The Ancient Greece culture has made many contributions to western civilization. The ancient Greeks affected the western civilizations math, government, sports, and medicine. They affected the western civilization in a big way. We even use some of these contributions today. A way that the ancient Greeks contributed to our government is that Greece had the first known democracy. As seen in document 3 Pericles had a lot to do with democracy. Pericles had three main goals, to Strengthen Democracy, Hold strength in the empire, and to glorify Athens.
Pericles said that he wanted all people to have an equal opportunity to serve the public. This period in time was known as the city’s “Golden age”. To strengthen democracy, Pericles increased the number of paid public officials. He also improved laws to be more equal to everyone. Due to democracy citizens were given freedom of speech and a voice in making laws. He let common people not just the rich participate in the government. Arts and sciences flourished, and manufacturing and trade continued to grow.
Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato are some of the most well known philosophers ever. Socrates was famous for questioning about life. He once said an “unexamined life is not worth living” as seen in document 1. This quote brings about many questions and possibilities about what life is and how it is cherished. Plato is the student of Socrates. He emphasized the importance of reason. The republic was written by Plato that describes the ideal state. As seen in document 2 Aristotle is known for believing that if people study life they will understand it more.
Philosophers today still study, and get ideas from many of Ancient philosopher’s quotes. Greeks affected sports in western civilization. As seen in document 8 Myron’s famous marble sculpture of the discus thrower represents an Olympic event. Greece was the first civilization to have sports and make it a tradition. Greece hosted the first Olympics. They had played boxing, Chariot racing, riding horses, running, jumping, and wrestling. Today in the western civilization athletes compete in many of the same sports as the first Olympics had. The Olympics were around for very long.
As seen in document 4 Medics in the western civilization have been impacted by many of ancient Greece’s contributions. Hippocrates, who created the Hippocratic Oath, was a mathematician, and doctor he is sometimes was called “the father of medicine. He said in the oath that he would treat his patients to the best of his ability and he would never give deadly medicine to a patient if asked. Today the Hippocratic Oath is used less and less. Western civilization was mostly made up by using Greece’s government, sports, and philosophers. Greece has contributed so much to western civilization.