Introduction To Ancient Greece
Introduction to Greece Reading Passage
Greece is a country in Europe. It lies on the Mediterranean Sea. Greece has been settled(1) since ancient times. Today, we still follow many ideas the ancient Greeks had about science, sports, the arts, and government. Towns in ancient Greece were called city-states. City-states were very independent and very proud. Athens, which is now the capital of Greece, was a famous ancient city-state. It was named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom(2) and knowledge. The people of Athens invented a new kind of government. It was called democracy. This meant that the citizens of Athens were allowed to take part in their government. They could vote and make big decisions. We use this kind of government in the United States today. We owe it to the ancient Athenians. The ancient Greeks had their own religion. They believed in many different gods. Each god represented something specific to the Greeks. For instance, there was a god of war and a goddess of love. They even had a god of sleep. The ancient Greeks did many things to honor(3) their gods. They put on plays. They held sporting events. In fact, the first Olympic Games were held in ancient Greece. We still hold Olympic Games today. Like democracy, it is just one of many things that we got from the ancient Greeks!
Vocabulary: 1 settled: lived in by people; 2 wisdom: important knowledge about the world; 3 honor: show respect to
Vocabulary: 1 settled: lived in by people; 2 wisdom: important knowledge about the world; 3 honor: show respect to