Greeks and their contribution to civilization

About 500 BC ago, the Persians (now Iran) conquered the Babylonians Empire in Mesopotamia and set up their Empire under their greatest king Darius the First. Darius was an able leader and expert in the art of governance. He built good roads in all parts of his empire. He conquered Egypt, Asia Minor and all the countries of the Middle East from the river Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Persian Gulf to the Black Sea. And still he was not satisfied, he wanted to conquer all the countries of the world.

He marched with his great army towards the Asia Minor and across the Bosphorus into Europe. Then he went towards north, across the river Danube into south Russia. But here he was faced by Scythians, a nomadic people who were great fighters. He couldn’t face them and had to return.

After some years he gathered his army and set to Europe. This time he marched to the north, the country of Greeks. He even sent warships to attack the Greeks by sea.

These Greeks were believed to be Aryan-speaking people who had gone into Europe from Asia, for the same cause which made other Aryans go into India and Persia. They were not all under a single ruler; each tribe had its own land and its own separate government. Athens was the most famous town among the Greeks, but there were others such as Thebes, Sparta and Corinth.

There used to be a frequent fight between these tribes but when the news came that the Darius was on the way with his army and warship, the Greeks united and put their army under single leader to fight against this danger. If they had not united, Darius would have defeated all of them and conquered a great part of Europe.

A great battle took place at Marathon, a plain to the north of Athens and the Persians were forced back to Asia. The United Armies of Greek were able to defeat Darius’s idea of being the ruler of the world.

Some years after the defeat, Darius died but his son Xerxes made an attempt to invade Europe after ten years. But even he could not succeed and did not make another attempt to invade Europe.

The religion of the Persians was same as that of Parsees of India today. They followed the teachings of the wise man of Persia “Zoroaster or Zarathustra” who lived about 800 B.C. Long after, when the Muslims of Arabia took Persia, they did not let the Persians keep their old religion, which made so some of them to flee India during the 6^th century A.D. The Persians were thus the forefathers of the Parsees of our time.

The contributions of Greeks are important in the history of mankind, because it was a starting point of many ideas. Earlier, the people were under the rule of a King or a Leader who rose to power by force or by inheriting and few Greek towns were ruled by this way.

But most of the towns were little republics, the townsmen made their selection of men to do the work of government. The men with the greatest votes became the leader or King. This system of government is named as democracy.

Athens was the greatest Greek town then and in fifty years after the Battle of Plataea in 479 B.C. civilization reached a very high level there. Xerxes had done great damage to Athens but under the great leader Pericles, Athens became even more beautiful than before. Phidias, great artist and builder built temples, statues and other buildings of marbles which even after 2500 years is considered as the perfect structures. The Greeks gave much attention to the development of the body, as may be seen from the Statues they made.

Every fourth year, competitions in all kinds of sports were held in place near Olympia in southern Greece. The Olympic Games which is been conducted in our generation is just a copy of those games.

The acts and ideas of the Greeks have had far greater effect on the development of Man than those of all the kings and soldiers who conquered other lands and people.

Confucius - great scholar and teacher

Confucius Birth

Confucius was born in the year 551 B.C. in the state of Lu (present Quju), a little town in today’s Shandong province. He grew up during the time of war and chaos, in the eastern Zhou dynasty (770-221 B.C.) a period of intense political turmoil and civil unrest. His father, Kong Shu Lianghe, was a well known military official in the army of Lu and had a reputation of being courageous and loyal. However, it is believed that the family of Confucius, though of noble lineage, was poor and lived in poverty.

 

In the early age, Confucius loved books and learning. Some historians are of the opinion that he did not attend school but learnt everything by himself. He grew up to become an avid scholar of Chinese traditional culture, particularly of the history, literature, music and rituals of the earlier Western Zhou dynasty (1050-770 B.C), an earlier golden age when rulers where generally kind and subjects were happy and law-abiding. Based on this research into the past and his own observations of the present, he developed a philosophy that emphasized compassion and respect at all levels of society and promoted education as a means to develop the mind and cultivated the character. He hoped that the ruler would adopt this approach to social political morality and interpersonal behavior and use it to spread harmony and peace.

His teachings attracted large number of students but the rulers of the country ignored it. His principles were not applied during his life time. After the death of Confucius, his principles were kept alive and spread by his disciples. Within centuries, the Chinese rulers started adopting his principles; his philosophy became the foundation of Chinese government, education and social structure.

 

Confucius did not succeed as a political advisor during his lifetime but was highly successful as a teacher which can be understood by the loyalty of his students and their attempt to carry on his lessons after his death.

Confucius teachings spread beyond China. Part of his philosophy spread throughout East Asia, greatly influencing the cultures of Korea, Vietnam, Japan and wherever Chinese communities settled.

He changed and shaped Chinese culture. His teachings have influenced people for a long time. During his lifetime, Confucius made his way round the various kingdoms of eastern China, spreading his own theory of government. He became the most influential person in Chinese history.

Teachings of Confucius

Confucius emphasized the concept of the “Junzi” an ideal man or gentleman who was superior because of his great moral caliber. The gentleman, according to Confucius, practiced benevolence and followed rituals that included honoring his ancestors. He preserved the elements of China’s ancient religion of ancestor worship and refined the words of earlier thinkers.

Today Confucius teachings have survived for twenty five centuries and have shaped over a quarter of the world’s population. His image appears not only in the temples across China, but also above the entrance to the US Supreme Court.

Confucius established first schools

Confucius is often credited with establishing the first school – accepting fees from his students in return for his teachings. He taught his students the classical learning that included the things that he himself had learned as a boy and as a young man – poetry, history, literature, rituals and music.

Emperors respected him

Since his death, Confucius has widely been perceived as the quintessential gentleman scholar, a man of great learning who generously shared his knowledge with others, and a man of remarkable integrity who refused to compromise his values and become corrupted by the world around him.

By the eleventh century AD his legendary erudition and moral superiority earned him the posthumous rank of emperor. The emperors were required to show him respect, for example by dismounting from their horses to honor him when they entered Confucian temples.

Confucius was worshipped

Throughout the history there have been those who have chosen to worship Confucius as a deity, specifically a god of learning or knowledge. As early as the second century B.C., Han dynasty emperors offered animal sacrifices at the tomb of Confucius.

The Confucius Temple in Qufu, the town of his birth and death, was built on the site of Confucius home shortly after he died, and has become a place of pilgrimage for many of his followers for centuries.

Confucian temples have also been established in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.

During the 18^th century, worship of Confucius was so pervasive that in 1715 Pope Clement XI considered it a threat to the spread of Christianity in China.

In depth detail in Wikipedia