Meraki's Greek Culture

on our history and mythology helped shed light to it’s culture, religion, and government of ancient Greece. The Mediterranean has served as a vessel for the early civilizations., Greek mythology has influenced the life style and religion of the Greeks, especially because Greek mythology served as the primary basis of Greek belief, it became the nearest thing the Greeks had to a holy bible.1 These mythologies served as the center of Greek life and these mythologies served as their basis for their life and in turn the mythologies shaped the foundation of the Greek life style, culture, religion that we know today.

Ancient Greek cultures and traditions have set many precedents in the world. Even now in the twenty-first century, the presence of ancient Greek culture can be found in our mathematical and scientific formulas and theories, philosophy, and art. While some parts of the Greek culture have receded throughout the progression of history, like the belief in the pantheon of the gods, others have stayed, but changed. For example, the Hippocratic Oath, an oath sworn by medical professionals to the gods has changed throughout the years, but still remains a part of current medical practice. The Hippocratic Oath, although changed with time, offers important insight to the principles and beliefs that the ancient Greeks thought as important.

The Greeks occupied such a minute space of land compared to the rest of the world, and their existence is a mere flicker in time, yet their influence on civilization today is significant and obvious. So how did they do it? The Ancient Greeks were not perfect by any means; they practiced slavery, sacrificing, forced men to become warriors, confined women to the home, and were sometimes plagued by disease. Despite their pitfalls, the Greeks were still able to rise to become a major influential power due to their feeling of purpose, which was to be the best. It was not religion nor war that propelled them forward, but this feeling of wanting to be the best in everything. Essentially, the Greeks wanted to achieve arete, or excellence of any kind. As a result, the Greeks were excellent philosophers, warriors, artists, architects, actors, and so much more. There are many aspects of Greek life that influence civilization today, and it is all due to the Greek’s belief in achieving arete.

Throughout my exploratory essay, I found that there are many different perspectives when it comes to Greek life. I as a member of Greek life myself, feel that the positive aspects outweigh the negative. There are many positive advantages that come from being a part of Greek life. There are an abundance of networking opportunities that come from Greek life along with all of the incredible friends that you make throughout the recruitment experience. One may also gain leadership skills from being a member of the executive council and having to lead their chapter on a day to day basis. Being a member of Greek life also pushes you to be more involved on campus as well as in the community. Each Greek organization has a philanthropy that they support

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

Marquis de Lafayette once said, “People serve, but the men who die leave a shiny wake on the water of time.” This means even though the veterans died we will always remember them for the choice that they made to save are country. The people who died for our freedom, made a choice to serve even though they knew they could possibly die for our freedom. The veterans that are serving now, or the veterans that had served will be remembered for what they did so we would have freedom.

Macedonian culture is significantly similar to the Greek culture. Certainly, both of those cultures are not identical; they do have differences, yet by looking at the women’s independent role and freedom among the society and the military success of those cultures, it is clear that both of them resemble. For instance, Alexander the Great thought that he was a descendant of a Greek God and always wanted to show how Greek he was. This might be the reason why the Macedonian culture is very similar to the Greek culture.

Athens was located in the region of Attica, a fertile valley and rich in minerals. The city was a cultural powerhouse: the cradle of democracy, the birthplace of many great philosophers, of politics, of architecture and theatre, of history, science and mathematics, with a formidable naval fleet that defeated the Persian army. Athenians had access to education and freedom to pursue their interests in war or business. (Mark, 2011)

The first of two notable periods of Greek immigration to the United States began in the 1800s and continued until the 1920s. According to chnm.gmu.edu (n.d.), the economic crisis in Greece caused many Greek families to send their sons to the United States to make money to send back home to Greece. The second wave of Greek immigration occurred after World War II with the passage of Immigration and National Origins Act of 1965. This opened the door for many Greeks who had family already living in the United States, to come join them. The second generation of Greek Americans had been established by this time and they had established Greek communities as well as various businesses that were thriving.

Greek Life is a very complex part of college campuses. While many schools have a strong Greek Life presence, others play a very small part on their campus. The same can be said when it comes to whether or not fraternities and sororities have a positive reputation or a negative reputation on campus and in their local media.

Greek life plays a major role in colleges and universities all across the United States. Greek life allows men and women to join an organization and create a long lasting bond, as brothers or sisters, which they will carry with them for the rest of their lives. College campuses explore and boast about the positive impacts that Greek life has on students as well as the community around them. However, even with fraternities and sororities being on college campuses for decades, few people outside the Greek life community have discovered the real, enduring process that it takes to become a "brother" or "sister". Throughout my research, I will be focusing on the negative effects that fraternities and sororities pose upon pledges. This includes hazing

We were lucky as a country to have many men and women volunteer their time and lives to fight for our country. We thanked and repaid them in many ways. The soldiers that fought and sacrificed many things for us have not been forgotten.

Every place has its own culture that can be represented in multiple ways. The Ancient Greeks were farmers, soldiers, voyagers, and more. There were multiple things that they valued and others that were not so important but were still there. In the book, The Victor’s Crown, it showed multiple qualities that the Greeks thought were important. The book shows that the Greeks as a whole thought that the truth was a quality that was very important whereas an individual did the games to show who they were and for family.

“Greek civilization is alive; it moves in every breath of mind that we breathe; so much of it remains that none of us in one lifetime could absorb it all.” Ancient Greeks are known to be one of the greatest and most advanced people and have left behind a legacy that helped define the Western civilization. Cultural diffusion helped spread Greek culture all over the world, and its effects can still be felt today in almost every aspect. Greek culture has greatly affected different parts of my daily life including architecture, food, government, inventions, music, religion, and education.

"Welcome to the happiest nation of the world," proclaims the slogan of a local beer at Copenhagen Airport. They are in debt, they pay the highest taxes in the world and they have long winters and tinged with darkness and... Danish people are recognized as the happiest people on Earth.