Ancient Greek Culture Essay

The Ancient Greeks have done so much for the western civilizations. Their success in art, philosophy, architecture, science, government, and history have influenced the western civilizations to use their ideas. Many different people came up with different ideas to contribute to their government. New ideas and conclusions were constantly being made because of philosophers asking questions all the time. They really helped shaped Ancient Greece's government.

Theater in ancient Greece was considered the climax of the days long cultural festival of The City Dionysia. At the festival, various types of plays were shown but one of the most popular was tragedy. These tragedies show the main character, usually a god or person of myth, going through human suffering and the terrible sequence of events that followed; and were produced in 472- 401 BCE. In order for a play to be performed at The City Dionysia festival; tragic playwrights would first have to appeal to the state official that was organizing the festival by submitting ideas to him and his committee. The ideas submitted were outlines of main themes and points of interest to be performed in the play. If a playwright was selected by the state official and his committee, then they received a financial backer and a chance to compete in the drama competition of the festival. The state official, or his committee, was likely pushing their own agenda and choose playwrights that matched their ideals. This is just one example of how theater in ancient Greece was used to influence the morality of Greek culture by using the stories of tragedies, like those of Euripides.

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 Western Civilizations due to several political influences. According to document number 1, an excerpt from Pericles’ Funeral Oration held in Athens Circa, 450 B.C. we have evidence that Athenians didn't value the political involvement of every “citizen” no matter their social class. Today in America we can find similar values in our democratic system as we encourage citizens from all social classes to educate themselves on matters

Women’s role in Greece can be seen when one first begins to do research on the subject. The subject of women in Greece is coupled with the subject of slaves. This is the earliest classification of women in Greek society. Although women were treated differently from city to city the basic premise of that treatment never changed. Women were only useful for establishing a bloodline that could carry on the family name and give the proper last rites to the husband. However, women did form life long bonds with their husbands and found love in arranged marriages. Women in Athenian Society Women are “defined as near slaves, or as perpetual minors” in Athenian society (The Greek World, pg. 200). For women life didn’t

“My ancestors and brothers where kings of Sparta. I, Cynisca victorious with the chariot of swift-footed horses, erected this statue. I declare that I am the only Woman in all of Greece to have won this Crown”

Many have called Greece the birthplace of the modern world, for so many of today’s lifestyles and governmental patterns have stayed the test of time and even been copied by many nations including America, thus proving the greatness of Greek culture and how much they meant for the modern world. But why are we traveling to Ancient Greek you may ask out of the many powerful nations of the ancient world? What makes their civilization more unique than that or Rome and , or the Egyptians with their mummies and pyramids or the Persians for another? Well, while you could argue which civilization made the most important contributions to humanity, it is important to note that much of Roman culture came out of Greek culture, and lots of things in society

Have you ever wondered what the similarities were between two cultures well here I am going to tell you. Despite the fact that the Egyptians and Greeks venerate distinctive gods and goddesses the repeating symbolic associations with love, desire, and fertility propose a comparable accentuation on consummating one's self through the span of various lifetimes.

Greek culture evolves through the thousands years of development, possessing the notions and literature still compatible with contemporary society and literature. Greece is a country that holds a rich history comprising different categories of historical eras such as Greek Bronze Age, Classical period, Roman period, and Ottoman period. The intent of this paper is to select Greece as it’s inspired by its cultural aspects including language, history, geography, traditions & customs, religion, music, food, churches, museums, festivals and cultural events (Greeka.com, 2014).

The ancient Greeks were one of the more influential ancient civilizations. Their empire lasted from the eighth century to circa 600AD. Along with being praised for their architecture and contribution in the sciences their beliefs have influenced many modern-day books, plays, and movies. Such as the popular series written by Rick Riodron, Percy Jackson or The Heroes of Olympus.

Greece is located in Southern Europe, bordering the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea, between Albania and Turkey. The climate is usually mild, wet winter and hot, dry summers. Their populations as of July 2016, 10,773,253 , one- third of their population lives in and around metropolitan Athens, the rest of the country has moderate population. There are also natural hazards like severe earthquakes and volcanism. Santorini has been classified as a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology, worthy of study because of its explosive history and its close proximity to human populations. There have been very few eruptions in the recent century, Methana and Nisyros in the Agena are classifies as historically active. Greek is the official language but there are also other languages included in that region like English and French. Its ethnic group consist 98% of Greek with the rest, 2% of them being Albanians, Armenians, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Macedonian Slavs, and Turks. Their religion is Greek Orthodox with a 1% being Muslim. Their government is a Parliamentary Republic and legal system based on the Roman law. Their capital is Athens and their national holiday, or Independence Day is on the 25 of March.

Gods have existed almost since the beginning of mankind, as people had things that they worshiped such as the sun, the moon, and many other things. To me the Greeks had the most unique gods, because they had many gods for many different things such as love, war, etc. The gods were almost like human beings as they interacted in the lives of the people they watched over and the people they cherished. The gods were said to have mixed with the humans to make half mortal and half immortal people, blessed with certain powers. Today we all have one god, because it is the way we were brought up, but there are many types of religions such as Christianity, Hinduism, etc. The Greek gods lived among the people on top of a

The origin of man’s relationship with the divine extends far back into his evolution – almost certainly farther still than the lifespan of any evidence could suggest. Indeed, religion is considered a cultural universal - where there are people, there is religion. For ancient humanity, religion combated ambiguity about death and deception, provided prosocial constructs that enabled greater cooperation, and generally fell in line with humanities distinctive (and possibly overactive) ability to attribute goals and desires to events – living or not. It was Xenophanes (c. 520) who noted the tendency of gods to be constructed in the likeness of the culture that birthed them. It is not surprising, then, that learning about a culture 's religion can tell you a great deal about how the members see themselves and the world. Although ancient religions such as Hellenism seem a far cry away from today’s prevailing religions, many aspects of modern religions can be traced back across cultures. One of the most interesting of these cultural shifts was the Roman assimilation of Greek culture. While the Greeks revered themselves for their communal government (democracy), their culture still very much praised the individual. The relationship between the gods and the people (particularly heros) suggest that religion is an individual pursuit – resolution is up to a single man to find. In Roman renditions, however, these same gods are depicted as rewarding selflessness – sacrifice for the greater

--Rediscovery of Greek/Roman classical culture: In the rediscovery of Greek/Roman classical culture Greek scientific and philosophical works were available to western Europeans. It was an rebirth of classical learning and a clear rediscovery of the ancient Rome and Greece. The renaissance scholars and artist referred to the classical past and rejected religious thought of the middle ages referred to as the Dark Ages. They wanted to mirror image the art form of Classical Greece with a realistic depiction of human form. Christian scholars put fourth effort in bringing ancient writings and values into line with their own beliefs. This classical past became materialistic and commercialized over time. They figured classical Latin written by Cicero, Vergil or Julius Caesar was superior to church Latin spoken during their own time and wanted to purify Latin of its medieval corruption. This lead to destroying living Latin of the Middle Ages. (Cole, Joshua pg. 365-367)

What are the Economic and Political Differences Between the Patricians & the Plebeian class ultimately led to Plebeian Revolt