A time and a place in the past
If I were afforded the opportunity to go back to a specific time and place in the past, I would venture back to ancient Greece. During the 5th century B. C, the Greeks were in the process of developing and reforming a wide range of cultural, social, and scientific pursuits that still have a significant impact on the world today.
In the arts, Greece excelled in many fields, particularly dramatic literature. The works of Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes have had a tremendous influence not only on western literature, but also western thought in general. The works of these playwrights are still performed on stages around the world today, and many of them have been adapted to movies. Still, it would be a rare and exciting opportunity to see these plays performed for the first time.
The ancient Greeks also excelled in the social sciences. Perhaps their greatest contribution in this area came in the form of democracy. The Greek words “Demo” and “Crazy” mean “People” and “Rule” respectively. Today, many of the world’s great nations have adopted, and to a certain extent, modified the ancient Greek system. Yet, it originated from ancient Greece.
Academic subjects such as Philosophy, Astronomy, Physics and Biology also received a great deal of attention in the ancient Greek world. The philosophical writings of Herbalists, Plato, and Aristotle have had a profound influence on western scholarship for well over two thousand years. The Mathematical theories of Pythagoras and Euclid, combined with theories from other great ancient civilizations, provided a foundation upon which later mathematicians such as Newton and Einstein based their work.
The world of the Ancient Greeks would most certainly be an exciting and stimulating place to go back to. Politics, Drama, Physics, and a number of other subjects were still in their infancy, and all were being fiercely debated and examined. It would undoubtedly be and enriching experience to observe and take part in such a fascinating civilization.
