Freedom and liberty were the backbone of the ancient Athenian society. People prided themselves on their lifestyle and thinking. In the beginning of the book, Edith writes, “Athens had entered upon her brief and magnificent flowering of genius, which so molded the world of mind and spirit that our mind and spirit today are different.” This statement is one of the most significant statements wrote in The Greek Way, as it describes how through the genius of that time period the world would forever transform. Edith Hamilton certainly did a inordinate job depicting her thoughts of what remained happening in that time period. When Hamilton wrote “Great literature, past of present, is the expression of the great knowledge of the human heart.”…show more content… Even their priest started speaking the words “Thus far and no farther. We set the limits to thought” In history this was a major turning point, which actually led to world, as we know it today. They turned, Hamilton says, away from the visible world - away from the world of the mind, to the world of the spirit and followed various paths they believed offered rescue from the sorrow and misery of life. In turn, we see this today as with our religion. Understanding that this point of view is something that comes directly from the ancient Greek society is brooding to ones mind. Hamilton wanted the reader to understand how Greek ways influenced and changed the world as we know it for the better and without this special civilization its hard to imagine how the world might be today. The second ending phrase she states really implements the point she was trying to illustrate. Hamilton states, “They saw both sides of the paradox of truth, giving predominance to neither, and in all Greek art there is an absence of struggle, a reconciling power, something calm and serenity, the
