Rise of Hellenic Greece
Background
- Geographical consideration and the Dorian migration
- Mountainous terrain surrounded by the sea
- Cacophony of dialects, and customs
- The Polis
- The city-state
- Geographical independent and isolated
- Map
- Political considerations
- Isolation breeds distinct political structures frequently
at war
- Oligarchic - Rule of a few
- Timarchic (Sparta) - an oligarchy, but one designed
for war
- Democratic (Athens) - rule of the people
(demos)
- Athens rise and fall
- Defeat of the Persians and the battle of Marathon
- Delian League a defensive alliance against the Persions
- Peloponnesian War the war that wouldn't end
Defining Features of the Hellenic Age
- Humanism
- To be concerned with things
human
- Social institutions, Art, and Drama designed to
reflect humanism
- Zeus
- Masculine power
- Aphrodite
- Feminine desirability
- Medea - a drama exploring humanism of the masculine
vs the feminine
- Rationalism
- Like the orderly universe, human affairs should be based
on reason
- Humanity acts through reflection and rises above instinct
- Archetypes
- Apollonian - the rational
- Dionysian - the emotional
- Athens
- Dedicated to Athena
- Goddess of Wisdom
- Sophists - "wise men" with a bad reputation for using
rhetoric to win rather than revealing truth
- Philosophers - wise men seeking the truth
- Plato's Apology and Crito present this conflict
- Ideal Forms
- Imperfection of the concrete world and corporal decay
- Perfection in the world of ideas and incorporeal permanence
- Geometry as example of ideal forms and structures
- The abstract perfection of parallel lines is made imperfect when
manifested in concrete forms
- Sculpture and architectural influences
- The ideal human form seen in Hellenic sculpture
- Idealism Vs Realism
- Plato's Allegory of the Cave (the
complete version from The Republic)
- Illusion - Shadows on the wall of the cave
- Senses perceive as real though...
- ...our senses deceive us
- Reasoning - Discovering the fire from which
the shadows are derived
- Through reflection we rise above our senses
- Reason valued over instinct
- Knowledge - Leaving the cave and discovering
the sun and the source of all light
- The ideal goal of understanding as opposed to seeking to understand
- The burden to show others and share knowledge obtained
Humanities
Resource of Mark Hunter