The Ancient Greeks

The Ancient Greeks believed in many gods and heroes during their time. Each one had a sole purpose in a mortal’s lifetime. Greek mythology had a huge impact on religion in Ancient Greece. The Greeks performed rituals in order to honor their gods. Mythology affected the Ancient Greeks in many ways. The origins of mythology, the influences of mythology through a human’s lifetime and lessons taught in the ancient myths will be examined.

The history of the ancient Greeks and ancient Hebrews is very interesting. The two groups had very different beliefs concerning higher powers and what kind of gods they trusted in. The Hebrews believed in one God who ruled over them and controlled everything. The Greeks believed in multiple gods each ruling their own area of life. Fighting was a very prevalent activity for both of these groups, as it still is for many groups today. However, the reasons for fighting and violence were very different for the Hebrews and Greeks. This can be explained by comparing texts such as The Iliad and the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, which tell many battle stories of the Greeks and Hebrews.

The ancient Egyptian and ancient Greek civilizations are two of the oldest known civilizations in our history. The Egyptian civilization, based in the eastern part of North Africa, is believed to have started around 3150 BC and continued till the end of the Pharaoh rule in 31 BC. The ancient Greek civilization is believed to have been in effect from 1100 BC till about 146 BC. Many similarities and differences existed between these two civilizations, as even though they co-existed during a certain timeframe (1150 BC to 146 BC), they were located in different geographical areas. Because of these differences in geography, both these civilizations were subjected to different kinds of exposure, which included contact with other civilization and cultural inheritance. In the political sphere, we find that the Egyptian civilization had stronger emphasis on central authority, while the Greeks had a more decentralized structure, where powers were distributed over the cities and the states as well. As far as art is concerned, we find that the Egyptians were more involved in creating great monumental and gaudy structures, while the Greeks were more involved in creating smaller, more literary pieces of art.

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

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.

The ancient Greeks highly valued the strength and power in a spoken word. Political, economic, cultural, and social life of the Ancient Greeks can be seen in their plays. They thus relied on words to communicating. Their desire to communicate and pass crucial information led to the creation of numerous plays across the region. The ancient Greek plays were both entertaining and educative thus reflecting on the kind of life that this person lived (Hogan 11). Their settings can suggest a lot about the circumstances and conditions under which this play was performed. The dramatic presentations were crucial to Athenians, a fact that can be seen from the numerous and well- spread theatres across the city. The paper will focus on how the ancient

Ancient Greek civilizations mentality is what got them through life by their way of thinking. Even though Greece’s geography isolated the civilizations, it allowed them to see the world by providing the civilizations with the Mediterranean Sea. The geography divided Greece up into city-states that made them strive to do better than each other, which we know today as competition. This allowed for art, politics, literature, athletics, inventions, and new ideas to come about. Greece’s dry and rocky climate allowed for the civilizations to find two cash crops known as grapes and olives. Grapes and olives is what led to Greece civilizations trading around the Mediterranean Sea. This boosted trade, allowed settlement (colonization), and allowed new ways and ideas to come about. When the Persians tried to defeat Greece, Greeks not only

The greek people are so unaware of what is about to happen and it truly heartbreaking that this is is the twilight of the hole greek civilization. Nevertheless this period is so fascinating and interesting this is the Hellenistic Age. The Hellenistic age begun after the death of Alexander the grate. Like I said earlier he left no new successor so this caused in fighting and the empire was divided up against the wars generals they .There were three empires would form there would dynasts from Alexander's empire; there was Antigonids in Macedonia and Greece, the Seleucids in Perissa and the ptolemies in Egypt. The people did not go back to their way of life because they were ruled by greeks and macedonians, so the local

Several millennia after 3500 B.C.E., civilizations developed in seven major locations around the world. In Robert W. Strayer’s Ways of the World: A Brief Global History with Sources, he explores the controversies behind the term “civilization” and the causes for the formation of such a unique kind of human community. Despite the reasonable doubt of the accuracy and usefulness of the term, I still believe that “civilization” is useful in distinguishing this new form of human societies from earlier ones.

The Greeks rose from their infertile land from a dark age using the remains of the Mycenaean people. The gift of an alphabet by the Phoenicians also helped Greece organize its government and set up its City-states. The unique religion of the Greeks also prospered and brought around helpful changes. Colonization

Grain (barley), olive trees, grapevines Timber-northern Aegean, gold-anatolia, copper-cyprus, tin-west medt., grain-black sea, Egypt, & sicily After destruction of mycenaean palace-states, poverty struck and Greece was isolated from rest of world Created first true alphabet; influenced by Phoenicia Farming replaced herding, and families were able to work on previously unused land. Developing skills in other areas(crafts) (city-state), consists of urban center and rural territory it controls. Ex)Athens offered refuge in an emergency open area where citizens came together to participate in government heavily armored Greek infantrymen who fought in close packed phalanx formation expanding population-many communities sent people abroad to establish independent colonies. Some left voluntarily, some where threatened their life if returned.—this spread Greek culture to many places term Greeks used for someone who seized and held power in violation of the normal procedures and traditions of the community.

Without them we would be extremely behind on our military intelligence, math, sciences, history, arts, and understanding of the world. Although both societies were strong, it was made evident through this paper that the Greeks were significantly more influential to society of ancient and modern times. The Romans, known for their strong military and conquests, are now remembered as the strong unity of countries with cunning and intelligent leaders for their militia. However, the Greeks are known for their arts and philosophy, which will forever have the most significant impact on the world. Thus, although both were powerful societies, in two very different ways, the Greeks were fairly obviously the most influential society of both the modern and ancient world. To put it in the perspective of one who may read this, if science and math were not further advanced by the Greeks, teenagers would be without their cell phones, computers, televisions and any other modern technical device that many claim they simple could not live without. Obviously, the Greek discoveries are an extremely important part in not just ancient societies, but also in modern advancement in every technological field. Evidently, the brains beat out the

Classical Greek thinkers have many outlooks on the world and how it became what it is today. As a group the Classical Greek thinkers helped provide us with a basis of modern science as well as the idea of epistemology or the study of knowledge. Their ideas and curiosities allowed for rational or philosophical outlooks on life. However, the Greeks did not abandon the idea of having a mythopoeic outlook

In 8th century BC, Greece started vesible from Dark Ages, followed by the fall of Mycenaean civilization. Literacy was lost and Mycenaean forgot their script. Greeks choose the Phoenician alphabet, modifying to create the Greek alphabet. Objects are available with Phoenician alphabet in Greece from 9th century BC. Greece was distributed in small self governing communities. Pattern commanded by the Greek Geography. Valley, island and plain is cut off by the sea or mountain ranges.

The Ancient Greeks didn’t understand many things in their lives. They wondered how the seasons changed and what were planets and stars. All of these things were mysteries to them, and the Greeks answered these questions through the myths of Gods and Goddesses. Ancient Greeks believed that these Gods and Goddesses controlled the elements of nature and helped their lives for the better through everyday activities. Their powers were used to explain all that they cannot, from everyday work to the forces of nature.