Why is greece known as the cradle of civilisation

Why is Greece known as “The Cradle of Western Civilisation”?

The civilization of ancient Greece flowered more than 2500 years ago but it influences the way we live today.
Long after ancientGreece lost its political and military power, its cultural accomplishments deeply influenced thinkers, writers, and artists, especially those in ancient Rome, medieval Arabia, and Renaissance Europe.The ancient Greeks developed a great deal of what we take for granted.
Because of the enduring influence of its ideas, ancient Greece is known as the cradle of Western civilization. In fact, Greeksinvented the idea of the West as a distinct region; it was where they lived, west of the powerful civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, and Phoenicia.

What do we talk about when we talk aboutCIVILIZATION?

Characteristics of a Civilization:
• Intensive agricultural techniques
• Specialization of labor
• Cities
• A social hierarchy
• Organized religion and education
•Development of complex forms of economic exchange
• Development of new technologies
• Advanced development of the arts (this can include writing literature)

The LANGUAGE

Many of thewords we use have Greek prefixes or suffixes.

A prefix goes at the start of a word. Some Greek prefixes are geo-, phon-, tech-, anti-, bio-, tele-

A suffix goes at the start of a word. Some Greeksuffixes are: -ology, -phobia, -graph, -meter, -ocracy, -onym

Can you think of any words which use these prefixes and suffixes?

The idea of DEMOCRACY

Rule by the people played an importantpart in the democracies of the pre-Christian era. The democracies of the city-states of classical Greece were unlike the democracies of today. They were direct democracies, in which all citizens couldspeak and vote in assemblies that resembled town meetings.

However democracy did not mean equality of all individuals; the majority of the people, notably slaves and women, had no political...