Ancient Greece Legacies

Legacy constitutes all the traditions, skills and knowledge of a particular culture which get passed on to the people in the future. As is reiterated time and again by various scholars, Greek culture which lasted for nearly 4000 years is truly one of the rich civilizations ever to have existed.

Hence even after doing such an intensive research and finding out vast information about the ancient Greek culture, the curiosity to know more is undying even today.

The word Democracy is derived from a Greek term which implies power of the people. It was the city state of Athens which witnessed the emergence of democracy. As a matter of fact, Athens also boasts of the first democratic constitution which laid down rules on how a state should conduct its affairs.

In the Assembly which was the law making body, every individual who was above the age of 20years could participate. Additionally, every year the names of as many as 500 people were drawn for the Council of Five Hundred who carried on the daily business of Athens. The form of democracy which is carried on in the US is just like the one which was carried on in the ancient Athens.

The Trial by Jury was another such Greek legacy. The concept of Trial by Jury is when a group of people decide the fate that is the innocence or guilt of an accused. For every such trial there were about 500 jurors. A duty was imposed upon each and every citizen to serve the jury at some point or the other. Moreover, the jurors who sat for a trial were paid for their services.

The epics written by the ancient Greeks were also well known. There are evidences of long poems being written in the praise of different Gods, Heroes and also the history of their culture. To name a few, Homer was one such great epic poet. His work which is called Illiad in which he has written about the Trojan wars is extremely popular even today.

Theater also constituted an integral of the ancient Greek legacy. Theater became a popular art emerged during festivals which were dedicated to Dionysus in which the stories which were so developed were acted out. Subsequently, competitions were also organized. While performing, actors could wear masks to depict different age, gender and moods.

Theaters became so popular that even a theater was carved on a hill side in Miletus. One thing which needs to be remembered that women could only come to watch as only men could perform in it. The Greeks were the first ones to develop plays as well. Plays depicted two major emotions namely; tragedies of Aeschylus were famous while the famous comedy play writers was Aristophanes.

The Olympic Games also came to be commenced in the Greek city state of Olympia in 776BC. The different sports which were played during the Olympic Games were: Foot Races, Javelin Throw, Boxing, Discus, Wrestling, Warriors Race, Messengers and Trumpeters, Pancratium and lastly Pentathlon.

The footrace was of 26miles and 385 yards long. Records show that the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon. Pheidippides ran to Athens which is about 26miles just to declare his victory. When he reached Athens, he cried out Nike which meant goddess of victory and subsequently fell over dead.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom and the art of trying to figure out things through self-learning and reasoning. Ancient Greek philosophy has always enlightened the world. Socrates who was Platos mentor believed that the urge in people to ask questions will lead them to the discovery of truth.

Aristotle developed the method of classifying living things depending upon the similar characteristics which they possess. Such classification is used till today as it helps the scientists to easily manage huge data. Additionally, the scientific method of collecting information, forming of a hypothesis and then applying different tests to check if such hypothesis is valid or not is also a gift of the ancient Greeks.

Lastly, Hippocrates who was regarded as the Father of Scientific Medicine believed that diseases came from natural causes rather than from evil spirits. He even laid down an oath for all those who practiced medicine which is taken by todays doctors as well. This oath is called as Hippocratic oath. Under this oath, the following rules were laid down:

1. Honor their teachers;
2.
3. Do their best for the sick;
4.
5. Never give poisons; and lastly,
6.
7. Keep the secrets of patients.
8.
The influence of the Ancient Greeks can be still felt by us today. The major impact of the Greek culture in our lives today can be seen in the fields of arts, in philosophy, and in science, math, literature and politics.

Ancient Greek Life History / Ancient Greece Facts for Kids

We owe a lot to Ancient Greek Civilization. History of ancient Greece is a fascinating. On this site, we have given information on various ancient Greek life aspects - Arts, Boys and Girls, Architecture, Dancing, Gods, Myths, Medicine, Inventions, Houses, Government, Religions, Wars, Politics, Weapons and ancient Greece Cities.