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    Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks?
    Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks?
    Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks?
    Ebook77 pages42 minutes

    Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks?

    By Don Nardo

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    About this ebook

    Every four years, the world celebrates one of the most exciting contributions of the Ancient Greeks: the Olympic Games. That, of course, is not all this great civilization left behind. From theater to democracy, discover how the Greeks' ancient inventions and philosophies evolved into objects and ideas we know and treasure today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateMay 15, 2020
    ISBN9780756566999
    Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks?
    Author

    Don Nardo

    Noted historian and award-winning author Don Nardo has written many books for young people about American history. Nardo lives with his wife, Christine, in Massachusetts.

    Read more from Don Nardo

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      Book preview

      Why Should I Care About the Ancient Greeks? - Don Nardo

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Cover

      Title Page

      Chapter 1: Good Thinking: The First Scientists and Philosophers

      Chapter 2: We Rule! People’s Right to Govern Themselves

      Chapter 3: Shaping Up! Great Architecture for the Ages

      Chapter 4: Good Sports: Origins of the Olympic Games

      Chapter 5: Upstaged: Birth of the Dramatic Arts

      Chapter 6: It’s Legendary: Greek Mythology’s Timeless Tales

      Glossary

      Additional Resources

      Select Bibliography

      About the Author

      Index

      Copyright

      Back Cover

      CHAPTER 1

      GOOD THINKING: THE FIRST SCIENTISTS AND PHILOSOPHERS

      Did you know that science, democracy, the Olympics, and actors playing roles have one thing in common? They were all invented in ancient Greece. Twenty-four centuries ago, Athens was Greece’s leading city-state. The Athenians introduced many cultural advances, such as plays, acting, and theaters. They and other Greeks also made important moves in politics, science, sports, law, and architecture.

      These fabulous feats filled the Athenian leader Pericles with pride. Future ages will wonder at us, he remarked. And with time, that daring prediction came true. People around the world now stand in awe of the ancient Greek achievement. While it’s easy to overlook, even your generation owes the Greeks a big cultural debt.

      WHO WERE THE ANCIENT GREEKS, ANYWAY?

      The Greeks reached their political and cultural height between about 600 and 300 BC. Greece was never a united country in those days. Instead, it was made up of hundreds of city- states. Each was a tiny, independent nation built around a central town. The Greek states were defeated and absorbed by Rome in the last couple centuries BC.

      Greece is mostly surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea and the Aegean Sea. The mountainous land meant that many ancient Greeks settled along the coast and on the many islands off the coast.

      FACT

      The introduction of steam engines in the 1700s led to the rise of major modern industries. But these were not the first steam engines. The first-century Greek inventor Hero of Alexandria built a small one. To him it was only a toy. He never thought to use it to create large-scale industry.

      Hero’s small-scale steam engine was called an aeolipile. Boiling water produced steam, which made the central sphere spin.

      THE GRANDEST IDEA

      Today the entire world operates through various kinds of technology. So science is perhaps the biggest single part of the debt we owe the Greeks. In fact, the world’s first scientists appeared in ancient Greece. They were the earliest thinkers to try to explain how nature works. They did this without turning to gods, demons, and magic. This made them different from thinkers in Egypt, Babylonia, and other ancient lands. The Egyptians, for instance, thought that supernatural beings controlled nature. Many Greek citizens believed that too.

      But the Greek scientists did not. Instead, they saw the universe as a cosmos. In other words, they defined the universe as an orderly domain that works via natural laws. This was the single grandest idea they proposed. Namely, everything that exists has a natural, physical cause. And more than that, humans can discover those causes. Through evidence, logic, and experiments, they can learn how nature operates. Science is the process by which all that happens.

      WAY OUT THERE! EARLY COSMIC THEORIES

      When was the last time you looked up at the stars? You didn’t need to wonder what those tiny dots of light were. That’s because science

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