| I. The historical background (1)A war was fought between Greece and Troy, ending in the destruction of Troy (2)Greek culture reached a high point of development in the 5th century B. C. They defeat the invasion of Persia and it result in the establishment of democracy and the flourishing of science, philosophy, literature, art and historical writing in Athens. The century closed with civil war between Athens and Sparta. (3)In the second half of the 4th century B.C., all Greece was brought under the rule of Alexander, King of Macedon (4)In 146 B.C. the Romans conquered Greece. II. Political Structure and Social Life Athens was a democracy. While women, children, foreigners and slaves were excluded from it. They had no rights. The Greeks loved sports. Once every four years, they had a big festival on Olympus Mount which included contests of sports. Thus began the Olympic Games. Revived in 1896, the Games have become the world’s foremost amateur sports competition. III. Homer ★ancient Greeks considered Homer to be the author of their epics. His two epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, have survived. ★the Iliad deals with the alliance of the states of the southern mainland of Greece, led by Agamemnon in their war against the city of Troy. The heroes are Hector on the Trojan side and Achilles and Odysseus on the Greek. In the final battle, Hector was killed by Achilles and Troy was sacked and burned by the Greeks. ★the Odyssey deals with the return of Odysseus after the Trojan war to his home island of Ithaca. It describes many adventures he ran into on his long sea voyage and how finally he was reunited with his faithful wife Penelope. IV. Lyric Poetry Homer’s epics were not the only form of poetry the Greeks had written. There were other forms, such as lyrics. Of the many lyric poets of the time, two are still admired by readers today: Sappho and Pindar. V. Drama Early in their remote past, the Greeks started to perform plays including comedy at religious festivals. Out of these origins a powerful drama developed in the 5th century B. C. Three important drama writers: a. Aeschylus (525—456 B.C.) b. Sophocles (496—406 B.C.) c. Euripides (484—406 B.C.) VI. History 1. Herodotus (484—430 B.C.) He is often called “Father of History”, wrote about the wars between Greeks and Persians 2. Thucydides (about 460—404 B.C.) Younger than Herodotus, he is more accurate as an historian. He told about the war between Athens and Sparta and between Athens and Syracuse, a Greek state on the island of Sicily. Macaulay, himself an eminent historian, called Thucydides “the greatest historian that ever lived.” VII. Philosophy and Science 1. Pythagoras (about 580—500 B.C.) Founder of scientific mathematics. To him and his school we owe the abstract conceptions underlying mathematics— point, line, magnitude, surface, body—and the first theory of proportion. 2. Heracleitus (about 540—480 B. C.) To him, “all is flux, nothing is stationary.” 3. Democritus (about 460—370 B.C.) Speculated about the atomic structure of matter. Indeed, he was one of the earliest exponents of the atomic theory 4. Socrates Dialectical method 5. Plato His Dialogues are important not only as philosophical writing but also as imaginative literature. Of the Dialogues he wrote, 27 have survived, including: The Apology (Socrates’ defence of himself at the trial), Symposium (dealing with beauty and love), and the Republic (about the ideal state ruled by a philosopher but barring poets). Plato’s philosophy is called Idealism. 6. Aristotle He wrote epoch-malting works, which dominated European thought for more than a thousand years 7. Contending Schools of Thought Later on, in the 4th century B. C., four schools of philosophers often argued with each other. They were the Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans and the Stoics. 8. Science ★Eclid is even now well-known for his Elements, a textbook of geometry, perhaps the most successful textbook ever written, because it was in use in English schools until the early years of the20th century. ★Archimedes (287—212 B. C.) did important work not only in geometry, but also in arithmetic, mechanics, and hydrostatics. ★He discovered that when a body is immersed in water its loss of weight is equal to the weight of the water displaced. VIII. Art, Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery 1. Art Greek art is a visual proof of Greek civilization. 2. Architecture Greek architecture can be grouped into three styles: the Doric style which is also called the masculine style; the Ionic style which is also called the feminine style; and a later style that is called the Corinthian style. 3. Sculpture i. Discus Thrower ii. Venus de Milo iii. Laocoon group about 125 B.C. 4. Pottery There were Black-figure paintings (700—600 B. C.) and Redfigure paintings (—50 B. C.). The Black-figure paintings are paintings on pottery that have red background and black figure. The Red-figure paintings are paintings on pottery that have black background and pink figure. IX. The impact of Greek Literature The rediscovery of Greek culture played a vital part in the Renaissance in Italy and other European countries. 1. spirit of innovation 2. supreme achievement in nearly all fields of human endeavor 3. lasting effect of its philosophical ideas and literary images | I．历史背景 （1）希腊和特洛伊之间爆发了战争，战争以特洛伊的失败而告终。 （2）希腊文化达到了历史发展的最高点。击退波斯的入侵后，雅典建立了民主政治。雅典和斯巴达之间的战争结束了这一辉煌时期。 （3）公元前4四世纪下半期，马其顿王国的亚历山大帝统治了希腊。 （4）公元前146年，罗马统治了希腊。 II．政治结构和社会生活 雅典是一个民主国家，然而只有国家的男性公民才享有民主，妇女、孩子、外国人以及奴隶是没有的。雅典人热爱运动，每隔四年，他们都会在奥林匹斯山上举行运动活动。 III．诗人荷马 ★希腊人把荷马当作是他们的 史诗诗人。他的两部史诗作品，“伊利亚特”和“奥德赛”留存了下来。 ★“伊利亚特”讲述的是由阿伽门农领导的希腊南部城邦联盟对抗特洛伊的事。故事中的英雄分别是特洛伊的黑客多和希腊的阿喀琉斯和奥德修斯。在最后的战斗中，赫克多被阿喀琉斯和特洛伊杀死了，特洛伊被洗劫一空并被烧掉。 ★“奥德赛”讲述了特洛伊战争后奥德赛回家乡伊萨卡岛的事。它描述了在漫长的海上航行中奥德赛所遇到的一些冒险，以及他最后是如何与他那忠贞的妻子佩内洛普团聚的事情。 IV．抒情诗 古希腊人除了写史诗，还写抒情诗。这个时期的重要抒情诗人包括Sappho and Pindar. V．戏剧 早在遥远的过去，希腊人就开始在宗教节日时演戏，包括喜剧。以此为由，公元前5五世纪出现了一种重要的戏剧。三位重要的戏剧作家： a. Aeschylus (525—456 B.C.) b. Sophocles (496—406 B.C.) c. Euripides (484—406 B.C.) VI．历史作品 1．赫罗多斯 他被称为“历史之父”，写的主要是希腊和波斯之间的战争 2．修斯底德 他被著名的历史学家Macaulay称为最伟大的历史学家。 VII．哲学和科学 1．毕达哥拉斯 数学学科的奠基人。他和他的学派创立了基础数学的抽象概念——点，线，面，体积，和比例的第一原理。 2．赫拉克利特 把物质的一切起源归于火 3．德谟克利特 推测事物的原子结构，他是原子理论的最早倡导者。 4．苏格拉底 辩证法 5．柏拉图 柏拉图的对话最为出名。有名的对话包括:《道歉》，《研讨会》和《共和国》。 柏拉图的哲学被称为理想主义. 6．亚里士多德 7．百家争鸣 后来，在公元前四世纪，西方哲学四派经常互相争论。这四派分别是犬儒主义学派，疑论学派，伊壁鸠鲁学派、斯多亚学派。 8．科学 ★欧几里得因为他的几何教科书《元素》而出名。 ★阿基米德（公元前287-212）的贡献不仅在几何方面，而且在数学，力学，和流体静力学方面都有成就。 VIII．艺术，建筑，雕塑和陶器 1．艺术 希腊艺术是其文明的见证 2．建筑 古希腊建筑可以划分为三种风格：多里克风格，也被称为男性风格；二为爱奥尼亚风格，也被称为女性风格；科林斯式风格。 3．雕塑 铁饼 米洛的维纳斯 公元前125年的群像 4．陶器 黑色的人物画（700-600B.C.）和红色的人物画（公元前50年）。 黑人物画是指画在陶瓷上的有红色的背景和黑色的人的画。红色的人物画是指有黑色的背景和粉红色的人物的图画。 IX．希腊文化的影响 1．创新精神 2．各个方面的成就 3．哲学思想和文学形象的持久影响 |
