The Greek and Roman Influences on Culture, Science, and Religion
The Greek and Roman Influences on Culture, Science, and Religion
The Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation were the most important cultural, scientific, and religious movements between 1400 and 1700 in Europe. However, those movements were not based exclusively on the observations and reasoning of scholars and artists, but the influence of ancient Greek and Roman teachings, which was forgotten during the Middle Ages between the 5th and 15th century, played a significant role in inspiring those movements. The revival of knowledge in science, art, and technology from those ancient civilizations was the trigger for implementing changes in reasoning, traditional structures, science, education, and culture.
Although the beginning of the Renaissance can be traced back to the changes in painting and sculpting styles demonstrated by Giovanni Pisano and Giotto during the late 13th century, a period which is often referred to as Proto-Renaissance, a stronger influence of Greek and Roman cultural heritage becomes dominant from the Early Renaissance, which began in 1400 (Hunt, Martin, Rosenwein, & Smith, 2010). The Early Renaissance can be considered the beginning of the movement despite the earlier advancements in painting and sculpting because other aspects of culture and art, such as architecture, could not develop before the 15th century because of the weak economic situation (Hunt et al., 2010).
In painting, art, and architecture, the artists found inspiration in Roman art. Roman mythology was a popular theme in paintings while sculptors used Roman variations of Greek sculptures as models for their own work. In architecture, various artists visited Rome and studied their building methods to replicate them. For example, Brunelleschi constructed the dome for the Florence cathedral using the St. Peter’s Basilica and its dome as a model (Hunt et al., 2010). Once the canons of Roman architecture were discovered in the 15th century, they were adapted by Western Europe.
The Greek influence during the Renaissance was initiated by the Byzantine emigrants, who possessed preserved authentic knowledge from Greek and Roman cultures, introduced their science and art to Europe as they emigrated from Constantinople, which was plundered and destroyed by the Turks in 1453 (Hunt et al., 2010). As they started teaching the Greek language and science in Western Europe, various scientific methods and models were adopted to improve the development of reasoning and collaboration in scientific progress.
With the invention of the printing, ideas could spread quickly. With the arrival of Greek scholars and the revival of the Greek language in the west, various ancient texts were translated and implemented in the reformed education. Unlike the scholastic method implemented in the Middle Ages, humanism was embraced as a method of learning because it combined both reasoning based on Greek philosophy and empirical methods to investigate ideas or perform experiments (Hunt et al., 2010). Over time, a scientific method was established based exclusively on gathering empirical evidence and mathematics while discarding Aristotelianism.
The Protestant Reformation was designed as a revolt against the traditional hierarchy that was implemented in the Roman Catholic Church and the corruption among the priests. Of course, because the ancient Roman and Greek religions were polytheistic, their ancient religious teachings were not implemented. Instead, the Protestant Reformation is a clear example of how changes in reasoning and advances in science during the Renaissance influenced changes in traditional social structures.
While the Renaissance mainly affected political structures by contributing to the development of diplomatic conventions, the Protestant Reformation focused exclusively on religion. However, without the Renaissance, the Protestant Reformation would not have been possible. Besides certain environmental factors, such as the Black Death and the fall of Byzantine, the changes in reasoning and science during the Renaissance were the key triggers that caused people to question doctrines and the corrupted system. Because Greek philosophy inspired debates on the role of humans in the world and improved self-awareness during the Renaissance, it also provided a suitable environment for the Protestant Reformation to succeed.
Although it is mainly agreed that the Scientific Revolution was marked by the publication of “On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres” by Copernicus (Hunt et al., 2010), Hannam (2011) argues that it is not possible to pinpoint a certain year because the Scientific Revolution occurred only because it progressively evolved over centuries. For example, the role of Greek philosophy helped shape science in the Renaissance period by introducing various schools of thought and learning through observation and empirical methods. The Scientific Revolution further refined those teaching by discarding some approaches while keeping timeless knowledge intact.
While most of the Aristotelian methods were discarded by the Scientific Revolution, some key ideas from Aristotle’s cosmology were preserved. The moral philosophy from ancient Greece was also preserved, and the virtues that were esteemed in ancient Greece and Rome are still valued today. The Ptolemaic planetary system, which was based on the teachings of the Greek astronomer Eudoxus (Hunt et al., 2010), and various mathematical methods developed by Greek scholars were adopted and are still used today because they are universal and timeless.
Once the teachings and cultural heritage of ancient Greek and Roman civilizations were revived, they were adapted by Western Europe, and the implementation of their values, scientific knowledge, reasoning, and art inspired the Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and the Protestant Reformation. Those movements were responsible for the transition from the Middle Age to the modern era because they preserved and improved upon several values, principles, and teachings from ancient civilizations, which are still valid and used today.
References
Hannam, J. (2011). The genesis of science: How the Christian Middle Ages launched the Scientific Revolution. Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Hunt, L., Martin, T. R., Rosenwein, B. H., & Smith, B. G. (2010). The making of the West: A concise history (Vol. 1). New York, NY: Bedford/St. Martin's.
