by Orestes Varvitsiotes*

Rarely mentioned, but no less of an achievement, was the development of the Greek alphabet, from whose Western branch, the Aetolian dialect, via the Etruscans, came the Latin, which is the basis of all Western alphabets, with the exception of the Celtic that came directly from the Greek, as did the Cyrillic (Russian). Having borrowed sixteen consonant symbols from the Phoenicians, they added seven vowels and four consonants(1), and thus created a flexible tool for writing anything one wished, not simply a record-keeping device as it appears Linear B to have been, and which disappeared after the destruction of the Mycenaean settlements by the Dorian invasion; nor, for that matter, the Semitic alphabets that lacked vowels and which the reader must himself figure out and insert. The Greeks used the alphabet also as numerals (the zero is a later Arab invention) and for musical notation, upon which today’s method of vocal music notation is based almost unaltered(2). And although poetry had already developed to an advanced stage and was transmitted orally, it is unlikely that Greek culture (and East European and Western culture, in general) would have developed at the pace and reached the heights it did, without the use of the alphabet.

The Greeks’ contribution to all these areas has been extraordinary, and their influence on our society and culture both pervasive and beneficial. It was Shelley, the English poet, who proclaimed: “We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts, have their root to Greece.” [Hellas] Another Englishmen, John Stuart Mill, considered the battle of Salamis as more crucial to English history than the Battle of Hastings! It is little wonder, then, that classical studies, which included ancient Greek and Latin, were the basis of education in Europe following the Renaissance, and in the United States throughout the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth.

Today, however, they suffer of atrophy. To mourn this development and its consequences two influential classicists wrote an entire book(3). Americans value individual freedom above anything else and what makes the Greeks so important is that they were the ones who developed the prototype: a political system which allowed them to live in freedom—freedom of thought, freedom of expression and freedom of choice. It was indeed an unprecedented development. Warner Jaeger may very well have expressed most accurately the relationship between the Greek model and our modern society by this observation: “What we call culture today is an etiolate thing, the final metamorphosis of the original Greek ideal. In Greek terms is not so much paideia, as a vast disorganized external apparatus for living, ....In fact it seems that the culture of the present cannot impart any value to the original Greek form of culture, but rather [itself finds] illumination by that ideal, in order to establish its true meaning and direction.” (Paideia, New York)

Having downgraded, however, the study of the classics during the last six decades, Jaeger’s assertion may not be so apparent or widely known to the general public today, as one would have hoped or wished. It is not unreasonable, then, to suppose that it would be to our peril and regret if we were to continue to neglect the teaching of the classics, and thus deprive our youth of the knowledge of where our traditions and culture have come from and what we represent; indeed, who we really are. In fact, at a time when globalization is breaking down national borders, ethnic differences and cultural distinctions, it is almost imperative that the time tested ethical and philosophical tenets of the Greeks occupy the centerpiece of this brave new world in the making, as they have already proved to be the best vehicle in the development of our own intellectual achievements and humanistic traditions. It is interesting to note that because of its secularism and universality, its sense of balance and its liberating spirit, Greek culture was always attractive and accessible to other cultures that happened to come into contact with and which inadvertently or by design were affected by it. In other words, it seems that Greek culture had a wide appeal to and was appropriated by many and disparate cultures: Judaism and Christianity were both highly influenced by it; Rome was overwhelmed; the Byzantines claimed it their own and preserved it, and so did the Arabs, who avidly studied the works of Aristotle and disseminated his teachings to Europe during the Middle Ages. This is a unique record, and a very fruitful one in its consequences: because ultimately it led to the revival of Greek thought on a grand scale during the Renaissance, followed by the Age of Reason and all the subsequent phases of Western thought. One may wonder then why is it that we have abandoned it now, at this crucial stage in the world’s development when it’s needed the most. For even if economics is an essential element for man’s well-being and progress, the old adage “not by bread alone” still holds its validity, and even more so if paraphrased to “not by profits alone”, as one gets the impression that this is the only preoccupation of our society and its exportation to the rest of the world.

Coming from a different direction, there is also criticism leveled upon the Greeks, despite of all their achievements and contributions to Western culture, primarily by the so-called multiculturalists. As it happens, this is not entirely unusual, as each generation attempts to reexamine the past and to assess its meaning by using as yardstick its own perceptions, interests, sensibilities and values. Therefore, on the basis of today’s emphasis on individual freedom, human rights, universal suffrage, and equality of the genders, there are some who castigate the Greeks because their democracy was restricted to the male citizens of the polis alone, and for their ownership of slaves. The argument made in this respect is that Greek men were able to enjoy the benefits of their democratic society because women managed their households and the slaves did all the work. This arrangement allowed them to exercise their civil rights and meet their civic responsibilities, including doing the fighting in the wars, and afforded them the leisure time to pursue their philosophical inquiries. But this argument is very shallow indeed, as it disregards the fact that it was not their abundance of time, but the political system which gave them the freedom to involve themselves in these type of activities; neither does it take into consideration the socioeconomic conditions of the period and the context in which the Greek poleis had developed; nor the influences that this development must have had on the formation of their culture(4). Their criticism would have been valid only if in some other society in the ancient world the condition of women and slaves were different, i.e., if the women were given rights they lacked in Greece, and if there were no slaves. However, this is not the case by far. In fact, the Greeks’ attitude towards the slaves was actually more enlightened than even that of nineteenth century American South! (Thornton, The Greek Way, San Francisco)

Such examination or comparison would have put the Greeks’ culture under a more apposite perspective and would have made the Greeks’ achievements even more extraordinary, even under today’s more expanded values. In fact, it is the sheer irony of it that the values employed by these critics to judge the Greeks are nothing but the very extension of the values the Greeks themselves developed! Broadly speaking, there is no denying that the slaves’ lot was miserable and their treatment often brutal; but there is also reliable testimony that it was not all too unusual for slaves to be treated benignly: to be given a tutor’s or other non-menial responsibilities; or even to gain freedom on merit or circumstance. It is of interest to note that the first policemen in Athens were slaves from Scythia, a place which in later times became the hotbed of the slave trade. Theokritos mentions that the slaves used as shepherds in the Greek colonies of Southern Italy and Sicily owned property, including livestock, and they were able to make pretty gifts, a custom whose origin goes back to the aristocratic ethos of the Heroic age and which reflected a man’s station in the community and, therefore, of great social significance and importance. The Arcadians gave lavish parties to which they invited both masters and slaves and served them wine from the same mixing bowl.(5) (Burckhardt) Also interesting is how Euripides presents the role and the lot of a slave in his Ion: KREUSA (Addressing the slave): Come on, old friend! When my father was alive he trusted you to look after me; so you must come up to the temple, to share in my happiness, if the oracle has promised us children. When joy comes, it is good to have a friend to share it; and if sorrow comes—which God forbid—the deepest comfort is to see it reflected in the eyes of a friend. Yes, I am your mistress [female owner]; but I am only returning the kindness you used to show my father." In Ion the slave is not only treated with affection as member of the family, but further down the plot he is depicted as acting as his mistress’s confidant and personal advisor. One may assume that such representation must have been accepted by the audience as being in line with the everyday life in an Athenian household. The treatment of the helots by the Spartans is another matter, of course: the Spartan youth ran unprovoked raids of terror as a way to intimidate them, always fearful that they might revolt. This was state instigated behavior. But again, the Spartans’ social structure was not just based on slave labor: the slaves belonged to the state and were only “assigned” or “leased” to its landholding citizens in order to cultivate their fields, the landowners receiving two-thirds of the produce. In other words, food production was entirely in the hands of the slaves, a condition which allowed the male citizens of Sparta to meet their citizenship obligations(6) and enabled them to devote all their time and energy to the only profession they were allowed to have: soldiering. Similarly, the polis of Athens used (but not owned) slaves in their Laurion mines(7) and as oarsmen in their triremes, both sources of Athenian power—until, that is, Perikles plundered the Treasury of the Allies at Delos and moved it to Athens.

In the end, however, it was Christianity, which provided the ideological framework for the abolition of slavery, although it was the Greeks again who had provided the philosophical basis upon which the development of such thinking was based. (Plato, Epicurus, et al.) For the Greeks to be a slave was not a matter of racism or some natural deficiency, but the result of misfortune—most likely brought about by defeat in war or, in earlier times, because of debts. As for women’s rights, it would take many-many centuries before women would become enfranchised and slowly accepted and treated as equal, and not until recently did they begin to receive equal pay as men for their work. And if in real life the Athenian women lived in seclusion and did not participate in public affairs, Plato advanced what must have been a revolutionary idea, indeed: in his philosopher-king utopia women would receive the same education as men, participate equally in the affairs of the state, and even be chosen to be king! (Republic, xv 445-57) Besides, no other society at the time (and many not even today) had given the girls the same education as boys and to women as much freedom and power, if not the vote, as did the Spartans, from whom Plato borrowed many ideas. Therefore, to take today’s extended values as a yardstick and apply it uncritically and indiscriminately to the Greeks is not only inappropriate but also utterly ridiculous.

There is another criticism of the Greeks: that they were the originators of Western attitudes and beliefs, which ultimately found their expression in chauvinism, colonialism, imperialism and a host of other evils the West is held responsible for. One would accept such criticism as valid if the West would have been better off had it not adopted the Greek model. However, if anything, the reverse is true: it is whenever the West abandoned the Greek model that caused the greatest atrocities, to their own citizens included: absolute monarchy, dictatorship, theocracy and totalitarianism; none of these systems proved to be a better model than that of the Greeks’ despite all the sins attributed to it. Therefore, the criticism must be directed not so much against the Greek model itself as to the transgressions which have stained its history, be it ancient or modern, the most damaging of which is a proclivity to wage war. Ironically, the Greeks themselves were fully aware of this folly, and they were the first ones to deal with it: war and its catastrophic consequences is the underlying theme in many of their tragedies, and comedies too!(8) Even in Homer’s Iliad, which describes an aristocratic society during the Heroic age whose very existence rested on war, it is called “a lamentable war”. Of course, waging war is not the exclusive prerogative of democratic regimes. Nevertheless, democracies too have their dark side, in most cases caused by the economic interests as perceived, defined and pursued by the ruling elites, rather than by the nature of the political system or the cultural beliefs of the polity. However, even if coming from an arch-apologist of British imperialism as Winston Churchill was, it is still well to remember that: “Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.”(9) Of course, we are indebted to the Greeks and their legacies for this kind of a political system and its cultural traditions, which is why the battle of Salamis was considered more important than the battle of Hastings even to the English! Therefore, it is not overstating the case to state that the study of the classics, even in translation, would actually strengthen our conviction that the course the West has taken is the right one; that the cause of freedom and justice, and all those values that Western societies aspire to and our politicians at least in name exalt, is the better choice. It may also help in practical terms too: in the discovery of how ancient some of our problems are and its corollary, how contemporary are the Greeks! For instance, by reading Solon, the poet/lawgiver and one of antiquity’s seven sages, one would find a very accurate assessment of the scandals, which have afflicted corporate America and have shaken our financial markets and economy in recent years, if we substitute certain of his terms with their modern equivalent: "Men are tempted to enrich themselves by unjust acts; they snatch and steal from one another without sparing sacred or public property and without protecting themselves against the dread foundations of Justice (Dike), who takes silent note of what is happening and what was before, and comes in time to exact vengeance without fail. Then in the end the whole city is visited with an incurable sickness [economic depression] and soon falls into servitude [unemployment], which awakes war and internecine strife [protests or strikes or revolutions], so that many perish in the flower of youth.” (Solon 3.11-20) In other words, Justice (retribution) for man’s transgressions will surely come, but not in the form of human disease and pestilence sent by the gods, as it was presented in myths and the Homeric epics, but in the form of social ills: unemployment, strikes, and revolutions. If we take this a step further, it means that social conditions are not inflicted on humans by divine intervention or will, but are the result of either the achievements or failings of human beings. And here we have the beginning of social science.

In our present crisis of morals, it would be well for our government officials as well as the CEO’s and managers of our corporations to be familiar with Dion Chrysostom’s of Prusa treatise, On Kingship II, in which he develops the theme of what would be proper reading for the education of a future ruler, so that he may become worthy of his position and task; not surprisingly, his answer was: reading Homer!(10) In a way, the treatise is an eloquent exaltation of the poetry of Homer not only for its immense beauty, but also for its immense wisdom and, indirectly, its didactical value, Plato’s criticism of Homer notwithstanding. Dion (L. Dio) imagines a conversation between Alexander the Great and his father, King Philip II of Macedon, at Dion, Pieria, where they offered sacrifice in the temple of Zeus, following their victory in the battle of Cheroneia (336 BCE), an event that marked the end of Greek resistance to Macedon’s hegemony. The battle was won to a great measure due to the boldness and decisiveness of Alexander; the first sign of his military genius exhibited at the early age of eighteen! In answer to his father’s question why he only read Homer, Alexander, after he explains the various areas in which Homer’s poetry would improve the skills and character of a future ruler and thus assist him in attaining all the virtues necessary to be effective, he expounds on a simile Homer uses when Agamemnon addressed the Greek chieftains at Aulis, where they gathered before they embarked on their ships for Troy: "One may mention many other admonitions and lessons from [the reading of] Homer that is appropriate to brave men and kings; perhaps, many more than those already mentioned. However, he [Homer] makes it clear with his thoughts, because he thinks that the king must be braver than all others and [especially] in the case of Agamemnon, when he first addressed the army under his command and called out the chieftains and the number of ships. There he did not allow any of the heroes to come close to him in stature, but as the bull is superior in strength and size than the rest of the herd, so he says the king must differ from all others; .as he put it: ‘Like the bull that stands out in the herd of cows and he is distinguished from among the crowd, such Zeus made Atreus’ son that day: to be The most eminent among so many heroes. It appears to me that he said these things not simply to praise him for his strength, because for that he could compare him to a lion; but in this way he pointed to the calmness of character and his care for those he ruled. Because the bull is not only one of the bravest animals, nor does he uses his strength for himself alone, otherwise he could have used the lion and the boar and the eagle, who chase after other animals and become stronger by devouring them; for that, I think, one may say that they are an example of tyranny rather than kingship. Whereas, it appears to me clearly, the bull gives a good picture of a [good] ruler and governance: because he makes use of readily and easily available food, by peacefully grazing, and it is not necessary to use force or to become greedy for food; but as with the fortunate kings there is abundance and plenty of wealth for the necessities. He rules and governs his breed, one might say, with goodwill and responsibility, leading them to the pastures and he doesn’t abandon them when a beast appears, but he defends the entire herd and helps the weak, and he saves the multitude from the brutal and wild beasts by protecting them. Such must be the ruler and the king, and it is for that they deserve to be honored by the people."

Interestingly enough, at the end when Philip expresses his satisfaction for Alexander’s explanation and thinking, he credits Aristotle, who was Alexander’s teacher, by saying: “We honor him because this man is worthy of many and large gifts for the way he is teaching you on kingship and governing whether by interpreting Homer or other means.” Many years later, Charles de Gaul, who knew his history, remarked in his Army of the Future (1934): “At the root of Alexander’s victories one will always find Aristotle.” (Quoted by Herbert J. Muller in his Introduction to Homer’s Iliad, Bantam 1967)

For all these reasons, then, one could surmise that it is not just desirable but beneficial to return to the teaching of the classics as an essential requirement for the intellectual, philosophical and ethical health (and wealth) of our society and culture. For according to Aristotle, “To be a competent student of what is right and just and of politics in general, one must first have received a proper upbringing in moral conduct.” (Nikomachaean, 1.4.27-28) Further on he states that a fundamental prerequisite to intellectual excellence is teaching it early and practicing it constantly, so that it may become hexis, (second nature). (Nikomachaean, 1.13.16-17)

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*Orestes Varvitsiotes is the author of "Ancient Greek Athletics: Myths, History and Culture" and a contributor to several Greek American publications on ancient history and current events.

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Footnotes

(1) Actually, three letters were subsequently discarded: the digamma, san and qoppa.

(2) According to Plutarch (Music, 3), it is the choral poet of religious hymns, Terpander of Lesbos (circa 700-650 BCE), who is credited as being the inventor of music writing.

(3) Who Killed Homer? The Free Press, New York, 1998

(4)There are some very good books on the subject and listed in our bibliography, even if no direct quotes have been made in the book.

(5) The Greeks drank their wine mixed with water, one to three, and considered the drinking of unmixed wine as befitting a barbarian. In fact, King Kleomemes of Sparta, was loathed for drinking unmixed wine, a habit it seems he had acquired from the Persians, and which contributed to his drunkenness.

(6) The male citizens of Sparta, or Spartiatai, were required to contribute a certain part of their crop to the commons, or else they would be barred from participation and even lose their full citizenship rights.

(7) The conditions there were no different than the conditions in the gold mines of ancient Egypt and not much different than those in the silver mines of Utah or the coal mines of Colorado in late 19th c. America!

(8) The three comedies by Aristophanes, Acharnes, Eirene and Lysistrata, deal with the war issue.

(9) Speech to the House of Commons on 11 November 1947.

(10) Of course, this is stating the obvious because as Aristotle pointed out Homer was the great educator of the Greeks for generations to come.