Ancient Greece

     Ancient Greece was easily one of the greatest civilizations of it's time. It developed the first ever democracy, paved the way for modern science and mathematics, and was home to some of the best thinkers and philosophers the world has ever seen. Among them was Socrates who was a teacher and a thinker. He is credited as one of the founders of western philosophy and eventually died for his work. He opened not only Athens but the world's eyes to great things and said himself the quote, "The unexamined life is not worth living." He was ruled guilty for not recognizing the gods and corrupting the youth and was sentenced death by Hemlock (forced suicide) and even when his students offered him a way to sneak him out that would have worked and no one would find him, he declined because it was what the people wanted and he supported the democracy system but no matter what his work will never be forgotten and by some he is considered a hero.
     Ancient Greece also, in a way had much more active people in politics and people who weren't afraid to voice their opinion like in the agora. If you didn't participate in politics or were a more private person in Ancient Greece you were basically an idiot because that's actually what it meant back then. Now, today in the United States only about 50% of the population votes for president and that's men and women combined! In Ancient Greece it was just men and they were doing a lot better job then we are. That's were this idea of civic responsibility, which in a nutshell is the people having an obligation to vote even if they don't want to or feel like it, comes into play which is a core element of a democratic society and Ancient Greece definitely had it. This idea of democracy where the people rule was unheard of up until then and it was and still is working out today and not just in Greece back in the old days. So yes, in all I guess Ancient Greece was pretty important.