Culture, Power, Religion - Essay Example

 Since the beginning of human history, and even into the recent pre-history, civilizations have always ebbed and flowed, morphed into new forms while retaining some features of those that came before them. Observing these ebbs and flows modern historians attempt to put labels on certain periods of history: the medieval period had certain defining characteristics which were very different from the characteristics of the modern period, despite the fact that some similarities remained (few would argue that Britain is medieval simply because it has a monarch). Yet even within these periods, great shifts and changes can occur: the modern period, for instance, is often cited as the victory of science and enlightenment thinking, yet the world today resembles the world of the founders of the enlightenment very little. Those features that remain consistent become the determinants of their age – the things that, when they change, mark the beginning of a new era in human history. The Classical world was no exception to this rule of historical inevitability: it had features that remained remarkably consistent throughout this vast time period, and yet also some features that changed or grew significantly, or else appeared very different depending on the location or culture one was engaged in. Though there are many features of classical civilization to choose from, some stand out as being incredibly consistent, and only changing when the classical period seemed to be running out quickly. The things that were incredibly consistent throughout the classical period were: imagined origins, art and architecture, religion, and mode of thought, while the thing that was most mutable and changeable was structure of governance. One of the things that becomes immediately apparent when studying classical culture is that the origin story of each group seemed to be of great significance to them. It is also of great significance to the people who study classical history, which is why they usually use the date of the Homeric compositions as the origins of classical culture (Stayar 195). This is especially true in the European conception of origins of culture: both the Greeks and the Romans placed enormous significance on their origin stories. Likewise, both of these cultures had origins stories that featured the same event: the Trojan wars. The Greeks considered themselves descendents of the people who waged war on Troy, as did the Romans (who argued that they were the children of Aeneas). The Romans even composed their own work to complement the Odyssey and the Iliad, the Aeneid, which completed their origin myth as corresponding to that of the Greeks (182). The Greeks and the Romans shared creation myths, and both put a great deal of stock of their national identity into those creation myths. This feature, the importance of foundational myths, was not simply bound to Europe, but also existed in many other cultures. The Maya, for instance, had elaborate myths about the destruction and re-creation of the world, which occurred in cycles again and again, and informed an important part of their national character: great interest in the stars and in astrology and astronomy (293). Central myths about the origins of a people were central to the thinking and national character of all classical peoples, something that dissolved somewhat in the eras that followed it, as things like religious affiliation became more important to defining the people or a people. Art and architecture likewise appeared very similar across a broad range of classical cultures. As with the case of foundational myths, this is most obvious in the Greeks and the Romans, because the two cultures were so closely linked. The Romans knowingly copied many aspects of Greek culture, and were especially eager to emulate their art and architecture. This artistic emulation took on several forms: for one, the sculpture of the Romans followed the Greek example incredibly closely (275). Likewise, they had similar methods in theatre (260), and as mentioned previously, wrote compositions about their origins to mirror the Greek style. Roman and Greek architecture also bears a striking resemblance to each other, with the importance of columns and large public spaces. Looking at a Greek or a Roman city, one sees a great deal of white marble or plaster, and similar architectural forms. The Romans, however, were somewhat more pragmatic than the Greeks, and would often, instead of simply using costly marble, make pillars out of brick and then coat them with things to make them look like marble. So while the Romans were intentionally trying to copy the aesthetics of a Greek city, they also put their own pragmatic flair in their architectural style. But these similarities between brother cultures were not isolated to the Greeks and Romans – both groups also shared many traditions with classical civilizations they had absolutely no contact with. All classical civilizations, for instance, share an interest in monumental architecture in order to aggrandize their rulers – everything from the acropolis of ancient Greece, to the Pantheon in Rome, to the pyramids in Mesoamerica, to the elaborate ornamentation of stone and other things in the imperial cities of China, each classical civilization had an intensive focus on making monumental architecture that would draw the awe of regular people. Furthermore, because of the limited nature of technology available at the time, many classical civilizations also had similar building techniques and materials. Stone featured prominently in the construction of many antique structures, and often they had similar elements – for the largest buildings, a pyramid shape was often the only way to build them, or in others, heavy use of columns that would distribute the weight of the roof onto the ground. The visual style of each classical civilization was vastly different, but they often had great similarities in the basic structural elements that they used to construct their buildings, especially in the case of monumental, state sponsored architecture. Religion was also something that took on a very similar form throughout the classical world. Again, the best example is the Greek and Roman religions, which essentially used the same pantheon with different names (264). Beyond this, however, there were significant similarities between the religious practices of a wide variety of classical civilizations. Firstly, nearly all classical civilizations were polytheistic, or believed in multiple gods. Each god would often have, as its domain, a particular realm of nature. In Greek/Roman mythology, for instance, Poseidon/Neptune was the god of oceans and waters, for instance (263). In Mesoamerica, similar pantheons controlled different aspects of the weather (301). Likewise, in a wide array of classical civilizations there was an intrinsic link between the lordship of the society and the deities that sponsored it. This took the form of “divine right” in ancient China, where the ruler was said to be chosen by the gods in order to protect the people (253), to the Roman case where the Emperor was often considered semi-divine himself, a kind of minor god. Everywhere in the classical world religion played a significant role in the leadership of a society controlling the power structure of that society – sometimes individual religious groups would attempt to rebel, but overall the leader could still usually claim some kind of divine status. Even though there were a great number of similarities amongst all these different civilizations during the classical era, there was also one important difference. That is political structure. Political structures varied widely in the classical world. The Greek city states, for instance, were each relatively autonomous even though they belonged to the same cultural group and would often fight together if facing threats from the outside (especially from Persia) (203). These city states also had hugely different political systems from each other, ranging from a warrior-based monarchy in Sparta, to famous Athens, which had the world’s first direct democracy. Yet beyond the loose conglomeration that was classical Greek civilizations, there were also massive Empires, such as those of the Incas, the Chinese and the Romans, who each controlled vast swathes of land that were centrally administered by a government with a distant seat of power. So, while many aspects of classical civilization were the same across the world, political structures varied widely, and it would be impossible to argue that one political structure was more representative of the classical world than others. The Classical period was many different years for different cultures: Classical Greek civilization flourished before the birth of Christ, while classical Incan culture was centuries later (258). Yet all classical cultures had some significant similarities that cannot be ignored: they all paid great attention to their origins myths, had similar interest in monumental art and architecture, and had similarly pantheistic religions with leaders who claimed some kind of divine right. Yet across all of classical civilization, there were vastly different forms of government, with everything from small city-states to vast empires, and everything from direct democracies, through republics, to dictatorships. Many things were similar in classical civilizations – but not everything. Works Cited Stayar, Robert. Ways of the World: A Brief Global History. Vol. 1. New York: Bedford, 2010. Print. Read More