Western civilization or the western culture is basically referred to as the modern society and includes the Western Europe and North America. The impacts of the ancient Greek and Rome on Western Civilization lasts to date. In real sense, the Western culture owes its roots to the Greek and the Rome. As the Greek and Rome expanded their associated emperors, there was a massive spread of their ideas and cultures to other countries, as they also borrowed other cultures. During this time period, both the Greek and the Rome made significant and lasting contributions to the Western culture, in terms of art, religion, philosophy, architecture and literature. This paper highlights the important contributions made by Greek and Rome on Western Civilization, considering the above specified fields. It starts with the ancient Greek contributions, and concludes with the contributions of the ancient Rome.
In philosophy, there were numerous influential contributions made by the Greeks and Romans to the western civilization. The Greek philosophers always sought to obtain the truths in various matters as they were great thinkers. The famous philosophers were Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates, among others. According to Socrates, it was not worth living unless the truths about life were sought. Socrates also believed in laying down the proper standards for punishment and justice. The Socratic method of problem solving gave forth the most commonly known scientific method of solving problem in science and science related areas. Pluto believed in unity and support in societies, and laid the foundation for numerous democratic ideas which are still used to date. Aristotle strongly believed in human reasoning. According to him, human reasoning is the driving force in life, and the ability of an individual to reason makes him unique. Other ideas from the philosophers, which are honored to date, include the belief that the universe is ruled by divine power, and the need to control human desires. These ideas together with human reasoning have formed the standards for both justice and democracy used in the western civilization.
In art and literature, the influence of the Greek is greatly observed. The Greek valued plays as they wrote and performed some of them like the tragedies and the comedies. The comedies were meant for fun on certain topics or persons, while the tragedies were majorly for moral lessons, social issues, and human sufferings. Today, majority of the western civilization plays perform similar purpose as the ancient Greek plays. Most of the famous play writers owe their inspiration from the works of the ancient Greek play writers.
The contributions of the Ancient Rome on western civilization are vast. They formed the law code or the Justinian code which formed the basis for the rule of law and the legal systems. In its simple terms, one is not guilty unless proven otherwise. Civil rights, gender equality, justice for all, and democracy, are as a result of the fusion of the Roman law with the Catholic Church laws, and have shaped the western law. The Rome spread the Latin language which today forms the bases for almost all other languages. In religion, the Rome greatly helped in expanding Christianity, which is today the most wide spread religion. In the western architecture, the influence of Rome is still felt. Use of the dome, the flying buttress, and the arch as motifs in architecture was founded by the Romans.
The highlights herein clearly show that the ancient Greek and the ancient Rome have greatly influenced western civilization in various areas. In philosophy, various ideas of the Greek philosophers are used to date; in arts and literature, the plays owe their origin to the Greek as the languages are formed on the basis of the Latin language spread by the Rome; in religion, Christianity owes its origin to Rome and has massively spread world over; in architecture, various motifs were pioneered by the Romans; and in the broader society, justice, equality, democracy, and the rule of law, is based on the ancient principles of both the Greek and Rome.
Works Cited
Davenport, Basil (ed). The Portable Roman Reader. Penguin, 1977.
Auden, W. H. (ed). The Portable Greek Reader. Penguin, 1977.
