Words To Know:
Polis- the city state; the central focus of Greek life
Acropolis- a fortified area at the top of a hill
Oligarchy- the rule of the few
Stoicism- a school of thought developed by the teacher Zeno in Hellenistic Athens; it says that happiness can be achieved only when people gain inner peace by living in harmony with the will of God, and that people should bear whatever life offers
Agora- an open area that served as a place where people could assemble and as a market
Mount Olympus- the highest mountain in Greece
People To Know:
Aeschylus- composer of the Oresteia
Sophocles- another great Athenian playwright; most famous play was Oedipus Rex
Plato- one of Socrates’ students; considered by many the greatest philosopher of western civilization; Plato wrote a great deal; he was fascinated with the question of reality- how do we know what is real?
Homer- wrote the Iliad and the odyssey;
Eratosthenes- another astronomer; determined that earth was round and calculated the earth’s circumference at 24,675 miles (39,702 km), an estimate that was within 185 miles (298 km) of the actual figure
Epicurus- founder of Epicureanism; established a school in Athens near the end of the fourth century B.C.; believed that human beings were free to follow self-interest as a basic motivating force
Cleisthenes- created a new council of five hundred that supervised foreign affairs, oversaw the treasury, and proposed the laws that would be voted on by the assembly; the reforms of Cleisthenes created the
