Coming into this course, I really did not know anything about ancient warfare or the societies of Greeks and Persians. Prior to this class, the only ideas I had relating to the societies and their warfare originated from movies, like 300, Greek mythology, and from reading the epic poem, “The Odyssey,” during my freshman year of high school. My ideas have changed and expanded, without doubt, after reading the materials and participating in the discussion topics throughout this course. In order to explain what I have learned, I need to explain what I previously thought about Greek and Persian societies, despite it being very limited knowledge. Previous to this course, my thoughts on both Greeks and Persians were that they were dangerous people and quite frankly, the type of people you did not want …show more content…
I believe that these feelings had both originated and surfaced from watching the film 300. 300 is about a war between Persia and Greece. Sparta is the Greek city state that is in battle with Persia. Sparta’s King Leonidas is leading 300 Spartans, that were chosen, in this war. In the movie, the most iconic scene was when King Leonidas kicks the Persian emissary, or messenger, into the well. I have known that Persia is current day Iran. Other knowledge I have on Greek society is from Greek mythology, like Heracles and Cerberus, and “The Odyssey,” which I learned in this course is written by the same author, Homer, that wrote the poem “Iliad.” The first thing I learned in this course was who the Greek and Persian people were. Greece had been a very advanced country, constructing city-states that had “developed science, mathematics, and representational art in
The Ancient Greek civilization was a cultural center and the location of scholars. Even in the Age of Revolution, Greece united itself through nationalism to gain independence from the Ottoman Turks. What happened? The Clutters were murdered in their home, and Greece is in the midst of a horrific financial crisis. The tight-knit
To begin with, the Spartans were a society that was completely isolated. “It was not allowed them to go abroad, so they should have nothing to do with foreign ways and undisciplined modes of living.” (Doc D) How could the Spartans learn from others or communicate and appreciate other cultures if they could not visit them? This obviously led to the Spartans
One reason is because Persia had a stronger government structure in the area of their kings. One example would be, as stated, “To maintain order among the populace, Persian kings established courts to resolve legal disputes” (Persia Doc E). In contrast, Athenians were not forward thinkers of the area of their leaders and the laws created by said leaders. For example, as stated, “Anyone whose behavior was believed to be a threat to democracy could be ostracized; they would have to leave Athens for 10 years, within the ten days of the decision being taken” (Greek Doc A). The kings and laws of Persia were stronger than Greece’s laws and leaders because the kings of Persia made legal disputes to create peace and unification.
In Herodotus’ Histories, Tigranes teasingly says, “Zounds, Mardonios, what manner of men are these that you have brought us to fight withal? ‘Tis not for money they contend but for glory of achievement!’. Tigranes makes this offhand comment, but it implies a difference between Spartan and Persian culture. Xerxes understands the implications of the comment itself and reacts badly to it. During battle, Xerxes finds out that the Spartans’ difference in values makes the Spartans better warriors.
The Greek language, architecture, and mythology was introduced to those of the area. (Wild) After Alexander the Great’s reign, many other civilizations took over this area. However, none are considered to be quite as advanced of that of the Greeks. This resulted in many of these empires adopting the Greek language and many influences can be seen in these cultures
The Ancient Greeks contributed many things that shaped modern society including ideas about architecture and construction, medicine, government, and the world as a whole. When viewing the Greeks fight for independence against the Ottoman Turks, many considered what the Greeks had done for their current world. This is highlighted in a poem written by Sneyd Davis in doc 1., in which it emphasizes how wrong it is that a “stupid Turk” is proclaiming ignorance in a place that a well respected Ancient Greek philosopher named Plato used to teach. Essentially, Davis expresses the idea that it is disrespectful to the Greeks and what they have done for society with teachings from many people such as Plato for the Turks to be oblivious to the Greeks significance when expressing their preachings. However, it is important to notice that Sneyd Davis is recognized as a writer, so he would inherently sympathize with the intellectual aspects of Greek culture since he is likely to be educated, and view the Turks as unappreciative of their
They were a civilization who gave priority to treating everyone with equal respect. The Persians produced some of the best scholars in the world who have successfully contributed to fields such as astronomy, medicine, mathematics, literature and philosophy. Throughout the millenniums of invasions and conquests; Persians have known to have been tough enough to live through it and repel the invaders. Persia , modern day includes Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Israel and some parts of Egypt and India. In this Paper I will be focusing mainly on Persia's historical aspect, their Religion, language and the culture.
Persia had lived in the words of “It was never about being Persian, it was about being good.” While America, “Commitment to justice, fairness, and openness philosophy of the United States. Where there is no tyranny of kings, where everyone is equal.” Persia invented human rights. They wanted to have that happiness and freedom within everyone no matter whether you were a
Athens and Sparta, located between the Aegean and the Ionian Sea, allied with each other in the Greco-Persian war. Due to the advanced and powerful navy of Athens incorporation with the well-built army of Sparta, they gained victory over the Persian Empire. After the victory, Athens gained wealth and dominance over the other Greek societies causing tensions between Sparta. They both share similarities towards their cultural background but had different views in creating an ideal society in addition to their state’s place in the world. Moreover, they differ from the concepts of a well trained or educated society and a well built military, but share similarities in their government format.
The education of Sparta varied in strengths and in weaknesses. The Sparta’s were first located in southern Greece called the Peloponnese. In this colony, the Sparta’s only vision was bloodthirsty war and violence. At the age of seven, a young boy is removed from his family and is expected, from his 8th to his 21st year, become educated to a brutal military-like discipline. Therefore, regarding the education in Sparta, the weaknesses outweighed the strength because the Spartan’s didn’t value family morals, the basics of reading and writing were taught, and the upbringing of Spartan boys was cruel and painful.
Ancient Greek culture is majorly influential in Western culture. Major works of literature, art, and political structure from ancient Greece remain relevant to modern Western society. However one can contrast these two societies by observing and valuing the art of ancient Greece. One can differentiate ancient Greek culture and modern Western culture by analyzing the treatment of religious figures, attitude towards emotion, and reaction towards nudity in each society. Ancient Greece was a polytheistic society.
Throughout history, there has been many battles in which two large and powerful empires fought to maintain land, fought over religion, or to gain an abundance of resources. These empires, the Greek and the Persian, were hostile towards each other at the time. Although these empires were quite similar, they were near direct opposites at the time.
Webb’s “Depth of Knowledge” Levels Homework #18: DOK Level 1 – Question: Who were the Spartans? The Spartans were basically the soldiers of the Ancient Greek city-state, Sparta. The Spartans devoted all their time to the military, partaking in military training, hunting and war battles. They lived a frugal lifestyle and without any luxuries. They were taught to be brave and courageous at a very young age, soon evolving into soldiers for the military.
In comparison to other states of ancient Greece, Spartans were less cultured, due to their nominal interest in material possession. The Spartans while civilized and educated were less intrigued within the buildings of large monuments , than some of their Greek counterparts. Moreover, education was vital to the Spartans. Although their priority relied on military and combat over anything else, in many ways intelligence and knowledge were also important to succeed in war. Spartans’ would teach young children more than just the perplexing theories of war and strength.
Introduction The history of Western civilization was influenced by the Ancient Greece in more than a few ways, for instance, they inspired various achievements that shaped the early foundation of civilization in the west, and other parts of the world. Some of these developments arose during renaissance and industrial revolution, and impacted on various aspects of the modern world including philosophy, politics, education, and religion. Essentially, the Greeks accomplished great feats in these aspects of life, and the Ancient Greek Culture is popularly known as the birthplace of Western civilization. The purpose of this essay is to analyze how the ancient Greek’s political structure played an important role in the world history considering the fact that it had a noteworthy influence on Western Civilization.