Ancient Greece Contributions: “We owe a lot to the ancient Greeks”. “Ancient Greek civilization was one of the most impactful civilization”. Some of us might have been hearing such things from our teachers or parents.

Many of us might wonder what the Greeks have given the world except for the Pythagoras theorem which many of us might be having. But, the fact is that societies world over has borrowed a lot from the ancient Greek civilization. We have molded their ideas as per our needs but the basic ideas belong to them.

Greece Contributions to democracy

Ancient Greece was formed of many different city-states. Each city-state had its own government, rules & regulations. Though the people had a common Greek origin, each city-state differed in many ways. What many of countries call ‘Democratic rule’, was born in Athens. Though their idea of democracy differs a lot from the modern thought, the basic idea of the government being formed by the people and for the people, originated 2000 years ago.

Talking about philosophy, Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle gave such influential philosophies that have helped shape the modern philosophical tradition. One of the earliest Greek literature was Homer’s poems, Iliad and Odyssey.

Tragic theatre pieces also originated in ancient Greece. The other form of drama, the comedy, was first seen in ancient Athens. Such dramas generally created humor by criticising the government, something that we see a lot nowadays.

Greece Contributions to Sports

The ancient Greeks loved sports of every kind. World’s most prolific and celebrated sporting event ‘The Olympics’, was born in ancient Greece in 776 B.C. The Olympics back then was held every four years and all the city-states sent their finest athlete to participate in the event. The modern Olympics were organized first time in the year 1896.

Hippocratic oath

The Hippocratic oath, that all doctors worldwide have to take, is one of the most famous contributions of Hippocratic, a physician of the classical age, born in 460 BC. He is referred to as the father of the western medicine. Other than medical science, the Greeks have contributed greatly to mathematics.

One of the oldest branches of mathematics is geometry. While the world kept using geometry without reasoning, the Greeks insisted that geometric facts must be established by deductive reasoning. Many Greek mathematicians like Thales of Miletus, Pythagoras, Euclid,

Archimedes etc. gave a number of axioms and rules which are taught to date in schools.
The ancient Greek architecture, sculpture, and paintings are today referred to as the classical art and architecture.

The Greeks gave immense importance to the human body form in their sculptures and hence ancient sculptures have some of the finest body detailing. We narrate stories of Greek mythology and we all have probably heard of Hercules who was considered as the world’s strongest man.

The Pandora box also comes from an ancient Greek mythology. Many English alphabets have been borrowed from the ancient Greece language.Hence, it is very clear how much our present culture and society has borrowed from rich ancient Greece. So, next time you wonder why people around you are boasting of the ancient Greek civilization, make sure to get a reality check before you question them.