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Ancient Greece
The ancient greek civilization starts around 3200 BC with the Cycladic civilization [followed by the Minoan (2700 BC) and the Mycenean civilization (1600 BC)] and flourished from the 7th century BC to the 2nd century AD, especially in the 5th century BC with the city-states of Athens and Sparta.
10,833 Questions
Why did the Greeks believe in the Greek gods and how did it affect their lives?
Many important decisions were made(to start a campaign,make alliences etc) after consultation with the Oracle. Wars and conflicts were put on hold for the duration festivities dedicated to gods. In everyday life, people should respect the gods as there was the fear of divine retribution (Nemesis).
What was the difference between the rich and the poor ancient Greek clothing?
In the old kingdom there was little difference between the clothes worn by the rich and the poor. Men of all classes wore a short kilt made of linen and women wore a long skirt with straps at the shoulders. Rich men and women wore wigs and jewelry while the poor did not. As time went on the clothes of rich people got more elabourate including wearing of silk, while the clothes of the poor remained very much the same.
Is ancient Greece and classical Greece the same thing?
Try to picture San Francisco during the 1840's. The "Gold Rush' days with all the grubby, primitive, opportunity seekers. Dirt streets, relative lawlessness, dog eat dog, but with much promise.
Now compare that image with what is today's architecturally dazzling San Francisco. Refined, culturally superior. The "Kingdom of Snoot." Considered by many the world over to be our most cosmopolitan and beautiful city, in the bay at the Pacific Ocean. The difference between "Ancient" Greece and "Classical" Greece is very similar, relative to modern times.
I hope my comparison offers clear way to "see" the difference in your mind's eye.
Pericles' full name was Pericles, son of Xanthippus. He was an ancient Greek statesman and a general in Athens. He was born around 495 BC and died in 429 BC.
Why did Xerxes want to conquer Greece?
He wanted to increase the wealth of Persia, he wanted glory, and revenge.
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It all began when the Greeks helped the Ionions revolt, which resulted in the destruction of the Persian city of Sardis. Darius the Great swore revenge, ordered his satrap to attack Greece, but failed. Darius took the task upon himself, but soon died. His son, Xerxes the Great, continued his father's plan.
It is important to note that Xerxes did NOT want to conquer Greece. After the Persian victory at the Battle of Thermopylae, Athens was abandoned and "conquered" by the Persians, but Xerxes decided to burn it to the ground in revenge for what the Greeks did to Sardis (although soon after, Xerxes regretted what he had done and rebuilt the city), and thereafter soon left Greece.
What did ancient thebes Greece people eat?
Principally bread and olive oil, with some meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, fruit, accompanied by watered wine. Not much different from what the poor people ate.
How did the ancient greek civilization begin?
Mycenaean civilization existed from 2000-1100 B.C.E. (They are considered the first Greeks) The Dark Ages in Greece are from 1100-750 B.C.E. In 800 B.C.E. Homer brought them out of the Dark Ages. The Classical Greek age is from 479-336 B.C.E. Greek fell sometime around 338 B.C.E. So 2000-338 B.C.E. (All information is from Sherman and Salisbury's "The West In the World" Third Edition. College Textbook.)
The Mycenaean civilization adopted much of its culture from the?
The Mycenaean civilization of Ancient Greece took many of its cues from earlier Minoan civilization. It flourished in the late Bronze Age, but mysteriously collapsed and Greece did not experience such heights of civilization against for many centuries.
Mycenaean civilization is described as the Culture of Bronze Age Greece.
How different is greek religion than your religion?
Greek religions are different than Hebrew because they eat different food and are different cultures. They are the same because they both belive in gods but Hebrews only belive in one god.
Which of these statements best describes the Greek city-states?
They were independent cities with authority over nearby regions.
When the nomadic Greek peoples settled in Greece, the various tribes took over a section of river valley or plain surrounded by mountains, separated from each other and so established separate communities and governance.
What is Another name for an old greek market?
Known as an Agora, translated literally as a 'place of assembly'
The center of the Hellenistic world was?
Primarily Alexandria-Egypt, followed by Athens-Attica, Pella-Macedonia, Pergamos-Asia Minor, Seleucia-Mesopotamia, Syracuse-Sicily, Antiochia-Syria.
What kind of government did the mycenaeans have?
The system of government was by kings, who also monopolized priestly functions.
Did the Ancient Greeks eat pizza?
Modern pizza was invented in America. Ancient Greeks ate bread and cheese. They did not have tomatoes.
geometry ~Apex
A polis, or a Greek city-state. had it's own political system and military. Each Greek polis was organized differently. The most popular example of a polis was Athens. The Athenian people elected a leader called an Archon to be the political leader. Athenian men formed an Assembly which was a type of court. The city was centered around the agora, which was a market place and civic center.
Whats similar between ancient Egypt and ancient Greece?
There are many similarities between Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt. This mostly has to do with the positioning of both countries, they were quite close and so trading was easy between them.
Both ancient civilizations are well known for their numerous gods. The number and spread of these gods relate to the harsh conditions of both countries. The land in Egypt is only livable through the Nile which burst its banks each year and deposited silt in which the ancient Egyptians grew their crops. In Greece the land is mountainous and rocky, thus being hard to cultivate.
The isolation of the towns or city states from one another creates the numerous amounts of gods. Many of the gods across Greece and Egypt will have different names but similar characteristics. Each town also had its own deity (Egypt) or patron god (Greece).
Another similarity between the two cultures is their religious architecture. Both cultures obviously took great care and pride in providing their land and gods with beautiful temples (The Parthenon or temple at Karnak) made from expensive resources and refurbished for the glory of the gods by new rulers.
Though ancient Greeks show no difference between state and secular (government) the ancient Egyptians were more spiritual. In ancient Greek culture there were exceptional philosophers which thought that the gods did not exist and it was common place to believe the gods evil and spiteful.
However, in ancient Egypt the gods were all powerful and for the most part, helpful to man kind. Even their views on the afterlife, a continuation of the happy times you spent on Earth lived through your ka (soul) in the underworld is more optimistic then the Greeks view of torture and nothingness in Hades (the underworld).
Both societies had strong social structures, though the ancient Egyptians weren't as misogynous (hater of women) as the ancient Greeks who thought that women were a punishment sent from Zeus (Pandora).
The two cultures also have similar versions or stories of the creation of the world. In ancient Egypt the world began with Nun, the primal ocean of chaos that contained the beginnings of everything to come. From these waters came Ra who, by himself, gave birth to Shu and Tefnut. Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture gave birth to Geb and Nut, the earth god and the sky goddess. And so the physical universe was created. Men were created from Ra's tears. They proved to be ungrateful so Ra, and a council of gods, decided they should be destroyed. Re created Sekhmet to do the job. She was very efficient and slaughtered all but a few humans, when Ra relented and tricked her into stopping. Thus was the present world created.
Against Ra's orders, Geb and Nut married. Ra was incensed and ordered Shu to separate them, which he did. But Nut was already pregnant, although unable to give birth as Ra had decreed she could not give birth in any month of any year. Thoth, the god of learning, decided to help her and gambling with the moon for extra light, was able to add five extra days to the 360-day calendar. On those five days Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus the Elder, Set, Isis, and Nephthys successively. Osiris became the symbol of good, while Set became the symbol of evil. And thus the two poles of morality were fixed once and for all.
In ancient Greek religion there was also Kaos, this time, an amorphous, gaping void encompassing the entire universe, and surrounded by an unending stream of water ruled by the god Oceanus, was the domain of a goddess named Eurynome, which means "far-ruling" or "wide-wandering."
She was the Goddess of All Things, and desired to make order out of the Chaos. By coupling with a huge and powerful snake, Ophion, or as some legends say, coupling with the North Wind, she gave birth to Eros, god of Love, also known as Protagonus, the "firstborn."
Eurynome separated the sky from the sea by dancing on the waves of Oceanus. In this manner, she created great lands upon which she might wander, a veritable universe, populating it with exotic creatures such as nymphs, Furies, and Charities, as well as with countless beasts and monsters.
Also born out of Chaos were Gaia, called Earth, or Mother Earth, and Uranus, the embodiment of the Sky and the Heavens, as well as Tartarus, god of the sunless and terrible region beneath Gaia, the Earth.
Gaia and Uranus married and gave birth to the Titans, a race of formidable giants, which included a particularly wily giant named Cronus.
In what has become one of the recurrent themes of Greek Mythology, Gaia and Uranus warned Cronus that a son of his would one day overpower him. Cronus therefore swallowed his numerous children by his wife Rhea, to keep that forecast from taking place.
This angered Gaia greatly, so when the youngest son, Zeus, was born, Gaia took a stone, wrapped it in swaddling clothes and offered it to Cronus to swallow. This satisfied Cronus, and Gaia was able to spirit the baby Zeus away to be raised in Crete, far from his grasping father.
In due course, Zeus grew up, came homeward, and into immediate conflict with the tyrant Cronus, who did not know that this newcomer was his own son. Zeus needed his brothers and sisters help in slaying the tyrant, and Metis, Zeus's first wife, found a way of administering an emetic to Cronus, who then threw up his five previous children, who were Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Together they went to battle against their father. The results were that all of his children, led by Zeus, vanquished Cronus forever into Tartarus' domain, the Dark World under the Earth.
Thus, Zeus triumphed over not only his father, and his father's family of Giants, he triumphed over his brothers and sisters as well, dividing up the universe as he fancied, in short, bringing order out of Chaos.
Some obvious differences between the two cultures deprives from positioning. While Egypt is along the River Nile (the Egyptian god being Hapi / Hapy) and therefor where not prone to attack and had more time to grow culturally whereas Greece, being situated in the Mediterranean, was constantly in warfare. Either with other countries or within the city states (Athenians vs. Spartans). This constant warfare created a culture that was centrally war focused.
Despite this ancient Greek cultures were also masterful at art (especially Athens) and the ancient Egyptians were skillful warriors.
Another huge difference is the pyramids in Egypt, the most famous of these being in Giza. 'The Great Pyramid' was made be Cheops (Khufu), the middle or slightly smaller was made by Khafre and the smallest and last built in Giza for Menakaure. Whist both cultures built awe inspiring temples only the ancient Egyptians built pyramids, ancient tombs for the pharaoh and his (favorite) queen.
While both cultures lived perilous lives and dealt with the problems that (the gods) presented them, they each had a unique way of living. The ancient Greeks choose to blame everything on the gods (three fates: Clotho, Lachises and Atropos) while the Egyptians lived with free will but could not get into the afterlife if they were unmoral. Both societies had strong moral beliefs including: no stealing, adultery, murder etc. These morals are still seen used today in modern (used) religion. Both cultures were skilled warriors and artisans, their work still displayed today.
What are facts about ancient greek Olympics?
