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116-548: The later 19th-century European philhellenism was largely to be found among the Classicists . In antiquity, the term philhellene ("the admirer of Greeks and everything Greek"), from the ( Greek : φιλέλλην , from φίλος - philos , "friend", "lover" + Ἕλλην - Hellen , "Greek") was used to describe both non-Greeks who were fond of ancient Greek culture and Greeks who patriotically upheld their culture. The Liddell-Scott Greek-English Lexicon defines 'philhellene' as "fond of

232-479: A School of Translators was set up in the border city of Toledo, Spain , to translate from Arabic into Latin. Along with the unavailability of Greek authors, there were other differences between the classical canon known today and the works valued in the Middle Ages. Catullus , for instance, was almost entirely unknown in the medieval period. The popularity of different authors also waxed and waned throughout

348-466: A Roman audience saw a play adapted from the Greek by Livius Andronicus. Andronicus also translated Homer's Odyssey into Saturnian verse. The poets Ennius, Accius, and Patruvius followed. Their work survives only in fragments; the earliest Latin authors whose work we have full examples of are the playwrights Plautus and Terence . Much of the best known and most highly thought of Latin literature comes from

464-670: A burden upon the Greeks themselves. In particular, Western Philhellenism focused exclusively on the heritage of Classical Greece, while negating or rejecting the heritage of the Byzantine Empire and the Greek Orthodox Church , which for the Greek people are at least as important. Philhellenism also created a renewed interest in the artistic movement of Neoclassicism , which idealized fifth-century Classical Greek art and architecture, very much at second hand, through

580-521: A learned vocabulary of international application. Thus, Latin grew from a highly developed cultural product of the Golden and Silver eras of Latin literature to become the international lingua franca in matters diplomatic, scientific, philosophic and religious, until the 17th century. Long before this, Latin had evolved into the Romance languages and Ancient Greek into Modern Greek and its dialects . In

696-749: A number of public holidays in Germany . The country is particularly known for its Oktoberfest celebrations in Munich , its carnival culture and globally influential Christmas customs known as Weihnachten . 3 October has been the national day of Germany since 1990, celebrated as the German Unity Day ( Tag der Deutschen Einheit ). The UNESCO inscribed 52 properties in Germany on the World Heritage List . A global opinion poll for

812-472: A number of modern western universities. In the 21st century Germany has been an important country for the development of contemporary analytic philosophy in continental Europe, along with France, Austria, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries. In the field of music, Germany claims some of the most renowned classical composers of the world, including Bach , Mozart and Beethoven , who marked

928-531: A printed newspaper every day, while around 14.6 million make use of newspapers’ digital offerings. Architectural contributions from Germany include the Carolingian and Ottonian styles , important precursors of Romanesque . The region has also produced significant works in styles such as the Gothic , Renaissance and Baroque . The nation was particularly important in the early modern movement through

1044-509: A range of digital-only channels. Reality TV is the most popular programming in Germany and a key part in modern German culture. Germany is home to some of the world's largest media conglomerates, including Bertelsmann , the Axel Springer AG and ProSiebenSat.1 Media . The German-speaking book publishers produce about 700,000,000 copies of books every year, with about 80,000 titles, nearly 60,000 of them new publications. Germany

1160-645: A regional language. They are officially protected by the ECRML . The most used immigrant languages are Turkish , Kurdish , Polish , the Balkan languages , and Russian . Standard German is a West Germanic language and is closely related to and classified alongside English, Dutch, and the Frisian languages . To a lesser extent, it is also related to the East (extinct) and North Germanic languages . Most German vocabulary

1276-687: A religious affiliation). The north and east are predominantly Protestant, the south and west predominantly Catholic. Nowadays there is a non-religious majority in Hamburg and the former East German states. Germany was, at one point, almost in its entirety within the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Empire , but was also the source of Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther . During the Kulturkampf (from about 1872 to 1886)

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1392-537: A revenue of 28 billion Euro. Almost 44 percent of the products are exported. The textile branch thus is the second largest producer of consumer goods after food production in the country. Berlin is the center of young and creative fashion in Germany, prominently displayed at Berlin Fashion Week (twice a year). It also hosts Europe's largest fashion trade fair called Bread & Butter . Munich, Hamburg and Düsseldorf are also important design and production hubs of

1508-501: A speaker of standard German, since they often differ in lexicon , phonology , and syntax . Around the world, German has approximately 100 million native speakers and also about 80 million non-native speakers. German is the main language of about 90 million people (18%) in the EU. 67% of German citizens claim to be able to communicate in at least one foreign language, 27% in at least two languages other than their first. In

1624-520: A transcendent single deity. Different cities often worshipped the same deities, sometimes with epithets that distinguished them and specified their local nature. The earliest surviving philosophy from ancient Greece dates back to the 6th century BC, when according to Aristotle Thales of Miletus was considered to have been the first Greek philosopher. Other influential pre-Socratic philosophers include Pythagoras and Heraclitus . The most famous and significant figures in classical Athenian philosophy, from

1740-603: A version of it to many parts of the Mediterranean region and Europe; thus Classical Greece is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western civilization. Ancient Greek is the historical stage in the development of the Greek language spanning the Archaic ( c.  8th to 6th centuries BC), Classical ( c.  5th to 4th centuries BC), and Hellenistic ( c.  3rd century BC to 6th century AD) periods of ancient Greece and

1856-545: Is a Greek creation". Ancient philosophy was traditionally divided into three branches: logic, physics, and ethics. However, not all of the works of ancient philosophers fit neatly into one of these three branches. For instance, Aristotle's Rhetoric and Poetics have been traditionally classified in the West as "ethics", but in the Arabic world were grouped with logic; in reality, they do not fit neatly into either category. From

1972-415: Is a large aspect of the culture. This large community draws in people from all around the world. There are around 500 galleries in Germany that caters to this modern form of art. Art Cologne is a popular fair that displays contemporary art. Christianity was introduced to the area of modern Germany by 300 AD and became fully Christianized by the time of Charlemagne in the eighth and ninth century. After

2088-697: Is a prominent example of the city symphony genre. The Nazi era produced mostly propaganda films although the work of Leni Riefenstahl still introduced new aesthetics to film. During the 1970s and 1980s, New German Cinema directors such as Volker Schlöndorff , Werner Herzog , Wim Wenders , and Rainer Werner Fassbinder put West German cinema back on the international stage with their often provocative films. More recently, films such as Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Gegen die Wand (Head-on) (2004), Der Untergang (Downfall) (2004), and Der Baader Meinhof Komplex (2008) have enjoyed international success. The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film went to

2204-477: Is also very well known for its many renowned opera houses , such as Semperoper , Komische Oper Berlin and Munich State Theatre . Richard Wagner established the Bayreuth Festspielhaus . One of the most famous composers of the international film business is Hans Zimmer . The year 2020 was designated “Beethoven Year” to mark 250 years since the composer was born. German cinema dates back to

2320-650: Is derived from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family. Significant minorities of words are derived from Latin and Greek, with a smaller amount from French and most recently English (known as Denglisch ). German is written using the Latin alphabet. In addition to the 26 standard letters, German has three vowels with Umlaut , namely ä, ö, and ü, as well as the Eszett or scharfes S ( sharp s ) which

2436-634: Is in third place on international statistics after the English-speaking book market and the People's Republic of China. The Frankfurt Book Fair is considered to be the most important book fair in the world for international deals and trading and has a tradition that spans over 500 years. Many of Europe's best-selling newspapers and magazines are produced in Germany. The papers with the highest circulation are Die Zeit , Süddeutsche Zeitung , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Die Welt ,

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2552-762: Is one of the most influential works of twentieth-century literature. German culture The culture of Germany has been shaped by major intellectual and popular currents in Europe, both religious and secular. German culture originated with the Germanic tribes , the earliest evidence of Germanic culture dates to the Jastorf culture in Northern Germany and Denmark . Contact with Germanic tribes were described by various Greco-Roman authors. The first extensive writing done on Germanic culture can be seen during

2668-538: Is one of the world's foremost film festivals. An international jury places emphasis on representing films from all over the world and awards the winners with the Golden and Silver Bears. The annual European Film Awards ceremony is held every second year in the city of Berlin, where the European Film Academy (EFA) is located. The Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam are the oldest large-scale film studios in

2784-568: Is opposition to the teaching of Latin in Italy, it is nonetheless still compulsory in most secondary schools. The same may also be said in the case of France or Greece. Indeed, Ancient Greek is one of the compulsory subjects in Greek secondary education, whereas in France, Latin is one of the optional subjects that can be chosen in a majority of middle schools and high schools. Ancient Greek is also still being taught, but not as much as Latin . One of

2900-492: Is referred to as the birth of modern Science Fiction movies. Founded in 1912, the Babelsberg Film Studio is the oldest large-scale film studio in the world. In 1930, Josef von Sternberg directed The Blue Angel , which was the first major German sound film and it brought world fame to actress Marlene Dietrich . Impressionist documentary Berlin: Symphony of a Great City , directed by Walter Ruttmann ,

3016-558: Is still seen as a foundational aspect of European culture. The legacy of the classical world is not confined to the influence of classical languages. The Roman Empire was taken as a model by later European empires, such as the Spanish and British empires . Classical art has been taken as a model in later periods – medieval Romanesque architecture and Enlightenment-era neoclassical literature were both influenced by classical models, to take but two examples, while James Joyce 's Ulysses

3132-504: Is the German techno and minimal scene (e.g. Ricardo Villalobos , Paul Kalkbrenner and Sven Väth ). Germany hosts many large rock music festivals every year. The Rock am Ring festival is the largest music festival in Germany, and among the largest in the world. German artists also make up a large percentage of industrial and Neue Deutsche Härte acts. Germany hosts some of the largest goth or dark culture scenes and festivals in

3248-527: Is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world. It has exerted a strong influence on rock and heavy metal music . Artists such as Herbert Grönemeyer , Scorpions , Blind Guardian , Rammstein , Nena , Unheilig , Xavier Naidoo , Tokio Hotel and Modern Talking have enjoyed international fame. German musicians have contributed heavily to developments in electronic music , in synth-pop , electronic body music , trance and hardcore . Krautrock band Kraftwerk are considered to be

3364-453: Is the study of classical antiquity . In the Western world , classics traditionally refers to the study of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and their original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin . Classics may also include as secondary subjects Greco-Roman philosophy , history , archaeology , anthropology , art , mythology , and society. In Western civilization, the study of

3480-445: Is very well regarded and remains at the heart of much of our art today. For example, ancient Greek architecture gave us the classical orders: Doric , Ionic , and Corinthian . The Parthenon is still the architectural symbol of the classical world. Greek sculpture is well known and we know the names of several ancient Greek artists: for example, Phidias . With philology, archaeology, and art history, scholars seek understanding of

3596-467: Is written "ß" (not used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein , where it is written ss instead). German orthography has gone through a series of reforms, the most recent in 1996 . German dialects are distinguished from varieties of standard German . German dialects are traditional local varieties and can be traced back to the different German tribes. Many of them are not easily understandable to

Philhellenism - Misplaced Pages Continue

3712-533: The Gymnasium , to revitalize German education at home, and providing on two occasions high-minded philhellene German princes ignorant of modern-day Greek realities, to be Greek sovereigns. During the later 19th century the new studies of archaeology and anthropology began to offer a quite separate view of ancient Greece, which had previously been experienced second-hand only through Greek literature , Greek sculpture and architecture . Twentieth-century heirs of

3828-676: The Archaeological Institute of America in 1879), including many foreign archaeological institutes in Athens and Rome (the American School of Classical Studies at Athens in 1881, British School at Athens in 1886, American Academy in Rome in 1895, and British School at Rome in 1900). More recently, classical archaeology has taken little part in the theoretical changes in the rest of the discipline, largely ignoring

3944-677: The BBC revealed that Germany is recognized for having the most positive influence in the world in 2011, 2013, and 2014. German is the official and predominant spoken language in Germany. It is one of 23 official languages in the European Union, and one of the three working languages of the European Commission , along with English and French. Recognised native minority languages in Germany are Danish , Sorbian , North Frisian and Saterland Frisian , with Low German being

4060-657: The Deutscher Werkbund and the Bauhaus movement identified with Walter Gropius . The Nazis closed these movements and favoured a type of neo-classicism . Since World War II post-modern structures have been built. Since the reunification of Germany the trend has continued. German art has a long and distinguished tradition in the visual arts , from the earliest known work of figurative art to its current output of contemporary art . Important German Renaissance painters include Albrecht Altdorfer , Lucas Cranach

4176-588: The German diaspora , aspects of German culture are passed on to younger generations through naming customs and through the use of spoken and written German. The Goethe Institute seeks to spread the knowledge of German culture worldwide. A total of 15.5 million people are currently learning German as a second language. German literature can be traced back to the Middle Ages , with the most notable authors of

4292-687: The Parthenon (the Elgin Marbles ), works that inspired the British Philhellenes, many of whom, however, deplored their removal. Many well-known philhellenes supported the Greek Independence Movement such as Shelley , Thomas Moore , Leigh Hunt , Cam Hobhouse , Walter Savage Landor and Jeremy Bentham . Some, notably Lord Byron , even took up arms to join the Greek revolutionaries. Many more financed

4408-527: The Reformation started by Martin Luther in the early 16th century, many people left the Catholic Church and became Protestant , mainly Lutheran and Calvinist . 59.4% of the German population belongs to Christian denominations: 30% are Roman Catholic , and 29% are affiliated with Protestantism (the figures are known accurately because Germany imposes a church tax on those who disclose

4524-557: The Roman Empire destroyed most evidence (cultural artefacts) of earlier, conquered civilizations, such as that of the Etruscans . The English word philosophy comes from the Greek word φιλοσοφία, meaning "love of wisdom", probably coined by Pythagoras. Along with the word itself, the discipline of philosophy as we know it today has its roots in ancient Greek thought , and according to Martin West "philosophy as we understand it

4640-523: The Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg is one of the oldest universities in Europe. German designers were leaders of modern product design , with the Bauhaus designers like Mies van der Rohe , and Dieter Rams of Braun being essential. Germany is a leading country in the fashion industry . The German textile industry consisted of about 1,300 companies with more than 130,000 employees in 2010, which generated

4756-654: The history of philosophy . Kantianism inspired the work of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche as well as German idealism defended by Fichte and Hegel . Marx and Engels developed communist theory in the second half of the 19th century while Heidegger and Gadamer pursued the tradition of German philosophy in the 20th century. A number of German intellectuals were also influential in sociology , most notably Adorno , Elias , Habermas , Horkheimer , Luhmann , Marcuse , Simmel , Tönnies , and Weber . The University of Berlin founded in 1810 by linguist and philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt served as an influential model for

Philhellenism - Misplaced Pages Continue

4872-513: The late antique period . Late Latin survived long after the end of classical antiquity, and was finally replaced by written Romance languages around the 9th century AD. Along with literary forms of Latin, there existed various vernacular dialects, generally known as Vulgar Latin , in use throughout antiquity. These are mainly preserved in sources such as graffiti and the Vindolanda tablets . Latin literature seems to have started in 240 BC, when

4988-584: The 1960s at the University of Konstanz . Reception studies is concerned with how students of classical texts have understood and interpreted them. As such, reception studies is interested in a two-way interaction between reader and text, taking place within a historical context. Though the idea of an "aesthetics of reception" was first put forward by Hans Robert Jauss in 1967, the principles of reception theory go back much earlier than this. As early as 1920, T. S. Eliot wrote that "the past [is] altered by

5104-497: The 19th century, little new literature was still being written in Latin – a practice which had continued as late as the 18th century – and a command of Latin declined in importance. Correspondingly, classical education from the 19th century onwards began to increasingly de-emphasise the importance of the ability to write and speak Latin. In the United Kingdom this process took longer than elsewhere. Composition continued to be

5220-727: The 19th-century view of an unchanging, immortal quality of "Greekness" are typified in J. C. Lawson's Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion (1910) or R. and E. Blum's The Dangerous Hour: The lore of crisis and mystery in rural Greece (1970). According to the Classicist Paul Cartledge , they "represent this ideological construction of Greekness as an essence, a Classicizing essence to be sure, impervious to such historic changes as that from paganism to Orthodox Christianity , or from subsistence peasant agriculture to more or less internationally market-driven capitalist farming ." The Philhellenic movement led to

5336-666: The 20th century, the study of classics became less common. In England, for instance, Oxford and Cambridge universities stopped requiring students to have qualifications in Greek in 1920, and in Latin at the end of the 1950s. When the National Curriculum was introduced in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 1988, it did not mention the classics. By 2003, only about 10% of state schools in Britain offered any classical subjects to their students at all. In 2016, AQA ,

5452-421: The 2nd century AD the word was used in literary criticism to describe writers of the highest quality. For example, Aulus Gellius , in his Attic Nights , contrasts "classicus" and " proletarius " writers. By the 6th century AD, the word had acquired a second meaning, referring to pupils at a school. Thus, the two modern meanings of the word, referring both to literature considered to be of the highest quality and

5568-796: The 5th to the 3rd centuries BC, are Socrates , his student Plato , and Aristotle , who studied at Plato's Academy before founding his own school, known as the Lyceum . Later Greek schools of philosophy, including the Cynics , Stoics , and Epicureans , continued to be influential after the Roman annexation of Greece, and into the post-Classical world. Greek philosophy dealt with a wide variety of subjects, including political philosophy, ethics , metaphysics , ontology , and logic , as well as disciplines which are not today thought of as part of philosophy, such as biology and rhetoric. The language of ancient Rome

5684-581: The Ancient Greek and Roman classics was considered the foundation of the humanities , and they traditionally have been the cornerstone of an elite higher education. The word classics is derived from the Latin adjective classicus , meaning "belonging to the highest class of citizens." The word was originally used to describe the members of the Patricians , the highest class in ancient Rome . By

5800-541: The Elder , Matthias Grünewald , Hans Holbein the Younger and the well-known Albrecht Dürer . The most important Baroque artists from Germany are Cosmas Damian Asam . Further artists are the painter Anselm Kiefer , romantic Caspar David Friedrich , the surrealist Max Ernst , the conceptualist Joseph Beuys , or Wolf Vostell or the neo-expressionist Georg Baselitz . Within modern day society, contemporary art

5916-555: The German fashion industry, among smaller towns. Renowned fashion designers from Germany include Karl Lagerfeld , Jil Sander , Wolfgang Joop , Philipp Plein and Michael Michalsky . Important brands include Hugo Boss , Escada and Triumph , as well as special outfitters like Adidas , PUMA and Jack Wolfskin . The German supermodels Claudia Schiffer , Heidi Klum , Tatjana Patitz and Nadja Auermann came to global fame. German cuisine varies from region to region. The southern regions of Bavaria and Swabia, for instance, share

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6032-644: The German production Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) in 1979, to Nowhere in Africa in 2002, and to Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) in 2007. Among the most famous German actors are Marlene Dietrich, Klaus Kinski , Hanna Schygulla , Armin Mueller-Stahl , Jürgen Prochnow , Thomas Kretschmann , Til Schweiger and Daniel Brühl . The Berlin Film Festival , held annually since 1951,

6148-565: The Glory that was Greece". American higher education was fundamentally transformed by the rising admiration of and identification with ancient Greece in the 1830s and afterward. Another popular subject of interest in Greek culture at the turn of the 19th century was the shadowy Scythian philosopher Anacharsis , who lived in the 6th century BC. The new prominence of Anacharsis was sparked by Jean-Jacques Barthélemy 's fanciful Travels of Anacharsis

6264-486: The Greek War of Independence and spawned sequels and imitations throughout the 19th century. In German culture the first phase of philhellenism can be traced in the careers and writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann , one of the inventors of art history, Friedrich August Wolf , who inaugurated modern Homeric scholarship with his Prolegomena ad Homerum (1795) and the enlightened bureaucrat Wilhelm von Humboldt . It

6380-456: The Hellenes, mostly of foreign princes, as Amasis ; of Parthian kings[...]; also of Hellenic tyrants, as Jason of Pherae and generally of Hellenic (Greek) patriots. According to Xenophon , an honorable Greek should also be a philhellene. Some examples: The literate upper classes of Ancient Rome were increasingly Hellenized in their culture during the 3rd century BC. Among Romans

6496-598: The Roman Censor, Cato the Elder and Cato the Younger , who lived during the "Greek invasion" of Rome but towards the later years of his life he eventually became a philhellene after his stay in Rhodes. The lyric poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus was another philhellene. He is notable for his words, "Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit et artis intulit agresti Latio" (Conquered Greece took captive her savage conqueror and brought her arts into rustic Latium), meaning that after

6612-901: The Roman Imperial Period with Germania by Tacitus . Germany has been the center for various important phenomena such as the Migration Period , the Carolingian Empire , Holy Roman Empire , the Medieval renaissances , Scholasticism , the Hanseatic League , the German Renaissance , the Printing Revolution , Protestant reformation , Prussia , Romanticism , Kaiserreich , Weimar and National Socialism . There are

6728-414: The United States, philhellenism began to emerge in the 1830s, with a turn "from a love of Rome and a focus on classical grammar to a new focus on Greece and the totality of its society, art, and culture." The 19th century saw the influence of the classical world, and the value of a classical education , decline, especially in the United States, where the subject was often criticised for its elitism. By

6844-444: The Younger in Greece (1788), a learned imaginary travel journal , one of the first historical novels , which a modern scholar has called "the encyclopedia of the new cult of the antique" in the late 18th century. It had a high impact on the growth of philhellenism in France: the book went through many editions, was reprinted in the United States and was translated into German and other languages. It later inspired European sympathy for

6960-461: The ancient world. It is predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek. Its Hellenistic phase is known as Koine ("common") or Biblical Greek, and its late period mutates imperceptibly into Medieval Greek. Koine is regarded as a separate historical stage of its own, although in its earlier form it closely resembles Classical Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classical and earlier periods included several regional dialects. Ancient Greek

7076-424: The basis for the modern "High German" language. Among the most admired German philosophers and authors are Lessing , Goethe , Schiller , Kleist , Hoffmann , Brecht , Heine and Schmidt . Nine Germans have won the Nobel Prize in literature : Theodor Mommsen , Paul von Heyse , Gerhart Hauptmann , Thomas Mann , Nelly Sachs , Hermann Hesse , Heinrich Böll , Günter Grass , and Herta Müller . The rise of

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7192-425: The beginnings of space travel. The work of Albert Einstein and Max Planck was crucial to the foundation of modern physics , which Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrödinger developed further. They were preceded by such key physicists as Hermann von Helmholtz , Joseph von Fraunhofer , and Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit , among others. Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered X-rays , an accomplishment that earned him

7308-464: The career of Titus Quinctius Flamininus (died 174 BC), who appeared at the Isthmian Games in Corinth in 196 BC and proclaimed the freedom of the Greek states, was fluent in Greek, stood out, according to Livy , as a great admirer of Greek culture . The Greeks hailed him as their liberator. There were some Romans during the late Republic, who were distinctly anti-Greek, resenting the increasing influence of Greek culture on Roman life, an example being

7424-420: The city of Rome was founded in 753 BC; in reality, there had been a settlement on the site since around 1000 BC, when the Palatine Hill was settled. The city was originally ruled by kings, first Roman, and then Etruscan – according to Roman tradition, the first Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinius Priscus, ruled from 616 BC. Over the course of the 6th century BC, the city expanded its influence over

7540-427: The classical period written in the classical languages of Latin and Greek. The roots of classical philology lie in the Renaissance , as humanist intellectuals attempted to return to the Latin of the classical period, especially of Cicero , and as scholars attempted to produce more accurate editions of ancient texts. Some of the principles of philology still used today were developed during this period; for instance,

7656-423: The classical period, with poets such as Virgil , Horace , and Ovid ; historians such as Julius Caesar and Tacitus ; orators such as Cicero ; and philosophers such as Seneca the Younger and Lucretius . Late Latin authors include many Christian writers such as Lactantius , Tertullian and Ambrose ; non-Christian authors, such as the historian Ammianus Marcellinus , are also preserved. According to legend,

7772-444: The conquest of Greece the defeated Greeks created a cultural hegemony over the Romans. Roman emperors known for their philhellenism include Nero , Hadrian , Marcus Aurelius and Julian the Apostate . In the period of political reaction and repression after the fall of Napoleon , when the liberal-minded, educated and prosperous middle and upper classes of European societies found the Romantic nationalism of 1789–1792 repressed by

7888-406: The dominant classical skill in England until the 1870s, when new areas within the discipline began to increase in popularity. In the same decade came the first challenges to the requirement of Greek at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, though it would not be finally abolished for another 50 years. Though the influence of classics as the dominant mode of education in Europe and North America

8004-424: The earliest to survive to us today, probably composed in the eighth century BC. These early epics were oral compositions, created without the use of writing. Around the same time that the Homeric epics were composed, the Greek alphabet was introduced; the earliest surviving inscriptions date from around 750 BC. European drama was invented in ancient Greece. Traditionally this was attributed to Thespis , around

8120-400: The eleven surviving plays of Aristophanes, along with a few fragments. Sixty years after the end of Aristophanes' career, the next author of comedies to have any substantial body of work survive is Menander , whose style is known as New Comedy . Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes , the nature of the world, and

8236-402: The end of the fifth century BC. Surviving Greek comedy begins later than tragedy; the earliest surviving work, Aristophanes ' Acharnians , comes from 425 BC. However, comedy dates back as early as 486 BC, when the Dionysia added a competition for comedy to the much earlier competition for tragedy. The comedy of the fifth century is known as Old Comedy , and it comes down to us solely in

8352-401: The entire world, with events like Wave-Gotik-Treffen and M'era Luna Festival attracting up to 30,000 people. In addition, the country hosts Wacken Open Air , the biggest heavy metal open air festival in the world. Since about 1970, Germany has once again had a thriving popular culture, now increasingly led by its reinstated capital Berlin , and a self-confident music and art scene. Germany

8468-640: The entirety of Latium . Around the end of the 6th century – traditionally in 510 BC – the kings of Rome were driven out, and the city became a republic. Around 387 BC, Rome was sacked by the Gauls following the Battle of the Allia . It soon recovered from this humiliating defeat, however, and in 381 the inhabitants of Tusculum in Latium were made Roman citizens. This was the first time Roman citizenship

8584-599: The fifth and fourth centuries BC, has traditionally been considered the height of Greek civilisation. The Classical period of Greek history is generally considered to have begun with the first and second Persian invasions of Greece at the start of the Greco-Persian wars, and to have ended with the death of Alexander the Great . Classical Greek culture had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire, which carried

8700-611: The first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901. The Walhalla temple for "laudable and distinguished Germans" features a number of scientists, and is located east of Regensburg , in Bavaria . Germany is home to some of the finest academic centers in Europe. Some famous universities are those of Munich and Berlin, University of Tübingen , University of Göttingen , University of Marburg , University of Berlin , Mining Academy Freiberg and Freiburg University , among many others. Moreover,

8816-456: The first time after the reforms of the 1880s, though it did not become part of Oxford's Greats until much later. The second half of the 19th century saw Schliemann 's excavations of Troy and Mycenae ; the first excavations at Olympia and Delos ; and Arthur Evans ' work in Crete, particularly on Knossos . This period also saw the foundation of important archaeological associations (e.g.

8932-580: The form of both popular public religion and cult practices. These different groups varied enough for it to be possible to speak of Greek religions or "cults" in the plural, though most of them shared similarities. Also, the Greek religion extended out of Greece and out to neighbouring islands. Many Greek people recognized the major gods and goddesses: Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Ares, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Athena, Hermes, Demeter, Hestia and Hera; though philosophies such as Stoicism and some forms of Platonism used language that seems to posit

9048-700: The government opposed the Catholic church. Historically, Germany had a substantial Jewish population . Only a few thousand people of Jewish origin remained in Germany after the Holocaust , but the German Jewish community now has about 100,000 members, many from the former Soviet Union . Germany also has a substantial Muslim population, most of whom are descendants of Turkish workers from Turkey . German theologians include Luther , Melanchthon , Schleiermacher , Feuerbach , and Rudolf Otto . Germany

9164-518: The history and culture of a civilization, through critical study of the extant literary and physical artefacts, in order to compose and establish a continual historic narrative of the Ancient World and its peoples. The task is difficult due to a dearth of physical evidence: for example, Sparta was a leading Greek city-state , yet little evidence of it survives to study, and what is available comes from Athens , Sparta's principal rival; likewise,

9280-595: The introduction of Classics or Classical studies as a key element in education, introduced in the Gymnasien in Prussia . In England the main proponent of Classics in schools was Thomas Arnold , headmaster at Rugby School . Nikos Dimou 's The Misfortune to be Greek argues that the Philhellenes' expectation for the modern Greek people to live up to their ancestors' allegedly glorious past has always been

9396-494: The largest army Rome had yet put into the field was wiped out, and one of the two consuls leading it was killed. However, Rome continued to fight, annexing much of Spain and eventually defeating Carthage, ending her position as a major power and securing Roman preeminence in the Western Mediterranean. The classical languages of the ancient Mediterranean world influenced every European language, imparting to each

9512-515: The largest exam board for A-Levels and GCSEs in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, announced that it would be scrapping A-Level subjects in Classical Civilisation, Archaeology, and Art History. This left just one out of five exam boards in England which still offered Classical Civilisation as a subject. The decision was immediately denounced by archaeologists and historians, with Natalie Haynes of The Guardian stating that

9628-445: The largest magazines include Der Spiegel , Stern and Focus . The Bild is a tabloid and has the largest circulation of all German papers. However, the publishing industry is in flux – amongst other things because meanwhile almost 800,000 newspaper copies sold daily are distributed digitally and the number of digital subscriptions is continually rising. Nevertheless, a total of around 38 million people in Germany still read

9744-421: The last decade of the eighteenth century, scholars of ancient philosophy began to study the discipline historically. Previously, works on ancient philosophy had been unconcerned with chronological sequence and with reconstructing the reasoning of ancient thinkers; with what Wolfgang-Ranier Mann calls "New Philosophy", this changed. Another discipline within the classics is "reception studies", which developed in

9860-535: The loss of the A-Level would deprive state school students, 93% of all students, the opportunity to study classics while making it once again the exclusive purview of wealthy private-school students. However, the study of classics has not declined as fast elsewhere in Europe. In 2009, a review of Meeting the Challenge , a collection of conference papers about the teaching of Latin in Europe, noted that though there

9976-488: The middle of the sixth century BC, though the earliest surviving work of Greek drama is Aeschylus ' tragedy The Persians , which dates to 472 BC. Early Greek tragedy was performed by a chorus and two actors, but by the end of Aeschylus' life, a third actor had been introduced, either by him or by Sophocles . The last surviving Greek tragedies are the Bacchae of Euripides and Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus , both from

10092-478: The modern natural sciences and the related decline of religion raised a series of questions, which recur throughout German philosophy, concerning the relationships between knowledge and faith, reason and emotion, and scientific, ethical, and artistic ways of seeing the world. German philosophers have helped shape western philosophy from as early as the Middle Ages ( Albertus Magnus ). Later, Leibniz (17th century) and most importantly Kant played central roles in

10208-505: The most notable characteristics of the modern study of classics is the diversity of the field. Although traditionally focused on ancient Greece and Rome, the study now encompasses the entire ancient Mediterranean world, thus expanding the studies to Northern Africa and parts of the Middle East . Philology is the study of language preserved in written sources; classical philology is thus concerned with understanding any texts from

10324-482: The observation that if a manuscript could be shown to be a copy of an earlier extant manuscript, then it provides no further evidence of the original text, was made as early as 1489 by Angelo Poliziano . Other philological tools took longer to be developed: the first statement, for instance, of the principle that a more difficult reading should be preferred over a simpler one, was in 1697 by Jean Le Clerc . The modern discipline of classical philology began in Germany at

10440-450: The original text than any existing manuscript, could be reconstructed. Classical archaeology is the oldest branch of archaeology, with its roots going back to J. J. Winckelmann 's work on Herculaneum in the 1760s. It was not until the last decades of the 19th century, however, that classical archaeology became part of the tradition of Western classical scholarship. It was included as part of Cambridge University's Classical Tripos for

10556-440: The origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to the myths and study them in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself. Greek religion encompassed the collection of beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Greece in

10672-543: The period being Walther von der Vogelweide and Wolfram von Eschenbach . The Nibelungenlied , whose author remains unknown, is also an important work of the epoch, as is the Thidrekssaga . The fairy tales collections collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in the 19th century became famous throughout the world. Theologian Luther , who translated the Bible into German, is widely credited for having set

10788-521: The period: Lucretius , popular during the Carolingian Renaissance , was barely read in the twelfth century, while for Quintilian the reverse is true. The Renaissance led to the increasing study of both ancient literature and ancient history, as well as a revival of classical styles of Latin . From the 14th century, first in Italy and then increasingly across Europe, Renaissance Humanism , an intellectual movement that "advocated

10904-556: The pioneers of synth-pop , electro , techno , and house music . Tangerine Dream 's " Love on a Real Train " was a major influence on the development of synthwave . German popular music of the 20th and 21st centuries includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle ( Nena , Alphaville ), Ostrock ( City , Keimzeit ), metal / rock , punk ( Nina Hagen , Böhse Onkelz , Die Ärzte , Die Toten Hosen ), pop rock ( Beatsteaks ), indie ( Tocotronic , Blumfeld ) and hip hop ( Die Fantastischen Vier , Deichkind ). A global trendsetter

11020-614: The plays of William Shakespeare were rewritten along neoclassical lines, and these "improved" versions were performed throughout the 18th century. In the United States, the nation's Founders were strongly influenced by the classics, and they looked in particular to the Roman Republic for their form of government. From the beginning of the 18th century, the study of Greek became increasingly important relative to that of Latin. In this period Johann Winckelmann 's claims for

11136-436: The popularity of " New Archaeology ", which emphasized the development of general laws derived from studying material culture, in the 1960s. New Archaeology is still criticized by traditional minded scholars of classical archaeology despite a wide acceptance of its basic techniques. Some art historians focus their study on the development of art in the classical world. Indeed, the art and architecture of ancient Rome and Greece

11252-529: The present as much as the present is directed by the past"; Charles Martindale describes this as a "cardinal principle" for many versions of modern reception theory. Ancient Greece was the civilization belonging to the period of Greek history lasting from the Archaic period , beginning in the eighth century BC, to the Roman conquest of Greece after the Battle of Corinth in 146 BC. The Classical period , during

11368-591: The restoration of absolute monarchy at home, the idea of the re-creation of a Greek state on the very territories that were sanctified by their view of Antiquity—which was reflected even in the furnishings of their own parlors and the contents of their bookcases—offered an ideal, set at a romantic distance. Under these conditions, the Greek uprising constituted a source of inspiration and expectations that could never actually be fulfilled, disappointing what Paul Cartledge called "the Victorian self-identification with

11484-583: The revolution or contributed through their artistic work. Throughout the 19th century, philhellenes continued to support Greece politically and militarily. For example, Ricciotti Garibaldi led a volunteer expedition ( Garibaldini ) in the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 . A group of Garibaldini, headed by the Greek poet Lorentzos Mavilis , fought also with the Greek side during the Balkan Wars . Classicists Classics or classical studies

11600-617: The specialised science and technology vocabularies, the influence of Latin and Greek is notable. Ecclesiastical Latin , the Roman Catholic Church's official language, remains a living legacy of the classical world in the contemporary world. Latin had an impact far beyond the classical world. It continued to be the pre-eminent language for serious writings in Europe long after the fall of the Roman Empire. The modern Romance languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Catalan) all derive from Latin. Latin

11716-445: The standard texts used as part of a curriculum, were both derived from Roman use. In the Middle Ages , classics and education were tightly intertwined; according to Jan Ziolkowski, there is no era in history in which the link was tighter. Medieval education taught students to imitate earlier classical models, and Latin continued to be the language of scholarship and culture, despite the increasing difference between literary Latin and

11832-533: The study and imitation of classical antiquity", developed. Humanism saw a reform in education in Europe, introducing a wider range of Latin authors as well as bringing back the study of Greek language and literature to Western Europe. This reintroduction was initiated by Petrarch (1304–1374) and Boccaccio (1313–1375) who commissioned a Calabrian scholar to translate the Homeric poems . This humanist educational reform spread from Italy, in Catholic countries as it

11948-418: The superiority of the Greek visual arts influenced a shift in aesthetic judgements, while in the literary sphere, G. E. Lessing "returned Homer to the centre of artistic achievement". In the United Kingdom, the study of Greek in schools began in the late 18th century. The poet Walter Savage Landor claimed to have been one of the first English schoolboys to write in Greek during his time at Rugby School . In

12064-677: The transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western classical music. Also, Germans developed many Lutheran chorales and hymns . Other composers of the Austro -German tradition who achieved international fame include Brahms , Wagner , Haydn , Johann Pachelbel , Schubert , Händel , Schumann , Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Johann Strauss II , Bruckner , Mahler , Telemann , Richard Strauss , Schoenberg , Orff , and most recently, Henze , Lachenmann , and Stockhausen . Germany

12180-415: The turn of the nineteenth century. It was during this period that scientific principles of philology began to be put together into a coherent whole, in order to provide a set of rules by which scholars could determine which manuscripts were most accurate. This "new philology", as it was known, centered around the construction of a genealogy of manuscripts, with which a hypothetical common ancestor, closer to

12296-743: The vernacular languages of Europe during the period. While Latin was hugely influential, according to thirteenth-century English philosopher Roger Bacon , "there are not four men in Latin Christendom who are acquainted with the Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic grammars." Greek was rarely studied in the West, and Greek literature was known almost solely in Latin translation. The works of even major Greek authors such as Hesiod , whose names continued to be known by educated Europeans, along with most of Plato, were unavailable in Christian Europe. Some were rediscovered through Arabic translations;

12412-528: The very early years of the medium with the work of Max Skladanowsky . It was particularly influential during the years of the Weimar Republic with German expressionists such as Robert Wiene and Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau . Austrian-based director Fritz Lang , who became a German citizen in 1926 and whose career flourished in the pre-war German film industry, is said to have been a major influence on Hollywood cinema. His silent movie Metropolis (1927)

12528-506: The world and a centre for international film production. Germany's television market is the largest in Europe, with 34,000,000 TV households. The many regional and national public broadcasters are organised in line with the federal political structure. Around 90% of German households have cable or satellite TV, and viewers can choose from a variety of free-to-view public and commercial channels. Pay-TV services have not become popular or successful while public TV broadcasters ZDF and ARD offer

12644-467: The writings of the first generation of art historians, like Johann Joachim Winckelmann and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing . The groundswell of the Philhellenic movement was result of two generations of intrepid artists and amateur treasure-seekers, from Stuart and Revett, who published their measured drawings as The Antiquities of Athens and culminating with the removal of sculptures from Aegina and

12760-451: Was Latin, a member of the Italic family of languages . The earliest surviving inscription in Latin comes from the 7th century BC, on a brooch from Palestrina . Latin from between this point and the early 1st century BC is known as Old Latin . Most surviving Latin literature is Classical Latin , from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD. Latin then evolved into Late Latin , in use during

12876-707: Was adopted by the Jesuits , and in countries that became Protestant such as England, Germany, and the Low Countries, in order to ensure that future clerics were able to study the New Testament in the original language. The late 17th and 18th centuries are the period in Western European literary history which is most associated with the classical tradition, as writers consciously adapted classical models. Classical models were so highly prized that

12992-420: Was also in this context that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Friedrich Hölderlin were to compose poetry and prose in the field of literature, elevating Hellenic themes in their works. One of the most renowned German philhellenes of the 19th century was Friedrich Nietzsche . In the German states , the private obsession with ancient Greece took public forms, institutionalizing an elite philhellene ethos through

13108-668: Was also the origin of many mystics , including Meister Eckhart , Rudolf Steiner , and Jakob Boehme ; and of Pope Benedict XVI . Germany has been the home of many famous inventors and engineers , such as Johannes Gutenberg , who is credited with the invention of movable type printing in Europe; Hans Geiger , the creator of the Geiger counter ; and Konrad Zuse , who built the first computer. German inventors, engineers and industrialists such as Zeppelin , Daimler , Diesel , Otto , Wankel , von Braun and Benz helped shape modern automotive and air transportation technology including

13224-583: Was extended in this way. Rome went on to expand its area of influence, until by 269 the entirety of the Italian peninsula was under Roman rule. Soon afterwards, in 264, the First Punic War began; it lasted until 241. The Second Punic War began in 218, and by the end of that year, the Carthaginian general Hannibal had invaded Italy. The war saw Rome's worst defeat to that point at Cannae ;

13340-460: Was in decline in the 19th century, the discipline was rapidly evolving in the same period. Classical scholarship was becoming more systematic and scientific , especially with the "new philology " created at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th century. Its scope was also broadening: it was during the 19th century that ancient history and classical archaeology began to be seen as part of classics, rather than separate disciplines. During

13456-586: Was the language of Homer and of classical Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to the vocabulary of English and many other European languages, and has been a standard subject of study in Western educational institutions since the Renaissance. Latinized forms of Ancient Greek roots are used in many of the scientific names of species and in other scientific terminology. The earliest surviving works of Greek literature are epic poetry . Homer 's Iliad and Odyssey are

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