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How Did Greek Culture Influence Western Civilization

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The cultivation of the West opened the door for many things, tempting suitors searching for a new life to toss everything behind them in order to explore the new land. While it worked out better for some than others, the end product has grown into a rich, strong society. Most of those suitors were from Spain or England, but Western Civilization also takes a lot of inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome. Greek culture’s use as a blueprint for most aspects of Western Civilization becomes clear when analyzing and comparing its influence on the development of christianity, structure of government, and influence in literature.
Early on in its history, Greece had little to no established laws or leaders. Most disputes were handled by the parties involved usually ending in bloodshed much like the early English pilgrims (Sienkewicz 395). Furthermore, another comparison can be made by comparing the Greek city-states to the first colonies. In Greece, city-states were created to rule the surrounding area and ran by a war leader chosen by his soldiers. …show more content…

When an economic depression turned poor farmers into slaves forcing Athens onto the brink of collapsing, the current ruler, Solon, abolished debt slavery and enacted new debt laws. He was able to convince the upper class of their limitations which gave the lower class a chance to prosper (Siekewicz 759). I believe Athens’ success from shifting towards democracy encouraged Western Civilizations to move toward democracy. Another thing taken from Greek civilizations was inspiration on handling immigrant workers. Solon allowed foreigners to live in Athens under the protected title of “metic” , or resident alien, which eventually helped Athens to compete in the trade market (Siekewicz 757-758). Many societies today take advantage of immigrant workers and outsourcing to increase their

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