Why the Greeks created a brilliant civilisation

[Deman James]

I'm a book lover & reads lots of book of book related to civilisation but till now don't able to find the exact book that why the Greeks created a brilliant civilisation. Is are any recommendation.

 

[need my speed]

Well, did they? And who are 'the Greeks'?

 

[Kyriakos]

It is all lies. Discoveries in math or other fields of knowledge happen at set times, so it is pretty random who does what. I am sure if Archimedes hadn't developed proto-calculus some northern euro druid was just about to do the same.
Likewise with everything else.

 

[Lanzelot]

But it must be admitted that "the Greeks" were well ahead of the contemporaries: while they developed advanced geometry, philosophy and mechanics, the northern European tribes were still basically stone-age people...
The reason can probably be summed up in one sentence: the warm Mediterranean climate made it easier to provide for the basic needs (food, clothes, housing), so left them more time & resources for "thinking". In the cold northern European climate it was a 24h full-time job to hunt your daily meal or reap the scarce fruits of your fields... Also the Greeks were closer to the already existing high cultures on the Nile and the Euphrat/Tigris area. (Many Greek philosophers and scientists of that era spend some time in Egypt to learn from the old Egyptian wisdom.)

 

[JohannaK]

The greeks made a brilliant civilization because some European guys in the late Middle Ages decided that Roman and Greek times had been the best thing ever ever, and Europeans and their descendants have been hammered with this from the cradle.

 

[Zardnaar]

The greeks made a brilliant civilization because some European guys in the late Middle Ages decided that Roman and Greek times had been the best thing ever ever, and Europeans and their descendants have been hammered with this from the cradle.

Yeah they have great PR including this alphabet we're using.

It's a cultural legacy in most of Europe, America etc.

There were other Civilizations just as advanced but there cultural legacy in the modern era is less.

 

[Lexicus]

Yeah they have great PR including this alphabet we're using.

The Greeks stole their alphabet from the Phoenicians bro

 

[Kyriakos]

The Greeks stole their alphabet from the Phoenicians bro

First of all, he means the latin alphabet. Which was originally the alphabet of Euboean Greeks and spread to Italy after they founded their colony, Kyme (Cumae in roman)

Secondly, afaik it is not established beyond doubt that the greek (ie the one currently used too, as well as in most ancient greek domains) alphabet is phoenician.

 

[caketastydelish]

But it must be admitted that "the Greeks" were well ahead of the contemporaries: while they developed advanced geometry, philosophy and mechanics, the northern European tribes were still basically stone-age people...
The reason can probably be summed up in one sentence: the warm Mediterranean climate made it easier to provide for the basic needs (food, clothes, housing), so left them more time & resources for "thinking". In the cold northern European climate it was a 24h full-time job to hunt your daily meal or reap the scarce fruits of your fields... Also the Greeks were closer to the already existing high cultures on the Nile and the Euphrat/Tigris area. (Many Greek philosophers and scientists of that era spend some time in Egypt to learn from the old Egyptian wisdom.)

This is the truth. The Greeks were, by and large, legitimately more advanced than their northern European counterparts.

edit: If you watch this, you will find that Northern Europe only started getting cities around 50 BC or so, and the only reason why is because the mediternian Romans founded them. But as far as European cities that were never under Roman occupation... that didn't start until around 800 AD. The Greeks (and later Romans) had actual cities, with all kinds of sophistication while those in northern Europe were living in primitive mud huts.

 

[innonimatu]

But it must be admitted that "the Greeks" were well ahead of the contemporaries: while they developed advanced geometry, philosophy and mechanics, the northern European tribes were still basically stone-age people...
The reason can probably be summed up in one sentence: the warm Mediterranean climate made it easier to provide for the basic needs (food, clothes, housing), so left them more time & resources for "thinking". In the cold northern European climate it was a 24h full-time job to hunt your daily meal or reap the scarce fruits of your fields... Also the Greeks were closer to the already existing high cultures on the Nile and the Euphrat/Tigris area. (Many Greek philosophers and scientists of that era spend some time in Egypt to learn from the old Egyptian wisdom.)

Greece is actually one of the naturally poorest, harshest margins of the Mediterranean. Even the fertile zones today, such as Thessaly, were largely swampy and not salutary. There was a reason why they were bellicose settlers: their homeland couldn't sustain a growing population! But the trade facilitated by the Mediterranean was a big plus. Its a peninsula with a very large, meandering coast. Plus numerous islands.

Most important I think was the political division enabled by that harsh land of mountains and inhospitable territories delimiting relatively fertile valleys (and the islands) probably also helped: someone persecuted in one city could flee to another nearby. Rulers could not easily suppress ideas: the good ones took root, and the bad ones had a limited reach when tried out. In a large empire a mad emperor would cause widespread damage. In a greek city state a bad ruler would cause only regional damage. And its subjects could more easily move out of reach or seek allies to depose him.

Greece had a fortunate, rare combination: political division without isolation. That was what made it brilliant. Its intellectual decadence started when empires gobbled up the area, first the macedonians and then the romans.

On a larger scale the same may one day be said of the european peninsula two thousand years later...

 

[Kyriakos]

^Lack of resources, and many states competing for the same, was certainly the key driving force for colonization... That said, there are/were resources of note, including copper, silver and gold mines, along with marble and wood (for ships). Food sources were more scarce - even Athens had to import grain from the Crimea, through a co-operation between greek colonies there and two native peoples; it even used Scythian archers as a police force when the athenian army was away in the Peloponnesian war).
Farmland is there mostly in Thessaly and (to a smaller extent) Macedonia. Thessaly is actually pretty flat, and certainly when compared to the rest of the country; this is also why it had a reputation for its horse breeding and horse-riding military units.

Modern-day resources are another story, though, cause there are rare earths, natural gas, possibly oil, gold and minerals used for steel production.
And to tie this back to the ancient era: marble is still a lucrative trading resource, with high quality marble particularly from the island of Paros being a monopoly.

 

[Traitorfish]

But it must be admitted that "the Greeks" were well ahead of the contemporaries: while they developed advanced geometry, philosophy and mechanics, the northern European tribes were still basically stone-age people...

"What are Mayans?"

 

[Kyriakos]

"What are Mayans?"

They weren't even an ancient era (by euro timeline) civ, though