Cultures

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HUMA 1302 Course Reflection with SR and PR

Cultures

Q1: In this course, I have learned that the expressions of some common ground in individual worldviews constitute the cultural worldview of the group as well as a sense of the historical changes of the original cultural arts, media, education, architecture, and literature. Also, it has been clarified that the social culture is the way people relate to their day to day lives, and how they unite for the good of all, as a whole called the Society (Sporre, p.3). This would mean that every individual has a culture in their mind and thus there is a bit of difference in cultures. However, the individual cultures include the aspects allowed to be different and those needed to be the same or similar.

It’s mainly because of this that we have different cultures in the world albeit with some similarities here and there (Sporre, p.17). Besides, each culture’s world-view is self-sufficient in that it has a clear view of life as discerned and perceived by the cultural group under consideration. The difference is evident in the beliefs, concepts, sense of order and social constructs, role-models and moral precepts which are special and strange in one culture in comparison to other cultural groupings. As such, this allows for the concept of life style modification in each culture, and varying extents of readiness to change.

I have also learned that cultures are never static in as far as history, literature, technology, education and water view are concerned. In Greece for example, there have been some developmental periods namely: Ancient Greece, the Hellenistic, the Byzantine and the Modern Greece (Onians, p.65). This period oversaw a holistic change of this culture to date. In Rome, such transitional periods as the Early Middle Ages, the High Middle Ages, Realism, Impressionism, Modernism bored the current Roman culture we have today in Europe (Sporre, p.25).

Q2: As for the Romantic culture, religion, especially concerning the gods, was primarily founded on written narratives, but rather of complicated interrelations between supernatural gods (polytheistic) and human beings. Unlike in Greek, the gods had no personal attributes but were equivocally defined as sacred spirits called numina (Sporre, p.12). It was also believed that every person, place or thing had its genius or divine soul. It was organized by a rigid regime of priestly offices, which were ran by men of senatorial positions; the Flames were custodians of the cults of various gods, while augurs were mainly entrusted with taking the auspice. For the Greek; Classical Athens may be to have postulated some of the same religious ideologies that would later be advocated for by Christianity. They believed that there were rewards for the righteous in the heavens and penalties for the sinful under the earth (hell); the soul was valued more than the carnal body which was taken to be imperfect and not worthwhile. (Gagarin, p.12) It was mainly monotheistic.

In the political aspect, Greece was the Parliamentary Republic with a president having a more ceremonial responsibility to other republics, and the Prime Minister was elected from the majority leader party in the parliament. Greece had a codified constitution and a written Bill of Rights embedded within it. On the contrary, Rome was ruled by kings, who were chosen from the Rome’s main tribes in turn. The king may have had near-absolute power, or may also have exclusively been the chief executive of the Senate and the nation. However, in the military aspect, their authority (Imperium) was mostly absolute. In addition to the authority of the King, there were three administrative assemblies: The Senate ( an advisory body), the Comitia Curiata legislative body, and the Comitia Calata, (judicial body) (Sporre, p.29).

On economic arena, Ancient Rome had a big area of land, with vast natural and human (slaves) resources. As such, its economy remained localized on farming and trade. Industrial and manufacturing fields were almost negligible. The biggest such activities were the mining and quarrying of stones, workshops and small factories that absorbed dozens of workers (Johnson, p.66). However, the economy of ancient Greece was primarily based on the region’s dependence on imported goods. Due to the poor quality of Greece’s soil, agricultural commerce was of paramount importance. Its location along the Mediterranean gave its provinces control on some of Egypt’s crucial ports and trade routines. Later trade craftsmanship and commerce, principally maritime, became pivotal aspects of Greek economic output.

In the early Roman Republic, there were no public schools, so boys were taught on literacy by their parents, or by learned slaves (paedagogi), usually of Greek origin (Sporre, p.26). The cardinal aim of education during this period was to train children in agriculture, warfare, Roman traditions, and public affairs. They learned much about civic life by attending religious and political functions, including the Senate for the sons of nobles. At the age of 16, the sons of nobles were apprenticed to a prominent political figure and were then allowed to campaign with the army when they attained the age of 17. Education in Greece was compulsory for all children 6–15 years old; it includes Primary (Dimotiko) and Lower Secondary (Gymnasio) Education. However, the school could start from the age of 2.5 years (pre-school education) in institutions (private and public) called “Vrefonipiakoi Paidikoi Stathmi. The primary aim of education was to inculcate wisdom and philosophy in the learners.

The two cultures are also different when it comes to sports and games. In the ancient Greece, there were extensive explications of funeral games done in honor of deceased warriors. Participating in sport was described as the occupation of the noble and wealthy, who had no need to perform manually. The king could also prove his royalty by showing his aplomb in throwing the javelin. Additionally, Greece pioneered sports formal institution, with the first Olympic Games recorded in 776 BCE in Olympia which gradually developed to include several other games that included run in the nude or in armor, footraces, wrestling, boxing, pankration, long jump, chariot racing, javelin throw, and discus throw (Cuomo, p.87). Nonetheless, the youth of Rome had several types of athletics and exercise, such as jumping, wrestling, boxing, and racing. In the rural areas, hobbies for the wealthy also included fishing and hunting (Sporre, p.36). They also had several forms of ball playing, including one resembling handball, dice games, board games, and gamble games. For the wealthy, dinner parties were an opportunity for entertainment, at times having music, dancing, and poetry citing. Children were given toys to play with as a way of entertaining them.

Q3: In this course humanity, has been described as the study of the way people process and document the human experience; regarding philosophy, literature, religion, art, music, history, and language. These ways of expression are part of the subjects that traditionally fall under the humanities bracket. The knowledge of these human experience gives us the window to have a sense of connection to our predecessors as well as to our contemporaries.

In my personal life, I have identified with Music from my culture; this happens especially in concerts where different cultures converge. It’s through similar languages, literature, wardrobe choice, cuisine, songs, etc., that intracultural unity is achieved while intercultural tolerance arrives when one culture appreciate its uniqueness and that one of the others (Sporre, p.33).

The current form of education has its roots in the Greek form of education. It’s in the Greek that there three levels of education: primary secondary and tertiary. This teaching also states the age limits within which learners or children for that matter should have attained a particular degree of knowledge.

The current forms of Architecture and calendar also borrow from the Greece and Roman cultures (Johnson, p.85). However, there has been profound changes in the modern culture as stated in the modernism philosophy; which arose from wide-scale transformations in the Western society in the early 20th century.

Finally, it has been seen that when two or more cultures meet, there is a lot of mutual exchange of knowledge, beliefs, and ideologies. This is evident when the Romans assume in part the culture of the Greeks especially their form of education after the conquest of the Hellenistic kingdom.

Works Cited

Onians, John. Classical art and the cultures of Greece and Rome. Yale University Press, 2009.

Cuomo, Serafina. Technology and culture in Greek and Roman antiquity. Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Gagarin, Michael, ed. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Johnson, William A., and Holt N. Parker. Ancient literacies: The culture of reading in Greece and Rome. Oxford University Press, 2009.

Sporre, Dennis J. The creative impulse: an introduction to the arts. Vol. 2. Prentice Hall, 2006.