Greek Religion, Philosophy, and Literature

• Pericles was the leader of Athens • Athens adopted democracy as their form of government • The arts, literature, drama flourished in Athens

I. The Golden Age of Athens

• From 479 B.C. to 431 B.C. marked the Golden Age of Athens when Athens grew rich from trade and silver mined by slaves • Tribute or payment was paid to Athens by other city states for protection • Pericles was the leader of Athens during this time and oversaw some of Greece’s amazing achievements in the arts, philosophy and literature • Pericles came from an aristocratic family and was well educated • Pericles instituted an important reform that allowed people to be paid for service to the government which meant that poor people could hold public office

Sculpture of Greek goddesses

Greek Philosophers Greek Drama Greek Architecture

II. The Flourishing Arts

• After the Acropolis was destroyed in 480B.C. Pericles had it rebuilt along with other new buildings • The Parthenon, a temple to the goddess Athena was made of fine marble with rows of columns surrounding it • A statue of Athena stood in the center which stood 4 stories high made of wood, ivory and gold

Lifelike Sculpture

• The great statue of Athena disappeared long ago although the inside and outside sculpture still exists • Greek statues always showed their subjects in full action, showed balance and were lifelike and accurate • The gods and goddesses were shown as perfect views of humans and animals • Sculptures did not represent any flaws

Greek Sculpture of their Gods

III. The Search for Knowledge

• Greeks worshipped a family of gods and goddesses called the Twelve Olympians • The gods were immortal meaning that they lived forever • In addition to the 12 gods, the Greeks worshipped lesser gods and heroes like Achilles from the Trojan War

Greek Science and Philosophy

• Philosophers were people who figured out new ways to understand their world • Thales believed that water was the basic material of the world • Democritus thought that everything was made of tiny particles called atoms • Socrates wanted people to consider the true meaning of justice and courage • Socrates was brought to trial and eventually committed suicide with poison

Socrates Thales Democritus

IV. Greek Drama

• The Athenians were the first people to write drama • Tragedy is a serious story that ends in disaster for the main character • Comedy were stories that made fun of well-known citizens and politicians and the customs of the day

Greek Dramas