Influence of the Ancient Greeks on Modern Society

The ancient Greeks made advances in many different areas, some of which are prevalent even today. Many modern politics such as our system of government and our legal system, came from ideas first introduced by the ancient Greeks over 2,000 years ago. They also made many contributions in math and technology that we still use today. We also still participate in the Olympics and many cities have annual marathons both started by the Greeks thousands of years ago. Modern society would be very different if not for the influence of the ancient Greeks.

Many aspects of modern governments, especially that of the United States and other democracies, would be drastically different without the influence of the ancient Greeks.

Although our system of government has many differences from theirs, it was inspired by the Athenian democracy. The Athenian constitution, written by Aristotle, says, “There was also to be a council, consisting of four hundred and one members, elected by lot from among those who possessed the franchise. Both for this and for the other magistracies the lot was cast among those who were over thirty years of age; and no one might hold office twice until everyone else had had his turn, after which they were to cast the lot afresh.” The Athenians were the first to allow the citizens of their city to vote on the city’s matters as opposed to prior governments. These earlier governments only had the power in the hands of one individual or a small group of elites. Although people had to fill certain criteria such as being male, above 30, and owning land, to be citizens it was still far more open to different types of people than in the past. The United states government is different in that any citizen over 18 can vote and we vote for representatives to vote for us instead of voting directly on issues, however it is rooted from the Athenian democracy. If the Athenians had never started their democracy or if the information about it had been lost our system of government would probably be extremely different.

The Athenian constitution also says, “These officers take them and bring up the case before the law-court, to a jury of two hundred and one members.” The Athenians started the process of jury by your peers which we still use today. This allows people who’ve been accused of a crime to be judged by other citizens instead of one person or group with complete control that could be biased. They also started idea of people being innocent until proven guilty which is very important to our justice system for keeping innocent people from being convicted without a fair trial. The politics of modern society, especially in the United States would be very different without the influence of the ancient Greeks.

Some of our modern math and technology were greatly derived from that of the ancient Greeks and would be quite different without them. One of the smartest mathematicians and inventors in the ancient world was Archimedes. He was born in 287 B.C. on the island of Sicily and spent much of his life developing weapons to defend his homeland. Some of his mathematical technological advancements include finding the surface area and volume of a sphere, inventing pulleys, screws, levers, and most notable being the first to accurately calculate pi. We use many of his inventions as a basis for our current inventions and without them many of our current technology wouldn’t work. We also still use Archimedes’ mathematical breakthroughs over 2,000 years later which continue to be very important. Archimedes’ inventions and discoveries have greatly influenced modern society and we still use many of them today.

The Greeks have also had a great impact on athletic events in modern society. The Olympics originated as an athletic event dedicated to the king god Zeus. Greek men from all over would come to Olympia every 4 years to compete against each other and for the honor of their city-state. The games even continued after Greece was conquered by the Romans. However, the ancient Olympics came to an end in 393 A.D when Roman emperor Theodosius 1 banned all “pagan” activities. The Frenchman Baron Pierre de Coubertin revived the Olympics in 1896 after getting the idea from visiting Olympia. The Olympics have continued and have become a large part of modern culture with athletes from all different countries coming together every 2 years to compete for Olympic glory. Another popular sporting event started by the Greeks is the Marathon. It is based off the run of a Greek messenger. After the Battle of Marathon, he was tasked with running the almost 25 miles to Athens to bring news of the victory and died right after delivering the news. This inspired the modern marathon, which first took place during the Olympics in 1896 and now many major cities hold them annually and thousands of people compete each year. Both of these athletic events bring people together and help unify us and they both originated in ancient Greece and now have a large impact on modern society.

The ancient Greeks have had a large impact on our current society and life would be very different without their influence. They’ve affected many different aspects of our society. The Athenian democracy created the basis for our system of Government and there are many aspects of our legal systems that originated with the Athenians. The Greeks also made many breakthroughs in math and technology that we still use today, and two of modern society’s major athletic events were started by the ancient Greeks. Even though it’s been thousands of years since the ancient Greeks they’ve created a lasting impression on our society and it’s important to acknowledge how much of an impact they’ve had on us.