4 ms·
> the Greeks and Romans were not cultures of conformity or austerity - quite the opposite, but the seeds of the philosophy sank in hard, and here we are. I don
by bowsamic 2y ago
> the Greeks and Romans were not cultures of conformity or austerity - quite the opposite, but the seeds of the philosophy sank in hard, and here we are.
I don’t think anyone thinks they were. They are usually assumed to be hedonistic in popular culture
- dragonwriter 2y agoMaybe not “the Greeks” broadly, but Spartans specifically are equated with austerity to the extent that “spartan” is adopted as an adjective meaning “showing indifference to comfort and luxury”.
- bowsamic 2y agoDo people associate the Greeks with the Spartans more than the Athenians though?
- roughly 2y agoI think you really start to see the fetishization of the Greeks and Romans in the Neoclassicism movements in the 18th century as an aesthetic, and I'm actually not sure how much was known about the actual Greek and Roman lifestyles (Roman, in particular - a big lot of this is tied up with the notions of Empire) at the time.
- watwut 2y agoKids are taught about them as about super serious no fun civilizations. Then I associate it woth fetishisation of military conquest and such. I would see God's as hedonistic but not greeks. Honestly, my bias is that they were very boring amd sort of artificial.
- int_19h 2y agoWith Romans, at least, the typical (and incorrect) popular narrative is that they were initially austere - and that period is when their civilization achieved its peak - and then became decadent and ruin followed.
- anthk 2y agoHeh, not in Southern Europe. They are like the spark of the Western Civilization from Law to Arts to Mathematics and Science.