Greek Thinkers, Democracy and ATG

January 4-9, 2012

What is it and why is it important?

Socrates• Taught that people should seek

other reasons for things that happen in life…not just blame the gods

• Socratic method: answer a question with a deeper, probing question

• Taught Plato• Condemned to death for

corrupting the youth of Athens (yeah, he encouraged them to THINK!)

• Drank poisoned wine and continued to teach his devoted students until he dropped dead.

Plato• Teacher and philosopher• Established a school of higher

learning called the Academy• Wrote The Republic…called

for a utopian society where everyone was equal, where the philosophers were the political leaders because they were best able to make decisions for the general good

• Taught Aristotle

Aristotle• Attended Plato’s Academy• Left Athens when he was not

selected to run the school after Plato’s death; went to Macedonia

• Taught Alexander the Great• Live life in moderation,

balance (like Taoism, kind of)• Reasoning: think about the

logic behind something happening, don’t just blame the gods

Euclid• Father of geometry• This is a piece of text from

Euclid’s book, “Elements”. It was written in about 100 AD.

• Thought to have attended Plato’s Academy

• Lived and taught in Alexandria, Egypt around 300 BC.

Hippocrates• Greatest of Greek doctors• Performed first autopsies to

investigate how the human body worked

• Determined that illness is caused by physical problems, not punishment by gods as believed

• Saw body as united systems working together

• Hippocratic Oath: made by doctors stating they will care for anyone who needs medical treatment no matter what their personal or financial circumstances

Archimedes• Scientist and

mathematician (geometry)

• Attended Euclid’s school in Alexandria, Egypt

• Lived on the island of Syracuse

• Created a machine called the ‘claw’; it lifted ships out of the water and capsized them

Pythagoras• Mathematician• Lived in the Greek colonies

in Sicily (Italy) in the 500s BC• Proved the Pythagorean

theorem• The Pythagorean Theorem

says that in a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the two right-angle sides will always be the same as the square of the hypotenuse (the long side).

Herodotus• Greek historian• Lived in Greek colony in

modern day Turkey in 5th century BC

• Wrote a historical text that documented events during the rule of four Persian kings, including Darius (the one Alexander fought and defeated) and the Persian Wars (think 300)

• Based his writing on oral histories offered by the Ionians

Homer

1. Who was he?2. When did he live?3. Where did he live?4. What did he do?5. Why is his identity unclear?6. How do modern historians view him?

What is it and what was its purpose?

• Hint: Archimedes invented it…

• It is called Archimedes screw. It provided a way of moving water from where it was to where it wasn’t (irrigation).

Early Athenian government

Monarchy

• The first government in Athens was a monarchy.

• Kings ruled and the power was passed from father to son by hereditary succession.

The rocky road to Athenian democracy

• Second government in Athens: oligarchy

Oligarchy• A group of wealthy landowners, or aristocrats, took power next.• A government in which only a few people have power is called

an oligarchy.• The richest men in Athens had all the power. Common people

had little or no say in the way things were run.• Draco created a new set of harsh laws after a small group of

commoners attempted to overthrow the oligarchy.• Solon took control after Draco and created less strict laws that

made all free men in Athens citizens, or people who could participate in government.

• The people wanted the aristocracy dissolved.

Next step on the road to democracy…

• The Athenian oligarchy was overthrown, and a tyranny was put in its place.

• Peisistratus became the first tyrant in Athenian rule. • Tyrants maintain their power through military force

with the support of the people of the country.• Athenian tyrants were generally good leaders.• The Athenian tyrants brought peace and prosperity

to the city.

One step backwards…..

• The tyranny was overthrown briefly by an oligarchy.

At last….democracy

Democracy under Cleisthenes, the Father of Democracy

• All citizens had the right to participate in government: – Free, male, landowning, born in AthensCitizens met in the agora, an open area where they could

discuss political issues.Voting was done by either a show of hands or a secret ballot.Sometimes the assembly was too large to make decisions.The Athenians selected citizens to be city officials to serve on

a city council. The council decided what issues the assembly would discuss.

Changes in Athenian Democracy

• Citizens began to serve on juries• Juries had an odd number of members to prevent

ties.• As elected leader of Athens, Pericles encouraged

more citizen involvement in government, and began to pay people for serving in office of on juries.

• Pericles acted as leader when Sparta attacked Athens in the Peloponnesian War. He died from the plague during the siege of Athens.

End of Democracy in Athens

• Athens was conquered by the Macedonians (Phillip II and his son, Alexander the Great).

• While the democracy in Athens remained somewhat intact, the Macedonian king was a dictator, and no laws could be passed without his approval.

• Soon this limited democracy was disbanded by the Macedonians, and democracy ended in Athens.

Direct Democracy

• In a direct democracy, each person’s vote directly affects the outcome of a decision.

• In Athens, all citizens, or people eligible to vote, were able to meet in one place at a given time to discuss an issue and make a decision.

• This form of democracy would not work for the United States.

Representative Democracy

• The United States is a representative democracy.

• Citizens in the U.S. elect officials to represent them in the government and make laws, and enforce them. (Senators, Representatives, judges, magistrates, president)

• Americans don’t vote on each government issue; they trust their elected Congressmen to vote for them.

Exit Slip: analogy

Direct democracy is like representative democracy because _______________, but they are different because ______________ .