8 GREECE'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO HUMANITY - HISTORY - 2024

The contributions of Greece to humanity throughout history represented the birth of behaviors, practices and social and cultural phenomenon that persist to this day. Humanity might not be the same had it not been for the contributions that Greece has made throughout history.

The discoveries and contributions of Greek society have represented one of the most enriching historical moments for man; at which time ideas and practices were first developed that would be emulated by other contemporary and later societies.

Greece was one of the most influential civilizations of the Ancient Age.

Inventions in the fields of art, architecture, politics, sports, science, etc. They have been only a small part of the legacy of Greek civilization. Even today, Greece represents the cradle of great processes of transformation of humanity.

Greece's most outstanding contributions

Geometry and mathematics

Considered as a language in itself, mathematics has become the essential instrument for understanding the world.

Pythagoras believed that numbers were the key to understanding nature. The Greeks devoted themselves to the teaching of mathematics and geometry as fields of study alongside astronomy.

Schools like the Pythagoreans gave greater importance to mathematical practices, coming to be used and praised by later characters such as Aristotle.

Medicine and other sciences

It is considered that in Greece the father of medicine, Hippocrates, was born, who was able to change the perspective of the moment on health and the body.

He displaced the popular belief that diseases were caused by the gods, showing that they could have natural causes, with close observation as an essential technique.

The Greeks also contributed to development in fields and practices such as geography and cartography, astronomy, and botany. The joint application of knowledge allowed Greek civilization to gain the upper hand.

Astronomy

Greece was considered a pioneer in the field of astronomy for centuries. It was on its ground that men looked up to the sky and began to observe phenomena that changed their notion about their place in the universe.

Scientists like Aristarchus and Hipparchus are one of the astronomical references that history tells.

The first suggested for the first time the possibility that the Earth revolved around the Sun and was not the center of the Universe, as was considered.

The second was one of the most established astronomers, identifying and naming more than 800 stars for the time.

Arts

Greek civilization is credited with the invention and practice of expressive forms such as theater and poetry, as well as innovation in others such as sculpture, architecture, and painting.

The Greeks not only dedicated themselves to carrying them out, but also to reflect on it and its function in society, giving rise to works such as Poetics, by Aristotle.

Tragedy, comedy, and theatrical satire, lyrical poetry, epic literature were some of the artistic variants and genres that developed in Greece throughout centuries of history.

The records and the reproduction of the Greek perspective on the arts have become a reference for the modern study of these forms of expression.

Architecture

The Greeks advocated precision and meticulous work when building their most representative structures.

The pioneering techniques applied by the Greek civilization have remained in force until today, more than 2000 years later. Greek architectural idealism has been emulated by Western societies like the American one.

The most representative buildings in Greece show the cultural value that men were capable of imparting to their structures.

Functionality was also present, with examples such as the amphitheater, a space built in such a way as to maximize its acoustic attributes.

Greek architecture, like many other contemporary forms of architecture, had a high funeral and cult value and function, so it is not surprising that the most attractive constructions have been destined for veneration.

Philosophy

The love of knowledge, the conglomeration of reflections and observations about the issues that surround man and relate him to his equal, his environment and his doubts.

Philosophy was a field of study introduced by the Greeks, of whom today are counted as significant representatives of various currents of thought.

Philosophy has not only served to try to provide answers to man's anguish, but its perspectives have been applied in other areas: science, the understanding of nature, state structures.

Sports and Olympic Games

The Olympic Games are considered today as the highest competition event among a large number of sports disciplines that date back centuries of existence.

The conception of the first Olympic Games was born in Greece in 776 BC, held in honor of Zeus.

Since its first edition, many of the rituals that make them so special have been adopted and maintained, such as the carrying of the torch and the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Today the Olympic Games are the highest level of multidisciplinary sports competition worldwide; a way of facing the countries in a harmonious way.

State and government

Greek civilization is credited with the conception, implementation and putting into practice of theories and forms of social and political order that would shape the structure of organized society that would be born as a result of this.

Many were the Greek thinkers who dared to theorize about the place and roles of man within an organized social and political structure, as well as the dream of a utopian state whose internal order is governed by the cultivated behavior of its members and citizens.

From Greece the conception of power is born through politics, and the first forms of political order such as democracy; popular and present in many nations today.

References

1. Austin, MM, & Vidal-Naquet, P. (1980). Economic and Social History of Ancient Greece: An Introduction. University of California Press.
2. Clogg, R. (2013). A Concise History of Greece. Cambridge University Press.
3. Dinsmoor, WB (1950). The Architecture of Ancient Greece: An Account of Its Historic Development. Biblo & Tannen Publishers.
4. Kennedy, GA (2015). History of Rhetoric, Volume I: The Art of Persuasion in Greece. Princeton University Press.
5. The Legacy of Ancient Greece. (sf). Brookville Schools.
6. Thomas, R. (1992). Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece. Cambridge University Press.