Greece played a key role in establishing the preconditions for the emergence of the Silk Road which would bloom from the roman era onwards. Through the establishment of colonies around the Mediterranean at its early stage and its conquest on the southwestern part of the Asian continent, it created lines of communication with Europe and a culture of love for knowledge which would remain throughout history. Greece is often considered as the birthplace of Western Civilization, its heritage transpiring in the political, cultural, military, artistic and philosophical spheres of the European civilizations which emerged throughout history. Ancient Greece is traditionally interpreted as the origin of the chronological and linear historical curb of events, referred to as European history, as it was home to the oldest recorded “advanced civilizations”. These records have been a point of fascination and reference throughout the evolution of western thought, with its impact remaining omnipresent in the arts, organization of the political, conception of justice and perception of life. The way knowledge was approached by the Greeks, developed in part due to the highly multicultural nature of the Greek societies and their mercantile model involving extensive exchanges on the three continents surrounding the Mediterranean, would later be one of the most important reference point, if not the most, for European thinkers. Overall, Ancient Greece is not only interesting when reflecting on the silk road due to the establishment of its preconditions in Europe, but also in the way exchanges with other cultures played a key role in the development of the extensively rich Greek heritage. The peculiar parallel development of Greek and Chinese philosophical thought during that period occurring without mutual exchanges underlines the surpassing character of the commonalities of being, not limited to conjectural conditions of dialogue, reinforcing here again the fragility of the theoretical delimitation of the “other”. The civilizational improvements of these two opposite sides of the Eurasian continent would be expanded through the later Sino-European exchanges of the Silk Road beginning with the Roman/Han encounter.
The Acropolis
The emergence of Western Thought through dynamic contexts of exchanges
The first Neolithic settlements in Europe appeared in Greece in the 7th millennium BC, tracing the route by which farming spread from the near-East to Europe. During the Bronze Age, Greece was dominated by two cultures: the Minoans and Mycenaeans. The Minoans, who were based on the island of Crete represented the early phase of Aegean Civilization, while the more warlike Mycenaeans came to dominate the region in the Late Bronze Age. From about 1500 BC until the collapse of the Bronze Age after 1200 BC, the Mycenaeans left their mark in the Aegean Sea by building numerous walled cities, conducting long-distance trade with other cultures, and by engaging in extensive warfare with each other and other peoples. The Mycenean civilisation had centers of power across the eastern-Mediterranean such as Pylos, Tiryns, Midea in the Peloponnese, Orchomenos, Thebes and Athens in Central Greece. Through their expansion throughout the Mediterranean on the three continents, Mycenean culture developed in confrontation and communication with other cultures, undoubtedly enriching their understanding of the world and the evolution of their culture. When the Bronze Age system collapsed so too did the Mycenaean culture, but when classical Greek culture emerged several hundred years later it emerged in continuity with the Mycenaean legacy. Many Greek myths were built on Mycenaean religion and history, with figures such as Poseidon, Demeter, Artemis and Dionysus recorded as present in the Mycenaean era.
Temple of Poseidon
How the Mycenean civilization fell is not totally clear. It is suspected that many natural disasters led to the weakening of the civilization until its total disintegration. The period that followed is referred to as the “Dark age” due to the low level of sophistication and communication between Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean. During the dark age, Greece was fragmented in small settlements isolated by mountainous terrain. While the Mycenean culture must have been preserved, ensuring continuity with classical Greece, the way of life of populations revolved around farming and small markets. As the population of villages increased, marketplaces grew larger and agoras started to arise. Merchants became richer and ambitions larger. The political organization of villages slowly transformed to accommodate the new economical needs produced by their growing size and after a while, villages transformed into “polis” (city states). Greek colonies were progressively established around the Mediterranean, with Euboean settlements at Al-Mina in the east as early as 800 BC, and Ischia in the west by 775 BC. Contact with non-Greek people in this period increased, especially in the Near East, which inspired developments in art and architecture, the adoption of coinage, and the development of the Greek alphabet. It is said that the first conception of Greek democracy was developed during this period in a more simple form of merchants discussing economical affairs as friends with common interests. Although not as developed as the later Athenian democracy, affairs where already believed to pertain to the community and each individual as having a right to take part in their governance.
The end of the “Dark ages” and the beginning of what is referred to as the “archaic period” for Greece is traditionally dated to the year the first Olympic games were organised, in 776 BC. The Archaic Age saw the re-emergence of exchanges with foreign cultures, starting with the development of Greek colonies on the Greek islands and on the western coast of Anatolia. The Greeks reestablished long-distance trade routes, most importantly with the Phoenicians, the great traders and merchants of the Iron Age. As trade recovered following the end of the Dark Age, the Greeks re-established their commercial shipping network across the Mediterranean, with their colonies soon playing a vital role. Greek merchants traded with everyone from the Celts of Western Europe to the Egyptians, Lydians, and Babylonians. Eventually, foreign-made goods and cultural contacts started to flow back. “The Iliad and The Odyssey” from Homer were written in that period after being recited in oral form by traveling singers.
Statutes on the facade of the temple of Athena
In this light, the Greek “polis” at the basis of Greek culture cannot be conceived as a homogenous space of Greek purity but as heterogenous vibrant spaces where differences would inter-shock in the streets, restaurants and markets, undoubtably orienting the vector of Greek becoming as composing elements in the matrices of world interpretation and meaning creation.
The end of the “Dark ages” is traditionally dated the year of the organization of the first Olympic games in 776 BC. The “archaic” and “classical” periods which followed are characterized by a high level of exchange through commerce and conflict with territories across the three Mediterranean continents, the development of some of the most elaborate religious beliefs and lyrical approaches to nature through mythical narrative accommodating its mysteries in beautiful lyrical connections (encapsulated in Homer’s Iliad’s) , a freedom of thought and enabling environment for philosophical creation unique in European history and to an extent which was never reached in subsequent civilizations, with philosophical approaches to the complex nature of life capturing the immanent singularities of the chaotic flow of the world in extremely elaborate, creative and logical perception of what is (starting from Thales’s peculiar but extremely pertinent proposition of water as the origin of things, through Anaximander, Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, etc., to the Greek school of thoughts of Stoicism, Epicureanism, Platonism and Aristotelian essentialists), a practice of democracy which can be considered as one of the purest and closest to its idea in European history, and exceptional architectural skills and creations based on an extensive understanding of geometry as sophisticated as present techniques. The heritage of Greek civilization has been praised throughout history and has been a main source of inspiration for many modern philosophers, considered as symbolizing and embodying the closest extent to which subsequent political thoughts were to attain ideals of liberty and equality.
Sculpture on the facade of the Parthenon depicting a Greek myth
A common Central-Asian/European historical heritage: The Greco-Persian wars and Alexander the Great
While the Greek “classic” period is characterised by its artistic, philosophical and scientific developments reflecting the particular human capacity for material and virtual creations, it was also marked by the tendency for destruction, conquest and subjugation fueled by imperial ambitions and revenged encapsulated in the Persian/Greek wars of the 5th and 4th century BC. In the middle of the 5th century BC, “Cyprus of the Great” of the Achaemenid (originating from the Iranian Plateau) founded what would be referred to as the “Persian empire” through a successful revolt against the median empire. Following his victory, the Achaemenid territory stretched from central Asia, the Caucasus, northern Middle East and the Mediterranean east coast. Throughout the rest of the 5th century BC, the Persian empire was able to grow as far as Macedonia, Libya, southern Egypt, the Syr Darya (running from eastern Kirgizstan to the Aral Sea), the Indus River, Afghani and Pakistani Himalayas and northern Arabia, having conquered many Greek colonies on the three Mediterranean continents in the process.
The first phase of the Greco/Persian wars is referred to as the Ionian Revolt, referring to the revolt of Greek regions of Asia Minor against Persian domination, supported by Athens, and the successful resistance of Naxos against Persian invasion. While revolting regions of Asia Minor where progressively brought back under Persian domination, the Persian king Darius the Great vowed to punish the Athenians and other Greek allied Polis for their support. This revengeful commitment culminated into the Battle of Marathon (giving the name to the running discipline based on the story of the Athenian messenger sent to run from the battlefield to Sparta to ask for reinforcement), famously known for the crushing defeat inflicted on Darius the Great by a much smaller number of Athenian, Spartan and allied soldiers, leading to the death of Darius the Great. Filled by anger and a powerful sense of humiliation, Darius’s son, Xerxes I, vowed to fulfill his father’s commitment of defeating the Greeks. Through a massive invasion from the north of Greece and throughout the Greek eastern coast, Xerxes finally succeeded in conquering and pillaging Athens. The city having been evacuated before hand, the Athenians were able to rebuild their forces through their alliances with other Greeks Polis and counterattack Persian progress. Greko-Persian conflicts of that period dramatically ended with the battle of Salamis, where the Greeks defeated the Persian troupes through naval combat leading to the definitive retreat of Xerxes and the Persian army to the Asian continent.
Statute of Alexander the Great in Thessaloniki, Macedonia
By the end of the 4th century, Greco-Persian conflicts resumed, this time fueled by Greek imperial desire for expansion and revenge, led by the legendary Greek king Alexander the Great. From Macedonian origin, Alexander became king of the Greeks kingdom hereditarily succeeding his father Philip which had established his supremacy over Greece, bringing back the Greeks of Asia Minor under his control in the process. Alexander justified his campaign on the Asian continent as revenge for the passed Persian invasions and domination of Macedonia and other Greek lands in the past centuries. The Greek conquest and domination of Western and Central Asia can be divided in three phases and strategic objectives. The first objective was the destitution of the Persian monarch Darius III, which was finally achieved at the Battle of Gaugamela, traditionally represented artistically through the image of Alexander on his white horse and his troops fighting against Persian war chariots. Although the defeat of the Persian monarch created the space for Alexander to replace the transcendental divine figure of Darius III with his own persona, the acceptance of his legitimate dominion over the people of the Persian Empire would necessitate further conquest as Central Asians had shared the Persian cultural heritage for more than two centuries. The second phase of his conquest was therefore centered around the objective to prevent reprisal by the Arians, Arachosians, Bactrians and Sogdians who formed a united opposition and continued to fight even when the Persian leader was captured and killed. During that phase, Alexander successfully pacified the region through his alliance with neighboring populations and extended the borders of the Greek empire to their fullest. The final phase of his campaign involved strategic diplomatic relations and wars against local chiefs of the Indus region, surrounding himself with eastern forms and exacting self-abasement in his presence from oriental subjects so as to solidify his transcendental divine figure, and finally his retreat through the desert of Baluchistan to Susa and Babylon, establishing Greek fortifications in the conquered lands in the process. As Alexander unexpectedly died through his retreat, a fresh power struggle began in Central Asia and a new era of adjustment and cultural assimilation was inaugurated. While the Greek populations positioned in the Garrisons established throughout Alexander’s conquest were absorbed and Greek culture was not preserved, regions opened for the first time to the western world and tales about Alexander’s conquest were remembered in Central Asia throughout history.
Greek inscriptions in the Parthenon
The parallel development of Western and Eastern philosophical thought
As the Greek civilization was transforming through the emergence of philosophical investigations and scientific discoveries, shaping their conception of the world and creating a heritage for future civilizations from which they would craft their notions of identity, China was experiencing similar transformations with the birth of East-Asian thought that the people of Korea, Japan and South-East Asia would inherit. Ancient Chinese thought from the period 550 B.C.E. to 200 B.C.E. set the framework for all later Chinese thought. Not only were the Confucian and Taoist philosophies developed in this period, but a number of other philosophical schools such as the sophists, Mohists, legalists, and others that later disappeared. While the Chinese civilizations were very different in nature, revolving more around agriculture, evolving mostly on the mainland and with a social structure differing from the Greek individual polis culture with less fragmented independent cities and a political power more concentrated at the imperial level, it produced a wide range of philosophical and scientific speculations with similar effects in terms of heritage significance, solidification of imperial power and development of knowledge and advanced interpretations of nature which would able the growth of succeeding empires in the following centuries.
Some of the similarities found between Ancient China and Greek philosophies include the focus on four common areas of inquiry (the nature of the relationship between humans and nature; the nature of relationships between humans and society; the analogous relationships between humans and society and between humans and nature, which are also homologous in their temporal and spatial dimensions; and how methodologies of philosophical thinking and discussion can standardize, promote, and improve human thinking and imagination), the theory of the four elements of Empedocles, plus the forces love and strife (which would be taken over by Aristotle) and the theory of the five phases and the Yin and Yang developed in Ancient China, and the transition from an oral to a written tradition through Aristotelianism in Greece and Confucianism in China.
View on the temple of Poseidon from an abandoned village
Relationship between the eastern and western civilizations would only begin with the Roman/Han exchanges of the following centuries, with both empires encapsulating in their development the ideological heritages of Ancient Greece and China. The later exchanges between the two worlds would accelerate their developments, both benefiting each other through a dialogue of innovation. The commonalities of Ancient Greece and Ancient China in the chain of repetition of time are located before the creation of material lines of communication which would constitute a common space for the growth of Eurasian civilizations. These commonalities are therefore of a different order than the material commonalities involved in the joint development of East/West exchanges and only reside in the ideal and virtual sphere as no direct physical contact was established between both worlds pre roman times. But these commonalities are nevertheless no less existent than the physical ones which would later be created. They reside in the flow of existence which invests each singular being and should be seen as particular modes of that flow. The “Silk Road” as a conceptual whole encapsulating particular forms of existence and successions of presents should be perceived in the same way: as a particular arrangement of the common flow of existence in which being is invested.
Sunset behind the Temple of Poseidon
