Ptolemy
12-14-2005, 03:14 PM
SOME OF THE GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE GREEKS AS A UNIQUE CULTURE IN ANCIENT TIMES:
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1. As a rule, they were more critical and skeptical and free-thinking than any of the other cultures of the ancient world up to this time. They are often characterized by their curiosity and independent spirit, and by the value and worth they gave to the individual human being.
2. hey created great literature and drama partly because they were the first culture to have widespread writing skills to record their talent and uniqueness. Of all of their literature, the greatest works created by the Greeks were The Iliad and The Odyssey, said to have been written by the blind poet Homer. These books tell about one of the key early events in Greek history -- the war between the Greeks and the city-state of Troy (located on the coast of what is now Turkey). The heroes of these two poems or books inspired the Greeks throughout their history.
3. The Greeks did not live in large empires like the rest of the ancient world, but in small city-states originally governed by kings. However, over time many different types of government were practiced in the Greek city-states, including self-government or DEMOCRACY which was invented by the Athenians.
4.The Greeks while still generally a polytheistic people did begin a more rational, scientific, or naturally philosophic explanation for the universe. Greek astronomers went beyond the knowledge of the heavens of earlier cultures to make often accurate predictions with only the naked eye. Greek thinkers began to seek basic elements in the physical universe which were common to all things.
5. Greek philosophers studied the nature of man and his universe more deeply and carefully than anyone before them, creating ideas and systems of thought that would hold the interest of Western society down through the ages. The ideas and wisdom of the Athenian philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, formed the basis of most Western learning.
6. Greek art, architecture, and sculpture have set the norms for most of the Western world since their time. The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, while now in ruins, stands as a tribute to their sense of aesthetic order.
7. Sports -- the Greeks gave us the model for the Olympic Games, held in ancient times as a competition among solely Greek athletes. The modern Olympics began in 1896 as an international competition to foster goodwill among the nations of the world.
8. Greek sailors, like the Phoenicians before them, sailed far and wide in the Mediterranean basin, and they spread Greek ideas and culture West to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. Late in Greek history when the Macedonian Greeks rose to power and prominence, Alexander the Great and his men spread Greek ideas, culture, language, and town-building on the Greek model deep into Asia. The Greek language became a common unifying theme or cultural force in the ancient world which would later facilitate the rise of Christianity. The gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek -- a language almost everyone knew something about -- thus making the spread of the Christianity rapid after the 1st century A.D
http://faculty.tcc.fl.edu/hss/thompsonj/greeks.html
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1. As a rule, they were more critical and skeptical and free-thinking than any of the other cultures of the ancient world up to this time. They are often characterized by their curiosity and independent spirit, and by the value and worth they gave to the individual human being.
2. hey created great literature and drama partly because they were the first culture to have widespread writing skills to record their talent and uniqueness. Of all of their literature, the greatest works created by the Greeks were The Iliad and The Odyssey, said to have been written by the blind poet Homer. These books tell about one of the key early events in Greek history -- the war between the Greeks and the city-state of Troy (located on the coast of what is now Turkey). The heroes of these two poems or books inspired the Greeks throughout their history.
3. The Greeks did not live in large empires like the rest of the ancient world, but in small city-states originally governed by kings. However, over time many different types of government were practiced in the Greek city-states, including self-government or DEMOCRACY which was invented by the Athenians.
4.The Greeks while still generally a polytheistic people did begin a more rational, scientific, or naturally philosophic explanation for the universe. Greek astronomers went beyond the knowledge of the heavens of earlier cultures to make often accurate predictions with only the naked eye. Greek thinkers began to seek basic elements in the physical universe which were common to all things.
5. Greek philosophers studied the nature of man and his universe more deeply and carefully than anyone before them, creating ideas and systems of thought that would hold the interest of Western society down through the ages. The ideas and wisdom of the Athenian philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, formed the basis of most Western learning.
6. Greek art, architecture, and sculpture have set the norms for most of the Western world since their time. The Parthenon on the Acropolis in Athens, while now in ruins, stands as a tribute to their sense of aesthetic order.
7. Sports -- the Greeks gave us the model for the Olympic Games, held in ancient times as a competition among solely Greek athletes. The modern Olympics began in 1896 as an international competition to foster goodwill among the nations of the world.
8. Greek sailors, like the Phoenicians before them, sailed far and wide in the Mediterranean basin, and they spread Greek ideas and culture West to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and beyond. Late in Greek history when the Macedonian Greeks rose to power and prominence, Alexander the Great and his men spread Greek ideas, culture, language, and town-building on the Greek model deep into Asia. The Greek language became a common unifying theme or cultural force in the ancient world which would later facilitate the rise of Christianity. The gospels of the New Testament were written in Greek -- a language almost everyone knew something about -- thus making the spread of the Christianity rapid after the 1st century A.D
http://faculty.tcc.fl.edu/hss/thompsonj/greeks.html