Greek

1. Architecture

• Column Styles:

• Doric: Simple, no base.

• Ionic: Volutes (spiral decorations) and bases.

• Corinthian: Ornate, floral volutes.

• Key Takeaway: These styles defined Greek architectural identity.

2. Art and Vases

• Vase Painting Styles:

• Black-figure: Black figures on red.

• Red-figure: Red figures on black.

• Sculpture:

• Focused on arête (excellence), portraying idealized, perfect forms.

3. Society and Gender

• Women were secluded, limited to household roles. Exceptions: supervised religious ceremonies and water retrieval.

• Greek Goddesses: Athena and Artemis defied societal norms; Hera exemplified them.

4. Historians

• Herodotos: “Father of History” (and “father of lies”), wrote about East-West conflicts.

• Thucydides: Focused on factual accounts like the Peloponnesian War, rejecting myths.

• Xenophon: Continued Thucydides’ work and detailed Greek expeditions in Persia.

5. Theatre

• Invented tragedy and comedy.

• Key playwrights:

• Sophokles: Famous for Oedipus Rex and Antigone.

• Aristophanes: Satirical comedies like Lysistrata.

• Euripides: Questioned morals in works like Medeia.

6. Philosophy

• Sokrates: Questioned traditions via the Socratic Method.

• Plato: Metaphysics, ethics, and the Republic.

• Aristotle: Focused on purpose and classification, taught Alexander the Great.

• Cynics (Diogenes): Rejected materialism and tradition.

• Epicureans (Epikouros): Advocated for pleasure and comfort.

• Stoics (Zeno): Promoted moderation and rationality.