Pergamon and the Worlds New Philosophy (33/39)

Pergamon and the Worlds New Philosophy (33/39)

During our time at school we learned that Greece was the cradle of european culture.  What we tend to forget is that the beginnings of greek culture and the foundations of our intellectual history are to be found in Asia Minor. Three thousand years ago greek emigrants landed on the aegean coast of what is today known as Turkey. Here they founded many settlements which in the following century became centres of trade, science and philosophy.  In cities such as Smyrna, modern day Izmir, Milet and Ephesos ideas came into being which formed the foundation for Plato's and Aristotles's writings. In Pergamon, with its huge library, the intellectual life of the Ioniens later blossomed and this was incomparably expressed in the Berlin Pergamon altar.

Aus der Schule wissen wir, Griechenland gilt als Wiege der Kultur Europas. Dabei vergessen wir oft, dass die Anfänge der griechischen Philosophie und damit der Beginn unserer Geistesgeschichte in Kleinasien zu suchen sind. Vor 3.000 Jahren gingen an der ägäischen Küste der heutigen Türkei griechische Einwanderer an Land, die schon bald zahlreiche Siedlungen gründeten. Diese wurden in den folgenden Jahrhunderten zu Zentren des Handels, der Wissenschaften und der Philosophie. In Städten wie Smyrna, dem heutigen Izmir, Milet und Ephesos entstanden jene Ideen, die die Grundlagen für die Schriften von Platon und Aristoteles schufen. In Pergamon mit seiner riesigen Bibliothek gelangte das intellektuelle Leben Ioniens schließlich zu einer späten Blüte, die im Berliner Pergamonaltar einen unvergleichlichen Ausdruck fand.

This series portrays landscapes, metropoles, sacred sites and monuments, all of which have made a unique contribution to the cultural heritage of mankind. Each episode breathes life into civilizations which thrived in the past ten thousand years, some of them then vanishing without a trace into the shadows of history. The films describe epochs whose legacy lingers in the perceptions and ideas of our own age, and cult sites which have managed to preserve their religious and cultural power up to the present day.