Discuss the main cultural innovations of Classical Mediterranean civilization. Identify the key legacies of th

Question

Identify the key legacies of those innovations. Best answer gets 10 pts

Answer 1

The Classical Mediterranean Civilization included  Rome and Greece.  The other major civilizations which existed at that time: China and India. All making up the major population of the world, their similarities and differences were very significant.  Their similarities were that they were all empires and had clear social divisions within them and depended on agriculture and trade to sustain them.  The differences with these empires were their religious beliefs which were very diverse (Confucianism, Hinduism) much different than that of Christianity, requiring different levels of religious obedience).  This significance identifies differences in the levels of aggressiveness of the expansion of each culture; e.g. Rome's quest for power and territory, as opposed to  India and China which were more restrictive in their worldly ventures, with exclusion of trade, for political expansion.  

The key legacies of the Mediterranean cultures were devout loyalty of the public to their government, a preference to elect rulers, rather than accepted deities, but more so, their established legal system and law-making structure of government enjoyed by democracies of today.

Answer 2

Democracy. Still in use in all the developed nations of the world.

Abstract mathematics, still in use (Euclid, Pythagoras).

Iron working from classical Anatolia. Just about every modern high tech item derives from this.

Scientific method from ancient Greece, using logic to understand how the world functions.

Usable clock (water clock) from Greece.

Philosophy of varying schools mostly derives from the Greek.

Theatrical comedy and tragedy (Greek). Without which television would be nothing but the news and music. So, you can probably chalk up written fiction to the Greeks too.