UNIT 15 GREEK CULTURAL TRADITIONS*

Structure
15.1 Objectives
15.2 Introduction
15.3 Material Culture and Ways of Life
15.4 Greek World View: Religion, Public Rituals and Gods
15.5 Legends, Myths and Stories
15.6 Literature
15.7 Science
15.8 Medicine
15.9 Philosophy
15.10 History and Historiography
15.11 Art, Architecture and Sculpture: From the Collective to the Individual
15.12 Sports and Athletics
15.13 Gender and Family
15.14 Summary
15.15 Key Words
15.16 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
15.17 Suggested Readings
15.18 Instructional Video Recommendations

15.1 OBJECTIVES
After going through this Unit, you should be able to:
 understand that by cultural traditions we mean a whole way of life and ways of
thinking;
 understand that Greek culture did not emerge in a vacuum, it accommodated and
was influenced by what preceded and surrounded it;
 relate Greek cultural traditions with the dynamics of Greek society and polity as
they developed through the centuries;
 appreciate its achievements in the context of its times;
 appreciate how it contributed to the growth of modern Europe;
 appreciate that there were also other ancient civilizations that have also played a
significant role in human development;

* Dr. Nalini Taneja, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi, Delhi. 291
Ancient Greece  evaluate the class character of Greek culture, as well as the contribution of the
dispossessed in building it; and
 analyze how the grave inequalities of Greek society shaped and allowed the leisure,
expression, and monumental structures of Greek civilization to flourish.

15.2 INTRODUCTION
Our sources of information on Greek cultural traditions are scarce, but varied in form.
These are: i) the architectural remains, sculptures, pottery and other artefacts and items
of use, available to us from archaeological excavations, ii) the legends and accounts
passed on orally and later put into writing – changing or transformed in the process with
time – and iii) the rich literary and philosophical contributions, also transmitted orally
and later committed to the written form. The texts of history by the Greeks are the first
conscious attempts by them to write about and understand their own past. When we
talk about Greek cultural traditions, we will take into account a lot more than what we
know of their artistic achievements available to us through archaeological excavations.
We will also discuss religion, the inequalities of gender and class that speak through
their cultural production and philosophical inquiries, and something of Greek medicine
and science. Here in this Unit we will prefer that you get an overview of the cultural
developments rather than an in-depth study of only some development. This would
help you to learn about a range of themes. In Unit 14 our effort was to explore the
social basis of Greek democratic polity in some depth.
Moreover, Greek cultural traditions should not be assumed to be just that of Classical
Greece, static and timeless. There are changes and developments over time in all
aspects of cultural expression that we will point towards as we discuss the different
aspects of Greek life and social expression. Also, effort will be towards explanations
and underlining tendencies rather than burden you with too many names and titles of
works.

15.3 MATERIAL CULTURE AND WAYS OF LIFE

Most of what we know of material culture and everyday life and occupations of the
ancient Greeks is through archaeological remains: public buildings, artefacts found in
them, pottery. These remains also give us an idea of the changes from the Minoan
period (2000 BCE-1400 BCE) described in our previous Unit, through Classical Greece,
to the period of the Empire. We will also discuss the spread of some of the symbols of
Greek culture beyond Greece along the path of Alexander’s conquests. The influences
of Greek cultural expression spread beyond the continent into Asia, to give one example
the Gandhara art in the Indian subcontinent, with which you may be familiar.
It may also be noted here that a lot of the material cultural expression deals with everyday
non-religious life, but a lot of it is linked with religious expression as well. Temples and
other religious buildings are sites of artistic expression, both visual and architectural
techniques that derive from secular ways of thinking. On the other hand, items of secular
use often carry religious motifs. Graves are places where this can be most clearly seen:
articles used in rituals and appeasement of gods or prayers for the soul of the dead
often accompany items of everyday use offered as gifts to ancestors for their sojourn
into after-life: they also give away the social status of the person who has died and who
are mourning him/her. The remains that we get there may be those linked with lives of
the rich. Poor, in any case, did not have graves that may withstand the vagaries of time.
292 The early Minoan civilization shows well connected road system across cities on Crete
island, towns with well organized street plans, drainage systems, and clear distinctions Greek Cultural
between elite and poor homes. There were big palace complexes, storerooms, Traditions
workrooms and living rooms clustered around a central square. Frescoes found give a
good idea of daily life in the late Bronze Age (Kishlansky et al, 2008: 37-38). It must be
noted, however, that this is essentially the elite culture of the time, there being little
evidence of how the poor spent their time and leisure, if any. It is clear that much of the
wealth produced at the time was consumed in these palace complexes.

Figure 15.1 : City-Structure of Minoan Cities

Credit: Corvax
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Knossos_sewers_PA067399.JPG
Evidence for the Mycenaean civilization (1600-1200 BCE) of mainland Greece exists
in the form of thirty graves, essentially huge bee hived shaped tombs that show
‘magnificent achievements of architecture and masonry, far beyond anything seen
previously in Europe.’ The largest vault, in its dimensions and the capping weight of the
stone, was ‘the largest vault in the world for over sixteen hundred years’ (Kishlansky et
al, 2008: 39). Gold ornaments, bronze swords, axes, knives and utensils point to wealth
as well as the warlike character of the elite, while great palaces strewn around and
some five hundred villages show the spread of this civilization and evidence of its maritime
trade.

Figure 15.2 (a): Mycenaean Graves

Credit: Andreas Trepte
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grave_Circle_A,_Mycenae#/media/File:Grave-Circle-A-
Mycenae.jpg 293
Ancient Greece

Figure 15.2 (b) : Offerings from a Mycenaean Grave; Ancient Agora Museum, Athens
Credit: Dorieo
Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Offerings_from_a_Mycenaean_Pit_Grave_
of_an_infantil_girl_(1400_BC.)._Ancient_Agora_Museum,_Athens.jpg

Figure 15.3 : Iron Implements in Archaic and Classical Greece

Credit: Brouwers, Josho. 2015.
Source: https://www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/swords-in-ancient-greece/
In Archaic Greece (800-500 BCE) and Classical Greece (490-323 BCE), iron
replaced bronze. Ornaments, tools and weapons showed improved techniques: iron
was much easier to work with, and because it was cheaper, it also became more
accessible.
After Alexander’s conquests and spread of his Empire we see a different kind of flowering
of cultural expression, one that took elements from the areas conquered and also
influenced them. It was this synthesis that later inspired Modern Europe.

15.4 GREEK WORLD VIEW: RELIGION, PUBLIC

RITUALS AND GODS
We begin our discussion on Greek world view and modes of thinking with a description
of Greek religion because in any pre-modern society religion is the key to a society’s
world view, ethics and sense of right and wrong. Religion is formed in the context of the
social milieu and is in turn a moral force in both public life and polity and explanation of
the universe and man’s place in it. It is, of course not unchanging, even in the context of
294 the ancient past.
Early Crete society (2000-1550 BCE) had both male and female gods, but more Greek Cultural
particularly worshipped female deities, chief among whom was the mother goddess Traditions
(mentioned as Mother Goddess or Snake Goddess), signifying the good and evil that
existed in the world. Bull’s horns were associated with religious rituals, although traces
of human sacrifice too have been found.

Figure 15.4 : Crete Mother Figure 15.5 : Crete: Bull’s

Goddess (Snake Goddess) Horns
Credit: C Messier Credit: Mark Cartwright
Source: Wikimedia Commons Source:https://
www.ancient.eu/crete/
Through the Dark Age, Archaic and Classical Greece, religion and public rituals became
more elaborate and the temples of worship much larger, although smaller structures
were scattered all over the areas of the city-states. Sacrifices were offered on altars,
although some of these could be conducted by lay people, those not necessarily
designated priests. From the ‘Dark Age’ itself altars began to be dedicated to specific
gods, considered their houses rather than places of rituals. To begin with of wood,
stone temples became the norm in Classical Greece, and also to assume a form of a
rectangular room with a roof and circled by columns, largely empty, with a single idol.
They were seen as community spaces and, as in India, the gods were given offerings
and asked for wish fulfillment or for thanksgiving, but also had human attributes, and
stories about them were almost human stories, reflecting the vicissitudes of life and
conflicts of the age.

Figure 15.6 : Ancient Greek Altars

Credit: Zde
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ancient_Greek_Altar_Hermes_Delos_
130033.jpg 295
Ancient Greece

Figure 15.7 : Ancient Greek Temple of Olympian

Credit: Ava Babili
Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Temple_of_Olympian_Zeus_
Athens_Greece_9.jpg

Temples identified with specific gods had their own time in the year for festivities, and a
great many other community gatherings, celebrations, feasts and athletic contests centred
on them. They were identified with the particular city they were built in. The two most
important of these were the temples of Delphi and Olympia, in honour of Apollo (God
of sun, light, music and healing) and Zeus (God of sky and thunder), respectively. Apollo
was attributed with prophecy, and Greeks often visited his temple to hear the ‘Oracle’
pronounce what was to be the outcome in a battle or conflict. He was also seen as god
of music and medicine and justice. Dionysus was god of emotions and wine, initially a
folk god, adopted later into the pantheon of high religion. Poseidon was associated
with sea, earthquakes and water.
While gods had to be propitiated for a better life, their stories reflected the values of the
society that worshipped them, including the weaknesses that characterize human beings,
and the myths surrounding them sanctioned and supported the prevailing political and
social order, including slavery. For example, in the story of Pandora, in its earliest
version she represents evil, but later is depicted as curious rather than evil. Similarly,
Archilochus, a poet, in a poem takes great liberties in interpreting and retelling Homeric
legends, by questioning whether it could be termed cowardice to return defeated and
alive from battle rather than die if circumstances so demanded (Kishlansky et al, 2008:
52).
Pandora (all-gifted/all-endowed) was the first human woman according to the Greek
mythology. She was created by Hephaestus (God of fire and patron of craftmen) on the
instruction of Zeus (the King of gods), in order to punish the two brothers – Epimetheus
and Prometheus – who upset Zeus by giving people fire without his permission. There are
many versions of this myth. In another version of the myth, it was Promestheus (a fire god
and divine trickster) who stole fire from heaven and gifted it to the mortals. As per Hesoid’s
Theogony, each god gave Pandora unique gifts. For further details, please refer to the
Instructional Video Recommendations.

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 Greek Cultural
15.5 LEGENDS, MYTHS AND STORIES Traditions
Legends, myths and stories are something societies live with well into the modern era.
The Greeks had their own myths and legends that were powerful stories that governed
life, morality and everyday social norms. This is because every generation sees them in
the light of their own knowledge, reasoning and social predilections. Thus, myths do
not contain what can be called historical facts, nevertheless, give us an idea of the
thought processes, social values, mentalities and ideas of the time they pertain to. Together
these constitute the corpus of ancient literature. The Homeric poems and legends are
the most well known, while we may also mention the stories around the oracle of
Delphi, the Apollo god, etc.
It is said that what held the different city-states together and created a common
civilizational ethos was the many myths and legends and the heroes adored across the
entire region that encompassed Greek civilization. As pointed out by scholars, these
were ‘more than just fanciful explanations of how things came to be. They supported
the authority of social, political and religious traditions’. And the ‘Archaic Greeks
constantly reworked ancient myths, retelling them, adjusting their content and thus their
meanings’ … And ‘in the process of revising and retelling, myths became a powerful
and dynamic tool for reasoning about the world’ (Kishlansky et al, 2008: 52). In the
previous section, we referred to the changing depiction of Pandora. There were changes
through time in the stories of Prometheus and Apollo too. Veneration was combined
with liberty in depicting the relationship between gods and humans. As in Indian epics,
the gods are presented in human form, almost playing out the drama of human life.
Almost all stories concerning gods contain events that could as well be those in the lives
of humans. The gods are shown acting in ways that are evil or revengeful, and not
always godlike. For Prometheus’ treachery, Zeus takes revenge on him by gifting him
Pandora, the first woman who in the earliest version of the story represented evil. By
accepting this, humans brought evil upon themselves.
Greek myths pertained not only to gods, there were stories of the cities themselves and
their origins, of rivers and mountains and shrines, of festivals and seasons, and of course
about the origins of the world. For example, regarding the place of humans there is a
story that explains it thus: They stand between beasts and gods because Prometheus
tricked Zeus and gave men fire. Seasons are there because Persephone, Zeus’s daughter,
was carried off by Hades, god of the dead, and had to spend four months each year in
his dark kingdom. And so on (See Kishlansky et al, 2008: 52 for references to these
stories and myths).
Check Your Progress Exercise-1
1) Discuss the main aspects of Greek religion, naming some of the important gods
worshipped by them.
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Ancient Greece 2) Do you agree that Greek cultural traditions changed over time and resulted from
many influences?
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3) What is the significance of myths and legends in ancient societies?
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15.6 LITERATURE
Greek literature adopted mainly the forms of poetry and drama, was initially oral and
then in written form. Both poetry and drama also changed over time, from the earliest
phases of Greek civilization to sixth and fifth century classical Greece. Arnold Hauser,
a social historian of art and literature, has described these developments in detail. He
has focused on the journey from collective chants and invocations, produced and
performed collectively, to when the individual author became important as producer.
He goes on to emphasize that individual creation had the purpose of community needs,
say in times of war and inculcation of city pride, and entertainment or a didactic expression
of universal values.
The earliest chants, as in all early societies were connected with magic formulae, popular
collective rituals linked with processes and invocation to nature gods, songs of war and
work, oracle sayings and prayers. But with the dawn of the heroic age, the social
function of poetry and the social position of the poet changed completely. There are
individual songs about the fate of individuals and while the authorship is often attributed
to individuals and with time actually does become individual, the performance is still
collective, with different performers reciting the parts of different characters in the epics
like Iliad and Odyssey. The atmosphere of this poetry is aristocratic and linked with the
courts: the major forms now are epics, and then odes or paeans too. They begin to be
more concerned with the worldly matters rather than matters of religion. They begin
with classical age to be commissioned and linked with community and city-state. There
is a separation between folk literary expression and poetry linked with the educated or
privileged classes. The poets have a higher status as ‘thinking’people (Hauser, 2003: 50).
Of the poems, the most well known are two epics of Homer, Illiad and Odyssey of
which there is no guarantee that he is the sole author or parts have been added to them
with time. They were certainly oral for a period and transformed by bards and performers
who chanted them till they came into written form around 750 BCE. They depict the
time in which Homer lived, and carry memories of a period gone by as well: The‘Dark
Age’ in which he lived (1200 to 700 BCE). They encouraged a recalling of the greatness
298 of the cities around the Mediterranean, for example Athens and Corinth, in the Bronze
Age, although descriptions of life and society are very much those of the ‘Dark Age’. Greek Cultural
His heroes belong to that era. Traditions

The Illiad is set in the Trojan War, more specifically the ten-year siege of Troy and the
battle to rescue the Greek queen Helen from her captors. The Odyssey begins the story
from after the fall of Troy and depicts the vicissitudes in the life of one of its heroes,
Odysseus.
The two epics also depict not just events of the story told in the context of their times,
and detail the ethics and the various heroes but they also reveal the author’s preoccupation
with capturing certain universal elements of human life. To understand it example can be
given of what human beings do in circumstances of love, suffering and how they act
with endurance in adversity and when faced with death. One may say that they contain,
in short, ‘the essentials of human tragedy’. They contain a mix of elements of sociological
data and universal values, so characteristic of Greek cultural traditions. The Homeric
legends became part of Greek myths that bound the entire Greek world, and were
performed into the classical era and Hellenic age. Hesiod’s poetry shows greater affinity
with peasants and ordinary life. Sappho (from island Lesbos, 630-570 BCE), was
known for her lyric poetry, written to be sung and accompanied by a lyre. Pindar’s
(lyric poet from Thebes, 518-438 BCE) odes, collected in four books, are themed
around the Hellenic festivals held at four different cities. For example, ‘Olympian Ode 1’
could be a victory poem commissioned by a member of the victor’s family, and would
usually have been sung and danced on the victor’s return to his home town. The shift
was from collective to epic and individual during the archaic period. During classical
Greece we thus see a remarkable change when ‘both the themes and the occasions
became those of community, not of the individual’, the high moral themes of concern to
the community of the times (Finley, 1977: 97). The Homeric poems and the works
mentioned above are prime examples.
The element of poetry and early collective performances gave rise to Greek theatre,
performed at public festivals, in open-air theatres at city community centres, with
participation of as many as 1,000 performers and 12,000 or more spectators. There
were competitions, juries and awards, and both individual playwrights and particular
performance teams could become famed. Epic poetry, prose and lyrical interludes were
combined in them. They often had some well-known historical setting that was part of
historical memory.
Tragedy and comedy were the two main types of depictions. Tragedies dealt with the
eternal moral questions of humans, their fate and dilemmas and grappled with the
questions of ethics and good and evil. They depicted what each individual did when
faced with adversity, he/she resolved these questions based on his/her personality and
intelligence and morality. Comedies concerned themselves with the current socio-political
scenario, often contemporary situations, and were filled with satire and lampooning of
important people. They were critiques, often incisive, that combined humour and
enjoyment of a different kind from the tragedies that were meant to be edifying and
evoked thought and reflection.
The three main playwrights of the fifth century were Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides
who wrote some 300 plays of which thirty-three survive (Finley, 1977: 104). Although
Athens was the centre, plays were patronized everywhere, and the plays of these authors
continued to be performed until the third century. Aristophanes was the most well known
of those who wrote comedies. Scholars have seen a link between democratic politics
and the themes explored in Greek theatre. Oedipus the King of Sophocles is perhaps
the most famous of the Greek plays today. 299
Ancient Greece
15.7 SCIENCE
The reworking of myths and retelling of literary epics through time eventually led, by the
sixth century, to questioning that extended to examining the origins and nature of the
universe in non-religious terms, in terms of knowledge acquired through exchange of
ideas and interactions with other societies as a result of migration and trade. The first
attempts are noted around sixth century BCE in Miletus, an Eastern Greek settlement.
Observation and rational thought became tools of analysis, which gave rise to startling
new hypothesis, not entirely scientific, but nevertheless beyond the realms of religion
and myths. Because of the natural explanations they sought for the universe and the
world around them they came to be known as natural philosophers.
For example, water was the fundamental substance that constituted the universe,
concluded Thales. Anaximander thought it was matter. Heraclitus pronounced change
as the essential feature, because neither water nor matter remained unchanged. And
then they speculated on the relationship between change and stability, and arrived at the
conclusion that there must be some system and rationality in the workings of the universe
even if they did not yet know it. Democritus (470-400 BCE) did not base himself on
experimentation, but taking a cue from the natural philosophers, argued that there has
to be a basic element/substance that cannot be divided, which should account for origins
of world including life, which also in its changes and various permutations and
combinations should explain the diversity we see around us: he called this element
atom.
Four things are important here: i) answers to this world were being sought within the
framework of the actual existing world; ii) the questions asked were right even if answers
arrived at were not always so; iii) it was recognized that the limits of knowledge at a
given point of time did not constitute the entire knowledge of the phenomenon being
studied, there was always more to be learnt on the basis of new evidence; and
iv) answers did not exist in water tight compartments, knowledge about one phenomena
created basis for advancement of knowledge regarding other things. By this time, i.e.
from the sixth century BCE onwards, it became possible to challenge the religious and
mythical explanations. They may not have been prevalent among all sections of people
– new knowledge never is – but among the educated it became acceptable that new
ideas must find place in society.
The spirit of curiosity and observation of the natural world resulted in ‘great strides in
astronomy, geometry and medicine’, even if their conjectures about earth centred
universe, the Humoral theory of disease, and Aristotle’s theory of falling objects were
eventually proved wrong.
The Humoral Theory of Disease, also known as the theory of four humours, was a model of
the workings of the human body. It was central to the teachings of Hippocrates (460-370
BCE) and Galen (129-216 BCE). An imbalance in the four humours or individual psychological
temperaments – melancholic, sanguine, choleric and phlegmatic – could result in disease.
Thus, the treatment for diseases as per this theory lay in restoring this balance.

According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle’s (384-322 BCE) Theory of Falling Objects,
heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects. This theory believed that a falling object had
a definite ‘natural falling speed’ which was proportional to its weight.

Pythagoras (570-495 BCE), the early Greek Ionian mathematician is credited with
discovering an important geometrical theorem, which has come to be known after him
as the Pythagoras theorem. It consists of the calculation that in a right angled triangle,
the square on the longer side is equal to the sum total of the squares on the other two
300
sides. Although in arriving at its complete discovery many others, notably earlier in Greek Cultural
Egypt and Mesopotamia, played a role, his contribution has been significant in Traditions
mathematics. In general, too, his influence contributed to many later developments in
science, and even sculpture and architecture – in science through his role in questioning
the givens in myths and religion, and in architecture and sculpture through the sense and
relativity of sizes and proportion.The Greeks contributed their bit too in the history of
the concept of zero. Archimedes (287-212 BCE) is known for his discovery of a law
of physics that came to be known after him as ‘Archimedes’ Principle’. Euclid (323-
283 BCE) is another well known name whose compilation of theorems came to form
the basis of studying geometry for many centuries thereafter.
There was a wonderful library at Alexandra, comprising of huge collection of books
and manuscripts, a repository of knowledge at that time and visited by scholars with
varied interests from all over the Mediterranean region.
The ancient Greeks were assiduous in preserving the authors from their past. The Great
Library at Alexandria during the first century BCE gave access to about 500,000 book-
rolls. The library is considered to be part of a larger research institution called the Mouseion,
which was dedicated to the Muses – the nine goddesses of the arts. The library or part of
its collection was accidently burned by Julius Caesar during the civil war in 48 BCE and it
is believed to have been rebuilt thereafter. It dwindled during the Roman Period.

15.8 MEDICINE
Comparing medical and anatomical knowledge, not with modern standards but by that
prevailing in their times, Greek medicine had moved ahead. The Greeks experimented
with cutting open dead bodies of animals, and cadavers as well for a time during the
third century BCE, which gave them tremendous information about internal organs and
muscles and bones.
In fact, it is little known, that Aristotle (384-322 BCE) initially had delved into zoology
and some of his earliest writings that have survived describe about 540 zoological
species, including marine life. His experimentation and research into chicken embryos
and eggs, digestive systems of marine animals, the eye structure of bees, etc.‘put the
study of living organisms on solid empirical foundations.’ Herophilus (330-260 BCE)
investigated the brain and the nervous system, the human eye, the pancreas, the fallopian
tubes and is credited with discovering the function of arteries as blood carrying vessels.
Erasistratus (330-255 BCE) described the valves and their role in the functioning of the
heart. Much of this information stood the test of time till the Arabic scientists and
philosophers contributed significant advances in scientific knowledge (Nanda, 2016:
115-117).
These facilitated developments in medicine: the observations and analysis of causes of
various ailments and their cure. Medicine and the art of healing became partially released
from magic and witchcraft. Hippocrates (469-399 BCE), the most well known name,
is credited with looking for natural causes of diseases on the basis of observing symptoms
of various ailments. The ancients, in China, India, Rome, as well as prominently in
Greece, believed that body was composed of same elements as the earth: air, water,
earth and fire, which when the balance was disturbed caused disease.
Hippocrates called them four humours and claimed that health was a balance between
them: yellow bile, black bile, phlegm and blood. He read enormously from many non-
Greek sources as well and wrote a number of treatises that were later compiled, although
it is not clear that they may contain ideas and works of others as well. Again, although
this finds only a little space in modern medicine, the important point to be made is the 301
Ancient Greece shift in attributing health and disease to natural causes and finding cures through medication
rather than witchcraft and superstitious or religious beliefs, although these continued
alongside for centuries afterwards, and do so even today.

15.9 PHILOSOPHY
Development of philosophy and a preoccupation with human existence was an offshoot
of the study of the universe. Many thinkers emerged during the long era, the most
famous of them known today being Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, beginning with Socrates
around 400 BCE. The shift to thinking about human existence, in addition to that of the
universe, began with Socrates who was the teacher of Plato. It is said that the level of
argument and logic introduced by Socrates marked such a major shift that Greek
philosophy prior to him is referred to as belonging to the pre-Socrates era. Of course,
he did not begin in a vacuum. He was heir to the flow of ideas in the entire regions that
the Greek world came in contact with.
Plato’s (427-347 BCE) thought marks the beginning of what is known as the idealist
stream of philosophy that gives precedence to ideas and believes that things that are
material have their existence in the perceptions that we have of them. For example, if
we perceive tree as a material substance of a certain kind, it is we who have given that
object the status of a tree and so on. In other words, reality can only be grasped
through contemplation and thought. As one author puts it, ‘the manner in which Plato
posed the question of the relationship between mind and matter was his lasting contribution
to philosophy’(Farooqui, 2001: 189). Plato taught at the Academy in Athens, established
by him. He was a great advocate of education and explained the primary role in society
of those who were ‘correctly’ educated.
Aristotle, the student of Plato, considered the matter of relationship between mind and
matter in a completely opposite way. His was what has come to be known as the
materialist approach or perspective in philosophy. We have already mentioned above
that a major part of Aristotle’s early work was in the field of science, and involved
experimentation and classification. He argued that matter existed outside of our
perception, and we understood it only on the basis of our experience of it. In other
words, our ideas and understanding of the material world developed on the basis of the
study of what already existed.
What was common to all of these thinkers and philosophers, however, was their
rootedness in the socio-political conditions of their times. Socrates was executed for
his ideas because of the nature of his questionings and refusal to accept things without
raising questions through dialogues and different opinions. It was his method that was
considered explosive: otherwise he was quite an admirer of the existing political set up
of Athens to which he belonged. Plato wrote his major work Utopia that concerned
itself with an ideal society, but the Republic he conceived of had no role for ordinary
people and was completely authoritarian, to be ruled by those who knew best, on the
basis of their education. Aristotle analyzed many constitutions of his time, including that
of Athens that was celebrated for allowing many features of democracy, but he did not
perceive its limitations and the exclusions so characteristic of it.
None of them questioned slavery as an institution; they in fact supported it, considering
that those who were slaves were somehow inferior beings whose role was precisely to
serve and slave for those who deserved it – due to their superior station in life or
intellect, as may be. What is important is that, as elsewhere in many parts of the world,
they contributed to raising questions of what constituted virtue, good, justice and morality
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and grappled with defining them in terms of human existence and the polity they were Greek Cultural
part of. Traditions

15.10 HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

It is a fallacious understanding that people of the ancient past had no perceptions of
their past or were not concerned with how their societies had come into being or their
place in the natural scheme of life and universe. Such preoccupations abound, as
historians have shown for various societies, including China, India and ancient Greece.
We may not call these earlier attempts ‘history’ and their expressions as historiography,
but such articulations nevertheless tell us a lot about the societies and their transformations
through time. As many scholars have noted, the ancient Greeks were quite aware of
and indebted to their ‘ancients’, that is all the earlier influences that had contributed to
the making of Greek civilization.
Greek thinkers, among them historians who concerned themselves with their past, had
certain views on nature and universe and the moral dimensions of humankind while also
expressing anxieties about the present. There was little separation between history,
philosophy and what we may today call elements of sociology and anthropology, and in
fact their entire moral world. These were times of non-separation of knowledge, much
before specialization set in, and very much before multi-disciplinary approaches came
into being.
It is Greeks who are credited with the beginnings of what we recognize as elements of
historiography; the term ‘history’ itself being derived from a Greek word istoria, which
means inquiry; and Herodotus being popularly deemed as the ‘Father of Historiography’.
We will discuss here the work of Herodotus and Thucydides, who wrote in Greek and
lived in the fifth century BCE, the age of classical Greek civilization. One recognizes in
them the elements of the social and political context of their times, although one must be
wary of any crude generalizations, because as with all thinking and towering personalities
of any age, they exhibited a certain originality and spoke in a way that pointed forward
in time apart from representing the main ideas of their age.
Herodotus is considered as the world’s first historian. Thucydides, on the other hand, is
credited with writing the first scientific history. Both of them differed in their approach to
the writing of history in terms of style, interpretation and purpose.

Work of Herodotus (484-425 BCE): Histories

Work of Thucydides (460-400 BCE): History of the Peloponnesian War

Yet when we look at the work of these two historians, we recognize a preoccupation
with some of the accepted essential elements of history writing. For example, the
significance of sources is recognized in the work of Greek historians: they referred to
eye witness accounts, interviews, a range of documentary sources apart from tapping
information derived from tradition, religious centres and chronicles. Thus Herodotus,
writing about the Persian king Cyrus says: ‘And herein I shall follow those Persian
authorities whose object appears to be not to magnify the exploits of Cyrus, but to
relate the simple truth. I know besides three ways in which the story of Cyrus is told, all
differing from my own narrative’ (Book I, Section 95).
Thucydides says: ‘The way that most men deal with traditions, even traditions of their
own country, is to receive them all alike as they are delivered, without applying any
critical test whatever…’.
There is thus, as one can see, recognition of the subjective element involved in sources, 303
Ancient Greece the biases that could be there, and the importance of selecting facts, and method in
sifting through sources.
The historians obviously wrote for the privileged, elite, literate audience, but they do try
to make their form and style different from the poets or dramatists. They are preoccupied
with presenting a narrative of what they consider as the decisive events of their time,
they try to locate them in specific space and time. However, causation was still not
explored, often attributing some occurrences to the intervention of gods and looking on
them as struggle between good and wrong, if not what is considered morally evil. The
ideas of fate, divine wrath and destiny too are accepted as given, and the sanctity of the
Oracle of Delphi3 is not questioned. But human agency is seen as a significant factor
too, and decline of fortunes of cities are written off in terms of material factors. Conflicts
are recognized, as in the case of Athens and Sparta, as resulting from reasons that are
material and for supremacy, and the reasons for the conquests that resulted in the Athenian
Empire are similarly analyzed.
According to the Greek mythology, Delphi was an important religious sanctity sacred to
the god Apollo. The oracle (priestess) of Delphi spoke for Apollo and advised on important
questions for the Greeks. By her answers, Delphi emerged as a powerful city-state. For
further details, please refer to the Instructional Video Recommendations.
The focus of their concerns, the subject matter of their interests remained narrow; but
then this remained so till well into the era of modern historiography as well. They wanted
to preserve the memories of, and record for the future, that which they considered
spectacular, particularly the battles and warfare during their times or earlier. For example,
the major work of Herodotus (484-425 BCE) was an account of the origins and events
of the conflict and war between the Greeks and the Persians, which takes into account
human choices and willful actions and social constraints in its telling. He had travelled
widely, visited important cities, collected stories and information and is able to present
a ‘great panorama of the civilized world at the end of the sixth century BCE. His
descriptions range from the peoples of the Persian Empire to the construction of the
great pyramids…The story builds gradually to the clash between the heroic civilizations
of the East and the Greeks’ (Kishlansky et al, 2008: 79). Moreover, he commented on
the different stories and legends that he recounted, saying why he preferred the one he
did, sought to preserve the history of the conflict that included the achievements and
greatness of Greeks as well as the Persians, even as he saw the war as an epic battle
between civilization and barbarism, and a view on the grievances and desires of retribution
that the conflict centred on. His descriptions of agriculture in Mesopotamia and of the
life of Persians involved a lot of first hand observation and were quite detailed.
Thucydides’(460-400 BCE) subject of study was the Peloponnesian War. As an
Athenian general at the start of the war, his is more of a first hand account than a delving
into available accounts, and he is primarily concerned with issues of the functioning of
the city-state and questions of political power, which he sees as arising from the rational
self interests of the states involved. He wanted to write about human society in action,
attributing the rise and decline of states to morality and collapse of morality, as may be.
Nevertheless, the agency of change and development and power politics in his account
is the human agency.
Thus, in the two major Greek historians we see an intellectual endeavour that parallels
philosophy and science: true to past traditions and sources of perception and knowledge,
but also breaking out of them sufficiently to allow for a change that is marked, and
recognized in any history of historiography.
We would like you to remember though, that such developments were not confined to
304 the Greek world alone.
Check Your Progress Exercise-2 Greek Cultural
Traditions
1) What were the main forms of literature in Classical Greece? Describe the nature
of poetry and theatre with names of important authors.
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2) What was the contribution of the Greek natural philosophers to the understanding
of the universe?
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3) Underline the main aspects of how the Greeks understood the human anatomy.
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4) What was the contribution of Hippocrates to the development of medicine?
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5) State the main differences between Plato and Aristotle in perceiving the relationship
between mind and matter.
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6) Discuss the contribution of Thucydides to the development of Greek historiography.
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Ancient Greece .....................................................................................................................
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15.11 ART, ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE:

FROM THE COLLECTIVE TO THE
INDIVIDUAL
Visual art, architecture and sculpture too reveal a journey from the collective to the
individual and of individual production for community use. Visual art was represented in
items of use and in public celebrations linked with religion, and they tell us much more
than the functions they were used for. And of course, the palace complexes referred to
in the earlier Unit (for details see Section 14.5.2, Unit 14 of this course). They tell us
first of all about the techniques and standards of building, of smelting of bronze or iron
as the case maybe, of the level of technology and dyes, and of the ideas and social life
prevalent from the earliest times to the Hellenic Age after the conquests of Alexander
and spread of Greek influence beyond the region inhabited by Greeks. The walls of
palace complexes had frescoes that depicted daily life and culture. In the bronze age
Minoan frescoes, we see images of vault practices by both men and women and also
the rich elite watching ladies dance in olive gardens, or ladies watching athletics.

Figure 15.8 (a) Figure 15.8 (b)

Credit:Wikipedia Credit: cavorite
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/ Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
wiki/File:AMI_-_T%C3%A4nzerin.jpg File:Knossos_ fresco_women.jpg

Minoan Fresco Paintings

There were pictorial representations of humans and animals on the pottery in the
Mycenaean period, giving way to geometrical patterns during the Dark Age, that grew
more complex and decorative with time. During the classical era the pottery became
more decorative, depicting scenes of farmers harvesting olives, a Corinthian vase has
been found depicting hoplites (Greek citizen-soldiers) marching into battle, a later one
showing the priestess of Delphi and a petitioner receiving a reply to his question. With
contacts with near east, images began to include strange animals, and by the 8th century,
images depicting narrations of Greek myths and legends. As pointed out by many
scholars, from 6th century onwards they came to be signed as well, signifying the emphasis
on and celebration of individual artist, potter or painter, along with the heroes depicted.
The famed pottery of classical Greece saw the emergence of burnt clay vessels and
vases with figures and scenes outlined and carved delicately and filled with black colour.

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 Greek Cultural
Traditions

Figure 15.9 : Minoan Pottery

Credit: Zde
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Minoan_pottery,_Neopalatial,_Mameloukou_Trypa_
cave,_AM_Chania,076133.jpg

Sculpture saw similar celebration of the individual, human body or a male deity. The
advances in geometry lent well-proportioned and three-dimensional aspect to the statues,
and later sculpture began to include scenes that told stories. The use of depicting clothing
in a way that it did not hide contours of the physique was an important achievement that
allowed the three dimensional effect.

Statue of Asclepius (God of Venus de Milo on display at Statue to Menander (Greek

Medicine in Greek Mythology), the Louvre dramatist), Theatre of
exhibited at Museum of Credit: Livioandronico2013 Dionysos, Athens, Greece
Epidaurus Theatre Credit: Jebulon
Source:https://
Credit: Michael F. Mehnert commons.wikimedia.org/ Source:https://
Source:https:// wiki/ commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Front_views_of_the_Venus_ File:Statue_Menander_Dionysus_
File:Asklepios_-_Epidauros.jpg de_Milo.jpg Theatre_ Athens_Greece.jpg

Figure 15.10 : Greek Sculptures

In general, the huge temples were meant for devotees to admire rather than enter to
pray. Rituals were held in congregations outside, where the events associated with
festivals took place. The temple structure stood on columns, sometimes as many as 307
Ancient Greece thousand columns, as was prevalent in all big buildings constructed before the technology
of arches was discovered. Most significant is the Parthenon temple dedicated to
Olympian deities.

Figure 15.11 : Parthenon Temple

Credit: Steve Swayne
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Parthenon_in_Athens.jpg
Stadiums were an important feature within the city-states, for games and other
entertainments. We do not see the big palace complexes of the earlier era, the architecture
being dominated by community buildings, and sculpture getting accommodated within
them. Acropolis is one of the remains of city that even today excites much admiration.
Most of the buildings and community celebrations were financed by the treasury of the
state and occasionally by the wealthy who commissioned them.

Figure 15.12 : Stadium

Credit: Truelight234
308 Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:TheatreatEpidoris.JPG
 Greek Cultural
15.12 SPORTS AND ATHLETICS Traditions
With emphasis on the individual, on prowess and on the military in most Greek city-
states, physical strength, sports and athletics eventually became a form of celebration
of the Greek personality, of both men and women to begin with, and eventually an
arena increasingly occupied by men. Sports and physical prowess of the individual is
visible everywhere: in the athletic meets, in the popularity, fame and status enjoyed by
the sportsmen in Greek society, and their actual depiction in sculpture and even pottery.
In Bronze Age, Crete frescoes show the privileged Cretans watching ladies dance
around olive trees, and also aristocratic ladies watching athletic spectacles, but also
both men and women athletes vaulting over the backs of ferocious bulls (Kishlansky et
al, 2008: 37).
Our modern-day World Olympics dates back to ancient Greece, although with a long
interruption in between. By 500 BCE, we learn, ‘there were fifty sets of games across
the Greek world held at regular intervals,’ the most prestigious being the ‘Crown Games
at Delphi, Corinth, and Nemea’. The most important were those held every four years
at Olympia as celebration of the cult of Zeus. Apart from the 192 metres race, the
pentathlon was introduced consisting of running, jumping, and javelin and discuss throw
and wrestling, apart from horse and chariot races. In some sports, the fight was to the
end, with the loser not giving up, sometimes till death, at the risk of earning disgrace.
The winner ofcourse gained both fame and fortune, becoming part of legends, with
odes written about their spectacular victories, just as in wars, and symbolized in sculptures
depicting the strong male body in action. Competition among cities was as sharp as that
between individual athletes, and ‘only men were allowed to participate in or attend the
Olympic Games,’ although separate Olympics were conducted in honour of Zeus’s
wife Hera in which unmarried women could participate (Kishlansky et al, 2008: 50-
51). Participation in Olympics continued well over a thousand years ending only in CE
393 (Kishlansky et al, 2008: 49).

Figure 15.13 : Sports Depiction

Credit: National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:07Athletengrab.jpg

15.13 GENDER AND FAMILY

We have already discussed the position of women in our previous Unit: how their
position was subordinate and they did not enjoy any political rights and were not
considered citizens. We also noted that they constituted a large section of slaves. But
we need to underline the specific features of subordination. Apart from their work as
slaves in some of the workshops and as domestic servants, it can be said that women
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Ancient Greece were confined to the domain of the house. The reality was thus complex: a large section
contributed to the creation of surplus value and production, and a small elite minority
participated in the religious life and community, or at least the minority that constituted
the citizen community. In the rituals and religious festivals where women are shown as
participating, their role is subsidiary and was graded according to the status of women.
Similarly, some rituals are performed by children, again graded according to status
apart from their subsidiary role as minors.
Citizens’ wives, of course, also shared in the citizen status to the extent that the sons
they bore would become citizens and their daughters the wives of citizens. In law,
women, especially those of higher status, did not appear in courts or give evidence. The
disputes involving them had their men participating in the court from both sides: only
poor and slave women attended court. Their testimony too carried weight only to the
extent that they were tortured in order to extract it: it was felt that women could generally
not be relied upon. Cases involving children were really fights between their guardians:
only after gaining maturity could they become eligible for giving evidence, for representing
themselves, for military service, and only after the age of thirty to being jurors.
Except for some early frescoes described above, which show them participating in
athletics during early phases, the classical art and literature portrays them mainly being
engaged in household activities. In the economy, women participated only in the areas
that were not considered fundamental. They did not attend markets where even small
trading i.e. selling and buying of commodities took place, and the young boys too could
attend only after noon when the market was full. Again, this does not apply to poor
women, who were active participants as buyers and sellers of small items.
Prostitution was an arena where women prevailed, but here too the class division
rendered public area of prostitution as distinct from what may prevail by way of prostitution
within the privileged classes and families.
Within the family, women lived under the guardianship of male family members – father,
brothers, husbands – with no independent individual rights, including in property matters
and inheritance. Division of labour between male and female members of the household
was clearly demarcated as across historical eras. Many women were educated among
the privileged, but their writings or oral poetry is hardly known. Sappho is one well
known name, as mentioned above. Privileged women did embroidery and created
woolen products, etc. but they obviously did so for use rather than for an earning, while
in the case of poorer women, their skills were linked with livelihood.
Check Your Progress Exercise-3
1) What were the main architectural features of Greek temples?
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2) In what way did developments in anatomy contribute to the realm of architecture,
sculpture and visual art?
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 ..................................................................................................................... Greek Cultural
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3) Discuss the role of the individuals in Greek art, as artists and in the subjects of art.
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4) Write a short note on the importance of sports, especially Olympics in Greek
society.
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5) Women were of course subordinate in Greek society, but could you point towards
some differences and inequalities among the women themselves?
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15.14 SUMMARY
The geographical location of Greek city-states around the Mediterranean and the contacts
it facilitated around the entire region on all sides allowed for diverse influences to shape
its cultural traditions. This was also responsible for a range of ideas to fructify into
advancement in thought, scholarship and forms of cultural expression ranging from ideas
of the universe and man’s place in it, to visual arts and social hierarchies. As we have
seen through our coverage of developments over a long chronological period, the cultural
traditions were not only multi-dimensional in nature but also changing over time within
each aspect of its expression. It is a fallacy to look at Classical Greece culture to have
developed indigenously in a closed space and suddenly in the sixth century, although
Athens and the sixth century are landmarks in this development.
The observations of the universe led to advances in astronomy, sciences in general
including mathematics, and anatomy, and to philosophical musings about human nature 311
Ancient Greece and society. Proportion, rationality, and knowledge of anatomy caused developments
in visual arts like painting and sculpture, in medicine and the art of healing. Mathematics
and geometry were crucial in architecture as much as in further explorations of the
world, and areas of knowledge that were much later separately called physics, chemistry,
geology, and not to speak of the prevalent iron technology. It is difficult to speak in
terms of cause and effect, as many of these developments occurred simultaneously
over time, in spurts and independently over different areas that encompassed the Greek
civilization. The details of changes in various fields have been noted in different sections
of the Unit.
We must remember that much of what is renowned and known of Greek cultural
traditions pertains to the rich, the privileged and those considered citizens. There is
much cultural expression that must have flourished among the poor and the slaves, that
does not find place in textbooks – because very little information about it has survived
in the sources available to us, and what is available reflects largely the perspectives of
the privileged.
We must also appreciate the inequalities within gender, the privileged and poor women
although there were many common aspects to their subordination. And that important
developments in culture and knowledge were not confined to Greece, they were spread
all over the world and would contribute to overall development of human civilization.
Lastly, as also stressed in the previous Unit, is the significance of the very lively trade
and the institution of slavery, which formed the foundation of Greek society and polity.
While the immense flow of trade resulted in immense flow of resources and wealth in
the hands of the privileged classes in ancient Greece, the inhuman slavery conditions
made possible both concentration of wealth and leisure for these classes; to devote
time to the world of ideas and to patronize the great works of architecture; sculpture
and other public buildings. Finally to repeat, the social and economic edifice on which
greatness of Greek civilization and all that it is known for, stood, was the system of
slavery, to a very great extent.

15.15 KEY WORDS

Fresco : A technique of mural painting executed upon wet
lime/plaster.
Greek Dark Age/Homeric Age : The time-period between the collapse of
Mycenaean civilization and Greek Archaic
Period.
Archaic Greece : The history of Greece from the eighth century
BCE to 490 BCE.
Classical Greece : The time-period between 490 BCE and 323
BCE.
Trojan War : The war waged against the city of Troy by the
Archaeans as per the Greek mythology.
Peloponnesian War : The Greek war fought in 431-404 BCE by the
Athenians against the Spartans.

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 Greek Cultural
15.16 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS Traditions
EXERCISES
Check Your Progress Exercise-1
1) See Section 15.4. Mention the gods worshipped by Greeks such as Apollo and
Zeus.
2) Discuss the changes in the Greek cultural traditions across different time-periods
and influences exerted by these traditions in other regions as well.
3) See Section 15.5. Explain how these myths revolved around different stories.
Check Your Progress Exercise-2
1) See Section 15.6. Among the famous works of literature, mention must be made
of two epic poems of Homer.
2) See Section 15.7
3) Mention how there was a shift in attributing health and disease to natural causes
and finding cures through medication rather than witchcraft and superstitious or
religious beliefs. See Section 15.8.
4) See Section 15.8
5) Plato gave precedence to ideas and believed that things that are material have
their existence in the perceptions that we have of them. Aristotle, on the other
hand, considered the matter of relationship between mind and matter in a completely
opposite way. He argued that matter existed outside of our perception, and we
understood it only on the basis of our experience of it. In other words, our ideas
and understanding of the material world developed on the basis of the study of
what already existed. See Section 15.9.
6) See Section 15.10
Check Your Progress Exercise-3
1) See Section 15.11
2) The nexus between anatomy and architecture, sculpture and visual art needs to be
shown here. For instance, how advancement in geometry led to changes in the
realm of sculpture. See Section 15.11.
3) Refer to Section 15.11
4) Modern day World Olympics dates back to ancient Greece. The most important
were those held every four years at Olympia as celebration of the cult of Zeus.
See Section 15.12
5) Refer to Section 15.13. You can point out differentiation between women belonging
to the elite classes and those who were poor.

15.17 SUGGESTED READINGS

Cartledge, Paul (ed.). 1998. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Ancient Greece.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Ancient Greece Finley, Moses. I. 1977. The Ancient Greeks. University of California: Penguin Books.
Hauser, Arnold. 2003 (Reprint). The Social History of Art: From Prehistoric Times
to the Middle Ages. Vol. 1. Part 3. London and New York: Routledge.
Kishlansky, Mark, A. Geary, Patrick, J. and O’Brien, Patricia. 2008. Civilization in
the West, Volume A: to 1500. New York: Pearson Longman.
Nanda, Meera. 2016. Science in Saffron: Skeptical Essays on History of Science.
New Delhi: Three Essays Collective.

15.18 INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO

RECOMMENDATIONS
The Myth of Pandora’s Box – Greek Mythology Explained
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXmHA-XySmk
Myth of Pandora’s Box
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGTTAfwHugY
The Mystery of the Delphi Oracle | National Geographic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ToVeoUzhR0Q
The Oracle of Delphi Ancient | National Geographic Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM_22g30X-4

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