Ancient Greece
Early Greek thought and philosophers
Science and Religion in Schools Project - Unit 3b
Map of Greece
Map of Ancient Greece
Map from home.triad.rr.com/warfford/ancient/grkmain.html
Timeline of key figures
1600 1100 800 500 323
BC CE
30
Trojan Wars
Greek Mycenaean Age
Greek Dark Age
Greek Archaic Age
Greek Classical Age
Hellenistic Age
Thales b.624
Anaximenes b.585
Pythagoras b.580
Empedocles b.490
Democritus b.450
Aristotle b.384
Ptolemy b.90
Key facts about ancient Greece
The Greeks invented democracy which means ‘rule by the people’ (demos=people)
This form of government dates from the 7th century BC when Greece was a mass of separate, independent city-states such as Athens. The Olympic Games were held every 4 years and date from the 8th century BC.
Greek philosophy is world famous.
Early Greek achievements
The ancient Greeks gave us:
Maths (Pythagoras) Irrigation (Thales) Atomic theory (Democritus) Maps and geography (Ptolemy) The concept of the elements The forces of attraction and repulsion (Empedocles) An awareness of condensation (Anaximenes) The notion of cause and effect and The methods of categorising all natural things (Aristotle)
Philosophical questions
Philosophy is concerned with two main questions:
What is the nature of reality?
What can we know for certain?
The Greeks tried to answer these questions using logic, reasoning and argument.
Ancient Greece
Early Greek thought and philosophers
Science and Religion in Schools Project - Unit 3b
