Hellenistic civilization and Western world

W. McNeil argued that classical Greek and the Hellenistic civilization contributed greatly to the western civilization. The Greek and its derivation of Hellenistic civilization created enormous social, political and cultural influence in the western world that it can be seen as one of direct predecessors of modern western civilization. However, their influence is just part of the combination of cultural and political influence that shaped the modern western world. The diffusion of Hellenistic civilization to the other part of the ancient western world mixed with the influence of them created a new culture that shaped the tradition of the western civilization. The enormous amount of art, science and philosophy that traced back to the tradition of the Greek civilization exerted significant influence on the western civilization. But the realm of the western world was larger than that of the Greek civilization. For instance the Islam civilizationin the Middle East created a large influence of the modern western civilization. Their religion and culture largely influence the western world and created a unique culture of the Middle East. The development of the Greek philosophy largely influenced the modern world by its creation of a realm that is different from that of the political aspect. It turned to the personal life and matters. The democratic system of the Greek civilization set an example for the modern western world where democratic system was

prevail and dominates. The Greek art set a great tradion of the western art in its reality in the early period and the boldness and artistic imagination in the later period. The Greek tragedy and mythology also set a tradition and high point for the western civilization. The classical Greek culture left enormous heritage for the western world that later adopted by the renaissance period. Therefore, the Greek civilization left significant influence to the modern western world form political, cultural to scientific heritage. But the classical Greek civilization and Hellenistic civilization is just one part of the ingredient of the tradition of modern western world. The influence of the civilization such as the Persian and Ottoman Empire remained large and profound. The conflict between the Greek civilization and the non-Greek civilization become intense just as the conflict between Christianity and Islam. The interaction of the two cultures created a combination of the orient and the Hellenistic civilization that served as the sources of modern western civilization.