Having Greek ancestry on my maternal grandmother’s side predisposed me in childhood to develop a lively interest in the history and culture of what is generally regarded as the world’s oldest democracy.
As much as I admired classical Greek history, however, my particular passion was always the Hellenistic period. In boyhood, my admiration for the astonishing feats of conquest wrought by Alexander the Great was unbounded. Many modern scholars considered it a time of decadence and decay compared with the brilliance of the classical era, but between the death of Alexander in 323 BC and the domination of Greece by the emergent Roman Empire in the first century BC, came an age unmatched.
Relief inspired by the everyday life of Alexander the Great
A vast empire stretched from the Greek homeland through Europe to Africa and India, in which cultures were blended and enlightenment bloomed. This was the era when Eratosthenes calculated Earth’s circumference, Archimedes computed pi and Euclid codified the rules of geometry.
My Journey
So when holidays to Greece became more affordable I decided to take a trip around this ancient land and see if I could find anything of my beloved Hellenistic period still surviving in a land which retained a deep regard for its past. I took in the amphitheater at Epidaurus, still extraordinary today, before leaving the Peloponnese and heading north to Vergina. The village of Vergina may be modern today, but there are plenty of signs of its Hellenistic heritage; from the royal tombs at the museum, to fragments of original water pipes on the ground.
The entrance to the “Great Tumulus” Museum at Vergina.
But far from being simply fixated on recreating the lost glories of an illustrious past, modern Greeks take inspiration from the glory days to seek out a better future. The Hellenistic tenets of the value of freedom and the importance of speaking, thinking and acting within the parameters of a free life were passed down as if encoded in Greek DNA. This was, and indeed still is, a nation which sets great stock in personal liberty and an unwillingness to succumb to restrictive governmental authoritarianism, as demonstrated by the protests and uprisings seen in Greece in recent years.
I found the evidence of Alexander’s influence was everywhere to be seen in Greece, from the reliefs at the National Museum in Athens to the ruins of places like Epidaurus and Dodoni. Alexander may have conquered various lands, but he also helped to set free the mind of man by cross-pollinating ideas from disparate nations previously largely isolated from one another in the east and the west. What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of art, culture, architecture, mathematics, science and philosophy. Today the nation which stood at the core of his empire still retains the fiercely democratic principles and an urge to exercise free will that is the truly enduring legacy of Hellenism.
The stadion of ancient Epidauros.
Photo Credits
Relief inspired by the everyday life of Alexander the Great – Some rights reserved by Tilemahos Efthimiadis on Flickr
The stadion of ancient Epidauros – Wikipedia Creative Commons
The entrance to the “Great Tumulus” Museum at Vergina – Wikipedia Creative Commons
Guest Author Bio
Thomas Steiner
Thomas Steiner hails from Nottingham in the UK, has a degree in Ancient History and has covered much of the European continent, South America and Australia on previous jaunts. He is an avid fan of experiential travel writing and combines his passion for the past with a love of roaming wherever his sandaled feet may take him. He is now setting his sights on the mighty USA for a road trip to remember this coming summer, planning to mimic the East-West coast route made famous by Jack Kerouac. Also an erstwhile fiction writer, he has had short stories published on several print magazines and is struggling on with a young adult fantasy novel in his spare time.
Recent Guest Author Articles:
- From License to Lifestyle - How State Choice Impacts Nursing Journeys
- Your Online Reputation Is Everything (Here's How to Build It Fast)
- 5 Spiritual Resources to Help Humanity in Times of Crisis
- Between Judgment and Hope: Navigating the Gray Areas of the Justice System
- Empowered to Advocate: How to Become the Voice for the Silent
Please Share Your Thoughts - Leave A Comment!