Email: ZYVC057@live.rhul.ac.uk
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About Me:I'm a graduate student studying International Criminal Law and first started writing for King's News almost 4 years ago! My hobbies include reading, travelling and charity work. I cover many categories but my favourite articles to write are about mysteries of the ancient world, interesting places to visit, the Italian language and animals!
The Ancient Greeks lived thousands of years ago - in fact the earliest Greek civilisations existed almost 4,000 years ago - yet what they had to offer the world can be still seen today as their legacy remains. Join us in learning some fun facts about Ancient Greece and prepare to meet the Greeks!
Facts about Ancient Greece
- Ancient Greece is known as the ‘birthplace of Western civilisation’ and is a time of Greek civilisation which spread from the Archaic Age of the 8th and 6th century BC all the way up to 600 AD. The Greek Empire, which was at its most powerful between 2000BC and 146 BC, spread over parts of Europe such as Italy and also Asia Minor.
- The Ancient Greeks lived in Greece and on Greek Islands but some Greeks lived in colonies by the Mediterranean coast such as Sicily, what are known today as Bulgaria and Turkey, parts of Northern Africa and even the West of France - Greeks in France!
- The Ancient Greeks invented one of the coolest and oldest toys known to mankind, the yoyo! This is the second oldest toy ever invented, second only to dolls.
- In order to learn about the world, how it came to be and why things work the way they do, the Ancient Greeks invented gods which would each symbolise something – for example Athena was the goddess of wisdom and skill in battle – and would use stories of the gods to explain many daily events as they thought that gods could intervene in human affairs; they could even cause wars between city-states. Apart from gods, the Greeks also invented mythical monster such as the three-headed dog Cerberus – scary!
- Some Greeks were so superstitious that they refused to eat beans as they believed they were the soul of the dead!
- A famous Greek legend, narrated by many writers such as Homer in the Iliad, tells how the Greeks won the war against Troy. The Greeks cunningly gifted a giant Trojan wooden horse to Troy and pretended to sail away peacefully. Once the horse entered the walls of Troy and nobody suspected a thing, Greek soldiers leaped out of the horse and attacked Troy from within, winning the ten-year-long battle.
- The Greeks adored their gods so much they would place statues of them inside temples. The most famous temple is the Parthenon, built in Athens for the goddess Athena who is the protector of the city.
- The word ‘theatre’ – like many other words we use – comes from Greek and to-date theatres are constructed in a similar fashion to those used in Ancient Greece. Even thousands of years ago, the Greeks were able to build theatres which could seat 1500 people! Only men and boys could become actors and usually wore masks so the audience could see if the person the actor was portraying was happy, sad or angry. Some of the most imaginative, moral and mythical plays were invented in Ancient Greece and the theatre was one social event not to miss!
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Image 2: http://www.ngkids.co.uk/static/img/features/content/gallery/201401130949101419703899.jpg
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