When people think of ancient cultures and civilizations they dont think about the kind of influences they might have had on our society. One of those cultures having the most influence being Ancient Greece. The Ancient world of Greece is far from ancient in the arts, philosophies, ideas, architectures, governments, religions, and everyday life of the people in the latter half of the twentieth century. Come, discover and explore the civilization that forms the foundation of human history. Come, step into the ancient past.
Those who have studied this ancient civilization under stand that what we are today is largely a result of the blueprints left by this culture. Greek civilization was rich in culture and a society which emphasized the significance of the individual. The aristocratic families, which had lost most of their power, do to the power of the monarchy of the Dark Ages, elected a statesman who would represent the city for one year. This practice carried on to create a democratic tradition within Greece, the remnant of which still serves within the present.
Painted vases are our major source of information about artistic development. From these we have gathered that Greek art was slow to develop, in contrast to their literature and philosophy. The early forms of painted vases were mostly bold and simply designed. Later they implemented human and animal figures among the meanders and zigzags. The influences of Greek art in western cultures can really be seen when comparing them to works of art from Islamic. Western civilization and Greek art show a more realistic form, where as Islamic art, deals almost exclusively in abstract design.
The fact that Greeks believed music and dance could strongly affect human behavior meant that it played an important part in all aspects of their everyday life. Giving them a wider range of ways to express their inner most beings. Another great way to express themselves was in their writing. In poetry and history Greek writers created masterpieces that have influenced and inspired readers to the present day. Like the developments in the physical arts, the development of the lyric poem was a sign of the times.
It developed around the time that many Greek writers wanted to start expressing their own feelings, emotions, and opinions. Just like the sculptors and painters sought to understand their own bodies, the ancient writers wanted to reveal to us the workings of their heart. Other forms of literature were the first written records of human history. The development of their alphabet gave us a way to look back into history and find out the mistakes of ancient cultures and find ways not to make them again.
The other love this culture had was the love of wisdom. While the artist where exploring their bodies and the writers their hearts, the philosophers started to explore their minds and the universe. The notion of where people came from and how the universe was created plagued their minds every minute of their life. The early Greek philosophers studied everything from mathematics to the nature of the universe. They gave us a set of predecessors on whom to base our ideas and methods on.
The stress on individualism let loose an overabundance of creative energy, which gave birth to a vibrant, creative and lasting civilization. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific achievements that formed a legacy with unparalleled influence on Western civilization. To suggest that all of Western culture is no more than an annotation to Ancient Greece is an embellishment. On the other hand the Greek civilization was so far ranging that there is hardly an idea discussed throughout history that Ancient Greek had not already debated.
