Greek Impact

Mystery People 2,000 years ago, across the ocean, there lived a group of people who are still very important to us today, especially when it comes to our government. Who were they?

They were the Ancient Greeks! Ancient is a word that means old, or from a long time ago. 2,000 years is definitely a long time ago! Greek is a word that means from Greece. What and where is Greece?

Greece Greece is a country on the continent of Europe, across the ocean from us. Greece is made up of lots of small islands and one big peninsula. A peninsula is like an island, but, instead of having water all around it like an island, it has water on only three sides.

peninsula islands In your own words, what is the difference between an island and a peninsula?

Put an X on all of the peninsulas. FloridaHawaii GeorgiaItaly Cuba

The Ancient Greeks lived across the ocean from us and thousands of years before our country even started, so why are they important to us? Because they gave us lots of ideas that we used to plan our government.

Architecture One thing we copied from the Greeks is the architecture of many of our government buildings. Architecture is a word that means the art and science of creating buildings. Let’s see if we can find some similarities between Ancient Greek buildings and the buildings we use today.

What is the same? The Parthenon in Athens, Greece The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C.

Here are some more buildings that show design ideas from Greek Architecture... The Lincoln Memorial Georgia’s State Capitol large post offices courthouses

Things We Copied From Ancient Greece 1.Architecture

Capitals Like the Greeks, we also have large capital cities where most of our government work is done. The capital city in Greece is Athens. In the middle of Athens there is a huge hill called the acropolis. Acropolis is a Greek word that means “high city.” The Parthenon (remember that building?) is built on top of the acropolis.

Do you see the Parthenon on top of the acropolis?

We have a capital city in Georgia and a capitol building in that city. What kinds of work happen at a state capital?

Things We Copied From Ancient Greece 1.Architecture 2.Capital Cities

Olympics In ancient times, the Greeks honored their gods by holding Olympic Games every fourth summer. Some of the sports in the ancient Olympic Games were races for runners, wrestling, boxing, spear throwing, jumping contests, and horse and chariot races. Today we hold Olympic Games in the winter and summer time. Each time we hold the Olympics, we change the host city. Atlanta even hosted the Summer Olympics in 1996! We have added lots of new Olympic Events like basketball, snowboarding, and gymnastics! Olympics

Let’s sort these Olympic events. Ancient Greece Present Day Both SoccerSkiingRunningWrestlingBaseballChariot Races

Things We Copied From Ancient Greece 1.Architecture 2.Capital Cities 3.Olympic Games

Democracy Ancient Greece 2,000 years ago The United States Today What kind of democracy? Direct DemocracyRepresentative Democracy (or Republic) Who is a citizen? Free (not slave) men who owned property (land) People born in the United States, people who are naturalized to become citizens What can citizens do? Talk about issues, vote on issuesTalk about issues, vote for representatives (if you are over 18 years old), write letters to leaders In a direct democracy, like Ancient Greece, every citizen talks about and votes on every issue. In the United States we have a representative democracy. That means we elect representatives (by voting) and our representatives get together and talk about and vote on issues.

Things We Copied From Ancient Greece 1.Architecture 2.Capital Cities 3.Olympic Games 4.Democracy (even though ours is representative, and theirs was direct)

Let’s check and see what we’ve learned...

1. What do architects design? a)islands b)Olympic Games c)post offices d)crops

2. Which of these sports were part of the ancient Olympic Games? a)baseball b)wrestling c)soccer d)skiing

3. Which landform has water on only three sides? a)an island b)a mountain c)an ocean d)a peninsula

4. What kind of government do we have in the United States? a)direct democracy b)monarchy c)representative democracy d)dictatorship

5. In a democracy, citizens can help make changes by ____________. a)buying some land b)being appointed as king or queen c)living in a city-state d)voting

6. Who could be a citizen of Ancient Greece? a)free men who owned property b)men and women born in Greece c)people who moved to Greece d)anyone

7. What is the name of the highest point in Athens, Greece? Hint-It is where the Parthenon is built. a)the acropolis b)Greece c)the capitol d)The Supreme Court

8. Ancient Athens was a city-state. Which of these statements are probably true about Athens. a)It had a mayor. b)Citizens elected representatives there. c)They had Supreme Court judges. d)People there were rich.

9. People who are born in other countries can never be U.S. Citizens. a)true b)false

10. How do citizens in the United States choose their government representatives? a)the president chooses the representatives b)anyone who wants to be a representative can do it c)They draw names from a hat d)they vote and elect representatives

11. Which of these buildings have designs borrowed from Greek architecture? a)restaurants with large front windows b)apartment buildings with lots of staircases c)courthouses with tall columns d)tents

12. When citizens choose their own leaders, what kind of government do they have? a)democracy b)dictatorship c)monarchy d)council