Studia Gilsoniana 6:3 (July–September 2017): 381–404 | ISSN 2300–0066

Wojciech Daszkiewicz
John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
Poland

GREEK AND ROMAN ROOTS OF

EUROPEAN CIVILISATION

What is Europe? The modern scientific discourse leads to the

conclusion that Europe and its civilisation are concepts that are impre-
cisely defined in terms of space, politics, society and culture. On the
other hand, despite the complexity, multifacetedness of the issue of
culture in relation to civilisation, it seems that there are some features,
roots and, to a large extent, history that European countries share in
common. In this text attention will be paid to Greek and Roman cultural
elements that underlie the shaping of European civilisation, also called
“Western civilisation.” Due to volume restrictions imposed by the arti-
cle, the contribution of barbarian tribes and Christianity will not be ana-
lysed, although the author is aware that a fuller picture of the “roots of
Europe” also requires taking these factors into account.
First, a few general remarks will be made. In order to analyse the
sources of European civilisation one should take into account the his-
torical context. This context is useful for sociologists, philosophers and
cultural scholars because without it understanding the mechanisms of
the modern world would be impossible. History gives one the oppor-
tunity to think more deeply about the present.
The problem of understanding civilisation should also be solved.
After all, there is more than one theory of civilisation, so one of the
382 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

available theories has to be chosen. Leaving aside the secondary dispute

about the understanding of the relationship between civilisation and
culture,1 the author agrees with F. Braudel that civilisation is a special
kind of culture that extends over a large geographic area, encompasses
a large population and is characterized by long duration.2 In addition,
the author presupposes that civilisation integrates cultures that are pro-
portionate in their genesis or content (essential characteristics), so he
assumes that civilisation is the method of organizing the life of com-
munities.3
While investigating the sources of any civilisation and the rules
that govern it, one should also acknowledge that the process of its for-
mation is long-lasting and complex, but at the same time indistinct,
indefinite and devoid of characteristic moments.
The events that occur in the process of the emergence of a civili-
sation may be intentional, clearly visible and easy to locate in time and
space, but they may also be natural, spontaneous and difficult to com-
prehend.4 The words of Denis de Rougemont express this well:

1
See R. Wei, “Civilisation and Culture,” Globality Studies Journal 24 (2011): 1–9
[https://gsj.stonybrook.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/0024Wei.pdf; accessed on 8
March 2017]; M. Williams, Culture, Civilisation and Theories
[http://libir.soka.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/10911/4155/1/Mukesh%20Williams_35-2.pdf;
accessed on 8 March 2017]. In the context of the relationship and meaning of the words
culture and civilisation it is worth referring to the still valid and erudite study: S. Węd-
kiewicz, “Cywilizacja czy kultura? Z zagadnień terminologii nauk humanistycznych
[Civilisation or Culture? From the Terminology of the Humanities],” in Symbolae
grammatice in honorem Ioannis Rozwadowski, vol. II (Kraków 1928), 501–521. Cf. K.
Krzysztofek, Cywilizacja: dwie optyki [Civilisation: Two Points of View] (Warszawa:
Instytut Kultury, 1991), 5–21.
2
See F. Braudel, A History of Civilisations, trans. R. Mayne, Allen Lane (New York:
The Penguin Press, 1994), 9–36. Cf. M. Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne
problemy [Contemporary Civilisation and Global Issues] (Warszawa: Oficyna
Naukowa, 2012), 14.
3
See, e.g., F. Koneczny, On the Plurality of Civilisations, trans. A. Hilckman (London:
Polonica Publications, 1962), 122.
4
See Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne problemy, 52.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 383

This is our civilisation, understood not as a pre-established crea-

tion . . . and not as a progressive realization of some Platonic idea
of Europe. On the contrary: we see it as a broad weave of ten-
sion, looking for the still-challenged balance, a group of unex-
plored discoveries, which are constantly confronting new prob-
lems—in a word, as an adventure.5
European civilisation is a dynamic creation in a particular place
and time, difficult to describe, yet that does not mean that attempts to
do that are doomed to failure. There is no agreement among historians
about the exact date of birth of the European civilisation, although their
suggestions are quite similar. Christopher Dawson sets its beginnings in
the period between the fourth and the eighth century, when, in his opin-
ion, the later features and cultural achievements of Europe were initiat-
ed.6
Norman Davies adopts the years 330–800 as the time of Europe’s
birth. Those centuries were significant for the incubation of the Western
civilisation, but its development was prolonged. In fact, the year 476,
when Odoaker staged a coup in Rome, is no longer universally accept-
ed today as a turning point closing the times of the Antiquity and open-
ing the Middle Ages. Hence the indications of some of the later dates of
the “birth” of European civilisation (e.g. Michael McCormick dates the
birth of the European trading economy to the eighth–ninth century).7
According to Peter Heather, it was only around the year 1000 that the
European civilisation was formed and its essence was the cultural and

5
“Voilà donc notre civilisation définenon point comme une création préconçue . . . non
point comme la réalisation progressive d’une ideé platonicienne de l’Europe, mais
acontraire comme un vaste complexe de tensions, de recherches jamais achevées d’un
équilibre sans cesse remis en question et de découvertes inouïes posant toujours de
novueaux problèmes—en un mot comme une aventure” (D. de Rougemont, Lettre
ouverte aux Européens (Paris: Editions Albin Michel, 1970), 39).
6
See Ch. Dawson, The Making of Europe. An Introduction to the History of European
Unity (New York: Meridian Books, 1956), 250.
7
See M. McCormick, Origins of the European Economy. Communications and Com-
merce, A.D. 300-900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 738–757.
384 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

religious Christian unity.8 The emergence of the Western European

civilisation, initiated in the period between the fifth and the eighth cen-
tury, gained a visible political support in the tenth century through Otto
III’s attempt to establish, or rather renew, the Holy Empire with refer-
ence to the Romanesque and Carolingian traditions and with the influ-
ence of Christianity. It should also be kept in mind that around the year
1000 several countries adopted Christianity (The Czech Republic, Po-
land and Hungary). Additionally, Jerzy Kłoczowski recalls that “with
the intense Christianisation of the ninth, and especially of the tenth cen-
tury, and the rise of the »new Christianity« in the great Slavic-
Hungarian-Scandinavian areas, Europe was ultimately built within the
borders set for the whole millennium.”9 On the other hand, Gerard
Delanty, in his study of the evolution of the idea of European identity,
emphasizes that “by the tenth century the idea of Europe had evolved
from a mere geographical expression to a cultural idea which had polit-
ical uses but which had not yet stabilised to be the basis of a specifical-
ly European identity.”10 That process began later—in the fifteenth cen-
tury, together with geographical discoveries, colonial expansion, the
development of European science based on rationalism and the domi-
nance of “culture over nature” achieved by this civilisation—and was
fully expressed in the seventeenth century as a system of specifically
European values.11

8
See P. Heather, Empires and Barbarians. The Fall of Rome and the Birth of Europe
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 612.
9
J. Kłoczowski, Młodsza Europa. Europa rodkowo-Wschodnia w kręgu cywilizacji
chrze cijańskiej redniowiecza [Younger Europe. Central and Eastern Europe in the
Circle of Christian Civilisation of the Middle Ages] (Warszawa: PIW, 1998), 485.
10
G. Delanty, Inventing Europe. Idea, Identity, Reality (London: Macmillan Press
LTD, 1995), 29.
11
See ibid., 33–36.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 385

Europe in Relation to Legends

Every legend holds a grain of truth that symbolizes an important
aspect of the community to which it relates. Europa is the “heroine” of
one of the most respectable legends in the classical world. She was the
mother of the ruler of Crete, Minos, and thus the ancestor of the oldest
branch of Mediterranean civilisation. She was mentioned briefly by
Homer, but gained immortality as an innocent princess, seduced by the
father of gods in a poem about the abduction of Europa, the authorship
of which is attributed to Moschos of Syracuse, and, above all, in The
Metamorphoses by a Roman poet, Ovid.12
One day, when she was walking by the sea in her hometown of
Phoenicia in the company of her ladies-in-waiting, she was enchanted
by Zeus, who transformed himself into a snow-white bull. The girl
came to the bull and sat on its back to ride along the beach. Meanwhile
Zeus-bull, despite the screams of the girl, ran into the water and swam
towards Crete.13
This is how Ovid describes that moment:
At one moment he frolicks and runs riot in the grass, at another
he lies down, white as snow on the yellow sands. When her fear
has gradually lessened he offers his chest now for virgin hands to
pat and now his horns to twine with fresh wreaths of flowers.
The royal virgin even dares to sit on the bullís back, not realising
whom she presses on, while the god, first from dry land and then
from the shoreline, gradually slips his deceitful hooves into the
waves. Then he goes further out and carries his prize over the
mid surface of the sea. She is terrified and looks back at the
abandoned shore she has been stolen from and her right hand

12
See N. Davies, Europe East and West (Jonathan Cape 2006), 2.
13
See R. Graves, Greek Myths (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1955; Revised edition 1960),
118 and next.
386 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

grips a horn, the other his back, her clothes fluttering, winding,
behind her in the breeze.14
This is how the legend of Europa was born, as depicted in the
drawings on the Greek vases found in the homes of Pompeii, and as
painted in modern times by Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, Veronese and
Claude Lorrain.15

Rembrandt, “The Abduction of Europa,” 1632

The Greek historian Herodotus explained the abduction of Euro-

pa in more material terms: in his view, it was one of the incidents that
took place during continued wars that resulted from capturing each oth-
er’s women. Phoenicians from Tyre abducted Io, the daughter of the

14
Ovid, The Metamorphoses, trans. A. S. Kline (2000), Bk. II, v. 862 and next.
15
See Davies, Europe East and West, 3. Cf. P. Bugge, O. Wæver, The History of the
Idea of Europe, ed. K. Wilson, J. van der Dussen (Walton Hall 1995), 29 and next.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 387

King of Argos, so Hellenes from Crete went to Phoenicia and abducted

the daughter of the ruler of Tyros. One of the many similar incidents of
such payback:
They landed at many places on the coast, and among the rest at
Argos, which was then preeminent above all the states included
now under the common name of Hellas. Here they exposed their
merchandise, and traded with the natives for five or six days; at
the end of which time, when almost everything was sold, there
came down to the beach a number of women, and among them
the daughter of the king, who was, they say, agreeing in this with
the Greeks, Io, the child of Inachus. The women were standing
by the stern of the ship intent upon their purchases, when the
Phoenicians, with a general shout, rushed upon them. The greater
part made their escape, but some were seized and carried off. Io
herself was among the captives. The Phoenicians put the women
on board their vessel, and set sail for Egypt. Thus did Io pass into
Egypt, according to the Persian story, which differs widely from
the Phoenician: and thus commenced, according to their authors,
the series of outrages.16
However, the legend of Europa evokes various associations: Eu-
ropa was a victim of deception (a god transformed himself into a snow-
white bull) or of a brutal force symbolized by the bull, and because the
abduction took place on the shores of Asia, this scene can be interpreted
as the seduction of Europe by Asia. In another version of the myth,
Europa is one of the Oceanides, the daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, or
the mother of Euphemus, one of the Argonauts, son of Poseidon.17
Norman Davies draws attention to several symbolic aspects of
the legend of Europa. Firstly, by abducting the princess from the shores
of Phoenicia (present-day southern Lebanon) to Crete, Zeus moved the
fruit of the older Asian civilisation to the younger colonies on the Ae-

16
Herodotus, The History, Bk. 1, [1.1] [http://ncbible.info/MoodRes/History/Herodo
tus.pdf, accessed on 4 March 2017].
17
See P. Jaroszyński, Spór o Europę. Zderzenia cywilizacji [Dispute over Europe.
Clash of Civilisations] (Lublin 2015), 8.
388 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

gean Islands. Because Phoenicia was in the sphere of influence of the

Egyptian pharaohs, Europa’s journey meant the mythical union be-
tween Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece.
Secondly, Europa’s journey symbolizes the mobility of those
who followed her. Unlike the great civilisations of the Nile Basin, the
Indus Basin, Mesopotamia or China that lasted for a long time, but ge-
ographically and intellectually their development was slow, the civilisa-
tion of the Mediterranean Basin was stimulated by constant movement.
The movement resulted in uncertainty and lack of a sense of security.
That uncertainty was the breeding ground for a ferment of thought, and
the lack of a sense of security was an incentive to be energetic. The
legendary ruler of Crete, Minos, was famous for his ships. Crete was
the first maritime power in the world. One can imagine that the ships
carried people, goods and culture, accelerating all kinds of change
wherever they went.18
Thirdly, Europa followed the way of the Sun—from east to west.
And indeed, one of several proposed etymologies (by Eratosthenes)
compares the origin of the name “Asia,” i.e. “the land of sunrise”
(“asu”—east, Asia), with the origin of the name “Europe” (“ereb” or
“irib”—“the land of sunset,” “evening land”).
In retrospect, from the point of view of the later association of
European civilisation with the West, the most likely origin of the name
“Europe,” which also explains the association of European civilisation
with Western civilisation, is semantic. In the Phoenician language spo-
ken by the ruler of Tyre, Agenor, and his beautiful daughter, the word
“ereb” means the place where the sun sets, i.e. the West. In a straight
line, Crete lies to the west of Lebanon, which then was Phoenicia, so it
is to be assumed that to the inhabitants of Levant the West (ereb) is a
Cretan State. The Hellenes started using the name Europe to refer to the
areas west of the Aegean Sea in order to distinguish them from older
lands in Asia Minor. Conquered or dominated by Greek tribes that soon
18
See Davies, Europe East and West, 4–5.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 389

formed a civilisation that was alternative to the Middle Eastern civilisa-

tion, the Minoan Crete must have seemed so stubbornly different that
the name West clung to it, creating a kind of phenomenon. To this date
the term Western Civilisation has been the only case of naming a civili-
sation after a geographical direction, and not after a nation or a reli-
gious or philosophical doctrine.19

The “Roots” of European Civilisation

Political organization is one of the elements representing civilisa-
tion, as a tool that enables not only its continuation, but also its expan-
sion.20 It is characteristic that the basis of European civilisation is not a
single state, but a specific “European unity” that has been striving to
create a mature political system, so far unsuccessfully.21 For centuries,
Europe was characterized by unbelievable and ever-changing political
and state fragmentation, ideologically and culturally dominated by the
Popes’ religious sovereignty. That ideological superiority and relative
wholeness of the European organism followed from the fact that the
Popes chose Rome as their seat, which was to symbolise the continua-
tion of the Roman Empire, as well as from the attempts to revive the
idea of the European Empire made from 800 to 1806.22

19
E.g. S. Huntington, defines great civilisations by referring to the religious system or
the nation being the basis of that civilisation. The only exception is Western Civilisa-
tion. “The term »the West« is now universally used to refer to what used to be called
Western Christendom, The West is thus the only civilisation identified by a compass
direction, and not by the name of a particular people, religion, or geographical area” (S.
P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilisations and the Remaking of World Order (London:
Penguin Books, 1997), 46–47).
20
See Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne problemy, 22.
21
Oskar Halecki indicates that the birth of Europe as a historical community occurred
because many nations, completely different from one another, managed to cooperate on
the basis of similar understanding of traditions and cultural principles, without destroy-
ing the elements that distinguished them and without forming full political unions. See
O. Halecki, The Limits and Divisions of European History (Sheed & Ward, 1950), 36.
22
See Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne problemy, 53.
390 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

In identifying the roots of European civilisation one should take

into account the influence of the Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire,
the culture of European barbaric tribes and Christianity.23 They are the
components of European civilisation that are most often seen as its
roots. In this article, again, the author focuses only on the description of
Greek and Roman themes.
Greek Influence
The Ancient Greeks gave Europe its name: the word “Europe”
first appeared in a song of praise to the Greek god, Apollo, dating back
to the eighth century BC, whose authorship is attributed to Homer. 24
Greece is generally recognized as the cradle of European civilisation
and its contribution is emphasized at a few levels.
Stefan Czarnowski indicates that
although the Greeks were not the only ones whose legacy we
use; although one may get into an argument about which plays a
more important role in our culture today—the legacy of Hellas,
Rome or Israel—they were the first to make the man and his rea-
son »the measure of all things« and to apply this principle in
practice.25
According to Czarnowski, only the Greeks consciously recog-
nized the supreme model of beauty in the beauty of the human body.
Similarly, in the field of literature we owe to the Greeks the consistent
attention paid in literature to the development and struggle of passions
and human duties, even if they were imposed by the gods or by fate. It
is in the human, or between people, that the Greek tragedy takes place.
The gods only observe its course and it is a human epopee, even if its

23
For instance, M. Cranston indicates that to the Ancient Greeks we owe the name “Eu-
rope,” whereas the Ancient Romans were the first to conquer a considerable part of it. See
“Chrześcijaństwo, kultura i pojęcie ‘Europa’ [Christianity, Culture and the Concept of
‘Europe’],” trans. W. Hornung, Europa 1 (1992): 12.
24
See H. Salman, Uzdrowienie Europy. Obudzenie europejskiej wiadomo ci [Healing
Europe. Raising European Awareness] (Gdynia 2002), 21.
25
S. Czarnowski, Dzieła [Works], vol. I (Warszawa: PWN, 1956), 25.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 391

protagonists are forced to overcome their human limitations. They are

people of flesh and bone, with their burden of desires and passions, and
they do great things because they are not a plaything, a tool in the hands
of the gods.26
Through philosophy the Greeks overcame the mythological ex-
planation of the world:
Excluding Indian philosophy that had no direct influence on the
development of European thought, the Greeks were the first to
produce a number of thinkers who took it upon themselves to
learn about the world of phenomena using only reason and expe-
rience, who set impassable barriers to authority and revelation,
who assigned a task to themselves to explain everything and con-
sistently apply the principle saying that whatever exists must be
understood rather than believed.27
Greek philosophy revolutionised the understanding of the world, the
man and his relationship with other people. The Greeks were the first to
recognize secular, human, rational law (dike), compared to the divine
law (themis), and to use it as the basis for human relations. They were
also the first to use the ideal of a citizen seen as a responsible individual
who knowingly cooperates not only in community activities, but also in
setting the rules of these activities. This is the ideal individual whose
highest law and purpose is the common good, at the same time being
his own good.
It is from the Greeks [Dawson says] that we derive all that is
most distinctive in Western as opposed to Oriental culture—our
science and philosophy, our literature and art, our political
thought and our conceptions of law and of free political institu-
tions. Moreover, it was with the Greeks that there first arose a

26
“Apart from Hellenism”—Dawson explains—“European civilisation and even the
European idea of man would be inconceivable” (The Making of Europe, 26).
27
Czarnowski, Dzieła, vol. I, 26.
392 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

distinct sense of the difference between European and Asiatic

ideals and of the autonomy of Western civilisation.28
Hellenism became the essence of Europeanness, was universal
and was a thoroughly cultural reality that represented the distinctive-
ness and genius of the Greeks. The universality of Greek culture was
based on the discovery of reason in man, which he manifested by the
use of words. These abilities are not updated, they have to be shaped
and nurtured, hence the inalienable role of philosophy and rhetoric.29
Alongside the element of rationality in the Greek culture there is the
theme of freedom, so characteristic of the later European civilisation. It
was addressed by Lysias, who used the name “Europe” several times in
his funeral oration honouring fallen Greek soldiers during the Corinth

28
Dawson, The Making of Europe, 26.
29
Isocrates says: “Philosophy, moreover, which has helped to discover and establish all
these institutions, which has educated us for public affairs and made us gentle towards
each other, which has distinguished between the misfortunes that are due to ignorance
and those which spring from necessity, and taught us to guard against the former and to
bear the latter nobly—philosophy, I say, was given to the world by our city. And Ath-
ens it is that has honoured eloquence. which all men crave and envy in its possessors;
for she realized that this is the one endowment of our nature which singles us out from
all living creatures, and that by using this advantage we have risen above them in all
other respects as well; she saw that in other activities the fortunes of life are so capri-
cious that in them often the wise fail and the foolish succeed, whereas beautiful and
artistic speech is never allotted to ordinary men, but is the work of an intelligent mind
and that it is in this respect that those who are accounted wise and ignorant present the
strongest contrast; and she knew, furthermore, that whether men have been liberally
educated from their earliest years is not to be determined by their courage or their
wealth or such advantages, but is made manifest most of all by their speech, and that
this has proved itself to be the surest sign of culture in every one of us, and that those
who are skilled in speech are not only men of power in their own cities but are also held
in honour in other states. And so far has our city distanced the rest of mankind in
thought and in speech that her pupils have become the teachers of the rest of the world;
and she has brought it about that the name Hellenes suggests no longer a race but an
intelligence, and that the title Hellenes is applied rather to those who share our culture
than to those who share a common blood” (Isocrates, “Panegyricus,” sect. 47–50, in
Isocrates, Speech, trans. G. Norlin George Norlin (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University
Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1980).
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 393

war.30 He praised the Greeks for their nobility, the virtue of fortitude
and the awareness that the war with Persians was not only over Greece
but also over the domination over Europe. The clash between Greece
and Persia took the form of a fight for freedom.31
The European ideal of freedom emerged during that war, and the
sense of significant civilisational difference between Europe and Asia.32
In his description of the Asians, Aristotle emphasized that they lacked
the love of freedom. He admitted that they were creative, but not brave
enough, and therefore easily succumbed to despotism. In turn, describ-
ing the peoples living in northern Europe (i.e. geographically Europe-
ans), the Stagirite considered them brave but not smart enough. Accord-
ing to Aristotle, barbarians are neither smart nor courageous. The
Greeks combine both of these qualities to the highest degree.33
Since the fifth century BC the European civilisation has found in
Greece its elemental features, but also the seeds of its problems. After
all, in Ancient Greece one may find the praise of democracy and free-
dom, but also the apotheosis of tyranny. The Greeks asked almost all
the questions and expressed almost all the doubts that people can have
in the face of the mystery of the world, the life and other people, as well

30
See Jaroszyński, Spór o Europę. Zderzenia cywilizacji, 24.
31
“For indeed, being of noble stock and having minds as noble, the ancestors of those
who lie here achieved many noble and admirable things; but ever memorable and
mighty are the trophies that their descendants have everywhere left behind them owing
to their valour. For they alone risked their all in defending the whole of Greece against
many myriads of the barbarians. For the King of Asia, not content with the wealth that
he had already, but hoping to enslave Europe as well, dispatched an army of five hun-
dred thousand. These, supposing that, if they obtained the willing friendship of this city
or overwhelmed its resistance, they would easily dominate the rest of the Greeks, land-
ed at Marathon, thinking that we should be most destitute of allies if they made their
venture at a moment when Greece was in dissension as to the best means of repelling
the invaders” (Lysias, Funeral Oration, 20–21, in Lysias, Speech, trans. W. R. M.
Lamb (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd.
1930).
32
See Dawson, The Making of Europe, 26.
33
See Aristotle, Politics, trans. C. Lord (Chicago-London: University of Chicago Press,
2013), 1255 b.
394 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

as their own existence.34 Contemporary Europe is “indebted to the an-

cient culture” primarily in the intellectual sphere. Therefore, from the
beginning of our era until the nineteenth century, disciples and students
read the same works and shaped their minds on the basis of the same
models. The ancient cultural heritage gave a constantly renewing crea-
tive power to European civilisation. On the one hand, for example, the
era of the Middle Ages dissociated itself from the Greek gods, from the
legacy of Epicurus, but on the other hand, it was influenced by the phi-
losophies of Plato (e.g. St. Augustine) and Aristotle (e.g. Thomas
Aquinas). The period of Renaissance, when the return to the under-
standing of man as the measure of all things took place, brought a re-
vival of what was the most magnificent in the creations of the Greek
minds. This Greek legacy has remained inspiring throughout the subse-
quent centuries and to this day.35 From the Greek culture we have taken
the distinctions: truth and falsehood, rationalism and dialectical think-
ing, competition and the idea of freedom, scepticism and dialogue.36
However, thanks to the Ancient Greece, Europe could also expe-
rience cultural diffusion from the East: from Mesopotamia, Persia, In-
dia, China, Phoenicia, Egypt and Carthage, without being absorbed by
those cultures. The Greeks were able to creatively use the elements of
Oriental culture and create a whole new quality.37 This was manifested,
for example, in their appreciation of cognition as knowledge (theoria):
learning in order to govern or to collect taxes differed from learning in
order to know the truth for itself. In the Babylonian civilisation they

34
See Golka, Cywilizacja wpółczesna i globalne problemy, 54. Cf. G. Reale, A History
of Ancient Philosophy, I–III, ed. and trans. J. R. Catan (State University of New York
Press, NY 1990).
35
See Czarnowski, Dzieła, vol. I, 26. See, e.g., the works of Z. Herbert, The Collected
Poems, 1956-1998, intro. A. Zagajewski, trans. A. Valles (New York: Ecco Press,
2007).
36
See Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne problemy, 54.
37
“Although the civilisation of Egypt or Babylon”—Jaroszyński explains—“is older
than that of Greece, the Greek introduced essentially new things to culture.” (Spór o
Europę. Zderzenia cywilizacji, 26).
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 395

watched stars to predict the future, and therefore in the Ancient Baby-
lon there was astrology and not astronomy. Similarly, when one speaks
of the civilisation of Egypt, one can see a high level of land surveying,
but not geometry, because it was primarily about measuring the plots of
land after the Nile floods in order to collect an appropriate tax or to
build a pyramid. Those were amazing skills, but it was not science38 yet
and the Greeks raised these skills to a whole new level.39
According to Czarnowski, that spectacular success of Greek sci-
ence would not occur without the curiosity of the world, navigation,
comparison and competition. The Greeks developed seamanship, and
thus increased the economic deposit, and they expanded their
knowledge of other cultures and traditions by competing, for instance,
with the Phoenicians. The fight for dominance at sea gave the Greeks a
chance to improve their sailing and merchant skills, but also refined
their critical faculties and gave them the impulse to satisfy the desire of
knowledge,40 manifesting itself in the gathering of news of the world.
In the Odyssey, for example, one may read how the King of the Phai-
acians asks Odysseus about various things because he is simply curi-
ous:
But come, now, tell me this and declare it truly: whither thou hast
wandered and to what countries of men thou hast come; tell me
of the people and of their well-built cities, both of those who are
cruel and wild and unjust, and of those who love strangers and

38
See J. Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy (London 1930), 1–30.
39
Stefan Czarnowski puts it as follows: “Not everything that the Greek [Greeks] taught
and written philosophically or mathematically had a Greek origin. They borrowed from
all sides: astronomers in Babylon, philosophers in Egypt, artists everywhere. Aegean
were their most important musical instruments, Aegean were types of games, some
cults, while others came from Egypt, from Phrygia, from Thrace. But the greatness of
the work is not that every part of it was re-created, but that all was combined into one
harmonious unit. This unit is the merit of the creator. The Greeks created it and gave it
a rational, clear, human formula” (Dzieła, vol. I, 31).
40
Aristotle writes: “π ν ἄν ωπο οῦ ἰ να ὀ γον α φύ ” [All men naturally
desire knowledge] (Aristotle’s Metaphysics, ed. W. D. Ross (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1924), Bk. I, 980 a).
396 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

fear the gods in their thoughts. And tell me why thou dost weep
and wail in spirit as thou hearest the doom of the Argive Danaans
and of Ilios. This the gods wrought, and spun the skein of ruin
for men, that there might be a song for those yet to be born. Did
some kinsman of thine fall before Ilios, some good, true man, thy
daughter’s husband or thy wife’s father, such as are nearest to
one after one’s own kin and blood? Or was it haply some com-
rade dear to thy heart, some good, true man? For no whit worse
than a brother is a comrade who has an understanding heart.41
Curiosity of the world is a feature of the Greeks inherited by Eu-
rope not only in Roman times, but also in the times of great geographic
discoveries. The Portuguese, the Spaniards, the Dutch, the English are
the nations of sailors. In the expeditions of Dias, Columbus, Da Gama,
Magellan or Cook one can see the features of the trend started by the
Greeks. For although after the great discoveries Europe dominated the
world imperially, it also discovered it for all, including members of
other civilisations (knowledge of the world became available to all).42
Returning to the Greeks, it may be said that their curiosity was the first
definitive step on the path to creating science. Sailors and merchants
were the ones who prepared the ground—and the thinkers came after
them.43
Roman Influence
Roman influence on European civilisation was structurally dif-
ferent from the Greek one, as was Greece itself from the Roman Em-
pire. As Davies explains,
Whereas Greece had grown from scores of scattered cities, Rome
grew from one single organism. Whilst the Greek world had ex-
panded along the Mediterranean sea-lanes, the Roman world was

41
Homer, Odyssey, trans. A. T. Murray (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press;
London, William Heinemann Ltd., 1919), Bk 8, 572.
42
See R. Krawczyk, Podstawy cywilizacji europejskiej [Fundamentals of European
Civilisation] (Warszawa: WSHiP, 2006), 257–258.
43
See Czarnowski, Dzieła, vol. 1, 32.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 397

assembled by territorial conquest. Of course, the contrast is not

quite so stark: in Alexander the Great the Greeks had found the
greatest territorial conqueror of all time; and the Romans, once
they moved outside Italy, did not fail to learn the lessons of sea
power. Yet the essential difference is undeniable. The key to the
Greek world lay in its high-powered ships; the key to Roman
power lay in its marching legions. The Greeks were wedded to
the sea, the Romans to the land. The Greek was a sailor at heart,
the Roman a landsman.44
However, one must keep in mind the continuity of the idea of
civilisational distinctness with respect to barbarian tribes. Dawson indi-
cates that Augustus, struggling against Antony and Cleopatra’s monar-
chy of Alexandria, appears as a spokesman not only for Roman ideals
but, more broadly, for specifically Western ideals. In this context it is
worth mentioning the fragment of Aeneid by Virgil where one may see
crowds of barbarians from the East who act against not only the city of
Rome but also against the great gods of Greece—Poseidon, Aphrodite
and Athena:
All to the fight make haste; the slanted oars
and triple beaks of brass uptear the waves
to angry foam, as to the deep they speed
like hills on hill-tops hurled, or Cyclades
drifting and clashing in the sea: so vast
that shock of castled ships and mighty men!
Swift, arrowy steel and balls of blazing tow
rain o’er the waters, till the sea-god’s world
flows red with slaughter. In the midst, the Queen
sounding her native timbrel, wildly calls
her minions to the fight, nor yet can see
two fatal asps behind. Her monster-gods,
barking Anubis, and his mongrel crew
on Neptune, Venus, and Minerva fling
their impious arms; the face of angry Mars,

44
N. Davies, Europe. A History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 149.
398 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

carved out of iron, in the centre frowns

grim Furies fill the air; Discordia strides
in rent robe, mad with joy; and at her side,
bellona waves her sanguinary scourge.45
Virgil assigns the victory not to Roman Mars, but to Greek Apollo:
There Actian Apollo watched the war,
and o’er it stretched his bow; which when they knew,
Egyptian, Arab, and swart Indian slave,
and all the sons of Saba fled away
in terror of his arm.46
On the one hand, Augustus’ victory saved European civilisation
from being absorbed by the civilisation of the Ancient East and West-
ern barbarians, and on the other, it initiated a new period of expansion
of classical culture. In the East the Empire cooperated with Hellenistic
forces in order to expand Greek civilisation and municipal life, whereas
in the West it launched Western and Central Europe into the orbit of
influence of the Mediterranean civilisation, and at the same time was a
barrier to the invasion of barbarians.47 The Ancient Rome not only ab-
sorbed Greek culture and mediated in its continuation, but also gave the
European civilisation the culture of law, political effectiveness, the or-
ganization of a democratic society (from the Roman Republic) and the
political and civilisational dominance over large areas of the European
continent.48
During the reign of Emperor Augustus, the Roman Empire cov-
ered continental territories (Italy, Gaul, Spain) and overseas territories
where Hellenistic influences had already been developed. While it can
be said that Roman organizational genius was politically and militarily
victorious in Europe at that time, Hellenism prevailed in the social and

45
Virgil, Aeneid, trans. Th. C. Williams (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1910), Bk.
VIII, lines 671.
46
Ibid.
47
See Dawson, The Making of Europe, 20.
48
See Golka, Cywilizacja współczesna i globalne problemy, 55.
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 399

intellectual sense. In fact, Romanization of the Hellenistic East merged

with Hellenisation of the Roman West.49 The Romans brought legal
culture, but it should be remembered that it was a development inspired
by the Greeks. As R. Sobański explains:
It is enough to mention Heraclitus with his assertion that »The
people must fight on behalf of the law as though for the city
wall«, which implies that a specific role is attributed to the law;
Protagoras with his claim that man is a measure of all things;
Socrates with the question whether there can be a state where
judgments can be overturned by a single person; Plato with his
utopian and a very dangerous idea of perfect justice; Aristotle,
whose teachings on justice still mark the starting point of all se-
rious considerations of justice and law. The Greek philosophy of
law flourished alongside the applicable law, but did not exert any
influence on it. The Romans saw its practical usefulness and ap-
plied it in their legal deliberations to give meaning to such con-
cepts as justice, righteousness, honesty, and to set criteria for the
distinction between »ius and vis«.50
The influence of Roman law on European law was manifested
through its implementation. Roman legal system started with the crea-
tion of the Law of the Twelve Tables in the years 451–450 BC, ended
with its great codification in the form of the so-called Code of Justinian
of the sixth century AD51 and was subsequently incorporated into the
legal systems of most European countries. Hence the remark made by
Ernest Renan—Europe is Roman. When it comes to law, it concerned
the extension of the principles and concepts formulated in Rome to
practically the whole European continent.52 If today the distinctiveness

49
See Dawson, The Making of Europe, 17.
50
R. Sobański, “Kultura prawna Europy [Legal Cuture of Europe],” Studia Europejskie
[European Studies] 3 (1998): 119.
51
See R. Tokarczyk, “Kultura prawa europejskiego [The Culture of European Law],”
Studia Europejskie [European Studies] 1 (2000): 14–15.
52
The statement by E. Renan may be viewed as a paradigm of the sources of Euro-
peanness: “L’Europe est grecque par la pensée et l’art, romaine par le droit, et judeo-
400 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

of the English legal system may be noticed, it does not mean that they
rejected the Roman understanding of law, but only that they constituted
their system differently. The Ancient codes of Theodosian, and Justini-
an in particular, were the subject of intense study at Italian universities
of the Medieval Period. From there a systematic study of Roman law
spread throughout Europe. Due to the emergence of the European eco-
nomic area in the late Middle Ages, Roman law successively replaced
local customary law and was incorporated into the legal systems of
most continental countries (except for England, the British Isles and
Northern France, where the Franconian (North German) model of cus-
tomary law has been used since the French Revolution).53
In addition to Rome’s military successes and legal culture, one
should also note its success in urban development, i.e. the introduction
of cities as a type of settlement and as a specific kind of social commu-
nity in continental Europe.54 Along with the military gains, the Roman
Empire developed settlements, a network of roads, created water supply
systems, amphitheatres, temples, triumphal arches and stadiums.55 In
the capital city the Roman Forum was created, which was significant
for Europe. Roman influence reached the Danube, the Euphrates in
Asia, Africa’s deserts and contributed significantly to the Romanisation
of Europe.56 Rome introduced the divisions of society according to

chrétienne par la religio [Europe is Greek in its thought and its art, Roman in its law,
and Judaeo-Christian in its religion]” (quoted after Davies, Europe. A History, 44).
53
See Krawczyk, Podstawy cywilizacji europejskiej, 216.
54
See Dawson, The Making of Europe, 20–23. Cf. L. Benevolo, The European City.
The Making of Europe (Wiley 1995), 19–26. The Autor connects the beginning of cities
with the social life of the Ancient Greece (Ibid., 16). Cf. Aristotle, Politics, Bk. I, 1252
a–1253 a.
55
“The whole empire”—Dawson writes—“was bound together socially by common
lawsand a common culture, and materially by the vast system of roads, which rendered
communications easier and safer than at any time before the seventeenth century” (The
Making of Europe, 22).
56
“There is a quality of cohesiveness about the Roman world which applied neither to
Greece nor perhaps to any other civilisation, ancient or modern. Like the stones of a
Roman wall, which were held together both by the regularity of the design and by the
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 401

property qualification to centurias and territorial units. On its territory

rights were recorded and hierarchy of officials was formed (consul,
praetor, quaestor, aedile, censor, tribune of the people), the role of the
senate and the people’s assembly was also appreciated. In Rome a pro-
fessional army was established that strengthened the state, but at the
same time increased the role and importance of great leaders (Marius,
Sulla), for whom the army became a means of achieving their own po-
litical goals. It was the first time that rulers received the title of prin-
ceps57 (the first citizen in the state), from which the word principal was
derived in Europe.
Rome influenced the development of the theory of the state, lit-
erature, philosophy, architecture and art, poetry and historiography. In
the context of the dissemination of Roman achievements concerning the
law and the state, one should mention Marcus Aurelius and Publius
Cornelius Tacitus. The influence of Roman literature on the next gener-
ations was primarily through the works of Virgil, Horace and Ovid.
Rome also had its philosophers (Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, Marcus
Aurelius, Plutarch of Chaeronea, Plotinus and Julian the Apostate),
which resulted in the development of Epicureanism, Roman Stoicism,
Platonism and numerous variants of Neoplatonism.58

peculiarly, powerful Roman cement, so the various parts of the Roman realm were
bonded into a massive, monolithic entity, by phisical, organizational, and psyhological
controls. The physical bonds included the network of military garrisons which were
stationed in every province, and the network of stone-build roads which linked the
provinces with Rome. The organizational bonds were based on the common principles
of law and administration, and on the universal army of officials who enforced common
standards of conduct. The psychological controls were built on fear and punishment—
on the absolute certainty that anyone or anything that threatend the authority of Rome
would be utterly destroyed” (Davies, Europe. A History, 149).
57
See H. G. Wells, A Short History of the World (New York: The Macmillan Company,
1922), 194–195.
58
See K. Lastawski, “Historyczne i współczesne cechy tożsamości europejskiej [His-
torical and Contemporary Characteristics of European Identity],” Polityka i społec-
zeństwo [Politics and Society] 1 (2004): 221–222.
402 Wojciech Daszkiewicz

European civilisation is often perceived through the prism of the

period of its greatest power. Indeed, in the nineteenth century Europe
was the “factory of the world,” while the colonies were the source of
raw materials and a market for European goods. Some remember with
nostalgia the period when several European countries controlled large
parts of the globe through a network of colonies, protectorates and do-
minions. One may risk saying that such Europe would not exists with-
out the layers that contributed to the so-called European identity.
In this article the author has described only two layers that be-
came key elements of the European civilisation of the period between
the eight and tenth century. To this day, Europeans refer to the models
of a widely understood Ancient culture: the concept of polis as a com-
munity of equal citizens, representative bodies, elements of merchant
culture, rationality and emancipation visible in numerous philosophical
trends—these components of culture were successfully introduced into
European civilisation. The concept of Roman law (tripartite) shaped the
legal culture of the continental Europe, preparing the ground for eco-
nomic development. The institution of a legal person and a joint stock
company made it possible to accumulate wealth beyond the abilities of
one person.
Due to volume restrictions imposed by the article, two other, no
less important, sources of European civilisation have not been dis-
cussed—the contribution of the barbarian tribes and the role of Christi-
anity, and only with these components an adequate representation of the
“roots of Europe” may be reconstructed.

GREEK AND ROMAN ROOTS OF EUROPEAN CIVILISATION

SUMMARY
European countries share certain features, roots and, to a large extent, history. In the
present article attention is paid to the Greek and Roman influence on European civilisa-
 Greek and Roman Roots of European Civilisation 403

tion, or “Western Civilisation.” To this day Europeans refer to broadly understood

models of ancient culture contained in the concept of polis as a community of equal
citizens, in promoting representative bodies, appreciation of elements of merchant
culture, rationality and emancipation, the concept of Roman Law that together represent
the signa specifica of the Western civilisation. If one adds to this the contribution of
Christianity and barbarian tribes, one may reconstruct an adequate representation of the
“roots of Europe.”
KEYWORDS
Europe, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, civilisation, Western Civilisation, culture, polis,
Roman law.
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