Ancient Greece : A Unique Institution Formed During The Dark Ages ( 1100-776 Bce )

In examining the impact that the ancient world has had on modern Western civilization, the two ancient civilizations which are frequently understood as having had the greatest influence are Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. These two civilizations would eventually come to shape much of what would become the modern European culture, politics and society, and by extension, a vast proportion of global culture and society. In examining the trajectory of modern history in an era of globalization of Western ideas and modes of living, the importance of these civilizations in world history is extensive, contributing to cultural, political and social trends which may well dominate the globe in the future.

The polis was brung into effect between 800 and 750 bc ( pgs 68 ). Most of the time it was a tiny free political society and was thought of by its citizens as a community family, instead of an imperial state. Around about 750 bc, the Greek polis also known as, poleis, responded to the growth of population by spreading out their colonies, throughout the Mediterranean. These new polis’s shared minimal ties to their mother polis, however the colonization encouraged trade and industry.These small colonies had there own type of government, however many fell to tyrann. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing one person assumed a dominant position. By the end of the sixth century, however, tyrants had been driven from all the cities of

Erudition, innovation, sophistication, every word and thousands more are associated with the name Greece. Steeped in complex lore, mythology, and history, it stands as a turning point in European culture. Its ideas and inventions are responsible for shaping many future events and turning the tide in science, art, and philosophy. At one time a group of city states, Greece was dominated by two centers a cultural one, Athens, and a military one, Sparta. Athens is probably best known for its playwrights, its philosophers, and the Acropolis. Sparta on the other hand is remembered as a military marvel where courage was the highest virtue. Legend tells that it had no walls for its best and only defense was its citizens’ valor

A Greek city-state was known as a polis. Some factors that determined a polis was the acropolis and agora.

1. During the Mycenaean civilization, who was the great poet and what were his two important literary works that influenced the Greeks and formed part of Western literature? Homer, The Iliad, The Odyssey

Ancient Greece had a major impact on the Western World due to many factors. Documents 1 and 2 reveal that the Western World has been impacted by political factors of the ancient Greeks, whille documents 4, and 5 show us that the Western World was impacted due to cultural reasons.

“Polis is a term that is used to describe a tight knit small community of Ancient Greek citizens who agreed on certain rules and customs. Usually a polis was centered on a small town and the countryside the surrounded it” (Deering). The polis defined a public and communal space, the Agora, for the purpose of leading public affairs. The affairs of men and affairs were included as these had essentials parts to the entire community’s affairs. The Ancient Greek poleis are among the first recorded democratic governments in the world. The term polis has been translated into city-state as there was typically only one city and because an individual polis was independent from other poleis in terms of political, judicial, legal, religious and social institutions and practices (Cartwright). A polis offered security for its inhabitants and gave organization to government through structure, function and hierarchy.

The era between 350 and 310 BC marked a dramatic change in the Western World from the first, classical Hellenic Age of the Greeks, to the second, Hellenistic Age of the Greek Civilization. This classical period was considered the height of Greek civilization and deemed “The Golden Age” of ancient Greece. The polis (Greek city-state) was the center of Greek political life for the majority of this period. The poleis were small, independent, and self-sufficient; however, too politically divided to survive the blow of the Peloponnesian war. In 338 BC, Greece was concurred by Macedonia and the polis had lost their independence. “The abiding devotion to the polis […] greatly diminished during the fourth century” (Perry 45). The mentality of Greek citizens changed because of their defeat; they were now an individualistic, rational and secular society. People were no longer viewing the law as “an expression of sacred traditions ordained by the gods” but now saw it as merely mortal, obedience to the law faded, leading to a weakened society (Perry 46). The pride and duty of the polis mentality dwindled and emotional and political ties to the city weakened. Subsequently, Alexander the Great’s conquests, in 330 BC, moved the Greek civilization beyond the polis, to the Near East. For the first time, Greeks had to define their existence as part of a much bigger, more complex and alienating world. The death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC marked the end of the Hellenic age and the

Who/What: Polis was the ordinary structure of a group in the old Greek world. A polis consisted of an urban focus, regularly fortified and with a consecrated

During this time they created what was known as the polis or city-state. The polis was a fundamental institution in Greek society. Citizens of polis assembled in the central place for political, social, and religious activities. Although the polis was great individually it ruined the unity of Greece as a whole. With the creation of the polis came a new military system.

What made the Greek city-state a new form of political and social organization was that there was no longer a king in power of the people. The Greek city-state came during the Archaic Age which was led on by the Greek Dark Age. Although the king no longer had any power within the government, there still remained a king. The new government that was formed was called the polis. The polis allowed for the people to feel they had more of a say of what was going on in the government. Instead of the king creating all of the laws, there was a group of people who made the laws. These people were not royal, they were common citizens who were interesting in creating laws and justice.

The Polis or city state, became an important aspect in the rise of Greek civilisation, allowing the rise of Western Philosophy and Laws of physics which still affect us today. The Polis was based around the idea of Justice and a new way of defending itself, this allowed for the Greeks to grow and prosper. Some historians argue that without the Polis there would not have been the Greek Civilisation that has affected our way of life, however this statement is debatable, but it is evident that there is a correlation with the rise of the Polis, and the rise of Greek Civilisation. This essay will mainly use the human web by J.R. McNeill & William H. McNeill, The influence of Plato, Aristotle and the ancient Polis on a programme for congenital cardiac

Compare and contrast monarchy, aristocracy, tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy as forms of government in Ancient Greek city-states. The ancient Greece has surely been a clear and shining example of human, cultural, social and political development; indeed, in the ancient Greece we’ve been seeing the first examples of government differentiation, a nation, whether big or small was no more simply ruled by a single omnipotent living god-king, instead new systems were slowly growing. Poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes are clear examples of this differentiation, related to the age, their government changed when more, when less, between monarchy systems, to tyranny, oligarchy, to democracy and so on.

I have arrived in a very depressing part in Greek history, the Greek dark ages. The Mycenaean civilization had just collapsed and there had been a great loss in Cities and writing and scripts. This has caused most of the greek people to become iliterate. Without these ideas there is no cilvation. AS well the loss of cities and writing I have also noticed that there has been a great decrease in population I can not say this for all of greece however. In the area where I am studing there is not as many people as there were in into previous civilizations. However the people in this time period do not seem to mind what they missing out on most of them live on small farms or live as nomadic people. All thought these are dark times for the greeks,

Ancient Greece was a advance stage of Greek history from Greek Dark Ages of the 12th – 19th centuries BC to the end of antiquity (c.600 AD). History period of ancient Greece is very remarkable in world history.