In the field of literature, Greeks contributed to Epics, Poetry, Drama and History. ‘Iliad’ and ‘Odyssey’ are the two famous works of Homer. These Epics give us a fairly faithful account of the social, economic and political conditions of early Greek Culture. The shorter Greek poems were called Lyrics. Pindar and Sappo were the two lyric poets of Greek Civilization. 

The drama is the most familiar of the Greek forms of literature. The remains of Greek theatres can be still be seen all over the Aegean region. The founder of Greek tragedy was Aeschylus, author of ‘Prometheus Bound’ and ‘Agamemnon’. Sophocles, the greatest of the Greek, tragedians, wrote ‘Oedipus Rex’, ‘Antigone’ and ‘Electra’. These plays are admired all over the world even today. Euripides the third of the great tragic Poets believed that, in life people were more important than Gods.

Hence he concerned himself with the passions and emotions of human beings. One of his best known plays is the ‘Trojan Women’. Aristophanes was the greatest comic poet! World’s first great historian Herodotus, Thucydides who wrote he ‘Peloponnesian Wars’ and Plutarch known for his biographies- ‘Lives of illustrious men’ all lived during this period. Oratory is the art of making public speeches. The most famous orator of that period was Demosthenes.

Greek philosophers furnished the impetus for the beginning of the study of science. Aristotle laid the foundation for the study of natural science. Theophrastus, established Botany as a recognized science. Hippocrates known as the ‘Father of Medicine’ laid the foundations of modern medicine. He taught that diseases have a natural origin and not caused by evil spirits. Herophilus is called as the ‘Father of Anatomy’.

Ptolemy believed that the Earth was the center of the Universe. But Aristarchus propounded the theory that Earth and other Planets, revolved around the Sun. Eratosthenes calculated the approximate circumference of earth within a small error of 320 Kilometers. He also prepared a fairly accurate map of the world and he was the first to suggest that one could reach India from Europe by sailing westwards. Pythagoras and Euclid made many contributions to mathematics, especially to Geometry. Archimedes was also a famous scientist of ancient Greece.

The word Philosophy is derived from the Greek word ‘Philosophia’ which means “Love of Wisdom”. The Sophists believed that there was no absolute truth but looked at every so called truth in relation to its effect on human beings. They taught the techniques of effective speaking, writing, oratory, rhetoric etc. The most famous Philosophers were Socrates, his disciple Plato and Plato’s student Aristotle. Aristotle was the teacher of Alexander the great.

He was both a Philosopher and a Scientist and wrote on many subjects. He is regarded as the father of three branches of knowledge, namely Philosophy, Biology and Political Science. He said that ‘Man is a social animal’. He encouraged constitutional Governments. He classified and organized the different branches of knowledge-segregating Physics, Metaphysics, Logic and Ethics. His important works were ‘The Politics’ and ‘History of Animals’. That is why he is considered as the ‘Walking University’.