Greek Civilization Dbq Essay

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Ancient Greece has impacted many civilizations through philosophy, government, art and architecture. Their ideas and concepts are still widely used today and have benefited many people's lives. The Ancient Greek civilization made many contributions to the Western World. Ancient Greek philosophers have influenced areas of modern thought. Philosophy is the study of ideas, nature and the meaning of life. In Document 1 it discusses a quote from Socrates which states “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is showing that what is the point of living life if you can't question things or ideas. Socrates was a very famous philosopher and people still use his ideas of questioning things and thoughts today. Sadly Socrates questioned the government and was put to death by poison. The philosopher, Aristotle, is another example of someone whose ideas impacted the world today. A quote from document 2 states “...human reason is the most godlike part of human nature…” This is still relevant in the world today because it teaches people to think before they act. Also, Aristotle stressed the …show more content…

Pericles was a ruler during the Golden Age, and during the Golden Age the concepts of democracy, art, philosophy and literature thrived. Democracy was a government system where citizens had a voice and were active members in the government. For example document 3 is an excerpt from Pericles funeral oration and it states how every citizen no matter their social standing may serve in his country no matter what. In Athens, Pericles put into practice direct democracy however it was limited. Athens democracy led to the evolution of government today. For example in the United States we do not have a direct democracy like Athens, but a representative democracy. This means we elect representatives to make decisions for us. Without Athens democracy, the United States’ government may not be the democratic society it is