What was unknown to the ancient greeks

A: Oddly enough, very little directly. But the direct line of descent stops in ancient Greece; there is no ancient Greek-style direct democracy after the second or first century BC.

But there was a universal agreement in the 19th century, when democracy started expanding quite considerably, that the system — partly because of size — must be indirect. It must be representative. There was, in fact, quite a lot of discussion about the dangers posed by direct democracy in ancient times, namely the danger of it shifting over into mob rule. One of the extraordinary things about Alexander the Great was that, technically, he was never defeated in any battle that made a difference.

There were skirmishes when leaders under him were defeated, for example, but he personally never suffered a single failure as a general. Alexander came to the throne at the age of just 20, after the assassination of his father, Philip II. I think one possible explanation is that if you conquer a people and you think yourself, therefore, superior to them, you look for the things that differentiate your civilisation from theirs. A: There were specific sites of worship.

So there were shrines and distinct religious spaces. But religion was really practised everywhere. If you went to battle, you would slaughter an animal before that battle to get the will of the gods.

At home, you would have a statue of Hermes just outside your back door. You would pour a libation — wine, olive oil or some other liquid — and that would be your way of making your peace with the gods. There was a notion of there being a type of contract between mortals and the gods — if you, the human, did the gods favours, looked after them and gave them their due, then the gods were bound by contract to do you a favour in return.

It was a give and take relationship. Religion was everywhere, in principle, and just about any phenomenon could have a religious interpretation.

A rainbow, for example, was a goddess called Iris; the Sun was the god Helios. In other words, we see the beginnings of atheism through humanism, as well as most Greeks being what we would call very religious.

A: The Delphic Oracle — the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi — was the most significant because it was thought to be the most holy and authoritative. You could consult an oracle by various means — by listening to the cooing of doves or by getting a prophecy, a form of utterance meant to be directly inspired by, in this case, Apollo.

And that would tell you an answer to a question. There were actually two main types of oracle: one was the public, official one, which advised a city or an individual ruler. The other was the purely individual type, which a lot of Greeks at one or other point in their life — typically during life crises such as marriages, births and deaths — would consult. Words: Charlotte Hodgman. You can listen to the full interview on our podcast:.

Ancient Greek civilisation spanned more than eight centuries, encompassing countless conquests, discoveries and battles — here are some of the most significant events. By Emma Slattery Williams. City-states known as poleis begin to form on the Greek mainland, eventually expanding around the Aegean. The first Olympic Games are held in honour of Zeus at Olympia. The Greeks set their sights further afield.

Plato wondered why the starlike planets moved relative to the stars. Trying to answer the question was to occupy the attention of astronomers for many centuries. In the second century A. Ptolemy's book, the "Almagest," contained accurate descriptions of the motions of planets.

Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. Ancient Greece. View Collection. Life in Ancient Greece. View Map. History Ancient Greece. View Video. Social Networking in Ancient Greece.

Educational Resources in Your Inbox. The Spartans punished the cowards by shaving part of their beards. The hair was considered by them to be the most valuable part that the human body could produce; they believed that the hair gave power to the dead for their journey to the Underworld. On the other hand, losing hair for Ancient Greeks was not a negative thing. On the contrary, it was an indication of their wisdom. This is the reason most statues depicting philosophers are bald. Fun fact!

When you visit Greece you will surely notice that the vast majority of modern Greek men have a beard, a habit that still survives, thousands of years later. Women in Ancient Greece paid a lot of attention to their appearance. They dyed their hair blonde and added curls using a hot iron. They plucked their eyebrows with tweezers, painted their faces white with lead carbonate and accentuated their features — particularly the eyes — using mineral and plant dyes.

They used razors made from flints, tweezers, creams and stones. Ancient Greeks were very wise, but they were also very superstitious. Superstitions played a big part in their everyday life. Some days of each month were considered ominous, so they would avoid important tasks such as sowing or marriage.

They would also take measures before doing certain tasks, so that they would not anger the gods. For example, praying first before crossing a river. However, there is one superstition that survived to this day in Greece! It is still believed by Greeks that someone can cast the evil eye to someone else out of envy good or bad and jealousy. The symptoms of having the evil eye is dizziness, strong headache and yawning.

The evil eye is a superstition that still survives in Greece today. Most cars will have an amulet of an 'eye' hanging from the rear mirror, to protect those inside the car. Many Greeks wear a bracelet with an 'eye'. Honey and pepper was the ultimate ancient Viagra! In antiquity there was a number of preparations designed to improve men's sexual performance.