Intro to Greek Life

1. Intro to Greek Life With reading and analysis of Pericles’ Funeral Oration

2. Historical Background Info • From the Peloponnesian war, written down by Thucydides • Believed that history could be understood in terms of human behavior • Examined the human mind in war time • Aimed to teach people so that they would avoid making the same mistakes he witnessed in war. • Admirer of Pericles and probably heard him deliver the annual speech honoring the Athenian war dead in the winter of 430 BC

3. Who is Pericles? • A great statesman of ancient Greece and one of ten generals during the Peloponnesian War • Tried to unite his country under the leadership of his own city, Athens. • Promoted democracy in Athens • During his rule, sometimes called The Golden Age of Greece, many magnificent buildings, including the Parthenon, were built.

4. What is the Peloponnesian War? • 431 to 404 BC- an ancient Greek war fought by Athens and its empire against the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta • Destruction of Athen's fleet at Aegospotami effectively ended the war, and Athens surrendered the following year • Reshaped the ancient Greek world and marked end of the “Golden Age” • International relations- Sparta became established as the leading power of Greece/ economic effects across Greece • Greek society- conflict between democratic Athens and oligarchic Sparta (civil war in Greek world)

6. Video • “Greece: The Birthplace of Western Civilization”

7. Genre • A speech is an oral presentation on an important issue. The speaker determines the content of the speech by considering the speech’s purpose, the occasion for which it is being given, and the audience to whom it is addressed. • Often include rhetorical techniques such as restatement (repeating an idea in different words) and parallelism (repeating grammatical structures).

8. Rhetorical triangle

9. Genre • One form of speech is an oration, a formal address intended to inspire listeners and incite them to action. • Orators deliver an impassioned appeal to the audience’s religious, moral, or patriotic values. • Classic orations like Pericles’ have seven identifiable parts (see next slide)

10. 7 parts of an oration • An opening, intended to capture the audience’s attention • A narration, or recital of facts • An exposition, or definition, of issues to be addressed • A proposition to clarify the issues and state the speaker’s purpose • A confirmation to address arguments for and against the proposition • A confutation, or refutation, to disprove opposing arguments • A conclusion, or epilogue, to summarize arguments and stir listeners **We will notice how Pericles develops his oration using these techniques**

11. Cultural Connection • Pericles’ speech reveals the values and attitudes of Athenian society. • (Example): When he says, “the greatest glory of a woman is to be least talked about by men, whether they are praising you or criticizing you,”he reveals women’s inferior status in that society. • What other passages reveal Athenian’s cultural attitudes? (watch for this!)

12. Vocabulary to know.. • Incredulous • Manifold • Tangible • Consummation • Culmination • Commiserate

13. Ancient Athens…

14. Video Clips • “Ancient Greece: The Democracy of Athens, 500 BC” • “Living in Ancient Greece” • “Golden Age of Ancient Greece: Daily Life”

15. Classical Athens • The city of Athens during the classical period of Ancient Greece (508–322 BC) was a notable polis (city-state) of Attica, leading the DelianLeague in the Peloponnesian War against Sparta and the Peloponnesian League. • Atheniandemocracy was established in 508 BC under Cleisthenes following the tyranny of Hippias. This system remained remarkably stable, and with a few brief interruptions remained in place for 180 years, until 322 BC. • The peak of Athenian leadership was achieved in the 440s to 430s BC, known as the Age of Pericles, or the Golden Age. • In the classical period, Athens was a center for the arts, learning and philosophy, home of Plato's Akademia and Aristotle's Lyceum,Athens was also the birthplace of Socrates, Pericles, Sophocles, and many other prominent philosophers, writers and politicians of the ancient world. • It is widely referred to as the cradle of Western Civilization, and the birthplace of democracy,largely due to the impact of its cultural and political achievements during the 5th and 4th centuries BC on the rest of the then known European continent.

16. Characteristics of a Greek Citizen: • Balanced between military and leisure time • Cultivate the mind • Doesn't show off wealth • Participates in both the private life and public life • Can judge sound public policy • Can converse of issues to determine a course of action • Thinking before action • Reflect on actions • Friends not made based on favors • Adapts with grace • Believes in truth and fact • Fair treatment to the vanquished • Patriotic • Courageous

17. Funeral speech • Who(speaker): Pericles, the central figure of the Golden Age of Ancient Athens, a gifted statesmen and talented military commander who led Athens in the second Peloponnesian War before his death from plague. • Audience: Athenians (citizens) • What/purpose: After Athenian casualties in war, he delivered a speech in honor of the fallen • When: 431 ,shortly after the Peloponnesian War had broken out • Where: Athens, Greece • Why: to commemorate those troops who had already fallen in battle

18. Funeral Speech • Central theme: the idea that the Athenians are able to put aside their petty wants and strive for the greater food of the city • Bound together by bonds of mutual trust and a shared desire for freedom, the people of Athens submit to the laws and obey the public officials bot because they have to, but because they want to. • Citizens were able to adapt to situations, rise to challenges, were clever, tolerant, and open-minded. • Pericles relates the special qualities of the Athenians, redefining many traditional Greek virtues in a radical new light. • New ideal of the Greek world

19. What were the main features of Athenian democracy according to Pericles? • Purpose: We will be analyzing the speech with the purpose of trying to discover what Pericles considered to be the outstanding political characteristics of Athenian democracy in the 5th century BC, during the Athenian Golden Age.

20. Structure • Intro: states purpose (what is the purpose)