Greek Civilization Essay

Secondly, the Ancient Greeks made huge political impact that affected the ancient and the modern world. The Greeks created the world’s first democracy. The ... ... middle of paper ... ...including the White House. In conclusion, Ancient Greek Civilization resulted in a rise of political ideas and a culture that influenced the ancient world and future civilizations. Ancient Greeks influenced the Ancient world and the modern world greatly politically, intellectually, and artistically.

Ancient Greece has gone through many changes throughout history. The most notorious age was the Hellenistic Age but had many different ages leading up to it. The Bronze Age (3300-1150 B.C) was a period where the world saw major advances in social, economical, and technology that made Greece the hub of activity in the Mediterranean area. The Archaic Age (700-480 B.C.E) was a period when the Greeks repopulated and became more organized politically. This age was followed by the Classical Age (480-323 B.C.E) a period when Athens and Sparta dominated the Hellenic world with their cultural and historical achievements.

Phoenicia was greatly altered with its intake in Greek culture and the merge of both cultures ended up with an exploding final result. Whether Alexander meant for the Greek culture to be spread or simply just wanted to control his new subjects , he helped shape the foundations of the Phoenician country of Lebanon. Knowing that and knowing Lebanon today, one can't help but ask, if this mixing of cultures had not occurred, would Lebanon today be the same, a better, much more advanced version of the Cedars Nation or would things have gone off to a terrible path ? !

As the Greek and Roman empires ascended immensely throughout the western world, new ideas changed the way the Mediterranean Society handled things, which were spread across the globe. “The rise of the series of city-states of classical Greece began in the ninth century B.C.E. and during the late sixth century B.C.E, Rome’s development as a republic began as Etruscan society declined”(Bentley et al, 2008 p.132, 145). The development of these empires encouraged cultural circulation, blending the culture of the two empires into the land it conquered. As Greece and Rome gained more territory within the Mediterranean society, they began to progress toward a more civilized order of humanity.

Alexander the Great was a renowned leader and military strategist of the ancient Macedonia Empire who conquered most of the ancient known world. His conquest has led about many changes across his empire, which fuses the cultures of East and West, of Asia and Greece. This fusion is known as Hellenization, a period when Greek culture spread in the non-Greek world after Alexander’s conquest. What resulted was a new attitude toward life and its expectations – a new world view, which saw the shift from the Greek ideal of the city-state to universal empires. One of Alexander’s greatest achievements was that during his lifetime he had created on of the largest empire of the Ancient world which stretched across from Europe to East Asia.

Large-scale colonisation of the Mediterranean caused the Greek World to expand in geographical size. The move affected the Greek economy increasing overall wealth. Greeks made new colonies throughout the Mediterranean and discovered a place called Massalia (c. 600BC). Massalia, as a new trading post gave Greeks access to Paris, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden, allowing trade development. A place called Emporion expanded the access into Spain (c. 600BC) for Greece.

The Age of Alexander The conquests of Alexander the Great spread Hellenism immediately over the Middle East and far into Asia. After his death in 323 B.C., the influence of Greek civilization continued to expand over the Mediterranean world and W Asia. The wars of the Diadochi marked, it is true, the breakup of Alexander's brief empire, but the establishment of Macedonian dynasties in Egypt, Syria, and Persia (the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae) helped to mold the world of that day into a wider unity of trade and learning. The Hellenistic period was an international, cosmopolitan age. Commercial contacts were widespread and peoples of many ethnic and religious backgrounds merged in populous urban centers.

From a political perspective, the Renaissance created a division and a competitive nature between the European countries, along with the formation and expansion of the mercantile system. The rediscovery of ancient Greek works, especially those of Plato, were a great encouragement to the Renaissance. The foundation was laid for the revival of Greek works in 1397 when the city of Florence invited Manuel Chrysoloras, a well-known scholar from Constantinople, to come and promote Greek learning. Through his years of teaching, he greatly spread Greek learning and knowledge. In 1439, this revival was continued by the Council of Ferrara-Florence, which met to negotiate the reuniting of the Eastern and Western churches.

Trade routes helped to bring men from different areas and cultures into Athens. This allowed Athens to become a sort of “melting pot” and allowed for great economic growth. From this sprouted things like the production of dramas, comedies, plays and artists. As stated by Steven Kreis “The Athenian d... ... middle of paper ... ...ws the transition from archaic to the classical period. The Roman’s continued with a more realistic style with such statues as Aristocrat with Ancestors and Marcus Aurelius.

Classical Greece and the World of Hellenistic Kingdoms Greek civilization went though many drastic changes between the Hellenic and Hellenistic periods. These eras not only provided massive amounts of culture and identity to the Greek people but also served as the footwork to great accomplishments ahead. At the hands of many great leaders the Greeks at first focused more on military, politics and architecture and they were able to fine tune their skills and create many classical Greek achievements. At the time politics seemed to become a major focus because of expansion and wartime. The author of our textbook Spielvogel mentions, “It was a period of brilliant achievement, much of it associated with the flowering of democracy…” (Spielvogel P 77) The creative culture and developing nations had produced such great groundwork that they would ultimately become one of the most accomplished civilizations ever.