The Legacy of Ancient Greece古希腊的遗产.pptxVIP

The Legacy of Ancient Greece SS.6.W.3.57 Greek Contributions to Language Our alphabet grew out of the one the Greeks used, so many English words have Greek roots. The word alphabet comes from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta. The word telephone is made up of the Greek words for “far off” (tel) and “voice” (phone). Greek Contributions to Government Democracy, or rule by the people, began in Athens. Since citizens made decisions for their government, the practice of having citizens serve on juries also began in Greece. Fortunately, citizenship today includes many more people than in ancient Greece. Greek Contributions to Medicine A Greek man named Hippocrates approached medicine in a more scientific way. He believed that diseases had natural causes and taught his students to carefully observe patients and write down what they saw. Hippocrates is often called the “father of modern medicine,” and even today people who become doctors take the Hippocratic Oath to be honest and preserve life. Greek Contributions to Understanding the Human Body In the beginning, Greek understanding of the body was limited because they believed that dissection, cutting into a body, offended the gods. As these beliefs changed over time, later Greek medical students were able to name and describe the organs inside the body. They learned that the heart was a pump that sent blood throughout the body, and the brain was the center of the nervous system. Greek Contributions to Mathematics Pythagoras, a Greek scientist, believed that numbers were the key to understanding nature. He was especially fascinated with geometry which comes from a Greek word that means “to measure land.” Pythagoras is probably most well known, though, for his Pythagorean Theorem. Euclid was another important Greek mathematician whose textbook was used for the teaching of geometry for over 2,000 years! Greek Contributions to Astronomy Astronomy comes from the Greek word for “star.” A Greek scientis