Ancient Greece offers modern-day lesson
Joe Cannon interviews Victor Davis Hanson (16MB .mp3 file)
Why Greece Matters Victor Davis Hanson lecture at Hellenic Cultural Center, Sept. 26, 2007
So wrote Victor Davis Hanson recently in the Wall Street Journal. Last Wednesday, the University of Utah College of Humanities gave us and its students the treat of bringing Dr. Hanson to Utah for some lectures. He is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University and a nationally syndicated columnist. His public lecture, "Why Greece Matters," was delivered at the Hellenic Cultural Center in Salt Lake City.
Ancient Greece matters vitally to us today because it laid the foundation for Western civilization. In Hanson's view, the modern West, built on the foundation put in place by the American founders, is really rooted in principles framed by the Greeks. The notions of individual and inalienable rights, private property, free market, civilian control over the military, religious tolerance and self-critique all had their origins in Greek thought. However imperfectly implemented, these ideas were thoroughly debated and first given concrete expression in ancient Greece.
An essential element of Greek thought is the idea of eternally expanding democracy and equality. This secular prophecy has become true. Born more than 25 centuries ago in a tiny spot in what is now southern Europe, and with no evidence of a prior civil society so organized, the democratic idea spread. Its spread was fitful and somewhat episodic. Sometimes going to ground for centuries. But the spark lit in ancient Greece burst into full flame with the American Revolution.
Though he only briefly touched on the role of Christianity, Hanson understands that Athens alone cannot account for Western civilization. Jerusalem was also an indispensable element in the rise of the West. It is often argued that the early church fathers, Orthodox and Roman, but especially Augustine, rescued Athens from obscurity and melded it with Jerusalem to, in fact, lay the foundation of the West.
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