The Contribution of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome to Western Traditional Culture

The Inheritance and Development of the Two Civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

Abstract: The two civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome are the cradle of Western culture, two eternal monuments in the history of the world's culture, and a glorious era that the Westerners are fond of. The industrious people of ancient Greece and Rome with their wisdom to us to create a breathtaking masterpiece, leaving us a cultural history or art history of the dimension to exceed the height. Among them, ancient Greek culture is the source of Roman culture, Roman culture on its basis of continuous development and innovation, creating a lot of unique culture, artistic conception and masterpieces. Therefore, this paper mainly discusses the similarities and differences between these two cultures, identifies the "original Greek" things, distinguishes the Roman innovations, and provides some rough clues and veins for the inheritance and development of western culture. This paper will be divided into economic, political, cultural and artistic aspects to discuss.

Patterns of Economic Development

Let's go back to the map and look at the geographic locations of Greece and Rome. Greece is made up of the mainland peninsula and some small islands scattered in the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. It is surrounded by sea on three sides, only the north side is connected to the land, and more hills and less plains, belonging to the mild oceanic climate. It is because of such geographical conditions make it difficult to develop its agriculture, in order to survive, the Greeks learned and other regions for the exchange of agricultural products, and gradually formed the Mediterranean region prosperous trade exchanges. The environment of Rome was similar to that of Greece. It was located in the present-day Italian Peninsula, a hilly and swampy region. As a result, agriculture was not well developed. But the Roman solution to this problem was not through free trade and barter, as in Greece. It used a bloody method - aggression and expansion. In order to satisfy the growing demand for food and wealth in the Roman Empire, the Romans chose to keep invading. Relying on powerful armies and weapons, Rome leapt from a humble little town on the former Tiber River to the center of an empire that ruled over two million square miles. ④ Every day, hundreds of ships and vehicles arrived in Rome at the docks and on the roads, bringing in a steady stream of gold, silver, jewels, grain and cereals plundered from all over the world. At the same time, as the Roman Empire continued to expand, the consumption of these materials increased dramatically, which in turn led to the continued expansion of the Roman Empire, thus creating a vicious circle that accompanied the Roman Empire from the beginning to the end. In contrast, in order to withstand the harsh and volatile maritime environment, Greece developed a cooperative model of healthy competition. And the latter has permeated the spiritual realm of contemporary Westerners. In addition, Greece's economic development was based on overseas and inter-regional trade conducted by merchants and cultivated by local farmers. The number of slaves in the Greek city-states was much smaller than that of Rome, whose years of war brought wealth along with large numbers of slaves, who were widely distributed in most industries, such as mining, metallurgy, ship-driving, paving, and the construction of large buildings. It can be said that a large part of the greatness and achievements of ancient Rome were created by slaves.

Overall, the economic development of Greece and Rome took very different paths, reflecting two very different ideas, which had a profound impact on the economic development of later Western countries. As long as a little understanding of history people know, the later western countries are basically through these two stages, such as the new European empire of Africa, the Americas overseas expansion, the slave trade, just like the Roman form of another version, and the same period of the widespread existence of trade exchanges between the countries but is the Greek reappearance.

Politics and Democracy

When we think of democracy, we think of the "human rights" societies of the contemporary West, but the word "democracy" first appeared in Athens in ancient Greece. Greek democracy, on the one hand, gave democracy to hundreds or thousands of people, while on the other hand, it deprived tens of thousands of slaves and freedmen of the right to participate in political affairs. The essentials of Greek democracy at this time were: majority rule; equality before the law; and freedom of individual life. Although democracy at this time was very class-based and only for citizens, thousands of years ago, this view was far beyond its time. Compared with the democracy of our time, I think their connotations are the same. Although the contemporary Western political circles claim that "all people are equal and human rights are upheld", does such democracy really exist? In the United States, for example, politics is still in the hands of a handful of rich and powerful capitalists, as manifested in the appearance of the President of the United States, who is the spokesman for "democracy" financed by them. Citizens in the middle and lower strata of society are often played by politicians in the illusion of "democracy". In this sense, its democracy is identical to that of ancient Greece.

The early political system of ancient Rome was modeled on that of Greece, but in the later period, from Augustus Caesar onward, "democracy" ceased to exist, and was replaced by monarchical dictatorship until its demise. The greatest contribution of the Romans was legislation. In the course of the fierce conflicts and struggles between the aristocracy and the poor, the first written law, the Law of the Twelve Copper Tables, was produced, which, although it still defended the interests of the aristocracy and the upper classes, was a great advancement of civilization at that time. After that, the Law of Nations, the Citizenship Law, and the Civil Rights Act laid the foundation of the Western legal system. In particular, the Civil Rights Act, which stipulates that "the private property of citizens is sacred and inviolable," has been a constant theme in Western law for generations to come.

Religion and the arts

The Roman poet Horace once sang, "Greece was taken captive, and captured Greece captured the victors of barbarism, and literature and art moved into the wilderness". Indeed, early Roman culture was almost a pure inheritance and imitation of Greece, as reflected in mythology and religion, where, for example, the Roman gods were almost carbon copies of Greek myths. For example, in mythology the Roman gods were almost copies of Greek myths. Demeter, the Greek goddess of the earth, became Celes, the Roman god of the valley; Zeus, the king of the gods, became Jupiter; Hera, the queen of heaven, became Juno; Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, became Venus, and so on, the list goes on and on. With the continuous expansion of the Roman Empire, foreign religions spread everywhere, the most influential of which was Christianity, which appeared in Rome around 40 A.D. From the time of its emergence, Christianity soon emerged in the entire Roman Empire, and at this time the emperor of the empire in order to rule the needs of the urgent need for a kind of spiritual public opinion to bind people's minds, and so in the era of the last emperor, Diodorus, Christianity was designated as the state religion of Rome, and henceforth opened up the way for the development of the Roman Empire. Rome's state religion, and from then on opened up the Christian era in Europe, and to this day vast areas of the West are united by Christianity as their spiritual backbone.

In terms of education, the Romans carried forward the "academy" education of the Greeks and created a series of very sound education system. This included primary and higher education. This system has continued to this day and has become the mainstay of education in all countries. It is worth mentioning that the higher education in Rome, which was called the "academy" at that time and was the predecessor of the modern university, emphasized moral education, stating that "the teacher must have profound knowledge and at the same time be a role model for the students in terms of life and conduct of the world. "②. This idea of teaching and educating people with both virtue and talent has been inherited by later generations.

In the field of art, it is manifested in architecture, sculpture and other solidified arts, as well as literature. Ancient Greece and Rome differed greatly in their architectural styles. Italian architect Bruno Servi noted in his Treatise on Architectural Space, "Greek = age of grace, symbolizing contemplative repose in the midst of passionate agitation; Roman = age of force and luxury." If it is said that appreciating Greek architecture is like listening to a serenade of peace and beauty, inspiring your deepest thinking and imagination everywhere, then the ancient Roman architecture is more like whether it is a symphony of opulence or not, if it is said that the ancient Greek architecture is the unfolding of the exquisite continuity, then the ancient Roman architecture is the convergence of the grandeur of the majestic. The most representative of Greek architecture is the temple. Generally constructed of marble, supported by a variety of stone pillars, simple and elegant, the style of the Parthenon and the Acropolis can be seen from the later generations. Ancient Roman architecture is inherited and absorbed from the Greek style and gradually developed, initially the Roman building more round arches and domes to create a way, their temple buildings more Corinthian columns, such as the famous Roman Pantheon is extremely solemn, gorgeous huge building, which was built in 27 BC Octavian era, the entire temple body is a huge drum-shaped architectural style, with the above Golden dome, inside is a wide range of reliefs, as more than kind of opulent, magnificent. Ancient Greek and Roman architecture has a profound influence on the later generations of Western architecture. Especially in the Renaissance period, set off a powerful wave of imitation of the classical period. At this time, a large number of imitation of the ancient style of architecture, such as: Mantua St. Andrew's Church with the ancient Roman triumphal arch as a sample; the use of classical columns Rucella House; a combination of dome and columns St. Peter's Basilica, and so on. ③

In addition to this, in terms of literature, sculpture, and natural sciences, the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations also provided a constant source of inspiration and vitality for the development of Western literature and art in later times.

The above is only a brief discussion of some aspects of the influence of ancient Greece and Rome on later generations, and I can only use my crude words to knock on the door of the Western classical period. But just from these aspects we can see that the influence of Ancient Greece and Rome on later generations of the West is so great and far-reaching. Perhaps from this deep penetration into the marrow of the profound we can learn to reflect on their own culture, find the essence of it, and re-rationalize their own positioning, so as to be more motivated to move forward.