Ancient Greece Top Interesting Facts: There are many interesting facts about ancient Greece which children will find interesting. These facts set the trend for many things we do, see, and know in our times. The Greeks were ahead of their times. They were a modern people during their time.
Top Interesting Facts about Ancient Greece
They were a knowledge-driven society and thought along the lines of totally civilizing humankind. This was a remarkable level of awareness they possessed.
The Ancient Greece Top Interesting Facts About Olympics:
The first Olympic Games were held in Greece. In 776 BC, the Olympic Games were flagged off in Olympia in Greece. It was held in the honor of the Father of Gods and Men Zeus. It is still unclear about the origins of the Olympic Games, but it was said that it promoted goodwill and the spirit of sportsmanship in people. Sports were seen as a vital ingredient to create a culture of healthy competition.
The ancient Greek Olympics were quite different from what we know today and they had many weird and strange customs if seen through the prism of the present. Firstly, it was a religious event so the main focus was on rituals rather than sporting events. It was said to have taken place in honor of the Greek god, Zeus.
The athletes who participated were greatly respected and even statues are to have been built for the winners, gaining great prestige in society. The sports then were much more violent than today’s regulated versions as sports such as boxing ended with either the death of the loser or their surrender. Even wrestling was a violent and bloody sport that allowed anything other than biting on the ears of the opponent.
Lastly, running competitions which have become a global phenomenon were quite different back then. The athletes used to run naked in the races and even the sweat from their bodies was collected and sold as they were supposed to have cured body aches. The ancient Olympics was mostly a men’s affair as the participation of women was confined to cultural events and even attending sporting events was illegal.
Ancient Greek Democracy
Democracy in Greece was quite different from the elective and representative democracy we know today. The Greek democracies, especially the famed Athenian democracy, were ruled by the direct choices of the people with no middle representatives. Any 5000 people in a day used to take part in the political proceedings and vote on the matters raised in the assemblies. It was a direct form of democracy where people directly ruled their state and even had the power to exile important officials.
The running of Pheidippides:
This is one of ancient Greece interesting facts that never cease to amaze. The running of the more solid Philippines was actually commemorated in the form of the marathon, which exists even to this day. He was said to have run all the way from Marathon to Athens to deliver the message of the Greek victory against the Persians in the battle of the marathon before dropping dead of exhaustion after delivering the message. The Philippines ran from a war zone, which was located near to the town of Marathon, to Athens.
His death was commemorated by a long-running race which came to be known as the marathon which exists and is very popular even today. This also brings to our attention the great number of runners who actually delivered messages from place to place without any sort of postal system in place.
The ancient Greeks lived for four thousand years
This is one amongst the most interesting facts about ancient Greece. Ancient Greeks thrived for a very long time. They left a lasting footprint on the sands of time. Four thousand years is a very long time for anything to sustain in longevity. The ancient Greek culture sustained over this period. This was truly amazing.
Ancient Greek toys:
When discussing ancient Greece interesting facts, this one is sometimes left out. Ancient Greeks invented sophisticated toys for children. Even then, there have been indications of toys such as rattles, yo-yews, and clay figurines used. Quite remarkably, the toy system has not changed even after thousands of years.
Interesting facts about ancient Greece do not end here. When children were born, they were considered as youths. Until they reached the age of thirty, they were called youths. Whenever a newborn arrived, the father of the child would dance naked in his home.
This was a ritual that went on for thousands of years. Ancient Greece interesting facts are also startling. When a baby was born, the doorway was decorated with wreaths. We use wreaths on a funeral site, but here it was the reverse.
The First ancient Computer
In 1901, a Greek sponge per discovered the wreck of an ancient cargo ship off the coast of the Antikythera island. One of the items recovered was an ancient mechanical computer that became known as the Antikythera mechanism. Scientists estimated that it was created in 150 to 100 BC. For over a hundred years, scientists debated the true purpose of the Antikythera mechanism and marveled at the intricacies of the device (mind you, the mechanical clock didn’t appear in the West until about a thousand years later).
Recently, scientists believed that they’ve finally cracked the mystery: Tony Freeth, a member of the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project, said he was astonished at the discovery.
The Olympiad cycle was a very simple and Important Facts, four-year cycle and you don’t need a sophisticated instrument like this to calculate it. It took us by huge surprise when we saw this.
City states
Ancient Greece was divided into a large number of city-states or polis. With mountains and rough terrains, it was very tough to communicate among the states and this led to cities or states growing up in almost isolation with their types of culture, government, customs, etc. Some powerful city-states were Athens, Sparta, Corinth, etc.
Jury in Ancient Greece
The jury was an invention gifted to the world from ancient Greece which was established to ensure fair trials and justice. This was an essential part of democracy and even today modern states have been influenced by them to have their juries in their justice system. The juries in ancient Greece were huge in numbers, even estimated to be around 500 in number in which the decision of the majority was taken to be final.
Ancient Greeks spoke the same language:
Ancient Greeks communicated to each other in the same language, prayed to the same Gods, and believed in unity. This happened across thousands of years. And quite remarkably, among ancient Greece interesting facts, this one is outstanding. This was probably one of the only binding factor among the Greek states which was actually divided into a number of independent city-states with their own culture, government, etc.
To maintain this kind of consistency across thousands of years is a first in human history. And interesting facts about ancient Greece have always been firsts in the history of mankind.
Ancient Greek children
Life in ancient Greece was not a bed of roses for babies. They had a hard time surviving with very high infant mortality rates. Many died in the first couple days of life explaining why babies did not receive names until the seventh or tenth day of life.If a baby was born deformed, it might have been abandoned on a mountain (more often female babies were abandoned than males). Although such babies were raised by slaves and poor people as their own to make up for their own children.
In some Greek cities, there was an unusual practice; Ancient Greek Children were wrapped up in clothes until they were about two years old to ensure straight and strong limbs. The children mostly spent their childhood in the company of their mothers. They were breastfed by their mother and sometimes even by wet nurses. They were even fed in bottles made through pottery. They slept in cradles that were specially made for children of wood or wicker wood.
After five days of their birth they were formally included into the family with a ceremony known as Amphidromia, where the the father carried the child around the hearth which held great meaning for the Ancient Greeks. It was also an offering to the goddess of the hearth, Hestia to pray for her protection.
A rather strange tradition in Greek Sparta to check if a child was physically strong or not was to keep the infant on a hilltop for an entire night. They believed that the child survived the night then he/she was tough and strong. Also, a strong belief was that strong women could give birth to strong children, hence even the women in Greece had to undergo army training from an early age.
More info on- The Greece facts and information facts Olympics, gods, food, culture
