The developmental stages of the Greek Civilization from early Minoan to Golden Age Athenian Culture of the 5th century B.C. is that the Minoan culture began producing sculpture and pottery in approximately 2600 B.C., inaugurating what was known as the prepalatial period. Then about 2000 B.C., the Minoans began constructing the palaces that became their trademark. The palace-building protopalatial period, which lasted until about 1450 B.C., included flourishing economic, political, and social organization and active trade in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as the first appearance of writing in the Greek world. In the latter part of this period, Minoan traders ventured as far west as Spain. The large, ornate palaces had a distinctive design, …show more content…
Toward the end of the Homeric Age, the Greeks formed small rural colonies that gradually grew into urban communities, mainly through maritime trade. The autonomy of the Greek city-states unlike the monolithic Egyptian state fostered fierce competition and commercial rivalry. To protect themselves by the aggressive neighbors, the Greek city-states confronted by the rising power of Persia, united in self –defense. Then by the sixth century B.C.E., the Persian Empire has conquered most of the territories between the western frontier of India and Asia …show more content…
is four greatest Greek playwrightsÑ Aeschylus, Aristophanes, Euripides, and SophoclesÑwrote during the golden age. In society and government, lower-class Athenians were able to improve their social position by obtaining land in the subject states. Pericles gave more governing power to bodies that represented the citizenship as a whole, known as the demos. For the first time, men were paid to participate in government organizations and sit on juries. Many states outside the empire felt quite threatened by the growth of Athens, creating a volatile situation in the mid-fifth century
In early fifth century BC Greece, the Greeks consistently suffered from the threat of being conquered by the Persian Empire. Between the years 500-479 BC, the Greeks and the Persians fought two wars. Although the Persian power vastly surpassed the Greeks, the Greeks unexpectedly triumphed. In this Goliath versus David scenario, the Greeks as the underdog, defeated the Persians due to their heroic action, divine support, and Greek unity. The threat of the Persian Empire's expansion into Greece and the imminent possibility that they would lose their freedom and become subservient to the Persians, so horrified the Greeks that they united together and risked their lives in order to preserve the one thing they all shared in common, their "Greekness".
Thucydides sets down the development of the relationship between the power of Athens and Sparta in the Archeology. Athens emerges from the Persian Wars as the undisputed commercial superpower in Greece. Where Sparta is located in the fertile Peloponnesus, and is thus able to sustain itself on agriculture alone, making trade unnecessary and allowing it to maintain its own laws and customs for “more than four hundred years” (I.18.1), Athens’ infertile land forces it to turn to olive oil for revenue, and it consequently develops a flourishing trade economy even before the Darius set his sights on Greece. The Persian invasion itself makes a sea power out of Athens, allowing it to establish a Mediterranean empire, and export its culture and government to the rest of Greece (I.18.2, I.6.3). This serves to unify the scattered Ionian and Doric cities under the umbrella of the Hellenes culturally where the Spartan campaign to remove tyrants unifies it politically by giving Greeks relative freedom and subordinating it uniformly to the law, and the joint coalition against the Persians ultimately secured it militarily (I.
The Minoans are known as the first advanced civilization of all of Europe. This may be a strong reason why the Greece Age remained for such a long time. They created a great civilization on the Island of Crete. The second great civilization of the Greek Bronze Age was the Cycladic society. They created their society on the islands of the Aegean. They were considered a large contributor to the overall success of Bronze Age Greece. However, they were never as significantly important as the Minoan society...
It is always important to look to the past in order to move towards the future. This was done in the formation of Western Society, and more specifically the formation of American society. The Greek culture served as a frame of reference for many aspects of Western life including government, architecture, math and the arts. Ancient Greek culture served as a very broad base for our society to be built upon.
Nobles judged major cases in court and dominated the assembly. Athenian wealth and power grew under the aristocracy. Yet discontent spread over the commoners. Merchants and soldiers resented the power of the nobles and argued that their services to Athens entitled them to more rights. As discontent spread the government slowly moved towards a democracy.
Without our past we are nothing. The Greek and Roman civilization were marvelous civilizations of the AD times. If you look around today you can see advancements we made off of concepts we borrowed from the Ancient Greeks and Romans. Today, we owe much of our understanding to them; they were very knowledgeable of many things. The Greeks and Romans although they were very old civilizations have managed to impact our daily lives in the some of the most fantastic ways possible.
In the years following the Persian Wars in 479 B.C., Athens had come out on top being the most dominantly powerful of any Greek city with a navy that had superior strength that increased day by day. The Athenians “ruled with heavy-handed, even brutal force as well as with reason” (Kagan 2). This was due largely to the fact that Athens had a stable and effective government, which only increased their advantage in proving themselv...
The Persian Wars (499-479 BC) put the Greeks in the difficult position of having to defend their country against a vast empire with an army that greatly outnumbered
The march towards developing a democratic society is often obstructed with societal unrest due to the influence of the status quo on the instruments of power. Before the rule of Solon, Athens underwent this same rule, as there was much discontent among the social classes in Athens. The society suffered financial disparity that often was the trigger for the war among the rich and poor in the society. This was a major factor that forced Solon into power to institute policies that would see a reformed Athens. By so doing, the society was looking for an avenue that would guarantee democracy and a society that is fair for everyone. The city-state of Athens was the epicenter of the revolution for the Athenian democracy during the fifth century BC. In the Athenian democracy, the electorate voted for the legislation of bills instead of a direct democracy where the electorates are tasked with electing representatives who later developed the bill. Among the first people who made significant contributions to the development of the Athenian democracy were Solon (594 BC), Cleisthenes (508/7 BC), Pericles (495 – 429 BC) and Ephialtes (462 BC). Pericles was the longest serving democratic leader who contributed much development in democracy in the city. This paper will give an account of the age of the Pericles.
Roman vs. Greek Civilization Although both Roman and Greek civilizations shared similarities in the areas of art and literature, their differences were many and prominent. Their contrasting aspects rest mainly upon political systems and engineering progress, but there are also several small discrepancies that distinguish between these two societies. This essay will examine these differences and explain why, ultimately, Rome was the more advanced civilization of the two. Greece, originally ruled by an oligarchy ("rule of the few"), operated under the premise that those selected to rule were selected based not upon birth but instead upon wealth.
In both societies, each city-state had their own political systems, economy, social and cultural digressions from city-state to city-state. Similar problems arose within both societies regarding city-states. In Mesopotamian society, the city-states lasted from 3000-2340B.C.E., during the Early Dynastic Age. As the number of Sumerian city-states grew and the states expanded, new conflicts arose as city-state fought city-state for control of land and water (Spielvogel 9). In the new world of the Greek city-states, war became an integral part of the Greek way of life (Spielvogel 61).
To conclude, it can be said that Sophocles and Euripides both were great playwrights and important characters of Ancient Greek Civilization. In addition, they contributed western literature by innovating drama and theatre.
“The first advanced culture in Greece, and indeed in all of Europe, was created by a people referred to today as the Minoans. Their civilization flourished from about 2200 to 1450 B.C. on Crete, the large island located about one hundred miles southeast of the Gree...
Sophists and their teachings became widespread in the latter fifth century B.C. in Athens, Greece, which was a major cultural hub in the ancient world. At this point, Greece had dominated the trade industry around the Mediterranean Sea, so Greece had great power among the critical urban cities. After the Athenians defeated the Persians, they began to esteem themselves as an elevated people. The population began to focus on broadening their intelligence and understanding of the world. The theatre reached a pinnacle as playwrights such as Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides began to write classics for example Agamemnon, Oedipus Rex, and Antigone. Satire plays which criticized the government became much more common. Great philosophers like ...
Beginning in 492 B.C., a series of wars erupted, appropriately entitled the Persian Wars, which lasted around thirteen years. Because of the constant battles between the Persians, led by Xerxes, and Greece, both civilization started growing weaker and weaker. When the wars ended, the Greeks were successful at defeating the Persians. However, being in a weakened state caused the Greek city- states (mainly Athens against Sparta) to fight amongst themselves in order to have more influence over the rest of the city-states. This type of war was termed the Peloponnesian War and continued from 431B.C. to 404 B.C. (History of Greece:The Golden Age of Greece) and