Between 500 B.C. and now, there may have been many changes to politics, battles and art, but we all have to thank the greeks (woo!) for the origin of these subjects.  Art in that time, to sum up ALHOTW’s description, was natural and beautiful.  They could create things that blow our minds.  We think of 2009 modern art as the most amazing thing, but to those people, I say prepare to be reincarnated.

On another topic, democracy; who would think that they came up with such an amazing form of politics in 500 B.C., and we still use it in modern america?  This is the most advanced form of running a country/province/area probably ever developed.

One more thing we have some thanks for, the developed form of war.  You may think of war as something so horrible, but in fact it may be needed in some rare situations.  Without it, we would not know which countries would survive.  Think about it, the winner of a war is somewhat likely to be the stronger country, and deserves what they win or get to keep from the struggle.  What the Greeks developed was a great fleet, allowing them to better survive such a great fight.