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Description Dominance of Greco-Roman Culture
Greco-Roman Culture came to dominate the Mediterranean world because in principle it was superior to all other cultures. The Greeks demonstrated great genius for philosophy and art while the Romans mastered law and order. Behind their superior cultures, was the essence the people themselves. The cultural values for which the people strived for, is the underlying reason for their ultimate success. Together these two cultures came to dominant the Mediterranean world because they were superior to all the rest.
Greek culture spread because as a culture Greeks strived for excellence in everything. This idea of excellence, or arete, created a culture driven to assert its superiority in and over all things. The Melian Dialogue clearly illustrates how arete lent itself to the Athenian's opinion of themselves and others. In response to a Melian request for neutrality the Athenians say:
No, because it is not so much your hostility that
injures us; it is rather the case that, if we were
on friendly terms with you, our subjects would regard
that as a sign of weakness in us, whereas your
hatred is evidence of our power...(Our subjects think)
that those who still preserve their independence do
so because they are strong, and that if we fail to
attack them it is because we are afraid.
The Athenian people were not directly threatened by the Melians and therefore had no practical reason to attack them. Their primary motivation was, obviously, to assert their dominance, their excellence, upon the Melian people. In his "Funeral Oration", Pericles declares the excellence of the Athenian people, "Taking everything together then, I declare that our city is an education to Greece, and I declare that in my opinion each single one of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of life, is able to show himself the rightful lord and owner of his own person, and to do this with exceptional grace and exceptional versatility."
The overriding idea of arete, excellence in everything, also inspired Greek philosophers and artists. Sullivan states, "...the judgment of the Western tradition is that Greek culture was in fact the highest moment of the entire history of the humanities...At the heart of Classicism was the search for perfection." Obviously the works and ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are generally concerned with the pursuit of perfection in humanity, government, etc. Philo of Alexandria, a Jew, even acknowledged the merit of Greek philosophy. He says, "So behold me daring, not only to read the sacred messages of Moses, but also in my love of knowledge to peer into each of them and unfold and reveal what is not known to the multitude."
Greek architecture and sculptures, exemplified by the Parthenon, and Poseidon and Doryphoros, respectively, also demonstrate the ideas of balance, perfection, and the ideal. Poets and playwrights were also included. The Great Dionysia celebrated the best tragedies through competition, another expression of arete. According to Sullivan, the tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are still to this day "unsurpassed." All based on the pursuit of excellence, and carried on the tides of military conquest, Greek art and philosophy spread to the Mediterranean world.
Like the Greeks, the Romans came to dominate the Mediterranean world because they were superior. Militarily, a well organized citizen army and a common virtue of gravitus, made them unbeatable. Polybius elaborates on the strict procedures (no doubt aided by gravitus) used by the Romans to enforce rules and encourage bravery in his Histories. By employing threats of death to deserters and cowarRAB, and giving monetary rewarRAB to the brave, the Romans succeeded in establishing effective militant order. Polybius summarizes by saying:
So when we consider this people's almost obsessive
concern with military rewarRAB and punishments, and
the immense importance which they attach to both,
it is not surprising that they emerge with brilliant
success from every war in which they engage.
Aside from their obvious militaristic superiority, what gave the Romans lasting dominance was the superior way they handled their success. According to Matthew's, in dealing with conquered peoples, the Romans were most adept at assimilating them into Roman society. The Romans made the welfare of their conquered peoples rely upon the well-being of Rome itself. Additionally, conquered peoples were given a sense of self rule. The Romans were the best at what they did - conquer and govern (and imitate the Greeks) - and that is why they were dominant.
The Roman emphasis on practicality, and disdain for the humanities, came to an end with the assimilation of Greece into the Roman Republic. The Romans ability to borrow ideas from other cultures, particularly Greek ideas, was according to Matthew's their finest achievement. Although the Romans did not develop them, the humanities originated by the Greeks were adopted and copied by the Romans. The Greek goRAB were essentially adopted by the Romans, and Greek statues, such as the bust of Pericles, were Roman copies of Greek originals. Clearly, the most important Roman contribution to the humanities was, as Matthew's states, the fact that the Romans preserved what the Greeks originated.
With the assimilation of Greece into Rome, and vice-versa, the phrase Greco-Roman was coined. The close association of these two dominant cultures tenRAB to merge into one as a result of heavy borrowing on the part of the Romans. The dominance gained in the Mediterranean world resulted from the meshing of two cultures, superior in their own separate rights, into one culture superior in nearly all rights. The Greeks formed a culture greatly talented in philosophy and art, but lacking in some military and governmental aspects. The Romans instituted a highly effective military and political system - superior to all, but were devoid of humanities. Corabined, these two cultures, as a result of achieving superiority, came to dominate the Mediterranean world.
Greco-Roman Culture came to dominate the Mediterranean world because in principle it was superior to all other cultures. The Greeks demonstrated great genius for philosophy and art while the Romans mastered law and order. Behind their superior cultures, was the essence the people themselves. The cultural values for which the people strived for, is the underlying reason for their ultimate success. Together these two cultures came to dominant the Mediterranean world because they were superior to all the rest.
Greek culture spread because as a culture Greeks strived for excellence in everything. This idea of excellence, or arete, created a culture driven to assert its superiority in and over all things. The Melian Dialogue clearly illustrates how arete lent itself to the Athenian's opinion of themselves and others. In response to a Melian request for neutrality the Athenians say:
No, because it is not so much your hostility that
injures us; it is rather the case that, if we were
on friendly terms with you, our subjects would regard
that as a sign of weakness in us, whereas your
hatred is evidence of our power...(Our subjects think)
that those who still preserve their independence do
so because they are strong, and that if we fail to
attack them it is because we are afraid.
The Athenian people were not directly threatened by the Melians and therefore had no practical reason to attack them. Their primary motivation was, obviously, to assert their dominance, their excellence, upon the Melian people. In his "Funeral Oration", Pericles declares the excellence of the Athenian people, "Taking everything together then, I declare that our city is an education to Greece, and I declare that in my opinion each single one of our citizens, in all the manifold aspects of life, is able to show himself the rightful lord and owner of his own person, and to do this with exceptional grace and exceptional versatility."
The overriding idea of arete, excellence in everything, also inspired Greek philosophers and artists. Sullivan states, "...the judgment of the Western tradition is that Greek culture was in fact the highest moment of the entire history of the humanities...At the heart of Classicism was the search for perfection." Obviously the works and ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle are generally concerned with the pursuit of perfection in humanity, government, etc. Philo of Alexandria, a Jew, even acknowledged the merit of Greek philosophy. He says, "So behold me daring, not only to read the sacred messages of Moses, but also in my love of knowledge to peer into each of them and unfold and reveal what is not known to the multitude."
Greek architecture and sculptures, exemplified by the Parthenon, and Poseidon and Doryphoros, respectively, also demonstrate the ideas of balance, perfection, and the ideal. Poets and playwrights were also included. The Great Dionysia celebrated the best tragedies through competition, another expression of arete. According to Sullivan, the tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides are still to this day "unsurpassed." All based on the pursuit of excellence, and carried on the tides of military conquest, Greek art and philosophy spread to the Mediterranean world.
Like the Greeks, the Romans came to dominate the Mediterranean world because they were superior. Militarily, a well organized citizen army and a common virtue of gravitus, made them unbeatable. Polybius elaborates on the strict procedures (no doubt aided by gravitus) used by the Romans to enforce rules and encourage bravery in his Histories. By employing threats of death to deserters and cowarRAB, and giving monetary rewarRAB to the brave, the Romans succeeded in establishing effective militant order. Polybius summarizes by saying:
So when we consider this people's almost obsessive
concern with military rewarRAB and punishments, and
the immense importance which they attach to both,
it is not surprising that they emerge with brilliant
success from every war in which they engage.
Aside from their obvious militaristic superiority, what gave the Romans lasting dominance was the superior way they handled their success. According to Matthew's, in dealing with conquered peoples, the Romans were most adept at assimilating them into Roman society. The Romans made the welfare of their conquered peoples rely upon the well-being of Rome itself. Additionally, conquered peoples were given a sense of self rule. The Romans were the best at what they did - conquer and govern (and imitate the Greeks) - and that is why they were dominant.
The Roman emphasis on practicality, and disdain for the humanities, came to an end with the assimilation of Greece into the Roman Republic. The Romans ability to borrow ideas from other cultures, particularly Greek ideas, was according to Matthew's their finest achievement. Although the Romans did not develop them, the humanities originated by the Greeks were adopted and copied by the Romans. The Greek goRAB were essentially adopted by the Romans, and Greek statues, such as the bust of Pericles, were Roman copies of Greek originals. Clearly, the most important Roman contribution to the humanities was, as Matthew's states, the fact that the Romans preserved what the Greeks originated.
With the assimilation of Greece into Rome, and vice-versa, the phrase Greco-Roman was coined. The close association of these two dominant cultures tenRAB to merge into one as a result of heavy borrowing on the part of the Romans. The dominance gained in the Mediterranean world resulted from the meshing of two cultures, superior in their own separate rights, into one culture superior in nearly all rights. The Greeks formed a culture greatly talented in philosophy and art, but lacking in some military and governmental aspects. The Romans instituted a highly effective military and political system - superior to all, but were devoid of humanities. Corabined, these two cultures, as a result of achieving superiority, came to dominate the Mediterranean world.