Democracy And Greece's Golden Age Analysis

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Chapter 5.3- Democracy and Greece’s Golden Age
Pericles’ Plan for Athens: Pericles, a general, politician, and speaker, led Athens for the most part of its Golden Age. His goals were to strengthen Athenian democracy, hold and strengthen the empire, and glorify Athens. Pericles increased public officials who were paid salaries in order to achieve his first goal. During his rule, Pericles introduced direct democracy to Athens. To strengthen the Athenian empire, Athens needed a stronger navy. Pericles used money from Delian League’s treasury to achieve his second goal. This caused some members of the league to form their own alliances. The third goal was attained by beautifying Athens by, again, using money from the league.
• Direct democracy: in this government, citizens, rather than representatives, rule directly. Athens was one of the few cities who had this form of government.
Glorious Art and Architecture: One of the greatest architecture built for glorifying Athens was the Parthenon. The structure was built with the traditional designs of Greek temples. The temple was used to honor Athena. The sculptor, Phidias, also built a giant statue of Athena within the temple. During that time
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The ruler named himself Shi Huangdi (meaning “First Emperor”) in 221 B.C. He stopped internal battles, defeated invaders, crushed resistance, and conquered new territory. Shi Huangdi used a policy he called “strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches”, to removed rival warlords. Because he used Legalist ideas, Shi Huangdi murdered Confucius scholars and burned their works in order to prevent criticism. Shi Huangdi also worked on centralizing China. Same standards were set throughout China during his reign. To keep enemies out of China, Shi Huangdi ordered a giant wall to be built, today it’s called the “Great Wall of China.” The Qin Dynasty had fallen away by 202 B.C., giving way to the Han

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