Why did the Greeks become model for the western world?

Question

while the Romans were able to use Greek ideas to create the greatest empire the world had yet seen?

Answer 1

Look Greece is where the civilization started 2500 years ago..
The mental atributes of my people (i am from Greece) were great..
The half of the maths and philosopy of ancient Greece are used today as standards..They were the first to express their mind and had put religion after just 300 years on hold..They didn't expect anything from the 12gods they had..they were using their minds..Demokritos was the first to establish a theory of molecules (basic things though) but that was a great achievement for that time.Pythagoras was from greece..Sokrates-Platon-Aristoteles and many other sciencists and philosophers were from Greece...
Greeks were the first who had a capitalistic system and trading was very important factor of their economy..They were cultured and had great knowledge..Imagine that Aristarchos a greek who was living
in Alexandria of Egypt discover in 250B.C. that the mean radious of earth is 6.500 km..He almost got it right-it is 6,380..
The greeks fought well against invaders (persians and other) to defend the country showing great bravery and courage..These fights inspired the romans and after the romans the rest of the europeans
Also the language is one of the first european languages ever.The german language has the same grammar and rules as ancient greek..(note that german economy is the 3rd biggest in the world)
Also Marseille and Nice in France were founded by greeks,sicilia and southern italy was also inhabited and founded by greeks..
So thats why the europeans appriciated the greeks and they were emulating the way of thinking of our ancestors and with the italian renaisance in the 1600s the ideas were spread across europe..After that the ideas went to america..And on these ideas is capitalism built on..Thats why the ancient greeks are considered to be starting point of civilization in Europe..Actually the mnodern world is a model of ancient greece but more technoligicaly advanced..

Answer 2

True, The Eastern Roman Empire was the greatest! Byzantine Empire is the term conventionally used since the 19th century to describe the Greek-speaking Roman Empire. During much of its history it was known to many of its Western contemporaries as the "Empire of the Greeks"
Do you also know that Cleopatra of Egypt was the daughter of a Greek general? Cleopatra's name is, Cleopatra Thea Philopator which means, "the Goddess Cleopatra, the Beloved of her father".
Cleopatra was a direct descendant of Alexander's (The Great) general Ptolemy 1 Soter (which means Ptolemy the Savior), a Macedonian general who became the ruler of Egypt after Alexander's death.

Answer 3

Personally I think its because of colonisation by European powers.

Much of the modern world (approximately one-third) was at one-time British colonies. The British culture can trace its influences back to Roman and ultimately Greek ideas.

Other European colonising powers (french, german, dutch, italian) were also shaped by roman and Greek culture.

Colonisation meant that European culture was imposed on the New World, so modern societies in many (now independent) countries are shaped in part by by Greek culture.

In modern times US culture is the major influence. But remember that America was once a British colony, so US culture is influenced by British and therefore Greek culture (even if not apparent at first glance).

I feel compelled to point out that a lot of what Greeks knew, they learned from Egyptians.

Answer 4

partially because of their great social setup. they had running water, indoor plumbing...sort of.. and were mostly gentle to their neighbors because of their strong religious beliefs. The greeks lived folliowing something callled "the golden mean" and it was basically the golden rule.. you could mess up once in a while or forget to pray...but everytime you screwed up...you tipped the mean,,,think of it as a balance type scale... and if you did too many bad things, then the scale tipped to far. ..to correct this, you had to purge (uncontrollable crying and releasing of emotions) while is what greek theater was supposed to make you do..and give catharsis...a "liquid sacrifice"... such as lambs blood. and if you did a few bad things that tipped the scale, then doing good things could help balance it out.... also... the greeks had a working for of democracy..not a dictatorship...such as in rome. a council of highly educated (for that time anyway) men served as the "elders" of the city...take athens for example. men would come and vote, and based on what the peoples majority wanted, these elders would establish new rules and laws ....and then a punishment for not obeying them.... clearly the greek culture was very artsy and diplomatic.. but they were also very enlightened for that time. is it no wonder that they formed the basis for the modern world?

Answer 5

Alexander the Great spread Greek culture everywhere he went. The Greek culture was so pervasive it became a common standard. Greece had colonies on the Italian pennesula.

Answer 6

Do the terms threat, intimidation, divide and conquer ring a bell? Mix in a little bit of brainwashing and eventually forced Christianity and now you have modern Western Society.

Answer 7

We like their greek salads.