Good and Bad things of Athenian culture
The Ancient Athenians were peaceful, they enjoyed the systematic study of subjects such as science, philosophy, and history. They also loved art, architecture and literature, and they created thousands of temples, statues, paintings and texts. Today the Athenians’ style of art and architecture is referred to as classical. A famous example of the Athenians' architectural style is the Parthenon.
Sadly, due to their focus on arts and literature over combat, the Athenian army was not the biggest or the strongest. The Athenian soldiers were required to serve two years, and from then on they could still be called upon to fight, but of course they wouldn't be regularly training anymore.
Culture during the rise of Athens
Their love for different arts attracted many visitors and also famous writers, sculptors, architects and playwrights. Due to all these visitors and also people settling down soon Athens was full of people. Outside of military training and politics, most Athenians enjoyed watching plays at the theatre. This included tragedies, comedies and other sorts of plays. Because of the focus on education in Athens(for men at least, women did not receive an education), a lot of famous writers, artists, and philosophers ended up living in Athens. Some philosophers also had schools of their own and they taught people their ideas and beliefs. Athens also had many mathematicians and astronomers. From those people we have learned about geometry, atoms, other planets, earth is a globe, physics and mathematics. After the Persian wars, under the rule of Pericles, the Golden Age of Athens began. Athens prospered as a center of art and learning and the people created many new statues, temples, and schools.
Social Structure in ancient Athens
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Religion
Before the creation of the 12 Gods of Olympus, many of the gods were already worshipped all over Greece, as can be seen by the temples of Artemis, Zeus, Apollo or Apollo, Athena and Poseidon, in Athens, Peloponnese and Samos. These scattered beliefs were later organized, mainly thanks to the works of Homer and Hesiod, who roughly established the standard Greek pantheon, despite local differentiations. The ancient Greeks were a deeply religious people. They worshipped many gods whom they believed appeared in human form and yet were endowed with superhuman strength and ageless beauty. The Iliad and the Odyssey record men's interactions with various gods and goddesses whose characters and appearances underwent little change in the centuries that followed. The Greeks attributed these epic narratives to Homer, a poet living at the end of the 8th century BC. Each Greek city was normally under the protection of one or more individual deities who were worshipped with special emphasis, as, for example, Athens and the goddess Athena. In the arts, various painted scenes on vases, and stone, terracotta and bronze sculptures portray the major gods and goddesses. The deities are depicted either by themselves or in traditional mythological situations in which they interact with humans and a broad range of minor deities, demi-gods and legendary characters.