Chapter 5 Greek Civilization

Section 1The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Mythology (Pgs. 155 – 156)•The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses controlled nature and shaped their lives.

•Myths are traditional stories about gods and heroes.

•Greek mythology expressed the Greek people’s religious beliefs.

What Was a Greek Oracle?•The Greeks believed each person had a fate or destiny and certain events were going to happen no matter what

•They also believed in prophecy, or prediction about the future.

•Many Greeks visited an oracle, sacred shrine where priests and priestesses spoke for the gods.

•The most famous was the oracle at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi (DEHL*fy).

Greek Poetry and Fables•Greek poetry and fables taught Greek values and are the oldest stories in the Western world.

•The earliest Greek stories were epics, long poems about heroic deeds.

•The earliest Greek epics were the Iliad and the Odyssey, written by the poet Homer during the 700s B.C.

•He based them on stories of a War Greece had with the city of Troy (northwestern Turkey).

Who Was Aesop?•A fable is a short tale that teaches a lesson

•Aesop (EE*sahp)was a Greek slave made up many famous fables

•In most of Aesop’s fables, animals talk and act like people, and the story ends with a message, or moral

•One of Aesop’s best-known fables is “The Tortoise and the Hare”

Greek Drama/Tragedies and Comedies•Drama is a story told by actors who pretend to be characters in a story

•The Greeks performed plays in outdoor theatres and developed two types of dramas: comedies and tragedies

•In a tragedy, a person struggles to overcome difficulties, but fails, and has an unhappy ending.

•In a comedy, the drama has a happy ending

Aeschylus: first to introduce the idea of two actors; Orestia: the moral is to not seek revenge

Sophocles: more actors, adds scenery; Oedipus Rex and Antigone

Euripides: more down-to-earth plots; questioned traditional thinking

Aristophanes: good examples of comedies; many were filled with jokes just like modern entertainment.

Greek Art and Architecture•Greek art and architecture expressed Greek ideas of beauty, reason, moderation, balance, and harmony

•Greeks painted murals and pottery and also sculpted

•Architecture is the art of designing building structures

•The most important architecture were temples dedicated to a god or goddess: best-known is the Parthenon, dedicated to Athena

•The Greeks used three different styles of columns in their buildings: Ionic, Doric, and Corinthian