Classical Greece's Influence On Modern Western Society And Culture

Introduction

In the nations or city-states of the ancient Greek civilization, there were various forms of rulership, oligarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, monarchy, and democracy. As we have been studying the city-states of Sparta and Athens recently, we have learned that Sparta’s civilization was ruled by oligarchy and Athens’s civilization was ruled by democracy. Understanding that in the Spartan oligarchy, the government is ruled by a small branch of men who made all decisions regarding the nation and its affairs, this meant that the people did not have the ability to contribute to the decisions made on the affairs of the nation. The oligarchy form of governmental ruling was mostly focused on the best interest of the rulers, which was usually improving their own wealth and well-being. In contrast, the democracy of the Athens civilization allowed the citizens to be heard regarding the affairs of the nation. These people were

Because Classical Greek civilizations have been documented to be the first to create and utilize these forms of governmental structure and ruling, I definitely agree with the statement that they did influence modern Western society and culture. The Greek civilizations created laws that their citizens were expected to abide by. Some of the civilizations had these laws or rules written up similar to the constitutions of Western society.

Today, Western society has a constitution and the Rule of Law. The Western Society is a democratic institution and is similar to ancient Greek democratic society because it allows its people to vote on proposed laws through general legislation. Then, the legislators must also vote in order to approve or deny said proposed law. This creates a very balanced way of ruling in Western culture and allows the people to have a say in what they believe it truly beneficial for their country, state, and