These people are called humanist. Many people believe that Ancient Greece is just famous for the movie “Hercules” and those columns on the White House. The truth is, that if the Ancient Greeks didn’t accomplish as much as they had, then life today would be drastically altered. The Greeks are a huge part of our culture, customs, and government. The Ancient Greeks are the most significant to western culture because of its creation of different types of government, ideas on philosophy, and the impact of Hellenistic culture.
Greece had the first known democracy. The Greeks affected many of our current constitutional rights. In both the US democracy and the Athenian democracy where political power can be exercised by the citizens. Pericles had three goals, to Strengthen Democracy, Hold strength in the empire, and to glorify Athens. Pericles stated that he wanted all citizens to have an equal opportunity to serve the public.
This will be explored through primary and secondary sources revealing the information behind the annual commemorations. Gods and festivals had an important place in the lives of all Spartan citizens, as it was expected that all member of society would play their part in the religious life of the community. Both gods and festivals are found to have a association with one another as festivals are majority of the time celebrated in the honour of various gods, as Sparta are heavily devoted to their religious and militaristic lifestyle. According to Thucydides “the gods were at the top of the chain of command that ran down through Spartan society. Their traditional rules, about festivals and sanctuaries, were there to be obeyed without question.” This exemplifies that the Greek gods were of high importance and held the power to determine and undermine the way Spartan society, military and religion was practised in everyday life.
They also believed in philosophy and in Athens there were some of the greatest philosophers. There were many people in Athens that studied philosophy. Philosophy is the study of methods and limits of human knowledge. Some famous philosphers included Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Athens was a direct democracy and many of these ways are still used today.
The argument stated in Source 6.3 is that the Parthenon marbles have been in the British Museum for much longer than where they stood originally in Greece. The source also shows examples that they have become a part of Britain’s heritage and have been centred focus for the European culture and civilization for people’s admiration in the culture of Greece. What, in your opinion is the strongest argument presented by each source? Which is the weakest argument in each case? The strongest argument presented is source 6.2 because it shows you why they should come back to Greece and what will happen when the sculptures have been returned back to Greece.
| Essay #1 | History 210 Section 02 | | Victoria Slade | 10/2/2012 | | Although there were times of strife and confusion among the Athenians in fifth century B.C.E., Pericles managed to control the chaos and allow Athens to grow culturally and politically as the greatest empire in all of Greece. Periclean Athens was, in fact, the schoolmaster of Greece, as they taught through their culture, their politics, and finally their ideals. The Athenians during this time taught by example and excelled in these areas so much that the remaining areas of Greece, and even the modern Western world were influenced and learned from this great city. In Athens, their culture was refined by this point in time with their individualized dramatic and visual arts. These aspects of their culture were vital to their identity.
C. M. Bowra says of Greek influence on contemporary society: “the modern world is far too deeply indebted to Greece to accept in unthinking ingratitude what it has inherited”. Similarly, Hadas notes that at the dawn of Roman civilization “ancient cities already had a layer of Greek culture. On this Rome superimposed imperial buildings...Augustus boasted of restoring 82 temples” These two extracts show us just how pivotal ancient Greek architecture, particularly temples, was at the time and continues to be to this day. It speaks of the restoration projects the Romans undertook to resuscitate decrepit Greek temples, and whilst the new temples “shared many basic characteristics with Greek architecture... it tended to be ornate and elaborate overall”. The Romans moved away from the simple, ordered and comparatively humble style of Greek temples and created more lavish, grandiose buildings, made possible by engineering developments such as concrete, arches, vaults and domes, to emulate the epicurean taste, vast wealth and power of the Empire.
Parthenon Introduction The construction of this monumental temple for the goddess Athena began around 447-432 BCE in Athens and allows today’s people to witness the ingenuity of Ancient Greece. It has remained a famous building since its beginning and today attracts a number of tourists who visit the 2500 year old building to admire its rich history and resilience. The Parthenon is a symbol of the Athenian Empire’s power and the its politician Pericles’s (Perikles) authority who was responsible for its creation among other Greek official who supported its construction. Furthermore, this Greek architectural marvel continues to prove that their form and style are timeless and continues to influence modern society. All around us the architecture
We Are All Greeks “We are all Greeks, our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their roots in Greece.” Said Percy Bysshe Shelley, a Romantic English Poet. He was not wrong. Greece specifically the Hellenic Greece was the birthplace of what that the modern world is today. Among many of the Greek heritage in the modern Western world is democracy, the Olympics, architecture and entertainment. Our form of government is democracy; which comes from the Greek word demokratia (dem-oh-KRAY-te-uh), which means “the rule of the people”.
The Greeks and Romans were two strong societies that brought great things to the Mediterranean. These two societies although always thought to be the same, were far more different than alike in a number of ways from the way they lived to how they treated women. The Roman society adopted many things from the Greeks, but always adding their own beliefs or style. One difference was the styles of governing. The Greeks were a democratic society, believing that the power should be given to a group of men instead of only a single leader.