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We ourselves, whether we like it or not, are the heirs of the Greeks and the Romans. In a thousand different ways, they are permanently and indestructibly woven into the fabric of our own existence. ("The Founders of the Western World," by Michael Grant)
Hellenism,
the culture that blossomed in Athens, is the primary source of western
civilization. In many ways America is the cultural by-product of ancient
Greece. Before the Greeks, everyone who lived in Europe was unlettered,
uncultured and somewhat barbaric. It was the Greeks (followed by the Romans),
who brought philosophy, the study of history, athletic competition,
sophisticated literature, poetry, theater, architecture, urban planning and the
concept of democracy to the modern world.
Historians
insist that there is almost nothing in our society that doesn't have its roots
in ancient Greece. Consider the United States Capitol building in
Washington, D.C:
-
the structural design is
Greek architecture
-
the form of
government it houses was born in Greece
-
the logic, philosophy
and rhetoric that animate its debates originated in Greece
CULTURAL DOMINATION
If
you're traveling somewhere in the world and you want to know if American
culture has reached that place, don't look for an American flag. Look instead
for McDonalds "Golden Arches."
Imagine:
There are places in the world today where Levi jeans sell on the black market
for 200 dollars. Croatia is starting to produce basketball players talented
enough to be NBA All-Stars. And somewhere behind the Great Wall of China,
countless teenagers are lining up for pirated CDs of rap music.
The Greeks would have been awfully jealous because this is exactly what they were trying to do with their
culture. They wanted their philosophy, entertainment, arts, literature, theater
and athletic games to become the defining elements for peoples' lives
everywhere.
The
Greeks were different from other empires. They didn't want your land, your
resources or your riches. They wanted your mind.
And
the Jews weren't willing to give that up!
Adapted from "Chanukah - Eight Nights of Light, Eight Gifts
for the Soul," by Rabbi Shimon Apisdorf. http://www.leviathanpress.com. Published: Wednesday, October 30, 2002
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Hear related audio on this topic
Capitolium: Not the Edifice of Freedom
Kudos, an observation, and a comment:
The Romans, not the Greeks, invented the arch and then the dome - a circular series of arches - adapting it to and capping a large, cavernous building or "capitolium," from both whose design and which word comes our own US Capitol.
And yet, the Capitolium in Rome's Forum housed its Pantheon, a reflection of its limited, pagan vision of the font and meaning of all the cosmos. It was Israel, however - Rome's spiritual and military nemesis, until 70 BCE, when it sacked Jerusalem, having had enough rebellion and humiliation at the hands of Judean zealots - whose belief in The Living God I feel conducted the more essential and distinguishing elements of Western Civilization - its dedication to liberty, responsibilty and accountability, and perseverence, beyond all measured and discouraging obstacles throughout history.
Israel thus remains the human heart's and our own civilization's strongest and, in a way, most legal internal edifice: the perpetual dedication to the love and honoring of all human life - truly the greatest and most sublime universal endeavor the world has ever seen and known. This view and practice, I hold, is perhaps prior and basic to any validity and vitality in our civilization's Greco-Roman institutions.