Miletus In Ancient Greece

After the conclusion of the Persian Wars (492-479BC) with Athens being the true victor, and before the Peloponnesian War, a period of prosperity covered Athens, and they needed to devise new ways to protect themselves and expand their wealth, and how this would affect their relations with allies.

Politics were central to Mediterranean societies; Greece and Rome were known for being political powerhouses. In Athens, the main system of government was direct democracy, where decisions were made based on the popular vote of the people.

Later generations told many anecdotes about this man, who was reckoned among the seven sages, but it is difficult to verify the reliability of these stories. He may have traveled to Egypt, where many Greeks and Carian’s were welcome as merchants and mercenaries, but on the other hand, it was expected that a wise man made a long voyage to gain knowledge, and this story may have been invented to prove that the sage of Miletus was a wise man indeed. (Similar stories are told about Solon and Pythagoras.) It is not even certain whether Thales is the author of published texts. The three titles that are attributed to him may be later inventions, or three names of one and the same poem: Nautical astronomy, on the solstice, and on the equinox. What seems certain, however, is that Thales predicted the solar eclipse of 28 May 585, which was remembered (according to the Greek researcher Herodotus of Halicarnassus note) because the Lydian king Alyattes and the Median leader Cyaxares were fighting a battle on that day. However, it must be noted that "predicting" merely meant that Thales announced that it was possible that an eclipse could take place during a particular new moon, because by then, not even Babylonian astronomers were able to predict this impressive phenomenon more accurately. Still, even establishing a possibility was a great leap forward for Greek science. According to a famous story told by Herodotus of Halicarnassus, in c.547 BCE, Thales also changed the course of the river Hales in order to facilitate the crossing of an army of the Lydian king Croesus. Note if this story is true, Thales must have died after this year. Another, perhaps more reliable bit of information is that Thales did geometrical research, which enabled him to measure the seize of the pyramids of Egypt or the distance to a ship at sea. He also proved that a circle is bisected by its diameter, that the angles of the base of an isosceles

     Greek society began by the formation of the city-state. "The city-state, based on tribal allegiances, was generally the first political association during the early stages of civilization." ( Perry, 45) This was the first step in the progression toward

In the period known as classical Greece in the years 800-323 BCE, Greece comprised of small city states (poleis) which were considered and operated as independent small countries. Amongst those city states Athens and Sparta were two of the most powerful and considered in Greek history as the most influential states to western civilisation. These two city states shared some common characteristics whilst in some instances they were very different from each other. Sparta and Athens had differences and similarities in the way they governed their city states, in how they established their military forces, how they treated women, their marriage customs and social gatherings

These self-governed city-states were governed by the natural laws of the universe. The polis also had a psychological pull to the point where it was infested into the art, religion, literature and philosophy (Document 1). In a way similar to India though, everyone identified first and foremost with their polis identity, like the Indians did with their caste system (Document 1). The way to gain power in Greece was not though money, but through family names and heritage, but in 330 BC, Cleisthenes created the basis of his reform for Greece: the demes (Document 2). By doing this he takes out the powerful noble families and gives the lower class the power to decide what happens with their government and therefore became more “deme-ocratic.” He did many things to change the structure of Greece to make it fairer. For example he took the original four tribes of Greece and redistributed them into ten different tribes so now the tribes can have more “civic rights.” Another example of what Cleisthenes did to fix things was that he increased the Council members from 400 to 500. Now each tribe was only sending fifty representatives, instead of the original hundred. Finally, one last example is that Cleisthenes divided Greece up into thirty parts. Ten urban and suburban, ten costal and ten inland and each of these contained its own special number of demes. Now, men were to be identified first by their demes name, which is very similar to India’s recognition of their caste name or level (Document

Greece influenced roman societies and modern day societies politically as explained in documents 1, 2, 4, and 6. Greece was the first ancient civilization to have a democracy. The basic rule for roman society law system was displayed in the twelve tables. (Doc 2) Many western civilizations adapted this law system as well as other ideas from the roman 12 tables which influenced western societies immensely. The document explains a quote that we still use in modern society which is “every man is innocent until proven guilty.” Octavian Augustus states that after he dies “the foundations which I have laid for its future government will stand firm and stable” the Greeks invented an idea of a ruling senate which today is known as democracy. (Doc 4)

Hipparchia of Athens was born into an upper class family in approximately 346 B.C in Thrace, Greece during the Hellenistic period. Her parents were aristocrats who were originally from Athens and decided to move the family for a short period of time to Maroneia, where Hipparchia was raised. When the family returned to Athens, Hipparchia met a man named Crates who influenced her to follow the career path of a cynic philosopher. Hipparchia broke free from the androcentric perspectives in Greece and encouraged other women to do the same. She is remembered for her speeches towards achieving gender equality in Greece.

Shortly, economic, political, and social cooperation between the Greeks and those around them became compulsory and similar. As shown in the Greek Colonization Map (chapter3) the procedure of Greek settlement became stronger on the coasts of Anatolia lastingly changing the cultural geography of the Mediterranean world and the swap of cultures from the Greek to others and vice versa, as a fast result of trade. The western shores of Anatolia held the Greek culture strongly for the following thousands of years. A large amount of Greeks settled in southern parts of Italy which the Romans called Magna Graecia “Greater Greece.” The hunt for bazaars, possessions, and trade paths indorsed more understanding between cultures. Trade involving long distance was significant for a new arising economy but also the pipeline for concepts, and technical growth. Egyptians admired Greek’s pottery and wool while, the Greek’s revered the Egyptians Canaanite glass, and amulets. As seen in Egypt And Its Neighbors Map (Chapter 2) this led to a greater mutual

The Economy of Ancient Greece can probably be described as the base of economy for future societies and civilizations. The system that Greece used was the bartering system which is also known as trade. The city-state that was the most important and was the center of trade and commerce was none other than Athens. With the change of democracy and the political system, accumulation of wealth was discouraged and encouraged that the rich contribute their money and services to polis. The economy of Greece was largely dominated by a middle class of small landholders, merchants, and

thales was the first science in history .Thales was born into a rich family in the Ancient Greek city of Miletus in about the year 645.B.C. His dad name was Examyes and his mom name was Cleobuline. thales was famous for his short stories .When Thales was born, his town was one of the most powerful in greek towns.

I find it interesting to be speaking about the Greek mathematician Thales, as I first heard about him this semester in my Western Civilization class. According to mathopenref.com Thales was one of the first seven wise men of Ancient Greece.Thales was also one of the earliest Greek philosophers. Thales was the Discoverer of Geometry of lines. After the discovery of geometry lines, Abstract geometry appeared. Thales was a teacher of Anaximander, who was a Greek scientist from Miletus. Thales was the founder of the Ionian school of philosophy also located in Miletus. Miletus was an ancient city of the Ionian Greeks in southwestern Asia Minor. Thales school of philosophy was not only the only school founded in Miletus, Many schools were founded in Miletus. All of the schools were a big attraction to scientist, philosophers, geographers and architects. Thales was known for the theoretical and practical understanding of geometry. Many think that this discovery was not really his but everyone gave him credit for it . He also has been confirmed by many sources to

Miletus is credited as the home of a Greek philosopher named Thales and what is know

Very few civilizations have had as profound an influence on the world as those of ancient Greece. The Greeks laid the foundations for fields varying from philosophy to political theory to war tactics. However, this influence was not just due to their intelligence or success, but their widespread presence in the Mediterranean. Greek culture was spread throughout their known world in two distinct manners, the foundation of apoikia in the Archaic Age (8th century to 500 B.C. ) and imperialists by poleis, primarily Athens of the Classical Age (490 - 323 B.C ). Though the culture of a mother city (mētropolis) may have spread through two very different manners of “colonization.” The word is not used in the literal sense, but rather hereafter used to mean “spreading of culture”, as the former can hardly be described using the contemporary definition of colonization and the latter was through Athenian empire-building. These developments had a significant impact on ancient Greece and our modern perception thereof. Like most of the ancient world, we can best analyze these methods of colonialism through extant artifacts. I will analyze an inscription of the foundation oath of Cyrene, which recounts the decision and manner in which the island of Thera sent its citizens to the form a new polis, and the fragments of the Lapis Primus, a marble monolith that documented tributes to Athens when the city was at the peak of its imperial age, evidencing the magnitude of their power and influence in the Greek region.

Eratosthenes was born in 276 B.C. in a Greek colony in Cyrene, a country in North Africa better known in the present day as Libya. He raised by modest parents, his mother’s name is not known, and his father’s name could be one of two that have been discovered, Aglaos or Ambrosios. Even though they were modest parents, they were somehow able to have enough money for an education for their son. They would have had to own land that was worth at least 20 minas (type of Athenian currency), and his parents would have been free citizens. He was a typical, curious baby and as he grew older, he asked hundreds of questions that no one could answer. He was extremely interested in the sky, because it was something that he could not reach up and touch. He wondered how what the distance between the sun and earth was and what the sun was made of, why there was wind, and why the stars moved. Like most young Greek boys, when Eratosthenes was about six, he began to go to school in the local gymnasium, where he learned reading, writing, mathematics, poetry, music and physical education. He was very strong in math but geography was by far his favourite subject. In his early years, he was given the nickname Beta, the second letter of the Greek alphabet, because he never came in first place (taken by Archimedes). Later in life, he got the nickname Pentathlos. This word meant an athlete that participated in 5 sporting events or to describe someone who was good at a variety of different