history

[work in progress]

ancient india

(todo)

See also: ancient India

ancient greeks

  • Major influence on: arts (architecture, music theory, literature, sculpting, pottery), language-alphabet, philosophy, mathematics, civics (governement), healthcare, military tactics

polymaths

  • Aristotle (384-322 BC)
    • video: intro
      • “Aristotle was the original Renaissance Man - long before the Renaissance. He wrote about biology, ethics, logic, physics, rhetoric, politics, and countless other subjects. In sum, Aristotle’s work comprised the first systematic form of Western Philosophy. Aristotle is also considered the first genuine scientist in history.”
    • video: more intro

philosophy

science

mathematics

language

  • “Greece was the first civilization to use an alphabet. It was developed after the Dark Ages and consisted of 24 letters. Believe it or not, the word “alphabet” originates from the first 2 letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. Today many letters of our modern alphabet originate from the Greek alphabet, including letters such as A, B, E, and O.” *
  • “The Roman alphabet, nearly identical to the one we employ but limited at the time to block capitals, resulted from the modification of a Greek variant sometimes known as the Euboean or Western Greek alphabet.” *
  • “Cyril and Methodius created the Cyrillic alphabet in 862 AD, fist in Bulgaria, and then it spread in Russia, Serbia, and other countries. The cyrrilic alphabet is based on the Greek but they have added 9 more letters, which we do not have in the Greek language. The Greek Alphabet has only 24 letters.” *
  • “The Oxford Companion to the English Language states that the 'influence of classical Greek on English has been largely indirect, through Latin and French, and largely lexical and conceptual…'. According to one estimate, more than 150,000 words of English are derived from Greek words. These include technical and scientific terms but also more common words like those above. Words that starts with 'ph-' are usually of Greek origin, for example: philosophy, physical, photo, phrase, philanthropy. Many English words are formed of parts of words (morphemes) that originate from the Greek language (phobia, micro, demos, …).” - *

libraries

  • “The first library in the world, the Library of Alexandria, was actually built in Egypt. During this time, Egypt was colonized by the Greeks after it had submitted to Alexander’s rule. The Macedonians started spreading the Greek way of life to all of the conquered lands, including Egypt. After Alexander’s death, there was a power struggle. Eventually, the Kingdom of Egypt came under the rule of Alexander’s general, Ptolemy (not the scientist Claudius Ptolemy!).” - *

literature

  • Homer works: …
    • “From antiquity until the present day, the influence of the Homeric epics on Western civilization has been great, inspiring many of its most famous works of literature, music, art and film. The Homeric epics were the greatest influence on ancient Greek culture and education; to Plato, Homer was simply the one who ”has taught Greece“” - wikipedia
    • Illiad
    • Odyssee

sculpting

pottery

drama theater

architecture

civics

  • Athenian democracy
  • “The Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens first started out with a monarchy and then advanced to an oligarchy until it finally reached a democracy. The democratic government consisted of 6,000 assembly members, all of whom were adult male citizens. The assembly voted on issues throughout Athens. In order for a law to pass, the number of votes needed to be a majority. But in order to banish or exile someone, all 6,000 votes were needed.” - *
  • video: intro

civil engineering

  • worlds first flush toilets? Yes
  • worlds first stone roads? Almost (“Notably, in about 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km paved road…”)
  • worlds first cities? Not quite, but the Polis (“city state”) was quite modern.

sports

  • “The Olympic Games started in ancient Greece. The participants were the city-states of Ancient Greece and its colonies. The Olympic Games were held every 4 years in honor of Zeus, the king god. The prizes for winning were fame and glory, along with having statues of the winners erected and sometimes even putting the winners' faces on coins. Today we still celebrate the Olympic Games and still continue some of the old traditions, such as the olive leaf crowns and the opening and closing celebrations.” *

military

history

world war I & II

The “second 30-years war”

japanese culture

(todo)

  • ”Japanese Culture: The Nature of Zen“ (57min)
    • Zen (direct understanding)
    • Zazen meditative discipline
    • Koan: “a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the “great doubt” and test a student's progress in Zen practice” more info
      • “What is your original face before you were born?”
      • “When you can do nothing, what can you do?”
      • “I am the slave who set the master free.” - Rumi
      • “In stillness beyond silence, what is there?

music history

(todo)

science history

(todo)

computer history

(todo)

patent influence

history of dance

various ideas

  • urban planning around the world (city life, …)
  • ethnic discrimination & anti-semitism history
indexer
×