Greek Civilization

Greek Civilization was a time of creativity, education, individuality, and democracy. They were the first democracy that we know of. They were the masters of philosophy, science, fine arts, geography, medicine, legal systems, and astronomy. They became so far advanced for their time that it created new horizons for future civilizations. Similar to previous periods, trade was very important in their daily life. The Greek civilization was surrounded by three seas. These three seas, Aegean, Mediterranean, and Ionian, made trade readily available. Much like today's world, they were an independent government. Each community gave off a friendly competition amongst one another; this is shown in today's world as well. They would trade with each other although they were all from separate governments. The climate and agriculture were much like the mid-west. They had very hot summers and bone-chilling winters. During their agricultural production, they created grain, grapes, olives, and salt.

During this period, the Golden Age sprouted. During 480-400 B.C., the Parthenon came about. The Parthenon was an Ancient temple on the Athenian Acropolis. This was dedicated to the goddess Athena. This is known to be the most important surviving building of this period. This is typically considered to be the culmination of the development of the Doric order.

From an interior design standpoint, the architecture and decoration were outstanding. The floors were plastered and painted; a sign of wealth. They used several mosaic techniques such as pebbles, glass, and stone. This was also demonstrated through the use of geometric, mythological figures, as well as flowers and animals. The materials used for the walls were non-plastered mud bricks. Some of the motifs were flora or marine, egg and dart, or Greek Fret and/or Key. A very popular technique that was used greatly was trompe l'oeil. This simply means to trick the eye to make things seem three-dimensional. This is shown in a lot of work during this time period. Windows were placed high on the walls to show the differences between two levels. Doors were made of wood, stone, or marble frames with a bronze fabric. In the dining room, coffered ceilings were popular as well. The Greek Civilization, overall, had created an opening that would be on-going for years to come.

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