Author Topic: London, Greece  (Read 3429 times)

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Offline Maik

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London, Greece
« on: Tuesday, 13 October, 2015 @ 22:21:54 »
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Modern London is the true heir of ancient Greece
Hellenic inventions remain at the heart of British life, writes Harry Mount

The Greeks never made it to Britain, unlike the Romans, who were here for almost 400 years. Yet their voices resound loudest in the UK capital today. It is no longer Athens that is the true heir to the ancient Greek miracle — but the city state of London.

Roman leaders spoke Greek: according to the Roman historian, Suetonius, Julius Caesar’s last words to Brutus were not “Et tu, Brute?” but “Kai su, teknon” — “You, too, my child?”

In the eastern Mediterranean, ancient Greek was the lingua franca from the fourth century BC conquests by Alexander the Great until about 600AD. That is why the New Testament was written in Greek. Today it is English that is the global language, not least in its sublime New Testament form (“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth”), translated from the Greek — a fact that helps keep London at the heart of world commerce.

Greece lies at the heart of two roots of British civilisation — the Bible and the classical canon. And Hellenic inventions — democracy, tragedy, comedy, history — remain at the heart of British life. Ancient Athens and modern London may be millennia apart but they share a vigorous, pulsing bloodline.

The writer is the author of ‘Odyssey: An­cient Greece in the Footsteps of Odysseus
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f948e1ec-7182-11e5-9b9e-690fdae72044.html

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