Persian Influence On GrecoRoman Culture Essay Research

Persian Influence On Greco-Roman Culture Essay, Research Paper

Persian Influence on Greco-Roman Culture

He stands there, examining a beautiful white column, with perfect curves around it and an exquisite capital that shows detailed architecture. He twists his head to the right just a bit to read the official description. He is in the Louvre museum and a bit surprised. He was expecting to read “Pre-Hellenistic Greek Column,” but stunned, he realizes that it says “columns of Persepolis, circa 500 B.C.E.” “That’s surprising”, he says to himself “I could have sworn that that one came from Greece.” Yes, surprising. As a matter of fact, many things which are considered to have originated in Greece and are now known as “Western” culture, art, and architecture, actually originated in the Middle East, or more precisely, in ancient Persia.

Most people don’t know it, but Persia was the center of the world before and during the Greco-Persian Wars (492-449 BC) (”Greco-Persian Wars”). The whole world looked to Persia and everybody tried to model everything after the Persian way. Even Greece copied Persia on some occasions. In fact, Greece, before Alexander the Great, was just a coalition of small kingdoms. Persia, the biggest empire to exist up that time, was the “world power,” controlled the way of thinking of the time, and placed a deep mark into not only Greek thinking and culture, but also the “Western” idea and life. Many people do not realize it, but much of today’s culture can be found in ancient Persian literature, art, and architecture.

Much has been made of the Greco-Persian Wars, and rightfully so. The Greco-Persian Wars were a series of wars between the Persians and the Greek coalition. The number of victories favored the Persians by far, however, the one event that mattered because it ended all Persian presence in Greece, the battle of Platea, was won by the Greeks. This series of wars may very well be the event which most changed history single-handedly. Considering that the Persians were the only real world power at the time, it is easy to see that the world would be much different today had Alexander the Great not come to lead the Greek coalition to victory. All of Western society is based on Greece and Greek government and culture, but many things could have been different had Persia won. First, the Middle East, not Europe, would be the most powerful and wealthy part of the world. Also, despite the fact that much of Persia’s culture was mimicked in Greek culture, there were still many differences, and the world would probably be very different than it is today.

Throughout history, each regime has changed the past to benefit itself. This is ongoing, and today, the West has reshaped history to better its own share. People now learn only of the great achievements of the Roman and Greek empires, but seldom does it occur that a student knows where the Assyrian empire was located and just how powerful the Mongols were at the height of their civilization. Most notably, the Persian Empire is one that has been neglected time after time. The Greek people were the ones who defeated Persia and they adapted many of Persia’s ways. The Greeks and Persians were closely related people in both blood and culture, but today, the Europeans and Iranians are no longer considered one people. However, when one takes an objective look at the Persians, it can be seen that much of the culture that is present today in Western society comes from ancient Persia.

Greco-Western culture, art, and architecture have all evolved from ancient Persia, and, because these have been mimicked by Greece, roots of Persian influence can be readily found in Greco-Western.

Greek and ancient Persian architectures were similar in many ways. Most people think that if they are similar, then the Greeks were the ones who originally had the architecture. However, it is interesting to note that the most ancient Persian architecture found was in the cities of Susa and Elam dating from 1600-1000 BC (Histoire vol.1, 211). One notable aspect of Persian architecture imitated by the Greeks was the famous “Greek columns.” As explained in the introduction, the Greek columns were very similar to Persian columns; and, because of time periods, it can be deduced that the Persians had great influence on the Greek columns (210). Nearly every part of the Greek column, from the capital, the abacus, the annulated, and the echinus, to the shaft and the base, is a near copy of the Persian column which dated approximately 500 years before the Greek confederation (Histoire vol.2, 38). There are many examples of Greek and Persian columns still standing today which can demonstrate the influence that Persian architecture had on Greek columns. One example is the Temple of Discuses. In this architectural marvel, of which only the columns remain, the columns, dating to the 5th century B.C.E., show Persian influence in not only the shape and design of the column, but also in the material used (32). Even at Delphi, one of the most ancient Greek cities, where some of the oldest Greek temples are found, the columns are comparable to the Persian columns (35). Another type of Persian architecture that the Greeks imitated is the famous wall carving. Believed by most to be a Greek invention, it was actually started during the Persian rule and possible even before that (1500-1000 BC) (Histoire vol.1, 35). Wall ca