How Did Ancient Greek Culture Influence Our Society

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Ava Bartels 1 The incomparably influential Ancient Greek empire began around 1,600 B.C., starting with their Geometric period of art, and continued on for another 1,500 or so years. Like all things, Greece in all its glory had to eventually come to an end after an artistically comprehensive 300 year Hellenistic period that not only saw discoveries in art, but also philosophy, science, math and architecture. Unlike other civilizations mentioned in the book Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, Volume 1, Ancient Greece is the cornerstone of much of our society even today. Because of this truth, the book reserved a disproportionate amount of pages to saturate with necessary information about their beliefs and practices. The entirety of Ancient …show more content…

Though overtaken by Rome, the ideas, discoveries, and artistic choices they made have been continued on throughout time. Strangely enough, their legacy and techniques were actually bolstered due to the Romans copying their aesthetic approach in their own work. The “Greek style” was then spread throughout the world via Rome. And due to this, people everywhere now use and copy their practices. For example, they were the first people to invent the widely recognized best form of government, democracy. Though their direct democracy differs from the United State’s representative democracy, our nation wouldn’t have a democracy at all if it weren’t for this primitive Athenian …show more content…

Of course there are clear similarities due to their influence on the Western world, but we already covered that. What I’m really getting at is their idolization of the human experience and intelligence. Though their view of humans led to academic advancements and achievements, as the individual-centered hellenistic period continued on, more and more lawlessness and sin ran amok. They began to prioritize realism over idealism. Which in and of itself is fine. But combine that with a man made doctrine dedicated to self, and you get a whole can of worms. This significantly reminds me of our “self-exalting” society today. When you remove God, you have people worshiping and obeying themselves. They get to choose what’s right and wrong. And of course, this can happen to any society. But it’s no wonder why the Apostle Paul wrote such strongly worded letters to the