ancient greeks midterm 2

plato - symposium → diotima’s speech

part of the works of socrates

• exploration of love

• purpose of love is to give birth to beauty in body or soul

• ppl desire to be immortal → reproduction and birth in beauty → reproduction & glory & ideas are immortal

love drives ppl to ascend from physical attraction to absolute, divine beauty & immortality

progression of love = bodies (lust/hetero) → souls (personality/friendship/same-sex) → ideas/knowledge (old lover & young beloved - the passing down of ideas)

• ideas give immortality + your soul has fully become actualized

plato - apology

socrates’ explanation for his charges

CHARGES - not believing in gods, corrupting the youth, makes the worse argument into a better one

• execution reflects athenian fear of sophistry

socrates’ defense - never taught for a fee, same person in private & public, converses/debates in public and ppl just happen to hear it + says there is no one wiser than him

aristotle - nicomachean ethics

all knowledge & choices aim for good

happiness - smth complete & self-sufficient, end of an action, living & faring well

• those who study 1 subject = good judge of that subject

• those who studies lot of subjects in general = good general judge

• studying for an action < studying the theory (study for pursuit of knowledge)

knowing everything (theory & action) → knows some things & asks for counsel → someone who doest know anything + doesnt ask for help

• emphasizes imp. of virtue but slightly classist

aristotle - metaphysics

demosthenes - third philippic

the life of philip (persian king)

plutarch - alexander the great

apollonius rhodius - argonautica book 1

jason gets mission to steal the golden fleece from King Aietes to reclaim the throne that Pelias (his uncle) stole

• heracles is one the argonauts → they want him to be the leader but he suggests jason

• lemnian women → they killed all their husbands and sons; argonauts stay there for a while sleeping w the women → foreshadowing to medea

• heracles is abandoned bc he wants to bury his friend hylas

themes: jason is the antithesis of the hero archetype (outwardly courageous, loud, brash, etc — he’s very quiet, meek, calculative)

importance of prophecy/omen → pelias knew that jason would overthrow him bc jason’s sandal was lost (prophecy that a man with 1 shoe would kill him) + when giving offering to apollo idmon says he received a bird omen (augury) that says he will die

importance of gods → give offerings to apollo, zeus, pray to artemis,

callimachus - poems

theocritus - idylls 1, 11, 24

apollonius rhodius - argonautica book 3