Introductory note – ALL ABOUT HISTORY #25 January 25, 2021 – Posted in: Magazine – Tags: ,

of Chrysostomos Bobaridis, Historian - Department of Ancient History, University of Siena

If there is a culture in human history that influenced and influences, it is the culture of Ancient Greece. Characteristically, the Roman poet Horace mentions that Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio. The free rendering of this verse is: Conquered Greece conquered with her civilization the uncivilized conqueror.
A basic component of the world of the ancient Greeks is the stubborn adherence to everything connected with the human soul and nature. The world of Ancient Greece is the first that has historically sought answers to all the issues that plague man throughout time. This was accomplished by the instrument of writing and through the discovery of the alphabet which they took, as they say, from the Phoenicians, as a system of accounting. The alphabet became a channel of communication of their thoughts and spiritual pursuits.

However, it would be limiting to approach Ancient Greece as a world that was exclusively interested in human nature. Through the alphabet and language, the Ancient Greeks passed on to their descendants what they discovered through the study of the world around them. A typical example is the development of mathematical science through the researches of Pythagoras, Archimedes and Euclid. However, the special feature of the ancient Greek world is that this knowledge was practically recorded in the traces it left and which the archaeological dig brought to light, allowing a thorough study. The examples of temples, sculptures, theaters practically confirm the ability of the ancient Greeks to apply what they had theoretically formulated.

In Ancient Greece, finally, there are the roots of democracy, of the polity that today everyone pursues and seeks. This is mainly based on freedom of expression, language. The identification of democracy and language has been pointed out by one of the most important scholars of ancient Greek literature, Adamantios Korais, according to whom: "There is no more democratic institution than language. Everyone participates in it with democratic equality, I would say."


How close or far we are today from the world of Ancient Greece is a matter of personal search.


Good reading