Classical Greece · 585-335 BC

Asking why: Greek science and philosophy

On the coast of Ionia a few men began explaining the world without gods: water, numbers, atoms. Students follow the idea from Miletus to the medical school of Kos and the schools of Plato and Aristotle in Athens, and try the Greek habit of asking why.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, 585 BC to 335 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

On the coast of Ionia a few men began explaining the world without gods: water, numbers, atoms. Students follow the idea from Miletus to the medical school of Kos and the schools of Plato and Aristotle in Athens, and try the Greek habit of asking why.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Name three early Greek thinkers (for example Thales, Pythagoras, Hippocrates) and one idea of each.
  • Locate Miletus, Kos and Athens and explain why new ideas started on the edge of the Greek world.
  • Explain what Socrates, Plato and Aristotle each added and why Athens put Socrates on trial.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

585 BC

Miletus asks why

Open the map in 585 BC on Miletus, on the Ionian coast. Thales of Miletus said everything was made of water and, says Herodotus, predicted an eclipse that stopped a battle this year. Miletus traded with Egypt, Lydia and the Black Sea. Why might a port of many peoples breed new ideas?

Open this view on the map
b

430 BC

Kos and the doctors

Jump to 430 BC and find the island of Kos, just off the coast south of Miletus. Hippocrates taught here that illness has natural causes, not divine ones, and that a doctor should first do no harm. Turn on Historical Events (Cultural) and find "Hippocratic Corpus Compiled".

Open this view on the map
c

335 BC

The schools of Athens

Go to 335 BC and zoom in on Athens. Find "Founding of Plato's Academy" (387 BC) and "Founding of Aristotle's Lyceum" (335 BC) in Historical Events (Cultural). Both schools stood in groves outside the walls. Aristotle had just returned from tutoring the young Alexander in Macedon.

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Thales explained earthquakes by saying the earth floats on water. He was wrong, but historians still call him the first scientist. Why?
  2. Pythagoras and his followers thought numbers were the secret of the universe. Where in the modern world do you see that idea alive?
  3. Hippocrates said disease came from the body and its surroundings, not from angry gods. What changes for a patient when the doctor thinks that way?
  4. In 399 BC Athens executed Socrates for corrupting the young and not honoring the gods. He had spent his life asking people questions they could not answer. Why did a democracy find that dangerous?
  5. Aristotle collected facts about animals, politics and plays; Plato preferred pure reasoning. Which approach do you use more at school?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Alexander the Great, Aristotle's most famous pupil. Afterwards ask: which of the decisions you made would Aristotle, who wrote that the best life is one of thought and moderation, have approved of?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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