Most Famous Ancient Greeks Of All Times Ralleia Experimental Primary Schools Class E’ Teacher: Papadopoulou Evi
The students of E’ class responsible for this piece of work are the following: • Kalliopi Agiovlasit • Dimitra Moira • Kallia Marinaki • Elianna Dimopoulou • Nikolas Koutsomitros • Lefteris Katsoris • Nafsika Mavri • Babis Marakis • Pavlos Korfiats • Nina Konstantopoulou • Evi Fanariotou
The following ancient Greeks that you are going to read about were selected by the students based on their great importance and influence which shaped the Western civilizaton in terms of philosophy, forms of government, strategic army tactcs and the development and terminology of different sciences.
Alexander the Great Occupation: Military Commander and King of Macedonia in Ancient Greece Born: July 20, 356 BC Pella, Macedonia, Greece Died: June 10, 323 BC Babylon Best known for: Conquering of the most part of Asia and Europe for Greeks (which was about the whole known world of the tme) Biography: Alexander the Great was the king of Macedonia in Ancient Greece. He is considered one of the greatest military commanders and geniuses in the history of all tmes. Alexander the Great was born on July 20, 356 BC. He died at the age of 32 in 323 BC having accomplished much in his short life. He reigned as king from 336-323 BC. He died out of poison.
Facts about Alexander the Great • He was related to the Greek hero Hercules from his father's side and Achilles from his
mother's side. • When Alexander was 16, his father left the country to do battle, leaving Alexander as regent, or temporary ruler of Macedonia. • He tamed a wild horse named Bucephalus when he was a kid. It was his main horse untl it died of old age. Alexander named a city in India after his horse. • He never lost a single battle. • Legend has it that the Temple of Artemis burnt down the day of Alexander's birth because Artemis was busy attending the birth. • His best friend and second in command was the general Hephaeston. • Upon his death the great empire he had built was divided up amongst his generals, called the Diadochi. They ended up fightng each other for many years as the empire fell apart.
Alexander the Great
Map of Alexander's Empire
Alexander the Great
Pericles
Occupaton: Statesman and General Born: 495 BC in Athens, Greece Died: 429 BC in Athens, Greece Best known for: Leader of Athens during its golden age Biography: Where did Pericles grow up? Pericles grew up in the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens. His family was wealthy and his father, Xanthippus, was a popular general. Because of his family's wealth, Pericles had some of the best teachers in Athens. He loved to learn and he studied subjects such as music, politcs, ethics, and philosophy. Pericles grew up during the tme of the Persian Wars. When Pericles was around three years old, Athens was at war with the Persians, but won a decisive victory at the Battle of Marathon. Ten years later Athens once again faced the Persians. This tme they left the city and the Persians destroyed much of Athens. However, they defeated the Persians at the Battle of Salamis and Pericles was able to return home.
Pericles • When Pericles became a young man he used his wealth to support the arts. • He laid the foundatons of democracy • He laid successful military campaigns • Pericles is perhaps most famous for his great building projects. He wanted to establish Athens as the leader of the Greek world and wanted to build an Acropolis that represented the city's glory. He rebuilt many temples on the Acropolis that were destroyed by the Persians. He also had the Long Walls built from Athens to the port city of Piraeus in order to protect it. • Pericles' most famous building project was the Parthenon on the Acropolis. This magnificent structure was a temple to the goddess Athena. It was built between the years 447 BC and 438 BC. It took over 20 thousand tons of marble to construct.
Pericles • Golden Age of Athens The leadership of Pericles took place in the Golden Age of Athens. Not only were many of the famous buildings constructed during this tme, the arts and educaton flourished under Pericles, as well. The teachings of great philosophers like Socrates and the theatre productons of playwrights like Sophocles, happened at that tme.
Socrates
Occupaton: Philosopher Born: 469 BC in Athens, Greece Died: 399 BC in Athens, Greece Best known for: Greek philosopher who laid the foundaton of Western philosophy. What do we know about Socrates? Unlike some other famous Greek philosophers, Socrates didn't write down his thoughts and ideas. He preferred to speak to his followers. Fortunately, two of Socrates' students, Plato and Xenophon, wrote about Socrates in their works. We learn about Socrates' philosophies in many of Plato's Dialogues where Socrates is a major character taking part in philosophical discussions. Xenophon was a historian who wrote about the events in Socrates' life. We also learn about Socrates from the plays of the Greek playwright Aristophanes.
Socrates • Philosopher and Teacher As Socrates grew older, he began to explore philosophy. Unlike many philosophers of his tme, Socrates focused on ethics and how people should behave rather than on the physical world. He said that happiness came from leading a moral life rather than material possessions. He encouraged people to focus on justce and goodness rather than on wealth and power. His ideas were radical for his tme. Young men and scholars in Athens gathered around Socrates to have philosophical discussions. They discussed ethics and current politcal issues in Athens. Socrates chose not to give direct answers to questons, but instead posed questons and discussed possible answers. Rather than claim he had all the answers, Socrates would say "I know that I know nothing." • The Socratic Method Socrates had a unique way of teaching and exploring subjects. He asked questons and then discussed possible answers. The answers led to more questons and to a better understanding of a subject. This logical process of using questons and answers to explore a subject is known today as the Socratic Method.
• Legacy
Socrates
Socrates is considered one of the founders of modern Western philosophy. His teachings influenced future Greek philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. His philosophies are stll studied today and the Socratic Method is used in modern-day universites and law schools.
Plato Occupation: Philosopher and Mathematician Born: 427 BC in Athens, Greece Died: 347 BC in Athens, Greece Best known for: Greek philosopher who helped form the foundation of Western philosophy. He founded the Academy in Athens. Growing Up in Athens Plato grew up in the Greek city-state of Athens during the Classical Period of Ancient Greece. Although historians don't know a lot about Plato's early life they know he came from a wealthy family and likely had two brothers and a sister. He studied with the best Greek teachers on various subjects including music, gymnastics, maths, grammar, and philosophy.
The Dialogue
Plato
While Plato was traveling around the Mediterranean, he began to write. He wrote in an interestng style called a "dialogue". In the dialogue, Plato would introduce several characters who would discuss a topic by asking questons to each other. This allowed Plato to explore different sides of an argument and to introduce new ideas. The Republic Plato's most famous writng is The Republic. In The Republic, he discusses the meaning of justce and how it relates to happiness. He presented the "philosopherking" as the ideal ruler. Plato comes to the conclusion that philosophers must become kings, or kings must become philosophers.
Plato Founding the Academy When Plato was around 40 years old, he founded a school called the Academy. Plato and other scholars taught subjects such as mathematcs, philosophy, biology, and astronomy at the Academy. One of Plato's students was the famous scientst and philosopher Aristotle who studied at the Academy for nearly 20 years. Death and Legacy Plato died around the year 347 BC in Athens. Plato's legacy lives on in modern Western philosophy. His writngs have been studied for the last 2000 years and are stll studied in universites today.
Aristotle Occupaton: Philosopher and Scientst Born: 384 BC in Stagira, Greece Died: 322 BC in Euboea, Greece Best known for: Student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great Where did Aristotle grow up? Aristotle was born in northern Greece in the city of Stagira around the year 384 BC. He grew up as part of the aristocracy as his father, Nicomachus, was the doctor to King Amyntas of Macedonia. It was at the king's court that he met his son, Philip, who would later become king. Growing up the son of a doctor, Aristotle became interested in nature and anatomy. He grew up putting a premium on educaton and the arts.
Aristotle Did Aristotle go to school? As a young man, Aristotle had tutors who taught him all sorts of subjects. He learned to read and write Greek. He also learned about the Greek gods, philosophy, and mathematcs. When Aristotle turned seventeen he traveled to Athens to join Plato's Academy. There he learned about philosophy and logical thinking from Plato. He stayed at the Academy for nearly 20 years, at first as a student and later as a teacher. What was the Academy like? Plato's Academy was not a school or college like we have today. They didn't have classes on specific subjects taught by teachers. What they did was challenge each other with questons and debate. One method of doing this was to have dialogues where one person would ask a queston and the other person would attempt to answer it. They would then contnue to discuss the queston, asking new questons, in the form of debate.
Aristotle Aristotle's Travels After leaving the Academy in 347 BC, Aristotle traveled throughout Greece and Turkey. He got married and wrote several works including The Natural History of Animals, The Reproducton of Animals, and The Parts of Animals. New Ideas Aristotle had new ideas on how the world should be studied. He liked to make detailed observatons of the world, taking notes and records of what he saw. He went so far as to dissect animals to learn more about their anatomy. This was very different from the other Greek philosophers and educators of the day. They did all their work in their mind, thinking about the world, but not observing it. In this way Aristotle laid the foundaton of science. Aristotle spent a lot of tme learning about Biology. He was the first to try and classify different types of animals into different groups. He made drawings of different animal parts and tried to determine the functon of different organs. Aristotle made many discoveries and interestng observatons.
Aristotle Tutoring Alexander the Great In 343 BC, Philip II of Macedonia asked Aristotle to tutor his son Alexander. Aristotle spent the next several years teaching Alexander a wide range of subjects including philosophy, logic, and mathematcs. Alexander went on to conquer much of the civilized world and became known as Alexander the Great. Aristotle's School After tutoring Alexander, Aristotle returned to Athens and opened his own school. It was called the Peripatetic School. He taught his students subjects such as logic, physics, public speaking, politcs, and philosophy.