Classicism and Civilizational Patterns in History

As stated by Marilynn Hitchens “the word classic is most often used in world history when referring to certain civilizations that thrived from 500 B.C. to 800 A.D.” this is when religious and philosophical thought was creating powerful civilizations. Hitchens also states that due to this “classism can be understood as defining and long-lasting civilizational patterns shaped by belief systems.” The thought of religion and philosophies follows the idea of classicism and belief systems and these religions have been preserved and continued throughout history in many civilizations such as Greece, Rome, Imperial China, and India. The Greek civilization is remembered and known for its democracy. Greeks democracy was founded on the idea of polis which

This belief was known as humanism. The idea of humanism affected everyday life in Greece from war to arts. If you had the ability to buy your supplies to fight in the war then you were right there in the phalanx from small farm owners to large traders which became one of Greece’s only form of security. Even the gods of Greece had human traits some were good and some were bad. The main philosophy of greece was that it did not matter what class you were if you work for it you could go from rags to riches. I believe that Greeks idea of democracy was rather a step toward a better future. The greek democracy was setup of three different branches just like the American government currently is. The democracy was used by many civilization but it all started in Greece when Cleisthenes introduced a system he called demokratia. This soon became what we call American democracy. This demokratia would abolish the distinctions between the aristocrats who had been controlling the political decision making. The middle class along with the working class were the exact reason this democracy was established. In the 4th century there were around 100,000 citizens in athens but only men above the age of 18 were

While Greece democracy lead to freedom, Roman law lead to justice. Rome was a republic which had a senate thats interest were mainly towards landowners. It was common for lawmakers or judges to announce a law that they were enforcing. That way the laws they created were because of the people's needs. The Roman set up special courts to deal with foreign and Roman law, this became known as coalescing of Roman and foreign law. The idea that justice is superior to the laws of a particular country became known as Universal Law, which was an extremely high law that all people must answer to. As this was all going on, in another area of Rome the Jews were producing a concept of God’s law. Jews believed in a pact between God and the Jewish people, to obey the law, this was called the ten commandments. The Jews believed that God’s message was to forgive. The Jews used the framework of Roman law so therefore the church was headed by the Pope and administered by Bishops and Priest. In early Rome Christianity was quite punishable. As a matter of fact it was banned and feeding Christians to lions was often seen as entertainment. Christianity was spread throughout Rome by St. Paul. In 313 A.D. Constantine made Christianity legal throughout the empire, and the Christian capitol was built in