1. Ancient Greece
By : Dr. Qiqi Zhou

2. The civilization of ancient Greece existed between
800 BCE and 146 BCE. It could be found in the
southern part of Europe, surrounded by the
Mediterranean sea. It is interesting to learn about its
how its society was structured, their architecture, the
education system and the many legacies that can be
seen today.

3. Society Structured
In Ancient Greece men and women played very different
roles in society. Men could go to parties, compete in the
Olympics and attend ceremonies. Men did all the
shopping, could become actors and were the only ones
who voted. In fact, if men didn’t vote they were punished.
Slaves would chase them with a rope painted red. They
would be embarrassed and fined. Women’s role was to
stay home and take care of the children. Girls married at
the age of 13 or 14 and usually married a man twice her
age. Also, a girl’s father picked the man for his daughter to
marry and gave away her toys to the gods or goddess. This
let people know that she was old enough to take care of
herself. In Ancient Greece men clearly led different lives
from women.

4. Architecture
The ancient Greeks built many very famous buildings with different
kinds of columns. The Acropolis is the most famous temple that
included a statue of Athena, a goddess. The Acropolis was made with
columns that got narrower and narrower until they touched the roof.
This made them look straight. The columns were attached by rings of
marbles. There are three kinds columns: the Doric, Ionic, and the
Corinthian, which each look very different. The Doric was very plain with
lines on it and a cube on top. The Ionic was more detailed and can be
seen in the Acropolis. The Corinthian was the most detailed with very
beautiful carvings and was also used in the Acropolis. Unfortunately, the
statues on the Acropolis were stolen by Lord Elgon in 1803 and sold to
the British. Part of the Acropolis collapsed in 1887, but half of it remains.
From this evidence, it is clear that the ancient Greeks built beautiful
architecture.

5. Education
Education in ancient Greece was really different for boys and
girls. Boys learned a lot and girls didn’t learn so much, because
of their role in society. Boys learned
science, math, reading, geography, history , music, sports, and
poetry. Girls learned to do housework, cooking, weaving, music
and dancing. Boys learned in schools and were taught by
teachers. Girls learned inside the homes and were taught by
their mothers. In schools, there were ten or twenty boys and
one teacher. Also, there were no desks so they wrote on wax
boards with pens made out of wood or ivory (which meant that
kids didn’t need to bring equipment to bring to school). In
Sparta schools were very different than in Athens. Boys went to
training schools to learn to fight and become soldiers for the
Greek army. Even girls were taught to be fit and strong.
Therefore, we know that education was very different
depending on whether people were male or female, and living
in Sparta or Athens.

6. Legacies
Many legacies from ancient Greece can still be see in our world
today. The alphabet came from the Greeks, where the alpha
stands for A and beta means B. The plays that we watch now
also came from the Greeks, especially comedies and
tragedies. Also, buildings like the acropolis have been used to
designed many modern buildings in the US. For example, the
columns in the White House look very similar. Many parts of
science, math, and geography that learn in school were first
discovered in ancient Greece. Democracy, which is a system of
government that some countries still use, was first started
there. Also, we still compete in the Olympics with countries all
around the world and this began in ancient Greece. A lot of our
pottery that we still use for decoration also came from them.
Therefore, we know that many legacies handed down from
Ancient Greece are still important today.

7. In conclusion, this report has described structure of
society, architecture, education and legacies of
ancient Greece. It is clear that ancient Greece is an
interesting civilization because of the many legacies
that they left us, especially their amazing
architecture.

8. Author Date Title
Loverance and Wood 1992
Sea-to-Sea Publication 2007
Kamini Rhonduri 1997
Pat Taylor 1997
Richard Dargie 2007
Date Visited Websites
10.20.11 http://wwwhistoryforkids.org/indes.htm.
10.19.11 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/primaryhistory/ancientgreek.
10.19.11 http://www.ancientcivilization.co.uk/homeset.html
Other Sources
10.20.11 Ms. O’Dwyer