How Did Classical Greece Influence Today's Society

The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.

The Romans say that Proserpina was kidnapped by Pluto and that Pluto is forcing Proserpina to be his wife. A few months ago Proserpina the daughter of Ceres, goddess of grain, was kidnapped by Pluto, god of the underworld. Ceres is too sad to even grow plants on earth. People wonder if Zeus will step in and stop this.

Ancient Rome left tremendous legacies such as technological advancements, religious beliefs and governmental structures that shaped the world today. The Romans conquered many territories and took on their cultures as well, in particular the Ancient Greek culture. Ancient Greek civilizations played a major role in the history and development of the Ancient Rome civilization. The Ancient Greeks influenced the social structure, religion and military strength of Ancient Rome.

The ancient Greeks gave way to civilization in the western world as we know it today. Greece however, had different forms of power and conflict throughout it’s ancient history. Greece was not a unified empire, but is was rather made up of many separate city- states known as the Polis. The formation of these separate city-

Greece was truly the leader of political ingenuity due to the many laws, ideas, trade, people, and conflicts. Greece developed many political tools that aimed to spread decision making to the collective whole or representatives of the collective whole. Many of the governing styles found through out the world today have been inspired by Ancient Greek states.

Plutarch has proposed that Herodotus ' allure for the Athenians lay just in his complimenting records of Athenian endeavors, yet since the time that Aristotle 's positive remark in the Rhetoric, Herodotus ' incapacitating artistic style, his own appeal, and his ear for a decent story have made the History both mainstream and informative. Among Herodotus ' initial spoilers, Thucydides was derisive of his strategy, making hidden references to the shallow and fleeting attractions of Herodotus ' narrating yet guaranteeing more prominent life span for his own particular recorded written work. Without saying Herodotus by name, Thucydides reprimanded his forerunner 's instability, distinctly adjusting Herodotus ' actualities in his own particular work and demanding that history must depend on post-mortem examination, not gossip. The diverting and scholarly characteristics of the History have since quite a while ago combat such requests for authentic truth. Herodotus ' record of the Egyptian rulers, for instance, was negated by the Egyptian cleric Manetho of Sebennytus, who in the third century B.C. if a rundown of Egyptian lords completely at change with that of Herodotus.

Examples that modern society applies in communicating are the sayings “an Achilles heel (a single fatal vulnerability)” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.), “having the Midas touch (everything turns to gold)” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.) and “the face that launched a thousand ships (a woman worth going to war for).” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.). The way we interact with other people might seem normal, but the words that may come out from our mouth may be the words that have been influenced by the ancient Greece. The impact of it in our subject English is very visible.

The main objective of this essay is to describe and investigate the structure of the government in the ancient Greece’s most powerful city states, namely, Athens and Sparta. Both city states have gone through various cycles of wars, reforms, social upheaval and unrests, and each of these elements has had influenced the development of the governmental systems that we have bettered or inherited today. Athenians saw the need for fundamental changes in the government, allowing them to pave the way for direct participation of their citizens and citizen’s initiative in the democracy and elimination of the some oligarchical elements. The Sparta, although not as democratic as Athens, allowed women to be far more than reproductive machines whom were expected to live only to please the men.

Through the concept of Greek mythology, individuals can learn prodigious stories about consequences and rewards through the twelve gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus. However, it also allows individuals to look back on history and see what the Ancient Greek people used to think and do; especially, with the works of art that made these stories last potentially forever. Moreover, Ancient Greek language and literature and is still highly recognized, especially works like the Odyssey by Homer, and the use of Greek letters in everyday life. Also, great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle have greatly influenced science and politics through their use of observation.

The formal government began as a monarchy. It progressed into an aristocracy and oligarchy then into a tyranny and a democracy. Even being a democracy did not last in ancient Greece. After less than 200 years, Greece was once again under the rule of a monarch. Currently, Greece is once again a democracy.

In Hesiod’s didactic poem, Works and Days, the reader is introduced to the story of Pandora and the Jar. Written in around 700 BCE, this work shows how disobeying the gods may lead to a series of unfortunate events, while also providing modern society a sample on how ancient civilizations attempted to explain why events come to pass much like how Christianity describes the begging of the world and how disobeying God leads to negative events. Both these works give the people something to believe in. Pandora and the Jar can be seen as Ancient Greece’s version of the Bible’s Genesis.