Lesson 1: Greek Culture

Greek Culture

By MARGARET JACKSON

The Greeks believed in many gods and goddesses, and they told myths about them. Greek myths are traditional stories about gods and heroes. The Greeks believed these gods affected everyday life. Every city-state had a god or goddess who protected its people. The Greeks worshiped their gods in

temples and at home.

​

Multiple Choice

Every city-state had its own god or goddess that protected it.

• True

• False

The Greek gods and goddesses had great powers. However, the Greek people did not fear them because the gods acted like humans. Greeks believed the 12 most important gods and goddesses lived on Mount Olympus and were protected by a gate of clouds. Zeus was the king of the gods.

​

To please their gods, the people performed rituals or religious ceremonies in honor of the gods. They had festivals, or celebrations, and feasts for the gods. They prayed and offered gifts to the gods. They believed that the gods were pleased when the people showed skill in the arts or athletics. Every four years they had athletic competitions, called the Olympic Games.

​

​

​

​

​

Multiple Choice

Why did the Greeks have festivals and rituals for their gods?

• To have a good harvest each year

• To please the gods and goddesses

• To have fun and relax

• To have many stories to pass down

The Greeks believed that the gods made prophecies, or predictions, to help people plan for the future. People who wanted to know the future or listen to other advice visited an oracle. This was a priestess who talked to the gods from a room deep inside a temple. People asked the priestess questions. She told her answers to the priests. Then the priests translated the answers. The most famous oracle was at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi.

​

Multiple Choice

Why did the ancient Greeks seek advice from oracles?

• They believed they knew the future

• They respected their elders

• They thought it was the best way to heaven

• They wanted to win wars

Greek poems and stories are some of the oldest in the Western world. Many writers have used ideas from these old stories, like

England's William Shakespeare.

​

The earliest Greek stories were called epics. Epics are long poems about heroes and their brave deeds. Homer wrote two great Greek epics: the Iliad and the Odyssey. Homer wrote them both in the 700s b.c.​

​

The Iliad tells of a war between the Greeks and the people of Troy. The story describes how this war was won with a wooden horse. The Odyssey tells about the hero, Odysseus, and his long journey home from the Trojan War.

​

​

​

​

​Epics and Fables

​

Multiple Choice

The earliest Greek stories were called fables.

• True

• False

The Greeks believed that the Iliad and the Odyssey were true

stories. These epics gave them a history filled with heroes and

brave deeds. Homer’s stories taught important lessons, such as friendship and marriage should be valued. Homer’s heroes were role models for the Greeks.

​

Multiple Choice

Who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey?

• Shakespeare

• Aesop

• Homer

• Zeus

Have you heard the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf?” This story and others like it were said to have been written by a man named Aesop. He is supposed to have lived around 550 b.c. Historians now know that there was probably never anyone named Aesop who wrote these stories. However, the stories do exist. They are known as Aesop’s fables.

​

Fables are short tales that teach a lesson. They always have a point, or moral. The moral is a truth that teaches a useful life lesson. Fables are often funny and show human weaknesses and strengths.

​

Aesop’s fables were part of Greece’s oral tradition for about 200 years. This means that people told the stories out loud to their children and grandchildren. Later, people wrote down the fables. Aesop’s fables are read and told today by people all around the world.

​

Multiple Choice

the custom of passing stories from one generation to the next by

telling the stories out loud

• Myth

• Oracle

• Fable

• Oral Tradition

A drama is a story told by people who act out the events. They play the parts of the characters in the story, saying their words and acting out their feelings and actions. Movies, plays, and television shows are often dramas.

​

The Greeks developed two types of drama—tragedy and comedy. A tragedy has an unhappy ending. The characters in a tragedy cannot solve their problems no matter how hard they try. The first Greek plays were tragedies.

​

The Impact of Greek Drama

​

Multiple Choice

What are the 2 types of Greek dramas?

• Comedy and Romance

• Tragedy and Comedy

• Tragedy and Romance

• Comedy and Travel

Later the Greeks wrote comedies. A comedy ends happily. Today, we use the word comedy to mean a funny story. For the Greeks, a comedy was any drama with a happy ending.

​

In ancient Greece, women were not allowed to act. Men played all the parts, even the female characters. For the Greeks, dramas were part of religious festivals. Greek dramas dealt with big ideas, such as the meaning of good and evil and the rights of people.

​

Multiple Choice

In ancient Greece, women were not allowed to act. Men played

all the parts, even the female characters.

• True

• False

Greek artists created art that expressed the ideals of order, balance, and harmony. This style of art is now known as the classical style.

​

Greek artists painted on pottery, using red and black paint. Large vases often have pictures from myths. Small pieces, like cups, have pictures from everyday life.

​

​Greek Art and Architecture

​

​

​

Multiple Choice

What ideas did the Greeks express in their art

and architecture?

• Beauty and Religion

• War and Peace

• Love and Friendship

• Beauty and Perfection

The Greeks built beautiful buildings. These buildings had large columns to support the roof. The most important buildings were the temples. Each temple was dedicated to a god or goddess.

​

The Parthenon of Athens honored the goddess Athena. Many Greek temples were decorated with sculpture. Sculpture, like all of Greek art, expressed artists' ideas of perfection and beauty.

​

Multiple Choice

What temple was built in honor of the goddess Athena?

• Olympia

• Parthenon

• Pericles

• Pathogen Pyramid

Multiple Choice

Why were temples built in Ancient Greece?

• Each was dedicated to a god or goddess

• They were built for Sunday worship

• Each architect was trying to build a better temple than the next

• The king ordered them to be built