Rise and fall of the Greek civilisation

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Rise and fall of the Greek civilisation

By M.S.N. Menon

 

"We shall be the wonder of the world, not only of the men today, but

of after-times," says Thucydides, the Greek statesman. Nothing was

said more prophetic! The Greek civilisation, brilliant like a

meteor, but transient, was unique in human history. Only the Hindu

civilisation has surpassed it in brilliance and staying power.

 

The Greeks loved their civilisation based on freedom, but sustained

it through slavery. This had the sanction of no less a person than

Aristotle. He says: "A well-constituted city ought not to receive

the artisans into citizenship." The Greeks paid a high price for

this folly. It brought constant violence in its wake. The mobs first

ruled the streets and then the Council Chamber. They charged the

philosophers with impiety.

 

As in India, so in Greece, intellectual development ended in

skepticism. Faith in God was snapped. There was distrust of Homer

and Hesiod, the epic writers, whose gods and heroes cared nothing

for ethics. A new class of people came to dominate the world of

thought—the Sophists. It is might that made things right, they said.

They advocated the study of rhetoric "so that wrong could be made to

appear right!"

 

It was during this period of crisis in the country's life that

Greece produced its greatest moral teacher—Socrates. He said virtue

lies in knowledge. Reminds us of our own jnanamarga (the path of

knowledge). Socrates was condemned to death for "making youth

impious".

 

The mantle of Socrates fell on Plato (427-343 BC), the greatest

among his students. His doctrines were close to vedanta, the

philosophy of the Hindus. His concept of the divine as the supreme

intelligence, incorporeal, eternal and immutable was essentially

vedantic. And his doctrine of the transmigration of souls is yet

another similarity with Hindu thought.

 

Man was the centre of Greek thought (not God) and a measure of all

things. In art, Greeks were concerned with beauty and the human

body, in philosophy with human reason (divine) and in science with

speculation. They argued over everything (a Hindu trait). No other

community except the Greeks and Hindus is supposed to have developed

logic in ancient times.

 

The Greek youths spent much of their time in gymnasia. Next in

importance was the stadium where they held healthy competition

(Romans took to the arena, where gory combat was the order). Next

came civic activities and culture (theatre). The Greeks produced

some of the greatest playwrights of the world. In tragedy they were

supreme. Aristotle has said of tragedy: It purges the soul of its

passions—a great idea. (Hindus prefer a happy ending).

 

Thus the Agora (public place and market), the Stoa (large covered

portico before houses with pillars), the Acropolis and Council

House, gym, stadium and theatre—these were the great Hellenistic

gifts to the world. These alone were enough to make the Greeks

immortal in human history.

 

How did the Greeks achieve all these? There are many explanations.

But one calls for special attention: They gave more of their time to

civic affairs. This was possible only in a slave-owning society,

with control over population, curb on ostentatious living and

disinterestedness in a future life. The Greeks gave no time to

asceticism, fasting and contemplation. But they produced some of the

greatest philosophers. The Greeks, like the Hindus, burnt their dead

and, therefore, were not preoccupied with mausoleums like Muslims.

 

Alexander, the Great (3rd BC) changed the course of Greek history.

He conquered almost the whole known world and carried the Greek

civilisation with him. Hindus were in touch with the Greeks two

centuries before Alexander's invasion. There were Greek settlements

in Afghanistan and Punjab. (The Khatris and Aroras of Punjab are

said to be the children of mixed marriages of Hindus and Greeks.)

 

Antioch and Alexandria emerged as centres of Hellenistic

civilisation. Buddhist missionaries were already present there.

Thousands of students were attracted to these centres of learning

from different parts of the world. There was perfect tolerance among

these "pagans". With the introduction of Christianity and Islam,

this tolerance was destroyed for ever.

 

With the Roman conquest of Greece, the Hellenic civilisation began

to decline. What was left was destroyed by Christianity. The Greeks

were not a spiritual people. They were essentially materialistic.

Naturally, class conflicts became endemic. It was the mob and the

tyrants who finally carried the day in Greece.