GREECE’S GOLDEN AGE (480 to 430 BC)

During the 5 century BC, Athens experienced the first and perhaps the most famous Golden Age in world history. For 50 years, from 480 to 430 BC, Athens set off sparks of genius in all directions. The arts of drama, sculpture, poetry, philosophy, architecture and science all reached new height.

Objectives:

1. To identify the three goals of Pericles

2. To describe the Greek styles in sculpture and drama.

3. To explain the major conflicts in the Peloponnesian War.

4. To identify the contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Question:

• How did the end of the Persian Wars affect the people of Greece, especially the Athenians?

• It led to a Golden age and formation of the Delian League with Athens as its leader.

(After the wars , Athens became the leader of an alliance of 140 city-states called the Delian League.)

I. Pericles’ three goals for Athens:

• To strengthen and expand

Athenian democracy.

• To strengthen the navy.

• To beautify Athens.

Questions:

Who was Pericles?

• The best known statesman Greece ever had.

• During the time of Pericles Athens was the scene of political, economic, social, and cultural activity.

• He did not try to excite his audiences but only to reason with them. He was enough good for aristocrats, farmers and artisans.

• As a character, he won recognition by the Athenians by being dignified, eloquent, upright and patriotic and his friends were important people such as Sophocles, Herodotus, Phidias, Socrates and Protagoras.

Question:

• Why is the Age of Pericles considered a golden age in the history of Greece?

• Pericles introduced reforms that strengthened and expanded Athenian democracy. He increased the number of his public officials and paid them salaries.

• Pericles strengthened and expanded the navy. This secured the Athenians’ overseas trade routes, ensuring that Athens would continue to receive necessary supplies.

• Pericles beautify Athens. As a leader of the Delian League, he has the access to funds that allowed it to embark on a building program. This made Athens the most beautiful city in the ancient world and produced some of the world’s greatest masterpieces of sculpture and architecture.

Question:

How accurate do you consider Pericles’ statement that Athenian

democracy was in the hands of

“the whole people”?

• Although Athenian citizens were widely represented at all levels of government, citizens were only a small part of Athens’ total population.

• Noncitizens such as women, slaves and foreigners could not participate.

II. Greek Styles in Art:

Greek artists and sculptures create an idealized human form.

Questions:

Who was Phidias?

Phidias was the main and the most famous sculptor in ancient Greece. He was also an architect and painter.

Phidias • Directed the construction of the Acropolis

and the Parthenon.

• Executed the gold and ivory statue of Athena.

• His colossal statue of Zeus, father of gods, at Olympia was considered his masterpiece.

The Parthenon represented a new style of architecture known for its proportion and symmetry. It was constructed for about 15 years. Some 22 000 tones of white, pure marble were cut with such precision that no mortar was needed to hold the stones together. For the Parthenon the architects used only Doric style columns.

Order, balance, and proportion became

the standards of what is called classical art.

*

DORIC IONIC

CORINTHIAN

Classical Greek

influences in art

Greek Drama:

1. The Greeks create dramatic tragedies and

comedies.

2. The tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides focus on serious themes and a tragically flawed hero.

3. Comedies, such as those by Aristophanes, often use slapstick humor and satire to criticize Athenian life.

Question:

What themes were common in Greek tragedy?

• LOVE

• HATE

• WAR

• BETRAYAL

• HUBIS

Question:

What do the themes of Greek comedies suggest about the men and women of Athens?

That they discussed and accepted criticism of their ideas, behavior,

customs and politics.

III. Peloponnesian War- 431 B.C.-404 B.C.

Spartans and Athenians go to war.

The war was an outbreak of ongoing tensions between

Athens ans Sparta and ended in the defeat of Athens, the loss of its empire, and the

decline of democratic government.

Consequences:

• Athens loses its empire, power, and wealth;

• the confidence in democratic rule declines.

• The Peloponnesian War reshaped the ancient Greek world. On the level of international relations, Athens, the strongest city-state in Greece, was reduced to a state of near-complete subjection, while Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece.

• The economic costs of the war were felt all across

Greece; poverty became widespread in the Peloponnese, while Athens found itself completely devastated, and never regained its pre-war prosperity.

• The war also brought changes to Greek society; the

conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta, made civil war a common occurrence in the Greek world.

Questions:

What might been Pericles goals in the Peloponnesian war?

1. To protect access to the liquid highway and the city’s trade in grain and other raw materials.

2. To free Athens of its Spartans enemy.

3. To continue to use Delian League funds.

4. To spread the empire by acquiring overseas colonies.

IV. Philosophers Search for Truth:

Sophocles

Plato

Aristotle

Questions:

Why would philosophers start questioning traditional beliefs at this particular time in Athens’s

history?

• Athens defeat by its rival Sparta would have caused its citizens to have spiritual doubts.

• This might lead them to consider radical ideas and make them more willing to question traditional attitude.

Group work

Greece’s

Golden Age (480 BC-430 BC)

Pericles’ 3 Goals : Direct Democracy

Strengthens the navy

Beautifies Athens

Contributions : Greek styles in art :

-classical art

(order, balance and proportion)

Greek Drama :

-tragedy

-comedy

-tragedy : love,hate,war

-comedy :satires

Philosophers : Sophists

Socrates

Plato

Aristotle

Interpreting chart :p.120

What is the main difference

between Athenian democracy

and democracy in the USA?

Forming and supporting

opinions :p.125

Socrates believed in absolute

standards for truth and justice.

Sophists believed that standards

of truth and justice are in the eye

of their beholder. What is your

opinion? Support your opinion

with reasons and examples.

Summarizing :p.122

What are the main things you

associate with classical Greek

art? Give ex. from buildings and

sculptures shown on this page.

• •

Peloponnesian War : p.125

War between Sparta and Athens-for 27 years

Analyzing themes : Empire building: How does the concept of “ hubris” from Greek tragedy

apply to the Peloponnesian War ?

Think about:

Spartans’ and Athenians’ opinion of themselves

Why hurbis is a tragic flaw?

Why the war started?