Have you ever wondered who invented geometry, all those theorems and postulates; over a hundred to remember? Why couldn’t they just make it simple and get rid of the useless postulates and theorems? Should we just get rid of them? Well then we would be arguing with the greatest ancient civilization before Rome; Greece. One person might say, “Who cares? They are long gone; that was over 2000 years ago.” Actually, many people care, people come from all around to look at our nation’s capital building and The White House, both of which were built with Greco-Roman architecture. The same style used by the Greeks who originally used it. Now, if the geometry theorems go then we must also get rid of the white house because it has some Greek aspects to it, we wouldn’t want to be hypocrites, would we? The truth that many people don’t know is that Greece had a major impact on the development of western civilization.

The Greeks made gigantic leaps in the fields of math science, and medicine, some of their ideas still hold true today. Ok, back to those theorems. 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. One of his most basic theorems was this one, recovered from his book, Elements, “Proposition 15, THEOREM: If two straight lines cut on another, the vertical, or opposite, angles shall be equal.” (Elements, Euclid, 300 B.C.) That specific book, Elements was used in universities all the way until about the 1900’s. That’s a long time for a book to go unchanged, no one could have stated his theorems better, or rewrite his lessons. He is the father of geometry and no once can take that away from him. So if you’re stuck on geometry and need another source, look up Euclid, he will set you straight. Another great man of the mathematics and sciences was Hippocrates, not to be confused with the word hypocrite. This man was one of medicine, the first “doctor” if you will. He was revolutionary in his techniques of healing; he used science to help people with stomachaches, earaches, toothaches, and some sicknesses. This great man lives from around 460 B.C. to 377 B.C. the reason I said he was quite the opposite of a hypocrite was the fast that he created an oath that he and all his pupils had to take before practicing medicine, “I will follow that treatment which, according to my ability and judgment, I will consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is harmful. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked nor suggest any such advice…” (Excerpt from the Hippocratic Oath, Hippocrates.) As you can clearly see, he was a man of truth, for there are no loopholes in his oath. He practiced medicine for the good of his patients; he was a man of honor. So what, he made an oath, what is big deal? It wouldn’t be such a big deal, but the fact that every licensed doctor today must have been able to recite this oath, so next time you visit the doctor, ask him about it, see if he still knows it. This is no reflection on the doctor if they don’t know it; trust your doctors.

The Greeks are also remembered for their philosophers and their desire for athletic competition. Three of their greatest philosophers were students of the last one, they were revolutionary, creating schools and educating the masses. These three men’s legacy started with Socrates, but because Socrates wrote absolutely no books, much of what we know is from Plato’s books (his student). He was a great philosopher for the one question he repeatedly asked passerby, “What is the greatest good?” (14) He would listen to people’s responses and analyze them using a method called the Socratic Method, and early version of the Scientific Method, he would pose a hypothesis and try to answer it. Sadly, because of his frequent questioning, he began to assume that the gods weren’t as powerful as every one said they were. So when he was seventy years old he was put on trial, as a heretic, poisoning the minds of youths, and disrespecting the gods. He was sentenced to death by hemlock, a quick toxin. His student Plato was distraught from his mentor’s death, so he fled Greece to ponder hid thoughts. When he returned ten years later, he set up a school called the Academy. In one of his most famous books Republic, Plato expressed his distaste for democracy, because it had put Socrates to death. He promoted reform his ideal society was, “three classes: workers to produce necessities of life, soldiers to defend the state, and philosophers to rule.” (15) This you might agree with and you might not, but at least he was trying to think outside of the box, which what made Greece great. His most famous student’s name was Aristotle; he contributed largely to the Western Civilization by his ideal forms of government. In his book, Politics, he wrote, “And the rule of law, it is argued, is preferable to that of any individual. On the same principle, even if it be better for certain individuals to govern, they should be made only guardians and ministers of the law.” (Politics, Aristotle) The way this principle worked is that none stood above the law. This ideal is now at the heart of many governments all over the world, even ours. His other writings on politics, ethics, biology, and literature were used as course guides when universities began appearing the 1500’s. The Olympics, were also originated in Greece, they were an event held every four years to have the individual city-states compete for athletic superiority. Of course we take it much more seriously in this day and age, but it still does the same thing that it did back then, it brought nations together, to converse and share ideas.

Architectural style is a big thing that Greece gave to us but no one ever notices. The Parthenon, the Greek house of the gods, was constructed mainly of pillars supporting a triangular roof. The pillars are grooved vertically and fan out at the top to form a design of some sort. Notice this on any houses? How about a big white one in Washington D. C? The Greeks also carved into marble and other rocks as designs for the top of the temple, we replicate that with intricate masonry on our churches. “The Discus Thrower” (DBQ8) is one of the first stone masterpieces of its time, and stonework carried over to later civilization. Is stone carving was never thought of, we wouldn’t have works, like “The Thinker” and “David.”

So, do we really want to get rid of those theorems after all? We would have to throw out all the other Greek contributions. If we did then there goes society as we know it, Thank you Euclid for your complex geometric thinking, without is we would be still trying to figure volume by guessing with sand. Thank you Hippocrates for your medical treatments. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, thank you for you out of the box thinking, we sure did need it. And thank you to the people of Greece, for the Olympics to bring us together. And for your architectural, ideas, and for you art, we would be very plain without them. Greece played a major role in the creation of civilization of the west.