Plato

Plato was, as well as Socrates and all the other great names, was an essential part of Greek history and philosophy. He was the writer of basically all of Socrates' pieces including Meno, and The Apology. With these pieces, came the fame of Plato, in the years after his death.
Plato was born in 428 B.C. and eventually died in 348 B.C. He was a poet, mathematician, philisophical writer, as well as being the founder of the Academy of Athens. (Source) Plato was a student of Socrates, and was greatly influenced by him, and learned much about the society of Athens by studying the death of his teacher. Plato had undeniable ability to think and to write, as can be seen in his works. (Williams 41) Much of this ability is because of the influence he had under the teaching of the greatest philosopher the world has ever seen, Socrates. Plato's works are still used to teach a wide range of subjects in today's schools.
One of Plato's works, The Apology, is studied by many people today. It is the oldest work of Plato to date. Only two copies of this work survive, the one f Plato, and another by Xenophon. The Apology explains the speech of Socrates at his trial. He basically says that Athens are still wrong, and that he is deliberately trying to be found guilty and be condemned to death. "Now, although the word "apology" is the direct descendant into English of the Greek word apología, the meaning has changed. Socrates was not apologizing or making excuses. He wasn't sorry. The Greek word apología simply and precisely meant a defense, or a defense speech. This meaning has been preserved in English in some related words: An "apologist" is still someone who argues a defense of someone or something, and "apologetics" is still a discipline or system of argued defense of something, usually a doctrine, cause, or institution. Socrates' speech thus might be translated The Defense of Socrates without the possible confusion over the modern meaning; but after long usage, it is hard to imagine calling the Apology anything else." (Ross) This quote explains that Plato was at the trial, and he understod that Socrates was not trying to say that he was sorry. The Apolgy was a defense for the freedom of Socrates.
Because Plato was a student of Socrates, his thoughts and ideas were instilled in the minds of all the great philosophers to come out of Greece. Plato was the teacher of Aristotle, who was the teacher of Alexander the Great who was the best ruler and conqueror the world has ever seen. Because Alexander conquered so much territory, his ideas were also spread. This spread of ideas all started with Socrates, to Plato, to Aristotle, to Alexander the Great, and into the rest of the world. (Nails 213)
Plato was one of the greatest philosophers we have ever seen. He was influenced by the best, and he also taught the best. The key to greatness in this life, is to learn from the best, and play with the best, then to teach the best. This way you can collect all information from those who have found it successful and use it to beat the best and learn from them.
Williams, Bernard Arthur Owen. Plato. Routledge. 1999.
Nails, Debra. The People of Plato: A Prosopography of Plato and other Socratics. Hackett Publishing. 2002. New York.

Socrates

Greek philosophy has been and always will be the greatest base for modern thought. The Greeks were people of thinking and reasoning. They helped establish what we base our entire trial of thinking that we usae today. The biggest and brightest of these Greek philosophers was a man named Socrates.
Socrates was born in 470 B.C. in such a way that allowed nobody to think that he would set the base for the modern world of thinking. He is most famous for his developement of the Socratic method, which used the form of questioning to find knowledge and wisdom. The Socratic method has been used for every philosophy book and idea since the time of Socrates where it was developed. This method is still used today with great respect for the man who trademarked it.
Socrates was a man of great thought and intellectual want in a sense that he would aggrivate one so much that one would just stop thinking about the subject and leave himself unanswered. This type of person is called a gadfly, one who says things that make you thimk. Socrates always had someone writing down his ideas, but Socrates himself never wrote any books. His one main idea and quote was "The unexamined life is not worth living." This quote is saying that Socrates believed that life was to be devoted to the study of the human mind and soul. (Stone 211) These ideas made Socrates one of the mosat respected men in the world, but one of the most hated men in the Athenian society.
Because of his challenging ideas and his new thoughts, Socrates became the one most hated man in Athens. He was smelly and disgusting and the people of Athens saw nothing but the outside of this man. (Guthrie 42) They charged him with heresy and sentenced him to death by the drinking of hemlock. He thought long and hard about his sentence and came up with a speech to use in front the royal assembly. His speech was breathtaking but still the assembly chose death for Socrates. He drank the hemlock and he died.
Socrates was a great man. He gave us the Socratic method and many great ideas, that we still use today. He was a thinker who accepted nothing at face value. He was smart enough to admit that he didn't know everything, but only that of his own ignorance. This in itself is one of the single most important things we can learn from Socrates.
Stone, I.F. The Trial of Socrates. Pan Books. 1989. New York
Guthrie, William Keith Chambers. Socrates. Cambridge University Press. 1971. New York.

Greek Architecture

Greek architecture started in the early Stone Age. it began from small, narrow huts and tents, and went all the way into stone walls and great churches and houses, paved roads, and even villages. Eventually, the Greeks began to build temples for the gods. These temples were first built in Doric style. These temples were burned in the Greek Dark Ages.
In the 6th century, most buildings were made with mud-brick and clay. Because of this, many buildings were destroyed or burnt, so many buildings were lost during the Greek Ages. The only ruins left of these buildings, were a couple unfinished plans and some mud and clay. In the early sixth century, most Greek buildings were built in a Doric style. These buildings were temples and churches. The most expensive, and nicest buildings were built with marble. Marble was extremely expensive and was used for the houses of the aristocrats. There were also buildings of limestone, which Greece was filled with.
There were two main building styles in Ancient Greece. There was the Doric style and the Ionic style and the Corinthian style. These names reflected the belief in the Dorian and Ionian Greeks during the Dark Ages. The Doric style was very formal and fancy. The Ionic style was more relaxed and free. The Corinthian style was made famous in the use of columns. The Doric style originated in mainland Greece where it spread throughout the Greek regions of Italy.
The Doric style was the simplest form of Greek architecture in Greece. The columns consisted of a crown on the top, made of a circle on top of a square. The shaft has 20 sides, and is very plain. The Doric style is simple, but it is still super powerful. It also has no base in the buildings. There was also a metope on the middle of the buildings, often consisting of gods and goddesses. The Doric was used mainly by middle class artisans and craftsman.
Lawrence, Arnold Walter. Greek Architecture. Yale University Press. 1996. New York.
Taylor, William. An Architecture Notebook. Barker Press. 1971. New York