Greece’s golden ages may have short, but during those years, the Greeks have made many contributions to the modern world. Classical Greece was about naval power and art. The Aegean and Mediterranean seas helped city-states like Athens attain an excellent naval force that was more powerful than most at the time. The Greeks also excelled in many forms of art. Their invention of the columns, and the Parthenon (possibly the most famous thing in Greece), showed how skilled the Greeks were in architecture. They also created drama, plays, and even wrote some of the first literature, and poems, created the government system that was later known as democracy, the structure that rules our government today.
Greece is a small peninsula located on the
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In 480 BCE, the Persians invaded Greece, and captured Athens, forcing the Athenians to desert the city. After the sack of Athens, the Athenians’ only belongings were their many ships, all anchored in Salamis Bay. An alliance was formed between Athens and many other city-states including Sparta. On September 29, 480 BCE, the Athenians led a naval attack on the massive Persian fleet in the battle of Salamis, and scored an amazing victory (plaza.ufl.edu, 2017). After this, Athens rose to dominance in the Greek Alliance. This angered the Spartans, and out of jealousy, they pulled out of the alliance. This is probably why Athens and Sparta were such bitter enemies, and why Sparta would try to take over Athens only about fifty years …show more content…
The Parthenon is a temple that technically wasn’t even supposed to be built. At the approximate coordinates where the Parthenon was later built, the Greeks were building another building. But in 480 BCE, that building was burnt down by the Persians when they invaded Greece. So, thirty-three years later, in 447 BCE, construction on the Parthenon had begun (ancientgreece.org, 2017). The temple was dedicated to the goddess Athena, which is also who the city of Athens is named after. (The main purpose of the huge temple was to shelter the gold and ivory statue of Athena. The Parthenon took over 10,000 stones and fifteen years to built. It also cost the Athenian treasury 469 silver talents. 1 silver talent is equal to approximately $20,822.96 in US dollars, meaning the Parthenon cost an astounding $9,765,966.08 US dollars to construct (museumcompany, 1997). Today, the Parthenon still stands, and is a very big tourist attraction. However, it’s not the largest Greek temple by any means, as some may believe. That would be the Temple of the Olympian Zeus. It was built after Greece was taken over by the Roman Empire in 129
The ancient Greek civilization has left a rich cultural footprint on modern Western civilization. Especially during the ancient Classical and Hellenistic eras of Greece, ancient Greeks have left behind a plethora of ideas and concepts that have played a crucial role in forming the foundations to Western civilization. Although the Classical era was a time of war and conflict, it was the Golden Age of Greece that was the home to many achievements in art, philosophy, architecture, politics, and literature such as the birth of democracy. The Hellenistic era was a period of social and economic prosperity that was defined by the spread of Greek culture across the entire eastern Mediterranean and Southwest Asia. During this era, countless of advancements
Throughout the centuries, civilizations have prospered and fallen with only their effects left on the world as their evidence of their existence. Ancient Greece is widely accepted as the most influential civilization ever, with the Golden Age of ancient Athens being its pinnacle. The Golden Age of Athens began when Athens became the most powerful Greek city-state, centralizing their power following their victory of the Greco-Persian wars.
The Ancient Greece era played a big role on how we still live today. It contributed its religion, technology, important events, and even its theater to us. Gods and goddesses also played a big role in ancient Greece, which is evidence in the play The Curmudgeon by Meander.
During the Persian War, Sparta and Athens worked together to defeat the Persians. The discipline and strength of Spartan Army helped saved Greece from invasion. Afterwards Sparta and Athens alliances were formed. Athenians had superior naval force and enforced the democratic rule in states allied to Athens. Neighboring allied states depended on the trade provided by Athens navy. In the same time Athens had established themselves as the head of the empire. (Lecture 7 notes). Sparta had superior land army and they destroyed Athens crops in order to have a hold on Athens and force them to surrender. The war lasted 10 years with neither side winning the war. At the end they agreed to a truce. A few years later, Athens tried to conquer Sicily, but the Sicilians defeated Athens. Athens lost much of its army and navy. The Spartans took advantage of this weakness and attacked Athens and cut of their trade routes and food supplies. Spartans won and Sparta became the most powerful city in
Athens and Sparta came into conflict through Athens’ position as an imperial power. The textbook says, “The emergence of Athens as an imperial power after the Persian invasion aroused the suspicions of other Greek states and led to open hostilities between former allies” (page 127, paragraph 22). Although Athens and Sparta had joined together to defeat Persia, Athens’ hunger for power caused a rift to form between the two city-states. Athens was corrupt and kept much of the wealth to themselves, and it seems Sparta was not pleased with that thus was the start of the Peloponnesian wars. A possible factor to explain the outcome is evidenced in lines, “Pericles knew that, as long as Athens controlled the sea lanes and was able to provision itself, the enemy hoplites must soon return to their farms and the city could not be starved into submission” (page 128, paragraph 22). Athens was much too cocky and confident in their navy, not believing anyone could come close to touching their power. This was obviously not the case, as the textbook says, “The Persian Empire had bankrolled the construction of ships by the Spartan alliance, so Sparta finally was able to take the conflict into Athens’ own element, the sea” (page 128, paragraph 23). Athens never accounted for Sparta to take get assistance from an outside source-let alone a former enemy- or even for Sparta to attack from the sea. Athens had faith in Sparta staying on land and because Athens was so arrogant, Sparta
Road to self-destruction Many circumstances led to the end of the Athenian golden age. Ironically, the formation of the Delian league marked the beginning stages of the end of the Athenian golden age. The same league that would prove instrumental in pulling up Athens from state to empire, eventually played a role in its destruction. Athens' harsh treatment towards other weaker states served as an instigator for hatred and resentment.
When examining the causes for the Peloponnesian War, which was between 431-404 B.C., there are a number of causes that factored into the cause of this war. However, one of the most important causes to this war was largely due to the fact that the Spartans feared the growing power and success of Athens. The Spartans were “particularly alarmed at the growing power of Athens” (Cartwright, “Peloponnesian War”). During the Persian war in 479 BC, Athens grew fiercely strong with power with help of its many allies and continued with their no mercy attacks on Persian territories. When the Persians left Greece, Athens further enraged Sparta when they built large and tall walls around its empire in the event of an attack, which was mostly thought to be from Sparta if it happened.
The Greeks made huge contributions to the Western Civilization and there are many well known and celebrated Greeks that lead these contributions. There were Greeks such as Archimedes who contributed greatly in mathematics or Greeks like Socrates, who devoted his life to gaining self-knowledge and was one of the great philosophers at that time. Architecture was also greatly influenced by the great minds Ancient Greece and their great buildings such as the Parthenon. Out of all their contributions, one of their least known but most important would be their government because of how much the United States of America’s democracy resembles that of Greek’s.
In 400 B.C, The Athenian civilization experienced a golden age. The Athens experienced a great amount of peace and prosperity due to their contact and trade with others, and rare warring. During this time, ideas and philosophies were produced. These ideas influenced western civilizations in the areas of politics, science, art and architecture.
The Ancient Greek contribution ranged by the 1900-133 BC, however its influence on the Western Literate Society lasts to this day. As the Greeks expanded their empire, they spread their ideas to other countries, while also borrowing from other cultures. During this period of time, the Greeks made many significant and long-lasting contribution to our modern culture in Philosophy, Art, Democracy, Drama, Math, and Science. These givings of important ideas, inventions, and structures have had an extraordinary influence on the surrounding environment, society, and in the future. The essential contribution of Greeks to the Western Civilization are Democracy, Art, and Philosophy.
The Parthenon is an amazing Greek temple that was built 2,500 years ago. Even the architects of today have numerous questions about how it was constructed and how it has held up through its eventful past. The Parthenon's detailed appearance is not its only meaningful quality. The Parthenon was constructed as a temple to the goddess, Athena, and as an icon of the Greek people themselves. The Parthenon represents the Greek ideals of humanism, idealism, and rationalism.
The Parthenon was the focus point, it was supposed to drawn in the most people. To this day the Parthenon draws in a large amount of people from all over the world. The Parthenon was built between 447-432 BCE. It costs the city 469 talents. The Parthenon is mostly Doric columns with a few ionic to draw attention to certain areas. The back room of the Parthenon was said to house Athena’s treasure while the front room holds the statue of Athena. The Parthenon was built so anyone that walks through the arch way will be able to see all angles and inside the Parthenon to see the statues and the details of the
“The Greeks molded the mind of Western Civilization, if not the body and the culture” (PowerPoint #6). The Greeks had a very powerful impact on the entire world, making them a huge influence to Western culture. The Greeks showed their power over the world by their great intellect. Through their accomplishments in art, architecture, government, philosophy, education, and science they helped shape Western Civilization. They built strong and intricate buildings, allowing others to see throughout history the plan of the architecture used. The Greek government was one of the first to have a Democracy. Their ac...
The Prosperous Greek Golden Age Throughout the history of the Greek civilization, the Greek people have endured many hardships, as well as peace and triumphs. However, one Greek time period stands out the most for being both peaceful and aggressive, the Golden Age. During the Golden Age, Greece and its surrounding colonies flourished with wealth and power, was influenced by several key players, and participated in wars and battles, as well. The Greek Golden Age was one of the highest points of Greek society, and impacted it years later. In the year approximately 500 B.C., the Greek civilization came upon a time of peace.
The Greek culture has had a huge impact on the history of the world. There is something Greek in almost everything, especially in the world’s architecture. Greece no longer had one king, so they focused on building temples for their gods. Architecture began small and plain but evolved into impressive pieces of art. As time passed from the Archaic period to the Hellenistic period, the people of Greece developed a type of formula for their buildings and their pieces of art.