ontinent. Because of the harsh nature of the environment on the Greek peninsula itself, the early Greek tribes were forced to mold their culture in the nature of their environment.2
One theme running throughout Greek history is that its culture was extraordinarily competitive. Each successive generation tried to improve upon the previous one. The philosophers asked cogent questions about human life and ethical behavior. It was the striving nature of these questions, however, that so strongly influenced both Greek culture and society. For instance,
1 For the purposes of this paper historical items will be discusses in general terms only. More complete references to historical questions may be found in the works listed in the bibliography. For example, see John Boardman, et.al., eds. The Oxford History of the Classical World (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986).
2 Herbet N. Couch, Classical Civilization (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1951), 14.
Is slavery wrong? What is the ultimate source of law, human or divine? Should the family be abolished? Is civil disobedience sometimes right? How can the rule of law be established over blood feud and family loyalties? What justifies a state in ruling other states? What is the ideal size for a community? [And], what is the role of heredity and what of education in the formation of character?3
This questing and continual re examination was similarly marked by the Greek ideal of form. It has been suggested by scholars that this idea of form significantly contributed to the evolving idea of mathematics, since Greek mathematics was continually obsessed with both order and form.4 As well, this idea of form was a major legacy in Greek art, literature, philosophy, and science. The idea of form in Greek culture centered around architecture and town planning, the conscious precision of art, and "the strict and exacting requirements which were felt to be appropriate to each ge...