Section 1 OverviewThis section discusses the culture of the ancient Greeks as expressed in their religion, literature, and art.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Focusing on the Main Ideas

The Culture of Ancient Greece

• The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses controlled nature and shaped their lives.

• Greek poetry and fables taught Greek values.

• Greek drama still shapes entertainment today.

• Greek art and architecture expressed Greek ideas of beauty and harmony.

Locating Places• Mount Olympus (uh·LIHM·puhs)

• Delphi (DEHL·FY)

Meeting People• Homer (HOH·muhr)

• Aesop (EE·SAHP) • Sophocles (SAH·fuh·KLEEZ)

• Euripides (yu·RIH·puh·DEEZ)

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Building Your Vocabulary• myth (MIHTH)

• fable (FAY·buhl) • drama (DRAH·muh)

• oracle (AWR·uh·kuhl)

• epic (EH·pihk)

• tragedy (TRA·juh·dee) • comedy (KAH·muh·dee)

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Mythology• The Greeks believed in many gods and

goddesses.

• The Greeks believed the 12 most important gods lived on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece.

• They thought these deities affected people’s lives and shaped events.

• Greek myths were stories about gods and heroes.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Mythology• In these stories, gods had special

powers but looked and acted like humans.

• They hoped that the gods would grant good fortune to them in return.

• The Greeks followed rituals to win the gods’ favor.

• The Greeks believed in prophecy, or predictions about the future.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Mythology• Many Greeks visited an

oracle to receive a prophecy.

• The most famous oracle was at the Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

• An oracle was a sacred shrine where a priest or priestess spoke for a god or goddess.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Poetry and Fables• Greek poems and stories are the oldest

in the Western world and serve as models for European and American poems and stories.

• An epic is a long poem about heroic deeds.

• The first great epics were the Iliad and the Odyssey, written by a poet named Homer.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Poetry and Fables• The Iliad is about a battle for the city of

Troy.

• The Odyssey is the story of Odysseus, a Greek hero.

• Greeks believed these two epics were real history.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Poetry and Fables

• A fable is a short tale that teaches a lesson.

• Fables were passed from person to person by oral tradition.

• A slave named Aesop wrote many fables.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Drama

• The Greeks used drama as part of their religious festivals.

• The Greeks developed two types of drama— tragedies and comedies.

• Drama is a story told by actors who pretend to be characters in the story.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Drama

• A comedy is a story with a happy ending.

• Aeschylus was a writer who wrote a group of three plays called Oresteia.

• A tragedy is the story of a person who tries to overcome difficulties but fails.

• These plays teach that evil acts cause more evil and suffering.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Drama

• Euripides wrote plays about real-life people instead of gods.

• Aristophanes wrote comedies that made fun of leading politicians and scholars.

• The Writer Sophocles wrote the plays Oedipus and Antigone.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Art and Architecture

• Although Greek murals have not survived, examples of Greek paintings still exist on decorated pottery.

• The most important architecture in Greece was the temple dedicated to a god or goddess.

• Greek artists believed in the ideas of reason, balance, harmony, and moderation and tried to show these ideas in their work.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Art and Architecture• The most

famous temple is the Parthenon.

• Greek architecture included columns, which were first made from wood.

The Culture of Ancient Greece

Greek Art and Architecture• Later, the Greeks began using marble.

• Many of today’s churches and government buildings have columns.

• Greek sculpture expressed Greek ideas.

The Culture of Ancient Greece