Tradition and Innovation in Athens’s Golden Age

Golden Age Athens’s prosperity and international contacts created unprecedented innovations in architecture, art, drama, education, and philosophy, but the drive to innovate conflicted with traditional ways. In keeping with tradition, women were expected to limit their public role to participation in religious ceremonies. The new ideas of philosophers and teachers called Sophists and the Athenian philosopher Socrates’ views on personal morality and responsibility caused many people to fear that the gods would become angry at the community. The development of publicly funded drama festivals reflected the clash between innovation and tradition; their tragic and comic plays examined problems in city-state life.