Search the internet for facts and information on the following topics. Send your answer thru this blog using the same pattern as i do. Deadline of submission is Tuesday (August 16, 2011)
1.Pope Benedict XV is the only pope honored by Turkey, a Muslim nation. His statue stands at center of city square of St. Esprit, Istanbul Turkey .
2. Who designed the tallest building in Hong Kong? Cesar Pelli
3. In September 11, 2011, two commercial airplanes commandeered by terrorist crashed and destroyed the World Trade Center in New York. Is this the first time that an airplane crashed into skycraper in New York?
4.Burj Dubai or Dubai Tower is the tallest building in the world. It is located in . The construction started in September 21,2004and was finished on October 1,2009.
5. What are the four territories composing the United Kingdom? and where the name Great Britain came from?The four territories composing the United Kingdom are:England,Northern Ireland,Scotland and Wales.And the name Great Britain came from the welsh word prydain.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Please research on the following and post through your blog or to this blog as comment.
1. Peloponnesian War
a) Brief account having the content of who are involved, what are the issues/reasons for the war, how it ended and its result.
The
Peloponnesian War, (431 to 404 BC), was an
ancient Greek war fought by
Athens and its
empire against the
Peloponnesian League led by
Sparta.This war consisted of a series of conflicts and minor wars, such as the
Second Sacred War. There were several causes for the war including the building of the Athenian long walls, Megara's defection and the envy felt by Sparta at the growth of the Athenian Empire.The First Peloponnesian War ended in an arrangement between Sparta and Athens, which was ratified by the
Thirty Years' Peace (winter of
446–
445 BC). According to the provisions of this peace treaty, both sides maintained the main parts of their empires. Athens continued its domination of the sea while Sparta dominated the land. Megara returned to the Peloponnesian League and Aegina becoming a tribute paying but autonomous member of the Delian League. The war between the two leagues restarted in
431 BC and in
404 BC, Athens was occupied by Sparta.
2. Persian War
a) Brief account having the content of who are involved, what are the issues/reasons for the war, how it ended and its result.
The
Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the
Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the
Achaemenid Empire of
Persia and city-states of the
Hellenic world that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the Greeks and the enormous empire of the Persians began when
Cyrus the Great conquered
Ionia in 547 BC. Struggling to rule the independent-minded cities of Ionia, the Persians appointed
tyrants to rule each of them. This would prove to be the source of much trouble for the Greeks and Persians alike.
The
first Persian invasion of Greece began in 492 BC, with the Persian general
Mardonius conquering
Thrace and
Macedon before several mishaps forced an early end to the campaign. In 490 BC a second force was sent to Greece, this time across the
Aegean Sea, under the command of
Datis and
Artaphernes. This expedition subjugated the
Cyclades, before
besieging, capturing and razing Eretria. However, while on route to attack Athens, the Persian force was decisively defeated by the Athenians at the
Battle of Marathon, ending Persian efforts for the time being. Darius then began to plan to complete the conquest of Greece, but died in 486 BC and responsibility for the conquest passed to his son
Xerxes I. In 480 BC, Xerxes personally led the
second Persian invasion of Greece with one of the largest ancient armies ever assembled. Victory over the 'Allied' Greek states (led by
Sparta and Athens) at the
Battle of Thermopylae allowed the Persians to overrun most of Greece.However, while seeking to destroy the combined Greek fleet, the Persians suffered a severe defeat at the
Battle of Salamis. The following year, the confederated Greeks went on the offensive, defeating the Persian army at the
Battle of Plataea, and ending the invasion of Greece.
The allied Greeks followed up their success by destroying the rest of the Persian fleet at the
Battle of Mycale, before expelling Persian garrisons from
Sestos (479 BC) and
Byzantium (478 BC). The actions of the general
Pausanias at the siege of Byzantium alienated many of the Greek states from the Spartans, and the anti-Persian alliance was therefore reconstituted around Athenian leadership, as the so-called
Delian League. The Delian League
continued to campaign against Persia for the next three decades, beginning with the expulsion of the remaining Persian garrisons from Europe. At the
Battle of the Eurymedon in 466 BC, the League won a double victory that finally secured freedom for the cities of Ionia. However, the League's involvement in an Egyptian revolt (from 460–454 BC) resulted in a disastrous defeat, and further campaigning was suspended. A fleet was sent to
Cyprus in 451 BC, but achieved little, and when it withdrew the Greco-Persian Wars drew to a quiet end. Some historical sources suggest the end of hostilities was marked by a peace treaty between Athens and Persia, the so-called
Peace of Callias.
3. Gods and Goddesses of Greece and Rome Compared
Gods of Rome
Diana - Goddess of the Moon
Ceres - The Earth Goddess
Vesta - Goddess of the Home
Flora - Goddess of Flowers
Gods of Greece
Themis
Descriptoin: Carried a pair of scales. Another form of the earth mother, personifying law and order.
Rules Over: Collective consciousness, social order, law, peace, settlement of disagreements, justice and righteousness, feasts, gatherings, oath-swearing, wisdom, prophecy, order, childbirth, courts and judges, arts and magick.
Tritons
Description: Mermen of the Mediterranean with fish-like tails and scales on the body. Had sharp teeth and webbed fingers with long claws. They could change their tails to legs to walk on land. It was the duty of the Tritons to harness dolphins to POseidon's chariot and blow conch horns as they swarmed before the Lord of the Ocean.
Uranus
Other Names: Ouranos.
Description: Original Great God, husband of Gaea and father of the twelve divine Olympians.
Rules Over: Sky and heavens.
Zephyrus
Description: God of West Wind.
Rules Over: Calm, peace of mind, love and emotions, west wind.
Zeus
Description: Supreme God pictured wearing a crown of oak leaves and a mantle with his chest and right arm bare. Carried a scepter in his left hand and a thunderbolt and eage at his feet.
Rules Over: All high things, clouds, rain, wind, thunder, lightning, mountain tops, wisdom, justice, popularity, law, honor, riches, friendships, health, luck, heart's desire. Aeolus
Description: Keeper of the winds, but not always able to control them.
Rules Over: The Winds.
Adonis
Other Names: Adon, Adonai.
Rules Over: Rebirth, the seasons, love and beauty.
Aphrodite
Other Names: Marianna or "La Mer" meaning "the Ocean."
Description: Beautiful, voluptuous, blue-eyed and light haired woman.
Rules Over: Love, beauty, joy of physical love, sensuality, passion, generosity, all forms of partnerships and relationships, affection, fertility, continued creation, renewal.
Apollo
Description: Extremely handsome, perfectly built male with light hair.
Rules Over: Prophecy, poetry, music, medicine, oracles, healing, reason, inspiration, magick, the arts, divination, harmony, spiritual goals gained through use of the arts, ravens, earthquakes, woodlands, springs.
Ares
Description: Crested helmet, thought of as very rough and tough, insensitive, greatly concerned with his male image.
Rules Over: War, terror, uncontrolled anger, revenge, courage without thought, raw energy, brute strength, untamed passions, any situation where sheer stamina is needed.
Artemis
Description: Tall, slim, lovely dressed in a short tunic. Chariot pulled by silver stags.
Rules Over: Singers, protector of young girls, mistress of magick, sorcery, enchantment, psychic power, women's fertility, purification, sports, exercise, good weather for travellers, countryside, the hunt, mental healing, dance, wild animals, forests, mountains, woodland medicines, juniper, healing.
Asclepius
Other Names: Asklepios, Aesclepius.
Description: Son of Apollo.
Rules Over: Snakes, revival of the dead, healing.
Athene
Other Names: Athena.
Rules Over: Writing, music, sciences, sculptors, potters, architects, wisdom, arts and skills, renewal, true justice, protection (both psychic and physical), prudence, wise counsel, peace, embroidery, horses and oxen, snakes, pillars, trees, olive boughs, battle strategy, weaving.
Bendis
Description: Thracian Goddess.
Rules Over: Moon and fertility.
Boreas
Description: Depicted with a man's upper body and a serpent's tail, sometimes winged and with two faces looking forward and backward. God of the North wind.
Rules Over: North Wind.
Britomartis
Other Names: Dictynna.
Description: Cretan virgin forest huntress.
Rules Over: Chastity.
Charities
Other Names: Graces.
Description: Triad of Moon Goddesses. Aphrodite's companions. Nude and dancing.
Their Names: Aglaia, Thalia and Euphrosyne. (Shining One, flowering one/abundance, one who makes glad/joy)
Circe
Description: Moon Goddess, death-bird.
Rules Over: Physical love, sorcery, enchantments, evil spells, vengeance, dark magick, witchcraft, cauldrons.
Cronus
Other Names: Cronos, Kronos.
Description: Father Time.
Rules Over: Abundance, agriculture, earth's riches, prosperity, the arts and magick.
Cybele
Other Names: Kybele.
Description: Phrygian goddess of the earth and caverns. Carried a scourge of knuckle bones and liked pearls and cypress.
Rules Over: Natural world and its formations, wild beasts (especially lions), dominion over wild animals, dark magick, revenge.
Dactyls
Description: Divine spirits born from the fingerprints of Rhea. Five males from her right hand, five females from her left. They were blacksmiths, magi, founders of meter, inventors of magickal formulae. A form of earth elementals.
Demeter
Description: Matron with beautiful hair, wearing a blue robe and carrying a sheaf of wheat. She was crowned with ears of corn or ribbons and held a scepter.
Rules Over: Crops, corn, the plow, initiation, renewal, rebirth, vegetation, fruitfulness, agriculture, civilization, law, motherhood, marriage, maternal love, fidelity, magickal philosophy, expansion, higher magick, soil, all growing things.
Dionysus
Other Names: Dithyrambos.
Rules Over: Pleasure, ecstasy, total abandon, woodlands, nature, wine, initiation, rituals, rebirth, regeneration, civilization.
Eos
Other Names: Aurora.
Description: Shown riding on Pegasus in a purple or gold chariot.
Rules Over: Dawn.
Erinyes
Other Names: Eumenides.
Description: Triad of Virgin Goddesses who tracked down those who wrongly shed blood, especially that of a mothers.
Their Names: Allecto, Tisiphone, Megaera. (Beginnings/unending, continuation/retaliation, death and rebirth/envious fury)
Eros
Description: Beautiful but wanton boy with a golden quiver of arrows of desire and physical attraction.
Rules Over: Erotic love.
Eurus
Other Names: Apheliotes.
Description: God of East Wind.
Rules Over: East, renewing, intelligence.
Gaea
Other Names: Gaia.
Description: Earth-omnipotent.
Rules Over: Motherhood, agricultural fertility, marriage, dreams, trance, divination, oracles, healing.
The Graiae
Other Names: The Graeae.
Description: Triad of Mother Goddesses. Three goddesses who shared one all-seeing eye.
Their Names: Enyo, Pemphredo and Deino. (Fear, dread and terror)
Rules Over: War, retribution and divination.
Hades
Description: Mysterious and terrifying god of death and benign god of prosperity. House of Hades was the place of shades or the dead.
Rules Over: Crops, minerals, spring water, gem stones, material gain, elimination of fear of death, astral projection.
Hecate
Description: She could change forms or ages and rejuvenate or kill.
Rules Over: Witches, waning moon, dark magick, prophecy, charms and spells, vengeance, expiations, averting evil, enchantments, riches, victory, wisdom, transformation, reincarnation, incancations, dogs, purification, prosperity, destruction, limit, ends, choices, crossroads, annihilation, curses, sky, earth fertility, victory, wealth, magickal charms, hauntings, destructive storms, revenge, change, renewal and regeneration.
Helios
Description: Sun God. 9 (or 7 depending on who you ask) winged white fire-breathing horses pulled his golden chariot, he wore a golden helmet and breastplate.
Rules Over: RIches, enlightenment, victory.
Hephaestus
Description: Magician of metal and gems for the Olympians.
Rules Over: Blacksmiths, metalworkers, thunder, lightning, fire, subterranean fires, volcanoes, industry, artisans, craftsmen, jewelry making, mechanics, micro electronics, manual dexterity, hard work, inventiveness, all creative crafts, engineering, building construction.
Hera
Description: Wearing a veil and a matron dress, exceedingly noble. Held a scepter and a pomegranate. Sometimes carried a sickle.
Rules Over: Fertility, renewal, purification, the Moon, the sky, flowers, willow, myrtle wreath, death, pain, punishment.
Herakles
Description: Greek Hero-Demigod.
Rules Over: Strength, courage, joy and wine.
Hermes
Description: Slim athletic young man carrying a caduceus and wearing winged sandals and a helmet.
Rules Over: Roads, good luck, fortune, all kinds of profit, commerce, transport, thievery, liars, treaties, boxing, gymnastics, alphabet, letters, orthodox medicine, occult wisdom, measuring and weighing, astronomy and astrology, music, divination by dice, cunning, success, magick, travel, profits, gambling, mischief, crossroads, athletics, eloquence, merchants, speed, ingenuity, intelligence, diplomacy, finding the way when lost, journalism. Hestia
Description: Virgin goddess. Oldest of the Olympians.
Rules Over: Circles, discipline, dedication to duty, humility, modesty, prudence, acceptance, continuity, service to others.
Horae
Description: The Hours or Seasons. Guardian Goddesses of Nature and rain.
Their Names: Eunomia (order), Dike (justice), Carpo (fruit) and Irene/Eirene (peace_.
Rules Over: Law, justice, peace, protection of young people.
Hypnos
Description: God of sleep. Caused sleep by touching the eyelidds with his fingers or fanning the person with his dark wings. Had three sons: Morpheus, Phoebetor and Phantasus. The sons occupied the mind of the dreamer while their soul traveled. Through their dreams they entertained, warned or punished.
Rules Over: Sleep. His sons rule over Dreams.
Iris
Description: Rainbow Goddess. Messenger between the Gods and humans. Had golden wings on her shoulders and carried the caduceus.
Rules Over: Telepathic communications between the gods and humans.
Moerae
Other Names: Moirai, The Fates.
Description: Three deities who decided teh destiny of each individual. Clothos spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured it out and Atropos cut it. Nemesis could interfere with Atropos to allow a longer life. Often accompanied by the Keres (Dogs of Hades) who were three beings with sharp teeth and robed in red.
Rules Over: Life, death, destiny, union.
The Muses
Description: Companions of Apollo. Goddesses of springs, memory and poetry. There were nine.
Their Names: Clio (history), Euterpe (flute playing), Thaleia (Comedy), Melpomene (tragedy), Terpsichore (dancing and lyric poetry), Erato (love poetry), Polyhymnia (mime), Urania (astronomy), Calliope (epic poetry).
Rules Over: The Arts.
Nemesis
Other Names: Adrasteia.
Description: Depicted with a wreath on her head, apple in her left hand and a bowl in her right.
Rules Over: Destiny, divine anger against mortals who broke moral laws or taboos.
Nereids
Description: A Greek general term for all fairies, nymphs, mermaids, female nature spirits. They were shapeshifters.
Nereus
Description: God fo the sea.
Rules Over: Divination, shapeshifting.
Nike
Description: Goddess of Victory. Had 3 sisters: Bia (violence), Zelos (jealousy) and Kratos (force). Nike was winged and carried a palm branch.
Rules Over: Victory.
Notos
Description: God of South Wind.
Rules Over: South, happiness, change, passion, bringer of the rain.
Nymphs
Description: Female spirits of water, plants and earth. Naiads were nymphs of brooks. Crenae/Pegae of springs. Limnads of stagnant waters. Oreads of grottoes and mountains. Dryads of forests and trees. Hamadryads of specific trees. The Napaeae, the Auloniads, the Hylaeorae and the Alsaeids of woods and valleys.
Rules Over: Prophecy, oracles, healing, flowers, fields, flocks.
Oceanus
Other Names: Oceanos.
Description: Ancient sea god who took part in creation of cosmos out of chaos. His power was later given to Poseidon. Invented arts and magick.
Rulses Over: Arts and magick.
Pan
Description: Horned and hoofed woodland god. Ruler of all nature apirits.
Rules Over: All nature spirits, male sexuality, animals, fertility, Nature, woodlands, vocal powers, gardening, healing, plants, music, dance, farming, medicine, soothsaying, flocks, agriculture, bee-keeping, fishing, orchards, gardens, terror and panic.
Persephone
Other Names: Kore (before she became the wife of Hades).
Description: Depicted carrying a cornucopia.
Rules Over: Corn, the seasons, underworld, rest, winter, surviving, overcoming obstacles.
Poseidon
Description: Mature, bearded man. Supreme lord of inner and outer seas.
Rules Over: Storms, all marine life, intuition, human emotions, sailors, ships, hurricanes, rain, weather, revenge.
Priapus
Description: God of fertility and animals depicted with an enormous phallus.
Rules Over: Healing and also healing through sleep.
Prometheus
Description: The titan who stole fire from the forge of Hephaestus and gave it to humans.
Rules Over: Creation and fire.
Rhea
Description: Cretan Universal Mother.
Rules Over: Plant life, fertility, arts and magic.
Selene
Other Names: Mene.
Rules Over: Beautiful woman with a gold crown. Moon Goddess who was the second astpect of the Moon.
Rules Over: Magick, spells, enchantments.
4. Olympics
a)brief history
The
Olympic Games are a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a
variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition.
[1] The Games are currently held every two years, with
Summer and
Winter Olympic Games alternating, although they occur every four years within their respective seasonal games. Since 2008, host cities are contracted to manage both the Olympic and the
Paralympic Games,
[2] where athletes who have a
physical disability compete. The Paralympics are held immediately following their respective Olympic Games. Originally, the
ancient Olympic Games were held in
Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron
Pierre de Coubertin founded the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1894. The
IOC has since become the governing body of the
Olympic Movement, whose structure and actions are defined by the
Olympic Charter.
The evolution of the Olympic Movement during the 20th and 21st centuries has resulted in several changes to the Olympic Games. Some of these adjustments include the creation of the Winter Games for ice and winter sports, the Paralympic Games for athletes with a physical disability, and the
Youth Olympic Games for teenage athletes. The IOC has had to adapt to the varying economic, political, and technological realities of the 20th century. As a result, the Olympics shifted away from pure amateurism, as envisioned by Coubertin, to allow participation of professional athletes. The growing importance of the
mass media created the issue of corporate sponsorship and commercialization of the Games. World Wars led to the cancellation of the 1916, 1940, and 1944 Games. Large boycotts during the
Cold War limited participation in the 1980 and 1984 Games.
The Olympic Movement consists of
international sports federations (IFs),
National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and organizing committees for each specific Olympic Games. As the decision-making body, the IOC is responsible for choosing the host city for each Olympic Games. The host city is responsible for organizing and funding a celebration of the Games consistent with the Olympic Charter. The Olympic program, consisting of the
sports to be contested at the Games, is also determined by the IOC. The celebration of the Games encompasses many rituals and symbols, such as the
Olympic flag and
torch, as well as the
opening and closing ceremonies. There are over 13,000 athletes that compete at the Summer and Winter Olympics in 33 different sports and nearly 400 events. The first, second, and third place finishers in each event receive
Olympic medals; gold, silver, and bronze, respectively.
The Games have grown in scale to the point that nearly every nation is represented. Such growth has created numerous challenges, including
boycotts,
doping,
bribery of officials, and
terrorism. Every two years, the Olympics and its media exposure provide unknown athletes with the chance to attain national, and in particular cases, international fame. The Games also constitute a major opportunity for the host city and country to showcase themselves to the world.
b)contests/events
c)Filipino winners to the Beijing Olympics
5. Great Greek Philosophers: Books written/Philosohies/contribution.
We know almost nothing about Thales of Miletus. Later generations told many anecdotes about this wise man, but it is difficult to verify the reliability of these stories. What seems certain, however, is that he predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May 585, which was remembered because the Lydian king Alyattes and the Median leader Cyaxares were fighting a battle on that day. Another reliable bit of information is that he did geometrical research, which enabled him to measure the pyramids. However, his most important contribution to European civilization is his attempt to give rational explanations for physical phenomena. Behind the phenomena was not a catalogue of deities, but one single, first principle. Although his identification of this principle with water is rather unfortunate, his idea to look for deeper causes was the true beginning of philosophy and science. Thales died after 547. |
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Thales was not the only one who was looking for a first cause. Pythagoras of Samos (c.570-c.495) did the same. According to legend, he left his country and studied with the wise men of Egypt, but was taken captive when the Persian king Cambyses invaded the country of the Nile (525). He now became a student of the Chaldaeans of Babylon and the Magians of Persia. Some even say that he visited the Indian Brahmans, because Pythagoras believed in reincarnation. At the end of the sixth century, he lived in southern Italy, where he founded a community of philosophers. In his view, our world was governed by numbers, and therefore essentially harmonious. |
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Heraclitus was a rich man from Ephesus and lived c.500, during the Persian occupation of his home town. His philosophical work consists of a series of cryptical pronouncements that force a reader to think. Unfortunately, a great part of his work is lost, which makes it very difficult to reconstruct Heraclitus' ideas. It seems certain, however, that he thought that the basic principle of the universe was the logos, i.e. the fact that it was rationally organized and therefore understandable. Bipolar oppositions are one form of organization, but the sage understands that these oppositions are just aspects of one reality. Fire is the physical aspect of the perfect logos. |
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Parmenides of Elea was a younger contemporary of Heraclitus of Ephesus, but he lived at the opposite end of the Greek world: in Italy. Both men were intrigued by the immense variety of phenomena, but where Heraclitus discerned order in the chaos, Parmenides pointed out that the endless variety and eternal changes were just an illusion. In a long poem, which partially survives, he opposed 'being' to 'not being', and pointed out that change was impossible, because it would mean that something that was 'not being' changed into 'being', which is absurd. In other words, we had to distrust our senses and rely solely on our intellect. The result was a distinction between two worlds: the unreal world which we experience every day, and the reality, which we can reach by thinking. This idea was to prove one of the most influential in western culture. |
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One of the solutions to the problem postulated by Parmenides of Elea, was the hypothesis of Democritus of Abdera: matter is made up from atoms. There was no real evidence for this idea (which was not completely new), but it explained why change was possible. The atoms were always moving and clustering in various, temporary combinations. Therefore, things seemed to change, but 'not being' never changed into 'being'. (It was assumed that 'not being' was a vacuum, which means that it is in fact not a 'not being' because a vacuum exists in four dimensions.) The consequence of this idea is that we are allowed to use our senses, although Democritus warns us to be careful. |
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Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Parmenides, and Democritus had been trying to explain the diversity of nature. The object of the studies of the AthenianSocrates (469-399) was altogether different: he was interested in ethics. It was his axiom that no one would knowingly do a bad thing. So knowledge was important, because it resulted in good behavior. If we are to believe his student Plato, Socrates was always asking people about what they knew, and invariably they had to admit that they did not really understand what was meant by words like courage, friendship, love etc. Socrates was never without critics. The comic poet Aristophanes ridiculed him in The clouds, and when his pupil Alcibiades had committed high treason, Socrates' position became very difficult. He was forced to drink hemlock after a charge that he had corrupted the youth. Among his students were Antisthenes, Plato and Xenophon. philosopher |
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In the decade after the death of Socrates, Antisthenes (c.445-c.365) was the most important Athenian philosopher. Like his master, he tried to find out what words mean, but he was convinced that it was not possible to establish really good definitions (which brought him into conflict with Plato). He did only partially agree with Socrates that someone who knew what was good, would not do a bad thing. Antisthenes added that one also had to be strong enough ("as strong as Socrates") to pursue what was good. Therefore, Antisthenes recommended physical training of all kinds, and wanted his students to refrain from luxury. His most famous pupil was Diogenes of Sinope. |
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The Athenian philosopher Plato (427-347) is usually called a pupil of Socrates, but his ideas are no less inspired by Parmenides. Plato accepted the world of the phenomena as a mere shadow of the real world of the ideas. When we observe a horse, we recognize what it is because our soul remembers the idea of the horse from the time before our birth. In Plato's political philosophy, only wise men who understand the dual nature of reality are fit to rule the country. He made three voyages to Syracuse to establish his ideal state, both times without lasting results. Plato's hypothesis that our soul was once in a better place and now lives in a fallen world made it easy to combine platonic philosophy and Christianity, which accounts for the popularity of Platonism in Late Antiquity. One element, however, was not acceptable: the idea of platonic love - a homosexual relation with pedagogical aspects. |
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Diogenes of Sinope (c.412-c.323) was a student of Antisthenes. Both men are called the founder of the school that is known as Cynicism. The essential point in this world-view is that man suffers from too much civilization. We are happiest when our life is simplest, which means that we have to live in accordance with nature - just like animals. Human culture, however, is dominated by things that prevent simplicity: money, for example, and our longing for status. Like his master, Diogenes refrained from luxury and often ridiculed civilized life. His philosophy gained some popularity because he focused upon personal integrity, whereas men like Plato and Aristotle of Stagira had been thinking about man's life and honor as member of a city state - a type of political unit that was losing importance in the age of Alexander the Great. However, we can not return to nature. The Cynics became some sort of jesters, accepted at the royal courts because their criticism was essentially harmless. |
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Plato's most famous student was the Macedonian scientist Aristotle of Stagira (384-322). After the death of his master, he studied biology and accepted a position as teacher of the Macedonian crown prince Alexander at Mieza. When the Macedonians subdued Greece, Aristotle founded a school at Athens. Most of his writings are lost; what remains are his lecture notes, which were rediscovered in the first century BCE. During the last decades, scholars have started to re-examine the fragments of the lost works, which has led to important changes in our understanding of Aristotle's philosophy. However, the accepted view remains that he replaced his master's speculations with a more down-to-earth philosophy. His main works are the Prior Analytics(in which he described the rules of logic), the Physics, the Animal History, the Rhetorics, the Poetics, the Metaphysics, the Nicomachean Ethics, and the Politics. All these books have become classics, and it is not exaggerated to say that Aristotle is the most influential philosopher of all ages and the founder of modern science. |
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All philosophers are confident that rational thinking is the road to truth. Except for Pyrrho of Elis (c.360-c.270BCE), who entertained some doubts about the quest for knowledge. He argued that we can not fully comprehend nature, do not know for certain whether a statement is true or false, and are unable to build an ethical system on so weak a fundament. People would be happier if they gave up these useless intellectual exercises and postponed their judgment. The result was a conservative political philosophy, because Pyrrho recommended that, even though we had no moral absolutes, we should live by time-honored traditions. The weakness of his system is, of course, twofold: in the first place, one can not postpone a judgment forever, because sometimes action has to be undertaken; in the second place, how can you be certain that certain knowledge is impossible? Pyrrho's world-view is called Skepticism, and may be compared to the postmodernist philosophy of the 1980's. |
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We live happiest when we are free from the pains of life, and a virtuous life is the best way to obtain this goal. This is, in a nutshell, the view of the Samian philosopher Epicurus (342-271). In his opinion, we are unable to understand the gods, who may or may not have created this world but are in any case not really interested in mankind. Nor do we know life after death - if there is an existence at all after our bodies have decomposed. Therefore, we must not speculate about gods and afterlife. In Antiquity, Epicurism was the most popular of all philosophical schools, a popularity which it partially owed to the fact that its founder had explained his thoughts in several maxims, which even the illiterate could remember. Predictably, Christian philosophers attacked Epicurus' ideas about the afterlife and divine providence. |
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After the conquests of Alexander, the world was larger than ever, and the city-state had ceased to be an important political unit. Like Diogenes of Sinope and Epicurus, Zeno of Citium (336-264 BCE) ignored traditional values like prestige and honor, and focused on man's inner peace. In his view, this was reached when a person accepted life as it was, knowing that the world was rationally organized by the logos. A man's mind should control his emotions and body, so that one could live according to the rational principles of the world. It has often been said that Zeno's ideas combine Greek philosophy with Semitic mysticism, but except for his descent from a Phoenician town on Cyprus and an interest in (Babylonian) astronomy, there is not much proof for this idea. This philosophy, called Stoicism, became very influential under Roman officials. |
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Zeno of Citium was succeeded as head of the Stoic school at Athens by Cleanthes, who was in turn succeeded by Chrysippus, a native of Soli in Cilicia (c.279-c.206). His contributions to the development of philosophy can especially be found in the field of logic, where he studied paradoxes and the way an argument should be constructed. He also reflected upon the use of allegoresis, which is a way to read a text metaphorically and find hidden meanings (or construct them). From now on, philosophers started to use the epics of Homer and the tragedies of Euripides as if they were philosophical treatises. Finally, Chrysippus was the man who concluded that if the rational principle of the universe, the logos, was divine, the world could be defined as a manifestation of God. |
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We are ill-informed about the development of philosophy after the origin of the Stoa, Epicurism, Skepticism, Cynicism, Aristoteleanism, and Platonism. For several reasons, nearly all texts are lost. This was also the fate of the works of the Stoic sage Posidonius of Apamea (c.135-51), but his books are often quoted by other authors. As a philosopher, he was not an innovator, but applied the theory to science and scholarship. For example, his HistoriesWorld History of were a philosophical continuation of the Polybius of Megalopolis. Among his other publications were treatises in which the Stoic world view was applied to everyday subjects: On anger, On virtue, and Consolation. Being more interested in educating the masses than in theoretical purity, he often borrowed ideas from other schools. Philosophy after Posidonius often was a cross-fertilization between viewpoints (e.g., Plutarch of Chaeronea and Plotinus). |
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The charismatic teacher and miracle worker Apollonius lived in the first century AD. He was born in Tyana and gave a new interpretation to Pythagoreanism, which was essentially a combination of ascesis and mysticism. In his books On astrology and On sacrifices, he demanded bloodless offerings to the One God, who needs nothing even from beings higher than ourselves. This brought Apollonius into conflict with the religious establishment, but he was recognized as a great sage and received divine honors in the third century. Although the Athenian Philostratus wrote a lengthy Life of Apollonius, hardly anything is certain about the man who was and is frequently compared to the Jewish sage and miracle worker Jesus of Nazareth. |
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In his own age, the Delphian oracle priest Plutarch of ChaeroneaPosidonius of Apamea, able to explain philosophical discussions to a general audience. Among his Moral treatises are treatises like Checking anger, the useful The art of listening, the fascinating How to know whether one progresses to virtue, and the charming Advice to bride and groom. Plutarch also wrote double biographies, in which he usually compared a Greek to a Roman (e.g., Alexander and Julius Caesar). In the epilogue, he analyzed their respective characters. The result is not only an entertaining biography, but also a better understanding of a morally exemplary person, which the reader can use for his own progress to virtue. (46-c.122) was immensely popular because he was, like |
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Born in Phrygia, Epictetus (c.50-c.125 CE) became a slave of the emperor Nero's courtier Epaphroditus. When he was old, useless and therefore "freed" from slavery, he had to make a living and started to teach the Stoic philosophy, first at Rome and (after the emperor Domitian had expelled the philosophers in 89) at Nicopolis in western Greece. Because Epictetus was able to explain Stoicism in a systematic way and with an open eye to its practical applications, he had many students from the rich senatorial order, which ruled the Roman empire. Among these men were the future emperor Hadrian and the historian Arrian of Nicomedia, who published several of his conversations. Epictetus wrote a Handbook, which is arguably the most popular book on philosophy that was ever written. |
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After the age of Posidonius of Apamea, it was not uncommon that philosophers from one school borrowed concepts and ideas from other branches of philosophy. Slowly, the schools were merging, and a new synthesis (called Neo-Platonism) was created by Plotinus(205-270). Like Plato, he accepted that our world was a mere shadow of the world of the ideas, which was in turn -and this was a novel idea- a shadow of an even higher world, which was again a shadow of the One God. In other words, the world has four levels of reality: God was the highest level, and then there were the levels of the intellect, the soul, and matter. (That matter is more real than the speculative levels of existence, was an unusual idea in Antiquity.) According to Plotinus, the wise man would try, by means of ascesis, to free his soul from matter and unite it with God. Plotinus achieved this mystical unity several times. His philosophy was adopted by the fathers of the church Ambrose and Augustine, and was to remain the philosophical school par excellence until Aristotle of Stagira was rediscovered in the twelfth century. |
called her "princess". Born on November 
