Notes: Classicism: The Greek Legacy

Classicism: refers to art, literature, and philosophy of the ancient Greek and Roman world; focuses on moderation (the Golden Mean), rationalism, and human dignity and honorable behavior. The baseline for what is considered beautiful and good.

Places and Ages of Ancient Greek Civilization:

Knossos on Crete (Minoans) – 3000-1200 BCE

Mycenae (Mycenaeans) – Mycenae fought with Troy for control of shipping in the Aegean; source of the Iliad and the Odyssey – 1600-1200 BCE

The Heroic Age – 1200-750 BCE

City-States and the Persian wars – 750-480 BCE

The Golden Age – 480-430 BCE – centered in Athens – the best of the arts

People:

Alexander the Great – responsible for the spread of classicism through imperial ambitions

Hesiod – wrote the genealogy of the gods (Theogony)

Homer – wrote The Iliad and the Odyssey

Herodotus – first historian –wrote the Persian Wars (see the movie The 300 for a stirring recount of the Battle of Thermopylae)

Sappho – lyrical poet, lesbian, from Lesbos

Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle –

• Socrates – teacher/mentor of Plato – dialectical method – know thyself – search for truth and The Good – focus on ethics
• Plato – teacher/mentor of Aristotle – Theory of Forms – Allegory of the Cave
• Aristotle – the empirical method – rejected the notion of an eternal soul (against Plato) – The Golden Mean