Greek Thought

The early Greeks explained the things that happened to them by linking them to the gods, but by about 500 BC the Greeks were beginning to ask questions about the world around them, and to search for answers to the questions.... Click for more info.

These people were called philosophers, which means "lover of knowledge" in Greek. During this time of Greek history the scholars learnt much about: geography, astronomy, medicine, history and maths. Roll over the names to find out more.

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Only rich Greek boys went to school, and the school was called the 'gymnasium'. They started school at 7 years old, and stayed until they were 15. They were also taught arithmetic, poetry, music, singing and speech making, for the Assembly. At 18 the boy became a citizen of his state. He might spend a year in the army, and then, if his parents were very rich, he might go to the sports academy (which some folk might think was good for the girls!)....

AN ANCIENT GREEK SCHOOL

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WRITING

GIRLS

BOYS

Socrates was very concerned with ethics, virtue, and truth, and he loved talking about these ideas with other people. In fact, he felt that discussion was the only way to really uncover the truth. Socrates believed in virtues like self-control, courage, wisdom, and justice, and he criticized people (especially leaders) who claimed to be virtuous but weren't.

Plato wrote a book about different ways of governing countries. He thought that everyone should be educated from birth to the highest level possible for their abilities and interest. This would result in three classes of people: 1) the minority ruling class who were able to reach the highest level of education and had the virtue of wisdom. They would be supported by 2) the military class who would have the virtue of courage. Both these classes would rely on the economic industry of 3) the merchant class whose unique virtue was temperance. The fourth virtue of "justice" was to characterize society as a whole.

Aristotle discovered many things in science and biology. Aristotle suggested an answer to the question "What makes a life worth living?". Aristotle believed that the only worthwhile life was a successful life: living one's whole life in a rational way, under the guidance of the best virtues of the rational soul.

Parmenides watched an eclipse of the Moon in about 470 BC, and noticed that the Earth's shadow was curved. He worked out that if the shadow was curved, then the Earth must be round.

Archimedes was a mathematician and an engineer. He designed a machine, called the Archimedian screw, which could make water flow uphill. His design has been used for almost 2,000 years, to take water from rivers to the fields.

Pythagoras was a mathematician. Pythagoras believed in the reincarnation of the human soul into the body of animals after death. He also did interesting work in the area of music, especially in the musical scale. The discovery of the Pythagorean Theorem for finding the length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle as well as many other mathematical works are still in use today.

They didn’t have books to write in. Instead, they used a wax tablet, and wrote on this with a metal 'pen'. Here is the greek alphabet:

Girls did not go to school at all. They stayed at home with their mothers, and were taught to cook and weave. Many girls also learned to read and write, and they would often be taught music and dancing.

In the 700s BC Greece was divided into city states. These areas weren't much bigger than cities, but they each had their own laws and army. Most city states were governed by a small group of noblemen, called aristocrats. Often the people of the state didn't agree with the aristocrats and this could lead to revolts.

The Athenians came to believe that no one group of people should make the laws, but that all the citizens should have a say in the government of the state. In 508 BC, a different system of government was introduced in Athens, and this was called democracy. Other city states soon followed Athens' idea of governing the state in a more peaceful way.

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Citizens in the Assembly

Greek society was made up of citizens (men who were born in the city state) and non-citizens (women, foreigners and slaves).

In Athens it was decided that all citizens could choose the government officials, and vote for or against new laws. They held a large meeting on the slopes of a hill in Athens where any citizen could speak, and tell the government what it should be doing. This was called the Assembly, and there had to be at least 6,000 citizens at every Assembly.