Another paper.

[DW]

Dick Hertz
1/10/10
It's All Greek to Me
(This is a good title because it has Greek in it)

Three civilizations have stood out throughout the years as the greatest, the ones who changed the course of history forever through their innovation, religion, or conquests. Of these three, one stands out in my mind as being slightly more influential than the rest of the lot. This civilization is, of course, the Greeks. They were the first sturdy civilization; even though the Hebrews came first, they were spread all over the place and weren't exactly the toughest group of soldiers out there. The Greeks, however, had some sort of stable government and architecture that still stands. Since they were the first civilization to establish a stable, strong nation that met its peoples' basic needs, it was also the first civilization in which the inhabitants had the free time to devote their lives to the Arts. From then on, pretty much every civilization was influenced in at least some way by the Greeks, even the Romans who mocked the toga-wearing, goat-herding sissies.
Even since prehistoric times, there has been some form of art. Even if it was simply cave drawings on the wall, it's still something every group of peoples shared. However, what makes the Greeks stand out is the fact that they took the Arts and actually began to look at it as something important to the cultivation of oneself. It was no longer just a tool to worship a God, or communicate, or even to make a herd of bison appear outside of a cave. It now existed for the pleasure, refinement, and for generally secular purposes. The Hebrews had spent all their life trying to please God and follow the laws laid for them in the Old Testament; the only 'Arts' to come out of their age was a collection of hymns and a holy book. While this was very important, it really focused only on the sectarian part of life, not a huge change in lifestyle from the polytheists—other than there being only one God, of course. The point is, they never thought it right for a man to express himself through nonreligious ways. Now, while the Romans did produce some absolutely stunning art, it also shared in the Hebrews one-track-mind philosophy. Pretty much every sculpture, engraving, or what-have-you had to have a purpose. Either to glorify a leader, commemorate a great victory, or simply hold a building up sturdily. Not to mention that the Romans' work was very heavily influenced from the Greeks attention to detail in the Hellenistic period. The Greeks were the most innovative and the most devoted to growing the art of sculpture. They took sculpture all the way from the Egyptian-esque blocky figures resembling Gumby dipped in cement and by the end of their days had began producing beautiful, anatomically correct figures with unique poses and facial expressions. Just imagine if all of our sculptures today still had no more definition than a kindergartner's play-doh project. Teenagers probably wouldn't really care, but I'm sure a lot of the older people would.
Next, because you know I couldn't possibly go through this paper without discussing it, is the Greek influence in Theatre. Plays before the Greeks, whether it was Hebrew or earlier, served to try and reinforce beliefs, teach lessons, or praise the God(s/ess/esses). Never did stage productions tug at the heartstrings of every audience member until the Greeks threw their lot into the mix. They actually held festivals solely for acting—the most famous being the City of Dionysus--a ritual still repeated today. Playwrights from everywhere would gather to see who could produce the most eloquently-worded, plot rich work of art before a panel of judges and pretty much all the rest of Greece. Of the plays that survive to this day, such as Antigone and Oedipus, many are still read often and considered to be some of the best ever in terms of language and plot structure. In fact, in the Drama classes taught in our school district, Antigone is read in the class, and the students perform pieces from it; Even further proof of the lasting legacy of the Greeks. They had honed Theatrical performance so finely, in fact, that Aristotle wrote an entire document solely on how to construct the perfect tragedy. When you throw in the fact that without the Greeks (and most specifically Thespis) we wouldn't even have actual actors, there's really no doubt that they had the largest impact of any nation. The Romans may have had great comedies with all the bawdiness, gore, and ridiculously huge fountains of blood squirting out of the characters, but it just doesn't quite stack up to the richness, philosophy, and moral dilemmas explored by the Greek playwrights.
You know those big things in front of the Supreme Court? Those are called columns. You know who started using the columns? As if my setup didn't make it obvious enough, the answer is 'the Greeks'. They were the first civilization to figure out how to construct a large building with a lot of room inside while keeping the supports on the outside. Instead of a post-and-lintel setup, where the support was sitting in the middle of the room in a fairly awkward position, Greek advances in mathematics allowed them to move on to a more efficient, sturdy, and incredibly aesthetic style. Their columns grew more and more ornate through the years, going from a simple Doric column with flat sides and a fairly imposing, strong shape to the incredibly ornate Corinthian column with its slender body and swirly designs. Everywhere you look, you can find both of these columns, as well as the more balanced Ionic column, as part of architecture in many nations' monuments and important buildings. This is very impressive compared to the other civilizations since the Hebrews didn't really construct anything (aside from a temple or two) that didn't get knocked down soon afterwards by invaders, and the Roman arch hasn't spread quite as much. The Romans, in fact, even used Greek columns very heavily, especially in the Coliseum, which is perhaps their most famous architectural feat. So next time you see a column on a pretty cool-looking building. be sure to thank the Greeks for not dying before they gave you the gift of awesome architecture.
Though I really didn't want to get into this part, I suppose any paper about the Greeks necessitates mention of their philosophy. I guess the biggest point to cover is that they actually had philosophy. Before the Greeks, no one really asked the big questions, let alone attempt to answer them. All the focus was either on religion or making sure you weren't eaten in the middle of the night by whatever large cat lived in your part of Europe. The Greeks, once again, established a stable civilization where the people were free to explore all these other aspects of life. All they did was try to cultivate the person, and it's really a monumental task to count up all the advances they made in astronomy, mathematics, science, literature, and countless other things, and frankly I don't have the work ethic to type another three pages about it. However, I their biggest area of innovation was in philosophy due to the fact that they pretty much created it. Suddenly, there exists such ideas as 'human rights' and 'self-improvement'—both philosophies that America integrated into its constitution. Modern philosophy got its roots from the Greeks, even—Plato's allegory of the Charioteer is still used today as the basis in many modern psychologists' works, such as Sigmund Freud. The whole idea that the individual was worth study and improvement was revolutionary, and opened up whole fields of study, like psychology and behavioral analysts, and if it weren't for such thoughts, no one would have been motivated enough to become a better sculptor, politician, or (God forbid) chef. Greeks changed the way that we see people as a whole, and there's no doubt that none of us would be the same without them.
So there you have it, irrefutable evidence that Greeks were more influential in my head than the Hebrews or Romans. While I may have somewhat slighted the accomplishments of the other two civilizations, that is what you do when writing a fair, well-researched paper; alter the facts.  The Greeks did more than accomplish great things; they changed human thought and the world as we know it. Or don't know it, if you want to nitpick over the fact that we weren't alive back then to know it.

[Uximadesk]

Lots of mistakes and passional opinions.
Mesopothamia was actually the first  civilization to offer all the needs to it's population.
I might overlook some contextual mistakes but what I can not overlook is that the Theater Festival was actually dedicated specifically to a God. Theater was held as a highly religious act in Greece, frequently including Gods as characters in the plays. Actually, a lot of information we have from their pantheon comes from the scripts of such plays.

As for their military, I do have to remind the author that it was infact the Romans wh- OH I GOT IT! It's a joke right?

[DW]

Yeah I think we should beat this guy up.

So what else would you do to fix this?

[Uximadesk]

Mostly the way he (most of the time wrongly) despises other cultures in favor of the Greeks.
This was obviously made in a hurry, poorly researched.
While it is true that the Greeks came up with their political system, it was the Romans who spread it to Europe, and from there, to the colonies that would be found from the the XV century forward.

Architecture; there are Egyptian ruins which present the same "column" design he atributes to the Greeks.
The Corinthian style was actually introduced by the Romans after... something happened to Greece (I can't exactly remember that architecture open course I once went to).
Also, pedophiles.

[Darth Wyndisis]

He also forgot the part about the enslaved people escaping to Hyrule.

[MagmarFire]

tl;dr, except for the conclusion.

While I may have somewhat slighted the accomplishments of the other two civilizations, that is what you do when writing a fair, well-researched paper; alter the facts.

lolwut

[Mysterious F.]

Also, pedophiles.

Hey, at least it isn't ancient Rome.  :P

[DW]

Also, pedophiles.

Hey, at least it isn't ancient Rome.  :P

I should tell you the original story of the Pied Piper one day.

[Hi no Seijin]

Why one day?  Why not today?

[Mysterious F.]

Also, pedophiles.

Hey, at least it isn't ancient Rome.  :P

I should tell you the original story of the Pied Piper one day.

Only if you read Satyricon, or at least watch the movie.