“They were the first Westerns; the spirit of the West, the modern spirit, is a Greek discovery and the place of the Greeks is in the modern world” (Hamilton 19). In the first chapter of her book the author suggests that ancient Greeks created a basis for the modern Western civilization. Hamilton admitted people can have access to the limited part of this cultural heritage, but they still reap its benefits. She highlighted that the Greek civilization significantly differed from its contemporaries with the words: “a new civilization had arisen in Athens, unlike all that had gone before” (Hamilton 16). Hamilton claimed that this unusualness in the case of altitude to people and knowledge made its heritage so important.
“Before Greece the domain of the intellect belonged to the priests” (Hamilton 25). They held this power in Egypt and used it to control the government and other social groups. The similar situation appeared in India and other Eastern countries with the distinct caste or class system. Only a limited group of people had access to knowledge and could use them for own profit or sciences’ development. They did not want to change these conditions because they worked to their benefits.
Greek civilization had a religion with the own afterworld and the society that was divided into classes. But it created more practical point of view that was focused on the man and understanding of the nature and other events. Life was cheap in Egypt and does not cost too much in some modern civilizations, Hamilton mentioned (24). The ancient Greece showed that people should not neglect their existence for the sake of the happiness on the other side, and need to develop their minds. But the civilization also did not reject all spiritual achievements of the East. The Greek culture combined them with the rational aspects of the Western world. It showed that the human is a complex creature that needs to give attention both to his mind (that also includes the spirit) and body. “When men’s attention is fixed upon one to the disregard of the others, human beings result who are only partially developed, their eyes blinded to half of what life offers and the great world holds” (Hamilton 29). Greece’s attitude gave modern cultures an opportunity to achieve the full vision of their world.
Works Cited
Hamilton, Edith. The Greek Way. W. W. Norton Company Inc: New York, 1960.
