Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a peninsula located off the Mediterranean Sea, and is surrounded by several islands.

Ancient Greece was made up of different types of government. There were two types of city states an oligarchy , which is ruled by a small group of citizens and a direct democracy ruled by the people . All citizens could make speeches and vote at the Assembly. The Council made up of 500 citizens made new laws which were debated in the Assembly . Only citizens could vote ,women , foreigners, slaves did not have the right to vote

Religion and myths were very important in Greek citizens lives . They used

Gods and Goddess to explain things which happened in science and everyday life .

They built temples to honor their Gods and Goddess and held the Olympics in honor of the king of the gods Zeus . The Parthenon was a temple built to honor the Goddess Athena . The people believed the Gods and Goddess would favor you if you gave them offerings such as gold ,silver ,and the fruit of the harvest .A few of the Gods and Goddess were Zeus king of the gods ,Athena Goddess of wisdom, warfare, and the city , Apollo , god of the sun , light ,truth , music and , prophecy , Hades brother of Zeus and king of the under world and afterlife , and

Poseidon, ruler of the seas . All of the gods and goddess lived at Mount

Olympus the highest mountain in Greece .

The Greeks had many occupations , traders , merchants , architects , philosophers, dramatists , sculptors , doctors , poets , astronomers and , physicists however ; each citizen protected the city state . Every citizen had a duty to defend the state as a hoplite, which is a heavily equipped warrior .They operated in a large rectangular formation of thousands of men all equal in rank .

The Greeks influenced the way we live today .The educated Greeks wanted explanations for the world and things around them . they made observations and came up with theories . These people were known as philosophers which means “the love of wisdom ” Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle were famous philosophers .

Hippocrates is known as the father of medicines today doctors take the

Hippocratic Oath , ”named after him , which requires them to act ethically and morally . Anaxagras , an astronomer explained that a solar eclipse is caused by the moon passing between the earth and the sun blocking out the suns light .