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Ancient Greece has gone down as one of the greatest
civilizations in history. Ancient Greece was the first
civilization to make a systematic study on subjects like
geometry, medicine and philosophy. Life then in Athens
and other Greek cities was good. The citizens were free
to say and do as they liked. Most of the people were
farmers who grew crops like barley, wheat, grapes and
olives. Some of them also reared sheep and goats on
their farms. Other people were craftsmen producing metal
work, pottery, tiles or woollen textiles. Some other
people worked in the shipyards or in small factories.
The typical rich man lived in a huge stone mansion
with a courtyard. The women normally looked after the
household. Usually, these families had dozens of slaves
to do the household chores. Contrary to the freedom
which the Greeks had, the slaves had absolutely no
rights whatsoever. These slaves were people who had been
captured in foreign lands and were brought over to
Greece. With the slaves doing all the work, the rich
Greek citizens had plenty of time on their hands for
leisurely activities.
These citizens were encouraged to take part in
politics. In fact, democracy had its roots in Greece.
Due to the encouragement of the governing bodies, many
Greek men in the cities took an active role in the
political scene. Most of these people were later hailed
as the great thinkers, writers or artists of the modern
world. They made great contributions not only in the
sciences but in the arts as well.
Using mathematical theories, Eratosthenes was among
the first to declare that the Earth was round. He was
even able to calculate the diameter of the globe. Other
Greek mathematicians like Pythagoras and Archimedes also
made priceless contributions to the foundation of modern
arithmetic and geometry.
The father of modern medicine was a Greek named
Hippocrates. He was not only the founder of scientific
medicine but he was also a physician and surgeon.
There are still many remains of ancient Greek
buildings even though most of them are in a state of
ruin. The Parthenon, the temples of Agrigento and many
other buildings speak of the grandeur, grace and vision
of ancient Greek architecture.
Even in the most abstract art form, the Greeks were
already there to experiment with it. Among the great
philosophers of the ancient world were Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle. They tried to understand abstract ideas
such as goodness, knowledge, pleasure and the soul. Some
of such ideas are not fully understood even to this day. |
