Education In Ancient Greece Sources of education in ancient greece resources from the Web

The ancient Greeks developed two primary styles (or "Classical orders"); the restrained and solid Doric and the refined and decorated Ionic. It should be noted that the Ionic style eventually evolved into the more ornate Corinthian style.

Thales of Miletus is regarded by many as the father of science; he was the first Greek philosopher to seek to explain the physical world in terms of natural rather than supernatural causes. Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician who is known as the "father of numbers"; it is believed that he had the pioneering insight into the numerical ratios that determine the musical scale, and the Pythagorean theorem is commonly attributed to him. Diophantus of Alexandria is sometimes called the "father of algebra", and much of modern geometry is based on the work of Euclid. Eratosthenes was one of the first scientific geographers, calculating the circumference of the earth and making the first maps based on scientific principles. Hipparchus is considered to be the greatest astronomical observer of the ancient world, and was probably the first to develop an accurate method of predicting solar eclipses. Aristarchus was the first known astronomer to propose a heliocentric model of the solar system, though the geocentric model of Ptolemy was more commonly accepted until the sixteenth century. Ptolemy also contributed much to cartography and to the science of optics. Archimedes was the first to calculate the value of p and the first to calculate a geometric series; he also was the first mathematical physicist, discovered the law of buoyancy, and invented the irrigation device known as Archimedes' screw.

The development of the modern Greek economy began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the adoption of social and industrial legislation and protective tariffs and the creation of the first industrial enterprises. Industry at the turn of the century consisted primarily of food processing, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of textiles and simple consumer products.

Crete is an island that is a part of Greece. The lýra is the dominant folk instrument on the island; it is a three-stringed fiddle similar to the Turkish kemençe. It is often accompanied by laoúto, which is similar to both an oud and a mandolin. Kosta Moundakis is the most renowned player of the lýra.

In the 1950s and 1960s Greece continued to develop slowly, initially with the help of the U.S.A Marshall programme and later with the growth of tourism. In 1967 the military seized power in a coup d'état, overthrew the social-democrat government of George Papandreou, senior and established what became known as the Régime of the Colonels, supported by the U.S.A. In 1973 the régime abolished the Greek monarchy. In 1974, dictator Papadopoulos denied help to the USA and as a result the (US/Kissinger) "appointed" a new dictator named Ioannides. Many hold Ioannides responsible for the coup against President Makarios of Cyprus -- the coup seen as the pretext for the first wave of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. The Cyprus events and the outcry following a bloody suppression of Athens Polytechnic uprising in Athens led to the implosion of the military régime. A charismatic exiled politician, Konstantinos Karamanlis, returned from Paris as interim prime minister and later gained re-election for two further terms at the head of the conservative Nea Dimokratia party. In 1975, following a referendum to confirm the deposition of King Constantine II, a democratic republican constitution came into force. Another previously exiled politician, Andreas Papandreou also returned and founded the socialist PASOK party, which won the elections in 1981 and dominated the country's political course for almost two decades.

At the other end of the time-scale, art historians generally hold that Ancient Greek art as a distinct culture ended with the establishment of Roman rule over the Greek-speaking world in about 100 BC. After this date they argue, Greco-Roman art, though often impressive in scale, was largely derivative of earlier Greek models, and declined steadily in quality until the advent of Christianity brought the classical tradition to an end in the 5th century AD. (For the later periods, see Roman art and Byzantine art).