Calliope articles from October 2004

Calliope archives from October 2004

Musings.
October 1, 2004... LOOK THROUGH ANY HISTORY BOOK THAT COVERS BOTH THE ANCIENT WORLD AND MODERN times, and you're sure to find the name Socrates. Look a bit closer at the passage where his name is mentioned, and you'll notice few details about his life. Read more,...

Time line.(greece)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... TIME LINE All dates are B.C. 470 Socrates is born c. 470 or 469 446 Athens and Sparta sign Thirty-Years' Peace 431 Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta begins. 406 Socrates refuses to condemn the ...

Is anyone wiser than Socrates?(Biography)
October 1, 2004... Socrates had long been friends with a man named Chaerephon. One day, Chaerephon decided to travel to the city of Delphi to ask the oracle (see page 7) who lived there whether there was anyone wiser than Socrates. The response he received was...

The oracle at Delphi.
October 1, 2004... At Delphi, on the very spot where a sacred stone marked the presumed center of the earth, stood the temple of Apollo, the Greek god of the arts and divination. Here, on certain preset days, Apollo, through an oracle, offered advice and support....

Who was Socrates.(Biography)
October 1, 2004... Some people in recorded history have had enormous influence on later generations without ever having written a word themselves. Jesus of Nazareth, the focus of the Christian faith, is one of these; another is the teacher and philosopher...

What is philosophy?(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek words philos ("loving") and sophos ("wise"). It is said iv that the Greek mystic and mathematician Pythagoras coined the term "philosopher." Until he did, all who practiced this profession were called...

Try the Socratic method.(Activity)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Socrates often taught his students to think critically by asking them a series of difficult questions. Follow the directions at right to test the Socratic method on one of your friends. 1. Think of a question that involves a moral dilemma...

Justice first.
October 1, 2004... By all accounts, Socrates showed great courage as a soldier in his city's long battle with Sparta. Even more impressive was his fearlessness in the face of injustice. It is never easy to express uncomfortable or unpopular truths, or to point...

Try some Greek barley cakes.(Activity)
October 1, 2004... Socrates must have craved Athens' fine food while he was on the front lines during the Peloponnesian War. There, he and his fellow hoplites (heavily armed foot soldiers) probably ate barley cakes morning, noon, and night. Easy to mix, no...

Funs with words.
October 1, 2004... WORD ORIGINS CATASTROPHES Catastrophes can be large or small, but whatever the size, each causes great anxiety and the immediate need to revise your plans. A look at the word's origin will show this perfectly. "Catastrophe" is actually the...

What is 'good'?
October 1, 2004... Socrates spent considerable time thinking about moral issues. The question of "What is 'good'?" especially intrigued him. Determined to discover what "good" really meant, he roamed the streets of Athens, stopping strangers to ask them the...

Why the philosopher is happy to die.
October 1, 2004... Characters Echecrates: Socrates' follower Phaedo: Socrates' friend Cebes: Socrates' friend Socrates: the philosopher sentenced to death Simmias: Socrates' friend Crito: Socrates' friend Crito's Servant ...

Guilty or innocent.(Activity)
October 1, 2004... The jurors at Socrates' trial each had two solid bronze ballots shaped like discs with rods through the middle. One of the rods was similar to a straw, with a hole through the middle. The juror used this ballot to vote "guilty." The rod in the...

New rules for schools.(Activities)
October 1, 2004... Change was everywhere in fifth-century B.C. Athens. Its people were adapting to their city-state's growing role in Greek politics. The Greek victory over the Persians in the first part of the century had made Athens the chief Greek city-state....

Build plato's 'legos'.(Activity)
October 1, 2004... These ancient building toys look amazingly modern. They resemble the framework of a skyscraper or maybe even a space station. Yet, these unusual shapes actually date back more than 2,000 years. Called "the Platonic solids," they were created by...

The shining light.
October 1, 2004... Dazzling! Spectacular! Awesome! This was Athens in the fifth century B.C., a time known now as the Golden Age. In architecture, art, literature, philosophy, and politics, the city-state was the perfect example of the heights to which a...

Ask Calliope.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... [?] Who were the Huns? --Peter, 12, Web post [!] The term "Hun" is generally used to refer to the peoples of central Asia who began to invade China, India, Persia, and the Roman Empire in great numbers between the third century B.C....

The light dims: as Golden Age Athens grew strong and wealthy, other Greek city-states began to fear its power.
October 1, 2004... In 431 B.C., fighting erupted between Athens and Sparta. This struggle, known as the Peloponnesian War, raged on off for almost 30 years. Yet, unlike in the conflict with Persia, Athens did not emerge the winner. Many Athenian families suffered...

A new museum for the Acropolis.
October 1, 2004... The Athenian Acropolis is one of the world's best known ancient sites. While archaeologists have found evidence both of human life dating to Neolithic times and of monuments dating to several historical periods, the Sacred Rock is the most...

Off the shelf.
October 1, 2004... Books Ancient Greeks: Creating the Classical Tradition, by Rosalie F. and Charles F. Baker (Oxford, 1997, www.oup.com), chronicles the lives and accomplishments of key Greek personalities, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. A useful...

On the net.(Web sites )(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... For an excellent site that details Socrates' life, with links to the lives of other philosophers and to texts of his colleagues' works that include/refer to him, go to: http://socrates.clarke.edu/aplg0259.htm For a site that documents...

A lasting legacy.(From Past to Present)
October 1, 2004... After centuries of study, the details of Socrates' life and work still remain in the shadows. Today, as in the past, scholars dispute the supposed facts about his life, from the identity of his friends to the personality of Xanthippe, the woman...