(A) Pre-classical Greek civilization's absorption of Eastern civilization

Facts have proved that various civilizations in the East-Sumerian civilization, Egyptian civilization, Hittite civilization, Babylonian civilization, Hebrew civilization and ancient Indian civilization, etc. -It has made great contributions to ancient Greek civilization, especially Hittite civilization, and played a bridge role between ancient East and ancient Europe. As early as more than 3,000 years before BC, countries with highly developed and strict political and writing systems have been established in today's Near East, including Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. This cultural circle in the Near East has established close ties with the surrounding areas, not only in politics, military affairs, commerce and technology, but also in language, literature and art..

Around 3000 BC, there was a prosperous Crete civilization in the Aegean Sea in the eastern part of the Mediterranean world. This civilization has a very close relationship with the Asian-African continent and is deeply influenced by the civilizations of West Asia and Egypt. At that time, Europe-"Greece" was still an uncivilized region. Unlike the Hebrews, the Greeks had no direct connection with Mesopotamia itself, but in Mycenae's time, the Greeks had close political and economic ties with the neighboring Hittites and Canaan in Mesopotamia. Through the cities of South Anatolia, Canaan, Cyprus and Crete, material and spiritual wealth are conveyed-there is no doubt that these things will take root and sprout in the land of Greece. A few years ago, a cylindrical seal was found in a cellar in Thebes, Greece. This discovery surprised the public, but it did not shock the archaeological community. To be sure, many such items will be found on Greek soil in the future. Allen wu, a British archaeologist, excavated Al Mina near the mouth of the Orontes River in Syria at the beginning of the 20th century, which confirmed that the Greeks on Ubeia Island had come here at least before the end of the 9th century BC (it might be called Posideion at that time). A large number of unearthed cultural relics show that the Greeks regarded this place as a trading warehouse, indicating that Greece had a very close trade relationship with West Asia during this period. This trading post has flourished for hundreds of years. ④ (Note: Archaeology of Macmillan Dictionary, edited by Ruth D. whitehouse, London: Macmillan Press 1983, p. 14. On this basis, the Greeks conducted direct trade with the two river basins. This trade spread bronzes, jewels and ivory ornaments from West Asia to Greece. At the same time, due to the social unrest in West Asia, not only many goods were exported to Greece, but also a considerable number of craftsmen came to the Greek world to make a living. They set up their own workshops in Crete, engaged in jewelry processing and making bronzes, and some craftsmen even arrived in Attica. Such contact and connection had an immeasurable influence on Greek culture (Note: Huang Yang: Influence from the East, Zhang Guangzhi Publishing: World Cultural History (Ancient Scroll), Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1999, 1 version, 187- 188 page). ); Not only in West Asia, the ancient Greeks also set up the Nokladias trading post on the Kanos River, a tributary of the Nile River in Egypt. Egyptian Pharaoh Sametik I (663-609 BC) established a powerful army and fleet for hegemony. Most of his soldiers were Greek mercenaries, and he invited many Greek businessmen to settle in Egypt. (6) (Noe: (Egypt) A. Fekri: Egypt and Ancient History, Science Press 1956 August 65438. Noclades was founded at this time. When I arrived at Pharaoh Amessis (578-525 BC), I promised the Greeks that I could build this place into a pure Greek city, build temples in my own form, and run the market according to my own wishes. Since then, Noklades has become the commercial center of Egypt, Greece and other Mediterranean countries. It is conceivable that the Greeks learned a lot about Egypt from here. In art, the pottery of the period called "primitive Corinthian style" (about 720 BC-640 BC) obviously bears oriental traces. These oriental pottery generally adopt patterns, animal images and mythical figures extracted from oriental textiles or gold and silver handicrafts. Therefore, this early civilization of the Eastern Mediterranean, including Greece, is more appropriate to say that it belongs to the East than to Europe.

With the decline of Mycenae civilization, this connection between early Greece and the Near East ended. This situation was not broken until the 8th century BC, when the Greeks came out of the "dark ages" and were once again shocked by the outstanding achievements of their eastern neighbors. During this period, the Phoenicians in Canaan gave letters to the Greeks. The Phoenician letters evolved from Egyptian hieroglyphs, and later the Greek letters evolved into Latin letters, eventually becoming the letters of western countries. At the same time, the Miletus School in Asia Minor began to study the works of Babylonian astronomers, introduced sun clock and sundials from Babylonians, and divided the day into 12 parts. 8 (Noe: Herodotus: History, translated by Wang Jiajuan, Commercial Press, June 1959, first edition. ) began to study astronomy, and later reached its peak in the school of philosophy in Athens. By the 5th century BC, Greek civilization had entered the golden age, and almost all of them showed the influence of oriental tradition in art, architecture, philosophy and literature.

The contribution of eastern civilization to mankind spread westward through Greece, Hebrew and Christianity, and finally reached the modern western world. Technically, this contribution includes wheels and seeders that are common in people's lives; In science, including the beginning of astronomical research and the 60-digit number system that has been used so far, such as dividing circles by degrees and dividing hours by minutes and seconds. Astronomical observation in Mesopotamia eventually led to the division of seasons and the determination of moon phases. Astrology came with astronomy, and Mesopotamia invented the names of the ecliptic-Taurus, Gemini, Leo, Scorpio and so on; The popular view that philosophy originated in Greece is obviously controversial. Many centuries ago, Egyptians put forward many views on the nature of the universe and the ethical issues of human society. The contribution of the Greeks is to make the development of philosophy more extensive and all-encompassing than before. 9 (Noe: History of World Civilization (Volume 1) by Edward McNaur Burns, translated by Luo, published by the Commercial Press (65438+ 1). ); Politically, Mesopotamia transmitted two most important contents of its political system-city-state concept and sacred kingship to western civilization. The city-state system is distributed in most areas around the Mediterranean, and the concept of kingship-the idea that a monarch is given by God and should report to God-is introduced into the essence of western society. Legally, Mesopotamia passed the written law to the West. Perhaps this is not an exaggeration. The laws of Mesopotamia illuminated most parts of the civilized world. Greece and Rome were influenced by the contacts in the Near East, and the Islamic world didn't have a formal code until it conquered Iran, the heart of ancient Mesopotamia. How many factors in the current law can be traced back to Mesopotamia can be judged, as the British historian H. Sagues said in his book "Greatness belongs to Babylon" (1962): "The law on mortgage can be traced back to ... the ancient Near East."

Greek literature also shows that it was influenced by many Mesopotamians. For example, the story of the great flood in Mesopotamia is similar to the legend of deucalion in Greek mythology. Deucalion built a ship and escaped the flood, but the flood destroyed other human beings. The theme of dragon slaying in Mesopotamian mythology has similar legends in Greek legends, such as the stories of Jason and Hercules, who both killed several monsters. God's punishment of human plague is the theme of Greek and Mesopotamian mythology. The underworld of Greece and Mesopotamia is also strikingly similar. Both of them are gloomy places, isolated from the real world, and there is only an ominous river connecting the afterlife with reality, which is the river on which the dead are transported. Similarly, the Greek Elegy of the Dead seems to have similarities in Sumerian works, which were recently translated from clay tablets by Pushkin Museum in Moscow. In his works, a Mesopotamian poet lamented the death of his father and wife in exaggerated language. Even in the form of Greek epics, the Iliad and Odyssey influenced by other media can be found in Mesopotamian epics. Attending (Note: A. Toynbee, Helenism, Oxford 1959, p. 2) At this time, Phoenician God was also introduced into Greece. For example, in Phoenician mythology, there was a god named "Puang" (Hammer God), which was later renamed "Pygmies" by the Greeks, meaning "God with big fists". (1 1) (Note: (Su) Anigradyshevsky: Ancient Oriental History, translated by the Translation Room of the History Department of Jilin Normal University, Higher Education Press, June 1959, p. 227. Osvin Murray, Earl Y Greek, Glasgow, fontana Publishing House, 1980, 1 edition, 1993, 2nd edition, the original name of chapter 6 of this book is "Orientalization Period". Orientalization era is a concept that first appeared in the field of art, and then it was gradually introduced into other fields. The art field also has different stages of the orientalization era. In Corinth, there are mainly early original Corinthian style (725-700 BC), middle original Corinthian style (700-650 BC), Lat original Corinthian style (650-625 BC) and Corinthian = animal middle lintel style (625 BC). In Athens, it mainly consists of three stages: the early primitive attic (700-675 BC), the black-and-white style of the middle primitive attic (675-640 BC) and the late primitive attic (640-6 BC10 BC). There are also different views on the starting and ending points of the Orientalization era, such as 725-650 BC, 700-650 BC, 8-6 century BC, 700-600 BC and so on. )

In the field of Greek "wisdom" literature, scholars have not discovered the prototype from Mesopotamia until recently. Several stories in Aesop's Fables are all archetypes in Sumer, and the persuasion words in Nongshu, a two-river basin edition in 18 BC, are strangely similar to hesiod's Heavenly Farming. Many Sumerian dialogues are now being translated together, which may prove that some works, such as Plato's dialogues, have some prototypes from Mesopotamia.

Therefore, it was Asian and African cultures that influenced Greek culture, especially in the century from 750 BC to 650 BC, which was deeply influenced by oriental culture. In view of the above historical facts, the British scholar Irving Murray first put forward the concept of "Orientalization Period" in 1980, and it was quickly accepted by people. This concept essentially affirmed the influence of oriental culture on Greek culture for the first time. It can be seen that in the ancient Mediterranean world, there was a culture of fusion of Greek factors and oriental factors. Of course, this integration is not a simple "merger". The relationship between the two sides is interactive, and it is not always the strong influence of one side on the other. Who has a great influence on whom is determined by various specific and complicated factors in different periods.

(2) Transitional Classical Period In the West, when the word "classical" is used in historical period, it can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense. Regarding the former, some people think that the classical period was from 600 BC to 300 BC in Greece and from 300 BC to 300 AD in Rome. Some people think that it roughly refers to Greek and Roman culture and art from 10 century BC to the 5th century BC; (Note: translated by Zhang Xinjin, proofread by Xu Shouyi: Classical art, see Selected Translation of the Encyclopedia of World Art (I), Shanghai People's Fine Arts Publishing House, 19, 90, p. 1 page. Some people think that the whole ancient Greek civilization (even Roman civilization) can be called classical civilization, so the Greek-Roman era is called classical era or classical world; (14) (Note: Zhu Longhua: Ancient World History, Peking University Publishing House, 199 1 Edition, 430-43 1 Page. Some people even think that western classical civilization includes the traditions of ancient West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Central Asia. (15) (Note: A Thousand Years' History of Chinese and Western Classical Civilization, Jilin Literature and History Publishing House, 1997, p. 17. ) The Western (European) classical era should start from the ancient Greek culture at the beginning of BC 1000, add ancient Rome and countries to the empire, and end in 476 AD, or continue to the era of Justinian (527-565 AD), the emperor of the Eastern Rome. At this time, the barbarian invasion ended the European classical culture, so the western (European) classical era was between two historical events of large-scale barbarian invasion, that is, between the first and second dark ages of ancient Europe. (16) (Note: On Chinese and Western Classics, published in Research Trends of World History 1993 10. In a narrow sense, it refers to the period between the primitive simple period (8th century BC-6th century BC) and the Hellenistic period; In this era, the real classical stage appeared between 460 BC and 430 BC-Attica and the Peloponnesus had a vigorous and unparalleled development period.

Generally speaking, in the history of Greek culture, the 5th century BC is called the heyday of classicism, and the next century is called the late classicism, sometimes it is called the 5th century and the 4th century respectively (excluding the words BC). Strictly speaking, the classical heyday of Greece began from the defeat of Persians in 480 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, while in Rome it began from the previous 1 century until the death of Augustus in 14 AD (this period was also the "golden age" in Roman history). (17) (Note: M.C. Howatson, Oxford Company to Classic Literature, Oxford University Press, 1989, P. 137. Some people think that it started with the marathon, while the late classical period ended in the first 330 years, which is not exactly equal to the whole century. (18) (Note: Zhu Longhua: Ancient World History, Peking University Publishing House, 199 1 Edition, 430-43 1 Page. The research object of this paper is the classical period in a narrow sense.

During this period, the absorption of eastern culture by western culture was mainly strengthened by the outbreak of the Greek-Persian war. The ancient Persian Empire was founded by Cyrus II, a Persian among Aryans. He destroyed the Medes in 550 BC and then expanded outward. The name Aryan comes from the Aryan language family, including Indians, Greeks, Romans, Germans, Celts, Slavs and so on. The Persians, linguistically speaking, also belong to the Aryan language family. However, although they belong to the Aryan language family, their bones, blood ties, hairstyles, eyes and skulls are not exactly the same. In 500 BC, Miletus, the Greek city-state of Asia Minor, rose up against the Persian uprising. In addition, the Persians supported the Phoenician fleet to fly over Asia Minor and the Black Sea Strait, which violated the commercial interests of the Greeks and led to the Greek-Persian war, which ended in Greece's victory. The impact of this war on world history is far-reaching. Since then, the development pattern of world civilization has gradually formed a trend of coexistence between East and West, which continues to this day. This war greatly broadened the horizons of the Greeks, further promoted their magnanimity and enhanced their self-confidence.

Alfalfa was imported into Greece during the Greek-Persian War. Alfalfa is a good feed for horses. The Greeks called it Mē dikē, because it was mass-produced in Persian rice fields and was introduced to Greece during the Persian War. China is transliterated as alfalfa, which may come from the Persian local dialect būso near the Caspian Sea. The Greeks called peaches Persian apples and plums Armenian apples. They think peaches are from Persia and plums are from Armenia. Laufer said in his book Ilan, China that the Greeks were wrong: peaches originally came from China, and plums originally came from China. Persians and Armenians, but as a medium, imported peaches and apricots from China and arrived in the Mediterranean via Persia. (19) (Note: Zhou Gucheng: the international status of ancient West Asia, published in World History 1979,No. 1. )

During this period, the culture of ancient Egypt also had a great influence on the Greek culture in the classical period: many great Greek scholars went to Egypt and studied there at this time. For example, many such figures can be found in the works of Dior Dorus, a historian in the/kloc-0th century BC: Thales, Pythagoras, Democritus, Herodotus, Plato, Solon and eudoxus. Contemporary scholars rarely think that all these people have been to Egypt, but few people deny that they have never been to Egypt. More importantly, few scholars today argue about the fact that Egyptian culture has had an important influence on Greek civilization.

(3) The expansion of Greek civilization to oriental civilization in the post-classical period. After Alexander's eastward expedition in 334 BC, the empire across Europe, Asia and Africa unified the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia for the first time, thus creating a brilliant Hellenistic era in human history (323 BC-30 BC). The Alexander Empire almost included the major civilizations of mankind at that time-Persian civilization, Egyptian civilization, Jewish civilization and even Indian civilization-with the exception of Confucian civilization. As a result, the traffic of the whole Eurasia was opened. However, in the west at this time, the cultural center has shifted, and the cultural center of the Mediterranean world has moved from Athens in Pericles' time to all parts of the East. We can list four of the most outstanding ones: Alexandria at the mouth of the Nile, Pagama in Asia Minor, Antioch in Syria and Rhode Island. In the following centuries, these places have been the gathering places of uncivilized Europe and Asia.

The Hellenistic era is the opposite of the Orientalization era mentioned above, in which the influence of the East on the West is the main factor, which fully embodies the expansion of ancient Greek civilization. However, the contribution of eastern civilization to western civilization can not be ignored, especially in religious belief and science. The scope of cultural exchange has also been greatly expanded. From India to Sicily, from the Aral Sea and the Caspian Sea to the Indian Ocean, to Meroi, different traditions and different levels of culture all participated in the Hellenistic process.

Sanskrit words "book", "pen" and "ink" are derived from Greek. This superficial knowledge came into being in India after Indians gained some knowledge from the Greek book trade. (20) (Noe: A.L. Basham, Indian Miracle, London 1954, p. 230. The hydraulic mill is said to have been introduced to India by the Greek Me trodoros; (2 1) (Noe: Needham: History of Science and Technology in China, Volume 2, Science Press, 1 975, p. 384. ) In the Nisa Palace in Parthia, the wine glass is engraved with the story of Dionysus, the palace is decorated with statues of Aphrodite, Hercules and Hera, and a Greek drama is staged; (22) (Note: According to Plutarch's Biography of crassus, Pattaya and the Armenian King have just concluded a marriage alliance. They were watching euripides's Baka when crassus's head was thrown onto the stage by a messenger from the battlefield in the Kara Sea. See Plutarch: Biography of the Greco-Roman Celebrity, translated by Huang, Commercial Press, 1995, p. 6 17-6 18. ) Little monarchs in Capadocia, Bentu, Pythia and Armenia in Asia Minor also fell in love with Greek culture at first sight. They accepted the name of Greek worship, used Greek language in the court, built Greek temples, and named the new city after themselves, (23) (Note: W.W. Tarn, Greek civilization, London 1952, pp.170-17/kloc-0. In Persian currency, the word Basil eus (king) has been seen, which shows the deep influence of Greek culture on it. (24) (Noe: (Japan) Yuan Suiyuan: "The History of Greek Culture Spreading to the East", translated by Yang Lian, The Commercial Press, 1940, p. 45. )