A History of Western Society: Printed Page 77

A History of Western Society, Value Edition: Printed Page 74

A History of Western Society, Concise Edition: Printed Page 79

Classical Greek Life and Culture FOCUS QUESTION What were the lasting cultural and intellectual achievements of the classical period?

Despite the violence that dominated Greece for nearly two centuries beginning in 500 B.C.E., or to some degree because of it, playwrights and thinkers pondered the meaning of the universe and the role of humans in it, and artists and architects created new styles to celebrate Greek achievements. Thus, although warfare was one of the hallmarks of the classical period, intellectual and artistic accomplishments were as well.