European Culture

1
European Culture

• -- An Introduction

2
d. Contending Schools of Thoughts

• Sophists, who were teachers of the art of
  arguing. The most eminent of them was Protagoras,
  born about 500 B.C., who wrote a book On the
  Gods. He is chiefly noted for his doctrine that
  man is the measure of all the things.
• In the 4th century B.C., four schools of
  philosoph-
• ers often argued with each other. They were the
  Cynics, the Sceptics, the Epicureans and the
  Stoics.
• The Cynics, leader named Diogenes, he
  rejected all the conventions, and advocated
  self-sufficiency

3

• and extreme simplicity in life. He lived by begg-
• Ing. He proclaimed his brotherhood, not only with
  the whole human race, but also with animals. On
  the other hand, he had no patience with the rich
  and powerful.
• The Sceptics followed Pyrrhon , who held that
  not all knowledge was attainable. He and his
  followers doubted the truth of what others
  accepted as true.
• The Epicureans were disciples of Epicurus,
  who believed pleasure to be the highest good in
  life, but by pleasure he meant, not sensual

4

• enjoyment, but freedom from pain and emotion-
• al upheaval. Epicurus was a materialist, he
  believed the world consisted of atoms.
• Opposed to the Epicureans were the Stoics.
• To them, the most important thing in life was not
  pleasure, but duty. This developed into the
  theory that one should endure hardship and
  misfortune with courage. The chief Stoic was Zeno.

5
e. Science

• We have seen that many Greek philosophers were at
  the same time scientists. Thus Plato was a
  mathematician and Aristotle contribut-
• ed to Zoology.
• Two men may be mentioned for what they did to
  push science forward. They are Euclid and
  Archimedes. Euclid is well-known for his
  Elements, a textbook of geometry. Archimedes
• did important work not only in geometry, but also
  in arithmetic, mechanics, and hydrostatics.

6
8.Art, Architecture, Sculpture and poetry

• a. Art
• Greek art is a visual proof of Greek civiliza-
• tion.
• b. Architecture
• The most important temple is Parthenon.
• Greek architecture can be grouped into three
  types the Doric style which is also called the
  masculine style the Ionic style which is also
  called the feminine style and a later style that
  is called the Corinthian.

7

• c. Sculpture
• The earliest Greek sculptures were those of
  Gods. Stiff, lifeless---- the beauty of internal
  structure. Famous sculptures i. Discus
  Thrower ii.Venus de Milo iii.Laocoon group
• d. Pottery
• The flourishing of the Greek pottery was a
  result of domestic needs, needs for foreign
  trade. Black-figure and red-figure paintings.
• 9. Impact
• a. Spirit of Innovation b. Supreme Achievement
• c. Lasting Effect

8
Roman Culture

• 1.Romans and Greeks
• The Romans had a lot in common with the Greeks.
  Both peoples had traditions rooted in the idea of
  the citizen-assembly, hostile to monarchy and to
  servility. Their regions were alike enough for
  most of their deities to be readily identified.
  Their languages worked in similar ways, and were
  ultimately related, both being members of
  Indo-European language family which stretches
  from Bangladesh to Iceland.

9

• There was one big difference. The Romans built up
  a vast empire, the Greeks didnt.
• 2.Roman History
• Pax Romana The year 27B.C. divided the history
  of Rome into two periods before then, Rome had
  been a republic in that year, Octavius took
  supreme power as emperor with the title of
  Augustus. Two centuries later, the Roman Empire
  reached its greatest extent, encircling the
  Mediterranean, reaching Scotland in the north and
  spreading into Armenia and Mesopotamia in the
  east. The emperors

10

• relied on a strong army--the famous Roman legions
  - and an efficient bureaucracy to exert their
  rule, which was facilitated by a well-developed
  system of roads. Thus the Romans enjoyed a long
  period of peace lasting two hundred years, a
  remarkable phenomenon in history known as the Pax
  Romana.
• 3. Latin Literature
• a.Prose
• Marcus Tullius Cicero (??? . ?? .???)
• Julius Caesar (???? .??)

11

• b. Poetry
  (???)
• Lucretius (????On the Nature of Things
• Virgil (???) Aeneid (????)
• 4. Architecture, Painting and Sculpture
• Architecture
• The Pantheon
• Pont du Gard
  
• The Colosseum
• b. Painting
• c. Sculpture
• i. Constantine the Great (about AD 274-337),
  Roman emperor (306-37), the first Roman ruler to
  be converted to Christianity. He was the founder
  of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), which
  remained the capital of the Eastern Roman
  (Byzantine) Empire until 1453.

12

• ii. Spoils from the Temple in Jerusalem
• iii. She-wolf

13
Division TwoThe Bible and Christianity

• I. The Old Testament
• ???????????????,?????????????????39?,???
  ??????????????
• ??????????????,??????????,???????????????,?
  ?????????,??????????,????????,?????????????(1200
  B.C.)????????????,??????????????????????????????
  ????????,???????????????,??????????,????????
  ????????,?????????????????????????????????
  ?????????,?????????????

14

• Focus In
• ?Among all the religions by which people seek to
  worship, Christianity is by far the most
  influential in the West.
• ?Both Judaism and Christianity originated in
  Palestinethe hub of migration and trade routes,
  which led to exchange of ideas over wide areas.
• ?Some 3800 years ago the ancestors of the Jews
  the Hebrews wandered through the deserts of the
  Middle East.

15

• ?About 1300 B.C., the Hebrews came to settle in
  Palestine, known as Canaan at that time, and
  formed small kingdoms.
• ?The king of the Hebrews was handed down orally
  from one generation to another in the form of
  folktales and stories, which were recorded later
  in the Old Testament.
• ?The Bible is a collection of religious writings
  comprising two parts the Old Testament and the
  New Testament.
• ?The Old Testament consists of 39 books, the
  oldest and most important of which are the first
  five books, called Pentateuch.

16

• ?When the Hebrews left the desert and entered the
  mountainous Sinai, Moses climbed to the top of
  the mountain to receive God message from, which
  came to be known as Adam, Eve, the Ten
  Commandments.
• ?Chronologically Amos is the earliest prophet in
  the Old Testament.
• ?In Babylon in the 6th century B.C., the Hebrews,
  now known as Jews, formed synagogues to practise
  their religion.