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Greek culture influences the current western culture
Greek cultures influence on western culture
Greek culture influences the current western culture
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Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe once said, “He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.” Though such quotes sound nice they mean nothing. Glittering generalities and other forms of propaganda have been around for centuries. If one believes that the general definition of democracy is defined as a government elected or run by the people, for the people, and in equal measure then it can certainly be said that Cleisthenes succeeded in his tasks. However, the man’s history in Greece and his short-lived legacy raise questions about the bigger picture of his effect on the people of Athens and democracy as a whole. This essay will argue that Cleisthenes, called the father of democracy, was the most desirable leader of his time in ancient Greece because he actively worked to create a safe and stable government before he was elected to power, he sought to establish a government that appealed to both the upper and lower classes, and he supported his people having a say in both major and minor issues occurring every day in their city.
Cleisthenes’ rise to power was anything but graceful. He was an Alcmaenoid by birth and this meant going into politics would be a normal path, but revolutionizing the entire political structure after a tumultuous start could not have been expected. After overthrowing the Hippa’s, Cleisthenes was surpassed in the race to lead Athens by Isagoras who was supported by the king, who also favored previous political methods. At this point in time the country was practicing ostracism. This is the practice in which:
“Every year the Assembly of Athenian citizens voted, by show of hands, on whether or not to hold an ostracism. If the Demos voted to hold one, the ostracism took plac...
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... Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 2 Dec. 2013.
Fornara, Charles W., and Loren J. Samons. Athens From Cleisthenes To Pericles. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 1991. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
Gill, N. S. "Solon." About.com Ancient / Classical History. About.com, 2013. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
Martin, Thomas R. Ancient Greece: From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times. 2nd ed. New Haven: Yale UP, 2013. Print.
Meiggs, Russell. "Cleisthenes Of Athens." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2013. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Rodgers, Nigel. The Complete Illustrated History of Ancient Greece. New York City: Sterling, 2013. Print.
"The Rise of Athenian Democracy and the Persian Wars." The Encyclopedia of World History. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. Credo Reference. Web. 3 December 2013.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D. in 4 Volumes. Volume 1.Attica and Cornith, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1918.
Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great
It is surprising indeed that Even today, tyrannies and dictatorships exist in the world when more than two and a half thousand years ago the ancient Athenians had developed a functional and direct form of democracy. What contributed to this remarkable achievement and how it changed the socio-political. scene in Athens is what will be considered in this paper. The paper will have three sections, each detailing the various stages. of political development from the kings of Attica to the time of Pericles when, in its golden age, Athens was at the height of its. imperial power.
Hunt, Lynn and Thomas R. Martin, Barbara H. Rosenwein and Bonnie G. Smith. “ The Greek golden age,” in the making of the west volume 1 to 1750 2012, edited by Denise B. Wydra, 75-108. Boston: Beford/St. Martin’s, 2012.
Burckhardt, Jacob, The Greeks and Greek Civilization, St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10010, 1998.
Athens government and military is considerably different from their neighbors. According to Pericles, Athens government is not a copy of our neighbors...
Rodney, Sydney. "Pericles." Ancient Greece. University Inc., 11 May 2003. Web. 7 Dec. 2013. .
Athenian democracy includes participation of all adult, free, male, citizen, made possible for all. If at the beginning and during the thriving period of the Athens democracy the occupations of a state position was considered to be an worthy duty for the citizens, the taking in of ...
Nardo, Don. The Ancient Greeks at Home and at Work. 1st ed. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 2004. Print.
...r. "Ancient Greece." Gardner's art through the ages the western perspective. 13th ed., Backpack ed. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. 101, 123,129. Print.
Kaltsas, Nikos E. Athens-Sparta. New York, NY: Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation (USA) in Collaboration with the National Archaeological Museum, Athens, 2006. Print.
"Unhandled Exception." Ancient Greece - History, Mythology, Art, War, Culture, Society, and Architecture. 2008. Web. 27 Feb. 2011. .
Retrieved from: http://anonemuss.hubpages.com/hub/Greek-Influences-today Damerow, H. (2006, May). Retrieved from: http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/romans.htm Kreis, S. (2000). Lecture 7 Classical Greece, 500-323 BC. Retrieved from: http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture7b.html Sakoulas, Thomas. (2002).
The death of Pericles was a significant event in the course of the Peloponnesian War; however, even without Pericles' leadership the Athenian Assembly had countless opportunities to prevent their loss and chose not to take them. The fickleness and inefficiency of democracy ('the mob') allowed the Athenians to be easily influenced and therefore electing populists such as Cleon, Lysicles and Hyperbolus into dominant leadership roles. Election, via democratic means, of such populists, meant that the Athenians would take a much more aggressive approach to the war and therefore abandon the policies that Pericles had previously established. So in turn, democracy the institution for which the Athenians fought tirelessly to protect, rather than the death of Pericles, ironically became the dominant factor influencing the final outcome of this Ancient Greek civil war.
Robinson, Charles Alexander. Athens in the age of Pericles. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959.