World History

Mrs. Thompson

Chapter 5 Section 1

The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses controlled nature and shaped their lives.

Myths are

traditional stories about

gods and heroes.

The Greeks built

buildings as temples in cities to honor

their gods.

Greek Gods and

Goddesses

According to Greek mythology:

Zeus ruled the sky and threw lightning bolts.

Demeter made crops grow.

Poseidon caused earthquakes.

The 12 most important gods and goddesses lived on Mt. Olympus.

gods had special powers, but looked like humans. They married, played tricks, and

had children.

• Stories about powerful gods, goddesses, and ancient heroes and heroines

• Created and spread with an oral poetic tradition

• Patron goddess of Greece

• Goddess of Wisdom, War, the Arts, Industry, Justice, and Skill

• Her symbols were the owl, olive tree, and spear

• Greek god of the Sun

• Creative

• Handsome

• Supportive of all the arts of civilization

• Greek God of War• Decisive• Determined• Fearless• Brutal • Uncivilized• Symbols-spear,

vultures, and dogs

• Greek Goddess of Love and Beauty

• Gorgeous • Perfect• Eternally young • Beautiful body• Symbol -Girdle that

has magical powers to compel love

• Greek Goddess of Wild Things• Freedom loving young woman who

roams the forest with female companions

• Dislikes men• Opposes Marriage and the loss of

freedom it entails for women• Keeps to the natural wild environment

rather than city life• Symbol-bow, lunar crescent

• Greek Goddess of Agriculture

• Controls fertility of the earth

• Gives life after death to those who learn her mysteries

• Symbol-wheat, cornucopia

• King of the Dead• Lord of the Underworld• Rich with the wealth of

the earth • Persistent • Determined• Called “Zeus of the

Departed• Symbol-scepter with horns

• Greek Goddess of Marriage

• Most beautiful of all goddesses even Aphrodite

• Defender of the sanctity of marriage and monogamy

• Symbol-the peacock

• Perhaps the most famous hero of Greek Mythology

• Brave• Strong• Determined • Symbol-wooden

club

• Daughter of Demeter• Loving and lovely• Hades planted a

pomegranate in a meadow to entice her to pluck it, pulling on the flower opened up the Underworld and Hades sprang out, carrying her off.

• Symbol-pomegranate, flower

• Greek God of the Sea• Creative• Designed all the creatures of

the sea• Believed to be seen in the

crashing of waves on the shore

• Believed to be the force behind earthquakes

• Symbol-three-horned trident

A ritual is a set of actions carried

out in a fixed way.

As part of Greek ritual,

the Greeks prayed and gave gifts to their gods.

Festivals honored the gods.

They believed in the afterlife.

They believed that their spirits went to a gloomy world beneath

the earth ruled by the god Hades.

To find out the future, the Greeks visited an oracle, a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess.

The Greeks believed that every person had a fate or destiny.

What was a Greek Oracle?

The most famous was the oracle at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

They also believed in prophecy, a prediction about the future.

At Delphi:

The chamber was deep in the temple and had

an opening in the floor where volcanic smoke

hissed from a crack in the earth.

A priestess sat on a tripod, a 3-legged chamber, and listened

to the questions.

State leaders and messengers traveled

here to hear from Apollo.

The priestess in the oracle gave

answers in riddles.

Example: A king Croseus asked oracle at Delphi if he should go to war against the Persians. She replied that he would destroy a “mighty empire”, but the Persians ended up being the ones that crushed Croseus. He actually destroyed his own empire!

Greek Poetry

and Fables

Greek poetry and fables taught Greek values.

Greek poetry and fables taught Greek values.

The earliest Greek stories were epics, which were long poems that told about heroic deeds.

The first great epics in early Greece were the Iliad and the Odyssey, which were written by Homer in the 700s B.C.

In the Iliad: Prince of Troy kidnaps the wife of the king of Sparta.

At night the Greeks broke out of the horse and captured the city.

The king of Mycenae, Agamemnon, and his brother, the Spartan king, attacked Troy.

The Trojans thought the horse was a gift from the Greeks.

The battle for Troy lasts 10 years, and then the Greeks came up with a new idea.

They built a large, wooden horse and hid Mycenaean warriors inside.

Name

Name

He faces

storms, witches,

and giants before

returning home. We use the word “odyssey”

today to describe a long journey.

The story describes the journey of Odysseus home

from the Trojan War. It took him 10 years to reach home.

Homer’s Odyssey

Name

Homer’s stories taught:

Courage and

honor

loyalty to

friends

to be the best you can be

the value of the relationship of

husband and wife

Name

For about 200 years,

Aesop’s fables were a part of

Greece’s oral

tradition before

written down. .

One of the best known

is “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

“slow and steady wins

the race”

These often funny stories

point out human

flaws as well as

strengths.

A fable is a short tale

that teaches a lesson

Aesop was a Greek

slave that made up a collection

of fables in around 550

B.C.

Who was

Aesop?

Name

Name

Greek drama still shapes entertainme

nt today.

Greek Drama

Drama is a story told by actors who pretend to be characters in a story. (movies, plays, TV shows, are examples)

The Greeks performed plays in outdoor theaters as part of their religious festivals.

ComediesTragedies

NameIn a tragedy:A person struggles to overcome difficulties but fails, so the story has a unhappy ending.

In early tragedies, people struggled against their fate,

and in later ones, the person’s character flaws caused him or her to fail.

In a Comedy:The story ends happily.

The word comedy

refers to any drama with a happy ending.

Name

Greek stories

dealt with big questions such as :

What is the nature of good and evil?

What rights should people have?

What role do gods play in our lives?

The three best-known writers of Greek tragedies

were Aeschylus, Sophocles,

and Euripedes.

The best known writer of Greek

comedies was Aristophanes.

Aeschylus wrote the group of 3-plays called the Oresteia in 458 B.C.

They describe what happened to the king of

Mycenae when returning home

from Trojan War.

Details

They teach that evil acts cause more evil acts and suffering,

but reason triumphs over

evil.

Details

The moral of the story is that people should not

seek revenge.

Details

Sophocles

He developed

drama even

further and used

3 actors in his

stories.

He placed painted scenes behind

the stage as a

backdrop.

Two of the most famous

were Oedipus Rex and Antigon

e

In Antigone, he asks

“Is it better to follow

orders or to do

what is right?”

His plots show a great interest

in real-life situations.

He tried to take drama beyond

heroes and gods.

He questioned traditional thinking, especially about war.

His comedies make fun of leading politicians and scholars.

He encourages the audience to think and laugh, and he regularly

included jokes.

Aristophanes

Greek Art and

Architecture

Greek art and architecture expressed Greek ideas of beauty and harmony.

Greek art and architecture expressed Greek ideas of beauty and harmony.

Greek ArtGreek artists wanted people to see reason,

moderation, balance, andharmony in their work.

We know that Greeks

painted murals, but none of them

have survived.

Painting on pottery

provides example of Greek painting.

In Greek pottery, pictures are either

red on a black background or black on a red background, and they show scenes

from myths and daily life.

The Parthenon

In Greece, the most important architecture was the temple dedicated to a god or goddess.

Temples like the Parthenon, had a walled room in their centers.

Statues of gods and goddesses and the gifts offered were kept in this room.

Architecture is the art of designing

and building structures.

Large columns supported buildings.

The first Greek columns were carved from wood.

Sections were tacked on top of one another and joined by wooden pegs.

In 500 B.C., the Greeks began to use marble, and marble columns were built in sections.

Large blocks of marble were chiseled and brought by oxen-driven wagon.

Famous buildings today have columns like the Greeks, like the White House and the Capitol.

• Doric columns were sturdy with a plain capital.

• They were used in mainland Greece.

Ionic Columns

• They were thinner and more elegant.

• The capital is decorated with a scroll-like design.

• They were found in eastern Greece.

Corinthian Columns

• They were seldom used in the Greek world.

• They were often used in Roman temples.

• The capital is very elaborate, decorated with acanthus leaves.

Greek Sculpture It was used to express Greek ideas,

and the favorite subject of

Greek artists was the human body. The Greeks tried

to show their ideal version of

protection and beauty.