Who were the ancient Greeks and why were people so fascinated by them?
Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes and either Hestia, or Dionysus.
Zeus- Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods. He is lord of the sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. He is married to Hera but, is famous for his many affairs.
Hera- Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the ancient Greek gods, represented the ideal woman and was goddess of marriage and family. However, she was perhaps most famous for her jealous and vengeful nature, principally aimed towards the lovers of her husband and their illegitimate offspring.
Poseidon- Poseidon was the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses. Although he was officially one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in his watery domain. Poseidon was brother to Zeus and Hades.
Demeter- Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she oversaw the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and her daughter, Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon.
Athena- Athena the goddess of wisdom and military victory, also the patron of the city of Athens. She was Hercules' half-sister, her parents were Zeus and Metis, a nymph.
Apollo- Apollo has been commonly recognized as a god of light and sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the virginal huntress Artemis.
Artemis- Various conflicting accounts are given in Classical Greek mythology of the birth of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo.
Aphrodite- Aphrodite was the goddess of love. The Romans called her Venus (hence the famous armless statue known as the Venus de Milo). Aphrodite lived on Mount Olympus with the other supreme deities and was married to the unattractive craftsman-god, Hephaestus.
Zeus- Zeus won the draw and became the supreme ruler of the gods. He is lord of the sky, the rain god. His weapon is a thunderbolt which he hurls at those who displease him. He is married to Hera but, is famous for his many affairs.
Hera- Hera, wife of Zeus and queen of the ancient Greek gods, represented the ideal woman and was goddess of marriage and family. However, she was perhaps most famous for her jealous and vengeful nature, principally aimed towards the lovers of her husband and their illegitimate offspring.
Poseidon- Poseidon was the god of the sea, earthquakes and horses. Although he was officially one of the supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in his watery domain. Poseidon was brother to Zeus and Hades.
Demeter- Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she oversaw the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and her daughter, Persephone were the central figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon.
Athena- Athena the goddess of wisdom and military victory, also the patron of the city of Athens. She was Hercules' half-sister, her parents were Zeus and Metis, a nymph.
Apollo- Apollo has been commonly recognized as a god of light and sun, truth and prophecy, healing, plague, music, poetry, and more. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto, and has a twin sister, the virginal huntress Artemis.
Artemis- Various conflicting accounts are given in Classical Greek mythology of the birth of Artemis and her twin brother, Apollo. All accounts agree, however, that she was the daughter of Zeus and Leto and that she was the twin sister of Apollo.
Aphrodite- Aphrodite was the goddess of love. The Romans called her Venus (hence the famous armless statue known as the Venus de Milo). Aphrodite lived on Mount Olympus with the other supreme deities and was married to the unattractive craftsman-god, Hephaestus.
*Many people were fascinated by the Greek gods and goddesses because they have a respectful fear towards them. Gods and goddesses have authority over the mortals (humans).
They have rules that the mortals need to follow, or else they will suffer or be punished for a lifetime.* |
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Socrates (Sok-ratt-ees), c.470 B.C. to c.399 B.C.
Socrates is known as the father of western knowledge. He believed that the universe could be explained through thought, and came up with the method of question and answer analysis, now known as the Socratic Method. As he was not born to a noble family, and he most likely received only a very basic education and learned to be a sculptor and/or stonemason like his father, Sophroniscus. He believed in a system of ethics based on logic, reason, and the consequences of action, as opposed to the standard religious indoctrination. He believed that the main desire for humans was to be happy, and believed that wisdom comes from knowing oneself, causing people to be able to make choices to give themselves true and lasting happiness.
He translated this into the unusual idea that power should be based on wisdom, not wealth, heredity, or democratic elections. He never got a chance to test his theory. Because of his questioning of traditional beliefs, he was tried and convicted from 280 through 221 B.C.E. out of fear for his way of life. He was eventually executed by being forced to drink a highly poisonous plant. Most of what is known of him was told in the writings of his student Plato.
Plato (Play-toh), c.428 B.C. to c.348 B.C.
Plato wrote on a variety of subjects, such as: justice, beauty and equality, political philosophy, and the philosophy of language. Unlike his mentor, Plato came from an aristocratic family, and as a privileged boy, he was exposed to much indoctrination, and that was likely to have been the basis for some of his studies in metaphysics (study of nature), and epistemology (study of knowledge). After the death of his father, the two events that changed his life were meeting Socrates and the Peloponnesian War.
The war had Athenian democracy replaced with Spartan oligarchy, causing doubts about government. Meeting Socrates opened him up to new ideas. He believed that the ideas he learned and thought of after meeting Socrates should be shared, so he founded the academy where math, science, and philosophy were taught from 385 B.C. to 525 A.D. He shared Socrates’s idea of government, but failed to implement it. He was put under house arrest for his beliefs, but at least he was not executed.
Aristotle (Air-is-tot-ell), c.384 B.C. to c.322 B.C.
He was a top student at the academy who learned directly from Plato. He taught 13 year old Alexander the Great, who had deep respect for him. With his permission, Aristotle even founded his own school, the Lyceum. He spent much time there on and off, as a researcher and teacher. As a philosopher, his greatest ambition was to create a systematic concept of logic. He believed that he could understand anything by studying its characteristics, and through deductive reasoning, discover its purpose. Aristotle had to escape charges of impiety, similar to his predecessors Socrates and Plato, but in the end, we have come to acknowledge all three of them as the most influential people in western thought.
Socrates is known as the father of western knowledge. He believed that the universe could be explained through thought, and came up with the method of question and answer analysis, now known as the Socratic Method. As he was not born to a noble family, and he most likely received only a very basic education and learned to be a sculptor and/or stonemason like his father, Sophroniscus. He believed in a system of ethics based on logic, reason, and the consequences of action, as opposed to the standard religious indoctrination. He believed that the main desire for humans was to be happy, and believed that wisdom comes from knowing oneself, causing people to be able to make choices to give themselves true and lasting happiness.
He translated this into the unusual idea that power should be based on wisdom, not wealth, heredity, or democratic elections. He never got a chance to test his theory. Because of his questioning of traditional beliefs, he was tried and convicted from 280 through 221 B.C.E. out of fear for his way of life. He was eventually executed by being forced to drink a highly poisonous plant. Most of what is known of him was told in the writings of his student Plato.
Plato (Play-toh), c.428 B.C. to c.348 B.C.
Plato wrote on a variety of subjects, such as: justice, beauty and equality, political philosophy, and the philosophy of language. Unlike his mentor, Plato came from an aristocratic family, and as a privileged boy, he was exposed to much indoctrination, and that was likely to have been the basis for some of his studies in metaphysics (study of nature), and epistemology (study of knowledge). After the death of his father, the two events that changed his life were meeting Socrates and the Peloponnesian War.
The war had Athenian democracy replaced with Spartan oligarchy, causing doubts about government. Meeting Socrates opened him up to new ideas. He believed that the ideas he learned and thought of after meeting Socrates should be shared, so he founded the academy where math, science, and philosophy were taught from 385 B.C. to 525 A.D. He shared Socrates’s idea of government, but failed to implement it. He was put under house arrest for his beliefs, but at least he was not executed.
Aristotle (Air-is-tot-ell), c.384 B.C. to c.322 B.C.
He was a top student at the academy who learned directly from Plato. He taught 13 year old Alexander the Great, who had deep respect for him. With his permission, Aristotle even founded his own school, the Lyceum. He spent much time there on and off, as a researcher and teacher. As a philosopher, his greatest ambition was to create a systematic concept of logic. He believed that he could understand anything by studying its characteristics, and through deductive reasoning, discover its purpose. Aristotle had to escape charges of impiety, similar to his predecessors Socrates and Plato, but in the end, we have come to acknowledge all three of them as the most influential people in western thought.
Greek Democracy
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Democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and kratos meaning power. Greek city-states formed around 2,000 B.C. under monarchies, oligarchies, and aristocracies. That practice was abolished and replaced with the first democracy sometime prior to 600 B.C. Athenian citizens, meaning free adult males, who only made up 10% of the population, were assembled to elect three people to lead them for one year. Things changed in 600 B.C., when the economy suffered to the point where most of what they earned went to wealthy landowners. Many even sold themselves into slavery to pay off debts.
Their democracy clearly started off rocky, but many elected leaders brought great reforms. The first of which was Solon (So-lun). He outlawed debt based slavery, and reformed Athens' government with the council of 400, where power was based on wealth instead of heredity. Only citizens of the 3 highest classes could hold office, but all citizens could vote.
Nearly a century later was Cleisthenes (Klye-thun-ese). Around 508 B.C.E., Cleisthenes made more reforms in their government system. He allowed all citizens to submit laws to debate, balanced the power of poor and rich, and the number of citizens was doubled. The next notable reformer in Greek democracy was Pericles, who led Athens from 461 to 429 B.C.E. His legacy evolved into the first direct democracy, where citizens made laws directly without elected officials.
Their democracy clearly started off rocky, but many elected leaders brought great reforms. The first of which was Solon (So-lun). He outlawed debt based slavery, and reformed Athens' government with the council of 400, where power was based on wealth instead of heredity. Only citizens of the 3 highest classes could hold office, but all citizens could vote.
Nearly a century later was Cleisthenes (Klye-thun-ese). Around 508 B.C.E., Cleisthenes made more reforms in their government system. He allowed all citizens to submit laws to debate, balanced the power of poor and rich, and the number of citizens was doubled. The next notable reformer in Greek democracy was Pericles, who led Athens from 461 to 429 B.C.E. His legacy evolved into the first direct democracy, where citizens made laws directly without elected officials.
Work Cited
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"Greek Mythology :: Greek Gods :: Greek Goddesses :: Greek Myths | GreekMythology.com." Greek Mythology :: Greek Gods :: Greek Goddesses :: Greek Myths | GreekMythology.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2014. <http://www.greekmythology.com/>.
Littel, McDougal. "Legacy of Ancient Greece and Rome." Modern World History. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 5-9. Print.
"Plato." N.p., n.d. Web. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.biography.com%2Fpeople%2Fplato-9442588%23synopsis>.
"Socrates." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <http://www.biography.com/people/socrates-9488126#synopsis>.
"The Greek Gods." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJCm8W5RZes#t=66>.