The Children of Athena

Title: The Children of Athena – Greek Writers and Thinkers in the Age of Rome, 150 BC – AD 400
Author: Charles Freeman
Publisher: Head of Zeus, 2023 (First)
ISBN: 9781803281957
Pages: 390

Athena is the Greek pagan goddess of wisdom and the patron deity of the city of Athens. The flower of Greek thought blossomed in the sixth century BCE and spread its delightful fragrance to the rim of the Mediterranean world from Libya, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Italy and Spain. Hellenistic cultural centres sprang up on these parts which continued the pursuit of knowledge pioneered by the Athenian savants. Greece was a conglomeration of city states and vulnerable to a hegemonic kingdom as evidenced by Alexander of Macedon. The story repeated itself around 150 BCE when the Romans conquered Greece proper and the places where its culture had spread. This is a period generally considered to be an era of decline and eventual downfall. The budding religion of Christianity would gruffly obliterate the Greek culture in the fourth century CE. This book argues that even with the loss of political freedom, the scholars referred to as children of Athena kept the flag of inquiry and innovation fluttering high in the peaceful breeze offered by the Roman empire. The classical period (480-330 BCE) and the Hellenistic period (330-30 BCE) are well-covered in books on cultural history, but the period from there to the time when Christianity became the dominant religion is kept a blank. This was no mean period, being that of Galen, Ptolemy and Plutarch, and this book attempts to fill the gap with biographical narratives of several prominent Greek scholars. Charles Freeman is a specialist on the ancient world and its legacy. He has worked on archaeological digs on the continents surrounding the Mediterranean and is the author of many books.

Freeman assesses the vigour of Greek intellectual thought and examines the effects of accepting Roman hegemony on the political side even though the new masters were appreciative and in awe of the calibre of Greek thought. The Greek scholars of this era were imbued with a powerful sense of an intellectual heritage that was believed to be superior to any other. Thus they radiated self-confidence. The Roman empire was disparaging about the peoples they conquered. Though Greece enjoyed peace and stability and intellectual pursuits thrived, they were very careful not to cross the invisible line and offend the Romans. The Greek scholars are seen to be the courtiers or supplicants to Roman governors of provinces or other imperial officials. The Romans ridiculed the lack of fighting qualities among the Greeks while the latter saw the Romans as boorish and uncultured, but the elites of both cultures collaborated and were on fraternal terms. The Roman administration was remarkably light and this allowed Greek cities to run their own affairs and prosper. The Greeks were accommodating to include the cults of Roman emperors in their temples along with the deities of their religion. But one was not to be misled by the facade. Plutarch had warned the Greeks that the boots of the Roman soldiers were just above their heads - always.

The invasion of Alexander, who was himself a barbarian as far as the Athenians were concerned, caused pockets of the Greek culture to be established as far east as Alexandria-in-Sogdia (present Ai Khanum in Afghanistan). Gymnasia in these places taught philosophy to young men. Present day Turkey was the greatest exponent of Greek culture as seen in the number of philosophers it produced. This region spatially coincided with the Greek province of Asia with its capital at Ephesus and turned out to be the most sophisticated of all Greek outposts. Even though conquered and kept under the yoke by the Romans, Greeks were extremely proud of their own and contemptuous of other tongues. Galen once said that Greek was the most pleasant tongue and that 'if one observed the words used by other peoples in their languages, one would see that some closely resembled the wailing of pigs, others the sound of frogs and still others the call of the woodpecker'! Public oration was a skill carefully fostered in young men of an aristocratic background. The importance of sermons in Christianity is a remnant of this early focus on public speaking. It was not permitted for everyone to speak in public. Only if one person is of distinction or could display pedigree, upbringing and education would he be allowed to become an orator. They could charge fees for their appearances on stage. A bit of xenophobia was also present in elite minds. As described by Lucian of Samosata, it was difficult for an outsider to gain entry to the Greek cultural elite. However much he mastered the texts, he had still to acquire the manner of dress, the way of using language that harked back to Attic dialects and even a way of walking reminiscent of the ancient masters. As in classical period, Greek social life revolved around urban centres. 'City before self' was deeply ingrained within the Greek mind with loyalty to one's city often predominating over any form of shared ‘Greekness’.

Freeman gives a brief introduction to the various schools of Greek philosophy and why specific people were attracted to individual ones among them. Order and discipline was so important for the smooth functioning of Plato's state that he prescribed banning poetry and bringing up children in common. The school of philosophy known as stoicism resonated much with the Roman mind as seen in emperor Marcus Aurelius writing his book 'Meditations' in Greek rather than Latin, which was the lingua franca of the Roman empire. The book includes many biographies which start with Polybius, a Greek who was sent to Rome as a hostage and later made it his home. His 'Universal History' in 40 volumes must have been a massive work but only the first five volumes survive. He encouraged the Greek audience to recognize that Roman hegemony could not be reversed. Orators had become so successful that they felt themselves superior to entire cities, not subservient to emperors and even equal to the gods in some cases. Many oratories of Dio of Chrysostom survive in written form which attest to his prolific faculty to control the masses through his words. Their sense of pre-eminence rested partly on their meticulous knowledge of the Greek past. The author also notes some errors and inconsistencies in the literary output of the scholars he examines. Some of the herbal remedies suggested by Dioscorides in his De Materia Medica are now known to be poisonous and should not be consumed. Some effects are imaginary and solely depends for its efficacy on the placebo effect. Similarly, Ptolemy had calculated the size of the universe. This was wrong and infinitesimal than the real one, but it was the first time that the universe had been calculated as being so immense. Human beings were thus found to be at the core of a vast creation and this idea permeated Islamic and medieval Christian astronomy.

The Middle Ages witnessed great religious strife due to the intolerance of the monotheistic faiths as evidenced in crusades and jihads. Christian holy scriptures took their present shape in the third century CE. They were there already, but philosophers ironed out the discrepancies. Origen's writings made the Old Testament a Christian, rather than a Jewish text. Philosophical tussles with paganism appeared in works like that of Celsus who found the concept of a jealous god difficult to swallow. The inherent tolerance of Greek religion is evident in a remark made by Plutarch, who was a staunch devotee of Apollo. Regarding the worship of the Egyptian deities Isis and Osiris, he says: "Nor do we regard the gods as different among different peoples nor as barbarian, Greek, northern or southern. But just as the sun, moon, heaven, earth and sea are common to all, although they are given various names by the various peoples, so it is with one reason which orders these things and the one providence that has charge of them" (p. 119). Celsus, as mentioned above, argued that there was indeed one supreme force, but it had been given different names by different cultures and peoples. Origen claimed that Christians are not burdened with temples, altars and extravagant processions which Celsus considered vital for a functioning society. It is ironic that Christianity would later take on all these features! The cruel death of the lady philosopher Hypatia at the hands of early Christians is chillingly described in the text. Hypatia was probably the last famous pagan philosopher in the early fifth century CE. Being a woman, she was not allowed to hold public office but was widely respected for her erudition. Christian fanatics waylaid her, dragged her out from the vehicle, taken to a church on the seafront in Alexandria, then stripped and killed brutally by flaying her skin off with discarded roof tiles. Her lifeless body was then burned (p. 319). In 529 CE, Justinian closed the Platonic schools of Athens and closed the door on more than a millennium of Greek intellect and tradition. The light went out of free, intellectual exposition and Christian thought spread out in its place.

The book provides only an introductory survey of the Greek mind in those centuries when they were under Roman control. Interested readers can use this as a stepping stone to deeper topics. It's amusing for Indian readers to understand how the country influenced Greek culture in this era. Arrian, in his book on the life of Alexander, describes about India which had a bustling trade with Rome in the second century CE. Arrian relates a tradition that many of the fruits of Indian civilization, its cities and even its agriculture, was brought to the subcontinent by the god Dionysus and suggests that the god Hercules was born in India. He talks about a caste of wise men who dispense wisdom naked. The author then remarks that 'clearly the book does not provide much accurate information about Indian society'. However, Arrian's observation, even though appearing fantastic to European minds, might have been an attempt to describe Jain monks who travelled widely and dispensed wisdom while renouncing all clothes. This book contains information on how the Greek and Roman societies began its descent to collapse. Weak emperors, rise of rival kingdoms and barbarians created a grave problem in the third century CE which eventually led to the Greek culture's disintegration. Strife with the newly ascendant Sassanids in Persia did not help. A tribe called Heruli ransacked Athens. Money for buildings and public activities dried up. Greek religion declined and Christianity exploited the situation to turn strident.

The book is strongly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star