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EUROPEAN CULTURE AN INTRODUCTION
CLASS 4
Lecture 1
I. Do you know these?
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1.(Even) Homer sometimes nods.
2.Achilles' heel
3.Apple of Discord
 1. Even the most skilled and trustworthy people do not always produce work of the highest quality.
 2.the fatal weak point
 3.the origin of disagreement
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Achilles’ story
Achilles
Peleus（[希神]珀琉斯） & Thetis（[希神]西蒂斯(海神 Nereus 的女儿), a sea nymph
Thetis wanted to make her son invincible by dipping him into the Styx（(环绕地狱的河)冥河）
But she neglected Achilles’ heel by which she held him
Killed by Paris
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Story of the Golden Apple
The wedding ceremony of Thetis & Peleus
The goddes of discord, Eris（厄里斯(不和女神)）, was not invited, hence, angry
Golden apple: to the most beautiful woman
Hera, Athena, Aphrodite （阿芙罗狄蒂(爱与美的女神)）
Paris, prince of Troy
Hellen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta（梅内莱厄斯：特洛伊战争期间的斯巴达王）
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The Trojan War
II. Historical development of Ancient Greece
1. The Aegean（爱琴海） culture (-20 C.－-7C.)
Cretan Civilization (-20C-13C): the Minoans（(古希
腊)克里特文明）; linear writing; Non- Indo-European
language
Mycenaean Civilization (-12C) （迈锡尼文明）: the
Akhaians, real ancestors of Greeks; Indo-European
language
The Trojan War (-1200 -1170 B.C. ): Troy & alliance
of Greek states
The Dorians（多里安人） from the north of mainland
Greece, still babarian tribes, occupied most of the
Peloponnesus
2. Dark Age (-11C— -8C)
 Period 1050-750 poorly known, called Dark Ages
when there were few historical records left.
 Kings ruled non-urban Greek communities during
Dark Ages
 At end of the period aristocracy（贵族政治） began to
throw out kings, take over management of the
community
 In the late Dark Ages the Greeks began to form urban
centers around a citadel (fortress). These centers are
called poleis (singular polis). They were well
established by the eighth century
 The polis (city state) （城邦） is the characteristic
Greek political institution of the Classical period
 A city → colonists → an independent new
settlement overseas
 Sometimes the new city would maintain ties with the
metropolis (lit. mother city), though sometimes
colonies would become antagonistic to the metropolis.
Most colonies were on the coast and generally only
took over the immediate area, the interior being left to
the locals.
4. Classical Greece (-6-4C)
 A splendid Greek urban civilization. By Greek culture,
we mainly refer to the culture of classical Greece
(that started around -800), especially of Athens.
 Classical Greece is the source from which many of
the characteristic elements of Western culture derive,
and therefore it makes sense to examine this culture.
5. Hellenistic Period (-334-30)
 Athens & two wars
 Persian War (-5C)→ The Delian（得洛斯人） League
→Athens Empire
 The Peloponnesian（
（希腊南部）伯罗奔尼撒半岛的）
War (-430-404),ending in the victory of Sparta
 Alexander, king of Macedon （ 马 其 顿 王 国 ） ,
conquered Greece
 The period of the kingdoms set up by Alexander's
successors: the Seleucids (in Asia), Ptolemies (in
Africa), Antigonids (in Europe).
 Cleopatra, queen of Egypt. Her death marked the
ending of the Hellenistic Period.
 From then on, the history entered a period of Roman
Empire.
3. Archaic Period (-8— -7C)
 poverty of the land & overpopulation
 Colonization
 A huge period of migration from about 750- 550
 The basic procedure:
III .Greek Culture
1.Social $ political structure: 3 ★ ★ ★
 The word "democracy" means "rule by the People."
 In Athens the People in their assembly had full and direct control over all policies of the state, and through
the jury panels had direct control of the justice system. All magistrates（文职官员, 地方官员） were directly
accountable to the People, and had judgment passed on their activities when they left office. Unsuccessful generals
could be (and at times were) tried for incompetence.
 Yet citizenship was restricted to adult male citizens only. Women, children, foreigners and slaves were
excluded
2. Homeric Epics: 3 ★ ★
 The epic is a broadly defined genre of poetry, which retells in a continuous narrative（叙述性的） the life and
works of a heroic or mythological person or group of persons. The Iliad《伊利亚特》(古希腊描写特洛伊战争
的英雄史诗, 相传为荷马所作), Odyssey《奥德赛》 are two examples of the epic genre.
 Homer is believed to live around -700, but his works deal with great men and wars of the period of 1200-1100.
 The Iliad: about the war between Troy and the allied army of Greek states (-1200-1170).
The Iliad
 Paris’ abduction(诱导) of Hellen, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta
 Agamemnon(阿伽门农, 特洛伊战争中希腊军队的统帅), Menelaus’ (斯巴达王) brother, acted as the
commander-in-chief of the alliance of Greek states
 Achilles captured Briseis and kept her as a concubine, but Agamemnon took her away.
 Achilles was raged, and refused to fight
 Hector(赫克托,荷马史诗《伊利亚特》中的一勇士名), Paris’ brother, killed Petroclus, Achilles’ best friend,
probably his male lover.
 Achilles killed Hector
 Destruction of Troy
Achilles
 Achilles is one of the only two people described as "god-like" in the Iliad. This does not just refer to his
supreme fighting ability, but also to his attitude. He shows a complete and total devotion to the excellence of
his craft and, like a god, has almost no regard for life. Clearly he does not mind a swift death, so long as it is
glorious
 Achilles’ rage was an early representation of western individualism.
 Cf. Chinese ideal personality
3. Lyric poetry 抒情诗: 13 ★
 Lyrics are the written words in a song. For the Greeks a lyric is a song sung with a lyre.
 Now, it is commonly used to mean a song or a poem of no defined length or structure that expresses a subjective,
personal point of view.
 Two main lyric poets in ancient Greece: Sappho(萨福：希腊抒情诗人，虽然她的抒情浪漫诗只保存下一些片段，
她仍被认为是古代最伟大的诗人之一) & Pindar(品达：希腊田园诗诗人，尤以其颂歌集 而著称)
 Sappho was famous for her passionate intensity; while Pindar for his odes celebrating the victories at athletic
games.
4.Drama: tragedy & comedy
Origin of tragedy: ★ ★ ★
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Its roots can be traced back to the dithyrambs, the chants and dances honoring the Greek god Dionysus. These
drunken, ecstatic(心醉神迷的) performances were said to be created by the satyrs half-goat beings who surrounded
Dionysus in his revelry. In this sense, the appearance of tragedy has to do with Greek religious beliefs.
P.S.:satyrs(半人半兽的森林之神, 好色之徒, 性欲极强的男人)
Semantic origin:
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tragos→goat; aeidein→to sing
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tragoidia→”goat-songs”
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Tragedy
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Now it refers to any story with a sad ending or a story that fits a set of requirements (often
Dionysus[希神]狄俄尼索斯(酒神, 即罗马神话中的 Bacchus)
 Son of Zeus & Semele[希神]塞默勒(Cadmus 之女)
 Hera’s jealousy→ Hera plotted against Semele and caused her to be burnt to a crisp by the sight of Zeus’ glory.
 Zeus did manage to rescue Dionysus and stitched him into his thigh to hold him until he was ready to be born. His
birth from Zeus alone conferred immortality upon him.
 Hera was still jealous and arranged for the Titans to kill Dionysus(狄俄尼索斯-酒神). The Titans(提坦, 太阳神)
ripped him into pieces. However, Rhea brought him back to life.
 While other gods had temples the followers of Dionysus worshipped him in the woods. Here they might go into
mad states where they would rip apart and eat raw any animal they came upon.
 Dionysus wandered the world actively encouraging his cult. He was accompanied by the Maenads(参加狄俄尼索
斯酒神节狂欢的女人), wild women, and flush with wine.
Dionysus in Greek everyday life ★ ★ ★
 i. Dionysus became one of the most important gods in everyday life. He became associated with several key
concepts. One was rebirth after death. Here his dismemberment by the Titans and return to life is symbolically
echoed in tending vines, where the vines must be pruned back sharply, and then become dormant in winter for them to
bear fruit. The other is the idea that under the influence of wine, one could feel possessed by a greater power.
 ii. Dionysus & theater
 The festival for Dionysus is in the spring when the leaves begin to reappear on the vine. It became one of the
most important events of the year. Its focus became the theater. Watching the tragedies here became an important way
for the Greeks to receive education
Three playwrights（剧作家） of tragedy: 14-8 ★
 Aeschylus (-525-456): Prometheus Bound; Agamemnon 希腊的悲剧诗人埃斯库罗斯
 Sophocles (-496-406): Oedipus the King
 Euripides (-484-406): more concerned with conflicts in society, hence, with “problem plays” 欧里庇得斯(希腊
的悲剧诗人)
The idea of fate in Greek tragedies:
two examples
 Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound:
 Two reasons for Zeus’ hatred for Prometheus:
 1. Prometheus stole fire and gave it to humankind
 2. Prometheus refused to reveal the secret concerning Zeus’ fate
Theogony (by Hesiod（赫西奥德(公元前 8 世纪,希腊诗人)):
 Chaos →Gaea →Uranus /Gaea →the Cyclopes & Hecatonchires & Titans
 Uranus imprisoned the Cyclopes &Hecatonchires
 Gaea(盖亚-大地女神)/Cronus(克罗诺斯--巨人 Titans 之一) plotted against Uranus and overthrew him
 Cronus(克罗诺斯--巨人 Titans 之一)/Rhea →Zeus, Poseidon(波塞冬-海神), Hades(阎王), Hestia, Demeter
 To avoid his father’s fate, Cronus swallowed all his children except Zeus, who was saved by Rhea
 Zeus overthrew Cronus, and by drawing lot became the supreme god on the Olympus
 The oracle, which only Prometheus, said if Zeus would have a more powerful son who overthrow him if he
married a certain goddes
 Prometheus(普罗米修斯-造福于人类的神) finally revealed the secret: the goddes is Thetis(西蒂斯-海神 Nereus
的女儿)
 →In this case, even Zeus, the supreme god, could do nothing in face of fate
Oedipus the King ★ ★ ★俄狄浦斯(底比斯王子, 曾破解怪物斯芬克斯(Sphinx)的谜语, 后误杀其父并娶其母为
妻, 发觉后自刺双目, 流浪而死)
 Laius, the king of Thebes & Jocasta, the queen
 The Delphi oracle:
 They will have a son who is to kill his father and marry his mother
 The newly born baby was brought to the hillside, but saved by the king from Corinth
 Oedipus grew up, and when learning about the oracle, he left Corinth
 On the way to Thebes, he ran into conflict with an old man and killed him, who turned out to be Laius
 The Sphinx and its question
 Oedipus answered it, and drove the monster to killed itself
 Oedipus became the king of Thebes and married Jocasta according to the notice of the state
 Disasters befell on Thebes
 The seer’s revelation of truth
 Oedipus stabbed out his own eyes and exiled himself
 The Oedipus complex in Sigmund Freud’s theory:
 The childhood desire to sleep with the mother and to kill the father
5. History:19-22 ★
 Herodotus (-484-430):
 “Father of History”, he is famous for the descriptions he wrote of different places and people he met on his travels
and his many books about the Persian invasion in Greece.
 Thucydides (-460-404):
 The author of the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides is generally regarded as one of the first true
historians. Unlike his predecessor Herodotus who included rumors and references to myths and the gods in his writing,
Thucydides assiduously consulted written documents and interviewed participants in the events that he records.
 By his discovery of historic causation he created the first scientific approach to history.
6-1. Art: Architecture
 The most important contribution lies in the temples built upon the Acropolis hill, so called the "Sacred Rock" of
Athens.
 The temples on the Acropolis hill includes the Parthenon-the Temple of Athena Parthenos, and the Temple of
Athena Nike
Three styles of Greek architecture: 32-3 ★ ★
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1. Doric(多利安式) style:
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Rather sturdy and its top is plain. This style was used in mainland Greece and the colonies in southern Italy
and Sicily. (picture: Parthenon - temple of Athena Parthenos)
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2. Ionic(爱奥尼亚式的) style ★ ★
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Thinner and more elegant. Its capital is decorated with a scroll-like design (a volute 涡形花样). This style was
found in eastern Greece and the islands. (The Temple of Athena Nike - part of the Acropolis in the city of Athens.)
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3. Corinthian(科林斯风格的)style ★ ★
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Seldom used in the Greek world, but often seen on Roman temples. Its capital is very elaborate and decorated
with acanthus leaves. (The temple of Zeus at Athens)
6.2 Art: Sculpture(雕刻) 33-4
 The earliest Greek sculptures were those of Gods. They are mostly stiff, lifeless wood carving.
 Towards the 5th century B.C.
 Greek sculpture began to represent the ideal bodily beauty of men as well as mythological figures.
 Around 5C B.C
 Figures develop more sophisticated anatomy but still retain a "cubic" feel that has been carried down since
Egyptian times. Figures are more three dimensional. Archer c. 490 B.C.
 "Diskobolos" (Discus Thrower) by Myron c. 450 B.C.
 Understanding of anatomy, and carving of marble, are becoming increasingly sophisticated.
 Action is being investigated. A strong sense of body movement and a good sense of harmony between parts.
 Laocoon group , ca. 125 B.C.
 Laocoon(拉奥孔), a priest of Troy, was made to suffer a slow death and killed by serpents with his sons because of
his warning the Trojans against Greek attack.( 拉奥孔：特洛伊的太阳神祭师，因警告特洛伊人不要中木马计而
连同其二个儿了一起被两条海蟒杀死)
 Noted for successful depiction of the expressions of Laocoon’s face-fear, sympathy and terror.
7.Philosophy: 22-30
 Western philosophy, tragedy and history start with the Greeks .
 It was Pythagoras who coined the term philosophia, Greek for 'love of wisdom' (philo-”love” & sophia-”
wisdom”).
 The origin of philosophy has to do with the curiosity of the Greeks. They were strongly interested in abstract
questions that were not raised by others. Where did the world come from? What is the purpose of human existence?
What is the best way to organize human society?
 Cf. ideas in Greek religion
Thales, the first philosopher
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Men in Ionia starting in the early 500s began to speculate about the nature of the world. Thales of Miletus
(early 6th century BC) was the first philosopher of historical record:( Ionia 爱奥尼亚：古代小亚细亚西部沿爱琴海海
岸的一个地区。希腊人在公元前 1000 年以前在这儿建立了殖民地。爱奥尼亚的海港从 公元前 8 世纪开始繁荣
起来，直到 公元 15 世纪土耳其人的征服)
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All natural phenomena are different forms of one fundamental substance, water;
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Evaporation 蒸发(作用) and condensation(浓缩): the universal processes
Three early philosophers: 22 ★
1. Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC)
 All things are made up of numbers . (民数记(旧约圣经的第四卷)
 Pythagoreanism(毕达哥拉斯哲学)was more religious and mystical :
 The soul is a prisoner of the body; it is released from the body at death, and reincarnated in a higher or lower form
of life, depending on the degree of virtue achieved.
 So the highest purpose of humans should be to purify their souls by cultivating intellectual virtues, refraining
from sensual pleasures, and practicing various religious rituals.
2. Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 540-480 BC) 赫拉克利特：希腊哲学家，他坚持斗争和变化是宇宙的自然状态的观点
 The primary substance of the world is fire.
 The entire world is in a constant state of change or flux. As he said, “you cannot step twice into the same river.”
 Most objects and substances are produced by a union of opposite principles.
3. Democritus (c. 460-370 BC) 德谟克利特：希腊哲学家，他发展了宇宙原子论，并拥护以自制和安乐为人生目
标的学说
 Deterministic materialism: all aspects of existence are rigidly determined by physical (natural) laws.
 Atomic theory: various forms of matter were caused by differences in the shape, size, position, and arrangement of
component atoms.
The Sophists: (诡辩家,博学者)29 ★ ★ ★
The “sophists” means "practitioners of wisdom." In reality they are a group of traveling teachers famous throughout
Greece toward the end of the 5th century BC. Specializing in rhetoric(雄辩，辩才), the art of arguing, they were more
professional educators than philosophers
How the sophists emerged ★ ★ ★
 As Greek industry and commerce expanded, a class of newly rich, economically powerful merchants began to
wield political power. Lacking the education of the aristocrats, they sought to prepare themselves for politics and
commerce by paying the Sophists for instruction in public speaking, legal argument, and general culture.
 Although the best of the Sophists made valuable contributions to Greek thought, the group as a whole acquired a
reputation for deceit, insincerity, and demagoguery. Thus the word sophistry has come to signify these moral faults.
Protagoras (c. 490-420 BC): a leading figure of the Sophists: ★ ★ ★
(普罗塔哥拉：希腊的哲学家，被认为是第一个诡辩家。他根据他自己的格言“人类是衡量所有事物的标准”来
教授哲学)
1. Skepticism(怀疑论)
 "As for the gods, I don't know whether they exist.“
 No existence of any objective or absolute knowledge.
2. Moral relativism
 "Man is the measure of all things."
 →Each man has the right to judge all matters for himself, hence, could create his own definition of morality. No
opinion was truer than another, but one might be better.
 → Since traditional values had been shown to be mere convention, and since philosophical speculation had
removed the divine from human affairs, morality was purely relative and the advantage of the more powerful was itself
"good".
1. Socrates: 23 ★ ★ ★
苏格拉底：希腊哲学家，首创了问答工教学方法，作为获得认识自我的一种方法。他关于道德和正义的理论，
通过柏拉图（他最著名的学生）的著作而得以流传下来。苏格拉底因被指控毒害雅典年轻人的头脑而受到审判，
并因此被处死（公元前 339 年）)
 Belief in absolute knowledge. Socrates attacked the sophists, claiming that the "good" was absolute, and that
knowledge of what is right leads one to do it. No human agent ever knowingly does evil: for we all invariably do what
we believe to be best. Thus, immorality is basically a form of ignorance.
 Therefore, Socrates’ contribution to philosophy was essentially ethical(伦理学的)in character. Concepts such as
justice, love, virtue, and self-knowledge were the basis of his teachings.
Socratic method: ★ ★ ★
 Socrates’ most important contribution to Western thought is his dialogical method of enquiry, known as the
Socratic method, or dialectical method. He stressed the need for analytica(分析法的)l examination of one's beliefs;
for clear definitions of basic concepts. As he said:
 “The life which is unexamined is not worth living”. — Apology
 The Socratic method is a process in which one keeps asking questions and then dissecting the answers to bring
out the inadequacies and inconsistencies in the beliefs of the interlocutors. This method Socrates applied to the
examination of the key moral concepts at the time, i.e. the virtues of piety, wisdom, temperance, courage, and justice.
Effect on western thought
 Pedagogically(教育学的), this classic method of teaching tend to create autonomous thinkers, as the reasoning
process is considered more important than facts, and students are encouraged to reason rather than appeal to authority.
We still remember what Plato said:
 “I love my mento(门特(良师益友), 贤明的顾问, 导师), but I love truth more.”
Plato’s Idealism: ★ ★ ★唯心主义
柏拉图：希腊哲学家，苏格拉底的信徒，他创办了学园（公元前 386 年）
，在这里他教书写作度过他余生的大部
分时间柏拉图以戏剧对话的形式表述了他的思想，如在理想国 中
 Idealism: The basis of Plato's philosophy is his theory of Ideas, or Forms. Plato's metaphysics divides the world
into two distinct aspects: the intelligible world of "forms" and the perceptual world we see around us. He saw the
perceptual things as imperfect copies of the intelligible forms, hence, not completely real.
 In other words, ontologically trees, stones, human bodies, and other objects that can be known through the senses
are not real, while the forms of trees, stones, human bodies, and other objects are unchangeable and perfect.
 In an epistemological sense, beliefs derived from experience of sense objects are vague and unreliable, whereas the
principles of mathematics and philosophy, discovered by inner, rationalistic meditation on the Forms or Ideas,
constitute the only knowledge worthy of the name.
The Academy he established is the first school in the world.
Aristotle (384-322 BC): 27
亚里士多德：希腊哲学家。柏拉图的学生，亚历山大大帝的教师，他的著述论及逻辑学，形而上学，伦理学，
自然科学，政治学和诗学，对西方思想产生了深远影响，在其哲学体系里，理论服从实地观察和逻辑，以三段
论为基础，基本上是理性研究的理论方法
tutor of Alexander the Great & founder of the Lyceum which remained for centuries one of the great centers of learning
in Greece ★
Differences between Plato and Aristotle in their philosophical ideas ★ ★ ★
 1. In a certain sense, Aristotle's method is both inductive and deductive, while Plato's is essentially
deductive:
 i. Unlike Plato, Aristotle preferred to establish the ultimate basis of things inductively—from particular facts to a
universal conclusion, or from effects to causes. In other words, Aristotle emphasizes direct observation of nature and
insists that theory should follow fact. This is different from Plato’s reliance on subjective thinking.
Inductive(归纳的)reasoning: ★ ★ ★

Induction, sometimes called inductive logic(归纳逻辑), is the process of reasoning in which the
conclusion of an argument is very likely to be true, but not certain, given the premises. It is always based on
limited observations of particular tokens(标志)or recurring phenomenal patterns. For example:
 This swan is white.
 A billiard ball moves when struck with a cue.
 to infer general propositions such as:
 All swans are white.
 For every action, there is an equal and opposite re-action
Deductive reasoning: syllogism ★ ★ ★[逻]三段论法
【逻辑学】 三段论：一种演绎推理形式，包括大前提、小前提和结论；如，所有的人都会死， 是大前提 我是
一个人， 是小前提 因此，我会死 是结论
 ii. In founding the science of logic Aristotle developed the theory of deductive inference, represented by the
syllogism, a deductive argument having two premises and a conclusion.
 →Human is mortal;
 → Socrates is human;
 → Therefore, Socrates is mortal.
 → All apples are fruit.
 → All fruits grow on trees.
 → Therefore all apples grow on trees.
Another difference between Plato and Aristotle★ ★ ★

2. In his metaphysical(形而上学的, 纯粹哲学的)theory, Aristotle criticized Plato's separation of form
from matter and maintained that the Forms are contained within the concrete objects that exemplify them, that
is, the form and matter were inherent in all things, and inseparable.

Here, too, he differs from Plato, who holds that ideas are independent beings and have a higher reality than the
physical world.
Hellenistic(希腊风格的)and Roman Philosophy

From the 4th century BC to the rise of Christian philosophy in the 4th century AD, the main philosophical
schools in the Greco-Roman world were:

·
Cynicism: cf. 29

Epicureanism(伊比鸠鲁学说--享乐主义)

·
Stoicism

·
Skepticism

·
Neoplatonism(新柏拉图派哲学 )
1. Epicureanism ★ ★ ★享乐主义
伊壁鸠鲁学说：伊壁鸠鲁介导的哲学，认为欢乐、或者避免痛苦和感情上的困扰是最高的幸福

Epicurus (341-270 BC), an atomist, founded a philosophical school in Athens in 306 BC. 伊壁鸠鲁(公元前
342?-270, 古希腊杰出唯物主义和无神论者)

The aim of life is to achieve the maximum amount of pleasure (which he identified with gentle emotion and
absence of pain); virtue is desirable not for itself, but for the sake of pleasure of soul, which it secures by freeing men
from trouble and fear, moderating their passions and appetites.

True happiness: tranquility, which can only be achieved through self-restraint, moderation, and detachment.

The erroneous confusion between Epicureanism and the crudely sensual hedonism .

A common sense of “epicurean”: devoted to the pursuit of pleasure; fond of good food, comfort, and ease.
2. Stoicism ★ ★ ★斯多葛哲学--淡泊主义：不以苦乐为意，淡泊

Stoicism was the most influential philosophy in the Roman Empire during the period preceding the rise of
Christianity.

Zeno of Citium (c. 335-263 BC) founded the Stoic school in Athens about 310 BC. The Stoic philosophy
developed from that of the Cynics whose founder, Antisthenes, had been a disciple of Socrates.
齐诺(① Zeno of Citium 西希昂的齐诺, 前 340?-前 265?, 希腊哲学家, 斯多葛派的创始人
Stoic ethics ★ ★ ★

The Stoics, like the Epicureans, emphasized ethics as the main field of knowledge. But to the Stoics the most
important thing in life is not “pleasure,” but “duty.” Therefore, one must "Follow where Reason leads“ so as to
resist the influence of the passions—love, hate, fear, pain, and pleasure, and calmly accept all occurrences as the
unavoidable result of divine will or of the natural order.

→ the four cardinal virtues of the Stoic philosophy are wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance, a
classification derived from the teachings of Plato.

A common sense of “stoic”: seemingly indifferent to or unaffected by pleasure or pain; impassive:
3. Skepticism ★ ★ ★怀疑论

A Greek school of thought which continued the Sophist criticisms of objective knowledge; it denied the
possibility of attaining any knowledge of reality apart from human perception.

Pyrrho（庇罗(希腊哲学家, 怀疑论的始祖) of Elis (c. 360-272 BC) established a school of Greek philosophy
where the principles of skepticism were first explicitly formulated.

Pyrrho’s primary concern was ethics; he maintained that human beings can know nothing of the real nature of
things, and that consequently the wise person will suspend judgment.
4. Neoplatonism 新柏拉图派哲学
 Neoplatonism is that form of Platonic philosophy developed by Plotinus in the 3rd century AD and modified by
his successors.
 Neoplatonic doctrine may be characterized as follows:
 1. by a categorical opposition between the spiritual and the carnal, elaborated from Plato's dualism of Idea and
matter
 2. by the metaphysical hypothesis of mediating agencies, the nous and the world soul, which transmit the divine
power from the One to the many
 3. by an aversion to the world of sense

by the necessity of liberation from a life of sense through a rigorous ascetic discipline
8. Science

.Euclid（欧几里德：古希腊数学家，他把逻辑学中的演绎原理应用到几何学中，籍以由定义明确的公理
导出语句 ）

Archimedes （阿基米德：希腊数学家、工程师及物理学家。作为古代最重要的智慧人物之一，他发现
了不同几何形体的面积和体积公式，将几何学应用于流体静力学和机械学，设计了许多灵巧装置，如阿基米德
螺旋泵，并发现了浮力定理） Cf. p.31
Qualities of Greek culture: 35 ★ ★ ★

i. Spirit of innovation（改革, 创新）

ii. Supreme achievement

iii. Lasting effect
Lecture 2
1. History of Rome: 38-9
I. the founding of Rome
1 Aeneas
 Hero in Virgil’s epic: Aeneid (cf. p.44) (埃涅伊德, Virgil 作的叙事诗)
维吉尔：罗马诗人。他最伟大的史诗埃涅阿斯纪 讲述了埃涅阿斯在特洛伊陷落后的流浪经历
 son of Anchises and Venus & cousin of King Priam of Troy & leader of Troy's allies during the Trojan War
(1200-1170 B.C.).
 After the fall of Troy, he led a band of Trojan refugees to Italy and became the founder of Roman culture (but the city
he founded is Lavinium, not the city of Rome itself).
2 Numitor & Amulius : Aeneas’ offspring
 Numitor, king of the ancient Italian city of Alba Longa, was deposed by his brother Amulius
 Numitor's daughter, Rhea Silvia, gave birth to twin sons
 Amulius, fearing that the boys would grow up to overthrow him, had them placed in a trough and thrown into the
River Tiber.
3 Romulus & Remus: a
 Luckily the trough came ashore.
 They were found by a she-wolf.
 Instead of killing them, the she-wolf looked after them and fed them with her milk.
 The twins were found by Faustulus, the king's shepherd(牧羊人), who adopted them, calling them Romulus and
Remus.
 Romulus and Remus rose against Amulius, killed him and restored the kingdom to Numitor, their grandfather.
Romulus & Remus: b
 Deciding to found a town of their own, Romulus and Remus chose the place where the she-wolf had nursed them.
 Romulus began to build walls on the Palatine Hill, but Remus jeered at them because they were so low. He leaped
over them to prove this, and Romulus in anger killed him.
 Romulus continued the building of the new city, naming it Roma (Rome) after his own name.
 The she-wolf, of course, was a sacred symbol of Rome. See a picture of the she-wolf:
Romulus & Rome
 Its first citizens were outlaws and fugitives, to whom Romulus gave the settlement on the Capitoline Hill.
 →Problem: no enough wives for all these men
 Romulus decided to steal women from the Sabines(萨宾人), an Italian tribe.
P.S.:萨宾人(古代意大利中部一民族,公元前 3 世纪被罗马征服),
 He there proclaimed a festival and invited many Sabines to it. While the attention of the men was elsewhere
Romulus' men rushed in and carried off the women.
 This was the famous "Rape (carrying off) of the Sabine women", which later became a subject for painters.
A word on the Roman legend:
 It seems unlikely that any part of this legend is true. Almost certainly it is a copy of a Greek tale, invented to
explain the name of Rome and certain customs.
 For instance Roman brides were taken from their families on their wedding days with a pretence of force, and this
probably accounts for the story of the Sabine women.
 But it is a widely believed that Rome was founded around the end of -8 C. under the influence of the Etruscans(伊
特鲁里亚人.)
History of Rome: 38-9
II. Three eras of Rome
 . Roman Kingdom (circa -753--510 B.C.)
 Rome was ruled by seven Kings.
 The population was divided into three tribes (each tribe=10 curie 库里亚/胞族 =100 gens 氏族 )
Political constitution

→The earlier Roman form of government was therefore an elective constitutional monarchy, and the powers
were shared by the King, the Senate (or Council of the Elders) and a thirty member body known as the “Comitia
Curatie”库里亚大会

The king was the head of the state, a non hereditary(世袭的),authority, elected by the curie and chosen from
a list of candidates presented by the Senate.

All the state laws had to be approved by the citizens. Convened by the King, the curie met to vote, and they
could answer yes or no to the king's proposals
ii. Roman Republic (509-27 B.C.)
 In 509 the last king was expelled and a Republic was set up.
a. Magistrates(地方行政官)
 The Romans took the power of the kings (called imperium) and gave it to two annual magistrates called consuls.
b. The Senate
 The senate was a holdover from the council of the kings. Eventually it consisted only of ex-magistrates. The senate
had no right to give orders, but since it was composed of the most important men in politics, it was hard for magistrates
to disregard its advice, and its influence was great. In the later Republic the senate acquired control over the state
treasury and power to appoint officials.
c.Assembly
 Theoretically, the Roman People, when convened in various assemblies, had complete power. They elected all
magistrates, tried criminal accusations, passed all laws and voted on war. In practice the arrangements gave control of
the assemblies to the wealthy:
 The assemblies could only vote yes or no to a proposal put to them by a competent magistrate. They had no powers
of independent deliberation (unlike the assembly of a Greek democracy).
Patron/Client Relations:
A characteristic institution of the Roman
 The Roman population was divided into two groups: patricians(贵族)and plebeians. (平民, 庶民)
 The two classes were quite divided: the patricians married and did business only with the people of their class. The
plebeians could narrow the gap between the two classes only in one way: by becoming clients (obedient servants of a
patrician family. They offered their services and so received the protection of the head of the patrician family, who
became their patron.
 While Greek cities were rent with strife between the poor and the wealthy, the Roman patron/client system was a
means of joining poor and wealthy in common interest. In effect, it was more beneficial for a given poor person to keep
his patron in a position of influence than it was to abolish such influence altogether.
 The Romans applied this system to their foreign affairs. Conquered communities became the clients of their
conquerors (and his family) and could also seek new patrons among the ruling class. This gave even the conquered an
interest in promoting the Roman state.
Nature Of The Roman Republic
The structure of the Roman government and the influence of the patron/client relationship meant that the Roman
Republic was dominated by the wealthy and that the theoretically democratic element was very restricted. The Roman
Republic was not a democracy but an elective oligarchy(寡头政治, 寡头政治的执政团)of the wealthy (basically
meaning landowners).
P.S.: 寡头统治政府：指由一些，特别是少数几个人或家族组成的小集团统治的政府
Struggle Of The Orders
(struggle between the patricians and plebeians )
 Aims of Plebeians(平民, 庶民) :
 Access to the priesthoods and offices of the state (especially the consulship) & debt relief and the distribution of state
land.
Methods and Institutions of Plebeians :
 Secession: to withdraw from the city until they got
united with the ruling patricians to form a new political
their way;
ruling class called the nobility(贵族阶级) This new
 Assemblies;
nobility was to lead the Republic in its conquest of the
 Tribunes(古罗马)护民官
Mediterranean.
 The consequence of the Conflict of the Orders:
 By 287 The tribunes came to be recognized as state
P.S.: 贵族阶级：由高贵的出身或等级区分的一个阶级
magistrates. The wealthy plebeians were allowed to seek
的人，在英国包括公爵和公爵夫人、侯爵和候爵夫人、
office, yet they gave up the struggle for the poorer
伯爵和伯爵夫人、子爵和子爵夫人、男爵和田爵夫人：
plebeians' economic grievances. The wealthy plebeians
iii. the Era of the Empire (-27-476-1453 AD)
 In 44 B.C., Julius Caesar(凯撒)was assassinated by several members of the Roman Senate just one month after he
had declared himself dictator of the Roman world.
P.S.:凯撒(古罗马的将军,政治家,历史家,公元前 100-44)
 → a new triumvirate (古罗马,三头政治), consisting of Antony(安东尼)(consul), Lepidus (high official), and
Octavian(屋大维)(the grand nephew of Caesar then divided up the Roman world.
 After defeating his last rival Antony, Octavian gained complete control of the Roman world. To avoid the fate of
Caesar, he claimed to restore the Republic and was given the title of Augustus (27 B.C.) In reality his control of the
armies, vast wealth and various special powers that had been voted to him gave him a position like that of a king.
 This is the beginning of Roman Empire, where the power was centralized in one person, the Emperor.
Pax Romana:39 ★ ★ ★罗马帝国统治下的和平
 Pax Romana, Latin for "the Roman peace," is the long period of peace experienced by states within the Roman
Empire. During this time Rome endured neither major civil wars, nor serious invasions. It was an era of relative
tranquility, though, for Rome still fought a number of wars against neighboring states and tribes.
 This period is generally considered to have lasted from 29 B.C., when Augustus Caesar declared an end to the great
Roman civil wars of the first century, until 180 AD, when emperor Marcus Aurelius died. It was a time in which Roman
commerce thrived, unhampered by pirates or marauding(抢劫的)enemy troops.
Roman law: 39 ★ ★ ★罗马法：作为现代罗马法律基础的古罗马的法制体系
 Roman law is a very important contribution made by the Romans. It had been so well developed that it later
became the core of modern civil and commercial law in many Western countries, including most countries of Europe
and South America.
 Cf. Chinese law
 Emphasis on relations/connections
1. History of Rome: 39
III. The declining of Roman Empire
 The empire began to decline in the 3rd century.
 It was unable to counter the huge Germanic invasions, and it gradually lost control of territory.
 In 395 the Empire was divided into East (the Byzantine Empire) and West.
 In 476 the last emperor in the West was deposed by the Goths, which marked the end of the West Roman Empire.
 It should also be remembered that as a whole the empire did not fall. For Imperial government continued in the
increasingly Greek eastern half. Here a "King of the Romans" continued to rule down to AD 1453 when
Constantinople(君士坦丁堡--土耳其西北部港市伊斯坦布尔) was captured by the Turks (though of course a Latin
speaking westerner would not recognize the east as being Roman).
2. Greeks and Romans:
cultural similarities and differences
The Romans were ready to learn from other cultures, esp. Greek culture. To a large degree, it was the Romans who
brought Greek (and Hellenistic) culture to world attention
I. Some similarities between the Greeks and Romans: 38 ★ ★ ★
i. Language:
 Greek and Latin work in a similar way, for they both belong to the Into-European family.
ii. political ideas:
 The citizen-assembly plays an important role in both political life.
iii. Artistic styles:
 The Romans recognized the richness of Greek art and architecture, and they sought to emulate(仿效)the Greek
masters -- and the Greek styles and themes -- in their own art.
vi. religious beliefs:
 As the Greeks, the Romans believed in many gods. Also for them a different god looked after a different part of
life.

Some examples:

Jupiter - King of the gods >Zeus
朱庇特：统治诸神主宰一切的主神，古罗马的保护神，朱诺的弟弟和丈夫也作 Jove

Juno - Jupiter's wife, goddess of women > Hera
朱诺：罗马万神庙里最主要的女神，朱庇特的妻子亦是其姐姐，主司婚姻和妇女的安康

Mars - the god of war >Ares
战神

Minerva - the goddess of wisdom > Athena
密涅瓦：掌管智慧、发明、艺术和武艺的女神,智慧和技术及工艺之神

Neptune - the god of the sea >Poseidon
尼普顿：海神

Diana - the goddess of the moon and hunting > Artemes
黛安娜(罗马神话中之处女性守护神,狩猎女神和月亮女神,相当于希腊神话中的 Artemis),

Mercury - the messenger of the gods >Hermes
墨丘利神：各路神灵的使者，其本身是商业、旅行及盗窃的守护神

Venus - the goddess of love and beauty >Aphrodite
维纳斯：性爱和形体美的女神

Mithras - the sun god. >Appolo
蜜特拉神(波斯神话中的光明之神)

Bacchus >Dionysus
巴克斯, 酒神
II. Some differences between the Greeks and the Romans ★ ★ ★
i. the biggest difference:38
 The Romans built up a vast empire, while the Greeks didn’t. But why?
 Polis 城邦 vs cosmopolitanism 世界主义:
 With their tunnel vision in place, the Greeks had thought of the world of the city-state. The Romans came to think of
the entire world as a city in which everyman might enjoy privileges of citizenship. They looked forward to a world
composed of the most diverse elements and people. The Empire would be synonymous with the world.
 Self-interest vs duty:
 The Romans did not see their public and private roles as necessarily conflicting with one another. The height of one's
wisdom was to know one's duty and then to do it, and not to pursue self-interest. In this sense, the Romans were natural
Stoics.
 Chaos(无秩序)vs order:
 The organizational power, their military and administrative capabilities also contributed to the Empire. In general, the
Romans were optimistic about life whereas the Greeks were not. The Greeks saw chaos in the world. The Romans
experienced that same chaos but held out for the possibility of bringing order out of that chaos. The Romans managed
to translate their thought (i.e. their optimism and faith in man's ability to cope with the existence of chaos) into actions.
The proof is, quite simply, the Roman Empire itself.
ii. Difference in science and technology
 practicality vs speculation(思索)
 For the Romans, their science and technology features practicality, for they are not only good at absorbing Greek
science, but also good at applying what they learnt.
 For example, the Romans were extremely good at building things, roads, buildings, bridges, walls....anything they
needed. And in the fields of medicine, metallurgy….
 The Greeks, however, are more concerned with the theoretical aspect. Arithmetic, plane and solid geometry,
astronomy, harmonics, together with literary and physical education, constitute the Greek curriculum(课程). The five
mathematical disciplines are usually studied without any practical interests.
3. Latin Literature: 40
I. Prose ★ ★
i. Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.)
西塞罗 Marcus Tullius, 前 106-前 43 年, 古罗马政治家、雄辩家、著作家

a member of the Roman senate.

Noted for eloquent (or oratory) and fine writing style, which is described as Ciceronian;

His legal and political speeches are models of Latin diction;

He had an enormous influence on the development of European prose.
ii. Julius Caesar (102/100?—44 B.C.) ★ ★
凯撒(古罗马的将军,政治家,历史家,公元前 100-44)

He recorded what he did and saw in the various military campaigns he took part in in his Commentaries.
These writings are models of succinct Latin, for he used language with economy and ferocity. For instance:

“I came, I saw, I conquered.

“The die is cast.”
II. Poetry: 43
i.
Lucretius (93-50 B.C.)
卢克莱修：罗马的哲学家和诗人。他的 De Rerum Natura （ 论量物的本性 ），是一首为了把人们从迷信和对
不可知的恐惧中解放出来试图用科学词汇解释宇宙的长诗
Noted for his philosophical poem On the Nature of Things, which expounded the ideas of Epicurus the Greek
atomist.
ii. Virgil’s Aeneid
 In wandering across the Mediterranean (they were said to be hounded by the enmity of Juno), Aeneas and the Trojan
remnant. reached the north African city of Carthage, where they were hospitably received by Dido, the city's founder
and queen.
 There ensued a love affair between Dido and Aeneas,
 which threatened to distract Aeneas from his destiny in Italy.
 Mercury was sent to order Aeneas to depart
 Aeneas, forced to choose between love and duty, reluctantly sailed away.
 Dido(迦太基女王), mad with grief, committed suicide. 传说中的迦太基女王：迦太基的创建者和王后，与埃涅
阿斯坠入情网，在被抛弃后自杀
 When Aeneas later encountered her shade on a trip to the underworld, she turned away from him, still refusing to
forgive his desertion of her.
 →Virgil presents him as the exemplar of the Roman virtues of devotion to duty and reverence for the gods
4. Art: 47
I. Architecture(建筑学)
The Romans are great engineers. To gain some idea of their sophisticated technology, just look at some examples
 The Romans built fantastic bridges all over Europe, like this aqueduct (a bridge to carry water). This one had a path
for walking across, one for riding a chariot across and a channel for getting water across!
 The Colosseum hosted large-scale spectacular games that included fights between animals, the killing of prisoners by
animals and other excutions, naval battles, and combats between gladiators. It has been estimated that about 500,000
people died in the Colosseum games.
P.S.: Colosseum:罗马圆形大剧场(建于公元 80 年,耗时 5 年,至今大部分尚存)
 the gladiators games (the fight man to man ):
 Roman favorite game
 The gladiators(古罗马公开表演的格斗者), were trained to become fighting machines. They competed one against
the other with the same or different arms, trying to wound and kill each other. In case of defeat, the destiny of the loser
depended on the public mood: if everybody waved the handkerchiefs, he had his life saved, if they turned the thumb
down, he had to die in the arena.
 The athletes of these games were slaves, usually heroes of the masses; one of the gladiators revolts, that of Sparticus
(73-71 b.C.) was one of the most terrible for Rome
Lecture 3
1. History of the Hebrews : (新约中)希伯来书
I. Canaan(迦南), the promised land:51
P.S.: 迦南(《圣经》故事中称其为上帝赐给以色列人祖先的"应许之地",是巴勒斯坦,叙利亚和黎巴嫩等地的古
称)
 The Hebrews (ancestors of the Jews):
 Descendants of wandering tribes of Semites in the Near East, hence, called Hebrews,” which means “wanderers;”
 After much wandering, the Hebrews under Abraham, settled in lower Canaan;
 With the rough and dry climate Palestine proved to be unfit for living ;
 →toward the fertile Nile Delta(三角州)
II. Exodus【圣】
《出埃及记》
 In about 1750 B.C. Egypt was invaded by the Hyksos, also Semites. Hebrews enjoyed some prosperity in Egypt.
 The Hyksos were expelled from Egypt, the Hebrews had to pay the price of their kinship:
 They were enslaved
 In about 1250 B.C. Moses, a new religious leader, determined to lead his people back to Cannan for a better life.
This movement back towards Canaan is called the Exodus
 Significance: creating the feeling of national unity for the first time.
III. The Torah★ ★ ★(律法, 圣经旧约之首五卷)
 Moses’ formulation of laws and establishment of religious principles :
 Ten Commandments
 → dictated to him by God to the people in the Sinai desert
 Over the centuries the Hebrews developed a whole moral and practical code of living: the Torah
 → The basis of this is found in Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers and Deuteronomy)

Moses, however, died before the Hebrews actually reached Canaan.
VI. The Kings《列王纪》
 The Hebrew settlers ran into trouble with the other peoples who had been living in Canaan, esp. the Philistines
 Samson led the Hebrews to score victory against the Philistines
 After Samson's death Saul set up the first royal dynasty of the Hebrews
 Saul was succeeded by his son-in-law David in about 1010 B.C.
 David was succeeded by his son Solomon in 970 B.C.
V. Collapse of Kingdom
 After Solomon's death the kingdom was divided into two unequal and independent parts - Israel with Samaria as
the capital, and Judah(犹大), retaining Jerusalem
 In 721 B.C. Israel was conquered by king of Assyria(亚述)
P.S.: 亚述：亚洲西部底格里河流域北部一帝国和文明古国。公元前 9 世纪至 7 世纪，在它的强盛时期，亚述
帝国的疆域从地中海跨越阿拉伯和亚美尼亚地区
 In 586 B.C. Judah was conquered by the Babylonian king, and lots of Jews were brought to Babylon as captives.
This is the famous ”Babylonian captivity”
 It was not until Cyrus the Great of Persia 波斯（西南亚国家，现在的伊朗）conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. did the
Jews regained some powers → self governance for five hundred years
P.S.: Persia 波斯：西南亚一个强大的帝国，公元前 546 年后由居鲁士二世建立。到了大流士一世和他儿子色雷
斯时期，帝国达到全盛时期 。 公元前 334 年亚历山大大帝征服了波斯 。后来的帝国由萨桑王朝建立( 公元
226-637 年）
VI. Conquest by the Romans

In 70 B.C. the Roman emperor Titus took Jerusalem. Following this the Jewish people dispersed and left their
land to make a living as best they could in different countries throughout the world.
2. Judaism and Christianity: Similarities: 51 ★ ★ ★
Judaism and Christianity are closely related:
I. Christianity emerged from Judaism, hence there are many concepts and values held in common by Judaism and
Christianity (the body of these concepts and values is also called Judeo-Christian tradition ):
Judeo-Christian tradition
 i. Monotheism(一神论): Both religions reject atheism, on the one hand, and polytheism, on the other
 ii. Belief in a Messiah(救世主：犹太人所盼望的复国救主及犹太国王)
 iii. Form of worship: including a priesthood(教士, 僧侣, 神父) concepts of sacred space and sacred time, the idea
that worship here on Earth is patterned after worship in Heaven, and the use of the Psalms(圣歌)in community prayer.
 II. Both originated in Palestine, which led to exchange of ideas over wide areas.
2. Judaism and Christianity: Differences: ★ ★ ★
i. Notion of God: oneness vs trinitarianism[基督教]三位一体论, 三位一体之教理)
 By the notion of monotheism, Judaism’s idea is that there is one God, and God is completely. The Christian notion is
that God is a trinity, made up of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
ii. The Messiah (David vs Jesus)
 Jews believe that the messiah is a descendant of King David who will one day usher in a messianic era of peace and
prosperity for Israel and all the nations of the world. The traditional Jewish understanding of the messiah is fully human,
born of human parents, without any supernatural element.
 Christians hold Jesus to be the messiah foretold in the Hebrew Bible. He is believed to be the son of God in a literal
sense, fully human, and simultaneously divine, fully God. In this view, Jesus the messiah is the son of God who offers
salvation to all humans.
iii. Sin and Original Sin
 Sin is the Christian idea that people make mistakes or offenses against God. Original sin is the Christian idea that a
newborn baby has guilt for sin before taking any action to offend God
 Jews have no concept of Original Sin, and do not accept it, for Judaism teaches that humans are born morally
neutral (But Judaism affirms that people are born with a tendency towards goodness).
IV. Salvation(超度，赎罪) and attaining an afterlife

Judaism believes that sins can be atoned for through repentance

Most forms of Christianity teach that one can only be saved through the acceptance of Jesus as a saviour, and
that repentance accomplishes nothing without belief in Jesus .

Read for more differences than have been mentioned.
3. the Bible:52 ★

I. The Bible is made up of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

The Old Testament is about God and the laws of God, while the latter about the doctrines of Jesus Christ.

The word “testament” means “agreement” or “covenant”, namely, the agreement between God and Man.
The Old Testament

I. The Pentateuch:52★

Genesis (《创世记》)

Exodus（
《出埃及》
）

Leviticus （
《利未记》
）

Numbers （
《民数记》
）

Deuteronomy （
《申命记》
）

i. Genesis: 53
 God created the world in six days
 →the Sabbath day (the seventh day)
 Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden
 →relationship between man & woman
 → Mr. Right: attitudes of marriage?
 Eve and Adam were tempted to eat the forbidden fruit by the serpent
 God became angry and drove them out of the Paradise.
 God’s anger:
 → When God created man in His image, man is already like God. If man eats the fruit and thus has knowledge of
good and evil he will be exactly the same as God.
ii.
Noah’s Ark: 56
诺亚：在旧约圣经中，被上帝选去建造方舟的大主教，借此方舟，诺亚、其家人以及每种动物的一对，在世界
大水中保全了性命
 Men became increasingly corrupt
 For the knowledge of evil had been passed on by Adam and Eve
 God decided to put an end to mankind, with the exception of Noah.
 Noah’s descendant Abraham
 He and his people were chosen by Yahweh, who promised them the land of Canaan
iii. Ten Commandments:61 十诫
 Monotheism:
 “Thou shalt have none other gods before me.”
 “Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing …thou shalt not bow down thyself unto
them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God…”
 Moralistic concern:

“Honour thy father and thy mother…”

“Thou shalt not kill.”

“Neither shalt thou commit adultery(通奸).”

“Neither shalt thou steal.”

4. Rise & Spread of Christianity 基督教:73

I. Early Christianity
 Early Christians’ notion of divine creation, their concern for God and salvation all stemmed from Judaism of the
Hebrews. But Christianity based itself on two forceful beliefs which separate it from all other religions:
 i. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and God sent him to earth to live as humans live, suffer as humans suffer, and die
to redeem(赎回, 挽回)mankind.
 ii. By faith in Jesus, the only begotten son of God, one may attain salvation and eternal life.
Location of Jesus’ Birth
 Mary the virgin was engaged to Joseph the carpenter in Nazareth (巴勒斯坦地区北部古城--拿撒勒), but she was
impregnated with the Holy spirit and gave birth to God’s son Jesus (in a stable of an inn in Bethlehem).
Miracles of Jesus:

power over nature, power over disease, and even power over death
Death of Jesus:

Jewish leaders wanted to kill Jesus on the charge of blasphemy, and had Jesus arrested. A Roman governor
named Pilate tried Jesus. He wanted to release Jesus. But when the Jews threatened to riot, Pilate condemned Jesus to
death on a cross.
Resurrection: 复苏

On the third day after Jesus died, Jesus rose from the tomb. He later appeared to many believers, commanding
them to teach and baptize others.
The Sermon(说教, 布道)on the Mount
 Jesus delivered his most famous sermon on a mountain. In it, Jesus taught his listeners to:
 • Love your enemies.
 • Do not judge others.
 • Trust God.
 • Don't be anxious about tomorrow.
 • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you (The "golden rule").
A Summary on Jesus

While the Christian doctrine(教条)holds Jesus is the son of God, the fact may be that he is the founder of the
new faith, teaching a way of life and faith grounded in a long-established prophetic tradition of Judaism.

He emphasized the love and mercy of God, the love and brotherhood of men of good will, the unimportance of
worldly wealth and power, and the comfort and promise of redemption and happiness in a blessed hereafter.
II. Persecutions(迫害)of Christians in Roman Empire ★ ★ ★
 At first Rome paid little attention to the religion. They tolerated the Christians because they were regarded as a
harmless sect of the Jews.
 Then two things became apparent as the movement spread:
 i. The Christians under no circumstance would worship any other god and refused even the conventional emperor
worship of the deified Augustus which was required of all Romans;
 ii. The meetings of the Christians were secret and they refused to divulge to those not initiated into the sect the
proceedings of their gatherings →rumor among the Roman populace that Christians met in secret assembly and ate the
bodies and drank the blood of small children
 It was because of these two factors that Christianity was persecuted
 Persecution of Christians by the Roman authorities encouraged the spread of the faith and a change in its emphasis.
"The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church." A cult(宗教仪式) of martyrs 殉道者 developed, and even those
who had not the heart for martyrdom themselves revered local martyrs, and believed in the miracles reported of them in
their lives and of their relics after death.
P.S.: martyrs 殉道者，殉教者，烈士：指宁愿选择去死也不愿放弃其宗教信条的人
 For simple and uneducated people, these martyr-saints supplied the place of older deities who had been credited
with magical powers and gave them something closer than a remote majestic God and his crucified(处死：把…钉在或
绑在十字架上处死) Son with which to meet the terrors and trials of the world.
III. The Fourth Century
 Of all the centuries of Christian history, besides that formative first century, it is the fourth that is the most
important, for
 It was during the fourth century that the Christian religion became a tolerated religion, then toward the end of the
century emerged as the State Religion of the Empire.
 The great breakthrough for the Christians came when the Emperor Constantine declared it a tolerated (legal)
religion in his famous Edict of Milan in 313 A.D.
i. Emperor Constantine
 Constantine the Great (313-337) was born about 274 A.D. to the Roman general Constantius,, and his concubine
Helena
 who was a Christian.
 In 305, Constantius was made the Augustus, the supreme ruler in the West.
 After his father’s death Constantine was elected as Emperor
 As he was leading his army against Maxentius who also claimed the title of Augustus, Constantine relied upon the
counsel of his mother and prayed to the Christian God for a victory.
 The next day, they were victorious in battle. For this one act, Constantine granted freedom of worship to the
Christians in the famous Edict(布告, 法令) of Milan(米兰), the Magna Carta of religious liberty.
P.S. Milan 米兰：意大利北部一城市，位于热那亚东北。可能由塞尔特人所建，公元前 222 年被罗马人占领，
因其处于战略要地，自中世纪以来一直是一个重要的商业、金融、文化和工业中心。
 Seeing in it the hope of moral solidarity as well as the consolidation of the Empire, Constantine adopted a preferable
attitude to Christianity. He was even baptized as a Christian upon his death bed.
ii.. Establishment as the State Religion of Roman Empire

The emperors who followed Constantine continued pro-Christian policies.

In 392 A.D., Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the official religion of the Empire and outlawed all other
religions.

Christianity thus had changed from an object of oppression to the State religion of the Empire.
IV. Some Factors for Christianity’s Triumph(获得胜利)★ ★ ★

Christianity emerged out of the Roman Empire. Since it was only one among many oriental mystery cults that
sprang up in the East, how could it outstrip its rivals and the dominant religion in the Empire?
 i. Roman toleration
 ii. While intellectual philosophies of the Hellenistic world had a cold, intellectual appeal and did not involve the
emotions of the people, Christianity offered consolation and hope for a better life, hence, appealing to the distressed
masses.
 iii. The Roman rulers saw that Christianity could contribute to the consolidation of the Empire as well as moral
solidarity. (团结)

V. Schism（基督教内分裂） in Christianity
i. The Roman Catholic: )天主教的)
 The Roman Catholic is the successor of the church established in Rome soon after Christ's death.
 It traces its spiritual history to the early disciples of Jesus. The Pope, or spiritual leader, traces his office's lineage
back to St. Peter, the first Pope, one of Jesus' disciples.
 Roman Catholicism was originally predominately practiced in Ireland, Poland, France and Spain
ii. Eastern Orthodox
 Eastern Orthodox: During the fourth century, due to the division of the Roman Empire into western and eastern
components, the Roman Catholic church split and the Eastern Orthodox branch was formed.
 The two churches became officially separate in 1054. Orthodoxy is common in Russia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria,
the Ukraine, and Armenia
iii. Protestantism 新教
 The Protestant branch split from Roman Catholicism during the Reformation, a sixteenth and seventeenth century
series of church reforms in doctrine and practice. This movement challenged the authority of the Pope, and became
popular in Scandinavia, England, and the Netherlands.
 Protestantism eventually divided into many denominations which arose in response to disputes over doctrine,
theology, or religious practice. Some of the large denominations today are Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists.
VI. A New Mode of Christian life After Persecution
 With the end of persecution there emerges a new type of Christian leader and a new mode of Christian life. The
kudos that had formerly gone to the martyr-saints were transferred to the hermits and monks, who, having withdrawn
to the solitude of the desert or wilderness, had succeeded in conquering the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the
devil by self-imposed austerities and constant prayer.

This is the beginning of monasticism.
Monasticism: 96-8 ★ ★ ★（修道院制度）
 Origin of Monasticism:
 It had started in the third century in the eastern Mediterranean region as a movement of individuals in flight from the
corruption of the cities to the peace of the desert. The large number who desired to emulate these first hermits
necessitated the organization of communities in order to maintain discipline.
 Monks and nuns lived in communities apart from the world, but they prayed together and practiced the Christian
virtues of love, humility, and obedience in their relations with one another.
 The monastery is a school for the teaching of the true Christian life. The Christian monks did a lot to help preserve
and transmit a large part of the traditional heritage of the western culture.
 St. Benedict & The Benedictine Rule (本笃会戒律, founded about 529 A.D.) :
 The monks devoted to the monastic life had to give up the pleasures and pains of sexual love, taking a vow of
chastity before entering the community. He was to have no personal property, not so much as a knife or pen, and he was
to obey the abbot and senior brothers in all humility. Eating and sleeping were restricted to limits balanced between the
body's subordination to the spirit and its natural animal needs. The monk was to divide his time among prayer, labor for
the community, study and meditation（沉思, 冥想）. The monastery became his home and his family, and he was not to
leave except on permission or order of the abbot.
5. The New Testament: 77 ★
 Jesus had left no written records.
 Notable components of the New Testament include:
 i. Four Gospels by Jesus’ early followers:

Matthew《马太福音》

Mark《马可福音》

Luke 《路加福音》

John《约翰福音》
→ They deal with the birth, teaching, death and Resurrection of Jesus.

ii. The Acts of the Apostles (《使徒行传》)， a history of the early Christian movement;

iii. The Epistles, or Letters to Romans (《罗马书》)

iv. The Book of Revelation （
《启示录》
）， a visionary account of the final triumph of God’s purpose.
7. The Translation of the Bible:86-9
 The influence of the Bible:
 It is more than a religious book, for it reflects most extensively western ideas and culture.
 As it were, it left an enormous influence on the human race, especially in aspects of religious beliefs, language and
literature.
 As for its contributions to literature, refer to p. 89.
Lecture Four
The Middle Ages
1. A General Survey of the Middle Ages
(1). The Definition of Middle Ages: 91★ ★ ★

Middle Ages: The period in European history between the collapse of Rome and the Renaissance, from 476
CE to about 1450. It is so called because it came between ancient times and modern times.

It is also known as the medieval period, and as the Dark Ages. As during the Middle times there was no central
government to keep the order, and the Christian church shaped people’s ideas and lives by taking the lead in politics,
law, art, and learning of Europe, it is also called “Age of Faith.”
Organization of Church: 95-6

Pope of the Roman Catholic Church 罗马教皇、教宗

↓

Archbishops 大主教、红衣主教（province ）

↓

Bishops 主教（主教管区 diocese）

↓

Priests 牧师、教士（堂区 parish， part of a diocese）

↓

Lay member of church 非神职人员
(2). Emergence of Nations in Middle Ages
 Qin & Han dynasties →the Huns westward→ barbarian Germanic tribes, such as the Angles, Saxons, Franks,
Visigoths and Vandals, crossed the Danube river into the territory of the Roman Empire →establishment of many
Germanic kingdoms, which developed into nations as England, France, Spain, Italy, and Germany.
 Between 5-11 centuries, Europe suffered frequent wars and invasions. Political unity (that of Roman Empire) gave
way to widespread destruction and confusion. There was no central government, and it was Christian church that
seemed to unite Europe and kept the order.
(3). New Institutions of Europe ★ ★ ★
 In the isolation and chaos of the 9th and 10th centuries, European leaders no longer attempted to restore Roman
institutions, but adopted whatever would work. The result was that Europe developed a relatively new and effective set
of institutions. The most well-known of the institutions were manorialism (the organization of the peasants 庄园制度),
monasticism (the organization of the churchmen 修道院制度), and feudalism (the institution of the aristocracy 封建制
度).
2. Feudalism ★ ★ ★

The term "feudalism” derives from the Latin “feudum,” a grant of land.”
(1). Why did feudalism become a necessity?
Feudalism came to be initially a system of local defense against the constant dangers and uncertainties of a rather
primitive existence in northern Europe after the relative order of the Roman Empire disappeared.
(2). Three elements of feudalism : 92-4 ★ ★ ★

Feudalism is defined by three elements that existed and characterized the medieval period: lords (封建领主),
vassals (封臣) and fiefs (封地, 采邑).

A lord was a noble who owned land. A vassal was given land by the lord. The land was known as a fief. In
exchange for the fief, the vassal would provide military service to the lord. The obligations and relations between lord,
vassal and fief form the basis of feudalism.
Further reading: meaning of “fief”
It came from the German vieh, or "cow," the measure of wealth among the early Germans, a term that gave rise to the
medieval word fief. "Fief" simply meant "something of value." In the agricultural world of the time, "something of
value" was usually land. But the sixteenth-century lawyers pictured this land as having been under the control of a
powerful king who distributed much of it to his followers
Further reading: how did feudalism begin?

As the northern tribes migrated into Europe, each man wanted to have his own land and used whatever force
was necessary to obtain it. The strongest of these men made himself king and took the largest portion of the land he had
conquered. The remaining land was divided among his chief followers, with the condition that they pay him taxes and
fight for him. In turn, these men divided the land they had been given by the king among other men with the same
conditions they had agreed to. The dividing continued down to the smallest landholder.

As a result, every man (except the king) owed something to a stronger man. The stronger man was the lord,
and the weaker man was his vassal. The lord might also be the vassal of a yet more powerful lord.
Further reading: Who first began this practice?

It was Charles Martel(715-741, 查理·马特奥斯特亚）, a Frankish ruler, who first started granting estates
(fiefs) for military service in the eighth century. He had a good reason:

Europe was being invaded by a large Muslim army which came up from Spain. Martel could not have gathered
a strong enough fighting force without giving the fighters (vassals) something substantial in exchange for their service.
That was land or the right to use land for their own purposes.

Charlemagne, grandson of Charles Martel, was a stronger and more powerful ruler. He was able to field
armies strong enough to conquer most of central Europe. But his army was an army of foot soldiers, who were really
farmers and herdsmen most of the time. It was not a professional army in any sense of that term.

The extension of these two precedents led to the creation of a permanent fighting force exclusively dedicated
to military activity and nothing else.
(3). A conclusion of feudalism

Feudalism was a medieval contractual relationship among the upper classes.

It was further characterized by:

i. the localization of political and economic power in the hands of lords and their vassals;

the exercise of that power from the base of castles, each of which dominated the district in which it was
situated.

This formed a pyramidal form of hierarchy, as illustrated below:

king


vassal
(lord)
vassal
(lord)

vassal
vassal
vassal
vassal
3. Manorialism: 93-4 ★ ★ ★
(1). What is manorialism?
 Manorialism is the other side of the feudal coin, for it deals with the social and economic relationships between the
peasants and their lords (which feudalism does not infer). In a sense, manorial agriculture is the economic base of
feudalism.
 Manors usually had four parts to them: arable land, meadow land, waste land, and the village. Each part had a
specific purpose and none could be dispensed with if the manor was to survive.
(2). Social classes within the manor
I. Lords: an aristocratic class
 Rising in Europe in 8th, 9th and 10th centuries, the lords drew economic support from manors by preempting rents
and services from peasants. They had a right to the products from some part of the land. They had certain strips of the
best arable land set aside for the lord (i.e. the lord‘s demesne). The lord also got dues 贡物 from the serfs: sheafs
of grain and other dues in kind (the lord got the best animal when the head of the family died, for instance). He
collected fees from the serfs for using his still 酒厂, wine press, bake oven and other utilities. Fines were assessed by
the manor court for various infractions of custom and rules.
II. Peasant class
 The peasant class of medieval Europe can be classified into three groups: free men, serfs (villeins 农奴), and
cotters 农场雇工.
 Free men had certain fixed dues which they had to pay or deliver. Serfs had the same dues, but also had to provide
labor services for the lord on his land. Cotters had no rights to arable land whatsoever. They worked for some sort of
wage in kind.
 The serfs are little better than slaves, for they need permission to marry or move village and have to pay the lord
for almost everything. For instance, the lord has the choice of their animals when the serfs die, and the serfs have to
give the lord a hen at Christmas and eggs at Easter.
Monor house of lords: the only house made of stone in village
Further reading: Why did manorialism emerge in northern Europe?

climate & topography

→ provided a fundamental distinction from the grape-olive-grain-complex of the Mediterranean lands.

agricultural techniques

→ quite different in northern Europe from Mediterranean lands. An instance is the moldboard plow. As
distinguished from the scratch plow, it created a revolution in agriculture:

social adjustments

→brought about by new agricultural techniques. Since it took 6 to 8 small oxen to pull a moldboard plow, the
pooling of resources became necessity. This led to cooperative cultivation of the soil. By 10th century most of Europe
was divided into farming units known as manors.

In south of Europe, however, there was no comparable change in agriculture. (It is no surprise that feudalism
and manorialism never really developed in the south of Europe, since they had to depend on the traditional olives and
grapes)
III. Church

The church played an important role in all this. The peasants had to pay tithes (ththings) or harvest products
to the church in order to maintain it. These tithes (1/10th of total income) were collected by the parish priest or the
lord's agent.
(1). Who are knights?

Knights are skilled horse soldiers who have been given their manors in return for serving in the army.

But remember they are not born knights. They have to be trained in chivalry from about the age of 7 when they
become a page 侍童, at 14 he will become a Squire (骑士扈从) and continue with his education as a gentleman,
learning about religion, and also learning how to fight with lance and sword. A successful squire will be knighted by the
Baron or even the King in a ceremony where he swears to fight for God, his King and to be chivalrous
(2). The Code of Chivalry （骑士信条） ★ ★ ★

The code of chivalry can be said to be a set of ideals and duties by which medieval knights lived. Although
throughout the Middle Ages the code kept changing to meet new socio-economic realities, it maintained the essential
quality of defending 'rightness' that ties the many images of what we call 'chivalry.'
Some components of the code

Loyalty to country, King, honor, freedom, and the code of chivalry.

Loyalty to one's friends and those who lay their trust in thee.

Live one's life so that it is worthy of respect and honor.

Never attack an unarmed foe.

Never attack from behind.

Avoid cheating.

Exhibit self control.

Respect women.

Exhibit Courage in word and deed.

Defend the weak and innocent.

Fight with honor.

Exhibit manners
(1). The romance
 "Romance" originally referred to the vernacular French language which was called romanz (meaning that it was
derived from the language spoken by the Romans, i.e. Latin). Consequently, French and other languages derived from
Latin, such as Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, are still referred to as “Romance languages" (or New Latin
Languages) today.
 Here Latin refers to the Vulgar Latin which evolved in different areas after the break-up of the Roman Empire.
This spoken Latin differed in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar from classical Latin, a highly stylized and
polished literary language selectively developed from early Latin, i.e. the Latin language of the Golden Age of Latin
Literature (broadly the 1st Century B.C.), possibly extending to the Silver Age (the first two centuries A.D. directly
after the Golden Age).
 In the 12th century, literature which was written down in the French vernacular was referred to as "romance" to
distinguish it from "real" literature, which was invariably written in Latin.
 Gradually, the term "romance" began to refer to the specific sort of narrative literature that was most popular
among the French-speaking court audiences of France and Anglo-Norman England.
 They told stories of the chivalric adventures of knights and their ladies, often set at the court of King Arthur.
The audience for these early vernacular narratives was largely made up of women--the queen, duchess or countess and
the other ladies of her court. These women naturally tended to be interested in stories in which women played central
roles.
(2). Courtly love ★ ★ ★
I. What is courtly love?
 Courtly or Chivalric Love, most often depicted in romances, was typically between knights and married ladies who
were usually older and of higher social status. It originated with the so-called troubadours of the late eleventh century,
which wrote almost entirely about sexual love.
 Then the Cult of the Virgin Mary got mixed in the courtly love a bit later.
 The “courtly love" relationship is modeled on the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege lord. The
knight serves his courtly lady with the same obedience and loyalty which he owes to his liege lord. She is in complete
control of the love relationship, while he owes her obedience and submission.
II. Five main attributes that characterize courtly love
 In essence, the courtly love relationship was:
 i. Aristocratic:
 As its name implies, courtly love was practiced by noble lords and ladies; its proper milieu was the royal palace or
court.
 ii. Ritualistic:
 The lady was wooed according to elaborate conventions of etiquette (cf. "courtship" and "courtesy") and was the
constant recipient of songs, poems, bouquets, sweet favors, and ceremonial gestures. For all these gentle and
painstaking attentions on the part of her lover, she need only return a short hint of approval, a mere shadow of affection.
After all, she was the exalted domina--the commanding "mistress" of the affair; he was but her servus--a lowly but
faithful servant.
 iii. Secret:
 Courtly lovers were pledged to strict secrecy.
 iv. Adulterous:
 Courtly love was extramarital. Indeed one of its principle attractions was that it offered an escape from the dull
routines and boring confinements of noble marriage (which was typically based on practical and dynastic concerns
rather than on love).
 v. Literary:
 Before it established itself as a popular real-life activity, courtly love first gained attention as a subject and theme in
imaginative literature. Ardent knights, that is to say, and their passionately adored ladies were already popular figures in
song and fable before they began spawning a host of real-life imitators in the palace halls and boudoirs of medieval
Europe.
III. Three unique aspects of courtly love

i. The ennobling force of human love

Troubadour love poetry, although conceptually adulterous, inspired the man (and perhaps the woman) and
ennobled the lover's character. The knight's love for the lady inspires him to do great deeds, in order to be worthy of her
love or to win her favor.

This power of transformation, of ennobling the character of the lover, is the distinguishing characteristic of
Courtly Love. Courtly love is something entirely new in Europe, and the major source of our modern ideas about
romantic love.

ii. The elevation of the beloved above the lover

iii. Love as ever unsatisfied, ever increasing desire

Further reading: Andrew the Chaplain – the code of Courtly Love

Marie, Countess of Champagne (香巴尼), had Andrew the Chaplain, a cleric at the Court of Poitiers (波瓦第
尔), write a formal code of love which would instruct people in the proper behavior of lovers as part of her attempts to
civilize Poitiers. There are a total of 31 "rules." Such as:
How Love May be Retained

Keep it secret

Be wise and restrained in conduct

Be generous and charitable

Be humble, not proud

Offer service to all ladies

Do what is pleasing to your loved one

Associate with good men; avoid the wicked

Jealousy increases love

→The Middle Ages, like today, had every variety of love, from the sacred to the profane.
Further reading: Andrew’s rules of love applied to Boccaccio’s DECAMERON

Frederigo, a young gentleman, fell in love with Monna Giovanna, a beautiful, charming, married Florentine
lady.

Rule 1: Marriage is no real excuse for not loving

Frederigo spent all his money on tournaments, jousting, hosting feasts and other extravagances, to win Monna
Giovanna's love."

Rule 10: Love is always a stranger in the home of avarice

Rule 14: The easy attainment of love makes it of little value; difficulty of attainment makes it prized.

She did not care for him or his spendthrift ways. He lost his wealth, retaining only one little farm and one
falcon, "among the best in the world."

Monna's husband died→ she and her son →living a year in the country near Frederigo's farm.

The son & Frederigo & his falcon.

The son fell very ill and asked his mother to get Frederigo's falcon for him, which he thought would surely
make him get well. She hated to ask Frederigo for his last dear possession, but fear for her son's health led her to do it.

She visited Frederigo's farm and told him that, to compensate him for the harm he had suffered on her
account, she intended to dine with him that very day.

He was super-courteous, and invited her to wait in the garden. There was no food in his house, so he killed the
falcon to make a meal.

Rule 24: Every act of a lover ends in the thought of his beloved.

Rule 25: A true lover considers nothing good except what he thinks will please his beloved.

Rule 26: Love can deny nothing to love.

They ate and then she explained about her sick son and requested the falcon. Frederigo wept and revealed the
truth. She praised his gracious spirit but reproached his killing the falcon for her meal. She went home; her son died a
few days later.

Eventually, her brothers wanted her to remarry, since she was young and rich; she said she would only marry
Frederigo, which she did, and he was more prudent after that.
Frederigo and Monna Giovanna as Courtly Lovers

love from a distance;

love for an unattainable married lady;

the lover gives up his all for love;

the lover receives the final reward of the lady for such great courtesy
IV. A summary on courtly love
i. The "courtly love" relationship typically was not between husband and wife, not because the poets and the
audience were inherently immoral, but because it was an idealized sort of relationship that could not exist within the
context of "real life" medieval marriages. In the middle ages, marriages amongst the nobility were typically based
on practical and dynastic concerns rather than on love.
ii. Courtly love relationship, as it were, challenged and sought to redefine traditional Christian ideals of love, marriage,
manhood, virtue, and femininity.
Further reading: traditional Christian ideas of love & women in medieval times
i. Love:

Neither the Greeks nor the Romans thought that passionate love between the sexes could improve or
transform the lovers. Rather, they thought of passionate love as either a punishment inflicted on men by the Gods,
akin to madness, or as mere sensual gratification, not to be taken very seriously.

While antiquity did not approve of passionate love between the sexes, Christianity absolutely deplored it:

Even passionate love between spouses was considered theologically sinful, if unavoidable, until the thirteenth
century when the Church began to modify its attitudes on this issue.
ii. Christian idea of womanhood: Eve/Mary dualism
 i. Misogynic position (the traditional church position, often expressed in medieval literature):
 women were inferior: from Adam's rib
 women were sinful: story of the Fall
 ii. Cult of Mary:
 However, Mary, with her holiness and ideal embodiment of ideal feminine traits, plays an important role in
improving the images of medieval womanhood. The exaltation of the beatified Virgin Mary climaxed in the Marian cult
or cult of the Virgin Mary, which influenced the literature, music and art of the high and late Middle Ages.
 This Eve/Mary dualism allowed and even encouraged conflicting attitudes toward medieval women:
 At the same time that people were praying to the Virgin Mary for salvation, they were condemning Eve for the Fall
of Man. This dualistic religious attitude towards women offers us some insight into the curious mixture of love and
religion, sex and purity we find in the courtly love poetry and stories of the Middle Ages.
 In a word, when a medieval passionate lover obediently subjects himself to the will of his beloved lady, he grants
her a status which women did not enjoy either in Antiquity or in the Middle Ages.
6. Carolingian Renaissance: 101
 Charlemagne (742-814) was the most important figure of the early medieval period, who temporarily restored
order in western and central Europe. As he wanted to rule as the emperors of Rome had done, he was eventually
crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by the Pope in 800.
 Charlemagne encouraged interest in the Christian religion, and ancient learning by, for example, setting up
monastery schools, giving support to scholars and setting scribes to work copying various ancient books. The result of
Charlemagne’s efforts is usually called “Carolingian Renaissance,” with the term “Carolingian” derived from
Charlemagne’s name in Latin, Carolus.
 The most interesting facet of this rather minor renaissance is the spectacle of Frankish or Germanic state reaching
out to assimilate the riches of the Roman Classical and the Christianized Hebraic culture.
7. Scholasticism （经院哲学）
(1) What is scholasticism?

Scholasticism comes from the Latin word scholasticus which means “that [which] belongs to the school”. It
is not a philosophy or a set of beliefs, but a method, or technique, of teaching and learning created by late 11th Century
medieval scholars and theologians. Scholasticism was significant because it was possible to determine the answer to a
question through one's own reason, in contrast to the prevailing method of monasticsm (monastic learning) which
found authority purely through what was written in ancient manuscripts, but not through one's own reasoning.

There were numerous scholastic philosophies in the Middle Ages, but basic to all scholastic thought was the
conjunction of faith and reason. For the greatest of the scholastics, this meant the use of reason to deepen the
understanding of what is believed on faith and ultimately to give a rational content to faith.
（2 ）Some important questions for scholasticism
I. the existence of God

St. Anselm in the late 11th cent. took as his life’s motto “faith seeking understanding”(“为了理解而信
仰”——“我们决不是理解了才能信仰，而是信仰了才能理解。”) and sought to use reason to illuminate the content of
belief.

An example of this is his famous ontological proof of the existence of God.
Anselm’s ontological argument
 i. In order to affirm or deny anything about god, we must first form in our minds the appropriate concept, namely
the concept of “that than which nothing greater can be conceived” (“在一切可能想像中之最伟大(最完满)的存在
"). Having done so, we have in mind the idea of God.
 But of course God does not necessarily exist in reality, since we often think about things that do not (or even
cannot) actually exist.
 ii. Suppose the alternative: If “that than which nothing greater” can be conceived existed only in my mind and not
in reality, then I could easily think of something else which would in fact be greater than this (namely, the same thing
existing in reality as well as in my mind), so that what I originally contemplated turns out not in fact to be that than
which nothing greater can be conceived.
 →This is a contradiction, only a fool would believe it. So that than which nothing greater can be conceived (that is,
God) must exist in reality as well as in the mind.
Kant’s criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument
Kant’s criticism of Anselm’s ontological argument is to the point. In his words, “existence” (namely, existing both
in the mind and reality) is not an attribute. We can imagine God having the greatest attributes, yet this doesn’t mean it
does not necessarily follow that God really exists in reality. For instance, I can imagine that there are fifty dollars in my
pocket, but this does not mean that these dollars really exist in my pocket.
II. The problem of universals

One of the issues that most plagued scholastic philosophers during this period was the problem of universals.

Realists (唯实论者), following in the tradition of Plato, maintained that each universal is an entity in its own
right, existing independently of the individual things that happen to participate in it. Nominalists（唯名论者）, on the
other hand, pursuing a view nearer that of Aristotle, held that only particular things exist, since the universal is nothing
more than a name that applies to certain individual substances.
(3) Scholastic method: further reading

I. To discover disagreement and contention among reading sources

The scholastics would choose a book by a renowned scholar, called auctor （作品的創作者或創始者→
authority） , as a subject of investigation, for example the Bible. By reading the book thoroughly and critically, the
disciples learned to appreciate the theories of the auctor. Then other documents related to the source document would
be referenced, such as Church councils, papal letters, anything written on the subject be it ancient text or contemporary.
The points of disagreement and contention between these multiple sources would be written down and looked at from
all sides with an open mind.

II. To prove the two sides of an argument were in agreement and not contradictory through a series of
dialectics. This was done in two ways:

i. philoloigical analysis:

Words were examined and it would be argued they could have more than one meaning, that the author could
have meant the word to mean something else. Ambiguity in words could be used to find common ground between two
otherwise contradictory statements.

ii. logical analysis:

The scholastics relied on the rules of formal logic to show contradictions did not exist, but were subjective to
the reader.
(4) Scholastic school: further reading

Scholastic schools had two methods of teaching:

I. the lectio (诵读圣言, 经文评注) . A teacher would read a text, expounding on certain words or ideas, but no
questions were allowed. It was a simple reading of a text, the instructors explained, and silence for the students
II. the disputatio (disputation 辩论)

There were two types of disputatio's:

i. "ordinary" disputatio (通常的辩论) :

The question to be disputed was announced beforehand.

ii. the quodlibetal （随意性辩论） :

The students would pop the question to the teacher without any prior preparation. The teacher would then have
to come up with a response. Such as "Is it ok to steal?" The teacher would then cite from authoritative texts such as the
Bible and prove his position. Students would then rebut the response and this would go back and forth often digressing
into unruly affairs. During this haphazard exercise someone would be keeping notes on what was said, the teacher
would then summarize the arguments from the notes and present his final position the next day answering all the
rebuttals in a final answer.
8. Literature: 105
(1) National epics: 105
I. Definition of national epic:

The epic written in vernacular languages, namely, the languages of various national states that came into being
in the Middle Ages. It was the starting point of a gradual transition of European literature from Latin culture to a culture
that was the combination of a variety of national characteristics.
II. Famous national epics:

i. Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon epic: 105

ii. Song of Roland, French epic
(2) Dante Alighieri & The Divine Comedy
Dante shown holding a copy of The Divine Comedy, next to the entrance to Hell, the seven terraces of Mount Purgatory
and the city of Florence, in a fresco.
I. Significance of The Divine Comedy: 118

Written between 1308 and his death in 1321, The Divine Comedy is widely considered the greatest epic of
Latin literature, and one of the greatest of western literature (in parallell with Homeric Epics, Shakespeare’s Hamlet,
and Goethe’s Faust). Its influence is so great that it affects the Christian view of the afterlife to this day.

While the poem itself is a Christian poem with a profound vision of the medieval Christian world, it also
expresses humanistic ideas which foreshadowed the spirit Renaissance.
II. Structure and story of The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is composed of three parts:

Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), and Paradiso (Paradise)

The poet tells in the first person his travel through the three realms of the dead. His guide through Hell and
Purgatory is the Latin poet Virgil, author of The Aeneid, and the guide through Paradise is Beatrice, Dante's ideal of a
perfect woman.We may say that Virgil and Beatrice respectively represents wisdom and love which are able to lead one
to paradise
The nine circles of Hell:

The circles are concentric, each new one representing further and further evil, culminating in the center of the
earth, where Satan is held, bound. Each circle's sin is punished in an appropriately revengeful way to fit the crime.

The nine circles of Hell (九圈地狱) :

Circle 1. Limbo:

The unbaptized and virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ, namely, such poets,
pilosophers and scientists in ancient Greece and Rome as Homer, Plato and Aristotle. They are not punished in an
active sense, but are merely unable to reach Heaven and denied God's presence for eternity.

→ Dante put these people in circle 1 because he had to agree with the dominant Christian notion that anyone
who didn’t believe in Christianity would go to hell after death, but their freedom from any punishment shows Dante’
s admiration of wisdom.

Circle 2:

Those overcome by lust (好色之徒), trapped in a violent storm. For example, Archilles, Paris, Hellen,
Cleopatra.

→ As a Christian himself, Dante had to put such people in the hell and let them suffer so as to agree with the
Christian notion that appetites or physical pleasures should be disciplined, but as a man Dante shows a deep sympathy
for them.

Circle 3:

Gluttons (饕餮者，暴食者 ) face-down in the mud and gnawed apart by Cerberus, the dog monster in the hell.

→ Cf. the Christian emphasis on simple, moderate life. For them, the wine they drink is the blood of Jesus,
and the bread they eat is the meat of Jesus. This is why they feel obliged to pray to God for granting them food.

Circle 4:

The greedy (who hoarded possessions), and the indulgent (who squandered them), forced to push giant rocks
in opposite directions.

→ For the Christians, grudging and wasting possessions are equally sinful.

Circle 5:

The wrathful (动辄发怒者), fighting each other in the swamp-like water of the river Styx, and the slothful,
trapped beneath the water.

→ Christianity emphasizes moderation or self-discipline of emotions, passions, as well as appetites. So,
becoming wrathful is a sign of evil desire.

Circle 6:

Heretics （邪教徒）, trapped in flaming tombs.

Circle 7:

The violent (暴虐者）, including the violent against people and property (in a river of boiling blood), the
violent against themselves—suicides (turned into thorny black trees), the violent against God, art, and
nature—blasphemers, sodomites, and usurers（in a desert where fire rains from the sky).
The last two circles of Hell punish sins of malice, or sins of the intellect; that is, sins involving conscious fraud or
treachery, and can only be reached by descending a vast cliff into the "pit" of Hell:

Circle 8：

The fraudulent (欺诈者)— those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil. They include:

Panderers and seducers （诱奸者）, running forever in opposite directions, whipped by demons;

Flatterers （阿谀奉承者）, steeped in human excrement;

Those who committed simony (买卖圣职罪), placed head-first in holes, flames burning on the soles of their
feet;

Sorcerers and false prophets （伪先知）, their heads twisted so they can only see what is behind them;

Corrupt politicians （腐败政客）, trapped in a river of burning pitch;

Hypocrites （伪善者） made to wear brightly painted lead cloaks;

Thieves （偷盗者）, chased by venomous snakes;

Fraudulent advisors （恶谋者）, trapped in flames:

Sowers of discord （挑拨离间者）, whose bodies are ripped apart, then heal, only to be attacked again;

Falsifiers （作假者）, i.e. alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, and impersonators. Each group is punished by
being afflicted with a different type of disease.
ii. Purgatorio

Having survived the depths of Hell, Dante and Virgil then ascend out of the undergloom, to the Mountain of
Purgatory, where those whose sins were not to the point of going to hell purified themselves for ascending to the
Paradise.
Seven terraces of Purgatory （七层炼狱）
：

Terrace 1: Pride, by carrying a heavy weight tied around the neck that disables the wearer from standing up
straight.

Terrace 2: Envy, by having one's eyes sewn shut, and wearing clothing that makes the soul indistinguishable
from the ground.

Terrace 3: Wrath, by walking around in acrid smoke.

Terrace 4: Sloth, by continually running.

Terrace 5: Avarice, by lying face-down on the ground.

Terrace 6: Gluttony, by abstaining from any food or drink.

Terrace 7: Lust, by burning in an immense wall of flames
Paradiso

The ascension of terraces culminates at the summit, which is the Garden of Eden. Virgil, as a pagan, is a
permanent denizen of Limbo, the first circle of Hell; thus, he may not enter Paradise. Beatrice then becomes the second
guide

the nine spheres of Heaven (九重天):

Sphere 1: Moon （月球 天） - Faithfulness marred by inconstancy; those who abandoned their vows （正人
君子）.

Sphere 2: Mercury （水星天）- Service marred by ambition; those who did good out of a desire for fame （力
行善事者）.

Sphere 3: Venus （金星天） - Love marred by wantonness; those who did good out of love （博爱者）.

Sphere 4: Sun （太阳天） - Wisdom; Theologians （先知）.

Sphere 5: Mars （火星天） - Courage; the martyrs, warriors, and confessors（殉道者）.

Sphere 6: Jupiter （木星天）- Justice; Rulers（英明君主）.

Sphere 7: Saturn （土星天）- Temperance; monks and hermits （修道士）.

Sphere 8: The Stars （恒星天） - the apostles and saints （耶稣与其众弟子）.

Sphere 9: The Prime Mover （原动天）– angels （众天使）.

►The Empyrean (最高天): the Holy Trinity, the Virgin, the Angels and the Saints
(3) Geoffrey Chaucer 乔叟，杰弗里& The Canterbury Tales（坎特伯雷故事集）

Chaucer (1340-1400): An English poet, he is regarded as the first short story teller and the first modern poet in
English literature.
乔叟，
杰弗里：(1340?-1400) 英国诗人，
被认为是中世纪英国最伟大的文学家。他的作品包括公爵夫人之书（1369
年）
， 特洛伊拉斯和克莱希斯 （C.1385 年）以及他的杰作 坎特伯雷故事集 (1387-1400 年）

One of his major contribution is that he wrote his works mostly in the dialect used by common Londoners
instead of in Latin or French (We must remember that after the Norman conquest in 1066, for a long time the scholars
wrote in Latin, and the courtier in French, while the common people spoke old English, namely, the Anglo-Saxon. For
example, the commoners used “calf,”“swine,” and “sheep” for the animals they tended, while the Norman lords
used “veal,” “pork,” and “mutton” for the flesh served at their table). After Chaucer’s efforts, Normans and
English began to intermingle, thus creating what we know as modern English.

The Canterbury Tales, containing twenty four tales told by a group of pilgrims on their journey to Canterbury,
a famous Church, was his most popular work for their power of observation, piercing irony, sense of humor and
warm humanity.
9.Art and Architecture

Art in the Middle ages was inseparable from religion. It was infused with spiritual symbolism and meaning.

Art had a didactic as well as an artistic purpose in medieval times, because the majority of people were unable
to read.

The purpose of art was to awe and inspire the viewer with the grandeur of God. It also served to symbolize
what people believed. Pope Gregory the Great said, "painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who
read."
(1) The Romanesque 罗马式 Period
罗马式的：属于、有关或具有一种包含了古罗马和拜占庭特色的欧洲建筑风格的，该风格尤盛行于 11 世纪和
12 世纪，特点为包括厚实的墙、筒珙穹顶及相对不精细的装饰品

Romanesque art refers to the artistic style (esp. style of architecture) that prevailed throughout most of Europe
during 11th and 12th centuries. “Romanesque” means “in the Roman manner,” referring to its emulation of the
pattern and style of Roman art (esp. the pattern and proportion of the architecture of the Roman Empire) in its fusion of
Roman, Carolingian, Byzantine, and local Germanic traditions.

The chief characteristics of the Romanesque architecture were barrel vaults (筒形[桶形]拱顶), round arches
(拱门), thick piers (柱子), and few windows. In general they were heavy and solid, carrying about them an air of
solemnity and gloom.

Sculpture and painting, mostly in churches, developed a wonderful unity with the architecture. Both arts often
are imbued with symbolism and allegory. They are not based on natural forms but use deliberate distortions for
expressive impact.
(2) The Gothic（哥特式的） Style
哥特式的：流行于西欧的 12 世纪到 15 世纪的一种建筑风格的，特征是有尖角的拱门，肋形拱顶和飞拱
 Beginning in 12th century France a new style of architecture and decoration emerged. At the time it was called
simply "The French Style," but later Renaissance critics, appalled at the abandonment of classical line and proportion,
derisively called it "Gothic.“ This was a reference to the imagined lack of culture of the barbarian tribes, including the
Goths, which had ransacked Rome in the twilight of the Roman Empire.
 Gothic architecture is light, spacious, and graceful. Advances in architectural technique learned from contacts with
the Arab world during the Crusades led to innovations such as the pointed arch, ribbed vault, and the buttress. Heavy
Romanesque piers were replaced by slender clusters of columns. Window sizes grew enormously, as did the height of
vaults and spires.
 A late Gothic chantry chapel at Winchester Cathedral Sculpture became free standing rather than being
incorporated in columns. The new expanse of window space was filled with gloriously rich coloured glass. The easiest
point of reference to look for in a Gothic church is the pointed arch, seen in window openings and doors. Also, the later
Gothic churches had very elaborate decoration, especially the "tracery", or stonework supporting the stained glass
windows.
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英语 1034 班
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