Wen | The World of Silence
Ancient Greece has always had a strong mystery in memory, the Greek mythological stories heard when they were young were psychedelic and novel, those brave heroes, those gods with boundless magic will still come to mind at a certain moment, the memories of human-faced beasts exist far away; and the words of socrates, Plato, Aristotle and other celebrities seen by the older ones emit a light full of wisdom, and later learn that there is something called philosophy that can make people mad...
The accumulation of sporadic fragments is its own disparate understanding of the ancient Greek civilization, until the opening of "The Light in the Ancient Greek Civilization" to establish an overall cognitive structure, the book from the history, politics, geography, culture and other aspects of the ancient Greek civilization, benefited a lot.
"The Light of Ancient Greek Civilization" is not a simple and boring history book, in this book there are more than 50 life stories of the giants of the times, interesting and informative; more than 200 exquisite illustrations, take you through the dreamlike art of ancient Greece, as if wandering in a feast of the eyes, just browsing is already very enjoyable; the glory of ancient Greece shines throughout human history, can be called the source and model of Western civilization, appreciate the beauty of classical, you can start from this book.
We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religions, all have their roots in Greece. - Shelley
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > an overview of ancient Greek civilization</h1>
The book "The Light of Ancient Greek Civilization" is written by Zhao Lin, a well-known humanistic scholar who has studied Western culture for 40 years, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Philosophy of Wuhan University, who has visited Greece 10 times and used the most authentic first-hand information to tell the panoramic development of civilization in ancient Greece for 2,000 years.
This book takes the birth, rise and decline of Greece as the main line, takes population migration, geography, civilization, and war as clues, combs through many dimensions such as Greek mythology, city-state system, religious philosophy, tragicomedy, etc., and reads the beauty of ancient Greek civilization in a magnificent picture of ancient Greek history.
The development of the entire ancient Greek civilization can be roughly divided into three stages:
Aegean civilization: The starting point of Greek civilization, which lasted for more than 300 years, refers to the civilizations around the Aegean Sea, including Crete, mainland Greece, the Ionian region, and the Cyclades Islands. Western archaeology has fully proved that as early as around 2000 BC, on the basis of the development of bronze technology, the Aegean region represented by Crete has already appeared the first form of civilization.
Greek city-state civilization: The most glorious period of Greek civilization, which lasted for about 400 years, divided into the Archaic period and the classical period. In addition to the influence of the political system by the city-state era, many cultural forms in the West in later generations, including literature, sculpture, architecture, painting, science, philosophy, etc., can be said to have been based on the Greek city-state era.
Hellenistic Era: In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died in Babylon, marking the beginning of the Hellenistic Era. At this time, Greek civilization is no longer limited to a corner of the Aegean Sea, but continues to expand to the East (the East here refers to Asia Minor, West Asia and Egypt, not including China and India), constantly promoting the exchange and integration of Eastern and Western civilizations, in more than 300 years, through the appearance, it will be found that Greek civilization has undergone a reverse cultural fusion, Eastern culture has quietly eroded Greek culture, and Christianity from the East has penetrated into the entire West, so that Greece and Rome are creeping under the cross of Jesus.
These three stages are the entire course of the development of Greek civilization, and the ancient Greek civilization that has lasted for two thousand years has finally been replaced by The Roman civilization.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > dialectic of Greek and Roman civilization, romance and power</h1>
In the book "The Light of Ancient Greek Civilization", it is mentioned that although Greece and Rome live next to each other, separated by the Sea of Lailai, the national characteristics of these two peoples are completely different.
Greek civilization: Most of the Greek city-states are built by the sea, the city-state system makes the Greeks not interested in opening up the territory, pursuing fame and profit, and there is not much pursuit of the prosperity of material life, they are more willing to look up at the stars, let the mind soar freely, thus creating a rich and colorful cultural form, and these cultural forms can not promote the development of productive forces, can only please people's thoughts and spirits. Poetry, architecture, sculpture, philosophy, or even the science of the time could arouse great interest in the Greeks, but had no practical utility.
The Greek city-states were dotted and scattered, dotted with dots and formed a cultural unity.
Greece is a romantic people, a people who look up at the stars.
Roman civilization: Rome was originally an agricultural people, and in contrast to the Greeks, the Romans were very focused on expanding their territory from the beginning and were keen on pursuing merit and profit. This national materiality directly influenced the political and cultural form of Rome, they created useful things that could govern the country, they developed the economy, perfected the law, established an efficient administrative system, and built magnificent Roman avenues, colosseums, and large baths to satisfy people's material pursuits.
Rome developed by annexing other people's lands piece by piece, and expanded into a super empire.
Rome was a utilitarian nation, a people that bowed down to the earth.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > ancient Greek myths and legends</h1>
In the book "Ancient Greek Mythology", it can be traced back to the sources of many modern term quotations, "Ancient Greek mythology never exaggerates intrigue too much, and its main theme is the light of the righteous, proud of the dignified duels on the battlefield, and ashamed of the use of power and trickery behind the scenes." ”
Ancient Greek mythology has been passed down from generation to generation, both verbally and in writing.
Southern Cretan mythology favors goddesses, such as the worship of mother earth, while northern Mycenaean mythology focuses on male gods, such as the worship of the three brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
Southern mythology worships the earth more, because the fertility and growth of all things depend on the earth, the earliest personality god is the earth Gaia, she is the mother of the gods, gave birth to the gods of heaven and the gods of mountains and rivers, the worship of the earth Gaia, symbolizing that all things must be based on the earth. Later, Gaia gave birth to a second generation of gods, of which the god of the sky, Ulanos, became the first generation of kings of the gods, and the subsequent generations of god kings all occupied the sky rather than the earth.
This worship of the sky is very different from the previous worship of the earth, symbolizing the replacement of the down-to-earth laborers by the conquerors of the sky.
The gods of Olympus handed over the sky, the sea, and the hell to the three brothers of Zeus, of which Poseidon occupied the ocean and was the lord of the ocean; Hades was in charge of hell and was the king of the underworld; and Zeus controlled the sky and was the god of the gods. Mount Olympus and human society are ruled by these three gods.
Most Greeks believed that gods and gods were born of gods, and that gods and mortals were born of heroes, who were often regarded as the progenitors of kings. Many heroes of ancient Greece inadvertently offended the gods because of the flaws in their own personalities, resulting in a tragic fate.
Stories about gods are called myths, stories about heroes are called legends, and Greek myths are closely linked to legends. In ancient Greek myths and legends, the weight of legends was far greater than that of myths. Much of Homer's Epic is about a showdown between heroes, with the hero being the protagonist and the gods playing only supporting roles.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > influence on Greek mythology</h1>
Marx once said: "Greek mythology is not only the treasure house of Greek art, but also the soil of Greek art." The premise of Greek art is Greek mythology, and the spirit and soul of Greek art are Greek mythology. ”
In the early stage of the historical development of human culture, ancient Greek culture played a pivotal role, while Greek mythology was like a strange flower, intertwining reality and fantasy, creating an all-encompassing magnificent world for future generations, while vividly depicting the social life of ancient Greeks. With its high ideological and artistic nature, it has an irreplaceable cultural status and influence from ancient times to the present.
In what form do those interesting myths and stories appear in the consciousness of modern people? There must be stars and dots that you don't know.
The "Trojan horse" virus will not be unfamiliar to us modern people, and when you know that the "Trojan Horse" is named after a thrilling war, you will definitely look at the "Trojan Horse" virus. The Fall of Troy records the capture of the city of Troy by the wisest of the Greek allies, the Trojan Horse.
For the long-unable to conquer the city of Troy, the Greek coalition suffered numerous casualties, and a man named Odysseus ordered a large hollow wooden horse and set up a mechanism in the belly of the wooden horse, so that the soldiers and generals of the Greek coalition army hid in the wooden horse, and the rest of the Greek army pretended to sail and retreated. The Trojans, seeing their opponents on the city walls, opened the gates to the beach and found the huge wooden horse, and the Trojans, unaware of the deception, moved the large wooden horse to the city as a trophy. Because the Trojan horse was too big, the Trojans demolished a wall for it, celebrated it, and went home. In the middle of the night, the Greek warriors who were hiding in the belly of the wooden horse opened the mechanism, opened the gates, and welcomed all the Greek troops who had pretended to retreat into the city, took the city of Troy, burned it to ashes, and returned triumphantly.
Later, the thing that drilled into the stomach of the other party and had regular seizures was called a "Trojan horse". Now I know the origin of the computer "Trojan virus".
The name of the Aegean Sea also has a story, there is a teenager named Theseus, a martial arts master, he entered the labyrinth where the strange cow was imprisoned and destroyed the strange cow, because the king's daughter fell in love with the teenager and told the teenager the way out of the maze: before entering the maze, he tied one end of the line to the large pillar at the door, and then went deep into the maze, untangling the line as he walked, completing the task and following the line out of the maze. On the way back to Athens, the boy got an oracle, asking him to leave the king's daughter on an island passing through, in the face of God's instructions, the teenager could not disobey, only endured pain and love, along the way the mind was confused and forgot the agreement with his father before departure, forgot to replace the sails with white sails when he returned victoriously, the ship that returned was still black sails, his father saw the black sails in the distance, thought that the son was no longer there, and threw himself into the sea in grief, and people named the sea after him in honor of this father. Hence the Aegean Sea's name.
Hegel said that Minerva's owl took off only at dusk, telling the story of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and her owl, and the city of Athens, whose previous name was Keklope, later competed with the sea goddess for ownership, gained the support of the local people, and finally named the city after her.
The book "The Light of Ancient Greek Civilization" has many wonderful contents: the birth of the Olympia Athletics, the development of Greek art, sculpture, architecture, painting, etc., waiting for everyone who has a relationship with this book to open.