Many scientists are baffled even today by some of the discoveries of Ancient Greece. We owe a lot of what we now take for granted to the discoveries and culture of the ancient people of Greece and Rome. The most notable of the tremendous influence that the culture of these ancient people had on our society can be seen in the reawakening of the sprit that took place in the Renaissance. The renaissance actually means the rebirth, and it refers to the reawakening of the culture of Greece and Rome. It’s as if the thousand years or so of the dark ages didn’t amount to anything, and only with the rediscovery of the Ancient World could begin a new era for science, technology, philology or philosophy. Also, the esthetics of the Ancient World influenced every art form, from paintings to sculptures, to architecture. So, let’s look at some of the most important discoveries that form the legacy of Ancient Greece:

1.        Philosophy: The ancient Greeks were the first to try to explain the world around them without resorting to things like magic myth or religion. Philosophy starts with the great Greek thinkers such as Aristotle, and it is something that shapes our world to this day. Every great major political, social or cultural change in any society is first prompted by a philosopher, or a philosophical idea. This is one of the most important discoveries of Ancient Greece, if only by the fact that it was for the first time in human history when rationality was put ahead of mysticism or religion.

2.        Astronomy: Although many of the ancient people relied on the study of the movement of the stars and planets, the Greeks were the first to systemize their findings and create a whole new field of study called astrology. Some of the most important discoveries of Ancient Greece in the field of astrology can be summarized in: the naming of the different planets, planet deriving from  Greek word that means wonderer; the idea that the Earth rotates around it’s axis; the idea that the Earth is part of a heliocentric system, which means that the Earth, along with all the other planets revolve around a static Sun; the first 3D model of the movement of the planets; the categorization of the stars, organizing them into constellations; and a highly accurate assumption about the circumference of the Earth based on the angle of shadows in different parts of the World.

3.        Mathematics: Geometry and its rules were invented by Euclid. Euclidian geometry is the first we come in contact as we go to school. The Greeks founded this new domain in mathematics. But there are many others that have influenced the development of mathematics such as Thales or Pythagoras. Pythagoras formed an order called the Pythagoreans, and refused to attribute any of his findings to his name, because he believed that the order of Pythagoreans is more important. It is said that the first two books of Euclid’s Elements are based on the discoveries made by the Pythagoreans. Almost all the basic knowledge that we have about mathematics is a result of the discoveries of Ancient Greece.

4.        Botany: As unlikely as it seems, Aristotle, wasn’t only a great philosopher, but one of the first botanists in the world. He collected information about most of the plants that were known in the world at that time. One of his students, Theophrastus, who is also considered one of the inventors of this new field, categorized, and named all these plants.

5.        Biology: This vast topic was studied by some of the greatest minds of Ancient Greece, including Aristotle, Hypocrites or Dioscorides.  Some of the main topics of debate were natural selection, in much more primitive or basic form than the latter Darwinian version, or the origin of life.

The legacy of the discoveries of Ancient Greece can be seen everywhere around us. Our modern society and our modern way of living couldn’t be possible without the great developments, in culture, politics, science and technology, made by the ancient Greeks. Democracy was also a Greek invention, but it must be taken into consideration that although all citizens were considered equal, the Greeks used slaves who had no rights. But the idea of democracy and what it flourished into in our times is a product of ancient Greek culture. Most of the greatest questions posed by some of the first philosophers of the world, like Aristotle, are still without answer today. Even though we don’t feel it al western civilizations are a product of the way of life, the culture and the ideas of Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. So, the discoveries of Ancient Greece should be regarded as some of the most important achievements in human history.

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