Ancient Greece Civilization Museum Exhibit
By Aiden Mercer
Social—Sparta Social Class
Sparta was made up of three classes, Citizens, Freemen, and Helots. The Citizens had voting rights, could run for government office, as well as own land and farms. Their duties were military training and fighting in battle. Citizens were Dorians descendants. The Freemen rights were serving in the army, traveling outside of Sparta, trading, and owning land. Their duties were serving Spartan city-state and fighting in battle. Freemen were merchants, artisans, and soldiers. They mostly came from other Laconian cities and were also often descended from the Dorians. Helots had no rights in the Spartan economy. Their duties were working on Spartan farms. They originally were inhabitants of Peloponnesus.
Political—Athenian Democracy
Each Greek city-state had its own laws and government. Some Greek cities, like Athens, ruled by democracy, where the people were ruled by all its free citizens instead of a being ruled in a monarch by an individual who had inherited his role. The Archon was the person who was the head of the government. The full-time government of Athens consisted of The Council of 500 which was formed by 500 citizens, 50 from each of the ten tribes, who served for one year. The Assembly was made up of all land-owning men in Athens (roughly 50,000). The government used Direct Democracy where decisions were made based on a consensus from the majority of voters. Having democracy in Athens was an important contribution to Greek civilization because it was a government of the people and for the people. It was also the founding principles of American Democracy.
Religious—The Gods and Parthenon temple
Ancient Greek religion was polytheistic, meaning there were many gods and goddesses. There was a hierarchy of gods, with Zeus being the king of the gods. The Greeks built many temples, statues, and monuments to honor the gods. One of the most famous temples is the Parthenon which was built between 447 and 432 B.C. The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, the Greek goddess or war and the daughter of Zeus. The Parthenon sits high atop the Acropolis of Athens looking down on the city.
Intellectual—Ancient Greek Philosophers
Socrates was a great philosopher from Athens. He taught his students by asking questions and had his students look at their answers from different points of view leading to the truth. The great philosopher Plato was actually a student of Socrates and criticized democracy. He taught is students about the importance of reason. Plato described the ideal government in his book, The Republic. Plato’s student, Aristotle also criticized democracy. Aristotle believed the best ruler should be a strong, moral man, and that Grecians should live by the “golden mean,” live in moderation. Aristotle also set up a school and one of his students was Alexander the Great, who expanded the Greek empire.
Technological—Pythagorean Theorem
The Pythagorean Theorem, the a2 + b2 = c2 formula to find the length of a side of a right triangle, is credited to the Greek mathematician Pythagoras in 6th century B.C. Applying the Pythagorean Theorem lets you find the value of a side of a triangle when you have the lengths of two other sides of a triangle, as long as one corner is 90 degrees. Archeologists today even use the Pythagorean theorem during excavations. They place a rectangular grid over the dig site surface and use the X2+Y2=Z2 formula. After deciding how long the X-axis and Y-axis are, the Pythagorean theorem is used to make sure the quadrant is a rectangle and not a parallelogram.
Economical—Greek Trading
Trade was one of the most important economic tools in Greece. Sparta utilized their fertile land and used their crops to make money. In Athens most of the soil was of poor quality, which limited crop production, so the citizens were fisherman and artisans. Both Athens and Sparta were near an agora, a clearing that the citizens of both cities used as a market and a meeting place. In Sparta, farmers gathered in the agora to do business. In Athens, fisherman and craftsman gathered to sell their goods. The agora was also a place for important leaders to meet and make important decisions for the city-states.
