Studied by 47 peopleWestern civilization started with?
Greece; before the Greeks came up with the idea of organized poleis, Europe was mainly barbaric.
Minoans
The first people that lived in Greece; were not Greek because they did not speak Greek.
Mycenaeans
The people that came into Greece after the Minoans and conquered the Minoans; were Greek because they spoke Greek.
Myth associated with the Minoans?
Minotaur myth.
Myth associated with the Mycenaeans?
Trojan War myth.
Who were the great seafarers of the ancient world?
Minoans and later Mycenaeans (Greeks) alongside the Phoenicians.
What was the Minoans' writing system?
Linear A, which is indecipherable.
Dark Ages
Started from around 1000 BCE; this is when all writing stopped.
Ending of the Dark Ages
Circa 800 BCE; the Mycenaean Greeks created a writing system based heavily off of the Phoenician alphabet.
What did the Greeks use their new alphabet after the Dark Ages for?
Trade, contract agreements, writing poetry, and to convey their ideas.
What proves that the Greeks prioritized having heroic values?
Homer's works, The Iliad and The Odyssey, both have heroic protagonists in their poems.
Arête
Manliness, courage, and excellence.
How did the Greeks honor their gods besides making sacrifices?
They showed feats of strength, winning at various competitions, and overall excellence in a particular subject.
Agon
A contest among the Greeks which included sporting, warfare, or other activities expanding into general life and recreation.
Why did the Greeks consider non-Greek speakers and foreigners barbarians?
They did not live in poleis and considered the Greek way of life the best and ONLY civilized way. Along with heroic values, they also valued individualism (which the poleis promoted).
What were some of the ways that the Greek gods were connected to humans in a more level way than other religions?
They possessed many human qualities, including flaws.
They sometimes came down from Mt. Olympus to visit the humans.
Like the ancient Greeks, the gods enjoyed and valued beauty, banquets, processions, athletic competitions, music, and theater.
Humans sacrificed something of human production to the gods but kept all the good parts to themselves.
Define oracle.
A person who interpreted divine will.
Define hubris.
One of the sins in ancient Greece. It is when someone tries to become godlike with excessive pride or arrogance.
Define Ionia.
Western coast of Asia Minor, a part of ancient Greece overall. Was the center of Greek life circa the 500s BCE.
What were the influences on Ionian science?
Circa 585 BCE, the Greeks shared ideas with the Babylonian Empire, Egypt, and Asia Minor. They learned the Phoenician alphabet, the Babylonian system of weights, coins invented by the Lydians, and Phrygian modes (structures of music).
What did the Babylonians excel in?
They excelled in math and astronomy as they recorded planet movements, started the idea of astrology, developed the 60-number system we still use today, and made square/cube roots.
What were the accomplishments of Thales of Miletus?
He predicted solar eclipses and measured pyramids through measuring the length of shadows. He also had a theory that there was an orderly cosmos that was "accessible to human reason" which was proven wrong later.
What were the accomplishments of Democritus?
He proposed a theory that there was an infinite universe with tiny atoms which had spaces between them which is proven and correct.
What were the accomplishments of Pythagoras?
He proposed that math was the key to understanding the real world, suggested that the number 13 was unlucky, developed the Pythagorean Theorem, and suggested that earth and other heavenly bodies were spherical and rotated on their axes.
What were the accomplishments of Anaxagoras?
He suggested that the sun was a white-hot stone instead of a god.
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