Greek Golden Age Essay, Research Paper

This paper tells you about the Golden Age of Greece, which is from 500 to 350 BC. It tells about what Greeks did, who they worshipped, and other important things.

The thing the Greeks are best known for, is their gods, and stories about them. The stories explained how things became. For instance, one story said that before the earth was made, there was a fight between a god, and a giant. The god killed the giant, and the parts of the giant became the earth. His teeth became the rocks, and his hair became the grass. His hands and feet became mountains, and his toes and fingers became trees.

Some of the gods were Zeus, who was the ruler of all the gods, Hera was his wife, and Hermes was his messenger. Artemis was the goddess of the moon, and Apollo was the god of the sun. Poseidon was the god of the sea, Loki, the god of mischief, and, Dionysus, the god of wine.

The Greeks, made sacrifices to the gods, so that the gods would honor them, and help them in times of trouble. They sacrificed animals, and other things that were special to them.

The Greeks built temples, where they worshipped the gods. Each city had several temples, because each temple was used to worship one god. In each temple, there was a statue of a god that they worshipped. They had an extra big temple, and statue for the god that guarded their city.

The Greeks had lots of heroes, who were like role models for their children. Hercules was the strongest man ever, and destroyed many monsters with his strength. Perseus had killed a monster called the Medusa. If someone looked at it, they would immediately turn to stone. Oddysseus beat the Trojans in the Trojan war, and on his way home, with his cunning, tricked, and killed many monsters.

The Greeks are also known for their creativity, and knowledge in arts, such as making sculptures, music, and paintings. They made statues out of clay, gold, silver, and bronze. For instruments, they used harps and flutes.

The Greeks had houses like us. All the houses had a kitchen, an eating nook, and a bedroom. The richer families had rugs, and decorations, such as vases, paintings, and tapestries. They also had a courtyard in the middle of the house, and in the courtyard was a well. All the other people, though, had to use a public well, that was located in the middle of the city. The poor people had stone floors, and probably only family heirlooms for decorations, if they had any decorations at all.

The men worked all day earning money for the family by working. The Greeks had a lot of jobs that people could do. For example, there was shoe making, blacksmithing, pottery, doctors, actors, teaching, soldiers, fish mongers (someone who cuts up fish), and architecture. Their wives cooked, cleaned, and weaved, while the children under the age of eight played games all day, except during meals, and at bedtime. Children eight and over, went to school.

The Greeks thought that education was very important, so they sent their sons to school at age 8. They quit school at age 14. There, they learned music, math, and writing. The older boys were taught politics. The boy’s teachers were male Greeks. The boys were taught outside in a field or under a tree in a forest.

Any work The Greeks did not want to do, they left for their slaves, if they had any. For slaves, they used prisoners of war, such as other Greeks, and Romans. They had the slaves do housework, build buildings, harvest crops, and row ships.

The Greeks loved entertainment. They went to music performances, singing, sports events, and plays. Everyone was allowed to go, except people on jail, and slaves. For plays, the actors were Greek men who liked acting. They wore large masks, so they people in the back rows could see them. The masks showed what type of character that actor was playing. For sports, the athletes wore no clothes. They did things such as chariot racing, long jump, javelin, discus, wrestling, and running.

The cities in Greece had a particular layout. In the center of the city there was a piece of land called the Agora. On the Agora, was the public well, temples, and other important buildings. Around the Agora were shops. After the shops, there were houses, and other buildings. Around the whole city, there was a large stone wall that protected it.

The Greeks had many laws. All citizens (free men over 20) could vote, offices of government were filled by elections, and killing a Tyrant was excused. If somebody murdered someone, stole something, or disobeyed some other law, they could be punished by going to jail, being whipped, or death. War was often fought in Greece. Greek cities attacked other cities to gain more power. The wars were fought by brave, courageous, and strong young men. Here are some of the weapons that they used-daggers, catapult, spears, bows and arrows, and, swords. The Greeks ate about three meals a day. In a day, They ate fish, fruit, vegetables, bread, cheese, a cake made mostly from flour and honey. They drank juice, wine, and water.

Women had very few rights in Greek society. For instance, they could not vote, compete in sports events, or act in plays. All they did all day was take care of the children, cook, clean, and weave. The Greeks loved to be clean. To do this, they took baths, covered themselves in oil, and wore perfume. The women wore bracelets and earrings, if they could afford it.

Philosophy was important in Greece. One important Greek Philosopher was called Plato.(Plato wasn’t his real name. It was just a nickname he got in school. His real name is not known.) He was born around 429 BC. He figured out that all the planets revolved around the sun, and not the earth. He died in his 70’s. The rich Greek people were buried in Tombs, while the poor were burned, and their ashes were buried. He was buried in a Tomb.

As you have read, and maybe noticed, the Greek civilization was a lot like ours, and maybe even better. They had the same type of government, the same jobs, homes, schools, and other things. It was a very important society, especially because they taught us so much about art, and Space.