Greek culture is a major force behind most of what we know today. In government the Greeks practiced pure democracy. The people were given the power to make decisions about their own city-states. Two important city-states were Athens and Sparta. The Athenian empire was created by Pericles who took pride in the beauty of their city. The main temple in Athens was the Parthenon. It was built in the Acropolis in honor of Athena the …showed first 75 words of 344 total…

…showed last 75 words of 344 total…great literature. Their oral literature were stories told by word of mouth. These stories included an epic hero who was larger than life and of cosmic importance. Many of their epics contained mythological gods and muses in the story. One of the most famous Greek writers was Homer. He was blind and wrote the Odyssey and the Iliad. These were both oral literature until he wrote them down. There were five themes in the Odyssey.