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Greek influence western civilization
The feature and the limitations of the Athenian democracy
Democracy in ancient athens classical period
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Athens was a direct Democracy and were also a City-State. They
Athens established what is generally considered the first democracy in the fifth century BC. It took over three hundred years for it to evolve from a monarchy. The Athenians were far ahead of other countries in their structure of government. The revisions of laws, representative justice, and citizen-based law making impacted Athens’ movement from a monarchy to a democracy, influencing the United States’ government today. The Athenian Code of Laws was an important step in the protection of the rights of the individual.
The birthplace of democracy: A look into the life Aristotle once said, “The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.” Athens was established in 3000 BC, while Sparta was respectively established in 431 BC. Athens was also referred to as the “birthplace of democracy,” a government system still in use today! Athens was a superior city state over Sparta. This is because of Athenian cultural achievements, government and social climate.
Sparta was an oligarchy, Epeiros and Macedonia were monarchies, and many were ruled by tyrants. Athens had a direct democracy and has influenced many modern governments. Ancient Greece is also important because of its art, literature, philosophy,
The Athenians developed a democracy. This was a direct democracy, which means the Athens would vote directly on issues. Most city-states were tyrannies at this time. Cleisthenes was the first Athenian to come up with this concept of government. The political side of Athens is a big selling point.
Indeed, Athens is the first democracy in action, but the city-state exemplifies democracy’s faults rather than its merits. For example, the demagogues Thucydides presents in his History of the Peloponnesian War will hijacked and bend the system to their own selfish needs. Furthermore, humans naturally act towards selfish and barbaric interests and are unfit to rule themselves as demonstrated in natural lawless states such as the Plagued Athens or the Corcyrean Civil War. Lastly, as a state grows in power and becomes more imperialistic, the themes of empire and democracy become incompatible and the state must choose between maintaining an empire or an ideal democracy. Theses weaknesses dispel the flawless ideal that surround democracy and show
Today, many of the world’s government structures were based on the principle of one of Greece’s city-states. Greece became a country advancing well before its time, strong in both military and brain power. This country was able to produce two city-states that became foundations to advancing the rest of the world. The first city-state, Athens, is thought to be the first to implement a democratic government while Sparta became known for their military power. While Athens and Sparta provide the world with advancements they differ in the ways of government structures, social motivations, and cultural differences.
Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.
Ancient Greek culture is majorly influential in Western culture. Major works of literature, art, and political structure from ancient Greece remain relevant to modern Western society. However one can contrast these two societies by observing and valuing the art of ancient Greece. One can differentiate ancient Greek culture and modern Western culture by analyzing the treatment of religious figures, attitude towards emotion, and reaction towards nudity in each society. Ancient Greece was a polytheistic society.
Greece and Rome, two ancient societies, both influenced many aspects of modern life. Their advancements were utilized in many later cultures. They influenced almost every part of today’s world, such as government, language, and architecture, as well as making scientific advancements. Also, the successes of these two civilizations lead to many countries modeling most of their public facilities and systems after the ones found in Greece and Rome. Ancient culture strongly influenced modern culture by means of language.
There are many greek influences on our culture today. However, these impacts are not very widely known in our modern society. The Greek culture affects our everyday way of life. They created democracy, the alphabet, libraries, the Olympics, math, science, architecture, and even lighthouses. Greecians created systems that would not be imagined in a person’s wildest dreams.
When looking back on ancient societies, arts and politics are often scrutinized by historians, used as key sources to illuminate how the population functioned, and in many cases, thrived. Ancient Greece was a society that thrived in unimaginable ways, with advances in architecture, entertainment, and politics that have influenced much of today 's societies around the world. While some may argue that politics and the arts, both developed separately in Ancient Greece, the arts actually impacted the development of politics and the society as a whole, and the influence of politics on the arts was likewise. Arts such as visual art, literature, music, and dance each were influenced by, and had their own influence on, the development of government and politics in Ancient Greece.
Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.
There are many different countries in our world and each of them has its own and unique culture. However, there is hardly a state in the world, which has as rich history as Greece has. The thing is, that Ancient Greece is known to be the place where modern European civilization with its values was born. Philosophers of this state created the majority of notions in this science while poets and playwrights of Ancient Greece managed to create the basis for classical literature. There is no use denying the fact that all these achievements became possible due to unite history of this very state.
the idea of representative government began to take root in some city states, specifically Athens. Athenian reformers moved toward democracy, rule by the people. In Athens citizens participated directly in political decision making. However there were limitations on citizenship to ensure that only the most rational people were able to vote. Through the construction of democracy in Athens, equality of all citizens became greater, and the city would become the top democracy of all the democracies.
