both 3 + 4 clst

philosophia

the love of knowledge

Thales 

considered to be the first philosopher, focused on the primary principles of matter

thales’ primary principle

suggested that water is the unifying and all encompassing primary principle

Anaximander

disagreed with Thales’ theory of water as the principle element, and used logic to decide that from which all comes, all will return, and called his theory “boundless”

the development of the greek alphabet from phonecian

800-750 BCE

When the official alphabet of Athens was adopted from Miletos

403 BCE

cup of Nestor, from Pithekoussai, 725 BC

early example of joking greek text, as a reference to Nestor from the Iliad 

the city that was worked to be the cultural centre of the greek world

Alexandria

the ruler who worked to make Alexandria the cultural centre of the greek world

Ptolemies

Papyri

found in the 19th century through excavations, mainly found fragments of poems

aristocrats of the island of lesbos that produced lyric poetry

Sappho and Alkaios

the most famous female poet of ancient greece

Sappho

Epics

expansion on the Iliad and Odyssey by other authors

Ekhidna

mother of the monsters

thales said “all things are full of gods”, which is based on which of his principles?

that water is present in everything and is thus divine 

Anaximander of Miletos’ primary principle

Boundless, that everything is infinite, indefinite, and has no origin

What were Anaximander of Miletos’ thoughts on astronomy

that earth is floating in space unsupported, and celestial bodies describe full circles around the earth

Anaximenes of Miletos 

primary principle of air, where all the elements are air at different stages of density 

Xenophanes of Kolophon

philosopher who had issues with Homer and Hesiod attributing immoral behaviour of man to the gods

2 philosophers who looked at human knowledge and it’s limits

Xenophanes and Herakleitos

Herakleitos 

no singular element is the principle, instead there are interchange of opposites that balance each other, you cannot step into the same river twice, because principles exist in connection to each other

Parmenides of Elia

logic is only a tool to know the world, observation is unreliable, questioned ‘what is’, and meant there is one single and unchanging reality that can be understood with reason

Zeno

was an associate of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes on the impossibility of motion, achilles and the tortoise, the arrow paradox

Achilles and the tortoise

if the tortoise has a head start, Achilles will never be able to catch up

Arrow paradox

if time is a series of moments, then in each of those moments, the arrow isn’t actually moving

Empedocles of Akragas 

everything produced by the mixing and separation of four elements and moved by the opposing forces of strife and love 

Democritus of Abdera

atomist theory; matter is made of invisible particles atomoi (indivisible), and for those atoms to move, there has to be void (space)

Pythagoras of Samos

lead a community that followed strict moral and dietary rules and restrictions

Early philosophy 

use of logical reasoning to explain the natural world and the primary principle without supernatural causes 

had to be good at _______ to function in Athenian society

public speaking

Rhetoric

professional public speaking

Teisas and Korax from Syracuse

wrote a textbook on speaking 

peitho

persuasion

Gorgios from Leontinoi

said that Helen did no wrong, she was moved by the irresistible force of persuasion

Sophokles

tragedy writer

Iktonos

building of the parthenon

Hippodamos of Miletos

dealt with town planning and civil engineering, interested in dividing the city into blocks

Polykleitos

looked at the symmetry of the human body, had a statue and book, both called canon, both explaining perfect human proportions

sophists 

looked at the relationship between a word and its meaning and the problem of negative statements 

Protagoras of Abdera

one of the most famous sophists, said that knowledge is relative to the knower, and that we cannot know anything about the gods

nomos

custom, law, culture

phusis

nature

arete

goodness

historia

research, inquiry

logographoi

prose writers, compilers of genealogical, ethnographic, mystical traditions, and geographical material

Herodotus 

father of history, interested in human geography, and the customs of foreign people, and had a realistic approach to cultural differences 

Thucydides

wrote on the Peloponnesian war, summarized greek history from the origin of civilizations, by questioning evidence from the past, interviewing as many people as possible, and not relying on personal opinion. believed his work could be used to understand the present and future

tyche

fortune

Great Dionysia’s drama competitions 

Tragedy, satyr plays, comedies, and dithyrambs, established in 6th century, supervised by an Arkhon Eponymous who allocates each selected production to a Khoregos 

tragic poets at the Great Dionysia festival

had to submit 3 tragedies and a satyr play

comic poets at the great Dionysia festival

had to submit one comedy

judging drama competitions 

would be judged by a panel of 10, one judge from each tribe, where a dramatist would get a crown and prize money, the khoregos would be able to erect a monument 

Deus ex machina

meaning god from the machine, that is used to lower in statues of the gods

sliding platform

used to bring in and out characters that were not able to walk

maximum amount of characters 

3

Tragoidia

tragedy, comes from ‘song of goats’

originally a chorus of twelve in a tragedy, before it went to

15

the purpose of a tragedy 

mainly used mythological themes to examine the human experience 

Aiskhylos

wrote the Oresteia, the only surviving trilogy, and the Persians, a tragedy on the Persian war

the parts of the Oresteia

Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides

Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter leads to

his wife wanting revenge, teaming up with Agamemnon’s cousin Aigisthos to kill Agamemnon

Aigsthos

Agamemnon’s cousin

the children of Agamemnon, Orestes and Elektra, after his death

seek revenge on their mother, Klytamnestra and the cousin Aigsthos, which led to Orestes and Elektra being tormented by the gods

Klytamnestra

wife of Agamemnon and sister to Helen

the purpose of the Orestia trilogies

to show the foundation of the Aeropagus court and demonstrate that justice and revenge is not the exact same

Orestes and Elektra

Children of Agamemmnon

Sophokles

a writer, introduced a third actor, wrote plays about the family of Oidipous to reflect on the nature of guilt and the flawed nature of humans

Oidipous

was abandoned on a mountain, to then be found by a Shepard and raised by the king and queen of a local city

what Oidipous was told at the oracle of Delphi

that he would kill his father and sleep with his mother

how does Oidipous complete the prophecy

as he runs away from his adopted parents in Corinth, and heads to Thebes, on the way he kills an old man on the road and comes across the Sphinx, and solves the Sphinx’s riddle, which makes him a hero, the queen hears about him, and since her husband had just been run over, she decides to marry the hero, fulfilling the prophecy, as the old man was his father, and the queen was his mother

what happens after it is revealed that Oidipous has killed his father and slept with his mother?

the queen, Oidipous’s mom/wife kills herself, and her sons argue over the rights to the city, ending in a duel where the both kill each other

Kreon

the new ruler of Thebes after the queen and her son’s death

what kreon does once he is made to be king 

gives a great burial to the son who defended the city, and leaves the other one to rot in the street

Antigone

the sister of the two brothers, she wanted to give the one left in the street a proper burial, however, she is caught, and condemned to death

Satyr plays

represented at the end of each set of 3 tragedies, with the same subject matter, but to provide comic relief

Euripides 

wrote very dramatic plays, diverse in mood, meaning, and intensity, wrote Medeia

Medeia

a daughter of the sun king, and wife to Jason, after he abandons her and their two sons, she kills their sons, poisons his future wife, and leaves in the chariot of the son, and becomes the personification of revenge 

Komoidia

comedy

Komos

group revel

first comedy at City Dionysia

486 BCE 

Characteristics of old comedy, from 450-380 BCE

very political, with personal attacks on members of the audience

comedies were made up of

distorted myths and fantastical stories

structure of comedies

prologue, parados, agon, parabasis, episodes, exodus

prolouge 

introduction to the characters and the plot 

parados

entry of the chorus, a conflict develops

agon

debate between 2 characters through song and speeches, typical of every comedy

parabasis 

chorus gives advice to the audience about seemingly unrelated topics

episodes

characters go through multiple scenes and sketches of them trying to unsuccessfully solve their problem

exodus

everything is worked out

costumes for comedies 

large masks with distorted facial features, padded costumes with a large leather dick, and low, flat slippers 

characteristics of middle comedy, from 380-320 BCE

political content was almost absent, and personal attacks were much milder

characteristics of new comedy

chorus has no role in the action, and were instead an intermission act, language became plain and simple, ends are usually moralizing 

the most common ending for a comedy in the new-comedy style

marriage

Meander

most important author of the new comedy style, we only have one complete comedy, called the bad-tempered man

tekhne 

activity that requires skill, experience, and application 

Daidalos

the maker of the greek wings for his son ikaros

Protogeometric vase

style based on geometric patterns invented in Athens

only surviving satyr play 

Cyclops by Euripides 

Kouros

young man, style is likely an Egyptian influence of sculpture

kore

young woman in sculpture