Greek Culture stations by Nicole Zollman

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To the Greeks, fire was explained by a man named Prometheus. Prometheus traveled to Mount Olympus, stole fire from the Gods, and brought it back to Earth. When the Olympian Gods found out, they chained Prometheus to a large boulder where he was punished daily. An eagle pecked out his liver during the day; overnight, his liver would grow

back and the eagle would return the next day to torture Prometheus again.

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Greek literature has informed much of what we know about the ancient Greeks. The two most popular forms of literature that have been passed down throughout history are epic poems and fables.

Epic Poem

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Fable

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Athena was viewed as one of the most powerful of the Greek gods. Each polis in the Greek landscape honored different gods, and Athena was the most common choice.

For example, Athens and Sparta, two of the most famed greek city-states, worshiped Athena.

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Ruins of the original sports field for Olympic Games

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The Greeks were the first to invent a new form of art where participants followed a script (written by a writer) and acted out of the roles in front of an audience. This style of art, the bringing to life of written words on paper, is called drama. The Greeks performed these dramas in outdoor theaters where members of the audience sat on three sides of the stage.

In early Greek theater, only three people were allowed on stage, and the writers and actors were often the same people.

Greek society, with the exception of Sparta, viewed women as inferior to men. As a result, Greek dramas were created and performed solely by men. Women were forbidden from participating in these plays, and they were also prohibited from sitting in the audience. Should a script have a female character, that part

would also be played by a man.

Since plays were often performed outside, actors had to speak very loudly and use gestures in order for the audience to understand the script. Costumes were often very colorful and exaggerated, and masks might be worn to depict the mood of a particular scene.

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Eratosthenes

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Estimated the circumference, or distance around Earth. He estimated the Earth to have a circumference of around 24,000 miles — it is roughly 24,900 miles. He was amazingly close!

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Hypatia was the greatest mathematician of her time and invented the astrolabe, a device not only used to measures star distances but also as a tool in navigation.

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While Ptolemy did not make many grand achievements in his own right (he incorrectly believed the Earth was the center of the universe), his work on astronomy and star and planetary positions allowed others to advance new theories!

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Archimedes understood the law of levers, and that to move an innate object one needs a lever and a fulcrum placed close to an object. This allowed sailors to lift heavy objects! He also discovered a method to calculate the volume of an irregularly shaped object. While taking a bath, he realized that the volume of water that spilled out of the tub was in direct proportion to the mass of what went in!

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Aristarchus was a revolutionary mathematician and astronomer for his time. He was the first to develop a theory that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. He also believed that stars were distant suns in other galaxies!

Ionic

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Corinthian

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Doric

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The Greeks were among the first people of history to write down the events of the past. They understood the importance of using history to understand the present. They also believed that the past could be studied in order to predict the future

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Aristotle, Socrates, and Plato were three of the most famous Greek philosophers. This means that they used reason to study the world, rather than using myth or religion to explain everything they saw. Philosophers attempt to explain what they see in the world through experimentation and observation. The study of philosophy translates to “love of wisdom” in the Greek language.

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Socrates was born around 470 BCE and is credited with being one of the first Greek philosophers and a founder of the subject. In his time, Socrates was an enigmatic thinker and teacher. His method of instruction created one of the pillars of the education system today, known as the Socratic Method. This exercise encourages critical thinking by asking individuals a series of questions and allowing time for discussion or debate. The purpose is for students to consider the ideas of their peers, as well as their own, to reach new understandings. Plato, one of his most famed students, recorded much of Socrates’ life, including his controversial execution. Being a philosopher, Socrates was skeptical of religion. Athenian politicians charged Socrates with moral corruption when he began asking his students to question the power of the Greek gods. In 399 BCE, he was sentenced to death by drinking a toxic beverage made from the poisonous plant hemlock.

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Plato was born in 427 BCE and was a student of Socrates and a teacher of Aristotle. While Plato shared the same “love of wisdom” of his predecessor, Plato started to merge the principles of mathematics with philosophy to help the Greeks better understand the world around them. Plato perhaps is most famous for creating The Academy, a learning institution built in Athens, which is today credited with being the first university to exist in Europe. Much of Plato’s writings deal with law, order, and justice, as is seen in his famed book The Republic. In it, Plato describes his vision for a perfect government. Despite Athens having a democracy, Plato believed a better option existed. Since philosophers like himself always sought the best, most

rational explanations to problems, he believed a philosopher-king should govern society. This ensured that rulers would not make rash judgements, but would instead carefully calculate every decision.

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Aristotle was born in 384 BCE. He was a student of Plato, and Aristotle was such an avid thinker that he would go on to create his own school, the Lyceum, which was constructed in Athens in 334 BCE. Aristotle’s writings have influenced the world’s views on morals, law, biology, ethics, and government. As a result, he is also considered the first biologist (having written on 500 species of birds, mammals, and fish), the first psychologist (having described how some human behavior is driven by instinct), and the first geologist (having described how the earth’s geography changes based on climate). In 343 BCE, Aristotle was hired by Philip II of Macedon to tutor his son, Alexander the Great. He encouraged Alexander to “be a leader of the Greeks,” which Alexander took to heart and conquered the region in

336 BCE.

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Greek art reflected how the Greeks viewed themselves and

their world. First, Greek art glorified human beings. Greek

painters and sculptures showed this glorification by making

humans look flawless, without imperfection. Greek statues

also showed other traits the Greeks admired, such as strength,

intelligence, pride, grace, and courage. Second, Greek art

showcased pride in their city states. The grand design of

public buildings and temples was meant to highlight the glory

of the “polis”, or “city-state,” in Greece. Lastly, Greek art was

used to honor the gods. Many Greek artists used their talents

to depict the Greek gods in near perfect form; to the Greeks,

this would win the favor to the gods and bring blessings to the

polis.

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Many Greek sculptures were placed inside temples, thus honoring the gods they portrayed. The Greeks used many

different types of materials in their sculptures, including stone, marble and limestone as these were abundant in Greece. One of the most famous sculptors in all of Greek history was Phidias. In 447 BCE, Athenian statesman Pericles hired Phidias to direct the construction of the Parthenon, a temple to honor the goddess Athena. Inside, Phidias sculpted a 38-foot tall statue of Athena. Twelve years later, Phidias was hired to create a massive

42-foot tall statue of Zeus in Olympia around 435 BCE, the site of the Olympic games held every four years.

Sculptures are the most common form of Greek art that survives today. This is

not to suggest that the Greeks did not paint or make pottery, but other forms of art have been more difficult to unearth so only sculptures were durable enough to

survive the roughly 2,500 years of history.