Ancient Greece
By: Lauren Hendryx
Introduction
I chose Ancient Greece as my topic subject, because it seemed really interesting to me. The Heritage and Culture of the Greeks is not only fascinating but informative too, they have such a long history that you probably wouldn't ever run out of topics. Though they had many flaws in the way that they ran themselves, they also did many great things for the world like holding the first Olympics in Olympia in 776 BC. They also introduced the world to many different types of art and music.
Slavery In Ancient Greece
Slavery in Ancient Greece was very common, Greek nobles would usually have up to 12 slaves on hand. Most of these were foreigners or traitors to the Greek Army. When a City was conquered it's inhabitants were taken as slaves. Slaves were often treated poorly, by there masters or anybody who had more wealth or status. Since only people with more money were considered above slave status, a large part of the population was not free. Slaves usually worked in silvermines and did the dirty work that there noble born masters didn't want to do.
The Peloponnesian War
The Peloponnesian War was induced by Sparta. Sparta was Athens succession state, Sparta was less successful had a low population and a horrid climates, while Athens was the shining capital of Greece. This aroused jealously in Sparta. Sparta declared war on it's brother and the battle raged on for many years. The Athenian Army was finally conquered in 1413. The war put Athens out of power, people who were once loyal to Athens fled to Sparta and Athens became a subject state to triumphant Sparta.
Athenian Democracy
Athens was the birthplace of Democracy, Athens unlike many other Greek city states was primarily against slavery. Even though they believed in democracy, it was there own form of it that 12% of the population was excluded from including ( Women, children, slaves, minors and foreigners.) It is a good note to take that only a handful of people in the capital could take part in voting and government issues and most to all of them were men. There was also no Prime minister or President Athens was purely democratic.
Conclusion
Learning about Ancient Greece has taught me a lot about the world's history. I have enjoyed immensely writing this project. The culture is very interesting and it's fun to compare how we do things now to what happened back then. Though many of the things they did were unconventional they still have a very rich history.
"Ancient Greece." Britannica School. Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 2014. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.