The Emergence Of Greek City, The Apology, And The Parthenon

Building the Parthenon was a greater feat than they ever would have known. Work on the Parthenon began in 477 BC. A much smaller shrine already stood on this site, one to which we can attribute various pieces of surviving decorative material--lions and snakes, a cornice incised with flying birds, and a blue-bearded trinity that may conceivably represent Cecrops, Erechtheus, and Poseidon. If such an edifice in fact existed, it was torn down to make way for a huge limestone platform, roughly 252 by 103 feet in size, that was built as a base for the new temple. The slope of the Acropolis was such that while on the north side the foundations rested directly on bedrocks, the southeast corner needed to be built up with no

The Parthenon was an amazing and expensive achievement of ancient Greece. Although it is mostly in ruins today, there is enough knowledge about its construction to allow others to recreate the structure. The Parthenon is often constructed not only to honor the ancient Greeks, but also to honor the culture and place where it is recreated. Although the Parthenon’s influence is tremendous throughout the western world, it is generally only faithfully represented in part- the nearest representations found during my research include the Walhalla and the Nashville Parthenon. This paper focuses mostly on the original building’s history and its influence on American architecture, with a short discussion on a site in Germany. Research was conducted through the use of our course’s textbook, our consortium library, and educational websites. After my research was concluded, I became particularly fascinated with the golden ratio, which is debated to have been used during the construction of the Parthenon. I would like to research this in future work.

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

A Greek city-state was known as a polis. Some factors that determined a polis was the acropolis and agora.

The expanse of time that the term “Ancient Greece” defines is all the way from around 7,250 BCE when the first evidence of burial sites were discovered in Argolid, Greece, during the Mesolithic Period, to around the year 30 BCE when Cleopatra died in Alexandra, Egypt (1). That is the better part of 7,200 years. Trying to fit all of that information into five to seven pages would be nearly impossible. That is why I will be focusing on the Classical Era of Greece which spans from about 500 BCE to around 320 BCE. During this time in Greece there were many conflicts and wars, but there was also much growth in the cultural aspects of their society.

The Athenian Greeks at the height of their power built a temple called the Parthenon which was a monument to their core values of perfectionism, humanism, and rationalism. It is important to understand that the human eye has imperfections which deceive the mind, so one can understand the unique steps that were taken to achieve the illusion of perfection to the human eye. The Greeks loved perfection, and as seen in the Parthenon, the Greek architects purposely made the Parthenon imperfect to account for the imperfections in the human eye. This was done so that when one views the Parthenon with the naked eye, it appears to be perfectly symmetrical, straight, and proportional. The entire Parthenon does not have a single right angle. An example of the Greeks compensating for the imperfections of the human eye is seen in the base of the Parthenon, which from a picture or in real life looks perfectly straight, but in reality it is actually curved slightly upward. It is curved because the Greeks knew that if you have a perfectly flat base for a building, it appears curved to the human eye. To account for that, the Greeks made it so that the base was already curved. The Greeks also curved the columns of the Parthenon inward, because if the columns were straight, it would appear to be curving outward. Again, the Greeks knew about how the human eye deceives the mind, and decided that they must trick the eye to please the mind. This was all done because the Greeks strived for

The ancient Greek civilization contributed many great new ideas and aspects to everyday life that shaped and inspired the modern day society. The Greeks are well known for their construction of temples, acropolis’ and other grand architectural structures. Among these structures stood one of the most famous, the Parthenon. The Parthenon was a symbol of Greek society and culture as it stood as one of Greece’s most important architectural buildings.

The Greek city-states were way ahead of their time compared to the rest of the world. Greece was already creating democratic style government before it was “cool.” The reason for this was that the area of Greece was very hilly and rocky. Joining cities and being united as a single nation was not an easy task. So, each city basically ran itself.

There are many are many time periods and phases in the world like the roman empire,american revolution era, pre columbian african and many more. This essay is about one in particular time period which is Ancient Greece. A few things we will talk about in ancient greece what they wore,how marriage was set up and their religion. This essay is also about the housing in ancient greece.

With the rise of Alexander “The Great” begins the Hellenistic Age which is used to describe a time which Greek culture spread to places like Egypt and Asia. Due to this Greek culture had changed from what it was during Classical Greece as they were able to achieve much more with this new diverse culture. The Classical Age of Greece is known for its work in philosophy and the arts. The work of Greek philosophers of this time such Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle cannot go unnoticed in these contexts as their accomplishments still have lasting effects on our world today. Along with the great work of these philosophers, came other great works in architecture and drama. Beginning in 448 B.C. Pericles began the construction of the Acropolis,

In a relatively resource-poor region, a society rose from the access of foreign sources of raw materials and markets abroad. This society came to be known as one of the largest nations in Eurasia. The rise and fall of this great nation has to do with war-fare and the conflict between city-states. Their division led to the widespread of language and culture. This is the great story of Ancient Greece and how individualism changed the view Greece had on certain issues. (Bulliet 99) From 1000 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E, Ancient Greece’s view on individualism changed the political system Greece had, over time changed the way individuals thought and made important Intellectual changes, and gradually changed the Economic system such as bartering.

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.

The city-state system highly effected the growing political parties of each civilization’s development. Greek city-states were surrounded on a peninsula by mountains and islands. This separated them from one another, and created different political systems. Due to forming independently they clashed with other independent city-states examples being that of Athens and Sparta. Sparta was a very strict city-state that had an aristocratic rule and high focus on military. Yet, Athens being a widely accepting community showed a connection between Rome, they were more of a democracy than any other political system. Rome had more room to grow continentally, unlike the smaller city states of Grease, this civilization formed as one big city-state that soon evolved into the Roman Republic and conquered others and even offered citizenship to the conquered minorities afterwards.

The Parthenon, a temple of the Doric order, is one of the greatest artistic accomplishments of the fifth century. The Parthenon is viewed without mythological reference and stands far outside the normal Greek temple decoration, which is commonly known to derive its subject matter from the mythical past. (Connelly 53) The Parthenon is different from most other Grecian art of the fifth century and is truly beautiful. One of the greatest reasons the Parthenon is set apart as a great feat in Grecian art is due to its different stylization and the fact that the entire temple is built from the finest white marble throughout the entire piece, including the roof. (Stockstad) The Parthenon is a gorgeous testament to the "Athenian citizenry participating in their annual

The Classical Age of Greece was filled with cultural,political, and architectural achievements, in addition to warfare. The geography of the mainland of Greece was mountainous and it contained many islands. Greece is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea causing the people to be able to trade with others. Trade played a major role in the Greece and the had a market place called “Agora” were many things took place. At the Agora merchants could sell their goods, craftsmen could make and sell their products, could citizens hear announcements, and discuss politics. During the classical age of Greece there were city-states. City-states have their own governments, way of doing things, army, and navies. They shared the same language, beliefs in the same God, the way they worshipped their Gods, and they all considered themselves Greek. All the city-states in Greece shared the same religion, they were polytheistic meaning they believed in many Gods. Some of their Gods are Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, and many more. Even so, they were loyal to their own city-state.