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AH Study Guide Greek and Roman Cultures
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What You Need to Know

• Architecture
• Greek
• Parthenon
• Erectheum
• Temple of Athena Nike
• The Acropolis
• Columns
• Doric
• Ionic
• Corinthian
• Koryatid
• Abacus
• Entablature

• Roman
• Hadrians Wall
• Pantheon
• The Roman Highway
• The Coliseum
• Arches
• Domes
• Small windows

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The Parthenon
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The Erectheum
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The Temple of Athena Nike
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The Acropolis
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Doric Columns

• Simple Capital
• Shaft
• Pedestal

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Ionic Columns

• Geometrical Capital
• Shaft
• Pedestal

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Corinthian Columns

• Capital carved with leaves and other natural
  elements
• Shaft
• Pedestal

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Koryatid

• Capital
• Shaft carved as an attractive young woman
• Pedestal that explains who or what the woman
  represents (i.e., minor gods like the Three
  Fates, The Sirens, The Muses or beautiful mortal
  women)

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Abacus

• The portion of a building above the column and
  below to entablature that adds the one to the
  other.

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Entablature

• The entablature is the top of the building,
  consisting of the architrave, the frieze, and the
  cornice.

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The Pediment

• The pediment is the triangular portion of the
  front and back of a building.
• (It is considered a part of the entablature and
  apart from the entablature
• Ancient Romans often decorated their pediments
  with scenes of great victories similar to
  friezes.

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Hadrians Wall
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The Pantheon
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Roman Highway

• Built to make travel to and from Rome easier and
  more profitable for Roman citizens.
• Many parts of road still exist today across
  Western Europe.
• All roads lead to Rome.

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The Coliseum
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Roman architecture

• Arches
• Domes
• Small windows for protection

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The Roman Aqueducts

• Applied art
• Allowed for larger, better organized inland
  cities and running water
• Use of arches allowed for heavy loads

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Greek and Roman Art
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The Discus Thrower Myron

• Notice the physical attractiveness of the subject
• Emphasis on beauty and physical perfection
• Poised in medias res (in the middle of action)
• Also called Discobolis

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Venus De Milo

• Again, the focus of beauty
• Considered among the most beautiful sculptures
  ever created
• Lost arms, as they are often the weakest part of
  marble sculptures

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Kouros

• A statue of a young male, displaying the
  perfection of the male form.

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Kore

• A statue of a young female, displaying the
  perfection of the female form.

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Greek and Roman Drama
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Greek Drama

• Western drama began as worship to the Greek god,
  Dionysus.
• Thespis is said to have been the first actor, and
  the term thespian is taken from his name.
• Played in open-air theaters called amphitheaters
• Large, circular arena surrounded by tiers of
  seats
• Evolved when interest for entertainment increased

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The Chorus

• Explained the situation to audience
• Engaged in dialogue with actors
• Ritualistic chant was known as the goat song
• Goat song also known as the TRAGOEDIA
• The word tragedy comes from this song

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Aeschylus

• Aeschylus was the first of the three great
  ancient Greek writers of tragedy.
• Was considered The Father of Greek tragedy.
• Wrote Agamemnon

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Sophocles

• Wrote the dramatic irony pieces Oedipus Rex and
  Antigone
• His conflicts focused on his characters
  questioning fate and the will of the gods.

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Euripides

• More interested in peoples lives than in
  religious views
• Wrote Medea
• He became a master of pathos, the term that
  describes human sorrow and compassion

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Aristophanes

• Wrote Old Comedy which is noted for its wild
  comic fantasy
• Best known for The Birds and Lysistrata

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Seneca

• His plays, called closet dramas, were really
  meant to be read rather than performed

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Greek Philosophy Philosophers
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Schools of Thought/ Philosophy

• Sophists Sought arguments and winning through
  persuasion
• Hedonists Sought pleasure
• Stoics Sought logical control

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Aristotle

• Wrote Poetics, most influential book of its era
• Focused on four core beliefs
• 1. Imitation is a necessary and vital part of
  human life
• Imitation becomes reason for learning and theater
• Imitation is better than history because it is
  about what could happen rather than what did
  happen.
• 4. Theater split into two parts
• 1. Comedy
• 2. Tragedy
• Tragedy has specific parts
• - Complex plot
• - Catharsis

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Tragedies Explained

• Prologue (opening),
• episode (everything between choric songs),
• exode (the last part of the play that is not
  followed by a choric song),
• and the choric song.
• The tragic hero moves through a plot, which
  reveals choices.

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Socrates

• The most influential thinker of his era
• A teacher only
• None of his own writings survive, so we depend on
  the writings of his students (like Plato) for his
  viewpoints
• Sought truth, not victory in rhetorical battle
• Charged with the corruption of youth and killed
  by the state

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Socrates Viewpoints

• I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing,
  and that is that I know nothing.
• Reason (logic) trumps emotion.
• Socratic method
• Test your hypotheses continually.
• An unexamined life is not worth living.

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Platos Early Life

• The son of a wealthy and noble family, Plato was
  preparing for a career in politics when the trial
  and eventual execution of Socrates changed the
  course of his life.
• He abandoned his political career and turned to
  philosophy, opening a school on the outskirts of
  Athens dedicated to the Socratic search for
  wisdom.
• Plato's school, then known as the Academy, was
  the first university in western history.

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Platos Impact

• Unlike his mentor Socrates, Plato was both a
  writer and a teacher.
• His writings are in the form of dialogues, with
  Socrates as the principal speaker.
• In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato described
  symbolically the predicament in which mankind
  finds itself and proposes a way of salvation.

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Platos Core Beliefs

• We are only sensing a part of the real world if
  we rely only on our senses. Knowledge reveals
  the real world.
• Students learn only through their own
  experiences good teachers give students tools to
  find the truth on their own.
• The universe ultimately is good.
• Enlightened individuals have an obligation to the
  rest of society
• A good society must be one in which the truly
  wise are the rulers.

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The Allegory of the Cave

• The Allegory of the Cave can be found in Book VII
  of Plato's best-known work, The Republic, a
  lengthy dialogue on the nature of justice.
• Often regarded as a utopian blueprint, The
  Republic is dedicated toward a discussion of the
  education required of a Philosopher-King.