Greek Civilization:
Compare Greek religion in the two different periods in history in the eighth century, the time of Homer, and in the fifth century BCE, according to the following:
The different ways they believed their gods intervened.
During the Epic Age, that of Homer, they believed that the God directly intervened in the lives of human beings. Over time, as the rulers of Greece became more powerful, the population began to feel that although the Gods could control lives, they were mostly observers rather than direct participants.
Whether they believed their gods favored or punished specific individuals for moral reasons.
In the 8th century BC, the people believed that the Gods punished behavior, but that the punishments were more targeted at individuals who disrespected the gods rather than those who committed crimes or sins. As exemplified in Antigone, the people feared that if they defied the gods then they would be punished either in…...
Greek Project 1272
ART204 Formal Research Project Summer Term 2012
Ancient Greek sculpture is one of the most famous historical forms of art. Three main forms of life are represented by this sculpture; war, mythology, and rulers of the land of ancient Greece. The main aim of the paper is to revisit the history of the art of sculpturing in ancient Greece and different steps of its development within different time periods. Some of the main developments in Greek sculpture included depiction of changes in forms, depiction of female and male figures, degrees of present realism, and how sculpturing was used to achieve these effects.
Developments in Greek Sculpturing techniques
There are four main periods in which main developments and changes in the Greek sculpturing took place. The first period is referred to as the geometric period; second period is the archaic period, the third one being the classic and the last and fourth…...
mlaWorks Cited
Dillon, Sheila. Ancient Greek Portrait Sculpture: Contexts, Subjects, And Styles. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Dillon, Sheila. The Female Portrait Statue in the Greek World. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Giannakopoulou, Liana. The Power of Pygmalion: Ancient Greek Sculpture in Modern Greek Poetry, 1860-1960, Volume 3 of Byzantine and Neohellenic Studies. Peter Lang, 2007.
Greek History World Civilizations
What made the Greek civilization so great? What made the Greeks so great?
Greeks are the most famous and advance people around the world. There are so many areas and variety of things that makes this country and nation so rich and lively. The Greeks has a great history due to having great philosophers, socialist, wars, kings, food, outfits, culture, and great thinkers.
The history of Greek civilization is very rich and deep, it can be dated back to 300 B.C. The nation is entirely long and vast.
It was the first civilization in Europe. This part of the world was developed near the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea. It is also considered as the birthplace of democracy as per several popular scholars, nations and authors of the world in the history.
The Greek is the first democratic country over the earth. The idea of democracy was implemented in a…...
it's also important to note that Greeks brought metallurgy innovations to the non-Greek world: iron, which dramatically increased strength of metal tools and weapons and cupro-nickel (used in coining). A number of Asian peoples also adapted Greek alphabet and papyrus.
But in many cases influence of Greeks was considerably obvious only in Asian kingdoms, as most of Mediterranean non-Greek cultures stood on the same level of development as Greeks. For such peoples as Jews and Assyrians Greek colonization mainly meant the threat of assimilation and loss of identity. Assyrians and Jews who in their majority were monotheists could not adopt Greek religion of polytheist as it was against their religious traditions. All the attempts of Greeks to convert Jews to polytheism failed. For example the attempt to convert Jewish Temple to Temple of Greek god Zeus under Antiochus IV Epiphanes only led tot he revolt of Jews led by Maccabees,…...
mlaReferences
Boardman, J. Griffin, J. Murray, O. The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World Oxford University Press, 2001
Tarn, W.W. The Greeks in Bactria and India Cambridge University Press, 1997
Shuckburgh. Evelyn S. Histories. Polybius. London, New York. Macmillan. 1889. Reprint Bloomington 1962.
Greek
As great as it is to have one thing that everyone shares, it's even better to have more than one to relate to. I think that makes people take their faith even more seriously.
I absolutely believe that misconceptions about people's beliefs are common. Protestants believe Catholics worship idols; Christians believe pagans worship demons and dance naked in the woods; believers think atheists are horrible, immoral people. From what I remember in history, part of the reason the Catholic Church was able to pull off the Crusades was by painting the non-Christians as evildoers who ate babies. hy does it happen? Because as human beings, we want to believe that we have a good deal on the afterlife. And I also think people often just want to think of themselves as "better" than others.
To fix this, I think people should be more willing to discuss their faith with others. Of…...
mlaWorks Cited
A Dictionary of Orthodox Terminology - Part 2 -- Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. (n.d.).
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith9152
No Author, Yearbook of American & Canadian Churches, National Council of Churches, 2000.
No Author. (1914). About Ascension Cathedral: Ascension Cathedral. Ascension Cathedral. Retrieved August 29, 2011, from http://www.groca.org/?page_id=334
For example, founding cities on royal possessions gave less profits, as direct and indirect taxation of cities appeared in many cases less profitable than taxation of royal landowners. From the other side, urbanization also led to the weakening centralization.
But in a general scope one the hand with military and economical advantages urbanization also led to cultural Hellenization, which is considered to be its main political achievement. it's important to note that a number of kingdoms in Asia Minor and Middle East adopted Greek law and Greek civil norms. Such changes had a very progressive effect on social life, as it led to the reduction of slavery and guaranteed protection of property rights to citizens in former despotic societies.
Cultural interaction of Greek polises with natives led to the penetration of local customs and cultural traits to the life of Greeks. Greek culture of polises experienced deep interaction with Persian and…...
mlaReferences
Boardman, J. Griffin, J. Murray, O. The Oxford Illustrated History of Greece and the Hellenistic World Oxford University Press, 2001
Tarn, W.W. The Greeks in Bactria and India Cambridge University Press, 1997
Greek
Greek Sculpture
A Timeline of Greek Sculpture
Polykleitos, Doryphoros (early fourth century BC)
As Paul Johnson (2003) records, this ancient example of Greek classicalism "epitomizes a canon of male beauty embodied in mathematical proportions" (p. 63). Showing the perfection of contraposto, Doryphoros (or the spear-carrier) is a balanced representation of the body's muscles. Polykleitos, a contemporary of Phidias, had his own school of young artists, which carried on into the third century BC. Polykleitos' works are treated on in his own treatise, called "The Canon," which gave explicit attention to symmetry, clarity, and wholeness. The Spear-carrier is one of the best examples of Polykleitos' teaching -- however, this example is a copy of his original, and is held in Naples -- a fitting representation of the art of Greek sculpting.
Praxiteles, Aphrodite of Knidos (mid-fourth century BC)
Praxiteles actually made two statues for Kos -- so the legend goes. One statue depicted Aphrodite (Venus), modestly…...
mlaReference List
Agony -- The Famous Group of Laocoon. (n.d.) Old and Sold. Retrieved from http://www.oldandsold.com/articles26/rome-19.shtml
Haaren, J. (2000). Famous Men of Greece. Lebanon, TN: Greenleaf Press.
Johnson, P. (2003). Art: A New History. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
The Farnesse Bull. (n.d.) Old and Sold. Retrieved from http://www.oldandsold.com/articles26/naples-5.shtml
Greek colonization, much like the colonization of Africa and Asia by European powers in the early twentieth century, was an act of achieving land, recourses, and influence, and thus, power. The eventual expansion of the Greek Empire was unique, however, in that it was one of the first major exercises of colonization ever noted in the history of civilization. A number of things, but most notably, the shortages in the existing territories (both land and recourses), the desire for new trade routes, and the re-emergence of the written language facilitated the Greek expansion.
Prior to the widespread colonization by the Greeks, existing cities were growing by population and exhausting the land around them. Traditional plots of land reserved for Greek citizens were becoming smaller, and in some cases, non-existent. It was clear to those in leadership positions that overcrowding was becoming a rampant problem for the Greek cities, and in order…...
mlaWorks Cited
Boardman, John. The Greeks Overseas. New York: Thames and Hudson. 1982.
Murray, Oswyn. Early Greece. Cambridge: Harvard UP. 1993.
Osborne, Robin. Greece in the Making. New York: Routledge. 1996.
Except for Miletus, which was sacked as an initiator of the revolt, the other cities were treated rather reasonably, going as far as recommendations for the settled Persians to respect local religious traditions (Herodotus VI 42-45).
This does not necessarily need to be seen only as a reasonable conquering policy, but also as a diplomatic and political approach: once Darius asked for the submissions of mainland Greek cities, many of them accepted, based on the previous behavior of the conquerors in Ionic cities. Athens and Sparta obviously remained aside, but this was also because they were also assuming a regional power status and would not find it calculable to surrender without a fight.
Reasonably enough, though, the Persian invasion could also be seen as a direct consequence in the involvement of the Athenians in the revolt of the Ionic cities and in their attempt to preserve a democracy here and consolidate…...
Greek Concept to Movie Troy
Ancient mythology as never ceased to amaze and fascinate its readers and followers. Especially Egyptian and Greek mythology, having followers everywhere; in the current times it has found a new fan, that is the movie making business, with a special interest in Greek mythology. Nothing is better than watching your favorite characters brought up to life and actually see them doing all the things we had previously only imagined them doing. One such captivating movie is 'troy' based on the Greek Trojan war starring Brad Pitt. Various Greek concepts were shed light in this movie, which will be discussed, in relation to the movie.
The first concept is Fate, since in Greek mythology fate does not just happen. The gods make things happen, in their own engineered ways, and interfere to make things happen on their own account. Then there is MOIA, which means that everyone has…...
mlaREFERENCES
Walter Benjamin "The Task of the Translator" vol 1: 1913-1926. Marcus Bullock. Pg. 256-259
Roman Jacobson "The World of Movies, Media and Multimedia: language, history, theory" Pg. 26-266.
James Monaco "How to Read a Film" 3rd edition, Pg. 250-255.
All of the Greek gods and their interactions were very similar to how humans would naturally act. They are all inclined to be jealous and vengeful of one another, along with having affairs that rival any daytime soap opera. They would choose sides and create massive wars on earth in order to win their way and prove their point.
Although the ancient Greek religion had fundamental elements which were very similar to other ancient religions, there is one thing that set it apart. The quarrelsome Greek gods did not try to teach their human subjects any kind of religious doctrine. Unlike Judaism and Christianity, with its strict rules and commandments, the Greek religion had no specific doctrines which it's followers needed to generally follow. Instead, the ancient tradition relied on mysticism, such as what was seen in the case of the Oracle of Delphi. Many researchers and scholars say that this…...
Following these rules, the formation of the numbers is intuitive: the number would be split into hundreds, tens and units and the letters combined to give the graphical representation. This was a derived version of the addition numerical system that was used in the ancient times.
An additional problem was the fact that the system proved difficult to use initially for numbers that were larger than 999. What the Greeks did was add an extra stroke before the letter to symbolize that the respective number would be multiplied by 1000. This meant that you would now be able to include any kind of larger numbers with that stroke.
With the fractions, there were different representations that the Greeks used. One of them involved marking the denominator with a double accent and sometimes writing it down twice. However, there was also the representation we are mostly used to nowadays by which the…...
mlaBibliography
1. Classical Greek numerals. On the Internet at on February 28, 2009http://www.sizes.com/numbers/greek_numeration.htm.Lastretrieved
2. Bunt, Lucas; Jones, Phillip. The Historical Roots of Elementary Mathematics. Dover Publications. 1988.
3. Hardegree, Gary. Numeration Systems. 2001. On the Internet at on February 28, 2009http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~gmhwww/382/pdf/05-numeration.pdf.Lastretrieved
Classical Greek numerals. On the Internet at
The vengeance of the gods is further underscored by the Chorus who warns that "But if any man comes striding, high and mighty, in all he says and does, no fear of justice, no reverence for the temples of the gods-let a rough doom tear him down, repay his pride, breakneck, ruinous pride!" Oedipus portrays tyranny and the people's greatest blessing becomes their worst curse.
In the last stage, Oedipus is a man who has become humbled with the pain and dejection of knowing the truth of reality as he is forced to admit his tragic destiny by the overwhelming evidence. The writer shows the sudden change in the protagonist's persona when Oedipus condemns himself by saying, "I stand revealed at last -- cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage, cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands!" (1309-1311) Oedipus's complete transformation is demonstrated when he gouged out…...
Greek Rationalism
The ancient Greeks pioneered philosophical rationalism, the practice of critically examining thoughts, ideas, and facts while discounting the importance of religious faith or emotionalism. A predecessor of hard science, rationalism underlies much of what we now call "Western Civilization." Rationalism implies that the powers of reason are sufficient to give human beings an understanding of the universe. Anything superstitious or fanatical would be anathema to the rationalist. Although a person can simultaneously believe in God and be a rationalist, in general, rationalism and religion propose conflicting worldviews. In fact, religion and rationalism often coexist peacefully in many parts of the modern world. For example, in religious countries like Italy, Ireland, Israel, and in some parts of the United States, people believe strongly in the tenets of their faith. However, in general religion remains separate from science. Rationalism dominates the worldview of most people in the modern world, at least…...
Also, this carving is quite sentimental in appearance, for it reflects "the solemn pathos of the Greek citizen, much like some of the sculptures found on the pediment of the Parthenon" (Seyffert, 245).
Our last artifact is titled Pair of Armbands with Triton and Tritoness Holding Erotes, made in the Hellenistic period, circa 200 .C.E. These jewelry objects were apparently designed for a woman of high Greek culture, for they are made from solid gold and are fashioned in the shape of two loosely-coiled snakes or serpents. Whomever designed these intricate and beautiful objects realized the special properties of gold, for the woman lucky enough to wear these could easily slip her arms through the loops, due to the malleability of solid gold. The two figures located at the tops of each piece are representations of Triton and Tritoness, most closely associated with the Greek god of the sea Poseidon.
As…...
mlaBibliography
New Greek and Roman Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Internet. 2007.
Retrieved at http://www.metmuseum.org/special/greek_roman/images.asp .
Seyffert, Oskar. The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, Religion, Literature and Art.
New York: Gramercy Books, 1995.
1. Characters and stories from Greek mythology are often referenced in modern pop culture, such as in movies, television shows, and video games. For example, the character of Achilles from the Trojan War is frequently mentioned in popular media.
2. Many modern books and novels draw inspiration from Greek mythology, incorporating elements such as gods, heroes, and monsters into their plots. Authors such as Rick Riordan and Madeline Miller have gained popularity for their retellings of Greek myths.
3. The themes and moral lessons found in Greek mythology continue to resonate with audiences today, and are often explored in contemporary literature. These....
Sparta's Enduring Legacy: Impacts on Modern Greece
Introduction:
Sparta, renowned for its formidable military prowess and austere society, has left an enduring legacy that continues to shape modern Greece. This essay will explore the multifaceted impacts of Sparta's heritage on various aspects of Greek society, culture, and thought.
Political and Military Legacy:
Sparta's warrior culture and renowned Spartan hoplites (heavily armed infantrymen) heavily influenced Greek military strategy and tactics. The Spartan oligarchy, based on a dual monarchy and a council of elders, served as a model for some later Greek city-states. Modern Greece's military values and emphasis on discipline can be traced back to....
The Genesis of Bathing: A Historical Immersion
The practice of bathing has been an integral part of human civilization for millennia, with its origins shrouded in the mists of antiquity. The concept of bathing evolved gradually, driven by both cultural and practical considerations, transforming from a ritualistic act to a deeply ingrained habit.
Ancient Roots:
The earliest evidence of bathing dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization in modern-day Pakistan, around 2500 BCE. Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa revealed sophisticated bathrooms with running water and bathing pools, suggesting that bathing was a common practice among the inhabitants.
In ancient Egypt, bathing held religious and....
1. The melancholic temperament, characterized by a deep and thoughtful nature, often influences an individuals approach to life in various ways. Those with this temperament tend to be introspective and reflective, prone to feelings of sadness and emotional sensitivity. This temperament can impact how individuals navigate the world, shaping their relationships, decision-making processes, and overall outlook on life.
2. Historically, the concept of temperament was first introduced by the ancient Greeks, specifically Hippocrates, who believed that human behavior was influenced by the balance of bodily fluids. The melancholic temperament was associated with an excess of black bile, believed to cause feelings....
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