Contributions from the Greeks

Chapter 31

Introduction

The Greeks made gigantic leaps in the fields of math, science, and medicine, some of their ideas still hold true today.

All those math students out there should know that the man behind the geometrical madness is a man by the name of Euclid, living around the time of 300 B.C.

Euclid was a Greek mathematician and is often referred to as the Father of Geometry.

A quote from Euclid:

“If a straight line falling on two straight lines make the alternate angles equal to one another, the straight lines will be parallel to one another”

Geometry

Geometry comes from a Greek word that means “to measure land”. Geometry began as a system for measuring areas of land.

Using geometry Greeks could figure out how much seed to buy for planting a field or how to lay out a city.

Philosophy Philosophy is an organized

system of thought; love of wisdom in Greek. Socrates was a Greek philosopher who developed the Socratic method.

SocratesΣωκράτης

A Saint, a prophet of the 'Sun-God', a teacher condemned for his teachings as a heretic.

Astronomy

Astro in Greek means “star” People in many civilizations

observed the sun, moon, and stars. But a Greek scientist named Aristarchus, was the first person to suggest that earth moves around the sun.

Hipparchus ππαρχοςAnother Greek

scientist named Hipparchus is often called the greatest astronomer in the ancient world. He studied and named more than 850 stars.

His theories allowed modern scientists to accurately predict eclipses of the moon.

Architecture

Architecture comes from the Greek word that means “master builder”

Greeks used columns to make their temples balanced and stately.

The three type of columns are Doric, Ionic, Corinthian.

Greek styles are still used today, you can see that the columns are used in public places like a government building.

The Greek columns

Even the White House has Greek columns

Government Democracy, or rule by people,

began in Greece. Their type of democracy was

direct democracy. The practice of citizens serve

on juries also began in Greece.

Still, the basic principles of democracy come from the Greeks.

Here is a picture of an Athenian assembly