Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Democracy
Greece, and especially Athens, is the cradle of
democracy in the western civilization. Athens
owes the first penal and civil law code to
Draco. An outstanding statesman and poet
called Solon was contemporary of Draco.
In 594 BC, Solon was elected the first
archon the highest state official who
today could be compared to a prime
minister. The difference between a prime
minister and an archon lies in the fact that the
latter was elected annually and had executive
and judicial power, was in command of the
army and performed priestly functions.
Science:
Thales of Miletus(640-610 to ca 548545 BC) Thales is also said to have tried to
revise the calendar and brought Babylonian
mathematical knowledge to Greece and
used geometry to solve problems such as
calculating the height of pyramids and the
distance of ships from the shore. He studied
astronomy in Babylonia, and gained great
fame by predicting an eclipse of the sun. He
was first noted as an inventor and an
engineer. Thales was also interested in
heavenly bodies. He is credited with the
discovery of the electrical properties of
amber (or electron from which also the
name electricity was derived). He was one
of the Seven Sages of Greece
Medicine
Hippocrates of Cos (450 B.C. - 380 B.C.)
was a physician and, with other healers,
author of the Corpus
Hippocratiumis, which spelled out,
for the first time, a methodical way
to diagnose and treat patients.
Considered the father of medicine,
Hippocrates also developed the first
code of ethics in any professional field.
The Hippocratic Oath continues to be
integral to the healing arts today.
Philosophy:
Socratesone of the founders of Western
philosophy, he strongly influenced Plato, and
Aristotle. He made his most important
contribution to Western thought through his
method of inquiry. He is principally renowned
for his contribution to the field of ethics,
Socrates also lends his name to the concepts of
Socratic irony and the Socratic Method.
Socrates also made important and lasting
contributions to the fields of epistemology
and logic, and the influence of his ideas and
approach, remains strong in providing a
foundation for much western philosophy which
followed
Roman Civilization
Concrete
Many ancient Roman structures like the
Pantheon, the Colosseum and the Roman
Forum are still standing today thanks to the
development of Roman cement and
concrete. The Romans first began building
with concrete over 2,100 years ago.
Combined with volcanic rocks called
tuff, this ancient cement formed a
concrete that could effectively endure
chemical decay. Pozzolana helped Roman
concrete set quickly even when submerged
in seawater, enabling the construction of
elaborate baths, piers and harbours.
Welfare:
Ancient Rome was the wellspring for many
modern government programs, including
measures that subsidized food, education and
other expenses for the needy. These
entitlement programs date back to 122 B.C. They
had a program known as alimenta to help
feed, clothe and educate orphans and poor
children. Other items including corn, oil,
wine, bread and pork were eventually added
to the list of price-controlled goods, which
may have been collected with tokens called
tesserae. These generous handouts helped
Roman emperors win favour with the public.
Bound Books
The Romans streamlined and prepared a
stack of bound pages that is recognized
as the earliest incarnation of the book. The
first codices were made of bound wax
tablets, but these were later replaced by
animal skin parchment that more clearly
resembled pages. Julius Caesar created an
early version of a codex by stacking pages
of papyrus to form a primitive notebook.
Early Christians became some of the
first to adopt the new technology,
using it extensively to produce copies
of the Bible.
Roman Arches
Arches have existed for roughly 4,000 years, but
the ancient Romans were the first to effectively
harness their power in the construction of
bridges, monuments and buildings. The
ingenious design of the arch allowed the weight
of buildings to be evenly distributed along
various supports. Roman engineers improved on
arches by flattening their shape to create what is
known as a segmental arch to build stronger
supports for bridges and aqueducts. Along with
columns, domes and vaulted ceilings, the
arch became one of the defining characteristics
of the Roman architectural style.
affidavitall these
terms derive from the Roman legal system,
which dominated Western law and
government for centuries. The basis for early
Roman law came from the Twelve Tables
detailing laws regarding property, religion
and divorce and listed punishments for
everything from theft to black magic.
Even more influential than the Twelve Tables
was the Corpus Juris Civilis, an ambitious
attempt to synthesize Romes history of law
into one document.
Corpus Juris included modern legal concepts
such as the notion that the accused is
innocent until proven guilty.
Medicine:
The Romans invented many surgical tools and
pioneered the use of the cesarean section...
they established a military medical corps that
was one of the first dedicated field surgery
units. These specially trained medics saved
countless lives. They were even known to
disinfect instruments in hot water before
use, pioneering a form of antiseptic
surgery that was not fully embraced until the
19th century. Roman military medicine proved
so advanced at treating wounds and
promoting wellness that soldiers tended to
live longer than the average citizen despite
constantly facing the hazards of combat.
Language
Today theRoman languages, which
comprise all languages that descended
fromLatin, are spoken by more than 600
million native speakers worldwide, mainly
in theAmericas,Europe, andAfrica.
Additionally, the vocabulary ofGermanic
languageslikeGerman,Dutch,
orEnglishcontains a large percentage of
Latin words. In the case of English, the
proportion of words with a Latin or Roman
origin is estimated to be over 50%.English
has many grammatical similarities to the
Roman languages.