What was the origin of the Classical Antiquity culture?

Question

I many times heard a version that the advances of the Ancient Greek culture were in fact borrowed from Egypt or the Middle East. I will not buy this. Classical Antiquity civilization had a lot of features which put it apart from any Asian or African civilization and which thus could not be borrowed. Such features include

• extensive and realistic fine arts, especially sculpture

• narrative literature of non-religious character

• philosophical research based on logic, experiment and cross-references between authors

• extensive deductive legal system and idea of the people as the source of power, idea of counter-balances and checks on the supreme power

and others.

Another idea, that these features were inherited from Proto-Indo-Europeans does not explain why other IE peoples did not exhibit similar culture.

It seems that proto-Classic civilization originated in the Balkans and encompassed several diverse peoples of IE origin (Proto-Greeks, Thracians (including Dacians), Illirians, Macedonians, Liburgians, Messapians, Paeonians, Bryges (later known as Phrygians), possibly also proto-Italians).

So my question is

• What are the arguments pro and contra of proto-Classical civilization in the Balkans?

• Are there any remains that point that such civilization existed?

• Whether there are other theories of the origins of the Classical culture?

• If proto-Classical culture existed, whether it played any prominent role in Europe such as playing a role of a cultural center?

Answer 1

1. Greeks came not on the empty space. There was older, Minoan and even more old civilizations on this place before them.
2. I think, the very important influence was from the Crete civilization, that was very original. Look at their pictures.
3. Of course, there was also infuence from barbarians. All waves of greek population were barbarians themselves sometime.
4. Influence from the cultures and civilizations of smaller islands in Egeian sea could be important, too. Lesbos, for example.
5. They sailed Mediterranian and surely, knew Etruscian civilization and Tartess, too.
6. Herodotes starts his history also with tales on Lidian state. The first coins, Creusus and so on. Also there was Frigia andother states in Asia Minor. Before Persians they were with Greeks tha parts of one greater cultural entity. For example, they used the same Oracul.

All of these influences and their own work made what we know as classic Greek Civilization.

Protoclassical civilization - it was Greeks themselves. They built their culture for centuries.