The Significance Of Athens: A City With Historical Importance (Essay Sample)

Athens: A City with Historical Importance Name Institution Athens: A City with Significant History The city of Athens is a place of great historical significance. Its history is intriguing. Ancient Athens comprised of a community of 200,000 people, yet it is renowned to be home to towering geniuses in different spheres of human civilization (Kirshner, 2016). Athens laid the foundation of the intellectual, political, and social heritage that the world enjoys today. As a city-state, the concept of democracy was established in Athens. It is also the city began and advanced philosophical discourse, and the origin of the arts such as tragedy, comedy, sculpture, and architecture. The historical significance of Athens lies in the city’s identity as the cradle of human civilization and the modern world is simply an elaboration of ideas that began in Athens. Athens laid the foundation of institutional democracy in many ways. A significant historical figure such as Solon established a tradition of legality. Solon established laws that were to be followed by Athenians. The laws were often invoked by the later orators of the fourth century and philosophers such as Aristotle. By the end of the fifth century, Athenians had recreated the image of Solon as the father of institutional democracy through his success in establishing the sovereignty of the city and made it a place of open political discourse during the Hellenistic period (Bubelis, 2016). The concept of state sovereignty, as it is known today, therefore, originated from the works of Solon, the statesman of Athens. Citizens who violated laws established by Solon were punished through a range of decrees from a trial jury. Philosophical thought and discourse began in Athens. It spread to all parts of the western world and it became the basis of decision-making in all spheres of life. It is common today to come across professionals and academics talking about ethical considerations for taking various courses of action. The view of various aspects of life from a philosophical standpoint has roots from Athens during the Hellenistic period when the city was no longer a military power. It became a place for education, military drills, exercise, and athletics. Elected officials supervised all these activities and it attracted foreigners who were interested in education at the institution of Athenian ephebeia (Zeyl, 2013). Lectures by philosophers became part of the training regimen and it became widespread when Athens established intimate contacts with the Romans. The culture of philosophy gave rise to the greatest philosophers of all time: Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates. Today, nearly all philosophical concepts are based on the thoughts of Athenian philosophy in the ancient period. Genres of art such as painting, play, poetry, and many others began in Athens. Like their fellow Greek citizens, Athenians strongly identified with beauty and they expressed a thirst for knowledge. Athenian art began by individuals studying geometry and form; they came up with principles of art in humanity and used the knowledge to identify similarities and differences between human beings and brutes (Batteux, 2015). The relationship gave rise to the arts and the aesthetics associated with it. Surprisingly, the great philosophers of Athens were artists by profession. Socrates was a sculptor while Plato was a professional painter. The study of art as a discipline of aesthetics has its ...