Became ruler of Macedonia (area north of Greece) in 359 B.C. • Loved Greek culture, but hated their weak governments. Believed it was his destiny to unify the city-states. • To achieve this, Philip established a well-organized, professional army. • Used phalanx: 16 rows of foot soldiers, shields overlapped. • Gave his soldiers spears 14 feet long, slingshots, bows and arrows.

Philip II’s Phalanx:

D. In 338 B.C., Philip invaded central Greece. He defeated Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea and quickly conquered and united all of Greece. No more independent city-states! E. In 336 B.C., Philip was assassinated and his 20 year old son Alexander the Great became King of Macedonia and Greece.

II. Alexander the Great’s Accomplishments • Goals: 1. Spread Greek culture across the world 2. Continue his father’s legacy of military conquest 3. Get revenge on the Persian Empire 4. Create a worldwide empire in which people would live together in peace.

B. By the time he died at the age of 33 in 323 B.C., Alexander had: 1. Conquered the Persian Empire and taken control of 22,000 miles of land that stretched all the way to India! 2. Founded 70 new cities, 16 of them called Alexandria, where Greek ideas could be spread and new discoveries could be made. 3. Tried to unite Macedonians, Greeks and Persians in his empire: • Took Persian soldiers into his army • He and his officers married Persian women and dressed in Persian clothing.

Aim: What were the characteristics of Hellenistic Culture?

I. The Hellenistic Era (300 B.C.-133 B.C.) • After Alexander’s death, his empire quickly fell apart and was divided into four kingdoms in the Middle East and Central Asia. B. Leads to the Hellenistic Era (“to imitate Greeks”) as Greek language and ideas spread to all of the Persians, Egyptians Indians and Greeks living in these new kingdoms.

II. Hellenistic Accomplishments • Much of the knowledge discovered during this period was stored in the great library of Alexandria, Egypt. • Medicine Hippocrates / Hippocratic oath

C.Astronomy: • Aristarchus  Develops the heliocentric theory of the universe (the Earth revolves around the sun). • Eratosthenes  Calculates Earth’s circumference within 200 miles of the actual figure.

D.Math & Physics: • Euclid  Writes a textbook Elements on geometry used until modern times • Archimedes  Calculates the value of pi (3.14) discovers specific gravity. • Pythagoras  Pythagorean theorem

Aim: How did the Greeks use the Olympics and theater to honor their gods?