The Secret of Ancient Greece's Greatness 2,500 Years Ago
<Table of Contents>
- Introduction
- Location and Characteristics of Ancient Greece
- The Parthenon Temple: Ancient Greece's Technical Prowess
- Birth of Academic Disciplines
- The Secret Behind Ancient Greece's Development
- Democracy and the Olympics
- The Fall of Ancient Greece
- Modern Greece
Introduction
Hello everyone! Today I'll be introducing you to the amazing development secrets of Ancient Greece from Athens, the capital of Greece. Greece is a country everyone knows by name, but when asked specifically what kind of country it is, many people don't know well.
However, about 2,500 years ago, Ancient Greece was the most advanced nation in the world. It wasn't simply strong in warfare or just left behind great monuments; it was the birthplace of various academic disciplines including medicine, history, and philosophy. Without exaggeration, if Ancient Greece hadn't existed, humanity wouldn't have developed as it has today. Today, I'll explain these secrets from Greece itself.
Location and Characteristics of Ancient Greece
Greece is located in Europe, specifically in the southeastern part, or the bottom right on a map. Turkey is right next to it, and nearby Turkey are Middle Eastern countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. So Greece is relatively close to the Middle East compared to other European countries.
In fact, Greece was once ruled by the Ottoman Empire (the predecessor of modern Turkey), so there was active cultural exchange with the Middle East. As a result, many modern Greeks, rather than having typical European features (blonde hair, blue eyes), have fair skin but with facial features that are deep and intense like Middle Eastern people.
The Parthenon Temple: Ancient Greece's Technical Prowess
Now let's explore the greatness of Ancient Greece in detail. The most famous building associated with Greece is the Parthenon Temple, which you can see behind me. It's a white temple made of marble that exudes a majestic atmosphere. This temple is quite substantial in size. It stands about 46 feet (14m) high from floor to top, 102 feet (31m) wide, and 230 feet (70m) long. You might think it's just a large white building, but this temple was built in 438 BCE.
At that time, most other nations were mainly surviving through hunting and gathering, with technology limited to making spears or fishing rods by carving stones. Yet during the same period, Greece was building such massive architectural structures. The difference in human development is quite clear. While other nations were focused on sharpening stones to make points, the Greeks were polishing and stacking enormous stones to create temples that remain beautiful even today.
If you look at the upper parts of the Parthenon's columns, you'll see delicate human sculptures. These sculptures serve no practical purpose but are purely decorative, designed to enhance the temple's beauty. This is a level of civilization far beyond carving stones to make spears. Just looking at one of these sculptures shows how far ahead Greek technology and culture were compared to other civilizations of the time.
What's even more surprising is that the Parthenon Temple utilized visual illusions. Looking at the temple, the columns appear to be in a straight line, all the same size and thickness. However, in reality, the outer columns are thicker, and the inner columns are thinner.
The spacing between columns also increases as you move outward. This design ensures that when viewed from a distance, the columns appear uniform. If they had been built with the same thickness and spacing, the outer columns would have appeared thinner due to optical illusion, creating an awkward look. The Ancient Greeks understood these visual illusions and adjusted the thickness and spacing of the columns accordingly.
Birth of Academic Disciplines
Medicine
Ancient Greece was the cradle of academic disciplines. First is medicine. When we go to the hospital, doctors have studied medicine at university and passed national exams to become physicians. The roots of this medicine began in Ancient Greece. Hippocrates, known as the "Father of Medicine," laid the foundation for modern medicine.
Before Hippocrates, diseases were thought to be curses or punishments from gods. The period 2,500 years ago was a time when scientific and physical laws weren't properly understood. Hippocrates claimed that diseases were not the work of curses or demons but phenomena caused by scientific reasons. He argued that daily management was important for preventing illness.
For example, he stated that air and water were crucial for health and that people were more likely to get sick in polluted environments. This might seem obvious today, but it was revolutionary thinking at the time. In an era when diseases were considered divine punishment, the concept of prevention didn't even exist.
Hippocrates advised living in places with clean air and water, which is not incorrect even from a modern perspective. Clean environments are indeed effective in preventing diseases. He also established medical ethics. Since doctors deal with lives, mistakes can lead to serious problems. That's why doctors worldwide study not only medicine but also ethics.
Hippocrates established principles such as not discriminating against patients, not prioritizing the wealthy or powerful, and maintaining patient confidentiality. These principles are known as the "Hippocratic Oath" and are still essential learning for medical students today. Hippocrates established the foundations of medicine that remain valid worldwide even 2,500 years later.
History
History also began in Ancient Greece. Herodotus wrote a book called "Histories" about the Persian Wars (wars between Ancient Greece and the Achaemenid Empire around 500 BCE).
This book is considered the world's first historical text, and Herodotus is known as the "Father of History." However, his records contained many legendary elements. For example, there's a story about a man attempting suicide being saved by a dolphin that he had helped in the past. So some parts are considered fantasy.
On the other hand, Thucydides excluded myths and legends, focusing on recording actual events. He wrote "The History of the Peloponnesian War" (about the Ancient Greek civil war) and noted at the end: "When thinking about humans, similar events, namely wars, will recur in the future.
I hope this book will be helpful then." This is the same reason I create historical content on YouTube. History is a discipline for understanding human behavior, and learning from the past is immensely helpful for the present and future. It's amazing that Thucydides already had such thoughts.
Literature
In literature, Europe's oldest works, "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey," were born. These two works are based on the Trojan War (which occurred even before the time of Hippocrates or Herodotus) and mix mythology with reality. I've read the Japanese translation, and the characters' emotions are so delicately portrayed that it's hard to believe they were written more than 2,000 years ago. Don't think they'll be boring just because they're classics. If you're interested, I recommend reading them through the link provided.
Philosophy
Philosophy is the core academic discipline of Ancient Greece. Although philosophy is considered a difficult subject, it is actually the foundation of all academic disciplines. In English, 'philosophy' comes from the Greek word 'philosophia,' which means 'to love knowledge.'
Before philosophy, mountains, seas, the sun, and everything else were considered creations of gods. When everything is attributed to gods, curiosity cannot be satisfied. Philosophy gave birth to an attitude that explores the world through reason rather than divine intervention.
The term philosophy was first used by Pythagoras. He was a mathematician and philosopher who proved the Pythagorean theorem for triangles and claimed that "everything is number."
Since length, weight, area, and everything else can be expressed in numbers, he viewed mathematics as the key to revealing the world's truth. At that time in Greece, there was a boom in exploring what everything was made of.
Some said everything was made of water or fire, but Leucippus and Democritus argued that everything was composed of atoms (small particles). This was an amazing insight that aligns with modern atomic theory.
The Secret Behind Ancient Greece's Development
The reason Ancient Greece developed so much can be simply put as 'they had time because they were leisurely.' The Greeks had enough time to build massive temples or ponder the essence of the world. This leisure was possible because of the slave system. Greece built cities in Marseille, Naples, Istanbul, etc., through the Mediterranean, activated trade, and imported slaves from Lebanon or Turkey regions.
The port of Piraeus, about an hour away from Athens by subway, was the center of the slave trade at that time. Now it's a beautiful harbor with cruise ships and seafood restaurants, but 2,500 years ago, it was where ships carrying slaves came and went.
Slaves handled housework, construction, and even played music. Since there were no smartphones then, if someone wanted to listen to music, they had slaves play instruments. Slaves were so common that an average citizen owned about 3-4 slaves. With slaves doing the labor, Greeks were freed from working for survival. In the past, humanity was tied to hunting, farming, and fishing to make a living, but Greeks were freed from this cycle through the slave system.
This leisure is called 'schole' in Greek. Aristotle said, "The most important thing for humans is schole." A life of working to make a living is no different from that of animals, and one needs leisure to think and learn like a human. 'Schole' became the etymology of the modern word 'school.' School was originally a place that one could attend only if they had leisure.
Democracy and the Olympics
Ancient Greece was the first in the world to introduce democracy. In Athens, representatives were elected by vote for each region, and all men over 18, except slaves, had the right to vote.
Since women didn't have voting rights, it wasn't exactly the same as modern democracy, but the system was similar. In a square called the Agora, citizens gathered to discuss taxes or war commanders. In Japan, universal male suffrage was introduced in 1925, and women's voting rights in 1945, so you can see how far ahead Greece was.
The Olympics also began in Ancient Greece. Modern Olympics started in 1896 for world peace, but its prototype is the Ancient Olympics held in Olympia. In Olympia, the ruins of the athletes' waiting rooms and stadiums from that time are well preserved. The Olympic flame was lit by sunlight at the Temple of Hera, and this tradition continues today. The torch for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics also started here.
The Ancient Olympics initially only had a 190m (about 208-yard) sprint, but gradually added javelin throwing, discus throwing, 400m (437-yard) middle-distance, 4km (2.5-mile) long-distance races, and more.
The most popular event was Pankration, a form of martial arts where all attacks were allowed except for eye-gouging and biting. Fasting, head attacks, knee kicks, etc., were possible, resulting in frequent fatalities, but spectators were enthusiastic. Unlike the modern Olympics, it was an intense festival far from peace.
The Fall of Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece was conquered by the Kingdom of Macedonia in 338 BCE. Macedonia was a military-centered state where philosophy or democracy didn't develop.
The king trained physically fit farmers as soldiers and developed new weapons like catapults or siege weapons, making them overwhelming in war. Eventually, they conquered Athens. Later, Greece was absorbed into the Roman Empire, and Greek disciplines such as medicine and philosophy were passed down to later generations through Rome.
Modern Greece
Currently, Greece is struggling with political corruption and economic bankruptcy. Detailed information will be covered in a separate article, so please bookmark it.