欧洲文化简明教程ClassicAgeGreekCultureandRomanCulture

1、Chapter OneClassic Age: Greek Culture and Roman CultureI. Greek culture1. The Historical BackgroundWhe never we talk about the an cie nt Greece, we cannot fail to men ti on the Troja n War which lasted ten years begi nning from 1194 B.C. and ending in 1184 BC. Many stories have been told about this

2、war. But Homer told the story more vividly in his Iliad.In the 5th century B.C. Greece entered a more glorious period when the Greek people drove away the Persia n inv aders and Athe ns established democracy in which only the adult male Greek citizens could use their power and rights. Athens develop

3、ed its economy depe nding on the slave system. The Olympic Games also orig in ated from an cie nt Greece, and it revived in 1896.During this period, scienee, philosophy, literature, art and history writing developed quickly. But when foreign threat was removed, a civil war broke out betwee n Athe ns

4、 and Sparta at the end of the cen tury.In the sec ond half of the 4h century B. C, one of the Greek states called Maced on became more and more powerful un der the leadership of Alexa nder the Ki ng who unified the whole Greece as Qinshihuang (the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty) un ified the whole

5、 Chi na. Maced on enjo yed large territories in cludi ng parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.But history is always like such that fall comes after rise. No country can avoid such a fate. I n 146 B.C. Greece was conq uered by the Roma ns.2. Literature1）Homer （荷马）HomerHomer lived around 700 B.C. It is sa

6、id that he was a slave and blind. It is considered that he wrote two epics namely,the Iliad （伊利亚特，另译伊利昂记） and theOdyssey（奥德赛，另译奥德修记）.The Iliad deals with the war between Troy and the united forces of the states on the main la nd of southern Greece. The allia nce of the Greek army was led by Agame mn

7、on with Achilles, Odysseus and other gen erals as their main comma nders. Trojan forces were led by Hector. The war ended with the victory on the Greek side.The Odysseytells the story about the return of Odysseus after the Troja n War to his country Ithaca. The first 12 volumes deal with the adventu

8、res on the sea. The latter 12 volumes deal with the adventures on land. The epic ended with his union with his faithful wife Pen elope after his test-flirtatio n with her. Pen elope is a pers on like the faithful lady Wang Baochua n in a Chin ese play.2）Lyric PoetryTwo famous lyric poets of this tim

9、e are worth rememberi ng. They are Sappho萨 福）and Pindar （品达）.Sappho （ca. 612-580 B.C.）, born in Lesbos, is the most importa nt lyric poet of ancient Greece and is famous for her burning love poems because of which the English Romantic poet George Gordon Lord Byron called her “ burningSappho”Plato ca

10、lled her the ten th Muse.Pin dar (ca. 518-438 B.C.) is famous for his odes celebrati ng the victories at the sports games, such as the 14 Olympian odes. His style was imitated by many later poets of renown such as John Dryden and others. John Keats, a British Romantic poet of great achieveme nts, wr

11、ote some of the greatest odes ever writte n in En glish history.3) DramaGreek drama developed quickly and prosperously in the 5th century B.C. based on its rich tradition. The Greek drama has the following features. First, most early plays were performed at religious festivals. Second, the plays wer

12、e performed in ope n-air theaters. Third, actors wore masks. Fourth, there was a big chorus but few actors.In the Greek drama duri ng this period, tragedy is the most no teworthy. The achieveme nts of tragedy are greater tha n those of comedy. The tragedies mostly wrote about royal families, noble f

13、amilies and great heroes. It gives the impression that theterm“tragedy ” is applied only to hbghn people. In this sense, some tragedies inChin ese drama cannot use this term becausesome tragedies in Chin ese drama talk about the fate of the com mon people.The Greek drama has somethi ng in com mon wi

14、th the ancient Chin ese drama in which actors wore masks and dramatic faces with diverse colors and desig ns as symbols of character. I n Sichua n drama, the dramatic faces are more mysterious and in teresti ng.A. Aeschylus 埃斯库罗斯，525-456 B.C.)AeschylusAeschylus wrote Prometheus Bou nd（被缚的普罗米修斯）,Pers

15、ia ns （波斯人） and Agamemnon （阿伽门农）,all in verse. He is good at portraying vivid characters with his majestic poetry, though the fate of death for those tragic people was in escapable.Aeschylus used two actors and a chorus in his plays.Aeschylus was much read and studied. Percy Bysshe Shelley, an Engli

16、sh Romantic poet, even wrote Prometheus Unbound to praise the sacrificing spirit of Prometheus who stole fire from heave n for the good of the huma n race.B. Sophocles索福克勒斯，496-406 B.CJSophoclesSophocles wroteOedipus the King （俄狄浦斯王）,Electra （伊莱克特拉）and An tig one （安提戈涅）.Sophocles is best remembered

17、for his most famous plaO edipus the King, which in flue need not only later tragedy writi ng but also literary criticism. With a very effective read ing of and profo und thinking about this play, Sigm und Freud （西格蒙 德弗洛伊德,1856-1939）, the Austrian doctor and psychiatrist invented the term “ Oedipus C

18、omplex ” which became a useful tool tine hands of the psychoanalytic critics. Some people say that, in light of this theory, Shakespeare Hamlet and Cao Yu' The Thun der Stormalso have the Oedipus complex, which is questi on able.The play Oedipus the Ki ng tells the story of Oedipus who committed

19、 a terrible sin uncon sciously. Whe n Oedipus was born, his pare nts lear ned from an oracle that he would kill his father and marry his mother when he grew up. So the baby Oedipus was aba ndoned on a hillside by a shepherd, but he was picked up, rescued by ano ther shepherd from ano ther coun try.

20、He was raised as the son by the ki ng of Corin th. When he grew up he learned of the oracle. In order to avoid such fate, Oedipus left his country. On the way to a neighboring country, he came across an arrogant and irritable man. In a quarrel, Oedipus killed him. When he reached the neighboring cou

21、ntry Thebes, he solved the problem of the city by ridding it of the Sphinx riddle. As a hero in the eyes of the people in Thebes, he, as promised, married Jocasta, the quee n of the country, without knowing that he married his mother. It is when the messenger from Corinth came that the truth was unv

22、eiled: the person he killed many years ago was his own father. Realiz ing what sin he had committed, Oedipus stabbed out his eyes and put himself in exile. Jocasta committed suicide.Sophocles is no ted for his tragic writ ing. He made some improveme nt in his plays: a third actor appeared and the si

23、ze of chorus was much smaller.Sophocles made his contribution to the art of drama. He used three actors and decreased the size and the function of the chorus. He made the drama develop in the directi on of perform ing rather tha n n arrati ng by the chorus.C. Euripides （欧里庇得斯，484-406 B.C.）EuripidesE

24、uripides wrote Andromache （安德洛玛刻。安德洛玛刻：赫克托耳的忠实妻子）,Medea （美狄亚and Trojan Women （特洛伊女人.In comparis on with Aeschylus and Sophocles, Euripides was less in flue ntial but more realistic, always concerned with con flicts, on acco unt of which he was referred to as the first playwright of“ problem plays ”.

25、D. Comedy and Aristophanes (阿里斯托芬,ca. 450-380 B.C.)Aristopha nesComedy also developed quickly in the 5th century B.C. But it was less brilliant than tragedy.The best comedy playwright is Aristophanes who left 11 plays among which Frogs, Clouds, Waspsa nd Birds are worth see ing. Aristopha nes was bo

26、ld eno ugh to satirize eve n some of the famous people of his day, in clud ing Socrates and Euripides respectively in his Clouds and Frogs. He was ofte n criticized for his use of coarse Ian guage in his plays.3. History1) Herodotus 希罗多德,484-430 B.C.)HerodotusHerodotus is famous for the writi ng of

27、wars betwee n the Greeks and the Persia ns, because he believed that“ the great and won derful deeds done by Greeks and Persia nsshould not lack renown. ”The remarkable features of his history writ ing are his applicatio n of an ecdotes, digressi ons and lively dialogue, which were more in terest in

28、g tha n accurate, quite likethe style in Luo Guanzhong The 'ege nd of Three Kin gdoms（三国演义）in stead ofChe n Shou 'The History of Three Ki ngdoms（三国志）.Herodotus, though not veryaccurate, as the forerunner of history writi ng, is thus ofte n called“ Father of H2）Thucydides （修西得底斯，ca. 460-404 B

29、.C.）ThucydidesThucydides, as a historia n, wrote more accurately and carefully with imagi nati onand power, pay ing much atte nti on to the causes and effects of every historical eve nt.His historical writi ngs focus on the wars betwee n Athe ns and Sparta and betwee nAthe ns and Syracuse which was

30、a Greek state located on the isla nd of Sicily.Thucydides is called by Macaulay, a famous historia n,“ the greatest historia n thatever lived . ”4. PhilosophyThe Greek people ' s curiosity about things and the nature of them cultivated theirenq uiri ng mind to search, doubt, speculate, imag ine

31、and form new ideas. Imag in atio nis not scienee, but it is the foundation of science and base of philosophy. So theGreeks created their mythologies and formed their ideas about the uni verse and its operati on.1）Pythagoras 毕达哥拉斯，ca. 580-500 B.C.）PythagorasPythagoras, foun der of scie ntific mathema

32、tics, is one of the early philosophers who boldly thought about the uni verse. In his eyes, only nu mbers spoke and all things in the world were numbers. He used numbers to understand the world and the uni verse. He put forward the follow ing con cepts: poin t, li ne, magn itude, surface, body and p

33、roportion. He had his view on beauty, thinking the circle or a round object is the most beautiful thing. This idea in flue need many writers and poets who made very good use of this theory in their literary creati on.2）Heracleitue （赫拉克利特，ca. 540-480 B.C.）HeracleitueHeracleitue is remembered for his

34、theory of fire, theory of cha nge and theory of harm ony. To him, among the four eleme nts, fire was the mai n eleme nt of the uni verse and the base of everything. His theory of change is still instructive. He maintained that all things changeand nothing are still. Even Marxist theory of change acc

35、ords with the idea of Heracleitue. This best serves the theory of development. Heracleitue theory of harmony allowed the mingling of opposites, which insists that harmony is achieved in the process of sol ving the strife and con flicts.3）Democritus（德谟克利特,c a. 460-370 B.C.）DemocritusDemocritus is one

36、 of the earliest philosophical materialists. He was one the earliest advocators to focus on the speculati on of the atomic structure of matter. Karl Marx made a very deep and systematic study of his materialist philosophy.4）Socrates 苏格拉底，ca. 470-399 BC.）SocratesSocrates is often mentioned together w

37、ith Plato and Aristotle whenever people talk about the ancient Greek philosophy and thinking. Socratestaught Plato. Plato taught Aristotle. They were all great masters in the field of philosophy. In terms of teach ing methodology, it is Socrates who inven ted the teachi ng method of in terrogative a

38、nd in teractive approach in the same manner as Con fucius did whe n he taught his disciples.The story of Socrates is recorded by Plato in Dialogues （对话集）.Socrates is famous for his dialectical method. It is a method of argument by questions and answers. To explain an idea, Socrates applied the way o

39、f talking with others and led them to express their own ideas on one questi on. Whe n the speakers made mistakes, Socrates would correct them and illustrate the reasons why they were wrong and illogical. In this way, he made his viewpoint clear. This is what we call the dialectical method. But in do

40、ing so, he ofen ded many people and caused his disaster. Whe n he was seve nty, in 399 B. C., he was accused of harm ing the city and the young people by not believ ing in gods. Because of this, he was put to death. He made a very good speech on death, “TheApology of Socrates ”which is but a dream a

41、nd returning home. According to him, death is but a change and migration of the soul from this world to ano ther. His idea in flue need many people and writers.5）Plato （柏拉图，ca. 428-348 B.C.）PlatoPlato, as the disciple of Socrates, made his greatest contribution to the world in writing The Dialogues,

42、 a collection of Socrates life and ideas, like the Analects in which Con fucius ' teach ing and his dialogues with his disciples were recorded.Plato f philosophy is idealism. To answer the question how man could obtain knowledge in the complex and uncertain world, Plato made a reply that man obt

43、ained knowledge from a certain general “ idea ”he order of things is as follows. Idea comes first, then the making of a concrete thing, then the recreation of the thing in the form of art. To him, the idea is more real than a concrete thing. So in his eyes, poets or artists of any ki nd are twice or

44、 thrice removed from truth and cannot tell truth. And accord ing to his un dersta nding, poets who may harm the young and the republic should be driven out of the country. Plato 'ideas were later even accepted and assimilated in to Christia n thought.10Plato had his con cept of kin gship. He tho

45、ught that a king should be a philosopher. But he failed to coach a prince and turn him to such a pers on.Plato should be fon dly remembered to have established an Academy, where he spe nt 41 years teach ing his disciples philosophy, mathematics, astr onomy and so on.6) Aristotle 亚里士多德，384-322 B.C.)A

46、ristotleTo Athens, Aristotle was a foreigner, who was born in Stagire. He was Plato disciple, but he was more versatile in that he taught and wrote about logic, ethics, politics, metaphysics, psychology, physics, zoology, poetry and rhetoric. Most of his ideas on the above-me nti oned fields domin a

47、ted the world culture for over a thousa nd years. So it is not overstatement to say that Aristotle is the “ fatheof science or knowledge ”.He studied at Plato ' s Academy. Like his teacher Plato who was tutor of a prince, he also had a similar cha nce. But he was more fortun ate tha n his teache

48、r because the prince of Macedon he tutored became the most powerful King in Europe. It was Alexa nder the Great. Whe n he retired to Athe ns he foun ded his own school at Lyceum, where he dedicated himself to teachi ng and research. His main works in cludesithics (moral philosophy), Politics (the ar

49、t of governing), Poetics ( literary theory) and Rhetoric (the art of persuasi on)The definition of tragedy he gives in Poetics is as follows:Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, andof a certain magnitude; in Ianguage embellished with each kind of artisticornament, t

50、he several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.Aristotle was different from his teacher Plato in some ways. He learned from Plato but developed his own understanding of the wo

51、rld. He loved his teacher, but he loved truth the more. Here are the differences between Aristotle and Plato.A. Aristotle believed that theory came from direct observation of nature, while Plato 'phsilosophy relied on subjective thinking. These are respectively the base of materialism and ideali

52、sm.B. Aristotle held the idea that the concrete individual realities are made up of “form ”（idea） and matter, while Plato thought that ideas were more real than the physical world. Hence the difference between materialism and idealism.C. Aristotle contended that happiness is the aim of life. But, to

53、 him, happiness means something that could be realized through a life of reason, goodness and contemplation rather than the so-called happiness in a vulgar and low sense.7）Other Schools of ThoughtBesides the above-mentioned philosophers, there were many schools of philosophers around Socrates '

54、time. They reflected the active thinking of the ancient Greeks, just like the different schools of philosophers in the Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China. During this period in ancient Greece, there was the school of sophists （诡辩学派）,the school of The Cynics （犬儒派）,the scho

55、ol of the Sceptics （怀疑派）,the school of the Epicureans（享乐派）and the school of the Stoics （斯多葛学派） .These schools, especially the later four schools, often argued with each other.A. The Sophists （诡辩学派）This school was represe nted by Protagoras 普罗塔哥拉） born around 500 B. C., who promoted the art of arguin

56、g. His main work is On the Gods （诸神论 ）. He is regarded as one the early humanists with his famous doctrine of man being the measure of all things.B. The Cynics（犬儒派）The school of the Cynics was represented by Diogenes 戴（ 奥真尼斯 , ca. 412-323 B. C.）. The word “cynic in” Greek means “dog”Th. ey were call

57、ed Cynics because their leader Diogenes would like to live a dog 's life. Thsicshool had the following features. First, they refused to follow the conventions. Second, they advocated self-sufficiency and extreme simplicity, which was later absorbed into Calvinism and Puritanism）. Third, they adv

58、ocated brotherhood among all human beings and animals, which was accepted by many progressive humanists and writers like Walt Whitman and other poets. Fourth, they defied the rich and power. They were something like the school or gang of beggars often seen in Jin Yong's novels.C. The Sceptics （怀

59、疑派）The school of the Sceptics was represented by Pyrrho（皮洛,ca. 360-272 B.C.）. They were thus called because they thought that some knowledge could not be attained, though some could be obtained. They had a doubtful eye on the established truth which has been accepted by others.D. The Epicureans（享乐派）The schools of the Epicureans