The ancient Greeks and Romans had many interesting aspects of their civilization, some of which we use today.

For instance, architecture was one of the most notable parts of ancient Greece. An average Greek home was shaped like a hollow square, in which the living area was the outside and a courtyard was found in the center. The courtyard sometimes contained a garden, but was mainly used for residents to receive sunlight without going outside, where it was usually busy. Greek roads were not as well built as Roman roads, which contained a mixture of concrete and different sized stones, but were still reliable and were made out of a mixture of earth and pebbles. The amphitheatre was also an amazing example of Greek architecture. The stage would be in the front and listeners would sit on the outside. The theatre itself was shaped like a semicircle, but the remarkable aspect of the amphitheatre was that if someone stood in the center, only on this platform here, and made a sound, everyone in all parts of the theatre could hear. No one else has been able to create a structure with this impressive of acoustics. Also, one of the most famous Greek structures, the Parthenon, featured an outstanding array of columns. There were three different types of columns used in ancient Greek and Roman architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. Many modern structures use these columns as well, such as the White House and the Capitol Building. Inside the Parthenon, there used to be an incredible statue of the Greek goddess Athena. However, when Greece was converting to Christianity and was taking down the old statues of the gods, they thought that the Athena statue was too beautiful to be taken down and so moved it to Constantinople, the center of Christianity at that time. Unfortunately, it was later burned down in a palace fire. The Parthenon itself was partially destroyed when ammo was stored in it during a war. Another fascinating element of the ancient world was Greek government and the development of democracy. Greece originally was a monarchy, or rule by one king, but then developed into an aristocracy, which was rule by a few wealthy individuals. However, Greeks wanted the government to be opened up to everyone, but still it only developed into a timocracy, in which the participation of a citizen in the government was based only on their wealth. Eventually, it became equal to all the social classes

though, and this was called democracy, or government of the people. Unfortunately, it was still not open to everyone. Only males over 18 that owned property could be part of the government. The location where the government meetings were held was called the Assembly. Everyone could talk here and give their opinion on the government. Ancient Greek and Roman religions were extremely similar, because the Romans copied the Greek religion, or as we call it today, Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, there were many gods; it was polytheistic religion. The most important of the gods were Zeus, the god of the sky, Poseidon, the god of the sea, and Hades, god of the underworld. Eventually, all Greeks, however, converted to Christianity due to the fact that Christianity appealed to all types of people because of its belief that everyone would go to an amazing afterlife, while Greek mythologys afterlife was bleak and dark. Christianity was a monotheistic religion, or belief in one god. Overall, the legacies of the Ancient World were truly amazing.