The Greek Legacy Presentation by Mindy McAdams Week 6.1 / MMC 2265

And the Pharaoh Said to Thoth: You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding ; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom ... [they will] seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant. “ ”

Early Uses of Writing Propaganda Funerary inscriptions Predicting the future A property marker (“This belongs to …”) A signature (a seal) Accountancy, bookkeeping

Propaganda

Funerary inscriptions

Predicting the future

A property marker (“This belongs to …”)

A signature (a seal)

Accountancy, bookkeeping

Eric Havelock, 1903 – 1988 Professor at the University of Toronto, 1930s Chair of the Classics departments at Harvard and Yale, 1960s and 1970s Famous books include Preface to Plato (1963) and The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to the Present (1986)

Professor at the University of Toronto, 1930s

Chair of the Classics departments at Harvard and Yale, 1960s and 1970s

Famous books include Preface to Plato (1963) and The Muse Learns to Write: Reflections on Orality and Literacy from Antiquity to the Present (1986)

Eric Havelock, 1903 – 1988 Havelock described the transition in Greek culture from primary orality to literacy as a “crisis” What replaced the oral tradition (memorization, recitation and rhetoric) in Greece > > > “a quite different system of instruction and education ” The Homeric state of mind was replaced by the Platonic (after Plato)

Havelock described the transition in Greek culture from primary orality to literacy as a “crisis”

What replaced the oral tradition (memorization, recitation and rhetoric) in Greece > > > “a quite different system of instruction and education ”

The Homeric state of mind was replaced by the Platonic (after Plato)

Phoenicians: Traders and sailors, they invented what is acknowledged to be the first phonetic alphabet (about 1200 B.C.E.)

The Phoenicians’ alphabet was adapted by the Greeks, later modified by the Etruscans, and from them, adopted by the Romans

He was a student of Socrates His writings featured Socrates, but they may have used Socrates as a character voicing Plato’s own ideas He was the teacher of Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.) Plato, c. 428 – c. 348 B.C.E.

He was a student of Socrates

His writings featured Socrates, but they may have used Socrates as a character voicing Plato’s own ideas

He was the teacher of Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C.E.)

When: About 400 B.C.E. Two consequences of this transformation in Greek culture (according to Havelock): The content of thought changed (esp. the concept of man or of the soul) The way in which thought is organized also changed Because of writing, and the utility of the Greek alphabet

Two consequences of this transformation in Greek culture (according to Havelock):

The content of thought changed (esp. the concept of man or of the soul)

The way in which thought is organized also changed

Because of writing, and the utility of the Greek alphabet

Ancient Greece, 435 B.C.E.

Greece Today

Alexander the Great A brilliant military general, died at age 33 He conquered the world – as “the world” was known at that time to people in the area that he conquered His conquests resulted in the Hellenistic period or Hellenistic Age Combination of both Greek and Middle Eastern (Arab and Persian) culture

A brilliant military general, died at age 33

He conquered the world – as “the world” was known at that time to people in the area that he conquered

His conquests resulted in the Hellenistic period or Hellenistic Age

Combination of both Greek and Middle Eastern (Arab and Persian) culture

Alexander the Great, 356 – 323 B.C.E.

Housed many thousands of scrolls (later also codices) A center for study , for scholars to meet and talk Destroyed by fire between 48 B.C.E. (Caesar) and the Muslim Conquest The Library at Alexandria Founded c. 300 B.C.E.

Housed many thousands of scrolls (later also codices)

A center for study , for scholars to meet and talk

Destroyed by fire between 48 B.C.E. (Caesar) and the Muslim Conquest

Founded c. 300 B.C.E.

Roman-held lands, 298 – 218 B.C.E.

Roman Empire, 27 B.C.E. – 476 C.E.

The Romans did not have lowercase letters, only uppercase The Arch of Titus, a marble arch on the Via Sacra in Rome, built by the Emperor Domitian in honor of his brother Titus, in 81 C.E.

The Greek Legacy Presentation by Mindy McAdams University of Florida