Greek Civilization Dbq

The Greek Civilization lasted from 1900 – 133 BC, but the affect it had on the Western world is still here today. As Greeks conquered other empires and build more and more territory for them, they spread and received their ideas from other cultures. During these times, the Greeks made many long lasting contributions in the areas of art, architecture, philosophy, math, drama, government, medicine, and science. This is why many of the foundations of Western civilization can be traced back to the ancient Greeks. The sharing of their ideas, inventions, and contributions had a massive influence on the future of many civilizations. In the Ancient Greek civilization, philosophy meant an organized system of thought. Ancient Greeks loved the concept
of philosophy and wisdom.
An important contributor to philosophy was Socrates (470 – 399 BC). “The unexamined life is not worth living.” This is a quote from Socrates. He believed that a person must ask questions and seek to understand the concept and ways of life (Doc. 1). He used a form of teaching that used a question and answer formation to force pupils to see things in their own eyes and understand it in their own mind with their own words that make sense to them. This was called the Socratic method, which is still used today. He was accused of corrupting the youth of Athens and a little while after was sentenced to death. During a big part of his life, Socrates examined his own ideas and tried to discover the truth behind many subjects, by reason and logic. His contributions were an extremely important part of the Western Civilization and his legacies were that we should think for ourselves and stand up for what we believe in. Another big contributor to Greek philosophy was Aristotle (384 – 322 BC). Many consider Aristotle to be a scientist rather than a philosopher because of his contributions to physics and biology. Aristotle was also a student of Plato but did not agree with a lot of his ideas. Aristotle
also tutored Alexander the Great for many years. Aristotle, with his philosophy was able to determine “Since human reason is the most godlike part of human nature, a life guided by human reason is superior to any other... For man, this is the life of reason, since the faculty of reason is the distinguishing characteristic of human beings.” Aristotle believed reason is what makes man more superior to other living things (Doc. 2). It can easily be seen Aristotle used reason as logic in his studies. He developed syllogism, which is the reasoning from general to specific. He made incredible contributions to the Western civilization. Democracy and government was also a big deal in the Greek society.
Another important contribution of Ancient Greek to the Western Culture is democracy. To the Greeks, democracy meant “peoples rule”. Pericles Funeral Oration, given to the Athenians in about 430 BC was the greatest contribution to our today’s society. Pericles said “Our plan of government favors the many instead of the few: that is why it is called a democracy…” Pericles was describing a democracy where everyone had an equal opportunity to advance and serve his or her country. However, everyone was expected to partake in civic affairs regardless their social class or position (Doc. 4). This contributed enormously on the society because the democratic society is a direct democracy. But at the same time, people are able to impeach powerful heads. The Funeral Operation gives citizens the idea of keeping their government a democracy rather than a
Monarchy. Greeks also made contributions in two areas of art and architecture. They built the Parthenon, which is a temple built in honor of the goddess of wisdom, Athena. The Parthenon has the columns and pediments that characterize Greek architecture. The balance and simplicity of the lines are evident in government buildings and around the world today, especially in Western Civilizations, for example the Lincoln Memorial (Doc. 7). Another contribution was Myron’s famous marble sculpture of The Discus Thrower (Diskobolus). Myron was showing “the perfect physical body”. The way men should be physically fit. He used much detail to show how strong and fit the men in Greece were. It shows the Greek interest in physical activities and skills, which were shown in the Olympic competitions (Doc. 8). Greeks believed in “the perfect physical body” and showed it in many of their sculptors or paintings, or art and architecture itself. The Ancient Greeks made long lasting contributions in the fields of art, architecture, philosophy, math, drama, government, medicine, and science. These contributions are still used today in the western civilization and all around the world. The distributions of their ideas and events made big impacts on the way some places are ran today.