Which ancient society has had the greatest influence on modern civilization and why?
Yeah, it’s unquestionably the Greeks. They may not have been the first to do serious philosophy, serious politics, serious mathematics, and serious drama, but they wrote it all down, and it’s their versions that got carried forward. Their work was so powerful that it re-invigorated the entire West when it was re-discovered in the Renaissance.Here’s how strong their influence was. In 1582 CE the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci arrived in China to try to convert them. He got nowhere. The sophisticated and cultured Chinese were bemused by his odd religion, one that paid especial attention to the poor and downtrodden. Who could possibly care about them?Then he translated Euclid’s “The Elements” into Chinese. It hit them like a bomb. They had never seen this level of math before. He opened a school where he taught this and the memorization technique, the memory palace, that had enabled him to write it out from memory. That got him attention from the mandarinate, and he ultimately became an advisor to the Emperor. More on this here - “The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci” by Jonathan Spence, a great Chinese scholar at Yale.“The Elements” was written ~300 BCE. It has had more editions than any other book except the Bible, which also came down to us in Greek. It was the standard math textbook for millenia. That’s the level of influence that the ancient Greeks have had.
Which of these illustrates Rome's legacy in our modern world?
Languages based on Greek are still spoken in former parts of the Roman Empire. The Orthodox Church has moved its center to the city of Rome. Many of the Romans' aqueducts and roads are still in use today. The clothes we wear today are based on Roman designs
Greco-Roman Legacy?
Government. Democracy began in Greece and was practiced in Rome. Religion. Rome adopted Christianity hundreds of years after Jesus died and became the center of the Christian church. The Catholic Church is still based in Rome. Architecture. Roman buildings were partly based on older Greek buildings. The Romans invented concrete and Roman engineers built things using the arch and Dome roofs that are still popular icons in modern buildings. The Romans also used aquaducts to bring water to cities. Art The Greeks made statues that are considered great works of art. The Romans also made statues in the Greek style and later of their own style. The Romans also had famous poets such as Ovid. Science. The Greeks were the first known to make great advancements in mathmatics and engineering as well as other sciences. The Romans continued to advance science in many ways. Language. Latin was the Roman language and Latin is the base of French, Spanish, Romanian, Italian and Potrugese. Latin is also the base of many English words and was considered the language of science until modern times when English became a more common international language.
How did the Crusades leave a legacy that still affects us today?
It created the first rift of full conflict between the west Christian world and the east islamic world. It created one of the largest religious wars in the world.What probably made the crusades famous as well was just how persistant the crusaders were with each crusade despict most of them being resounding failures. Another idea is just how much mythology came forth because of the crusades like the Holy Grail and Robin Hood. As well as how it established some of the most famous names like Baldwin the IVth or Richard the Lionheart.Either way, The crusades was a pivotal moment in human history that left a solid mark in the future to come as well as still have its reflections found in the modern world.
How did roman aqueducts influence Rome, and how did it influence us today?
Aqueducts brought a higher level of hygiene and comfort in the urban life. Water in facts was used primarily for the every-day needing such as washing, drinking and cooking. Usually the water used was taken from local creeks (usually the more big the river is, the less drinkable the water) or wells. If a person uses for all his needing 10 liters of water per day, a city with 100.000 inhabitants (Rome had perhaps something less than a million) needs at least 1000 m3 of water every day. We have also to consider that a creek (or a wells' system), even if it has the needed discharge, doesn't cover homogeneously a city. We start understanding why an aqueducts' system was important, but we have also to consider that the water amount was even higher for the Romans, due their hygienic attitudes (water was used for public baths, fountains and sewers). Their influence on our lives is indirect, due the long interruption of the use (aqueducts were rarely used again during the Middle Age, a part Byzantines and Arabs, a little more during Renaissance and started spreading since 1800), but the idea and its viability was outlined.