Social, Political, And Cultural Aspects Of Greek Civilization

Greek Civilization
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Introduction
The current study looks at various sources to examine the civilization of ancient Greece and the role it played in western civilization in general. I will use a book called “Making of the West, Volume II: Since 1500: Peoples and Cultures” to discuss various important aspects about Greek people including, social, political and cultural practices. The book is important because it contains several examples that illustrate the organization of life in Greek land. The book has discussed in details the importance of great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Various cultural aspects, such as literature, philosophy, and art and how they contributed to the civilization of the West have been discussed in details. It is evident from the book that the achievements witnessed during western civilization are attributable to the ancient civilization of Greek and Roman, who played a huge role in shaping culture, society, education, politics, family, war, and religion among other things that have been unique to most of the western countries for decades since the fall of these two empires. Particularly, the Greek civilization played a crucial role in shaping western society. Democracy seen in most European countries has its roots in ancient Greek. The book suggests that Greek civilization began in the 8th century and came to an end in 146 BC when it fell into the hands of the Roman Empire. It suggests that ancient Greece is divided into four distinct periods, which include archaic (8th-6th BC), classical Greece (5th-4th BC), Golden Age (479-404 BC), and Classical era (404-338 BC). After the Romans defeated Greeks in around 146 BC, the Roman Empire adopted most features of Greek civilization, which has prompted some scholars to refer to the Roman Empire as the continuation of the Greek Empire. Thus, the current paper will analyze in details social, political, and cultural aspects of Greek civilization.
Greek Society
After a thorough examination of the book, it is apparent that ancient Greece had a well-defined culture, society, and politics that made it unique from the rest of the world. By the 8th century BC, its societal, cultural, and political aspects were far ahead from those of other regions of the world. This is evident during the ancient Greece period, with the establishment of the most famous world event called the Olympic Games in 776 BC. The empire had already started bringing people together to participate in the most coveted event, where young men and women showcased their talents in different departments. Such an event is an indication that the Greek society had a great sense of leisure and love for sports, which has extended to most western countries today. In the 8th century BC, during the Archaic era, the Greek empire was divided into several autonomous city states that were separated by various geographical features such as valleys, mountain ranges, seas, and rivers. From the book provided, it is clear that Greece society valued the male gender over the female. Males were entitled to participate in elections, hold public offices, and take part in court trials whereas women were perceived as people to do household duties (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84). The gender role practiced during ancient Greece has been around for several years, and it is still practiced in almost all parts of the world apart from now women in various countries can vote and go to school. From the book, the principle of capitalism was common in ancient Greek society due to the fact that there were a small number of rich families who owned large tracts of land. These families were referred to as aristocrats and had the capacity to own horses, which were used in warfare. Moreover, Greek society highly valued older people who held various prominent positions such as army commanders and magistrates, among others (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84). Moreover, Greek society believed in capturing slaves during warfare or buying them to obtain free labor. With free labor, society would achieve massive economic development, and many Western countries followed suit in subsequent years. During the Greek empire, the army participated in different wars, including the Messenian Wars, in the process apprehending people who provided free labor in the farms and households (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 90). It is also apparent that as cities expanded and became wealthier, society became more complex, and the new classes of sailors, traders, and craftsmen emerged to stand alongside the classes of peasants, slaves, and aristocrats. The new emerging classes became the rivals of the affluent class, and their impact on politics played a key role in undermining the aristocratic power. Consequently, the cities with biggest commercial sectors were forced to move furthest towards the road to democracy.
Political Organization
It is clear from the book that the government and politics in Greek civilization were well defined, with people born in each city forming a community of free members. Since the establishment of city states, the adult males met regularly in public assemblies to deliberate on matters affecting the states (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84-85). This was possible due to the fact that each city state comprised of few thousands of citizens. More and more citizens’ assemblies gained momentum, and in the 5th century BC, almost all city states had adopted democracy (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84-85). Athens had adopted full democracy and had given its citizens a chance to choose through casting lot members of smaller councils that discussed matters affecting the community. Also, public officials, apart from military commanders, were selected through casting lot (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84-85). What made Athens’ democracy even more advanced is that all members of the society had equal chances of assuming public office or becoming a member of the governing council. Therefore, it is apparent that Greece had one of the strongest democracies of their time, which forms the basis of most western countries’ democracy today (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 84-85). This is an indication that the authority was aware of the role members of the community played in building the nation and the dire consequences of oppressing people. City states also engaged in international politics, whereby some formed alliances with one another against a common enemy. Some of the famous alliances were Peloponnesian League (4th BC) and the Delian League (5th BC) by Sparta and Athens, respectively (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 104). The Delian League was established to counter threats posed by Persian rule in the 5th century BC (Hunt et al. 2012, p. 82). Nevertheless, Athens became stronger and more dominant as time went by and started treating other leagues as subjects rather than equals. Therefore, international politics often observed in most European countries today ...