Christopher Williams
Professor Justin Ryals

History Repeats

My idea of Greek concepts was the configuration, understanding, and deduction of human virtues. It’s practically blatant with the continuous rise of philosophers. I chose the concepts; Arete, Sophia, Eros, Eudaimonia, and Eunomia. I chose these concepts because they are all concepts that show that people were not only trying to be good people, but the best people they could be. They put these concepts into the form of gods and gate keepers of heaven so people would strive to do right. The continuous literature and artwork put into these concepts is something you no longer see, and that is something I see wrong in the world today. The world today seems to be a very selfish and arrogant place. And I believe the return of these concepts would make life better for all.
My first concept arête is seen in many different areas, such as; Achilles in the Illiad because he is the best warrior that man could be. Or, Penelope in the odyssey because she is the best wife that woman could be. The Parthenon is a prime example that Arete isn’t just held to people but also well strongly constructed building, a strong animal, or beautiful pottery. Arete means virtue or excellence of any kind. It meant living up to ones full potential. In Plato’s “Allegory Of The Cave”, the perfect form of something was its arête, what everything, and everyone is trying to get to. As Plato says,” arête is something you are always trying to achieve, but unattainable, it’s a goal.” The fact that this concept is seen as unattainable seems to be meant to be inspiring. Inspire people to always strive to better and there always room to be better. Human were made imperfect so we will always “sin” but that shouldn’t discourage us from doing our best to stay free of sin. Knowing and understanding this seems to be a form of human perfection in itself. Such as someone that prays for strength, confess and repent their sins, and making the act of apologizing to those we sin against.
My next concept is Sophia; Sophia is the goddess of wisdom and God’s wife. Literally the meaning is wisdom, because Sophia translated into English is wisdom. In Hellenistic philosophy, religion, Platonism, and much more Sophia is a pivotal idea. Sophia is so monumental that there are numerous prayers to her and in the painting “The Dinner Party” which is a dynamic feminist art piece and milestone from the 70’s. It depicts a ceremonial banquet on a triangular table with thirty-nine place settings, each commemorating an important woman from history. And in that painting is place setting for the goddess of wisdom with single flower with changing color petals but the white center is to respect the original nature of the goddess of wisdom and strength as a creative force in the universe, despite the loss of her original identity. Sophia originated from the world of Gnosticism, which contains the full powers of God, which she was worshipped as the female version of.
Eros is my next Greek concept and I believe it to be not only the most popular of its time, but the most powerful as it is still around today, but in other forms and the lack of history. Eros is what who we call cupid; he is in many pieces of artwork and literature known as the Greek god of love, son of Aphrodite. Sometimes considered a primordial god, a child of chaos who blessed the union of Gaia and Uranus after the universe came into existence. Upon my research Eros was most mention in the works of Sappho, a Greek lyric poet. In one line she says “Eros (love) came from heaven clad in a purple mantle”. In works by satirical poets, he was depicted as a blindfolded man, carrying bow and arrow and could target any human and make them fall in love with the very first person they seen. The fact that we’ve created a holiday (Valentine’s day) and its represented by Cupid, and the idea and image of Cupid is still around today shows how great of an impact it made. That people just wanted to love and be loved, and it was described with such beauty like in Sappho, Fragment 130 : "Once again limb-loosening Eros (Love) makes me tremble, the bitter-sweet, irresistable creature."
Eudaimonia, my next Greek concept is also another powerful concept. Eudaimonia is blatantly translated into happiness. But the tricky part of this concept in its time, and still this day is what makes happiness, what his happiness. It is discussed in many pieces of literature, but most famously in The Republic by Plato. Plato writes “that eudaimonia refers to a state of the soul, and the active life to which it leads, whose value is multifaceted. The order and harmony of the soul is, of course, good for the soul because it provides what is good for each of the parts and the whole, and so makes the parts function well, for the benefit of each and of the whole person.” Aristotle made points that eudemonia life is a life which is objectively desirable, and means living well. He says that everyone agrees that eudaimonia is the highest good for human beings but that there is a substantial disagreement on what sort of life counts as doing and living well. Some others say that a man could not be called happy until he has lived his entire life.
My last Greek concept is Eunomia which is mostly depicted in artwork. Eunomia is the goddess of good order and lawful conduct. She was mostly associated with the maintenance of civil order and good laws. She is also one of the gate keepers of heaven, frequently depicted in Athenian vase paintings with companion Aphrodite to represent the lawful or obedient behavior of women in marriage. Eunomia played a very generalized but important, nonpartisan role as a virtue that gave rise to prosperity. I believe this concept was developed in efforts to motivate people to live with respect of one another, maintaining order amongst civilization such as police, judges, and other forms of law and order do today. And if this concept was able to be instilled and spread amongst the world today we would live in peace, at least with not as much chaos and violence.
All these concepts lead me to believe that the Greeks of this time ultimately wanted to be good people. Live good lives, do good things, and die happily. They may not have known exactly what was good and bad but majority did things with good intentions of their beliefs in religion and moral virtue. Some of these concepts such as Eros (love) , Eunomia (law and order), Eudaimonia (happiness), and Arete (excellence) are still around in some of lifestyles today shows just how important and impactful this period of time is.