Throughout
history, the Greeks have been responsible for innovation in both art and
architecture. Greek architecture inspired many of Roman architecture and
architects. They took science to new heights with their discoveries in the area
of astronomy, geography, and mathematics Greece is considered the father of medicine.
Various inventions and findings contributed by ancient Greece are still used to
this day.
One
of most popular device that is used every day by many people across the world
is the alarm clock. The alarm clock’s origin is from ancient Greece, and it
went through a series of changes throughout history. The original alarm clock
developed in Greece is different from the one we use today. The people of
Greece combined machinery components to trigger the alarm, and water organs or
pebbles went into drums which created a loud sound. Plato, the ancient Greek
philosopher, used a water alarm clock at night as a signal for the start of his
lectures. Another significant finding is cartography, which is the science and
practice of creating maps. Anaximander, a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher, was
the first pioneer to bring mapping into new possibilities with his creation
of the map of the world.
Greeks
valued the power of communication through storytelling. Ancient Greek theaters
started with festivals to honor their gods. The theatre buildings were called a
theatron, and were massive open-air structures built on the hills. They
consisted of three main elements which were: the orchestra, the skene, and the
audience. Acting plays, religious rites, and dances were held in these large
spaces and could hold up to 14,000 people in the audience. Ancient Greek was
responsible for creating stadiums which held running races. Also, they
built gymnasiums as a training facility for athletes who participated in public
games. Ancient Greek houses included ground floor rooms that consisted of
kitchen and storage rooms. These houses created with walls of mud bricks, stone
socles, tiled roofs, and clay.
The
earliest practices of medicine can be traced back to ancient Greece. Hippocrates
II was a Greek physician, who is the most recognized, and respected figure for
his contribution in the field of medicine. In ancient Greece, diseases were
often viewed as god’s way of punishing. However, Hippocrates II changed that by
conducting experiments and collecting data that eventually proved that
diseases were a natural process in the human body. He is also known for the Hippocratic Oath, which are Greek
medical texts that include a foundation for the belief that is still used by
today’s practitioners. Peter Tyson, former Editor in Chief of NOVA Online, revealed, “Written in antiquity, its
principles are held sacred by doctors to this day: treat the sick to the best
of one’s ability, preserve patient privacy, teach the secrets of medicine to
the next generation, and so on”.
The
temple is the most known Greece architectural structure. Temples in Greece is
referred to as ναός, which means to dwell, and was created to honor
divinities. The first temples were made of wood, sticks, and mud, but due to
these weak materials, the early temples didn’t survive especially during heavy
rainstorms. In the 8th century, the people of Greek made the
decision to create temples made out of stone instead. The most recognized and
classical architecture is the Parthenon, the former temple in Athens, Greece.
This magnificent old temple was entirely built in 432 BC to honor the goddess,
Athena.
Over
thousands of years of its existing, the Parthenon was used for religious
purposes such as A Christian church, a Catholic church, and a mosque. The
people of ancient Greece did not worship their gods inside their temples. Instead,
people gathered and worshiped outside, and entered the temples to bring
offerings to the statue. The interior room was too small to hold a group of individuals, so inside of the temples only housed statues of the deity that were
honored.
The
Parthenon includes metopes on each side of the building (western, eastern,
southern, and northern walls) and each side has its subject which
represents an epic battle in Greece history. According to classical
architecture, a metope is a rectangular architectural structure that fills space
between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze. The southern wall displays the Battle
of the Lapiths and Centaurs. This historical battle was fought between the people of Greek mythology, the Lapiths and the centaurs, half-human,
half-horse creatures. What caused this fight was Centaurs’ attempt to abducted
Hippodamia, the daughter of Atrax, at her wedding. Legendary Athenian king
Theseus was a founder of cities in Athens, won the approval of the Athenian
citizens led King Pirithous to victory by destroying the Centaurs.
Unfortunately,
the Parthenon building damaged over the years due to epic battles and
explosions that occurred at this site. In the 17th Century, General Francesco
Morosini, a sixty-four-year-old veteran, led an army of his warriors into Greece. He wanted to reclaim
a portion of Greece and redeem himself after losing the Venetian colony of
Crete to the Ottoman Empire. General Morosini and his men struck the Parthenon
by detonating gunpowder that was
held inside the building and caused a massive explosion. This explosion killed
300 people in Acropolis and damaged the historic building.
The
Parthenon Marbles, a collection of Classical Greek marble sculpture were built
by the people of Athens, Phidias, an ancient Greek architect and his
assistants. Phidias is also known for his notable works: The Athena Promachos, The
Lemnian Athena, The Athena Promachos, The Amazzone Ferita and The Statue of
Zeus at Olympia. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia took 12 years to be built. Zeus,
the thunder god in ancient Greek religion, was viewed by many as the king of all
of the Greek gods and this marvelous statue was built in honor of him. This
masterpiece was placed in the Temple at Olympia where Olympic Games held
every four years. It stood about 42 feet tall, was made out of a wooden frame,
and covered in gold and ivory panels.
The
Ancient Olympic Games originally began approximately 2,700 years ago in
Olympia, Greece, a sacred place of ancient Greece. The Olympic Games were a part
of a religious festival, and representatives of city-states participated in a
series of athletic competitions. The Greek Olympics were held in honor of Zeus
and have begun in 776 BC. The original Games inspired the modern Olympic Games
which began in 1896. Before and during these games, an Olympic Truce was
announced to make sure that participate athletes could travel from their cities
to Olympia safety. Politicians used the Ancient Olympic Games as an opportunity
to make an announcement relating to political alliances during times of war. The
Games also featured religious celebration where priests would offer sacrifices
to the ancient gods.
Many
people believe that French sculptor, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who is most
recognized for designing the Statue of Liberty, was inspired by the Colossus of
Rhodes. The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue that stood 108 feet high, which is
approximately the same height as the Statue of Liberty. It’s also one of the Seven
Wonders of the Ancient World. This magnificent statue portrays the Greek Titan god of the sun Helios, son of the Titaness Theia and the Titan Hyperion.
This figure was considered the tallest statue in ancient history. It was built by
Greek sculptor and Rhodes native, Chares of Lindos in 280 BC to celebrate
Rhodes' victory over Cyprus. Similar to the Statue of Liberty, the Colossus of
Rhodes carried a light to guide ships that entered the land.
Most
of the ancient Greek sculpture, even if the statue represented a God, were created
in human form and were nudes. The people of Greeks saw the naked human body as
beautiful. Through history, Greek statues adopted a natural, more relaxed pose such
as hips thrust to one side, head turned to the opposite side, and their knees
slightly bent. Some sculptures displayed human action as the "Diana of
Versailles," which portrays the goddess grabbing for an arrow during a stag
jump towards her. The Venus de Milo, which is one of the most famous Greek
statues was created in the second century B.C.E. and Aphrodite, the Greek
goddess of love and beauty.
Classical
Greek pottery provided a unique vase shapes, a beautiful representation
of the heritage and practices of ancient Greece. Their ancient pottery is one
of the standard archaeological surviving artifacts and is a critical tool used by both historians and archaeologists when understanding the chronology of ancient
Greece. People of Greece created tiny terracotta figurines and offered it as
gifts to their gods and goddesses. Also, they buried these figurines
with the dead and gave it to their children as toys.
Their
pottery was different from West Asian, Egyptian pottery, and Chinese pottery.
People of ancient Greece used clay jars, pots, and vases for everything. All clay
jars, bowls, and vases were displayed paintings of religious and mythological
scenes. Etruscan who conquered and ruled most Italy in the 500s and 400s BC,
was heavily influenced by Ancient Greek because they created similar red-figure
potteries. The red-figure technique which created by painting their outline
with a black slip background continued 130 years.
When
the Roman Republic conquered the empire of ancient Greek, the Romans captured
Greek slaves. A few of the slaves became teachers for Roman children. Their
teaching had a huge influence on Roman Republic’s educational system and
culture. Roman education depended heavily on Greek writers such as Homer, the
author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The ancient Greeks considered Homer
as the first and greatest poets. Along with that, multiple components of Roman
culture mimicked Greece culture. The Roman religion borrowed gods similar to
ancient Greek religion, but instead have different names. People of Greeks
didn’t believe their gods created the entire universe but followed laws and
orders that the gods created. Immortals and humanity were both determined by
fate.
Roman
architecture has the same temple design in comparison to ancient Greek. Roman
architects followed the blueprint that developed by classical Greeks such as
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The architects of classical Greece used proportion
and perspective in their work. They developed advanced techniques to make their
structure look even. They created horizontal U-shape planes and columns that
were much wider in the middle. Without these innovations, Roman architecture
buildings wouldn’t have looked majestic. Along the way, the Romans modified
Greek’s architectural blueprint because they favored monolithic columns instead
of the many drums that were stacked on top of one another. Greek
influence Roman innovation, with the basilica and bath buildings which was
first seen in Italy in Campania.
Ancient
Greek democracy played a significant role with the influence on the creation of
political institutions in the United States. Founding members of the United
States seen ancient Athens, Greece, the cradle of democracy because this is
where development process of democracy started. Ancient democracy created in
Athens following was a system of direct which gave every male adult that was an
Athenian citizen the right to participate in deliberations and voting in
law-making assembly and institutions. Through art, science, and architecture, ancient Greek has paved
the way for western civilization.
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Art." History.com. A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.
"Parthenon Metopes
(Sculpture)." Perseus Tufts Education. N.p., n.d. Sun. 23 Oct. 2016.
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