The Golden Age of Athens - Ch. 6

The Golden Age of Athens - Ch. 6

Get your calculator out

Multiple Choice

The Persian navy was destroyed at this battle.

• Plataea
• Salamis
• Thermopylae
• Marathon

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is true concerning the Persian Wars?

• The Persians defeated the Greek city-states
• Athens started its decline after the end of the war
• Sparta and Athens were united against the Persians
• Persian ideas were adopted by the Athenians
  

Multiple Choice

At the Battle of Marathon, ________________.

• Persian Empire was defeated by Alexander the Great.
• Athens was defeated by Persian Empire.
• Sparta was defeated by Athens. 
• Persian Empire was defeated by Athens.

Multiple Choice

Why did the first Persian War start?

• Persia wanted to punish Athens for interfering in the Ionian Revolt.
• Sparta and Athens were competing to be the best city-state .
  
• Persia wanted revenge for their defeat at Marathon.
• Sparta and Athens both wanted to defeat Persia.

Multiple Choice

The Persian Empire was victorious against _______ at the Battle of Thermopylae.

• Athens

• Sparta

• Macedonia

• Olympia

Learning Objectives

• Recognize the successes of Pericles, including the formation of the Delian League and the rebuilding of the Acropolis, including the Parthenon

• Identify the contributions that Aristophanes, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Hippocrates made to Greek culture

Chapter 6 Vocab

• League: a group that works together to achieve common goals

• Ally: a nation that promises to help another nation in wartime

• Orator: a skilled public speaker

• Dramatist: a person who writes plays

• Architect: A person who designs buildings

• Statesman: a political leader

Multiple Choice

Which definition best fits the term dramatist?

• A person who designs buildings

• A person who writes plays

• A skilled public speaker

• A political leader

Multiple Choice

Which definition best fits the term ally?

• A group that works together to achieve common goals

• a political leader

• a skilled public speaker

• a nation that promises to help another nation in wartime

Chapter 6 Big Question

What were some of the cultural achievements during the Golden Age of Athens?

Rise of the Athenian Empire

• Greek victory over Persia allowed freedom and Sparta and Athens became the leading city-states

• After Persian War, Sparta and Athens no longer work together

• Sparta focused on Sparta and the Helots, Athens began building an empire

Rise of the Athenian Empire

• Many Greek city-states believed Persia would invade again

• 478 BCE - formed the Delian League to defend themselves against another invasion

• Sparta did not participate in Delian League, Athens became leader

Open Ended

Why was Athens the main leader of the Delian League?

Delian League

• Named after the island Delos where the league met

• Each city-state agreed to send money or ships to support league

• Athens decided how much $ and how many ships each city-state had to send

• Athens treated other city-states less like allies and more like colonial subjects

Delian League

• Income from the League helped fund the Golden Age of Athens

• Golden Age of Athens lasted from the end of the Persian Wars to the end of the Peloponnesian War

• Athens produced some of the greatest artistic and cultural achievements the world has ever known

• 
  

Multiple Choice

After the Persian Wars, Athens created the __________________ to protect Greece from attack in case the Persians returned.

• Spartan League

• Athenian League

• Delian League

• Peloponnesian League

Pericles (495-429 BCE)

• Continually reelected as 1 of the 10 strategoi for ~30 years

• Became the most powerful and influential man in Athens

• He was a skilled orator

• Emerged as the leader of Athens

Pericles (495-429 BCE)

• Very hard worker and known for his dedication to his work

• Did not believe in wasting time at parties and social events

• Athens grew stronger under Pericles

• Led armies in victorious campaigns, kept Delian League in line, established a number of Athenian colonies, convinced Assembly to build bigger and stronger walls around Athens

• Built walls to connect Piraeus to Athens to secure food supply

Pericles (495-429 BCE)

• Democracy strengthened under Pericles

• Before: poor Athenians could not participate in gov.

• Before: Gov. work did not pay, meaning poor people could not afford to not work and participate

• Pericles convinced Athenians to pay citizens for Gov. work (allowed more people to participate)

Open Ended

How did Pericles help strengthen Athenian democracy?

Pericles (495-429 BCE)

• Big supporter of the arts (dramatists, painters, sculptors, and architects)

• 449 BCE - Suggested Athens rebuild the Acropolis using money from the Delian League

• Upset the Delian League but he used his military to force them to accept it

• Believed that as long as Athens protected its allies, it could use excess money in any way it saw fit

Parthenon

• Most famous building built during Pericles rule

• Temple for Athena, goddess of Wisdom, and patron goddess of Athens

• Badly damaged by an explosion in late 1600s while storing gunpowder during a war

Parthenon

• Built as a symbol of wealth, power, and prosperity

• Bigger than any other temple on mainland Greece

• used 20,000 tons of marble during construction

• 40 ft tall statue of Athena inside the temple that cost more than the Parthenon (was destroyed in ancient times)

Multiple Choice

During this time, the __________________, a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, was rebuilt.

• Parthenon

• Pantheon

• Oracle of Delphi

• Erechtheion

Greek Drama

• Large outdoor theaters built during this time

• Theater of Dionysus - most important Athenian theater

• Greek Drama began as a part of a religious festival honoring Dionysus, the god of wine

• Eventually began to look similar to a play

Greek Drama

• Similar to the Olympics, awards for excellence in the Theater of Dionysus given to playwrights who had the best play

• ~3,000 Athenian citizens performed in the festival each year

• Invented 2 kinds of drama that are still used today

• 
  

Greek Drama

• Comedy: funny plays with happy endings that typically addressed contemporary issues

• Famous Comedy Dramatist: Aristophanes

• Tragedy: Serious plays with sad endings, typically based on well-known Greek myths

• Famous Tragedy Dramatists: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides

Multiple Choice

The Greeks excelled in drama and theater. They invented ________________ or very serious plays with unhappy endings.

• comedies

• satires

• suspenseful

• tragedies

Multiple Choice

The Greeks also created ______________ or plays with humorous themes and happy endings.

• comedies

• satires

• tragedies

• documentaries

The Big Four - Aeschylus

• Born 525 BCE & oldest of the 4 major Athenian dramatists

• Fought in Persian Wars

• 472 BCE - wrote a play about the Persian Wars (sponsored by Pericles)

• Wrote more than 80 plays but only 7 still survive

The Big Four - Sophocles

• 30 years younger than Aeschylus

• Sophocles and Aeschylus were dramatic rivals and competed for top honors at the festivals

• Most famous plays: Oedipus Rex and Antigone

• 
  

The Big Four - Euripides

• Born in 485 BCE

• Focused on tragedies and produced 80-90 plays

• Did not win as many awards as Sophocles and Aeschylus but was more popular with Athenian audiences

• Analyzed human nature

The Big Four - Aristophanes

• Lived from 445 BCE to 380 BCE

• Focused on comedies

• Made fun of statesmen like Pericles, dramatists like Euripides, and philosophers like Socrates in his plays

• 
  

Other Cultural Achievements

• Like architecture and drama, many arts flourished during this time

• Distinctive pottery, most decorated with pictures

• Golden Age pottery is more valuable today than it was during the time it was created

Other Cultural Achievements

• Two of the worlds first historians lived during this time

• Herodotus: wrote down the history of the Persian Wars

• Thucydides: told the story of the Peloponnesian War

Other Cultural Achievements

• Advances made in science and medicine

• Father of Medicine, Hippocrates, born in 460 BCE

• First to recognize the impact of weather, drinking water, and location on a person's health

• Remembered most for the Hippocratic Oath

• New doctors take this oath and swear to use their medical skills only for the good of the patient

Multiple Choice

After the Persian Wars, Athens entered a time period of peace, prosperity, and innovation called the _____________.

• Periclean Age

• Golden Age

• Great Age

• Hellenistic Age

Open Ended

Big Question:

What were some of the cultural achievements during the Golden Age of Athens?