Greece kept themselves organized by forming settlements which were called city states or Polises. These “mini towns” all had the same aspects in common with each other. Each had an Acropolis (a hill in the center of town with other temples and buildings), a small population, very small acreage, and a market or “Agora.” Using this system, Greece was able to keep very well organized

The industry and technology of Greece had to be very good in order to maintain their high standing throughout the years. In Greece’s industry, manufacturing took place in small workshops. Artisans worked in their homes, where family members labored side by side with slaves and free employees. The Athenian economy depended on trade. The need to maintain and increase a reliable food supply influenced the policies of the Athenian government. This same need made foreign trade a necessity which led to the building of the Athenian fleet. This shows that industry helped other aspects of the civilization recipe. It made them build newer innovations and helped them stay afloat in being able to govern the people. Greeks had some technology that became very practical. As you read, the Athenian fleet was one example of this. Also, an aqueduct was built by Peisistratus that brought water to a fountain near the agora. This came in handy and let the citizens get their water from a near source. Columns were another thing that the Greeks came up with. This was an architectural advancement and lead to even more innovations in that area. If you would like to see what else the Greeks came up with, I’d encourage you to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Listen to what the Greek father has to say. Boy, does he name off a lot of things the Greeks came up with. . . If asked to rate this area of Greek Civilization, I’d give it a six out of ten. It was very solid and had many good things to contribute and build off of.

Greece’s government in general, was pretty advanced for it’s time. Athens was the first to come up with democracy or all citizens participating in making decisions for their government. Greece was home to Draco who was the person who first had written laws for Greece. His laws were harsh and severe. His system of government made the nobles get richer and the poor get poorer. Then a man name Solan came along and fixed Draco’s problems. He sort of “seasoned” the ingredient of government for the Greeks. His ideas leaned towards a democracy and got the Greeks thinking towards that style of government. Finally, Greece’s own Cleisthenes turned the government into a Democracy. He created a counsel of 500 people with 50 people from each “tribe” to represent their ideas. All citizens were able to vote, the only catch being that women were not considered citizens. Things are a little complicated though when broken down by city-states. The main differences were between Sparta and Athens. Spartans were ruled by military ways and were very strict since they wanted to conquer all with the best army. Athenians were the people who decided that democracy would work best in making everyone happy from each social class. The downside to having different city-states with different governments is that some people would disagree with the way others were running their Polis which could lead to serious problems. This is how the Peloponnesian War started. Sparta and Athens were long-time rivals of one another. Athens was very democratic, open-minded, and culturally progressive. Sparta on the other hand, was less democratic, more closed-minded, and culturally backward. Sparta became provoked because of Athenians’ showing off their power. Things pretty much went downhill from there. If every city-state were all under the same type of government, they would be more united and less likely to get mad at one another. When looking at how this affects other areas of the civilization recipe, it has a pretty major impact. People’s culture would be affected. A male living in Sparta would be told what to do and would have to do it. A male living in Athens however, would have so much more say on the way he wants to live his life. This is why there is Democracy. If I had to rate Greece’s government as a whole, I’d give it an eight out of ten. Despite the drawbacks, the good qualities outweigh the bad qualities heavily. Their government was so succ

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