Greek Culture Quest

By: Hannah Maher

Ancient Greek Art

• Two Greek artists are Michelangelo and Alexander The Great.

• Alexander The Great was the founder of Greco-Buddhist Art.

• The three main resources people used in there sculptures are: Stone, Marble, and Limestone.

Ancient Greek Architecture

• There were three basic architectural systems:• Doric – Sturdy, top is plain. Used in mainland

Greece and colonies in southern Italy and Sicily. • Ionic – Thinner, more elegant, capital is

decorated with scroll-like design. Mostly found in eastern Greece and Islands.

• Corinthian – Seldom used in the Greek world. Seen on Roman temples. Very elaborate, decorated with acanthus leaves.

Ancient Greek Writing

• The Greeks adopted the Phoenician Script, or Phoenician Letters.

• This alphabet only had letters for consonants.• When they found the alphabet they found letters

that represented sounds not found in Greek. They didn’t throw them away. They changed them so that they could represent vowels.

• For example ‘aleph (stands for glottal stop) became the Greek letter alpha (stands for the a sound)

Map of Ancient Greece

Major Greek Gods and Goddesses

• Aphrodite – goddess of love, romance, and beauty

• Apollo – Beautiful god of the sun, light, medicine, and music

• Ares – Dark god of war• Artemis – Independent goddess of the hunt, the

forest, wildlife, childbirth, and the moon• Athena – Goddess of wisdom, war, and crafts• Demeter – Goddess of agriculture

Major Greek Gods and Goddesses

• Hephaestus – God of fire and the forge• Hera – (wife of Zeus) Protector of Marriage,

familiar with magic• Hermes – Messenger of the gods, god of business• Hestia – Calm goddess of home and home life• Poseidon – God of the sea, horses, and of

earthquakes• Zeus – Supreme lord of gods, god of the sky,

symbolized by the thunderbolt • Hades – Brother of Zeus and Poseidon. Not

considered god, since he dwells in the underworld

Trojan WarCaused because of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, and sea goddess. They hadn’t invited Eris, goddess of discord, to there marriage. That made Eris REALLY mad. So she crashed the wedding banquet and through a golden apple onto the table, and said it belonged to whoever is the fairest. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite went to grab the apple. Zeus said that Paris, prince of Troy and was said to be the most beautiful man alive, was going to judge. Hermes asked Paris, and Paris agreed. Hera promised him power, Athena promised him wealth, Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful women in the world. He chose Aphrodite, she promised him Helen, Menelaus’s wife, would be his wife. Paris went to Sparta to kidnap Helen. Twin prophets tried to convince him not to. Just like his mother had, but Paris didn’t listen. In Sparta Menelaus, Helens husband, treats Paris as a Royal guest. When Menelaus went to a funeral. Paris abducted Helen, and they left. When they got to Troy they were married.

Famous Heroes

Hercules – strongest hero of ancient Greece

Achilles – Greek’s best warrior in the Trojan War

Theseus - saved the people from having to send off their sons and daughters as human sacrifices to the monstrous Cretan minotaur.

Odysseus – wily hero of the Greeks

Perseus - obtain the deadly head of snaky-tressed Medusa

Famous Monsters

• Argus – monster, could have as many as 100 eyes

• Cerberus – a huge powerful three headed dog

• Cyclopes – a gigantic, one eyed monster• Gorgons - horrifyingly ugly monsters who

lived at the edge of the world • Hydra - a massive and poisonous serpent

with nine heads

Sources

• http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0881992.html

• http://www.stanford.edu/~plomio/history.html

• http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Main_Page/

• http://www.ancientscripts.com/greek.html