How Did Ancient Greek Influence American Government

Greece, Rome, and the Renaissance had a large influence on the American colonies in literature, art, and law because majority of the population brought over the ideas from the Old World to the New World looking for religious and social freedom.

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form a democracy, literally meaning "rule by the people". Nowadays democracy could be referred as a rule of the majority. It is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or choose delegates from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. The Greek system of government was maybe more like a true democracy or administered by the general population than any other ever. On the other hand, most American politicians with mindfulness and knowledge have realized that the U.S. is not a Democracy as a country, regardless of the way that most people declare it to be a Democracy. Greek and American democracy have some similarities such as the amount of nationalism and patriotism saw in the people when a lack of representation for a city-state or nation as a whole is seen, and they both vote for their political leaders.

The Greeks and the Romans were among the most influential societies in the history of the world. Evidence of Greek or Roman influence can be found in almost every culture or country that has ever existed. Though both cultures were different in practice and incredibly competitive with one another, their politics and their beliefs set the stage for future civilizations, including those of the modern world. In particular, the values and practices of Greek and Roman citizenship and politics, more than any other cultures, influences American policies today in terms of values, government, and self-image.

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City-State of Athens. This is actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens of the city-state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens’s collapse during the Peloponnesian War, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government.

To begin with, both of their ways that they chose the officials were similar but also differed. The Athenian Government and the Roman Republic both had the citizens of each side choose the officials, but they both had a difference in limitations on how they chose the officials. In Athens, the citizens would vote for the officials, but the people who were official citizens were the ones who were 18 or over, born in Athens, and had to be males. This means that outsiders, slaves, or women could not vote because they were not considered citizens. Additionally, the Athenian Government system for voting was organized with citizens by the name of demes or demos; who belonged to tribes and where combined with others of the same area to make a larger group, which in turn were combined to form ten tribes. (Gill, thoughtco 2017). In contrast, citizens of Rome had to be over 15 years old, male slaves could also vote if they were granted freedom, the women were considered citizens but had no voting rights. The

Ancient Greek stands in an important position in the art history. Ancient Greek art proper emerged during the eigth century BCE. Classical and Hellenistic period are the most impressive eras of Greece. There are many values of Greek 's culture become the fundamental tenets of today 's western civilization. Greeks created the concept of democracy and make a huge contributions in the fields of science, literature and art. Ancient Greece 's art and architecture also have a strong influential to western society. Moreover, the Greeks made their gods into humans and their humans into gods. The perfect individual became the Greek ideal and the portrayal of beautiful humans became the focus of many of the greatest Greek artists. Greek ideal is one of the most important cultures of Greece and it also has a great influence of Greek religion, philosophy and society. The art work of Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic Period have shown that Greek has achieved their lofty goals in many aspects of their civilization.

Directly from the beginning there is a difference right off the bat. Athens was a direct democracy while the United States is a republic democracy. Being the fact that these two are total different ways of democracy each country was run differently. Automatically in Athens the people choose everything they want from the way they govern right down to the laws and court systems. The United States was tired of being under British rule before democracy was established. The establishers of democracy in the US decided that democracy was best so the people can choose what they want and who they want. Instead of having an all-out frenzy from a direct democracy which allows citizens to do whatever they want and choose what they want the people still choose what and who they want they just allow people to speak for them and their rights. Although the United States has roots that stem from the Athenian democracy system they tweaked American democracy to fit the needs of this

American sport culture has had many influences that impact how they are today. I believe the ancient greek culture, and society accurately reflects on our sports. There are many variables to american sports that were taken from the greek society. Americans have open gyms and mass training sessions like the greeks had. American sports also have big festivals with sports competitions like the greeks has. Americans also use sports to train, and some to train for war just like the greeks did as well. There are many more ways american sports reflect the greeks, but those are just a few examples.

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.

The Greeks where the first democracy in the world. There government was made up of six thousand members all of witch where male citizens. They voted on problems that needed to be solved and if a law was to pass a majority vote was needed. Now in the United States also has a democracy. Instead of having six thousand people voting and making the decisions all the people vote on a representative that makes the decisions in the country.

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.

In Document A, it distinctly states “ Our constitution favors the many instead of the few,’’ however if that were so, why could only twelve percent of the population vote (Document C). Plato, a wise philosopher, concluded that women should have the same education and withhold all positions in society (Guided Reading Activity 1-2 question 10). A dispute that even the American government had to fix back in the 1920s (Amendment 19), and still this day, has been addressed. As shown, if the constitution favors the many, 100 percent of the population should vote.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were perhaps two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. These two civilizations thrived in their ancient environments which eventually led to a vast amount of prosperity within these two cultures. It is because of this prosperity that these ancient cultures were able to make a variety of advancements in literature, architecture, art and a variety of other fields. These two civilizations also produced some of the ancient world’s greatest writers, leaders, and philosophers. The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome made a number of contributions to western civilization in the form of advancements in literature, architecture, art, government, and philosophy.

Greek democracy was best developed in the city-state of Athens from where the very word “democracy”, meaning “the rule of the people” stems. People ‘ruled’ by electing officials through lot and making important decisions by majority rule. Democracy was direct, meaning that the Athenians “allowed the whole citizenry to assemble in the central eklisia, or the equivalent today of the main city hall, to vote on important issues” (Makedon 1995). In this sense, Athenian democracy differed from representative democracy that is currently prevalent in most states, in which officials are elected through democratic vote and then given authority to make decisions for the people. In Athens, elected officials were paid, but the pay was very low so that it compared with the wages of the poorest citizens and only covered the compensation of their time and effort.

Democracy began to emerge in Greece during the archaic (800-500) and classic (500-323) period, and it has expanded through the country over time . Greeks came up with the idea of democracy through discussions among citizens and with the majority voting; this was called direct democracy as everyone could debate and vote in one place to determine new policy for the country. During this period, only men were allowed to vote and give their opinions, others were not allowed to participate in government’s decisions . However, over time, the democratic government in Greece changed to be more open for every citizen. The poor, men and women, had the same rights, and equal share of power.