Could you imagine life in the United States today without concepts such as democracy, libraries, the alphabet, art, philosophy, mathematics and certain architectural elements? (Anonemuss, 2010) Daily life would be completely transformed without these and many other innovations. So where did we first come up with these ideas? Well, it goes back to the Greeks and Romans. Many aspects of modern life have been influenced by their cultures, ideas and inventions. There is also the question of whether classical Greece or classical Rome influenced the contemporary United States more. In my opinion, Classical Greece had more of an impact on our lives. In fact, it has been claimed that the Greeks are considered the first group of people from an ancient civilization that our society feels we can connect and identify with. (Kreis, 2000)So, what is the classical era? The Classical Greek era dates back to 500-323 BCE and was considered the period of maturity, discovery and achievement. At this time, Athens was ruled by a democratic government, a more rational approach to exploring and explaining the world emerged, and the Greeks for the first time took a more realistic and humanistic approach to art. (Sakoulas, 2002) In the classical era, the culture was based on a mixture of their old culture and the new. The old being based on religious beliefs, while the new occurs largely because of trade routes. Trade routes helped bring men from different regions and cultures to Athens. This allowed Athens to become a sort of “melting pot” and allowed for great economic growth. From there sprouted things like the production of dramas, comedies, plays and artists. As stated by Steven Kreis: "The Athenian period...... middle of paper ...... was the transition from the Archaic to the Classical period. The Romans continued with a more realistic style with statues such as the Aristocrat with his ancestors and Marcus Aurelius. In the murals of Pompeii, artists used a lot of color and realism on people's faces.Works CitedAnonemuss. (May 8, 2010). Greek influences today. Retrieved from: http://anonemuss.hubpages.com/hub/Greek-Influences-today Damerow, H. (2006, May). Retrieved from: http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/romans.htm Kreis, S. (2000). Lecture 7 Classical Greece, 500-323 BC. Extracted from: http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture7b.html Sakoulas, Thomas. (2002). History of Greece: Classical Greece. Ancient Greece.org. [03/13/2014]< http://www.ancient-greece.org/history/classical.html>.Roman society, Roman life. (nd). Retrieved from http://www.roman-empire.net/society/society.html