CLASSICAL GREEK HUMANISM Main Objectives Trace the evolution

CLASSICAL GREEK HUMANISM

Main Objectives • Trace the evolution of Greek Art from Minoan to Classical • • Age Compare the artistic contributions of the Near East with the Greeks Analyze the contribution of Greek art to western history Analyze the evolution of Greek Humanism Learn to early Greek contributions to philosophy to evaluate later Greek thought and understand it’s impact on history

“MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS. ” PROTAGORAS HUMANISM MAN IS AT THE CENTER

Humanism http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=GGUOtw. Dhyzc “Man is the measure of all things. ” -Protagoras, 5 th century BCE Leonardo da Vinci, Vitruvian Man , 1487

HUMANISM • THE POWER TO THINK AND REASON GAVE MAN HIS WORTH • NO AUTHORITY HIGHER THAN REASON • ‘GOD” WAS AN ABSTRACT IDEA NOT A PERSONAL PRESENCE • EXCELLENCE (ARETE) IN ALL THINGS • THE MATERIAL WORLD IS THE EXTENSION OF THE HUMAN ABILITY

Homer • Arête: Excellence – Value is determined by how effective you are at controlling your environment • Examples of Homeric arête: – Glory in battle or athleticism – Sense of duty – Xenia

Hesiod • Two major works: • Works and Days – Hard work (ergon) – Guest friendship (xenia) • Theogony – the creation of the gods and the world • Humanism vs Fatalism

CLASSICAL ART AND ARCHITECTURE • GLORIFIED THE HUMAN BEING • PERFECT PROPORTION AND FORM • FOCUS ON BEAUTY • BUILDINGS REFLECTED MATHEMATICAL PROPORTION • HUMAN SCALE • PERFECTION AND LOGIC

Ancient Greece Lawrence Okoye, 2012, London, ©Sports Beat http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=88 g. XWW 3 q. N 7 o Myron, Diskobolos, Roman copy, 450 BCE Greek original

Greek Architecture Iktinos and Kallikrates Parthenon, Athens ca. 447 -438 BCE The White House, Washington D. C. The Art Institute of Chicago

Greek Art Themes: • Humans • Mythology • Trojan War Forms: • Mathematical proportion • Symmetry, balance, order • Beauty (the ideal form) Restored façade of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina, ca. 500 -490 BCE. Fig. 2 -28

Pottery • Progression from abstract Ajax and Achilles playing dice 530 BC to naturalized human form. Women washing clothes 470 BC

Sculpture

ARCHITECTURE

GREEK PHILOSOPHY • They were interested in finding the unity in life-in both the material world and the spiritual world. – WHO AM I – WHAT IS THE WORLD COMPOSED OF – WHERE DID I COME FROM – WHAT IS RIGHT AND WRONG – WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE

Causes of Philosophy • Freedom of Thought • • • promoted by: Religion: – Not state-centric but dealt with in families – Homer wasn’t dogma (not quite like a Bible) Politics – Written laws promoted rational debate Written language not class specific • Miletus: Ionian city-state – Contact with Greece and the Near East • Astronomy, Orientalizing pottery, alphabet, religion – Continuous Greek culture passed down through the Mycenaean period • “Homeric” social structure, language, epics, and culture – Wealthy polis (shipping, trade, industry) – Aristocratic and secular

Three types of Greek religious views • Upward or heavenly looking • Downward or earthly looking • Mystical or inward looking

Hesiod vs Thales the dark age and archaic connection • Hesiod: – Wrote Works and Days and Theogony – these works give us the daily life and religion of the Dark Ages – More concerned about divine causes rather than natural causes (very oriental-copied Enuma Elish) – Order is seen as an outgrowth of human motivation rather than divine will

Pre-Socratics

Pre-Socratics: Humanism • Natural origins of life. • The divine wasn’t abandoned, however. • The search for the unifying factor would ultimately come down to the Logos and the Forms.

To be or not to be; whatever is, is the Beginnings of Greek thought • Quest for order (Cosmos), unity within diversity, and monarchy • Searched within the material world and abandoned the divine – Early beginnings of science • What is the monarchy? – Physical one or many – Immaterial one or many

Thales • Founder of Greek philosophy • and science Water was either the main material or the main source of all things – Has no beginning and thus is divine – Three states of being and all things need it (therefore all share in the divine) • A “soul” connects all things and is the cause of motion

Pythagoras • Soul is divine • Math was perfection; Geometry was the beginning of all things – Music was mathematical – Soul and world consisted of geometric shapes • Plato and Christian • • Soul was perfect but if body • • was out of alignment soul would be tainted Transmigration of souls (reincarnation until you recognize Truth) Soul was the perfect reflection of “god”; body imperfect • thought Gnostics: – Spiritual and Physical dualism (spiritual is perfect while physical imperfect) Augustine and Aquinas (two early church fathers who merged Platonic and Aristotelian thought)

Heraclitus • “All things are in flux” – The only constant is change represented by fire • He is still looking at the • • material world for a unifying composition Logos: what connects all people Logos=Word/Reason/Thought – Thoughts were seen as part of the divine; perfect representations of reality given by “god” and therefore humans can understand reality

Philosophy: The Sophists • Wandering teachers – Paid for services – Focused on rhetoric (persuasion) – Rejected idea of universal truth – Stressed civic duty • Focused on humanism without a divine component

MAJOR GREEK PHILOSOPHERS • SOCRATES

PLATO • STUDENT OF PLATO • WROTE – THE REPUBLIC – THE APOLOGY

ARISTOTLE • STUDENT OF PLATO • TUTOR TO ALEXANDER

CLASSICAL LITERATURE • HERODOTUS- The Histories • Social historian • Gender inclusion • Multi • • subjectivity/relativism Written in prose History made by average person

CLASSICAL EDUCATION • PEDAGOGUE- TUTOR • INDIVIUDALIZED • • INSTRUCTION MALE ORIENTED GIRLS WERE EDUCATED IN THE AREA OF RUNNING A HOUSEHOLD AND RAISING CHILDREN

AESOP • FABLES- STORIES WITH A MORAL LESSON

Democracy • What is it? • What was democracy like in Athens?

Humanism and Democracy • How were they a reflection of each other? • All men were valued – Participation was required (arete) – Equal in citizenship but not wealth – Class systems were disregarded in the assembly • Opinions debated • Arguments made • How did democracy produce – Sophists, Herodotus, and Drama?

Drama and Tragedy • Dionysian Festival – – – Performed over three days Held in late spring Competitive • Three playwrights chosen to produce four plays – A trilogy (set of tragedies) and a satyr (comedy/satire) – The plot would involve a struggle between gods and humans and represent a political struggle concurrent in Athens – Playwrights competed for best drama as well as the actors

Aeschylus: Eumenides • Democracy and humanism in tragedy • Conflict of the old vs. new – Old family blood ties vs state • Question government and recreate a secular society • gods less important and human made courts more so

Sophocles • OEDIPUS REX • ANTIGONE

Euripides • Medea • Bacchae

Hippocrates • Doctor • “First do no harm” • Looked at natural causes for illnesses rather than divine