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Western Civilization I page. |
I. PERSIAN WARS
IN 499 B.C., THE IONIAN GREEKS IN ASIA MINOR (MODERN DAY TURKEY) REBELLED AGAINST THEIR PERSIAN OVERLORDS (THE IONIAN REVOLT).
- KING DARIUS OF PERSIA CRUSHED THE REVOLT IN 493 B.C.
- KING DARIUS NEXT INVADED THE GREEK MAINLAND IN 490 B.C. TO PUNISH ATHENS FOR HELPING THE IONIANS.
- THE PERSIANS LANDED AT MARATHON (26 MILES NORTH OF ATHENS).
- THE PERSIANS, ALTHOUGH SUPERIOR IN NUMBER, WERE DEFEATED BY THE GREEKS (MOSTLY ATHENIANS) UNDER MILTIADES.
- ALL MALE CITIZENS BETWEEN 18 AND 60 OF THE GREEK CITY STATES COULD BE CALLED ON FOR DUTY.
- THE INFANTRY WAS THE BACKBONE OF THE ARMY IN FIGHTING THE PERSIANS.
- ANY CITIZEN WHO COULD AFFORD ARMOUR BECAME A HOPLITE.
- HOPLITES IN BATTLE WERE GROUPED IN PHALANXES.
- KING DARIUS' SON, XERXES, LED THE SECOND AND MAJOR INVASION OF THE GREEK MAINLAND IN 480 B.C.
- BY THIS TIME, HOWEVER, THE GREEKS HAD UNITED (FEARING ANNIHILATION FROM PERSIA) INTO 30 STATES WITH SPARTA, ATHENS AND CORINTH AS ITS MOST POWERFUL MEMBERS.
- ADDITIONALLY, THE ATHENIAN, THEMISTOCLES, PERSUADED ATHENS TO BUILD A NAVY AND TO FORTIFY ITS HARBOR.
- KING XERXES' INVASION OF APPROXIMATELY 60,000 MEN AND 600 SHIPS WOULD BE THE LARGEST INVASION OF EUROPE BY SEA UNTIL WWII.
- THE GREEKS DECIDED TO MAKE THEIR STAND IN CENTRAL GREECE AT THERMOPYLAE - A NARROW MOUNTAIN PASS.
- FOR THREE DAYS, A SMALL BAND OF 5,000 GREEKS INCLUDING KING LEONIDAS OF SPARTA HELD UNTIL THEY WERE BETRAYED AND NEARLY ALL WERE KILLED.
- ATHENS WAS THEN ABANDONED AND THE PERSIANS ENTERED THE CITY AND BURNED IT.
- SHORTLY AFTER THIS, THE GREEKS WON A DECISIVE NAVAL VICTORY OVER THE PERSIANS AT SALAMIS WHICH LARGELY CUT OFF THE PERSIAN ARMY FROM BEING RESUPPLIED.
- UNLIKE LANDLOCKED CITY-STATES, ATHENS BASED HER POWER MAINLY ON HER NAVY.
- THE TRIREME WAS THE STANDARD WARSHIP USED BY ATHENS IN THE PERSIAN WARS.
- THE RAM OF THE TRIREMES WROUGHT HAVOC ON THE PERSIAN SHIPS AT SALAMIS.
- IN 479 B.C., THE GREEKS WON A DECISIVE LAND BATTLE OVER THE PERSIANS AT THE BATTLE OF PLATAEA.
- THIS DECISIVE VICTORY WAS FOLLOWED UP BY ANOTHER MAJOR GREEK VICTORY ALSO IN 479 B.C. AT THE BATTLE OF MYCALE ON THE SHORE OF ASIA MINOR.
II. ATHENIAN EMPIRE
AFTER THE VICTORIES OVER PERSIA, MANY GREEK POLEIS (EXCLUDING SPARTA) FORMED THE DELIAN LEAGUE UNDER ATHENIAN LEADERSHIP.
- THIS WAS A UNION OF THE CITY-STATES TO CONTINUE THE WAR AGAINST PERSIA.
- MILITARY CAMPAIGNS AGAINST PERSIA WERE SUCCESSFUL AND BY 450 B.C., WARFARE BETWEEN GREEKS AND PERSIA ENDED.
- GREEKS LIBERATED THE CITIES IN ASIA MINOR HELD BY THE PERSIANS.
- EVENTUALLY ATHENS MANIPULATED THE LEAGUE, INTERFERED WITH OTHER POLEIS, AND DEMANDED TRIBUTE FROM OTHER MEMBERS FROM 443 TO 429 B.C.
- PERICLES DOMINATED THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE AS GENERAL (ARCHONS WERE LESS IMPORTANT NOW). PERICLES STRENGTHENED THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE THROUGH AGGRESSIVE IMPERIALISM INCLUDING THE ATHENIAN HOLD ON THE DARDANELLES.
- THE BASIS OF ATHENIAN MILITARY POWER REMAINED ITS NAVY.
- PERICLES' RULE ALSO COINCIDED WITH THE ZENITH OF ATHENIAN LITERATURE.
- DRAMA REACHED ITS HIGHEST DEVELOPMENT IN THE PLAYS OF SOPHOCLES AND EURIPIDES.
- PERICLES REBUILT MANY TEMPLES OF THE ACROPOLIS THAT HAD BEEN DESTROYED DURING WARS WITH PERSIA. THE PARTHENON, THE MOST MAGNIFICENT TEMPLE OF THE ACROPOLIS, WAS BUILT AT THIS TIME.
THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR (431 - 404 B.C.)
- SPARTA AND OTHER POLEIS VIEWED THE GROWTH OF THE ATHENIAN EMPIRE WITH SUSPICION AND FEAR. THERE HAD BEEN SKIRMISHES BETWEEN ATHENS AND SPARTA DURING THE 450s B.C. WHICH LED TO A TREATY OF NON-AGGRESSION IN 446 B.C. TWO EVENTS LED TO THE BREAKING OF THIS TREATY:
1) ATHENS' ALLIANCE WITH CORCYRA AGAINST SPARTA'S ALLY - CORINTH.
2) ATHENS BESIEGING THE POLEIS OF POTIDAEA (WHICH WAS A COLONY OF CORINTH).
- FIGHTING BEGAN IN 431 B.C. WITH ATHENS HAVING THE STRONGEST NAVY AND SPARTA THE STRONGEST ARMY.
- OF FAR GREATER DAMAGE TO ATHENS THAN SPARTAN OFFENSES WAS A SERIOUS PLAGUE WHICH KILLED THOUSANDS OF ATHENIANS.
- NEITHER SIDE POSSESSED SUFFICIENT STRENGTH TO DEFEAT ITS RIVAL AND IN 421 B.C., AN ARMISTICE WAS REACHED.
- WAR RESUMED IN 414 B.C. AS ATHENS SOUGHT TO EXPAND ITS INFLUENCE IN SICILY.
- IN 413 B.C., ATHENS LOST A CRUCIAL NAVAL BATTLE AT SYRACUSE (SICILY) FOLLOWED BY A MASSACRE OF MANY ATHENIAN LAND TROOPS.
- IN 405 B.C., THE ATHENIAN FLEET SUFFERED A MAJOR DEFEAT AT THE HELLESPONT BY SPARTA AND IN 404 B.C., ATHENS SUED FOR PEACE.
RESULTS OF THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR:
- THE WAR WAS A MAJOR CATASTROPHE FOR GREEK UNITY.
- ATHENS LOST ITS EMPIRE, MOST OF ITS NAVY AND MUCH OF ITS TRADE.
- A SPIRIT OF PESSIMISM AND DISILLUSION AMONG ATHENIAN INTELLECTUALS PREVAILED WITH MANY OF THEM BLAMING DEMOCRACY FOR THE MILITARY DISASTER AND SOCIAL DECLINE.
- BOTH ATHENS AND SPARTA WERE DRAINED OF THEIR MANPOWER AND THE ENTIRE CITY-STATE SYSTEM BECAME DOOMED FROM CONSTANT STRUGGLES.
III. CLASSICAL GREEK CULTURE (CA. 500 - 323 B.C.)
DRAMA
- THE GREATEST POETRY OF THE EARLY CLASSICAL GREEK CULTURE WAS FOUND IN DRAMATIC TRAGEDIES CENTERING AROUND RELIGIOUS THEMES.
- DRAMAS WERE PRESENTED TO AUDIENCES OF SEVERAL THOUSAND.
- DRAMAS WERE COMMONLY PRESENTED IN SETS OF 3 AND ONE SUCH FAMOUS TRILOGY IS THE TRAGEDY OF ORESTES (SON OF AGAMEMNON) CALLED THE ORESTEIA BY AESCHYLUS.
- ANOTHER FAMOUS EARLY DRAMATIST WAS SOPHOCLES. HIS FAMOUS WORK IS OEDIPUS THE KING.
- THE THIRD ATHENIAN TRAGIC POET WAS EURIPIDES. HIS MOST FAMOUS PLAY IS MEDEA.
- HE SHOWED MUCH GREATER INTEREST IN THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE PASSIONS OF THESE CHARACTERS DETERMINE THE COURSE OF EVENTS IN HIS PLAYS.
COMEDY
- THE MOST FAMOUS COMEDIES WERE PRODUCED BY ARISTOPHANES OF ATHENS. UNLIKE TRAGEDY, COMEDY DEALT WITH THE REAL WORLD.
- ARISTOPHANES SATIRIZED MANY OF THE EVENTS AND PEOPLE OF HIS DAY.
HISTORICAL WRITING
- HERODOTUS IS CALLED THE "FATHER OF HISTORY."
- HE WAS THE FIRST TO WRITE AN ANALYSIS OF THE POLITICAL EVENTS IN THE GREEK WAR WITH PERSIA. HE WAS A CURIOUS AND OPEN-MINDED INQUIRER WHO TRAVELED FREQUENTLY IN PURSUIT OF FACTS.
- HE TRIED TO JUDGE EACH SOCIETY ON ITS OWN TERMS.
- THUCYDIDES WAS HERODOTUS' SUCCESSOR.
- HE WROTE ABOUT THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR AND TREATED THE WAR AS THE LUST FOR POWER WHICH OFTEN ENDS IN TRAGEDY, e.g., ATHENIAN BARBARIC TREATMENT OF NEUTRAL MELOS IN 416 B.C.
ART AND ARCHITECTURE
- ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE BECAME THE LEADING ART FORMS OF THE 5TH CENTURY B.C.
- THE STATUARY OF THE PARTHENON IS THE BEST KNOWN COLLECTION OF CLASSICAL GREEK SCULPTURE.
- GREEK SCULPTORS HUMANIZED THE GODS.
- AS MENTIONED, TEMPLES WERE RESTORED ON THE ACROPOLIS AND THE PARTHENON, A TEMPLE DEDICATED TO ATHENS, WAS BUILT DURING THE CLASSICAL AGE.
SOPHISTS
- EMPHASIS ON SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF MATERIAL IN THE UNIVERSE TURNED TOWARD STUDY OF HUMAN BEINGS.
- FIRST GREEKS TO UNDERTAKE THE STUDY WERE SOPHISTS.
- ATTACKED ACCEPTED BELIEFS.
- TAUGHT RHETORIC, GRAMMAR, MATHEMATICS AND MUSIC.
- PROTAGORAS (MID 5TH CENTURY) STATED "MAN IS THE MEASURE OF ALL THINGS."
SOCRATES (CA. 469 - 399 B.C.)
- MAIN CRITIC OF SOPHISTS.
- TRANSFORMED PHILOSOPHY INTO INQUIRY ABOUT MORAL RESPONSIBILITY OF PEOPLE.
- HELD THAT NO MAN IS WISE WHO CANNOT GIVE A LOGICAL ACCOUNT OF HIS ACTIONS.
- ENCOURAGED ATHENIAN YOUTHS TO EXAMINE THEIR LIVES IN PURSUIT OF MORAL TRUTH, i.e., "UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING."
- WAS BROUGHT TO TRIAL ON CHARGES OF CORRUPTING ATHENIAN YOUTH AND FORCED TO DRINK HEMLOCK.
PLATO (CA. 429 - 347 B.C.)
- MOST FAMOUS PUPIL OF SOCRATES WHO CONTINUED TO INVESTIGATE MORAL CONDUCT.
- WAS AN OPPONENT OF DEMOCRACY LIKE OTHER ATHENIAN INTELLECTUALS.
- GREATLY RESENTED EXECUTION OF SOCRATES AT THE HANDS OF A POPULAR COURT.
- BELIEVED THERE WAS HIGHER ORDER BEHIND EXTERNAL EVENTS AND THUS THE GOAL OF PHILOSOPHY WAS TO PENETRATE THROUGH THE REALM OF EVERYDAY APPEARANCES TO THE REAL NATURE OF THINGS.
- HIS MOST FAMOUS WORK IS THE REPUBLIC IN WHICH HE DEVELOPED THE IDEAL STATE. THE POLEIS SHOULD BE DIVIDED INTO 3 CLASSES:
1) PHILOSOPHERS - THESE SHOULD BE THE RULERS OF THE STATE. THESE PEOPLE POSSESSED REASON. "THE STATE WILL BE RULED WELL WHEN KINGS BECOME PHILOSOPHERS AND PHILOSOPHERS BECOME KINGS."
2) WARRIORS - DEFENDERS OF THE STATE WHO POSSESSED SPIRIT.
3) WORKERS - PRODUCE THE NEEDED MATERIAL TO SUSTAIN THE STATE.
ARISTOTLE (CA. 384 - 322 B.C.)
- MOST FAMOUS PUPIL OF PLATO.
- DEPARTED FROM PLATO'S THEORY OF EXTERNAL EVENTS (FORMS THAT CANNOT BE PERCEIVED BY THE SENSES).
- INVESTIGATED ALL FIELDS OF LEARNING. HE AND HIS PUPILS MET IN THE LYCEUM (IN ATHENS) DEVOTING THEMSELVES TO COLLECTING AND SYSTEMATIZING KNOWLEDGE IN ALL FIELDS INCLUDING:
- POLITICS - A STUDY OF GOVERNMENT OF OVER 150 CONTEMPORARY STATES. OF THE THREE PURE FORMS OF GOVERNMENT, i.e., MONARCHY, ARISTOCRACY, AND MODERATE DEMOCRACY, HE EXPRESSED PREFERENCE FOR MODERATE DEMOCRACY. CHIEF GOAL OF GOVERNMENT IS TO CREATE THE GOOD LIFE FOR BOTH THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE GOVERNMENT.
- ETHICS - HAPPINESS IS THE GREATEST GOOD OF THE INDIVIDUAL. PEOPLE MUST SEEK MODERATION TO ACHIEVE THIS.
- POSTULATED ON HIS CONCEPTION OF THE UNIVERSE MADE UP OF 5 ELEMENTS. STARS MOVE IN A CIRCULAR FASHION AND OUTSIDE THE WHOLE UNIVERSE THERE EXISTS AN EXTERNAL "PRIME MOVER", i.e., GOD WHO DOES NOT MOVE OR CHANGE.
- ALSO WROTE EXTENSIVELY ON BIOLOGY.
FAMILY LIFE - ATHENS
- FATHER EXERTED TOTAL CONTROL OVER HIS HOUSEHOLD.
- WOMEN HAD NO LEGAL POWER.
- NEW BORN CHILDREN COULD LEGALLY BE ABANDONED (PARTICULARLY IF SICKLY).
- FAMILY OFTEN SPENT THE DAY IN THE COURTYARD DURING SUMMER.
- AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, HUSBANDS AND WIVES LIVED IN SEPARATE PARTS OF THE HOUSE.
- MOST RICHLY FURNISHED ROOM WAS THE DINING ROOM.
- MEN FREQUENTLY ENJOYED A SYMPOSIOM (A DRINKING PARTY) THERE.
- MEN DID MOST OF THE SHOPPING AT THE MARKETPLACE.
- WOMEN SPENT MOST OF THEIR TIME SPINNING AND WEAVING AT HOME.
- FORMAL EDUCATION WAS CONSIDERED IMPORTANT ONLY FOR BOYS.
- GIRLS WERE EDUCATED AT HOME MAINLY LEARNING HOW TO DO DAILY TASKS REQUIRED FOR RUNNING THE HOME.
IV. RISE OF MACEDONIA
- QUARRELS AMONG THE POLEIS MADE THEM VULNERABLE TO MACEDONIAN EXPANSION.
- THE MACEDONIANS WERE A GREEK PEOPLE WHO WERE CONSIDERED SEMI-BARBARIC BY THEIR SOUTHERN GREEK NEIGHBORS.
- BETWEEN 357 B.C. AND 336 B.C., PHILIP II OF MACEDONIA LAUNCHED SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGNS AGAINST THE POLEIS TO THE SOUTH. HE GATHERED THE MORE IMPORTANT POLEIS, EXCEPT SPARTA, INTO THE LEAGUE OF CORINTH WHICH RECOGNIZED PHILIP AS THEIR LEADER.
- BEFORE PHILIP COULD BEGIN HIS PERSIAN CAMPAIGNS, HE WAS MURDERED IN 336 B.C.
- PHILIP'S SON, ALEXANDER THE GREAT, NOW BECAME HEAD OF THE EMPIRE CREATED BY HIS FATHER.
- HE WAS 20 YEARS OLD AT THIS TIME.
- ALEXANDER, DURING HIS REIGN, CREATED THE LARGEST EMPIRE THE ANCIENT WORLD HAD KNOWN, AND HE WAS RESPONSIBLE MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE FOR THE DIFFUSION OF GREEK CULTURE.
- HE DROVE THE PERSIANS FROM THE COAST OF ASIA MINOR, AND OUT OF EGYPT. AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS AT GAUGAMELA, HE OCCUPIED THE PERSIAN CAPITAL OF PERSEPOLIS AND ASSUMED THE TITLE OF KING OF PERSIA.
- HE CONTINUED EAST WHERE HE CROSSED THE INDUS RIVER INTO INDIA.
- IN 326 B.C., HIS TROOPS THREATENED TO MUTINY, SO HE BEGAN HIS MARCH BACK WEST.
- IN 324 B.C., THE ARMY REACHED BABYLON AND HIS ATTEMPTS TO ORGANIZE A NEW ARMY ENDED WHEN HE DIED OF FEVER IN 323 B.C. AT THE AGE OF 32.
- HE PROVIDED FOR NO SUCCESSOR AND HIS EMPIRE WAS DIVIDED BY THREE OF HIS HIGHEST RANKING GENERALS.
- BY 30 B.C., ALL OF THE SUCCESSOR STATES HAD FALLEN TO ROME.
ALEXANDER'S ACHIEVEMENTS:
- HELLENISTIC CULTURE WAS DISSEMINATED BOTH EAST AND WEST.
- ROADS WERE BUILT TO INCREASE TRADE IN HIS LARGE EMPIRE.
- MORE THAN 70 CITIES WERE FOUNDED INCLUDING THE COSMOPOLITAN CITY OF ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT WHICH WAS POPULATED WITH GREEKS AND BECAME THE HELLENISTIC CENTER OF CULTURE.
- GAVE RISE TO A GOLDEN AGE OF SCIENCE.
V. HELLENISTIC AGE (323 - 30 B.C.)
THE CLASSICAL AGE OF GREECE ENDED WITH THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT IN 323 B.C.
DISSOLUTION OF EMPIRE
- AFTER ALEXANDER'S DEATH, A STRUGGLE RESULTED IN CARVING THE EMPIRE INTO 3 KINGDOMS CONTROLLED BY GREEK RULERS:
1) MACEDONIA - NORTHERN GREECE
2) EGYPT
3) SELEUCIDS - WESTERN ASIA
A 4TH KINGDOM WAS FORMED SLIGHTLY LATER IN WESTERN ASIAN MINOR.
- THESE HELLENISTIC MONARCHS RULED THROUGH STRONG ARMIES.
- AN IMPORTANT TREND IN THE HELLENISTIC AGE WAS THE RE-EMERGENCE OF WOMEN AS RULERS.
HELLENISTIC CULTURE
- A BLEND OF EASTERN AND WESTERN INFLUENCES.
- INCLUDED PERSIAN, EGYPTIAN, INDIAN, AND GREEK.
- HELLENISTIC CULTURE WAS WIDELY DISSEMINATED THROUGHOUT CIVILIZED WORLD.
ECONOMIC LIFE
- SHARP CONTRAST BETWEEN CLASSICAL AND HELLENISTIC WORLD.
- CLASSICAL GREECE = FARMERS WORKED SMALL PLOTS.
- HELLENISTIC STATES = VAST ESTATES PREDOMINATED.
- EMIGRATING GREEKS DOMINATED THE HELLENISTIC WORLD.
- NEW CROPS AND AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES WERE INTRODUCED.
- GROWTH OF INDUSTRY AND TRADE EVEN GREATER, i.e., ESTABLISHED SOUND MONEY SYSTEM, BUILDING ROADS AND CANALS.
- RULERS AND MEMBERS OF THE UPPER CLASS (MOSTLY GREEKS) BENEFITTED BUT LITTLE WAS SHARED WITH PEASANTS. MAINLAND GREECE DID NOT SHARE IN THIS NEW PROSPERITY.
HELLENISTIC CITIES
- LIKE CLASSICAL GREECE, HELLENISTIC CIVILIZATION WAS PREDOMINANTLY URBAN.
- MOST OF THE NEW CITIES WERE IN WESTERN ASIA, IN THE SELEUCID KINGDOM.
- HELLENISTIC CITIES WERE CENTERS OF GOVERNMENT, TRADE AND CULTURE.
- ALEXANDRIA (EGYPT) WAS THE LARGEST CITY WITH A HALF-MILLION INHABITANTS AND MANY OTHER CITIES WERE MUCH LARGER THAN THE AVERAGE POLEIS IN GREECE.
- ALEXANDRIA BECAME THE CULTURAL CENTER OF THE HELLENISTIC AGE.
- GREEK, BASED ON THE ATTIC DIALECT, BECAME AN INTERNATIONAL LANGUAGE.
- HELLENISTIC CITIES LACKED THE COHESIVENESS OF THE CLASSICAL POLEIS.
LITERATURE AND ART
- HELLENISTIC AGE WAS NOT NOTABLE IN LITERATURE.
- MOST NOTEWORTHY WAS SCHOLARSHIP PARTICULARLY IN ALEXANDRIA. THE HUGE LIBRARY AND SCHOLARS PRESERVED THE LITERATURE OF EARLIER TIMES.
- HELLENISTIC ARCHITECTURE EMPHASIZED SIZE AND GRANDEUR.
- ARTISTS SHOWED INDIVIDUALITY OF FACES AND BODIES, OFTEN DEPICTING IMPERFECTIONS.
SCIENCE
- THIS WAS AN AREA OF REMARKABLE ACHIEVEMENT WHICH WAS NOT SURPASSED UNTIL THE 1600s A.D.
- EUCLID - COMPILED TEXTBOOK OF GEOMETRY.
- ARCHIMEDES - GREATEST MATHEMATICIAN OF ALL ANTIQUITY CALCULATED THE VALUE OF PI, DEVELOPED SYSTEM FOR EXPRESSING LARGE NUMBERS, AND DEMONSTRATED LAWS OF PHYSICS, e.g., PRINCIPLE OF THE LEVER.
- ARISTARCHUS - ADVANCED HELIOCENTRIC THEORY OF PLANET MOVEMENT (UNFORTUNATELY GREEK ASTRONOMIC TRADITION CONTINUED TO FOLLOW GEOCENTRIC THEORY).
- COPERNICUS IN THE 16TH CENTURY A.D. PROVED THAT ARISTARCHUS WAS CORRECT.
- MEDICAL ADVANCES WERE MADE THAT WERE NOT MATCHED IN WESTERN EUROPE FOR 1,800 YEARS, e.g., SURGICAL PROCEDURES USING ANESTHETICS.
- OTHER HELLENISTIC SCIENTISTS DEVELOPED MORE PRECISE MEASUREMENTS, e.g., ERATOSTHENES COMPUTED CIRCUMFERENCE OF EARTH.
PHILOSOPHY
- TWO MOST IMPORTANT SCHOOLS OF HELLENISTIC PHILOSOPHY:
1 - EPICUREANISM
2 - STOICISM
1) EPICUREANISM - FOUNDED BY EPICURUS (341 - 270 B.C.).
- PEOPLE SHOULD STRIVE FOR TRANQUILITY.
- ADOPTED ATOMIC THEORY OF LEUCIPPUS AND DEMOCRITUS.
- WE SHOULD NOT FEAR DEATH SINCE THERE IS NO AFTERLIFE.
- CONCERN FOR LEADING PLEASURABLE LIFE WHILE AVOIDING PAIN.
- WISE PEOPLE WITHDRAW FROM THE WORLD TO STUDY PHILOSOPHY.
2) STOICISM - FOUNDED BY ZENO (335 - 263 B.C.)
- A SIMPLE DIVINE PLAN GOVERNS THE UNIVERSE AND ONE MUST FOLLOW THIS PLAN TO FIND HAPPINESS.
- CULTIVATING SELF-DISCIPLINE, PEOPLE LEARN TO ACCEPT THEIR FATE AND BECOME IMMUNE TO EARTHLY ANXIETIES AND ACHIEVE INNER FREEDOM AND TRANQUILITY.
- STOICS DID NOT ADVOCATE WITHDRAWAL FROM THE WORLD BUT RATHER CONSIDERED IT A DUTY TO PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
- STOICS ADVOCATED TOLERANCE AND COMPASSION FOR LESS FORTUNATE.
- BECAME THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PHILOSOPHY AMONG EDUCATED OF HELLENISTIC AGE AND ACHIEVED GREAT INFLUENCE AMONG ROMANS.