Page 109 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

derived from Greek poetry and drama. Greek notions of har- mony, proportion, and beauty have remained the touchstones for all subsequent Western art and architecture. A rational method of inquiry, so impor-
tant to modern science, was conceived in ancient Greece. Many of our political terms are Greek in origin, and so are our con- cepts of the rights and duties of citizenship, especially as they were conceived in Athens, which gave the idea of democracy to the Western world. Especially during the classical period, the Greeks raised and debated fundamental questions about the
CHAPTER TIMELINE
purpose of human existence, the structure of human society, and the nature of the universe that have concerned Western thinkers ever since. Although the Greeks did not conceive of Western civilization as a cultural entity, their artistic, intellec- tual, and political contributions were crucial to the foundations of Western civilization.
All of these achievements came from a group of small city- states in ancient Greece. And yet there remains an element of tragedy about Greek civilization. For all of their brilliant accom- plishments, the Greeks were unable to rise above the divisions and rivalries that caused them to fight each other and undermine their own civilization. Luckily, their contributions to Western civ- ilization survived their political struggles.
1600 B.C.E.
Mycenaean Greece
1340 B.C.E.
1080 B.C.E.
Dark Age
820 B.C.E. 560 B.C.E. 300 B.C.E.
Age of Greek expansion
Classical Age
Reforms in Sparta
Cleisthenes’s reforms
Battle of Marathon Homer
Great Peloponnesian War
Parthenon
Plato and Aristotle
Greek drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides)
CHAPTER REVIEW
Upon Reflection
Q What was the polis, and why is it considered by many historians to be an important development in the political history of Western civilization?
Q Discuss the organization of the Athenian democratic system. Was it truly a democracy? In what ways was Athenian democracy similar to U.S. democracy? In what ways was it different?
Q The period of the Classical Age in Greece is known for its literary, artistic, and intellectual achievements. What basic characteristics of Greek culture are reflected in the major achievements of the Greeks in the writing of history, drama, the arts, and philosophy? What universal human concerns did these same achievements reflect?
Chapter Summary • 71
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