Describe Impact Of Ancient Greece On Western Civilization (Essay Sample)

IMPACT OF ANCIENT GREECE ON WESTERN CIVILIZATION
Student name
Student number
Course title
Submission Date
Introduction
The ancient Greek has a direct role in shaping the contemporary world that is currently influenced by western civilization. Although established in ancient times during which no one would have imagined civilization would have existed, ancient Greece had their its own civilization that promoted activities, thoughts and philosophies that govern the contemporary world. Basically, the areas in which Ancient Greece influenced western civilization are democracy, sports, architecture, arts, history, language and culture, trial by jury and philosophy and mathematics.
Philosophy and mathematics
Philosophy is one of the areas that the ancient Greece succeeded and is renowned for to the present time. The most prominent figure of Greek philosophies was Socrates despite the fact that he never wrote a single text. The Oracle of Apollo esteemed Socrates as the wisest man in Athens. He challenged numerous society misconceptions and developed advanced logical methods that are currently used in universities and when developing philosophies.[Raymond Bonnabeau. Transfer of Greek knowledge to Western civilization. The Arab connection. Minnesota Medicine. 68, 5(2005): 381-2.]
The philosophy of the state as developed by Plato has been instrumental in the formation and management of the modern states where there is the government which exerts authority on the subjects from whom it derives power of the philosophies in Western Europe.[Jim Lacey, The first clash: the miraculous Greek victory at Marathon and its impact on Western civilization (New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, 2013), 56.]
Socrates was one of the Greek philosophers who had immense influence on the western philosophy and more importantly through his assertion that “an unexamined life is not worth living”, which has for a long period encouraged people to better themselves while questioning their character. Further to this, Socrates came up with methods of arguments basing on the rules of logic and applied his methods in physics, psychology and biology, which is currently upheld in numerous professional through evidence based practices.[Kathryn Morgan, Hope Lourie and Michael Moy, Discovering ancient Greece. (Boston: McGraw Hills (2015), 62.]
Mathematics was invented by renowned philosopher who used their theories and philosophies to solve numerous and complicated problems, most of which are applied today. Archimedes discovered and invented the pi which he used to calculate different arithmetic involving circular figures. The pi is used today in calculating areas and circumference of the circles. Pathogras is renowned for inventing the pathagorean theorem that is used today in geometry and arithmetic.[Raymond Bonnabeau. Transfer of Greek knowledge to Western civilization. The Arab connection. Minnesota Medicine. 68, 5(2005): 381-2.]
Architecture
Greek architecture and art has been highly influential in the western civilization. Greek focus to human beauty has influenced the western sculpture and portraiture immensely, experiencing reinvigorated popularity in neo-classical and renaissance eras. The architecture that adhered to Greek style also saw immense rebirth in neo-classic era, which is vivid by the Capitol architecture in cities like Washington DC where numerous buildings have been built in this style. In constructing the buildings, the Greece invested the slanted room to enable rain water to flow and not remain on their roofs. This style of roofing became popular and is still used in most of the buildings in the western nations and the world in general.[Jim Lacey, The first clash: the miraculous Greek victory at Marathon and its impact on Western civilization (New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, (2013), 61.]
Religion was a dominant factor in the societies of ancient Greek and hence, people built temples that represented their religion devotion and ideas. The erechtheum and Parthemon are two of the numerous examples of the application of the architectural knowledge of the ancient Greece that is still adored even today. Other styles of the ancient Greek architecture include beautiful figures and flaunting ornate columns used in designing and building temples with increased emphasis placed on how the entire components of the structure relate to each other.[Mike, Paine, Ancient Greece (New York: Pocket Essentials, 2011), 24.]
Democracy
The ancient Greeks were the founders of the concept of democracy. Democracy is the most acceptable and widely used concept of selecting governments in the contemporary world. Many successful nations such as the UK and the US adhere to values and principles of democracy. For instance, Abraham Lincoln defined democracy as a” government of the people, by the people and for the people”. Demokratia which later became democracy is a Greek word that defines the power of the people, which was initiated in 7th century BC in Athens. Initially, the city Oligarchy exploited the citizens which resulted in social, economic and political problems, which called for a shift on the way the city was run. As a result, the Athenians supported the semi-democratic model that was been successfully adopted in Sparta. They turned to Solon, a law maker, who strived to assist the struggling majority while simultaneously catering for the interests of the wealthy individuals. In this case, he granted the Athens population the right to elect their representatives who in turn passed laws and influenced the affairs of courts. This offered a basis in which the current nations elect governments in offices where people are allowed to select their representatives to advance their interests. However, not all people were allowed to vote as others such as slaves and non-citizens did not participate in ancient Greece elections, which are mirrored in current democratic practices where there are standards that make people eligible to participate in elections.[Jim Lacey, The first clash: the miraculous Greek victory at Marathon and its impact on Western civilization (New York: Bantam Books Trade Paperbacks, 2013), 70.] [Kathryn Morgan, Hope Lourie and Michael Moy, Discovering ancient Greece. (Boston: McGraw Hills, 2015), 69.]
Sports
Sport is taken seriously in the contemporary world and plays an important role in identifying and uniting people. The ancient Greece is renowned for being the oldest and greatest initiator of sports events in the world especially the Olympics, which started more than 3000 years ago in the city of Olympia. In the ancient Greece, sports were associated with religion and hence, the Olympics sports that were undertaken after 4 years was in honor of Zeus, a supreme Greek deity. However, the practice continues for a period of 12 century till in 393 AD when Emperor Theodosius banned it among other pagan cult rituals. Yet again, in 1896, the initial modern Olympics started in Athens and the practice has continued till today.[Raymond Bonnabeau Transfer of Greek knowledge to Western civilization. The Arab connection, Minnesota Medicine. 68, 5 (2005): 381-2.]
The Greek arts on various sports people depicted the strength of human body as the Greek valued human performance and strength. The competition spirit was also depicted in the games which is also a major theme in the current Olympics events. During the ancient Greece era, the common sports were sprinting, discus, long jump, Javelin and wrestling, which is still part of the games that are undertaken in the modern Olympics. The games also use some rituals that were common in ancient Greece such as lighting of Olympic lamp.[Jim Lacey, The fir...