The Greeks and the Romans (Chapter 1, Lesson 2)

two conflicting Christianity traditions

the emphasis on the individual conscience and the emphasis on the public community which came to take the form of the state.

Democracy in Athens

allowed only males to participate in government by voting, holding public office, owning property, and defending themselves in court.

Hellenistic

means to imitate the Greeks

Oligarchy of Sparta

militaristic polis ruled by a small number of people

Augustus

- (63 BCE - 14 CE) First emperor of Rome (27 BCE - 14 CE) - continued giving the Senate a role in governing - Made army swear loyalty to him, preventing the creation of professional armies.

philosophy

- A system of beliefs and values - The most famous Greek philosophers include Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Appeal of Christianity

- Christianity grew and spread because it was more attractive and appealing to all classes. It was appealing and attractive to all classes because it offered everyone an eternal life of happiness and bliss, unlike Greek religion and Roman religion. - Christianity contained elements familiar to people from other religions, including offering immortality through sacrificial death and the communal sharing of wine. - Finally, Christianity was appealing because it fulfilled the human need to belong. Christians formed communities bound to one another, offering assistance and helping to people in need.

Aristotle

- Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great - Greatly contributed to Western Science through focus on analyzing and classifying things based on observation and investigation - idea was that the three good forms of government were monarchy, aristocracy, and constitutional government.

Alexander the Great

- King of Macedonia who conquered Greece, Egypt, and Persia - great military leader. - Some of his failures include having to turn back to Babylon after a mutiny by his soldiers. He also was not a good political administrator and failed to establish any definite structure for the empire.

Roman vs. Christian Beliefs

- Some similarities in the ethical precepts of Romans and Christians were that they both encouraged virtue and both encouraged duty to one's community and the state. - The major difference between Christian and Roman beliefs was that Christians believed that there was an internal world that did not belong to the state.

Plato

- Student of Socrates; he believed the system was rowdy and that no one would be able to live a good life in such a democracy - idea of three different groups consisted of philosopher-kings with political power at the top, warriors who protect society in the middle, and the third group included everyone else who were driven by their own desires. - believed that men and women should have the same education and access to all positions of society.

similarities and differences between the Christianity, Judaism, Greeks and Romans

- The similarities between Greeks and Romans were that they both believed individuals were free to choose their own actions. - Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman traditions placed expectations on individuals to involve themselves in the community. - Jews and Christians believed that everyone had the responsibility to help others in need, while Greeks and Romans had expectations that their citizens would participate in the effective operation of their government.

Socrates

- believed that education had no other goal than improving human understanding. - Socratic method: used a question and answer format to lead pupils to see things for themselves (question all things) - accused of corrupting youth by encouraging critical thinking and was sentenced to death.

Theodosius

Emperor of Rome helped spread Christianity by making it the state religion. He also declared all other religions illegal.

Constantine

Emperor of Rome who helped spread Christianity by issuing the Edict of Milan, which proclaimed official tolerance to Christianity.

Emperor Nero

First to persecute Christians; Blamed the Great Fire of Rome on them.

Fall of Rome

Rome fell due to succession of bad rulers, being coupled with civil war, incursions by foreign raiders, and disease. It became divided into two due to these problems. The western half of Rome fell to Germanic invaders, signifying the collapse of their empire.

different beliefs of Judeo-Christian tradition and Greco-Romans about Reason

The Judeo-Christian tradition believed Reason to be provided by God. The Greco-Romans believed reason to be a separate realm from faith altogether. They thought that reason was a human process and arose from an ability to think about information logically based on observations of the world around you

Roman Empire achievements

The remarkable achievements of the Roman Empire were that their language, Latin, heavily influenced the Romance languages of today, their culture and political ideas were gradually spread across Europe, they left monuments to their architectural skills throughout Europe that are used for models and may still be in use today, aspects of their administrative practices survived in Western culture for centuries, and that they were able to preserve the intellectual heritage of the Greco-Roman world of antiquity.

Republic

form of government in which people elect leaders to represent them in the government.