Essay On Athens Golden Age

987 Words2 Pages

Mallory Warner
Pericles (Athens) Golden Age
Rough Draft
3/4/14

A golden age is a time when a civilization reaches its highest period of advancement. The Greeks, more specifically the Athenians, reached their highest achievements starting in 477 B.C. This was the beginning of Athens' golden age. The Athenians used the money from the Delian league, a defensive alliance formed at the end of the Persian Wars, to rebuild their city-state. This is also a time when Athens created a direct democracy. In this golden age Athens also made significant advancements in science, math, and literature. Athens made many great contributions to many fields, but the two most significant advancements were in architecture and government, but the single handily the most important was government. These advancements continue to influence many societies today.
After the Greeks defeated the Persians in the Persian war the Greek city-states created, the Delian league, which was founded in 478 B.C, and Athens and nicknamed “Athens and their allies” ran it. The purpose was to be able to maintain the freedom of the city-states while keeping independent from the Persians. The Athenians soon took control of the Delian league. The original purpose of the league was to keep the Persians away but it morphed into an alliance among city-states. Many of the city-states were fearful to join think one city state would gain more power then the other, which ended up happening. There were 150 to 173 members of the league and they met on the island of Delos. Also, they used the League to prevent future wars from happening and to keep their enemies away. The league served as many purposes.
The Athenians also took advantage of the delian league by beautifying and seizing c...

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...as the most famous sculptor in Greece. He made the sculpture of Athena in the Parthenon. The basis of Athenian architecture was it being naturalistic forms as in nudes. Like in architecture they also liked to use balance, harmony and naturalistic forms. They used wind blown drapery. These advancement in sculpture created some the most well know sculptures.

The most important advancement was political, the political aspect influenced the arts greatly. In order for the arts to flourish they needed have money to fund it which they got from the Delian league. The Athenians took great advantage of the Delian league. Money from the Delian league was given strait to the art which they used to creat the Parthenon and many other buildings. This made Athens very rich in beauty. This money helped beautify Athens which then set standards for the rest of the world.

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