The Legacy of the Ancient Greeks (108-137) 10.1
10.1 How ancient Greece influences western political thought.
(our society and government)
I. Geography A. Mountainous- small isolated communities“city states”,
poor resources, no large river
B. Mediterranean Sea “Greeks did not live on a land but around a sea” - travel, trade by sea, colonies
C. Climate moderate, like California, encouraged public gatherings
II. Rise of City States 750BC Athens- Largest, most powerful
city-stateA. Limited Democracy 1. monarchy till 683 B.C. then
aristocracy- (noble class) rules 2. Solon- increase democracy a. begins reforms 594 B.C. b. all free adult men attend
assembly, vote but not hold office 3. Cleisthanes a. 508 B.C. limits power of nobles b. “founder of democracy in
Athens” -council of 500 submits laws, advise (commoners and nobles)
B. Age of Pericles 461 -429 B.C.- Athens Golden Age- strengthen Democracy
1. direct democracy- 10% are citizens- all citizens vote on all laws 2. paid public officials and jurors- poor can participate 3. Strengthen Army/ Navy (Delian League)
4. Glorify Athens's, building projects/ art “Our constitution is
called a democracy
because the power is
in the hands not of the
minority but the whole
people”
Themes- power struggle between rich and poor, continuous reform to an ideal, trying of new ideas
Emergence of culture- sculpture, drama, poetry, philosophy, architecture, mathematics, pottery and science
Sparta- other large city state- very militaristic- Greece falls because of the wars between these two powers and the other city states that support them.
Theater; of Aegeira
C. Philosophers1. “lovers of wisdom” - two assumptions a. universe is orderly ; natural laws
are absolute and unchanging b. people understand laws of the
universe through logic +reason
2. Socrates 469-399 B.C. a. Socratic Method : question-answer
b. began the practice of examining oneself
and life- “The unexamined life is not worth living.”c. believed in absolutism in truth and justice
“There is only one good, knowledge; and one evil, ignorance.”
3. Plato 427-347 B.C.a. wrote down the
conversations of Socratesb. The Republic - perfectly
governed society- philosopher-king rules
c. founded the Academy
4. Aristotle 384-322 B.C. a. rules of logic, basis of
scientific method b. “Man is by nature a political
animal; it is his nature to live in a state.”
Jacques Louis David's painting, The Death of Socrates (1787). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wolfe Fund, 1931, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection. Source: Oliver Taplin, Greek Fire, New York,
What about the Greeks makes them important enough for us to study 2500 years later?
How was the emergence of democracy, culture and philosophy related?
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