ANCIENT GREEK CIVILIZATION:
PHILOSOPHY AGE AND HELLENISTIC PERIOD[1]
Mohammad Fazril Bin Mohd Saleh
Department of History and Civilization,
International Islamic University Malaysia
INTRODUCTION
Greek Civilization was credited as the place where the
western philosophy raised. Some said that Greek’s achievement in knowledge
advancement especially in art and philosophy made it as teacher of Europe.[2]
This claim might be true, even Muslims world also benefited a lot from Greek’s
legacy. A growing confidence in rational and conscious enquiry can be
considered as the key of its achievement. This revolutionary idea emerged in
the time when superstition and irrationality dominated the world. Greeks
invented the philosophical questions, and then followed by coherent and logical
explanations of things in order to solve problems or to arrive at ‘truth’.
However, talking about ‘truth’, what is exactly the
very essence of it? Is it a truth when a fluent-energetic orator speaking in
front of us regardless of whatever he said? or the truth is whatever come from
the mouth of a rich because of his richness? When someone asks us the question
aforesaid, indeed, we will reply, “No! Both of them are not the ‘truth’!”. But
in reality, people are pragmatic and both could be the truth in one’s life. The
same situation occurred in the ancient Greek world, unfortunately encouraged by
their so called ‘wise man’ which known as the sophists who sometimes mislead
the Greeks with justification on ‘white collar crimes’. That is why the ‘pure
philosophy’ like Aristotle – in order to encounter those pragmatic-sophists who
spread that idea – was reported to have said:
It is
through wonder that men now begin and originally began to philosophise;
wondering in the first place at obvious perplexities, and then by gradual
progression raising questions about the greater matters too, e.g. about the
changes of the moon and of the sun, about the stars and about the origin of the
universe. Now he who wonders and is perplexed feels that he is ignorant (thus
the myth lover is in a sense a philosopher since myth are compose of wonders;
therefore if it was to escape ignorance that men studied philosophy, it is
obvious that they pursued science for the sake of knowledge, and not for any
practical utility.[3]
To certain extent, Aristotle’s statement
above seems Islamic, even though Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad Al-Ghazali criticized
it as he said those Greek philosopher’s notion of ‘knowledge without practice’
is such a deviation.[4] Nevertheless,
without undermining this great big scholar of Islam, Al-Ghazali might be
misinterpreted Aristotle as for his access to Aristotle’s works depends fully
on the authority of Ibnu Sina’s translations rather than the primary sources.[5]
Basically,
the very nature of this paper is first; to illustrate in brief the pride and
glory of Greek’s Philosophy Age by introducing its nature and highlighting its
major achievement, great figures as well as legacy; second; to give a concise
introductory to Hellenistic Period of Greek which signified by the death of the
Great Alexander the Third. It consists of six sub-topics, excluding the Introduction:
Historical Background which highlighting major events from early
civilization existed in Greek until the fall of its civilization; Philosophy:
A Brief Introductory that tries to define the concept of philosophy in
general and relates it with the contribution done by the Greeks in this
particular field; Pre-Socratic Era briefly explain the emergence of
Greek’s philosophers before the coming of the famous Socrates; The Famous
Three introduces the three most significant figures of Greek philosophers
which are Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; Challenge of the Sophists
explains why stress happened between the three famous and the sophist; The
Hellenistic Period tries to give a concise historical background on the new
era of Greek under the Macedonian’s Alexander the Great and the legacy he left
behind and lastly the Conclusion which indicates the end of this writing.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
Greek civilization was
preceded by an advanced civilization located on the lands surrounding the
Aegean Sea from about 2000 B.C to 1200 B.C.[6] Before
the rise of city-states (polis) such as Athens, Sparta and Corinth, the
first civilization to make its mark in Europe was the Minoan Civilization which
centred in Crete. It was flourished between c. 3000 to c. 1400 B.C, and at its
peak around 1600 B.C, during the late Bronze Age. Minoan civilization took its
name from the legendary king Minos. The prosperity of it was based on maritime
expertise and trades. They managed to make commercial connections from pharonic
Egypt to Asia Minor.[7]
Massive earthquake, political and cultural decline and threat from outsiders
became the factors of the fall of Minoan.[8] By
c. 1600 B.C, the Mycenaean, a late Bronze Age people from the south of mainland
Greece, flourished in Peloponnese. They had arrived on Crete at c. 1400 B.C and
invaded it and incorporated much of Minoan Civilization. They derived their
great wealth from trade with Cyprus, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and perhaps more
distance countries.[9]
By c. 1250 B.C, Mycenaean Civilization collapsed. Many historians remain
unclear about its collapse. However, Patrick K. O’Brien (ed.) in his Encyclopaedia
of World History (2000) mentions that Mycenaean Civilization was taken over by
the Dorian invaders from Epirus. But, all Historian of the ancient Greek are
agreed that the collapse of Mycenaean has marked the ‘dark age’ of the ancient
Greek civilization which took place in c. 1100-750 B.C. The emergence of city
states signified a new stage of achievement by the Greeks. It was a major
development in world politics. At the beginning of 5th century B.C,
the Greek world was divided into a number of powerful city states. Each of them
was independent; they controlling their own surrounding territory of land and
applied their own system of government. Great
states such as Athens, Sparta, and Corinth provided a variety of models for
ruling through a system of law. Greeks loyalty were to their cities, thus lead
to frequent wars between city states even though they shared many cultural ties
such as common language, system of writing as well as religion.[10]
It is, from this point of period which also known
among scholars as the Classical Age of Greece, the culture flourished; civic
life existed in city states, the rich literature of Homer and Hesiod prevailed,
while Greek architecture, literature, art and science were unsurpassed
throughout the Mediterranean world. The Classical Age of Greek which emerged
between 6th-4th centuries B.C is the most famous worldwide. The peak of the
classical period is the 5th century BC, when the foundations of western
civilization were put in Athens. This city-state became the greatest naval
power of Greece that time and developed all domains of culture, including
philosophy, music, drama, rhetoric and a new regime, democracy. In the time of
Pericles, the politician who dominated Athenian life from 461-430 B.C, artists
and sculptors adorned the city with magnificent monuments, including the
Parthenon (a temple dedicated to Athena). Each year during the festival of
Dionysus citizen flocked to the theatre to see the performance of plays by
dramatists such as Aechylus and Sophocles, while thinkers like Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle raised the study of philosophy to new heights.[11] Then,
the history of Greece is a succession of various invasions and dominations. In
334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Persian Empire and his army conquered
all the way till India. However, in 323 B.C, the great emperor dies in Babylon
and his Macedonian empire is torn apart and governed by his heirs. In 30 B.C
onwards, the Romans conquered Greece and a new period starts for the Greek
history.[12]
[1] Term
paper for history course Survey of Ancient Civilization under the supervision
of Prof. Dr. Ghassan Taha Yassin
[2] J.M Roberts (1987), The
Hutchinson History of The World, London: Century Hutchinson Ltd, p. 203.
[3]
Robin Sowerby (1995), The
Greeks; An Introduction to Their Culture, New York: Routledge, p. 118
[5]
Ibid.
[6]
Adam Hart-Davis (ed.) (1997), History, London: Dorling Kindrsley Ltd.,
pp. 76-77.
[7] Tony Allan (ed.) (2007), World
History; An Illustrated Timeline, London: Brown Reference Group, p. 37
[8]
Patrick K. O’Brien (ed.) (2000), Encyclopaedia of World History, New York: Geoge Phillip Ltd., p. 272.
[9]
Ibid., p. 282.
[10] Tony Allan (ed.) (2007), World
History; An Illustrated Timeline, London: Brown Reference Group, p. 52
[11]
Ibid. p. 52.
Catat Ulasan