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How the World Made the West

by Josephine Quinn

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Apollo said: " I don’t consider myself a history academic or scholar but the subject of world history has always been a fascinating one for me. One of the many books I have read on history over the years, and on historical analyses/interpretations in particular, is I don’t consider myself a history academic or scholar but the subject of world history has always been a fascinating one for me. One of the many books I have read on history over the years, and on historical analyses/interpretations in particular, is this latest offering by Josephine Quinn. I found it quite interesting, not only for its informative historical content but also because I felt that some rather subjective interpretations coming through by, either intentionally or unintentionally, applying paradigms from our contemporary social times to Great civilisations of centuries or millennia ago, (ie. the veiled women of ancient Athens, the embracing of slavery by Romans, age of entanglement, etc.).

Humans, throughout the world, from time immemorial, have indeed travelled short and long distances, by land and sea, and indeed they often encountered new people with different social customs or traditions, different ‘folkways’. They did so because of the innate human restlessness and curiosity traits, the endeavour to explore and discover, to expand, to trade, to learn. Through this process, new knowledge and experience was inevitably transmitted. The crucial question however is what was done with all the new knowledge acquired by the travelling recipients. Was it digested in a way that could be enhanced to reach higher levels of human achievement? Was it digested and gradually transformed or adapted to influence the cultures of the recipients? Were the recipients sufficiently capable and open minded to act as true catalysts, influencing the further development of sciences, arts, architecture, religion, philosophy, medicine, education, politics, political strategies, defence – tactical and strategic, etc., and transmit this enhanced and now more methodical and structured knowledge further? For the history of ancient Greece the answer is categorically ‘YES’.

Examples of these are aplenty when one takes a closer look into the history of ancient Greece. Here are 3 of Many achievements of transcendence. [1] The anthropomorphically based religion. In other words the attribution of human characteristics or behaviours to a God. If some God/Goddess made us, of course we would have been made to His/Her image and this was depicted in all of their art forms and mythological stories. [2] c. 7th - 8th century BCE, the Greeks borrowed with pride the Phoenician consonants only based ‘alphabet’ and adapted it to their own language by introducing vowels to it thus creating the first true alphabet, in which the vowels were accorded equal status with the consonants. This early Greek alphabet opened up the power of expression in written form, prose and poetry, and made it possible for Homer to write the Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems that matter to this day. [3] Architecture and sculpture achievements. The Greeks learned much from neighbouring civilisations, the Egyptians for example, but we witness a transcending ‘learn and apply’ trend, whereby their relentlessly expressive ingenuity and desire to reach higher, have left us with nothing less than a rich legacy of marvels that astonish to this day. The early Kouroi and Korai statues with their emerging ‘shy’ impression of movement and on to the ‘floating’ tons heavy marble and bronze statutes oozing with unparalleled artistic symmetry and confidence. Aphrodite of Milos, Winged Nike of Samothrace, Hermes of Praxiteles, Riace Warriors, Charioteer of Delphi, Marathon Boy, Parthenon marbles, Columns of the Ionic, Doric and Corinthian order, and the unparalleled architectural marvel, the 100k puzzle marble piece, The Parthenon, with all its built in optical illusions to give the impression of geometrical perfection when viewed from a distance. Not to mention the well documented fabled statues that have been lost.

It would simply be rather ambitious to expand further on the so many other momentous achievements in a brief review but they are all out there, well accessible and indisputably documented. Medicine, Mathematics, Physics, Philosophy, Urban Planning, Astronomy, etc.

Much of that knowledge was passed on to the Romans, like a relay race baton. Their own quote “Nanos Gigantum Humeris Insidentes” (standing on the shoulders of giants), was not an idle or vacuous metaphor.

With this legacy available at times of societal decay, cultural decline or “Dark Ages”, what should one reasonably and rationally be expected to do? Tolerate it quietly or seize every inspirational glimpse of light at their disposal to ignite a revival? Not too difficult or unreasonable to deduce the enormous importance and influence of the rediscovery of this legacy by the European Civilisation Renaissance. “Rebirth” was imperative. As for the Victorians later, at the peak of their national pride and national confidence, what exactly should/would/could one reasonably be anticipating, without of course conveniently employing any 2024 paradigms, when in front of them there was this abundant wealth of a weighty legacy left by indelible names such as Homer, Aesop, Aristote, Socrates, Plato, Xenophon, Solon, Thucydides, Herodotus, Perikles, Hippocrates, Themistokles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Gorgo, Leonidas, Aeschylus, Hesiod, Pindar, Sappho, Euclid, Archimedes, Pythagoras, Cleisthenes, Demosthenes, Draco, Pausanias, Alexander The Great, Hypatia, Hadrian, Cicero, Lysander, Marcus Aurelius, Mark Antony, Plotinus, Lycurgus, Isokrates, Epictetus, Seneca, Plutarch, Galen, Iosipos, Epicurus, Zeno, Herodotus, Democritus, Heraclitus, Thales, Theophrastus, Eratosthenes, Ptolemy, Hipparchus, Anaxagoras, Pliny, Empedocles, Archytas, Philo, Crateuas, Philolaus, Dicaearchus, Eudemus, Posidonius, Eudoxus, to name but only a few eponymous achievers, with the list by no means being an exhaustive one.

‘Civilisations’ vs ‘Civilisation’. The difference is great, and the interpretation, the definition one attempts to provide, is dependant on how much historical deconstructive levelling or historical deconstructive flattening, one wishes to apply. Different cultures is a fact of life, tantamount to the natural diversification, or biodiversity, the variability of life on our Earth. Attempting a sweeping homogenisation from ‘civilisations’ into one ‘civilisation’, is not only an irresponsible ‘one size fits all’ irrationality, but also a trend into desolate, if not dystopian, aspirations.

I have no problem in historical accounts or long held positions being challenged, or even history being rewritten, provided that is based on factual rationalism and not on emotive criteria relative to contemporary prevailing agenda themes, academical or political.

My final thoughts are on the question ‘who is this book for?’ Unable to answer it with ease, I will only say that at these rather troubling times, times of potentially seismic changes in world history, Europe and the Middle East in particular, an era of complex “entaglement” indeed, I have no doubt as to which side of history I would like to be with, hoping that “The West” did retain some sense of a historic identity and purpose in the world, (to quote Tristram Hunt’s closing paragraph of his 29th Feb 2024 review in the Financial Times of Josephine Quinn’s book). ...more "

Apr 02, 2024 07:21AM · see review