Download Brief history of Greece

GREEK HISTORY AND ITS IMPACT ON EUROPE
It is globally known that Greece has got a unique and magnificent
history. The Greeks’ achievements in philosophy, rhetoric techniques,
democracy, science and especially rationality have put a huge influence
on western culture.
Most western philosophical traditions began in Ancient Greece in
the 6th century BC. The first philosophers are called "Presocratics" which
designates that they came before Socrates. The Presocratics were from
the western or the eastern colonies of Greece and only fragments of the
original writings of the presocratics survive, in some cases only a single
sentence.
A new period of philosophy started with Socrates who made the
thoughts and opinions of people his starting-point. Aspects of Socrates
were first united from Plato, who also combined with them many of the
principles established by earlier philosophers, and developed the whole
of this material into the unity of a comprehensive system.
Aristotle of Stagira, the most important disciple of Plato, shared
with his teacher the title of the greatest philosopher of antiquity but
while Plato had sought to elucidate and explain things from the suprasensual standpoint of the forms, his pupil preferred to start from the
facts given us by experience.
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens,
comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory
of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens was one of the first known
democracies. It remains a unique and intriguing experiment in direct
democracy where the people vote on their behalf but vote on legislation
and executive bills in their own right. Participation was by no means
open, but the in-group of participants was constituted with no reference
to economic class and they participated on a scale that was truly
phenomenal. The public opinion of voters was remarkably influenced by
the political satire performed by the comic poets at the theatres.
As regards to the term "rationality", was ever first used in the
ancient Greek ideology. The founder of rationality is Parmenides, who
believed the only criterion of truth was logic. The rationality accepts
logical thinking as the only source of knowledge. The reasoning comes
from the power of the mind's ability to receive sense stimuli from the
environment, which is to understand through the proper word.
During the Enlightenment, the idea of rationality spread across
Europe at a rapid pace. People then began to rely more on logic than on
perceptions, which had been imposed by the society of the Middle Ages
and Church, to explain and interpret various natural, or supernatural,
and social phenomena. The rationality appeared particularly in writings
of scholars and scientists, thus developed sciences such as medicine,
physics, chemistry and biology to a large extent. That is why the
institutions, the sciences and their terminal logos have Greek origin. We
say φιλοσοφία-philosophy, φυσική-physics, βιολογία-biology and
δημοκρατία-democracy. Of course, the philosophy was another field
that benefited from rationality and helped to explain many concepts
such as truth, justice and righteousness.
Undoubtedly, ancient Greece was the basis for the growth and
development of Europe. The concepts supported by the ancient Greeks,
particularly democracy and rationality, influenced Europe in a significant
degree during the period of Enlightenment. However, the influence does
not stop there, even today, as these ideas have been embraced by
today's Europeans, and not only.
Furthermore, the Olympic Games, the biggest international event in
the world, began in Olympia in Greece in 776 BC. The spirit of the
Olympic Games is very similar to how it was those days encouraging
peace, friendship and fair play, while the athletes play the main role.
This event takes place every four years; the Olympic Flame comes from
Olympia, as in ancient times, and still brings people together in friendly
competition.