As You Study Classical Greece You Will Find That There Are Many Concepts to Learn About

8/3/2019 As You Study Classical Greece You Will Find That There Are Many Concepts to Learn About

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Greece

As you study Classical Greece you will find that there are many concepts to learn about.

Many people often mix up Classical Greece with Archaic Greece. However, I will analyze some

period concepts of Classical Greece. The Classical Greeks valued balance, order, and harmony.

Through those values they believe in the concept of The Good Life. The Greeks believe that one

is shaped by what one takes to be good, and so the key to a good life is a proper understanding of

the good. The concept ofendaimonia (the good life; happiness) becomes important in Classical

Greece. It is later defined in terms of complete excellence- arte of mind, reason, body, and

emotion. The complete excellence is captured through the idea of the kalokagathos (handsome

and good) person. The kalos person is seen as always noble and handsome. The agothos person

has proper ethical and political ideas. The outer appearance match inner reality, but the inner

reality is what becomes important. Another concept adopted in Classical Greece is Rationality.

Through this concept we see clear development and importance of rational argument and the

value of proper inference and good evidence. It is believed that reason should rule the other parts

of the soul, ones sprit, and ones appetites or desires.

In The Republic Book VII, a section known as the Allegory of the Cave Socrates

addresses Platos older brother in attempt to describe the difficulties the psyche encounters in its

attempt to understand the higher forms. The form of Goodness, Socrates says, is the universal

author of all things beautiful and right, parent light and of the Lord of light in this visible world,

and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual; and this is the power upon which

he who would act rationally, either in public or private life must have his eye fixed. The form of

Goodness is something akin to God. Through the concept of The Good Life, the key to a good


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life is a proper understanding of the good. The problem is that, once having attained an

understanding of the Good Life, the wise individual will appear foolish to the people, who

understand not at all. Plato believes that their own sense of Goodness will prevail over their

despotic position. Moreover, rule by an intellectual King is superior to rule by any person whose

desire is to satisfy their own material appetites. This is where the concept rationality is used in

the writing of Plato in the Politeia. The Allegory of the Cave attempts to clarify the account of

reality and to show how it affects human life.

For the Greeks, music was a sensory reflection of the higher order that pervades all

things. Its highest forms were believed to affect the moral character in a positive way but, as

Plato insisted, music of the wrong sort could be morally and socially destructive. The only

complete work of music to have survived from Classical Greece is Skolion, or drinking song, by

Seikolos was found chiseled on the 1st century BCE gravestone of his wife Euterpe. We do know

something of the theory upon which Greek music was based. The Greeks music is dominated by

text. In class we listened to the Epitaph of Seikolos. The Epitaph of Seikolos is the oldest

surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from

anywhere in the world. It is believed that the song is in remembrance of the good life of the

wife Eutrpe. All Classical Greece music is seen as a requisite to the good life. In class we

discussed that the Epitaph of Seikolos has a melody. The melody is played in an Aulos; an

opening timbre. As long as you live be cheerful, do not grieve. For life is short and time

collects its tribute. Those are the last two lines in the Seikolos. I would argue that these two lines

simply meant for the Greeks not be sad and cry over the lost of loved ones but, instead just

continue to live the good life.


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Classical Greece portrays a variety of arts through architecture and sculpture. As seen in

the Doryphoros orSpear Bearer, there is a version of the contrapposto pose. His weight seems

to fall on the forward right leg. This is an idea portrait of a warrior or athlete, originally done in

bronze. The Doryphoros is a Roman copy of the work of Polyclitus, one of the great artists of

the Golden Age. The sculpture was famous throughout the ancient world as a demonstration of

Polyclituss treatise on proportion knows as The Canon meaning measure or rule. The ideal

human form was determined by the height of the head from the crown of the chin. The head was

one -eighth the total height, the width of the shoulders was one-quarter the total height. For

Polyclitus, these relations resulted in the works symmetry, having common measure. I would

argue that this figure can be used to identify a person of the good life. This sculpture could be

used as theKalos person, being handsome and noble. And some would also describe it as being

the agothos person, who has proper ethical and political ideas: outer appearance matching inner

reality.

I have made the claim that Classical Greece is strongly about The Good Life and

Rationality. In this essay I have analyzed an art, lit, and music piece to assert my claim. How do

these three pieces tie in with the concepts of Classical Greece? Platos Allegory of the Cave can

be connected to the good Life. The Epitaph of Seikolos can be connected to the concept Good

Life as well. This song and text symbolizes Greeks of the dead and constantly remind the live

Greeks to focus on the Good Life for life is short. The Doryphoros sculpture makes

connections to kalos and agothosperson. To tie in all in together the Greeks believed that one is

shaped by what one takes to be good, and so the key to a good life is a proper understanding of

the good. The art, lit and music is considered to be the good that the Greeks obtained a proper

understanding of.


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As You Study Classical Greece You Will Find That There Are Many Concepts to Learn About