Greek And Roman Influence On Western Civilization Essay

The ancient Greeks and Romans were perhaps two of the greatest civilizations of the ancient world. These two civilizations thrived in their ancient environments which eventually led to a vast amount of prosperity within these two cultures. It is because of this prosperity that these ancient cultures were able to make a variety of advancements in literature, architecture, art and a variety of other fields. These two civilizations also produced some of the ancient world’s greatest writers, leaders, and philosophers. The cultures of ancient Greece and Rome made a number of contributions to western civilization in the form of advancements in literature, architecture, art, government, and philosophy.

One of the ways that the Roman Empire influenced the world was through Architecture and

The Greeks where the first democracy in the world. There government was made up of six thousand members all of witch where male citizens. They voted on problems that needed to be solved and if a law was to pass a majority vote was needed. Now in the United States also has a democracy. Instead of having six thousand people voting and making the decisions all the people vote on a representative that makes the decisions in the country.

All the three engineering marvels are important in history and progress of not just the Romans, but also the mankind on a whole. All the three still exist today and were brought in by those Roman Emperors who are remembered in positive light as being good rulers of their times. Their pro public policy was the reason for such inventions and also

Greece was one of the first people to have recorded the events of their democratic system. Democracy is a Greek word literally meaning the power of the people to rule. Early democracy was established in ancient Athens, a Greek city-state, and was probably the single most powerful and stable democratic government in Greece.

Ancient Greek architecture advanced over hundreds years; starting in the new stone age, and ending in the archaic period. The Greeks are known for their large stone columns and huge stone buildings. Ancient architects are even credited for building one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the statue of Zeus at Olympia. The earliest buildings were

The Western world was highly influenced by the ancient Greeks. The Greeks changed the way the world looks at art, math, architecture, philosophy, sports, and drama. Without the ancient Greeks, the modern world would not be the same. Men such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle changed the way we look at philosophy. The Athenians created the first known democracy, setting the stage for future governments. The Euclidian Theorem and the Pythagorean Theorem among others made mathematics easier and more developed. Even current architecture can be traced back to the Parthenon and other pieces of Greek architecture. The Olympics even started in ancient Greece, creating one of the finest traditions the world has ever known. Without the ancient

     In addition, to the Roman government, the modern world has been influenced by Roman architecture as well. In every country and every state these days you will find roads or some type of paved road system. This derived from early Roman architectures. The Romans were the first to set up a highly advanced concrete road system that would aide in traveling. Although not as sophisticated as today's roads, the concrete used was not much different from what is used today. In fact the Roman constructed roads are still intact today. Along with road

These contributions, which are also the achievements of ancient Greece, include certain things in the areas of philosophy, art, architecture, math and science. The ancient Greeks were a remarkable civilization in that they have made all these contributions and achievements while simultaneously fighting two wars, the Peloponnesian wars and the Persian wars. Luckily for western civilization, Greece carried on through these hardships and managed to achieve one

Rome popularized concrete and began using it extensively around 300 BC (Brewer, n.d.). The second

innovations to fully fulfill the practical needs for the society as a whole. Among these architectural changes basilicas, temples, amphitheaters, bridges and aqueducts, and residential blocks can be found engrained in Roman culture as it positively impacted the lives of Romans. These inventions were paid for, organized, and spread around by a state which fully supported the Roman Empire. The Romans influence in monumental architecture as well as many other aspects of Western life remains clearly visible today as it did back then. Western civilization presently compromises Western Europe and North America and are believed to have derived from the influence of cultures found in the Roman Empire. In this research essay, I will discuss and contrast Roman culture to Western Civilization as well as emphasizing on the influences provided by the Roman Empire that are still prominent today.

From Greece we move to Rome, which had an affinity for many things Greek. Such as the Greek gods which they used to model their own gods after. If Greece's greatest contribution to western civilization was democracy, then by contrast Rome's greatest contribution was the idea of the Republic. The Republic which is a major staple in many western civilization states to this day. Rome also provided blueprints for the balance of power within most western civilization nations today.

Ancient Greece was one of the first democratic societies and has greatly influenced modern day governments. Although the Greek idea of democracy is different from what is practiced today, their ideas formed the basis for modern democratic governments. Prior the invention of democracy, citizens had no rights and there were no guidelines for who was considered a citizen. Democracy gave voting rights and the ability to hold office to citizens – free men born in Greece, usually landowners. Today’s modern democracy is accessible to all people and has a higher degree of organization and hierarchy, it still derives its basic prinicples from Greek democracy.

Many centuries before the birth of Christ, the city of Rome grew, prospered, and developed into a thriving Republic. As in most cultures, Rome's buildings became more elaborate and impressive. They developed fantastic building technologies and ideas. The feats of Roman engineers were groundbreaking, and many structures built by this culture still stand today. With knowledge borrowed from the Greeks, Rome made impressive architectural achievements, these were namely major attributes of buildings, colossal structures, and a legacy that would influence later buildings (Cornell and Matthews 11).

It’s inconvertible that Roman’s legacy can still be felt nowadays in our daily lives and it had an elegance impact on modern buildings. Romans took architecture to a greater level by creating lots of masterworks that the purpose from them was to solve problems. Actually, their creativity in solving particular problems inspired and it’s still inspiring modern society. They started with constructing complicated road system which is connecting all the places and countries to each other and all of them led you to the capital. In addition to the public places like bathes which were open to the whole city. Then they started to construct columns, arches, and domes with lots of different special decorations and types. After that they invented the aqueducts and spread it throughout the Empire, which were