The Golden Age of Athens

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The Golden Age of Athens

• 479 429 BCE

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What? Where? Why?

• What? Golden Age of religion, architecture,
  sculpture, drama, philosophy, and sports
• Where? Athens
• Why? Persians defeated, Athens needed to be
  rebuilt, Athens open to new ideas

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Pericles

• 495 429BCE
• Elected after the Persian Wars, general
• Ruled much of Athens Golden Age
• Helped Athens dominate the Delian League, treated
  other city-states like subjects
• Made Athens more democratic

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Pericles Cont.

• Goal was to rebuild Athens, and make it center of
  the Greek world
• Motivated building projects (temples and statues)
• Parthenon 3 billion today (20,000 tons of
  marble, 15 years to complete)
• Supported philosophers

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Elements of Greek Architecture

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Facts about Greek Architecture

• Early Greek Architecture included palaces, tombs,
  dams, and roads.
• During the classical period large temples were
  built. Palaces were no longer needed because
  their form of government, Democracy meant that
  all men were equal.
• Greek Temples were built as temples of worship
  for their Gods and Goddesses. Many of them
  contained statues of the god or goddess it was
  built for.

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Facts about Greek Architecture

• Later in Greek history the focus shifted from
  building Temples to Theatres. Many theatres were
  built throughout the Greek World.
• At the same time, streets begin to be laid out in
  straight lines, instead of just developing
  naturally.

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Innovations

• Greek Orders-Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian
• Pediments and Freizes
• City Planning-Straight roads

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Elements of Greek Architecture
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Doric Columns

• Doric columns are the most basic of the three
  Greek orders. They have a capital (the top, or
  crown) made of a circle topped by a square.
• The shaft (the tall part of the column.
• There is no base in the Doric order.

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Ionic Columns

• Ionic Columns are more slender than Doric
  Columns.
• The capital of the column is decorated with
  scrolls.
• More decorative than Doric Columns.

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Corinthian Columns

• Most decorative type of column.
• Corinthian capitals have flowers and leaves below
  a small scroll.
• The Corinthian style is mostly seen in Roman
  Architecture.

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Examples of Famous Greek Architecture
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The Parthenon
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The Temple of Athena Nike
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The Temple of Hera
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The Theatre of Dionysus
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Temple of Apollo at Delphi
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Did you notice

• The New Albany Campus and famous building in the
  US have many elements of Ancient Greek
  Architecture.
• Can you find them?

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Philosophy

• Discussions about the meaning of life, justice,
  truth, beauty, etc. Items that are not easily
  defined
• Literally means The love of wisdom

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Famous Greek Philosophers

• Socrates
• Plato
• Aristotle

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Socrates

• 469-399BCE
• First great Athenian philosopher
• Never wrote ideas down
• Put on trial for corrupting the minds of young
  Athenians in 399BCE
• Sentenced to death, took own life by drinking
  poison

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Teachings of Socrates

• Developed Socratic method of teaching
• Ask a question, get answer, ask follow-up
  question questions become progressively harder
• Taught that it did not matter what a person did,
  so long as what he or she did was right.
• Committed to finding what truth is, and what is
  good and evil, i.e. what is right.
• Sought the meaning of life through questioning.
  Question everything
• What is wisdom? What is piety? What is beauty?

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Plato

• 429-347BCE
• Student of Socrates
• Most of what we learn about Socrates comes from
  the writings of Plato
• Created a school called the Academy
• Greatest work, the Republic, his argument about
  what the best government should be

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Teachings of Plato

• Democracy was not good because the lower classes
  are not smart enough to make good decisions
  decisions should only be left to the rich
• Rich people should be chosen to be Guardians of
  the Rest
• Divided society into 3 parts
• Philosopher-kings Ruled using logic and wisdom,
  rich (driven by wisdom)
• Warriors Defend the state from attack (driven by
  courage)
• The rest/normal people Produce food, clothing,
  shelter (driven by desire)

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Aristotle

• 384-323BCE
• Student of Plato
• Interested in science, politics, critical
  thinking
• Wrote over 200 books
• Created school called the Lyceum
• Taught a great leader, Alexander the Great
• Because of Aristotle, Alexander came to love
  Greek culture

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Teachings of Aristotle

• Much more interested in science than Socrates and
  Plato (possibly because his father was a doctor)
• Interested in applying Socratic method to the
  real world
• Father of todays scientific method
• Most interested in biology, classifying plants
  and animals in a way that would make sense

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Herodotus

• Wrote the history of the Persian Wars in 435BCE
• Concerned with writing facts and checking
  sources, as opposed to creating legends
• Considered the father of history