Ancient Greece: Famous Greeks

studied byStudied by 112 people
5.0(8)
Get a hint
Hint

-About 550 B.C., a Greek slave named ____ made up his now famous fables. -In most of _____’s fables, animals talk and act like people. These often funny stories point out human flaws as well as strength. -Fables end with a message or moral. -Famous fables include, “The Tortoise and the Hare”

1 / 31

flashcard set

Earn XP

Description and Tags

32 Terms

1

-About 550 B.C., a Greek slave named ____ made up his now famous fables. -In most of _____’s fables, animals talk and act like people. These often funny stories point out human flaws as well as strength. -Fables end with a message or moral. -Famous fables include, “The Tortoise and the Hare”

Aesop

New cards
2

-Famous story about him, The Iliad by Homer. -Warrior-hero -His story inspired the achilles tendon, a muscle in the leg. -son of the Thetis, a nereid, and Peleus, the king of the Myrmidons -Described having a large chest, a fine mouth, and powerfully formed arms and legs -Very fierce in battle -Thetis tried to make him immortal by dipping him in the river Styx

Achilles

New cards
3

-ruler of the gods -ruled the sky; threw lightning bolts -Hera’s husband

Zeus

New cards
4

-c. 750 B.C.E -Epic poems included the Iliad and the Odyssey -Historians don’t know if he was a real person or if he wrote the poems alone or not. -Many people was guessed about his personal life -Created different style of poetry

Homer

New cards
5

-A general and writer of plays -He developed drama even further by using three actors instead of one or two and painting backdrops for scenes -Two of his most famous plays are Oedipus Rex and Antigone

Sophocles

New cards
6

-One of the best 3 writers of tragedy plays -Tried to take drama beyond heroes and gods; characters more “down-to-earth”. -Took interest in real-life situations, especially war. Showed war as cruel.

Euripides

New cards
7

-Best known writer of Greek comedies -Many plays included jokes, like modern tv shows have today -Make fun of politicians and scholars

Aristophanes

New cards
8

-another Greek tragedy writer -first to introduce the idea of having two actors -Introduced costumes, props, and stage decorations -One of his best known plays was a group of three plays called the Oresteia. It was wrote is 458 B.C. and describe what happened when the Mycenae king returned home from the Trojan war

Aeschylus

New cards
9

-A greek philosopher that taught his pupils that the universe followed the same laws that governed music and numbers -He believed that all relationships of the world could be expressed in numbers. As a result, he developed many new ideas about mathematics. -Created the Pythagorean Theorem that is still used today. It is a way to determine the length of the sides of a triangle. -First to establish the principles of geometry

Pythagoras

New cards
10

-A critic of the Sophists -An Athenian sculptor whose true love was philosophy -Believed that an absolute truth existed and that all real knowledge was within each person. -Invented the Socratic method; he asked his pupils pointed questions to force them to use their own reasoning and to see things for themselves. -Some Athenian leaders considered this a threat to their power. -Sentenced to death

Socrates

New cards
11

-One of Socrates students -He did not like democracy -Established a school called the Academy -Wrote the Republic about Athenian government

Plato

New cards
12

-Greek philosopher and polymath -Taught by Plato -founder of the Peripatetic school of philosophy within the Lyceum and the wider Aristotelian tradition -wrote about many subjects including government

Aristotle

New cards
13

-Wrote the history of the Persian Wars -Tried to separate fact from legend -People refer to him as the “Father of History”

Herodotus

New cards
14

-Many historians consider him to be the best historian of the ancient world -Fought in Peloponnesian war and was sentenced to exile when he lost a battle -Then wrote his History of the Peloponnesian Wars -Saw war and politics as activities of human beings, not gods.

Thucydides

New cards
15

-In 359 B.C ___ rose to the throne as King of Macedonia -Wanted to defeat the Persian empire -Took over Greek city-states -____ controlled most of Greece -Before _____ could defeat the Persian empire, he was murdered

Philip II

New cards
16

-Was only 20 when he became king -Age 16- became a commander of the army -Invaded Asia Minor and beat the Persians -Died at 32 of illness -Great military warrior

Alexander the Great

New cards
17

-a lawyer and one of Athens greatest public speakers -Urged Athens and other city-states to join and fight Macedonia -Warned people that Philip was dangerous and would take over Greece

Demosthenes

New cards
18

-A poet and writer -One of his works was called Argonautica and it tells the story of Jason and his group of heroes that search the ram with gold fleece -One of the works from the Hellenistic Age

Apollonius of Rhodes

New cards
19

-wrote short poems about the beauty of nature -Considered creator of pastoral poetry -From Sicily

Theocritus

New cards
20

-Founded a philosophy we now know as Epicureanism -Taught students that happiness was the goal of life. He believed that the way to be happy was to seek out pleasure -To him, pleasure meant spending time with friends and not worrying about things

Epicurus

New cards
21

-Developed Stoicism. -Became popular in the Hellenistic world -For them, happiness came from following reason, not emotions, and doing your duty -Unlike Epicureans, Stoics thought everyone had a duty to serve in their city

Zeno

New cards
22

-An astronomer from Samos -Claimed the sun was at the center of the universe -At the time other astronomers rejected the idea

Aristarchus

New cards
23

-Astronomer; in charge of the library at Alexandria -Concluded that the earth is round -Measured shadows to find the curve of the earth's surface

Eratosthenes

New cards
24

-most famous scientist of the Hellenistic Era -Worked on solid geometry -Figured out the value of pi -the king of Syracuse was impressed and asked him to use levers to defend the city

Archimedes

New cards
25

-most famous Greek mathematician -best known book Elements describes plane geometry -King Ptolemy of Egypt asked if he knew an easier way to learn geometry than reading the Elements

Euclid

New cards
26

-is called the greatest astronomer of all the ancient world -studied and named over 850 stars -figured out how to estimate the distances from Earth to the sun and moon

Hipparchus

New cards
27

-changed the way people thought about health and medicine -often called “father of modern medicine” -believed diseases had natural causes

Hippocrates

New cards
28

-first woman to earn fame as a mathematician -Born in Egypt c. 370 C.E -Taught Greek philosophy and mathematics in the city of Alexandria

Hypatia

New cards
29

-Brother of Zeus -god of the seas and could cause earthquakes -lived on Mount Olympus; one of the most important gods

Poseidon

New cards
30

-ruler of the underworld -other brother of Zeus -Wife is Persephone

Hades

New cards
31

-goddess of wisdom, crafts, and war -There was a giant gold statue of her in the Parthenon -The Athenians(named after _____) came to honor her at a festival every 4 years

Athena

New cards
32

-Wife of Zeus -goddess of marriage -sister of poseidon, zeus, hades, etc.

Hera

New cards

Explore top notes

note Note
studied byStudied by 3 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 8 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 10 people
... ago
5.0(2)
note Note
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 26 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 13 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 10 people
... ago
5.0(1)
note Note
studied byStudied by 34 people
... ago
5.0(2)

Explore top flashcards

flashcards Flashcard (85)
studied byStudied by 13 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (31)
studied byStudied by 5 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (54)
studied byStudied by 13 people
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (166)
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (87)
studied byStudied by 21 people
... ago
5.0(2)
flashcards Flashcard (36)
studied byStudied by 1 person
... ago
5.0(1)
flashcards Flashcard (21)
studied byStudied by 10 people
... ago
5.0(3)
flashcards Flashcard (38)
studied byStudied by 17 people
... ago
5.0(1)
robot