Philosophers of Ancient Greece

Homer: 8th Century

Homer was a famous poet from Athens who wrote two very well known works, the Iliad, and the Odyssey. Homer was one poet and philosopher that informed the Greeks about their Gods. The first publishing of Homer's work were in 1488 CE in Florence Chalcondyles. Homer had a great influence on Greek sculpture, pottery, and theater. He was so influential that he was apart of Greek education.

  http://www.ancient.eu/homer/

Thales: 624-546 BC

Thales was born in Miletus, and was a famous Ancient Greek philosopher. Thales philosophy was created a lot from the philosophy of Aristotle. His philosophy focused on how we came to be. With that being said Thales was known as the founder of natural philosophy. Thales investigated areas of knowledge, philosophy, history, science, geography, politics, and engineering. Thales questioning heaven led to the beginning of Greek astronomy.

http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/

Pythagoras: 490-570 BC

Pythagoras is one of the world's greatest persons although he wrote nothing, he is known for the creation of society. Pythagoras is depicted as a man of science, and a preacher of doctrine. Pythagoras argued that there are three types of men, the lovers of wisdom, the lovers of honor, and the lovers of gain.  

http://www.iep.utm.edu/pythagor/

Empedocles: 430-490 BC

Empedocles was the most important philosopher during his time, and a very influential poet. He attributed to the invention of the four elements, Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. His philosophy revolved around two forces working against each other such as life and death, love and strife, he created the cosmic cycle that explained exactly how love they worked. Empedocles was also known for his medical skills and his great healing powers. 

http://www.iep.utm.edu/empedocl/

Protagoras: 490-420 BC

Protagoras was the greatest known Sophist in Greece, which means he was a teacher that taught privately to upper classes in rhetoric, politics, and logic. He made his career off of teaching people rhetoric in the courtrooms since there was no real lawyers back then. His philosophy was relativism which is the belief that there is no final objective truth, Plato and Protagoras had bad blood, Plato would do anything everything to bring down Protagoras and his philosophies. 

http://www.ancient.eu/protagoras/

Socrates: 470-399 BC

Socrates was known as the father of western philosophy. He taught by not teaching for knowledge but asking questions until the students came to their own understandings. Socrates wrote nothing but his work was passed down from his followers and one of his beloved students Plato. His lifestyle and even his death embodied his questioning of life and the things in it such as virtue, wisdom, and the good life. 

http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/socrates

Plato: 427-347 BC

Plato was a student of Socrates and based a lot of his philosophies off of him. His writings reveled about justice, beauty, and equality. He opened one of the first schools in Athens to allow higher learning for everyone. He was taught by some of the finest teachers. There were two things that had really set Plato's life in motion. The first was meeting and being taught by Socrates. The second was the Poloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta. After Socrates died Plato traveled around the Mediterranean region and soon after that he began to write. 

http://www.biography.com/people/plato-9442588#founding-the-academy

Aristotle: 384-322 BC

Aristotle created his philosophy through scientific and factual examination of human knowledge. Aristotle was an exceptional student and graduated early, earning him a shot at teaching rhetoric and dialogue to students. After Plato died Aristotle thought he would be assigned to take over the Academy which evidently went to Plato's nephew. Aristotle then left Athens to conduct experiments and his own research on the islands of the Greek Archipelago. 

http://www.ancient.eu/aristotle/

Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic Pottery

The Archaic pottery was the first pottery created back in Ancient Greece. The pottery was covered in geometric pattering. Most pottery that they had created were vases and which had led to eastern influence and was mastered by the Corinth ceramicists. Athens had conquered black figure pottery, then they added an orange tinge to their pottery which led to red pottery.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/argk/hd_argk.htm

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/greek-art.htm

The classical pottery was mostly made of ceramics which caused and unanswerable decline in pottery making. The technique they used was known as white ground. While the black and red pottery required clay slips for the pictures, the ceramic pottery allowed the artists to just paint right on the pottery.

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/greek-art.htm

The Hellenistic period is where pottery was starting to decline even more. There were really only three types of pottery that was very known. The first type was Megarian. 

The second style was Terracotta Sculptures.  

Lastly, there was West-Slope pottery. 

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/antiquity/greek-pottery.htm#hellenistic

Greek Theater and Masks

This theater consisted of actors, dancers, and an orchestra. The theater was made for entertainment showing comedy and tragedy. The actors in the theater would wear masks to play many roles including female roles. All actors were men. The masks were lined with with either wood, leather, or linen. The Greeks liked to keep religion and drama close together, that is why theaters were always located close to sanctuaries.

http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/thtr/hd_thtr.htm

http://www.greektheatre.gr/greek_theater_masks.html

Corinthian Architecture

Corinthian architecture was the last style they used in Ancient Greece. The style is rarely used during this time. The top of the column is very embellished with acanthus leaves. This style was used for the design in The Temple of Apollo at Bassae, but they did not fully use this style while building this structure. A couple other structures that used this style are the choragic monument of Lysicrates and The Temple of Zeus at Athens. These structures were built between 420BC and 2nd century AD. They also had used this style to build more known architecture of Ancient Greece, the Pantheon, and Propylaea. 

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Art/

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/architecture/corinthian.htm#!

Ionic Architecture

The Ionic architecture was the second style that Ancient Greece used. The style was thinner and more elegant than the Doric. The top of the column was displayed more scroll like and very decorative, they are also more fluted than the Doric style. They used the Ionic style to build The Temple of Athena Nike, The Temple of Apollo at Didyma, and Erechtheum. These structures were built between 300BC and 405BC.

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Art/

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/architecture/ionic.htm#!

Doric Architecture

There are many types of architecture that make up Ancient Greece. One of the very first types were Doric. The structure was very bulky and plain, many refer to it as a more masculine design. The material that the Greeks used to build this Doric structure was coarse limestone and Parian marble. The Doric structure was used to build the Parthenon, which was the temple of Athena. The Parthenon was built back in the 5th century. Besides the Parthenon they used this style to build the Heraeum at Olympus and the Basilica at Paestum. 

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Art/

http://www.doric-column.com/

(Greek Art, John Boardman)