The Greek Wars of the 5th Century

Greek Wars and Greek Culture

5th & 4th Centuries

I. The Greek Wars

A. Persian Wars (490-479 B.C.)

1. Causes

2. Significance: Marathon, Thermopylae, Delian League

B. Peloponnesian Wars (431-404 B.C.)

1. Athens v. Sparta

2. Era of Hegemonies to c. 340 B.C.

3. Philip II of Macedonia and Conquest

II. The Greek Culture

A. General and review comments on the contributions of the Greeks

1. Democracy

2. Literature

3. Art

B. Philosophy

1. Philosophy v. Theology

a. Pre-Socratics and origins of the universe

b. Basic Greek assumptions

2. Principal Philosophers

a. Socrates (d. 399 B.C.) and the Sophists

b. Plato (d. 347 B.C.)

c. Aristotle (d. 322 B.C.)