Ancient Greece: Famous Greeks

-About 550 B.C., a Greek slave named ____ made up his now famous fables. -In most of _____’s fables, animals talk and act like people. These often funny stories point out human flaws as well as strength. -Fables end with a message or moral. -Famous fables include, “The Tortoise and the Hare”

Aesop

-Famous story about him, The Iliad by Homer. -Warrior-hero -His story inspired the achilles tendon, a muscle in the leg. -son of the Thetis, a nereid, and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons -Described having a large chest, a fine mouth, and powerfully formed arms and legs -Very fierce in battle -Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx

Achilles

-ruler of the gods -ruled the sky; threw lightning bolts -Hera’s husband

Zeus

-c. 750 B.C.E -Epic poems included the Iliad and the Odyssey -Historians don’t know if he was a real person or if he wrote the poems alone or not. -Many people was guessed about his personal life -Created different style of poetry

Homer

-A general and writer of plays -He developed drama even further by using three actors instead of one or two and painting backdrops for scenes -Two of his most famous plays are Oedipus Rex and Antigone

Sophocles

-One of the best 3 writers of tragedy plays -Tried to take drama beyond heroes and gods; characters more “down-to-earth”. -Took interest in real-life situations, especially war. Showed war as cruel.

Euripides

-Best known writer of Greek comedies -Many plays included jokes, like modern tv shows have today -Make fun of politicians and scholars

Aristophanes

-another Greek tragedy writer -first to introduce the idea of having two actors -Introduced costumes, props, and stage decorations -One of his best known plays was a group of three plays called the Oresteia. It was wrote is 458 B.C. and describe what happened when the Mycenae king returned home from the Trojan war

Aeschylus

-A greek philosopher that taught his pupils that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers -He believed that all relationships of the world could be expressed in numbers. As a result, he developed many new ideas about mathematics. -Created the Pythagorean Theorem that is still used today. It is a way to determine the length of the sides of a triangle. -First to establish the principles of geometry

Pythagoras

-A critic of the Sophists -An Athenian sculptor whose true love was philosophy -Believed that an absolute truth existed and that all real knowledge was within each person. -Invented the Socratic method; he asked his pupils pointed questions to force them to use their own reasoning and to see things for themselves. -Some Athenian leaders considered this a threat to their power. -Sentenced to death

Socrates

-One of Socrates students -He did not like democracy -Established a school called the Academy -Wrote the Republic about Athenian government

Plato

-Greek philosopher and polymath -Taught by Plato -founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition -wrote about many subjects including government

Aristotle

-Wrote the history of the Persian Wars -Tried to separate fact from legend -People refer to him as the “Father of History”

Herodotus

-Many historians consider him to be the best historian of the ancient world -Fought in Peloponnesian war and was sentenced to exile when he lost a battle -Then wrote his History of the Peloponnesian Wars -Saw war and politics as activities of human beings, not gods.

Thucydides

-In 359 B.C ___ rose to the throne as King of Macedonia -Wanted to defeat the Persian empire -Took over Greek city-states -____ controlled most of Greece -Before _____ could defeat the Persian empire, he was murdered

Philip II

-Was only 20 when he became king -Age 16- became a commander of the army -Invaded Asia Minor and beat the Persians -Died at 32 of illness -Great military warrior

Alexander the Great

-a lawyer and one of Athens greatest public speakers -Urged Athens and other city-states to join and fight Macedonia -Warned people that Philip was dangerous and would take over Greece

Demosthenes

-A poet and writer -One of his works was called Argonautica and it tells the story of Jason and his group of heroes that search the ram with gold fleece -One of the works from the Hellenistic Age

Apollonius of Rhodes

-wrote short poems about the beauty of nature -Considered creator of pastoral poetry -From Sicily

Theocritus

-Founded a philosophy we now know as Epicureanism -Taught students that happiness was the goal of life. He believed that the way to be happy was to seek out pleasure -To him, pleasure meant spending time with friends and not worrying about things

Epicurus

-Developed Stoicism. -Became popular in the Hellenistic world -For them, happiness came from following reason, not emotions, and doing your duty -Unlike Epicureans, Stoics thought everyone had a duty to serve in their city

Zeno

-An astronomer from Samos -Claimed the sun was at the center of the universe -At the time other astronomers rejected the idea

Aristarchus

-Astronomer; in charge of the library at Alexandria -Concluded that the earth is round -Measured shadows to find the curve of the earth's surface

Eratosthenes

-most famous scientist of the Hellenistic Era -Worked on solid geometry -Figured out the value of pi -the king of Syracuse was impressed and asked him to use levers to defend the city

Archimedes

-most famous Greek mathematician -best known book Elements describes plane geometry -King Ptolemy of Egypt asked if he knew an easier way to learn geometry than reading the Elements

Euclid

-is called the greatest astronomer of all the ancient world -studied and named over 850 stars -figured out how to estimate the distances from Earth to the sun and moon

Hipparchus

-changed the way people thought about health and medicine -often called “father of modern medicine” -believed diseases had natural causes

Hippocrates

-first woman to earn fame as a mathematician -Born in Egypt c. 370 C.E -Taught Greek philosophy and mathematics in the city of Alexandria

Hypatia

-Brother of Zeus -god of the seas and could cause earthquakes -lived on Mount Olympus; one of the most important gods

Poseidon

-ruler of the underworld -other brother of Zeus -Wife is Persephone

Hades

-goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war -There was a giant gold statue of her in the Parthenon -The Athenians(named after _____) came to honor her at a festival every 4 years

Athena

-Wife of Zeus -goddess of marriage -sister of poseidon, zeus, hades, etc.

Hera