Western Civ Blog 21

Today in class we answered questions 1, 2, 3, 5 on page 139. Question 1 was asking us to define direct democracy, classical art, tragedy, comedy, Peloponnesian war, philosophers, socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Direct democracy is a from of government inn which citizens rule directly and not through representatives. Classical art are values of harmony, order, balance, and proportion. Tragedy is a serious drama about common themes such as love, hate, war, and betrayal. Comedy is contained scenes filled with slapstick situations and crude humor. The Peloponnesian war was between 2 city states. the Athens had a stronger Navy, Sparta had a stronger Army. The location made it easy to be attacked from the sea. Philosophers means "lovers of wisdom." we also read about Socrates and Plato. Plato was a student of socrates. He wrote down conversations of socrates "as a means of philosophical investigation." Aristotle was a philosopher. The second question asked which of Pericles' goals do I think had the greatest impact on the modern world. I believe it was making the democracy stronger. I think this because we use Democracy in our modern day government in the United States. Question 3 asked what steps did Pericles take to strengthen democracy in Athens. He increased the number of public officials who were paid salaries. Lastly, question 5 asked why do I think some Athenians found the ideas of Socrates so disturbing. The Athenians believed that Socrates corrupted the youth of Athens.