ancient greece is often labeled the start of western civilization because of classical antiquity.
ancient greece is often labeled the start of western civilization because of classical antiquity.
why is ancient greece often labeled the start of western civilization?
classical antiquity
ancient greece was the founding culture of western civilisation. western democratic and rationalist culture are often attributed to ancient greece. the greeks city-state, the polis, was the fundamental political unit of classical greece. in 508 bc, cleisthenes instituted the world's first democratic system of government in athens. the greek political ideals were rediscovered in the late 18th century by european philosophers and idealists. greece also generated many cultural contributions: in philosophy, humanism and rationalism under aristotle, socrates and plato; in history with herodotus and thucydides; in dramatic and narrative verse, starting with the epic poems of homer; in drama with sophocles and euripides, in medicine with hippocrates and galen; and in science with pythagoras, euclid and archimedes. in the course of the 5th century bc, several of the greek city states would ultimately check the achaemenid persian advance in europe through the greco-persian wars, considered a pivotal moment in world history, as the 50 years of peace that followed are known as golden age of athens, the seminal period of ancient greece that laid many of the foundations of western civilization.
europe
history of western civilization before ad 500









































western civilization describes the development of human civilization beginning in ancient greece, and generally spreading westwards. however, western civilization in its more strictly defined sphere traces its roots back to rome and the western mediterranean. it can be strongly associated with nations linked to the former western roman empire and with medieval western christendom.
history of western civilization before ad 500