Curated category
Greek inventions
- TheatreThe city-state of Athens is where Western theatre originated. It was part of a broader culture of theatricality and performance in classical Greece that…
- DemocracyThe Parthenon stands as a stone symbol of democracy, yet the word itself emerged in ancient Athens during the 5th century BC.
- ComedyIn 425 BCE, the comic poet Aristophanes wrote forty plays that shaped how Athenian democracy understood its own voice. Eleven of these works survive today…
- Armillary sphereA brass framework of graduated rings stands at the center of an armillary sphere. This metal skeleton represents lines of celestial longitude and latitude.
- TragedyIn the 6th century BCE, Athenian tragedy emerged as a dance-drama form during an annual state religious festival honoring Dionysus.
- Greek fireThe year 672 marked a turning point for the Byzantine Empire when Arab fleets threatened Constantinople. Chronicler Theophanes the Confessor attributes the…
- Euclidean geometryIn the ancient Greek city of Alexandria, a mathematician named Euclid wrote a textbook called Elements. This book organized geometric knowledge into a…