RAZ'S CLASS



The following is a list of Greek inventions or discoveries that have had amazing impacts on our world.1. DemocracyThe Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens first started out with a monarchy and then advanced to a democracy. The democratic government consisted of 6,000 assembly members, all of whom were adult male citizens. The assembly voted on issues throughout Athens. In order for a law to pass, the number of votes needed to be a majority.Today, at least in Canada, we also use a democracy. But instead of a direct democracy, we have a representative democracy in which the citizens democratically vote on who should make the decisions in the country. This is different than Greece's direct democracy wherein the citizens voted on the decision rather than choosing people to make the decision.Of all of the contributions of ancient Greece to modern culture, arguably the greatest is democracy, which is itself a Greek word literally meaning "people power." The democratic tradition in city-states such as Athens embodied the ideals of legal equality, personal freedom and governance by the people. These principles have been influential around the globe, shaping political institutions and revolutionary movements.2. The AlphabetGreece was the first civilization to use an alphabet. It was developed after the Dark Ages and consisted of 24 letters. Believe it or not, the word "alphabet" originates from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. Today, many letters of our modern alphabet originate from the Greek alphabet, including letters such as A, B, E, and O.3. LibrariesThe first library in the world, the library of Alexandria, was actually built in Egypt.During this time, Egypt was colonized by the Greeks after it had submitted to Alexander’s rule. The Macedonians started spreading the Greek way of life to all of the conquered lands, including Egypt. After Alexander’s death, there was a power struggle. Eventually, the Kingdom of Egypt came under the rule of Alexander’s general, Ptolemy.Ptolemy ordered the construction of the library, which contained over 700,000 scrolls of work. There was also a rule that all ships passing through the Alexandrian harbour had to declare if they had any works of science or philosophy. If they did, the work was copied and placed in the library, and the captain would receive the original copy back. Because of this accumulation of knowledge, many great discoveries took place in the library. For example, Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the earth and drew up plans for steam power. Today we have many libraries all over the world with billions of works of literature, but the first library in the world was the library of Alexandria.4. The OlympicsThe Olympic Games started in ancient Greece. The participants were the city-states of Ancient Greece and its colonies. The Olympic Games were held every 4 years in honour of Zeus, the king god. The prizes for winning were fame and glory, along with having statues of the winners erected and sometimes even putting the winners' faces on coins. Today, we still celebrate the Olympic Games and still continue some of the old traditions, such as the olive leaf crowns and the opening and closing celebrations.Every four years in ancient Greece, rival city-states entered into a formal armistice, setting aside legal disputes and weapons of war to send their best athletes to the Olympic Games. Although the original tradition of the Olympics died out in the 5th century C.E., the ideal of a sports competition that would bring nations together inspired the revival of the Olympic Games in 1896.5. ScienceAlong with being the birthplace of many great mathematicians, Greece was also the mother country of many famous scientists. Some of the famous ones were:Eratosthenes, who calculated the circumference of the earth and was off by less than 1%.Aristarchus, who theorized that the earth revolved around the sun instead of the other way around.Archimedes, who was able to explain levers and pulleys. One of his famous quotes was, "Give me a lever long enough and I will move the Earth!"Hipparchus, who created a system to explain how all the planets and stars move.6. ArchitectureA style of Greek architecture that is still used today is the pillar. The most famous example of Greek architecture is the Parthenon, a grand building with pillars located in Athens. Today, pillars are also used in many public buildings such as churches and libraries. There are also pillars in many buildings in Washington D.C., including the White House!7. MythologyToday, many of us still read Greek myths. Some famous ones include the tales of Peruses, Theseus, and, of course, Heracles. The Greeks often used these myths to explain things that science couldn't prove, but today, we mostly read the Greek myths for entertainment. Many Greek myths have been altered a bit in modern novels and movies. A well-known adaptation is Disney’s?Hercules.The ancient Greeks may no longer be the established faith of the Aegean peninsula, but references to the legends of its gods and heroes continue to encompass our own culture. Its influence can also be detected in a more oblique way; for instance, a number of commentators have observed that modern comic book superheroes bear the stamp of Greek myth.8. Dramatic StructureIn his "Poetics," the 4th-century B.C.E. philosopher Aristotle observed that plays in the genre of tragedy tended to follow a recurring pattern: the story has a beginning, middle and end, with more complex plots involving some form of reversal, crisis and resolution. Aristotle's breakdown of ancient Greek tragedy has provided a ready-made template for contemporary screenwriters. ................
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