During the classical period, Greek civilization reached its height when .

Political: The citizens of polis de-emphasized the gods role in political life and based government not on the magic powers of divine rulers, but on human intelligence as expressed through community. The law did not derive from gods or divine kings, but from the human community. Their gradual realization that community problems are caused by human beings and require human solutions is the basic foundation of Western spirit. They debated and voted in the key issues of state: declared war, signed treaties, spent public funds. People were allowed to express their opinions in the Assembly. Community of Free, self governing citizens is the main principle of western civilization. Philosophy: Greeks gradually separated their mythical ideas and applied to reason. They gave an entirely different concept of nature rather than believing that it was all manipulated by illogical and willful gods. They gave a new approach that nature was governed by law, which finally led to the development of mathematical order of nature, logical proof, explanations for physical occurrences, the mechanical structure of the universe. Philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates have a great contribution in giving rise to new logical ideas of politics, science, and human behavior. Plato gave rise to the system of democracy: Rulers, soldiers, producers. Aristotles ethics contributed in the organization of Western civilization, as he said that passion and irrational human can be maintained by proper training and avoiding the extremes of behavior. Scientific They excluded gods in naturalistic explanations of natural phenomena giving rise to scientific thoughts. Astronomical, mathematical knowledge increased during their period leading to the earth centered theory of universe. Names of almost all our sciences are of Greek origin. They theorized atomic theory, conceptualized circulation of blood within human body, explained the origin of the world in a natural way not in religious way. They advanced in medical treatments of diseases rather than considering them as supernatural effect. During Greek period, surgical instruments, anatomical knowledge flourished. They gave us the Hippocratic Oath which was indeed taken by all doctors for more than 2000 years summarizing their duties and responsibilities of the profession. Literature: Greeks invented drama and poetry. Their poems and drama revealed the expression of rise of the individual and the humanist values. The Greeks portrayed the sufferings, weakness, and triumphs of human beings in their literature. Their drama continuously strived toward the humanization and individualization. It revealed the inner life of the human form. They developed the rules of

tragedy and comedy. Tragedy means suffering and had a point to change while comedy means mockery and satires of society. They explained that suffering leads to wisdom. Artistic Their arts expressed sharp awareness of the individual. The Greeks believed that human beings have their own capacity of thinking rationally and living life worth as an individual. They emphasized the importance of human reason and human decisions. They approached to the fact that reasoning leads to knowledge and people are responsible for their own behavior not the gods. Eventually, the Greeks changed the myth making culture into rational humanistic culture, which is a distinctive feature of Western Civilization.