Essay on Ancient Greek Contributions

The ancient Greeks have influenced the way nations run their people, the way people view knowledge and their lives, and the way people feel about their home and native country. All of these contributions that the ancient Greeks made are still prevalent not just in American culture, but in society as a whole. The ancient Greeks made several contributions to Western civilization such as the idea of democracy, philosophy, and value of patriotism and national pride. The idea of having a democratic government, which comes from the ancient Greeks, has influenced several nations around the world to govern their people with some form of democracy.

Ancient Greek society fell over 2000 years ago but despite this, its mythology still continues to influence our western society. References to Greek mythology can be found all through time and in our western culture. The influence of Greek mythology can be found in our science, arts and literature and our language. When Ancient Greece fell to the Roman Empire, Rome adapted its mythologies which still influence us today as they have through history. That is not to say that Greek mythology wasn’t influenced itself – Greek mythology has links with the bible and the early Mycenaean’s. It has also been recognised as one of the earliest forms of paganism.

Ancient Greek culture had major influences on today’s culture; some of these influences include mathematics, government, art and architecture; they even did research in the field of medicine. Many cultures and religions have adapted their ideas from the ancient Greeks. Without the influences of the ancient Greeks our society wouldn’t be the way it is today. The Greek culture lasted from around 776 BCE to 146 BCE (though it is argued to have begun around 1000 BCE), during this time they invented many technologies and refined old technologies. These things are what caused the ancient Greek culture to be such a powerful influence on western society today.

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

Historians have long considered Ancient Greece to be one of the most influential societies on modern day life. Ancient Greece has inspired the modern world in five main areas: theatre, government, philosophy, art, and architecture.

In the Hellenistic world, there were a lot of intellectual success in Greek. This was a period when a lot of History writers came to life. Herodotus and Thucydides were well known history writers. These writers wrote about current events such as the Persia and Peloponnesian war. There were many entertainments been done in the city-state to delight the residents such as drama. Aeschy and Sophocles were famous for writing tragedy type of dramas. Aristophane was known for his comedy work. All their dramas were a reflection of the reality of Greek in the Hellenistic world.

The Greek civilization contributed greatly to the development of modern Western culture. Three of the most important contribution that are the foundations of our society are Language, Philosophy, and Government.

Ancient Greek made many advances during their time in many subjects still used today. The ancient Greeks advances in these subjects, influenced and contributed to the Western civilization. The Western civilization’s culture and outlook on life was shaped by ancient Greek. Many things the ancient Greeks created were the basis for what we use today, including, architecture, art, dramas, math, science, and philosophy.

     Ancient Greece is known for its beautiful theaters and its skilled poets. One of the most famous ones at that time and famous even now is Homer. Nobody knows who he actually is but the works that he has created are far more than magnificent. The Odyssey and The Iliad are two poems that turned into myths, have actually been accepted as part of the history of the Greeks. The Odyssey is a story about a hero from the Trojan War who struggles to get home to his family and when he finally does he faces the suitors who he fights and defeats with the help of the gods and his son who he hasn't seen for around twenty years. The gradual development of the plot, the actual, end of the book is

They even aided the development of our modern day alphabet. Essentially, most of the more famous Ancient Greek writers were philosophers and/or “lovers of wisdom”. For example: Plato, Aristotle, Anaximander, Pythagoras, Empedocles, and a few others. Though, another quite famous writer was Homer. He was known for his epic poetry (poetry portraying the story of heroes) but was more of a poet than a philosopher. Homer’s most known works are the Iliad and The Odyssey, which greatly inspired other poets as time went on. These two epic’s contained history, fiction, and mythology, which are some of the greatly popular genres of today's writing. Also, Ancient Greece gave us the first comedies, tragedies, playwrights, theatre's, and theatrical

Ancient Greek culture has influenced our modern culture in many ways from philosophy to medicine to government. We still use many of their concepts, technology, and even alphabet system. Without ancient Greece, our modern world would not have advanced as far. A significant contribution of the ancient Greek culture to the world today is the Greek theater, more specifically the structure of tragedy. Some contributions are the structure of tragedy in modern literature, rise of opera, and the creation of the theater.

In Hellenistic literature is when we can see the new intellectual way of thinking and in many ways contributed to other advancements in science, math, and architecture. With the expansion of Alexander’s empire into Egypt came a new center of literacy production in Alexandria where their library contained almost a million papyrus scrolls. This library was a great research institute and supported many great scientists and scholars and due to this atmosphere led to great work in the field of history. One example of this is the work of Eratosthenes; with all the great works that were kept in this library, Eratosthenes was able to put together a chronology of important events dating back to the Trojan War. However, one thing that the Hellenistic Age lacked was a historian that documented important events of the time as there were no historians that compared to historians of Classical Greece such as Herodotus and Thucydides. Because of this we are unable to understand the Hellenistic Age as in depth as we do Classical

Ancient Greeks made many influential contributions to western civilization such as in the areas of philosophy, art and architecture, math and science.

Ancient Greek also has the best literature and art. There literature consists of poems like Homer and Hesiod which are about giants and gods. Gods have a lot to do with Greek literature because they interacted with humans which make things really interesting in literature. Very famous literature is from Ancient Greek time including the great flood which involved the gods wiping out humans. Greek arts like acropolis art are the most famous types of arts and are known all across the world. Greeks are very

The ancient Greeks and Romans contributed to western civilization in many different forms of literature and architecture. Both of these cultures produced a variety of literary works which are still studied today. One of the biggest contributions to literature was from the author known as Homer. Homer was known for two of ancient Greece’s most epic poems, The lliad and The Odyssey. Both of these poems have had a profound impact on western literature and continue to influence teachers and authors today. “The lliad and The Odyssey have provided not only seeds but fertilizer for almost all the other arts and sciences in