Ancient Greece

Submitted By yourmotherinbed
Words: 1247
Pages: 5
Open Document
Ancient Greece
Wesley Brookman
HST 105
5/15/14

Ancient Greece-a society that shaped the world to come. There are several reasons I chose this particular society over all the others. One reason would be the way that ancient Greece existed as a large culmination of city-states (a city-state being a central city and its surrounding villages, which together follow the same law, have one form of government, and share languages, religious beliefs, and ways of life). Another reason would be that ancient Greece gave the world all three of the fathers of Western philosophy: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. They revolutionized the way that humanity viewed non-materialistic concepts, and they taught us to question things which we may not have ever thought to question. The third, and final reason I chose ancient Greece was its fascinating religion and mythology. So many tales and stories from ancient Greece’s culture impact our society today, and their gods are some of the most famous and recognizable mythological entities ever established. In short, the society of ancient Greece was not just one-dimensional, but multi-layered, revolutionary in several fields, powerful, and contributed things to our world that are still relevant to this day. Greece contained a triple-digit amount of city-states within its borders back in ancient times. Since it would be impossible to mention all of them, I’m going to stick to the two most popular ones-Sparta and Athens. First up is Sparta, the warrior city-state. Many know Sparta from the movie 300, which is based off of a graphic novel written about The Battle of Thermopylae. While the graphic novel and movie embellished history a bit, it was still a true battle that actually occurred and was quite incredible. The actual story (without any Hollywood in it) is that a Spartan contingent of 300 of their finest soldiers, led by King Leonidas, led a Greek allied force of approximately 2700-5500 hoplites and Helots (Spartan slaves) to the mountain pass of Thermopylae. The strategy behind this move was to stall the Persian advance long enough for the Athenian fleet to destroy the much larger Persian naval force. The Spartan force did their job and the Athenians eventually tricked the Persian fleet into a trap and reduced the Persian fleet to military insignificance. The Sparta-led force would have received reinforcements, but Greek religious beliefs prevented them from sending troops during the festival of Karnea. This battle is an example of exactly why Sparta was known for its fighting ability and ferocity. If Sparta was the muscle of ancient Greece, Athens was the brain. The largest city-state in ancient Greece (and still the largest city in Greece today), Athens was one of the very first known democracies, constructed some of the most famous and historically significant buildings of its time, such as the Parthenon; located within Acropolis, and gave birth to the concept of philosophy. Some consider Athens to be the inventor of Democracy, and while it’s hard to know for sure, what we do know is that it was most definitely one of the first societies to be democratic. Aside from being at the forefront of new types of government, Athens, like most of Greece, was very much into architecture. Ancient Athens built a very famous site known as Acropolis, which was a citadel created in honor of the goddess Athens derived its name from-Athena. Within Acropolis (which contains several monuments), the Athenians designed a temple named the Parthenon, which is incredibly famous to this day, and often one of the things thought of first when one thinks of Greece. Within ancient Athens, there once lived three individuals who forever changed the way we saw the non-physical world. Things like concepts, ideas, thoughts, morality, innate behavior, experience, and existence were considered and pondered upon, and ultimately held in a new light; if ever held before at all. What I am
Show More

Related Documents: Ancient Greece

Clothing In Ancient Greece

greece's located in southeast europe close to both africa and asia.the official name of greece is the hellenic republic.the official spoken language in greece is greek. Ancient Greek clothing was typically homemade and the same piece of homespun fabric that was used as a type of garment, or blanket. From vase paintings and sculptures, Clothing for women and men were wo main garments-a tunic (either a peplos or chiton) and a cloak . The peplos was a large rectangle of heavy fabric, usually wool…

Words 591 - Pages 3

Slavery In Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece[edit] See also: Slavery in ancient Greece Records of slavery in Ancient Greece go as far back as Mycenaean Greece. The origins are not known, but it appears that slavery became an important part of the economy and society only after the establishment of cities.[11] Slavery was common practice and an integral component of ancient Greece, as it was in other societies of the time, including ancient Israel and early Christian societies.[12][13][14] It is estimated that in Athens, the…

Words 965 - Pages 4

Ancient Greece Paragraph

Paragraph #1: Introduction The geography of ancient Greece, influenced the ancient Greeks by a great deal. Most of ancient Greece is a peninsula in southern Europe surrounded on the east by the Aegean Sea, on the west by the Ionian Sea, and the south by the Mediterranean Sea. Ancient Greece started in 750 B.C.E. and ended in 338 B.C.E. The mainland has many mountains, and there were many islands surrounding the mainland. The ancient Greeks lived throughout ancient Greeks, mostly on farms, and villages…

Words 787 - Pages 4

History Of Ancient Greece

Ceramics 1 11 January 2013 Ancient Greece Style Of Pottery The orientalizing style is an example of creative cultural interaction. This style was the product of cultural ferment in the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean of the 8th and 7th centuries BC. During this period, the Assyrians advanced along the Mediterranean coast, accompanied by Greek mercenaries. Phoenicians settled in Cyprus and in western regions of Greece, while Greeks established trading colonies at Al Mina, Syria, and in Ischia…

Words 438 - Pages 2

Democracy In Ancient Greece

The ancient greeks were very smart people that created the idea of democracy, a system where people vote on laws and people are citizens. At one point some of the city-states were not a democracy but an oligarchy. In ancient Greece, the only people that were considered citizens were the 40,000 grown men. At about 800 BC Greece recovered and started learning about the arts. At about 650 BC the greeks developed chariots and fully understood the arts. A pattern of decline began in Greece around…

Words 433 - Pages 2

Peace In Ancient Greece

Ancient Peace for Greece The Ancient Greek Olympics where they actually as peaceful as they are portrayed? The Games of Ancient Greece where first active in the year 776 (Pomeroy). The games themselves have been played for a very long time through several wars and was even stopped because of them three times. Peace during the games played a major role in the ancient times in order for the games to be completed smoothly. The Ancient Greeks where in constant battle and always training for a war to…

Words 1775 - Pages 8

Ancient Greece paper

Ancient Greece was a great empire that only lasted a short time, but in that short time the leaders and philoshers and just your ordinary worker in Greece built and left a legacy that is felt many of thousands of years later today. Greece was a great collection of many empires and city states in its early days. This later lead to the start of alexander the greats huge empire that spanded across Greece and its many colonies.Greece was a very classical and religouis based empire with many gods. The…

Words 698 - Pages 3

Women In Ancient Greece

meaning of ideal woman has varied over the times. This has a reason given in the roles and stereotypes, which have been associated to women. While in ancient times men hunted, women stayed at home because of that women discovered agriculture, which follows human sedentarism as a new stage in the evolution of humanity. After, in the ancient Greece where philosophy played a fundamental part in the definition of the most important aspects of the State, the men were seen as a capable of building political…

Words 495 - Pages 2

Dbq Essay On Ancient Greece

talking about America? No, no, no you got it all wrong. I am talking about ancient Greece. Geography has had a great influence on Greek inhabitants. The mountains that split Greece acted like a barrier. Ancient Greece was also surrounded by the seas which made the Greeks become mariners. The geography affected everything about ancient Greeks. Geography had some positive influences on Greek inhabitants. Some ways this affected Greece was by, the sea, Climate, unstable environment, olive trees, and the…

Words 567 - Pages 3

Essay about Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece: People and Events Will Belanger Minoans: The Minoans were the inhabitants of ancient Crete. The Minoans were an early part of the Bronze era which was 3000 BC to 1100 BC. They used and essentially began with the linear writing system which eventually led in Greek as their writing style, a language which has yet to be deciphered but may believe that it represents a form of early Greek writing. It was used for religious and accounting purposes from about 1800-1450 BC. Soon after…

Words 2402 - Pages 10