Greek science and its benefits

Greek Science and Its Benefits on Western CivilizationGreek civilization came to an end more than 2,000 years ago, when Greece became a part of the Roman Empire. Yet its influence on politics, philosophy, art, architecture, language, and literature can still be felt today. Much of the language we use and many of our ideas about science and art come from ancient Greece The ancient Greeks influenced the Western World in many ways. The ancient Greeks especially contributed many things to the scientific world, from agriculture to astronomy. Passed down hundreds of years, the ways of living, hunting, farming, visual exploration of space, questions of the world around us, have change very little Many cultures have had innovative scientific developments and traditions of scientific thought. However, many of these cultures ientific histories have been swept away by time because their scientific foundations have been weak, resting on mythological superstitions. Greek science, on the other hand, has withstood time's tempests because of the strong foundations laid by earlier societies in mathematics, measurement, astronomy, and medicine. Greek science had its beginnings with mathematics. They were begun in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and then over the course of time were passed on to the Greeks. Archimedes and Pythagoras are considered to be the greatest Greek mathematicians, Archimedes was an early writer on the science of mechanics. Math and mechanics became extremely useful during the Golden Age of Greece. Geometry played a large role in the development of Greek architecture, and was applied widely. Many of their ways of building are still used today. Physics were also used to construct buildings as well as in war. Levers made moving large stones feasible. With the help of physics in wartime catapults were constructed to throw large stones at the enemy. Physics is a highly important topic in today's wars with propulsion and precision of bombs and other projectile aimed weapons The Greeks also developed astronomy. They were able to anticipate the day when certain planets would be visible to people on earth, and even where they would appear in the sky. This is known in today's terms as astronomy in position. With the space travel and eager information seeking individuals of today's society, this has made it possible for people to see things that would normally pass without notice Another topic the Greeks came up with is theoretical science. The ancient Greeks began asking questions about the world around them. They wanted to explain the unexplainable. They wanted to know where things came from and how they were made Asking these questions and getting the first answers, even though many of them were proved wrong, actually laid the foundations of Western science still used today The Greeks passed their theories on to the Romans and others in Western Europe. For hundreds of years, European science was based on the early theories of the Greeks In conclusion, you can see that even though we don't realize how much of an impact ancient Greek science has on our day to day life, without it we would be left with far less answers and much harder lives.

ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA ORIGINS OF ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA

Theater was born in Attica, Ionic an region of Greece. It originated from the ceremonial orgies of Dionysos but soon enough its elds of interest spread to various myths along with historic facts. As ancient drama was an institution of Democracy, the great tragic poets Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides as well as the comedian Aristophanes elevated public debate and political criticism to a el of aesthetic achievement Euripides and the ethologist Menandros, in the thriving years of Alexandria and later on during the Roman domination, reached a beau ideal level and through the Romans managed to form Westem Theater, from Renascence and thereafter. DRAMA FESTIVALS

The plays were presented at festivals in honor of Dionysus, including the Great Dionysia at Athens, held in the spring the Rural Dionysia, held in the winter and the Lenaea, also held in the winter following the Rural Dionysia. The works of only three poets selected in competition, were performed. In addition to three tragic plays (a trilogy) each poet had to present a satyr play a farcical often bawdy parody of the gods and their myths. Later, comedy, which developed in the mid-5th century BC, was also presented The oldest extant comedies are by Aristophanes. They have a highly formal structure thought to be derived from ancient fertility rite The humor consists of a mixture of satincal attacks on contemporary public figures. bawdy, scatological jokes, and seemin sacrilegious parodies of the gods. By the 4th century BC comedy had supplanted tragedy as the dominant form. ANCIENT THEATERS The form of the Greek physical theater evolved over two centuries interestingly. the permanent stone theaters that survive today as ruins were not built until the 4th century BC-that is, after the ciassical period of playwriting. The open-air theaters may ha consisted of an orchestra a flat circular area used for Choral dances-a raised stage behind it for actors, and a roughly semicircular seating area built into a hillside around the orchestra, although modem scholars debate the layout of particular theaters. These theaters held 15,000 to 20,000 spectators, As the importance of actors grew and that of the chorus diminished, the stage became higher and encroached on the orchestra space The actors all men wore theatricalized versions of everyday dress, but, most important, they wore larger-than-life masks, which aided visibility and indicated the nature of the character to the audience. In the vast theaters, subtie gestures and facial expressions upon which modem actors depend, would have been lost Movement was apparent stately and formal, and the greatest emphasis tly was on the voice. Music accompanied the dances. An ancient Greek production was probably more akin to opera than to modem drama In keeping with its religious function, the theater was state supported, admission was free or nominal to everyone, and actors were highly regarded. Working at the same time were the mimes -male and female popular entertainers who plied their trade whereve an audience would toss a few coins.

THEMES OF PLAYS

As Greek culture spread in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great, the topical. literary comedies and philosophical tragedies became inappropriate, and domestic comedy called Middle and New Comedy proliferated. Only one complete New Comedy survives the Dyskolos (he Cumudgeon or The Misanthrope, 317 BC)by Menander, These plays are similar in plot and style to the situation comedies on television today. The plot hinges on a complication or situation revolving around love, famil problems, money, or the like. The characters are stock identifiable, simplified social types, such as a miserly father or a nagging mother-in-law, Greek tragedy flourished in the 5th century BC. Of the more than 1000 tragedies written dunng that century only 31 remain, all by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

AESCHYLUS

Aeschylus lived between 525 BC and 456 BC. He was a Greek dramatist, the earliest of the great tragic poets of Athens. As the predecessor of Sophocles and Euripides, he is called the father of Greek tragedy.