Historical and cultural research paper: Civilization comes from West Asia and North Africa.

Civilization is the spiritual wealth and invention deposited by history, which is conducive to enhancing human adaptation and cognition to the objective world, conforms to human spiritual pursuit, and is recognized and accepted by most people. Intelligent creatures unite and cooperate in order to better understand the world, which constitutes the material basis of civilization. That is, the premise of the existence of civilization is intelligent creatures. Other phenomena created by intelligent creatures are only accessories of civilization. The following is a model essay on historical and cultural studies that I have carefully prepared for you: Civilization comes from West Asia and North Africa. The content is for reference only, welcome to read!

Civilization comes from West Asia and North Africa? The full text is as follows:

The scientific culture of ancient Greece has a long history, and its brilliant cultural achievements have had a far-reaching impact on the development of western culture and become the basis of the origin of modern European scientific culture. However, the vibrant ancient Greek science and culture was not created by the gods on the Olympic Mountain and given to Europeans. George &, an American expert in the history of modern science; Middot Sutton once said: "The foundation of Greek science is completely oriental. No matter how profound the genius of Greece is, without these foundations, it may not be possible to create something comparable to its achievements. We have no right to ignore the Greek genius Egyptian father and Mesopotamian mother. " [1] Therefore, to discuss the origin of ancient Greek science and culture, we must first look for answers from the civilizations of West Asia and North Africa.

I the origin of time and space

From a spatial point of view, the development of ancient Greek culture can not be separated from the feeding of the Aegean Sea. "Aegean region refers to the region centered on the Aegean Sea, including the Greek Peninsula, Aegean Islands, Crete and the west coast of Asia Minor Peninsula. It is located at the intersection of two great cultures, Egypt and Mesopotamia. Here, land and sea crisscross and mountains overlap. It is connected to the Arabian Peninsula in the east, Egypt in the south, Apennine Peninsula in the west and the Black Sea in the north, making it a processing factory integrating different civilizations in Asia, Africa and Europe. " [2] Therefore, the ancient Greek science and culture bred in the Aegean region is a great product of absorbing and drawing lessons from the advanced culture of the East and combining the characteristics of this nation.

In time, the origin of ancient Greek science and culture can be traced back to the contact between Crete civilization and Egyptian civilization. Greek civilization from Crete &; The Mycenaean civilization opened the first page there. The communication between Crete and Egypt began in the pre-dynastic period of ancient Egypt, about 4000 BC. In the following 1000 years, Crete became a trade channel between Egypt and Greece by virtue of its favorable geographical position, which made Crete culture absorb many elements of ancient Egyptian culture. "Crete's sculptures, murals, stone tools, and more importantly, its words can all feel the influence of the ancient Egyptians." [3] At the same time, Crete culture is closely related to the cultures of ancient Babylon, Troy, Cyprus and northern Syria in the East.

From the scope, as early as before the emergence of ancient Greek science and culture, a considerable amount of systematic scientific knowledge existed in West Asia, North Africa and other regions, while the Iliad, Odyssey and other famous works could not be the initial achievements of ancient Greek civilization. "Like all glorious beginnings, this is not only a prelude to evolution, but also the end and climax of another evolution." [4] That is, the mathematics, astronomy or medicine of the ancient Greeks were developed on the basis of borrowing a large number of observations and original theories from Egypt in North Africa and Mesopotamia in West Asia. The advanced oriental culture provided favorable conditions for the ancient Greek science and culture, which enabled the ancient Greek science and culture to come into being and develop rapidly.

The scientific culture of ancient Greece is the product of the intersection and fusion of ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, ancient Indian and Greek scientific culture. It not only communicated the cradles of the world's five major civilizations for the first time, but also kicked off the great exchange and integration of human cultures in Eurasia and Africa. In this process, the science and culture of ancient Greece re-integrated the borrowed things, produced a unique cultural complex, and laid the foundation of European culture.

Second, the origin of form

The emergence and development of ancient Greek science and culture went through three stages: ancient period, classical period and Hellenistic period. Both ancient Greek writing and art, ancient Greek philosophy and highly developed natural science are deeply influenced by eastern culture, which can be found in the concrete forms of ancient Greek science and culture.

(a) the text

Writing is an important symbol of human civilization, and an important contribution of Phoenicians to ancient world culture is the writing letters he created. On the basis that the hieroglyphics in ancient Egypt were gradually simplified to 24 single consonant symbols, Phoenicians created their own letters, which were linear symbols with only consonants and no vowels. "Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, said that the Greeks had no letters, which were handed down to them by the Phoenicians." [5] On this basis, the Greeks added vowels to form Greek letters, which provided the necessary tools for the development and exchange of ancient Greek science and culture.

(2) Art

Every ancient civilization has made its own contribution to human civilization, and Egyptian art is no exception.

Ancient Greece changed the early building materials &; Mdash& ampmdash; Wood and mud stones, while the Egyptians used marble as the main material of their buildings. In the middle of the 7th century BC, the Greeks began to carve huge portraits with marble. Their inspiration for making this upright portrait came directly from ancient Egypt, and they also learned carving techniques from the ancient Egyptians. Comparing the sculpture works of ancient Egypt and ancient Greece, we will know that it is not easy to carve a statue with the same size as a real person with stones, and any unsystematic planning will lead to failure. Therefore, the ancient Greeks not only adopted the carving art of ancient Egypt, but also adopted the Egyptian proportional system to a great extent.

At the same time, with the ancient Greek navigation and maritime trade, the ancient Greeks brought back metal products, jewelry, ivory and so on. The most profound influence on the production style of ancient Greek craftsmen is the production technology of painted pottery. Animal patterns from the East also appeared on painted pottery in ancient Greece, such as lions that were never used for decoration in the natural environment of ancient Greece, which is the best evidence. In addition, ivory carving is entirely a Western Asian craft, which makes ancient Greek craftsmen get rid of the style of geometric patterns.

(3) Religion

In religion, ancient Greece was an open polytheistic religious system. Only a few of the gods worshipped by the ancient Greeks belonged to the Indo-European language family. Apollo and Aphrodite, among the ancient Greek gods, may be imported. They originated in West Asia and Asia Minor, but they spread to ancient Greece much earlier than in ancient times. "In the connection between eastern and western religions, the worship of adonis was introduced to Greece from West Asia, and the Phoenician god Puang (Hammer God) was also accepted by the Greeks and renamed as&; Lsquo pygmies. , that is&; Lsquo fist big god&; rsquo”。 [6] It can be said that although a relatively mature and unique religious system was gradually established in the development of ancient Greek science and culture, it also reflected the shadow of some Western Asian religions.

(4) literature

Ancient Greek literature was also influenced by Mesopotamia. For example, the story of the great flood in Mesopotamia is similar to the legend of Kallion in Greek mythology, such as the story of Jason and Hercules. The plague imposed by God to punish mankind is a similar theme in ancient Greek and Mesopotamian literature, and the form of Greek epic can also be found in Mesopotamian epic. The story in Aesop's Fables also has a prototype in Sumer. At the same time, the myth of theocracy replacement was created for the first time in hesiod's Divine Spectrum. Its structure and details are similar to some stories of theocracy change in West Asia, and all this is not a pure coincidence, but the result of communication and reference.

(5) Philosophy

"The root of Greek philosophy is in Egypt, and it is obviously wrong to say that philosophy originated in Greece. Long before the Greeks, the Egyptians put forward their philosophical thinking on the nature of the universe and the ethical issues of human society. " [7] At the same time, the Greeks discovered their own scientific knowledge in Mesopotamia, brought back astronomy, developed mathematical principles, and greatly broadened their thoughts and horizons. On this basis, combined with their strong interest in natural phenomena and practice, ancient Greek philosophy came into being, and made breakthrough progress around the 6th century BC, and the bud of naive materialism and dialectics appeared.

(6) Natural science

Strict natural science began in the Hellenistic era. This period is the peak of natural science development in Greece, and it is also a period of scientific and cultural exchanges and integration between the East and the West. Before the real cultural integration began, Alexander conquered the vast areas of Asia and Africa and established a great empire across Europe, Asia and Africa, which laid the foundation for cultural exchanges between the East and the West. The process of Alexander's expedition is also a process of absorbing systematic oriental culture. After his death, he established three Hellenistic kingdoms on the ruins of the empire, Ptolemy, Seleucus and Macedonia. The relatively stable international situation urges all countries to strengthen cultural infiltration and set up cultural undertakings in various ways, which objectively further expands the integration of eastern and western cultures. Therefore, the natural sciences in ancient Greece were deeply branded with oriental culture, mainly in the following aspects:

1. Medicine. Because the ancient Greeks introduced many drugs and treatments from ancient Egypt to Europe, they were adopted by villagers in some isolated mountainous and rural areas in Europe. At the beginning of the 3rd century, Herophilus, a Greek anatomist studying in Alexandria, proved that the brain is an organ of thinking, and all human feelings are transmitted through the cranial nerves. In addition, he also put forward the theory of blood circulation, thinking that the priority of pulse can explain a person's health. There is no doubt that his medical achievements are actually based on the medicine of ancient Egyptians. The incubation ceremony held in the Greek temple of Asclepius may also have originated from the Egyptian model. There are a large number of clinical observation cases in famous temples in Egypt, which not only enriches the medical records of Hippocrates, the father of ancient Greek medicine, but also shows that Greek medicine inherits and continues the medical achievements of Egyptians.

2. geography. The expedition of Alexander's army can be described as an exotic adventure. There are a group of engineers, philosophers, geographers, surveyors and other professionals in the expeditionary army. They collected data and drew maps with the army, and made brilliant achievements in geography, which greatly enriched the geographical knowledge of the ancient Greeks. In the middle of the 3rd century, the Greek scholar Elatostini, then the curator of the Library of Alexandria, Egypt, made use of the geographical surveying and mapping data of ancient Egypt and navigation information from all over Greece to complete the geography monograph Introduction to Geography.

3. astronomy. Astronomy in ancient Greece originated from Babylon to a great extent and was also influenced by the ancient Egyptians. Thales, the founder of ancient Greek astronomy, carefully studied the mathematics and astronomy of ancient Egyptians and Babylonians, and predicted the occurrence time of solar and lunar eclipses on the basis of previous research results. In addition, the Greek scholar Ari Stockus put forward the "sun-centered theory" based on the astronomical observation data of the Babylonians. Before 65438+ in the middle of the 20th century, the Greek scholar Julius &; Middot Caesar introduced the Egyptian Gregorian calendar, changed it slightly, and became the "julian calendar" named after Caesar. At present, the solar calendar we use can also be said to have inherited the heritage of the Egyptians more than 6,000 years ago.

4. Math. Thales in ancient Greece was also a mathematician. After studying the land survey method in Egypt, he worked out the survey formula. Pythagoras traveled to Egypt, the two river basins and other places, and absorbed many advanced oriental scientific and cultural ideas. According to legend, he and his disciples summed up the mathematical knowledge at that time and found many mathematical theorems, such as Pythagoras' law. In fact, before him, mathematicians in the two river basins and other places had already understood Pythagoras' law, and Pythagoras may have just done some verification and promotion. At the beginning of the 3rd century, Euclid, a Greek mathematician who had been teaching in Alexandria, Egypt for a long time, summed up the mathematical knowledge at that time, formulated a series of calculation formulas according to axioms and definitions, founded Euclid geometry, and made outstanding achievements.

It can be seen that all forms of ancient Greek science and culture originated from the essence of eastern civilization, not its initiative.

Third, the way of source.

1. Business. As Greek history entered ancient times, the contact between Greeks and ancient oriental civilization gradually deepened. "As early as the 9th century BC, Greek businessmen and adventurers who traveled north and the Aegean Sea had sailed to the west coast of West Asia. They set up a trading post at the mouth of the Orontis River in northern Syria and started direct commercial activities with the two river basins. Soon, it became an important transit point for East-West trade [8]. At the same time, due to the social unrest in West Asia at this time, not only many products were exported to Greece, but also a considerable number of craftsmen set up their own workshops in Crete, engaged in jewelry processing and bronze ware making.

The ancient Greeks also established the city of Noklades on the banks of the Cross River, a tributary of the Nile in Egypt. In order to dominate, Egyptian Pharaoh Sametik I built a powerful army and maritime fleet, and most of his soldiers were Greek mercenaries. He also invited many Greek businessmen to settle in Egypt, and the city of Noklades was built during this period. Pharaoh Ramses also promised the Greeks to build it into a pure Greek city and run the market according to his own wishes. Since then, Noklades has become the commercial center of Egypt, Greece and other Mediterranean countries.

In addition, the port of Piraeus in Athens was also a famous international commercial port at that time. In the frequent sea-land trade, the ancient Greeks not only brought back necessary consumer goods, but also brought back spiritual products, that is, the science and culture of the East.

2. Colonial movement. The colonial movement also had an impact on early Greek science and culture. As early as Mycenae culture, many colonies were established in Aegean region. Subsequently, the Phoenicians who rose from the eastern Mediterranean established colonies in North Africa, Spain, Italy and other places. Mycenae and Phoenicia, based on the prosperous cultures of West Asia and North Africa, created their own unique culture through commerce and colonization of active communication civilization, which had a great influence on the rise of Greek science and culture represented by Athens.

Subsequently, due to the increasing saturation of the local population and the shortage of cultivated land in ancient Greece, there was a period of economic and political chaos. The ancient Greeks, who had a tradition of sailing, soon became familiar with other sparsely populated areas with similar climate and soil. They established colonies along the Aegean Sea, even as far away as Italy and Sicily, and established trade centers in Egypt along the Mediterranean Sea and Babylon in the East. In the end, the expansion and colonization of Greece made it absorb and integrate the essence of oriental civilization more in this process.

3. War. There were many large-scale wars between the East and the West in ancient times, including the war between Greece and Persia in the 5th century and Alexander's eastward expedition in the 4th century. During the war between Greece and Poland, Persia spread the oriental civilization to the west, which influenced the Danube River basin and the Greek peninsula. The ancient cultures of Persia, Babylon, Egypt and India continued to spread westward along the famous Persian Avenue and reached the Greek city-state. During Alexander's Crusade, because his teacher Aristotle was very interested in Indian philosophy, he brought some Indians back to Greece to let the Greeks know more about Indian philosophy. In addition, Alexander also collected scientific specimens from various places and sent them back to Greece for research. His army uses Indian doctors. Indian monks have also been to Athens to preach and teach. After Alexander's death, the spread of eastern civilization to the west increased and the scope was wider. Alexandria, Egypt, was the largest port exported by eastern civilization to the west at that time. At the same time, the war needs more and more complex offensive and defensive equipment, which increases the demand for new technology and promotes the flow of culture. All these undoubtedly show that war is also a process of cultural collision.

4. Travel. The oriental civilization in ancient West Asia and North Africa has great attraction to Europeans, prompting them to explore, explore and learn in the East. Wherever they go, Greek philosophers and scientists can't wait to get in touch with their peers. Herodotus, the father of ancient Greek history, has traveled all over Persia, Egypt, Phoenicia and Asia Minor. His representative work "History" describes his experiences in traveling in the East and introduces the customs, cultural achievements, science and technology of ancient eastern countries to the West in detail, which has played a positive role in the spread of eastern civilization in the West.

5. Religious exchanges. Religion is a special carrier of spreading civilization. Jews founded Judaism in their long history, and its classics include the Five Books of Moses and the Old Testament. Around A.D., _ _ _ _ _ _ rose on the basis of Eastern Judaism and first entered the Greek-speaking areas of Europe. With the advance of Christ, the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek. The Old Testament, together with eastern religious thoughts, was introduced to the West, which enabled Hebrew culture to spread in Europe and became another source of European culture.

To sum up, it can be seen that ancient Greek science and culture is the masterpiece of ancient Greeks, but it is also the product of eastern science and culture such as West Asia and North Africa. Without the ancient civilization in West Asia and North Africa and the unique human and geographical environment in the eastern Mediterranean, especially the Aegean Sea, the origin of ancient Greek science and culture cannot be fully explained, which not only shows that ancient Greek science and culture has its highly developed time and space, forms and ways of origin, but also strongly shows that "civilization comes from the East" [9].

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refer to

[1][5][6] Shang: World Cultural History, East China Normal University Press, 9 1, 94 pages.

[2] Zheng: The Mystery of European Culture, Shanghai People's Publishing House, p. 3-4.

[3] Zlatkov Skaya: "The Origin of European Culture", Sanlian Bookstore, p. 100.

[4] George &; Middot Sutton: History of Science and New Humanism, Huaxia Publishing House, p. 6 1.

[7][ America] Edward & Middot; Macnaugh middot Burns et al. History of World Civilization, Volume I, Commercial Press, page 23.

[8] Arnold & Mido; Toynbee: Man and Mother Earth, Shanghai People's Publishing House, p. 148.

[9] George &; Middot Sutton: A Life of Science, Commercial Press, p. 1 16.