Ancient Athens The Prototype for Western Democracy - amazonia.fiocruz.br

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Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities , with its recorded history spanning over 3, years [ citation needed ] and its earliest human presence started somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennium BC. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state. A center for the arts , learning and philosophy , home of Plato 's Academy and Aristotle 's Lyceum , [6] [7] it is widely referred to as the cradle of Western civilization and the birthplace of democracy , [8] [9] largely because of its cultural and political impact on the European continent, and in particular the Romans. Athens is a Beta global city according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network , [11] and is one of the biggest economic centers in southeastern Europe. It has a large financial sector, and its port Piraeus is both the largest passenger port in Europe, [12] [13] and the second largest in the world. The Municipality of Athens also City of Athens , which actually constitutes a small administrative unit of the entire city, had a population of , in [2] within its official limits, and a land area of Athens is also the southernmost capital on the European mainland and the warmest major city in Europe. The heritage of the classical era is still evident in the city, represented by ancient monuments and works of art, the most famous of all being the Parthenon , considered a key landmark of early Western civilization. The city also retains Roman and Byzantine monuments, as well as a smaller number of Ottoman monuments, while its historical urban core features elements of continuity through its millennia of history.

Ancient Athens The Prototype for Western Democracy Video

Greek Direct Democracy Ancient Athens The Prototype for Western Democracy

Ancient Athens The Prototype for Western Democracy - are

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The Greek Dark Ages were ushered in by a period of violence, and characterized by the disruption of Greek cultural progress.

Historians believe this period was violent, sudden, and culturally disruptive. The palace economy of the Aegean Region that had characterized the Late Bronze Age, was replaced, after a hiatus, by the isolated village cultures of the Greek Dark Ages— a period that lasted for more than years. Cities like Athens continued to be occupied, but with a more local sphere of influence, limited evidence of trade, and an impoverished culture, which took centuries to recover. Many historians attribute the fall of the Mycenaeans, and overall Bronze Age collapse, to climatic or environmental catastrophe, combined with an invasion by the Dorians or Sea Peoples—a group of people who possibly originated from different parts of the Mediterranean like the Here Sea, though their origins remain obscure.

Archaic Greece

Historians also point to the widespread availability of edged iron weapons as an exasperating factor. Despite this, no single explanation fits all available archaeological evidence in explaining the fall of the More info culture. Many large-scale revolts took place in several parts of the eastern Mediterranean during this time, and attempts to overthrow existing kingdoms were made as a result of economic and political instability by peoples already plagued with famine and hardship. Some regions in Greece, such as Attica, Euboea, and central Crete, recovered economically quicker from these events than other regions, but life for the poorest Greeks would have remained relatively unchanged.

Farming, weaving, metalworking, and potting continued at lower levels of output and for local use.

Some technical innovations were introduced around BCE with the start of the Proto-geometric style. However, the overall trend was toward simpler, less intricate pieces with fewer resources being devoted to the creation of art. None of the Mycenaean palaces of the Late Bronze Age survived, with the possible exception of the Cyclopean fortifications on the Acropolis of Athens.

Greek Dark Ages

The archaeological record shows that destruction was heaviest at palaces and fortified sites. The Linear B writing of the Greek language used by Mycenaean bureaucrats ceased, and decorations on Greek pottery after about BCE lacks the figurative decoration of the Mycenaeans, and was restricted to simpler geometric styles. Archaeological evidence suggests that only 40 families lived in Nichoria and that there was abundant farming and grazing land.

Some remains appear to have been the living quarters of a chieftain. High status individuals did exist during the Dark Ages; however, their standards of living were not significantly higher than others in their village. By the mid- to late 8th century BCE, a new alphabet system was adopted by the Wesern, and borrowed from the Phoenician writing system. This writing system introduced characters for vowel sounds, creating the first truly alphabetic as opposed to abjad writing system.

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The new system of writing spread throughout the Mediterranean, and was used not only to write in Greek, but also Phrygian and other languages. It was previously believed that all contact had been lost between mainland Hellenes and foreign powers during this period; however, artifacts from excavations at Lefkandi in Euboea show that significant cultural and trade links with the east, especially the Levant coast, developed from approximately BCE onward. The archaeological record of many sites demonstrates that the link recovery of Greece was well advanced by the beginning of the 8th century BCE.

Many burial sites contained offerings from the Near East, Egypt, and Italy.]