Preview

Ancient Greece's Influence On The Modern World

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
889 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ancient Greece's Influence On The Modern World
There are many ancient civilizations that are worthy enough to be considered exceptional, however, Ancient Greece, without a doubt, is one of the most impressive ancient civilizations. What makes Ancient Greece so impressive is it’s abundant number of achievements; such as founding democracy, developing the world’s first libraries, creating the Olympic Games, achieving beautiful architectural feats and spitting out mathematical and scientific discoveries like no other civilization before, just to name a few. These are achievements that have had a large influence on society throughout history as well as the modern world. With the number of achievements Greece has achieved, and its many legacies that have impacted and shaped our modern world, …show more content…
The games served as a competition between the Greek cities. The first Olympic Games were held in 776 BCE in Olympia, Athens and the tradition lasted for more than 1,000 years. In ancient times, the Olympic events included a race in armor, boxing and pentathlon. It wasn’t until 1,500 years later, in 1896 when the Olympic Games were revived. Not only were the games reborn, but over time, a lot of the things the Greeks did for the games have been incorporated back into the games. For instance, the lighting of the torch is in honour of the flame that Ancient Greeks used to light on an altar in the sanctuary of Olympia (where the Ancient Olympic Games took place) for Hestia, goddess of hearth. One other example is that with the Ancient Olympic games, Greek cities would all agree to a truce to stop all combat one month before and during the Olympic Games to allow for competitors and spectators to travel to Olympia and travel back home. Even to this day, countries agree to peaceful affairs for the Olympics. The Olympic Games may have been stopped thousands of years ago however they were reestablished and now continue to be part of the world's love competition and sports. It is just another example an Ancient Greece’s legacy that continues to impact the modern

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Greek Civilization Dbq

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ancient Greek civilizations originated in 2000 B.C. and lasted to about 300 B.C. their culture still impacts Western civilization. Also Greeks spread their ideas all over the world. They contributed significantly with the ideas of geometry, philosophy, government, sporting events, architecture, sculpture, drama, and more. All of this came about and reached new heights during Greece’s “Golden Age”. This age lasted for about 50 years. Today all of our lives are greatly affected and influenced from the lives of Greeks.…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In terms of architecture, both classical Greece and Rome are responsible for almost all advancements made in Western civilization. Ancient Greece’s architectural style can be separated into three defined orders: the Doric Order, the Ionic Order and the Corinthian Order, all which had a profound effect on Western architecture. They are best known for their supreme structures of temples, such as the Second Temple of Hera at Paestum, the Parthenon, and the Temple of Athena Nike. Even more importantly the architects of classical Rome made even more impactful innovations. The Romans were great reformers and they quickly adopted new construction techniques, used new materials, and uniquely combined existing techniques with creative design to produce…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In conclusion, the Greek contribution in the arts, sciences, and government have contributed to modern culture. Because our modern practices have stemmed from and are directly linked to these Greek principles, we can call ourselves Hellenistic people. They have influenced our society and have helped us become culturally advanced like they once were. This shows that the Ancient Greeks have truly revolutionized the modern world and today’s Western…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In ancient times, Greece was not a united country. It was a collection of separate lands, called city states where Greek-speaking people lived. There were hundreds of city-states in ancient Greece, some really small ones and some really big ones with large populations. The following are the five most powerful city-states in about 550 B.C.E; Athens (A-thens), Sparta (Spar-ta), Corinth (Cor-inth), Thebes(the-be-s) and Argos (Ar-gos).…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The civilizations of Ancient Greece and Rome have arguably been amongst the most and influential through history. There are as will be evaluated a great deal of similarities as well as differences when it comes down to the religious, political, social structures and worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome. These two civilizations had a key role in the way the European civilizations developed and also evolved over many centuries; and have had a significant influence over modern Western cultures. In their differing ways the religious, political, social structures and worldviews of Ancient Greece and Rome demonstrated the sophistication and the achievements of both these remarkable civilizations.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Perhaps the most famous piece of ancient Greek art work is Myron’s famous marble sculpture of The Discus Thrower (Diskobolus) (Doc. 8). Myron’s art represents an Olympic event called Discus (Doc. 8). The marble sculpture is notable because it reveals the ancient Greek value of athletics. The ancient Olympics was made up of a series of athletic matches that the people of the city-states within Greece would participate in. The city-states would put aside all differences to participate in these events to show their victory. The Olympics, that the ancient Greeks held, inspired other civilizations to hold an Olympics to test their athletes as well. A world Olympics is still held today every four years.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Greek civilization, in many ways, was the most advanced population of it's time. The Greeks have created a great stir in modern day values, events, and philosophy, and they were just getting warmed up. The question, "What did the Greeks contribute to modern society", was posed, and I will begin to answer. The Greeks created a vast religious system, filled with heroes, gods, villains, monsters, and more. This has fascinated us, and has even influenced some of our brands of clothing, Nike for example (Nike being the goddess of victory). Speaking of Nike, the Olympic games were held in celebration of her, and was often seen as the main event. She was held in the hand of the statue of Athena during the games, and the olive wreaths were actually…

    • 276 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Greek civilization was one of the first organized and well-structured societies in history. The Greeks viewed themselves as great and superior to all those that were not of their culture. They thought that most of the outside world consisted of barbarians and, although under the law of Xenia, they were kind and generous to outsiders, they thought of themselves as the more intelligent individuals. Thus, the title and status of being Greek was exceedingly important and those who defied the ways of the Greeks were not considered to be loyal and were often rejected in society. The Athenians, especially, encouraged the involvement of their citizens in…

    • 1416 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    greek unifiers

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The athletics of Ancient Greece were a huge part in unifier the different city-states by bringing them together to compete against each other. The Olympics were considered the most important unifier. It brought them all together every four years and stopped all wars at the time of the games. No women were allowed to watch the games and only Greek nationals could participate. (“Ancient”) Often during the athletic events different city-states would form alliances such as the sacred truce. During the truce, wars were suspended, armies were prohibited from entering Elis or threatening the Games, and legal disputes and the carrying out of death penalties were forbidden. (“Ancient”) Human perfection was a huge thing in Ancient Greece and the Olympics were a perfect way to display their perfect bodies. The Greeks were fixated with the human body, and to them the perfect body was an athletic body.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were many contributions to western civilization from the Ancient Greeks. Many roots of the civilization we have today can be traced back to the Ancient Greeks. They made long lasting contributions in the areas of art, architecture, philosophy, math, drama, and science. If the intelligent thinkers of the Ancient Greeks such as, Socrates, Aristotle,and Hippocrates never challenged the way Greeks lived many of the ideas we have today would have never been established.…

    • 590 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Greece Change over Time

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In a relatively resource-poor region, a society rose from the access of foreign sources of raw materials and markets abroad. This society came to be known as one of the largest nations in Eurasia. The rise and fall of this great nation has to do with war-fare and the conflict between city-states. Their division led to the widespread of language and culture. This is the great story of Ancient Greece and how individualism changed the view Greece had on certain issues. (Bulliet 99) From 1000 B.C.E to 30 B.C.E, Ancient Greece’s view on individualism changed the political system Greece had, over time changed the way individuals thought and made important Intellectual changes, and gradually changed the Economic system such as bartering.…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Article Review

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the article, “Organized Greek Games”, the author, William J. Baker’s goal was to educate on the difference between Olympic Games as they are today, compared to Olympic Games as they used to be in ancient Greece. In this article, William Baker also described to us, the relationship between the ancient Olympic Games, and Greek religion, what some of the Greek philosophers thought of the Olympic Games, and the role of athletics in general, in ancient Greek Society. William Baker’s article, “Organized Greek Games”, went along very well with his thesis statement; which was, “Virtually everyone knows that the modern Olympics are patterned on the Olympic Games of ancient Greece, yet few people have more than a hazy understanding of the original Olympics.” (pp.58)…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ancient Olympics Essay

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The ancient Olympic games were a festival of athletic origin, held every four years in Olympia, Greece. These games were not only of traditional athleticism, events such as combat and wrestling were introduced to the games as…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C.E, the Greek empire was divided. The control of Palestine was given to Greek leaders located in both Syria and Egypt. For about one hundred years, most of Israel was ruled by the Greeks in Egypt. Even though Greek Influence was noticed across Palestine (especially in Galilee), the Jews were generally allowed to coordinate their internal affairs without any interference from Greek authorities.…

    • 392 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Peace and unity were the original purpose of the Olympic games. In a time of widespread conflict, the Olympics signified a sacred truce. Athletes needed to be able to reach Olympia safely and so peace during this time was instigated. When the modern Olympic games came into being in 1896, a spirit of international cooperation and a wish for peace was revived with the sporting events.…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays