Chapter 11 - Greek Cultural Contributions

CHAPTER 11 - GREEK CULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS

۩ Lesson Essential Question 1 – Where are the important city-states, features, and bodies of water for ancient Greece located on a map?

A. Locate and label items on the map of the Aegean World.

Chapter FocusWhy Its Important (p. 179)

B. How did religion play into the Greeks’ ability to make many contributions to world

history?1. The Greeks felt their gods were honored

if people tried to imitate them.2. The greater the skill the Greeks showed

in thinking, athletic games, or the arts, the more the gods were honored.

3. Greek efforts to do their best produced a “Golden Age” of learning.

4. Many historians call this period the “Classical Age of Greece”.

Section 1: Religious Practices (p. 179-185)

C. Describe or tell me about Greek religion.

1. Although most Greeks held similar religious beliefs, there was no single Greek religion.

2. Each city-state worshipped its own gods.3. Officials in each polis were in charge of

public feasts and sacrifices.4. In their own home, heads of families

prayed and offered sacrifices to the gods.

D. What were oracles?

Persons who, it was believed, could speak with the gods.

E. How did oracles give advice?

1. They gave advice in the form of a prophecy.

2. Define prophecy – A statement of what might happen in the future.

3. A prophecy could mean more than one thing.

4. It was up to the person seeking advice to decide the true meaning.

F. What/who was the oracle at Delphi?

The Oracle at Delphi was the most famous oracle.

Greek Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus (p. 180-182)

G. Who did the Greeks worship during the Golden Age?

They worshipped the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.

H. How many major gods and goddesses were there?

12

I. How did the Greeks honor their gods and goddesses?

The Greeks honored their gods with temples.

J. Describe a Greek temple and worship at a temple.

1. Inside each temple was a statue to the god being honored.

2. In front of statue was an altar.3. Because they believed the temple was

the gods home, they did not enter it.4. Instead, they worshipped outside.

K. What were some other ways the Greeks honored their gods and

goddesses?They were honored with festivals.

L. What were two important contributions that came out of the festivals honoring the

gods?

1. The Olympic Games2. The theater

M. Copy the entire table on p. 181

Zeus

Ruler of Mount Olympus; king of the

gods, god of the weather

Aphrodite

Goddess of love and beauty

Apollo

God of the sun; patron of truth, archery, music, medicine, and

prophecy

Ares

God of War

Artemis

Goddess of the moon; mighty huntress, and

“rainer of arrows”; guardian of cities,

young animals, and women; twin sister of

Apollo

Athena

Goddess of wisdom; city god of Athens;

patron of household crafts; protectress in

war to those who worshipped her; daughter of Zeus

Demeter

Goddess of crops, giver of grain and

fruit

Dionysus

God of fertility, of joyous life and

hospitality, and of wild things, god of the

theatre

Hephaestus

God of fire and artisans; maker of Pandora, the first mortal woman;

husband of Aphrodite

Hera

Protectress of marriage, children,

and the home; wife of Zeus

Hermes

God of orators, writers, and

commerce; protector of thieves and

mischief-makers; guardian of

wayfarers; messenger to mortals; son of

Zeus

Poseidon

God of the sea and earthquakes; giver of

horses to mortals

The Olympic Games (p. 181-183)

۩ Lesson Essential Question 2 - How did honoring the Greek gods and goddesses lead to the foundation of the Olympic Games?

N. What were the Olympic Games? How often were they held?

Every four years, in the middle of

summer, a festival was held at Olympia

to honor the god Zeus. The festival was known as the

Olympic Games and was the most

important sporting event in Greece.

O. What was Olympia? Describe it.

1. Olympia was not really a town.

2. It was a group of temples and arenas built in fields.

3. A 40-foot gold and ivory statue of Zeus stood in one of the temples.

P. How important were the Olympic Games?

1. It was the most important sporting event in Greece.

2. When the games took place, the Greeks would stop fighting any war in which they were involved.

3. When the Spartans refused to call a truce during one war to compete in the games, they had to pay a fine.

Q. Who took part in the Olympic Games?

1. Athletes came from all over Greece and from Greek colonies in Africa, Italy, and Asia Minor to take part in the games.

2. Individuals, rather than teams, competed.

3. Only men were allowed to take part.4. Women were not even allowed to watch.

R. What events made up the Olympics? Describe each.

1. Chariot Race – It was held in the Hippodrome, which was an oval track with grandstands around it. The chariots were pulled by horses. Winner received a crown made from olive leaves.


2. Boxing – Boxers did not use their fists. They wrapped hands with ox hide and slapped one another.


3. Pancratium – This was a combination of boxing and wrestling in which no holds were barred.


4. Pentathlon – The winner was considered the best all-around athlete. It consisted of five events, and participants had to run, jump, throw the discus, wrestle, and throw the javelin.

S. Describe the ways Olympic winners were honored.

1. Olympic winners were heroes.2. Poets wrote about them.3. City-states held parades for them.4. Some city-states even gave them free

meals for a year.

T. Who was Herodotus and what did he do?

He was the “Father of History.” Between different events,

Herodotus read his account of the Persian

Wars.

U. When were the first recorded Olympic Games?

The first Olympics were held in 776 B. C.

The Theater (p. 183-185)

۩ Lesson Essential Question 3 – How did Greek theater develop?

V. What did the theater grow out of?

The theater grew out of festivals honoring the god Dionysus.

W. Who was Aeschylus?

Aeschylus added additional characters to each of the stories that were told about

the gods and heroes. He was credited with creating the first play.

X. What were tragedies?

1. They were stories about suffering.2. Tragedies dealt with the past and the

relationships between the people and the gods.

Y. Who were the great writers of tragedies?

1. Aeschylus2. Sophocles3. Euripides

Z. What were comedies?

1. A play with a happy ending2. Greek comedies were about the present.

AA. Who was a great comedy writer?

Aristophanes

BB. Describe Greek play festivals.

1. Greek plays were only performed at community festivals.

2. They began at sunrise and went on all day.

3. Tragedies were presented in the morning and comedies in the afternoon.

4. All the performers were men.5. Women were allowed to watch plays

but could not act in them.


6. Each actor wore a huge canvas and plaster mask that showed the gender, age, and mood of the character.

7. The mouth of the mask was shaped like a funnel.

8. This helped carry the sound of the actor’s voice to the entire audience.

9. Actors also wore heavy padding under their robes and boots.

10.This made them seem larger then they really were.


11.Plays were given in open-air theaters.12.Anyone who did not have enough

money to buy a ticket was admitted free.

13.The audience sat on rows of stone benches set on the side of a hill.

14.The benches were arranged in a semicircle around a stage that was level with the ground.

CC. Whose responsibility was the theater?

The Greeks believed support of the theater was a public responsibility.

Section 2: Science (p. 185-190)

۩ Lesson Essential Question 4 – What thoughts and ideas are credited to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle?

DD. What was one of the most important things to the Greeks?

The Greeks place great importance on intellect, or the ability to learn and reason. They thought intellect should be used to its

fullest.

EE. Define philosophia and philosophy –

To the Greeks, the studying the laws of nature and loving wisdom were the same

thing, it was called philosophia. Philosophy is the study of knowledge and wisdom.

Socrates (p. 185-186)

FF. Who was Socrates?

1. Socrates was an Athenian philosopher. 2. Socrates gave up private business so he could spend his time searching for truth.3. He believed people could discover truth if they knew how to think.

GG. How did Socrates search for truth and teach people how to think?

1. In his search for truth, Socrates walked throughout Athens try to teach people how to think.

2. He did this by asking questions.3. Each question was designed to make a

person arrive step-by-step at a final conclusion or truth.

4. This form of questioning is known as the Socratic Method.

HH. Why didn’t some people like Socrates?

They saw Socrates’ ideas as dangerous. They did not like self-examination,

especially when it pointed out their own faults.

II. What happened to Socrates?

1. Socrates was tried before a jury of some 500 citizens.

2. He defended himself by speaking about truth and goodness.

3. Socrates would not change his beliefs even to save his life.


4. The jury found Socrates guilty and sentenced him to death.

5. The sentence was carried out by making Socrates drink poison.

6. Later, the Athenians regretted having executed Socrates, so they put up a bronze statue in his honor.


Plato (p. 187-188)

JJ. Who was Plato?

1. Plato was a pupil of Socrates.

2. Plato recorded the speeches of Socrates made at his trial and just before his death.

KK. What were some of Plato’s accomplishments?

1. Plato left Greece and traveled in Egypt and Italy.

2. When he returned, he set up a school outside Athens in the sacred grove of the hero Academus.

3. The school, where Plato trained government leaders, was called the Academy.


4. Plato taught there almost 40 years.5. The Academy itself lasted almost 900 years

after Plato’s death.6. Plato thought political liberty was disorder

and did not approve of it.7. Plato set down his ideas about an ideal state

in a book called The Republic.8. It was the first book ever written on political

science.


9. Define political science – The study of government

10. Plato also wrote The Dialogues.11. The Dialogues showed how difficult it was to

discover truth.

Aristotle (p. 188)

LL. Who was Aristotle?

Aristotle was one of Plato’s brightest students. He came to the Academy when

he was 17 years old and stayed for 20 years.

MM. What were some accomplishments of Aristotle?1. He founded a school of

his own in Athens and wrote more than 200 books.

2. He believed in using one’s senses to discover the laws that governed the physical world.

3. He was the first to classify, or group together, plants and animals that resemble each other.

4. His system, with some changes, is still used today.

MM. What were some accomplishments of Aristotle?

5. Aristotle also added to the ideas of an earlier Greek scientist named Thales of Miletus.

6. Thales of Miletus developed the first two steps of the scientific method.

7. Define scientific method – Process used by scientists for study

8. Define hypothesis – Possible explanation for a problem

9. Aristotle added the third step when he said a hypothesis needed to be tested to see if it is correct.

MM. What were some accomplishments of Aristotle?

10. Another important contribution was made in logic, or the science of reasoning.

11. He developed syllogism.12. Define syllogism – A method of reasoning

that uses three related statements. The third statement is a conclusion based on the information given in the first two.

Discoveries and Inventions (p. 188-190)

۩ Lesson Essential Question 5 - How did other Greek thinkers influence the development of world civilization?

NN. What did the Greeks curiosity lead them to discover?

1. They discovered natural events are not caused by the way gods behave.2. They also learned that the world is governed by natural laws that people can discover and understand.

OO. Why was Thales of Miletus important?

1. Thales developed the first two steps of the scientific method.2. He correctly predicted an eclipse of the sun.

PP. Why was Hippocrates important?

1. He was considered the “Father of Scientific Medicine.”2. Hippocrates drew up a list of rules about how doctors should use their skills to help their patients.3. His rules are known as the Hippocratic Oath .4. The oath says doctors should honor their teachers, do their best for the sick, never give poisons, and keep the secrets of their patients.5. Doctors all over the world still promise to honor the Hippocratic Oath.

QQ. Why were the following people famous?

1. Archimedes – He explained the principle of a lever.


2. Euclid – He collected and organized all existing knowledge about geometry. He made up a lot of rules pertaining to the geometry we use today.


3. Pythagoras – He sought to explain the nature of all things in mathematical terms.

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Chapter 11 - Greek Cultural Contributions