Outline of History (IV)

-Common name of Greek tribes: Hellenes
-Ancient Greek speech variations: Ionic, AEolic, Doric
-'Ancient' Greece (7th B.C): Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Samos, Miletus
-Tradition of unity between all Greeks, based on a common language and script, epics, continuous intercourse between the states, religious bonds, the Olympic games

Greek Citizen and the State

-3 forms of government:

• an Oligarchy mode of government of which the nouveaux riches became members of the ruling class 
• the tyrant was recognized as a monarch
• Democracy: 'government by the commonalty...it was government by the whole body of the citizens' -- but the concept of 'citizen' was exclusive: the slave, the freedman, the stranger / migrant were excluded

- the patriotism of the 'privileged people', the class of citizens, took an intense form

- Athenian Empire - other Greek city states retained their own governments, but the institution of an 'international' law / Athenian law, meant that justice could be administered between citizens of different states 

Poetry, art and philosophy

- 'Hellenism' - simplicity of life, sobriety of thought, abolition of torture, emancipation of the individual 

- the founding of overseas settlements familiarized men with the idea that a community could be constructed

- Plato and the Republic

- Aristotle -- born during the Macedonian monarchy under Alexander -- the events of the times drove men back towards the desire for stability and unification. Monarchy 'was a conceivable government for millions'

- Limitations of the Greek mind:

•  the idea of the city as the Ultimate city state, in which empire follows empire, each greater than its predecessor  --> the need for unification against outside forces was disregarded
• domestic slavery --> slavery shuts off one's sympathy and puts the slave-owner into an 'elect tribe', a class above others 
• a lack of knowledge -- of history, of geography beyond known lands, astronomy, science 

Alexander's Empire

- Ptolemy set up a Museum in Alexandria -- a 'secular intellectual process' to research and document information, set up a standard of professional knowledge, set up a Library 

- 3 types of mind: 'the clear-headed criticism of the Aryan Greek, the moral fervour and monotheism of the Semitic Jew, and the deep Mediterranean tradition of mysteries and sacrifices'

- fusing of the Gods (theocrasia) -- worship of a trinity of gods: god Serapis + goddess Isis + child-god Horus

- the idea of immortality became a central idea

Buddhism

- Siddhata Gautama: 3 forms of 'evil' human cravings: 1) the desire to gratify the sense 2) the desire for personal immortality 3) the desire for prosperity -- Nirvana (the serenity of the soul) is reached when one renounces these personal aims

- the Indian mind was shaped by the idea of cyclic recurrence 

- Gautama's teachings were reinterpreted into the idea of 'renouncing active life' -- instead of a personal salvation, it became the salvation from misfortunes and sufferings, and Buddha was represented as the saviour 

- early Buddhist sculptures interwoven with figures of Serapis, Isis and Horus -- Isis resembled / interchanged with Hariti, Kuan Yin, Kwannon (Japan) 

- Buddhism spread through Central Asia and intermingled with doctrines of Confucianism and Lao Tse = Three Teachings: 'a Way, a Path, a Nobility' --> personal philosophy of life and not doctrines of a church or a general rule

- differences between Buddhism and Judaism: the intolerance of the Jewish mind kept its faith clear and clean. 'The idea of a Promise...made Judaism historical and dramatic' -- it presented a clear direction and aim; Buddhism stagnated and corrupted for the lack of that directive idea 

--- it's easier to believe in, and rely on an external being than to completely renounce the self based on one's own efforts