Notes

4-4 World History Notes
Main Idea:
Greek religion was fundamental to Greek society and is remembered today for the Olympic games and Greek drama, which were part of religious festivals.

Greek Religion:
Greek religion was entered around gods and goddesses who controlled the lives of the Greeks.
The gods and goddesses were thought to live on /Olympus/, the highest mountain in Greece.
To keep the gods happy, the ancient Greeks relied on rituals. These rituals could include festivals and athletic events.
To learn the will of the gods, the ancient Greeks used the oracle.
the most famous oracle was the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, where representatives of states were sent for consultation.

Classical Greek Arts and Literature
Greek architecture was centered around principles of calmness, clarity, and freedom from unnecessary detail.
The most important form of architecture was the temple, dedicated to a god or goddess.
The use of marble columns was common after the fifth century B.C.
Greek sculptors sought a standard of ideal beauty, and the nude male was the favorite subject.
The first Greek dramas were tragedies and were presented in a trilogy.
Today, the only complete tragedy we possess is called Oresteia was written by Aeschylus.
Sophocles was a playwright from Athens who was noted for his Work Oedipus Rex.
Euripides questioned traditional values and developed complex plots and characters.
Greek comedies, developed later, used puns and satire to criticize politicians and intellectuals.
Herodotus wrote History of the Persian Wars, which is often seen as the first real history of Western civilization.
Thucydides is often considered the greatest historian of the ancient world; he attempted to portray history fairly and accurately.

Greek philosophy
Three great western Greek philosophers-Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato
Pythagoras-essence of the universe could be found in music and numbers.
Sophists ( a group of traveling teachers)-believed it was important for individuals to improve themselves.
Socrates-sculptor; goal of education was to improve the individual; taught to live their lives by a code of ethics
Plato-student of Socrates fascinated by questions of reality; wrote ideas of government in a work called the Republic
Aristotle-student of Plato; believed that people's happiness is linked to their behavior; classifying/analyzing things based on observation and investigation; used scientific method; didn't seek ideal state, but studied existing governments and often viewed as most influential thinker