Greece essay

The ancient Greeks are still known today as being the “Golden age” of civilization. They became masters of sculpture, architecture, art, but they also became the masters of war. The two images, showing armor from the Peloponnesian wars and the Elgin marbles, represent two aspects of Greek life. Despite war being considered by many to be something barbaric, to the Greeks, war was as much an art as was the building of the Parthenon or the plays performed in their amphitheaters.

From the very beginning of Greek civilization, war has been not only an integral part of their society, but also something that the Greeks perfected. Some of the very first Greeks, the Mycenaeans, were predominately a warrior based culture. It was Agamemnon, the Mycenaean king, who conquered all of Greece and united it under his banner. He also brought the Greek armies across the Aegean to the walls of Troy, where they performed one of the most brilliant acts of deceit the ancient world has ever seen, the Trojan horse. The Greeks took pieces from their own ships to construct a colossal wooden horse, in which Greek soldiers would hide and wait for the Trojans to bring it inside; once inside the city the Greek soldiers opened the gates and the army proceeded to burn Troy to the ground. Later in Greek history, arose the Spartans; a warrior people who had mastered warfare by using something know has the Hoplite formation. They used this Hoplite formation to hold off the Greeks at the battle of Thermopylae, even though they lost, 300 Spartans alongside several thousand Greek allies were able to fend off over 200,000 Persian soldiers. Xerxes army and navy would later be crushed at the battles of Plateau and Salamis respectively, thus suffering the same embarrassing defeat that his father did many years earlier at the battle of Marathon. Around 330BC, Alexander the Great took the Greek art of war and used it to finally defeat the Persian Empire, bringing him all the way to the Indus valley. After Alexander’s death, the Greek style warfare was used everywhere in the entire known world. The Greeks spend just as much time refining the art of war as they did constructing developing the art of sculpture and architecture.

The Greeks are considered by many to be the founders of modern culture. They were the first people to truly be able to capture the human form and they were the first to perform plays, such as Lysistrata, in large amphitheatres. In this case, the Elgin marbles represent the Greeks contribution to the finer arts such as sculpture and architecture. In the world of sculpture, The Greeks were the first to represent the human form with near perfection. Polycleitus, was the most notable of all the Greek sculptors, he carved people in an idealistic and almost god-like sense. The most notable aspect of Greek culture was their architecture. They developed two styles: Doric and Ionic, both of which are still widely used in many of today’s buildings. One of Greece’s greatest architectural achievements was the Parthenon. The Parthenon is a massive temple built to Athena, the patron god of Athens, which was built on top of the Acropolis. It is the single largest Doric structure in existence and is considered one of the most copied buildings in the world. The Greeks have a legacy of being one of the greatest contributors to modern society and their achievements are still marveled today.

For the Greeks, the architecture of their buildings and the perfection of their sculptures were just as important as the art of warfare and battle. From the beginning of the Mycenaeans to the death of Alexander war was as much as art as was architecture and sculpture.

The Apollo vs The Mask

 

When determining which culture is considered the higher society, we must consider many facets of said civilizations. When considering whether the Greeks or a primitive tribe is at a higher state of civilization, it is best we examine two prominent sculptures: the Apollo of Belvedere or the mask. The Apollo represents a much higher state of civilization then the African mask. This statement can be supported by looking at the values, religion, and civilization in which the sculptures have been produced.

By examining the values of each of the cultures, we can see a clear difference, and these difference are reflected in the sculptures. The Greeks put a large value on knowledge. This value of knowledge is reflected in the high level of skill and craftsmanship put into the Apollo. The skill and craftsmanship that can only be achieved by a more civilized society. Although the mask also requires a great deal of skill, the tribal society does not put a high value on such skills, as its values lie elsewhere. The tribal society is significantly more family based. They value things such as the community and mutual support of the family, as we saw in the film “The Gods Must be Crazy”. The ability to provide an animal to eat is more prized then the ability to carve some dude out of a pretty rock.

Religion is another key aspect of a society and is greatly represented in these two sculptures. Both the mask and the Apollo actually represent a major part of their societies religion. Apollo is, of course, the god of the sun, while the mask represents an animal deity. Showing the Apollo as naked and in a very regal stance, suggests a very open and high minded society. Kenneth Clarke said “the gods are like ourselves, only more beautiful” , he is of course referring to the Apollo and how it is shown has being the perfection of the human form. In the case of the mask, it represents something much darker. Kenneth Clarke also said in reference to the mask “it is a world of fear and darkness ready to inflict horrible punishment for the smallest infringement of a taboo” thus Clarke has stated that the tribal society has chosen to accept and react to their world rather then to try and understand it. Compared to the Greeks this makes their religion and society less developed and less able to develop on fear of retribution. However, the main aspect of early tribal societies was goddess worship. As we see on the island of Malta, goddess worship was prominent and some will say that the worship of female dieties leads to a more peaceful society. Although this is true, a we saw no evidence of warfare, The Maltese people disapeared around 2500 BC and thus did not live a sustainable existence.

The great differences between the civilizations of the Greeks and the tribals truly set the bar as to which one is in a higher state of civilization. Whereas the tribals work as a cohesive group to fight for their survival, the Greeks have progressed enough to allow for specialization within their society. Specialization within the Greek society has allowed for greater advancement in civilization and technology. The specialists have the ability to develop their craft and continue to strive for something new. The ability to strive for something new has allowed the Greeks to build a more permanent and long lasting civilization. However, the ability to strive for something new is lost on the tribal societies, mostly due to the need for survival. This need for survival has prevented them from being able to think things through with greater depth. If they stopped to think, they would die. However, some groups have had the time, such as the people of the Lasceaux caves. But these peaceful and primitive societies were not sustainable, as we can see with the Minoans and the Maltese. These people attempted to strive for something new, but ultimately failed because they forgot to include a key aspect of a strong civilization, defense, something that the Greeks did very well.

As seen in modern times, the hunter and gatherer lifestyle of the tribal society have evolved into a speciality of its own. More of Greek society is seen in today's world, we have perfected specialization to the point that we are codependent on a wider array of specialists. There are many similarities between our civilization and the Greeks and if we consider ourselves to be in the highest state of civilization, by analogy the Greeks were higher then the tribals