Classical Greece

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Classical Greece

• and the classical ideal

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The philosophers Protagoras and Xenophanes sum up
the attitude of Greek intellectual thought when
they write

• Protagoras Man is the measure of all things, of
  the existence of those that exist, and of the
  nonexistence of those that do not.
• Xenophanes If horses and cows had hands and
  could draw, they would draw gods looking like
  horses and cows.

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We find just such a human-centered view in the
writings of Herodotus (484-420 BCE)

• The first historian Father of History
• Wrote the History of the Persian Wars First
  writer in Western tradition to devote himself to
  historical writing rather than Epic poetry (like
  Homer)
• His history is based on observation, analysis,
  and credible sources
• Posits the concept of hubris
• In Book VII of the history, the Persian emperor
  Xerxess uncle, Artabanus, warns Xerxes before
  the invasion You know, my lord, that amongst
  living creatures it is the great ones that Zeus
  smites with his thunder, out of envy of their
  pride. It is Gods way to bring the lofty low.
  For He tolerates pride in none but Himself.

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We find a complementary human-centered view in
the poems of Sappho (b. 612 BCE), the great Greek
lyric poet

• Percussion, salt and honey,
• A quivering in the thighs
• He shakes me all over again,
• Eros who cannot be thrown,
• Who stalks on all fours
• Like a beast.

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Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual work
of the Greeks is philosophy.What is philosophy?
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Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual work
of the Greeks is philosophy.What is philosophy?

• Philosophy literally means love of wisdom.

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Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual work
of the Greeks is philosophy.What is philosophy?

• Philosophy literally means love of wisdom.
• In the Western tradition it usually refers to
  inquiries into the nature and ultimate
  significance of human experience, including such
  areas as logic, metaphysics, epistemology,
  ethics, aesthetics, and politics.

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Perhaps the most human-centered intellectual work
of the Greeks is philosophy.What is philosophy?

• Philosophy literally means love of wisdom.
• In the Western tradition it usually refers to
  inquiries into the nature and ultimate
  significance of human experience, including such
  areas as logic, metaphysics, epistemology,
  ethics, aesthetics, and politics.
• Philosophy is not religion. Greek philosophers
  turned away from religious teachings to study the
  above topics, using the power of human reason to
  try to discover how the world came into being and
  how it works, and to understand the place of
  humans in it.

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The first schools of philosophy
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The first schools of philosophy

• Materialism the earliest school of Greek
  philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
  terms of one or more elements.

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The first schools of philosophy

• Materialism the earliest school of Greek
  philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
  terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism mathematical relationships
  represent underlying order of universe.

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The first schools of philosophy

• Materialism the earliest school of Greek
  philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
  terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism mathematical relationships
  represent underlying order of universe.
• Dualism there are two worlds, the world around
  us and an ideal world accessible only through the
  intellect and reason.

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The first schools of philosophy

• Materialism the earliest school of Greek
  philosophy. Sought to explain all phenomena in
  terms of one or more elements.
• Pythagoreanism mathematical relationships
  represent underlying order of universe.
• Dualism there are two worlds, the world around
  us and an ideal world accessible only through the
  intellect and reason.
• Atomism reality consists of ultimate,
  unchangable particles that are not obvious to the
  eye and also of void (nothingness).

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The Classical Ideal

• The belief that the quest for reason and order
  could succeed.

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The Classical Ideal

• The belief that the quest for reason and order
  could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.

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The Classical Ideal

• The belief that the quest for reason and order
  could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent chaos
  of the natural world and create a balanced
  society.

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The Classical Ideal

• The belief that the quest for reason and order
  could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent chaos
  of the natural world and create a balanced
  society.
• The aim of life should be a perfect balance
  everything in due proportion nothing too much.

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The Classical Ideal

• The belief that the quest for reason and order
  could succeed.
• Existence can be ordered and controlled.
• Human ability can triumph over the apparent chaos
  of the natural world and create a balanced
  society.
• The aim of life should be a perfect balance
  everything in due proportion nothing too much.
• Individuals can achieve order by understanding
  the motives for their own action.

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The Classical Ideal informs every aspect of Greek
culture

• Greek philosophy
• Greek architecture
• Greek sculpture
• Greek drama
• Greek history

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Thucydides (b 460 BCE) , wrote The History of the
Peloponnesian War. First history to focus on
human motives and reactions so that future
generations could understand why the events of
the past happened and, thus, understand
themselves.
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The Parthenon, a temple built for Athena atop the
Acropolis, Athens
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The Classical Style ideal beauty represented in
realistic terms
Chrysippus writes beauty consists of the
proportion of the parts of finger to finger of
all the fingers to the palm and the wrist of
those to the forearm of the forearm to the upper
arm and of all these parts to one another, as
set forth in The Canon of Polykleitos
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This statue by Praxiteles (copied many times)
represents the discovery of the female body as an
object of beauty in itself. It is also one of
the first attempts to bring the element of
sensuality into the portrayal of the female form.
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Athenian Drama

• Athens the center of dramatic production in
  Greece plays produced for the festival of
  Dionysus, god of wine and song.
• The Athenian tragic dramatists Aeschylus,
  Sophocles, Euripides. Tragedy is the art of
  hamartia and catharsis.
• The Athenian comedies (Aristophanes) mocked the
  constantly warring culture of Greece.

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Philosophy in the Late Classical Period
Platonist and Aristotelian

• Socrates proponent of the Socratic method of
  questioning of traditional values through dialog
• Plato Socratess student wrote down the dialogs
  of Socrates founded The Academy (the first
  univesity) proposed concept of ideal societies
  and forms in works such as The Theory of Forms
  and The Republic
• Aristotle Platos student founded the Lyceum in
  competition with The Academy known as the great
  systematizer rejected in works such as The
  Metaphysics and The Rhetoric Platos
  other-worldly idealism in favor of the analysis
  of the essences of the material and mental world
  as directly experienced inspiration for modern
  science.

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Exam Question 2

• Making reference to at least two specific works
  of classical Greek culture, define the classical
  ideal and discuss how it informs Greek culture.
• Successful answers should be one full paragraph
  at least five sentences long