Ancient Greece Big Influence on the World
Trevor Chalew
9/13/12
Period:3
Ancient Greece had a big influence on the world and how it is today. Greece lies at the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, where the Mediterranean Sea is. In the region, mountain terrain made it so farming was limited because of the land. Because of that they turned to the Sea and became fishers, sailors, and traders to survive. The Greeks have influenced western civilizations in many areas such as government and sports. Government today is separated into three branches judicial, executive, and legislative. We got the idea of those three branches from a man named Montesquieu. Aristotle quotes “… an life guided by human is superior to any other…”(Doc 2). In this statement he means that every man is equal no matter what his social class is. This equality idea went on for a long time. People made books, speeches, plays, etc. about equality. A famous play named Antigone by Sophocles has a quote that states equality “For me. It was not Zeus who made that order. Nor do I think your orders were strong that you, a mortal man, could overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws… I know I must die… but if I left my brother dead and unburied, I’d have cause to grieve as now I grieve not.”(Doc 6). Democracy was also a major thing back in ancient Greece. Equality and democracy were popular in Greece. Pericles gives a speech to Athenians and it states “ Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that’s is why it is called a democracy… While every citizen has equal opportunity to serve the public… Nor do we discriminate the poor. A man may serve his country no matter how low his position on the social scale.”(Doc 3). Sports were also a major part of Greece and its history. Romans built coliseums to entertain the people. In these colossal buildings they held events that included slaughter and murder to arouse the crowd. These events included traps, slaves, gladiators, vicious animals, and many
9/13/12
Period:3
Ancient Greece had a big influence on the world and how it is today. Greece lies at the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula, where the Mediterranean Sea is. In the region, mountain terrain made it so farming was limited because of the land. Because of that they turned to the Sea and became fishers, sailors, and traders to survive. The Greeks have influenced western civilizations in many areas such as government and sports. Government today is separated into three branches judicial, executive, and legislative. We got the idea of those three branches from a man named Montesquieu. Aristotle quotes “… an life guided by human is superior to any other…”(Doc 2). In this statement he means that every man is equal no matter what his social class is. This equality idea went on for a long time. People made books, speeches, plays, etc. about equality. A famous play named Antigone by Sophocles has a quote that states equality “For me. It was not Zeus who made that order. Nor do I think your orders were strong that you, a mortal man, could overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws… I know I must die… but if I left my brother dead and unburied, I’d have cause to grieve as now I grieve not.”(Doc 6). Democracy was also a major thing back in ancient Greece. Equality and democracy were popular in Greece. Pericles gives a speech to Athenians and it states “ Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that’s is why it is called a democracy… While every citizen has equal opportunity to serve the public… Nor do we discriminate the poor. A man may serve his country no matter how low his position on the social scale.”(Doc 3). Sports were also a major part of Greece and its history. Romans built coliseums to entertain the people. In these colossal buildings they held events that included slaughter and murder to arouse the crowd. These events included traps, slaves, gladiators, vicious animals, and many