by Major General (ret.) K. H. Konstantinidis
PART A — Foreign Intellectuals’ Admiration for Greek Culture
Alongside the opponents and critics of Hellenism, there were also many distinguished foreign philosophers, philologists, poets, and scientists who recognized the importance of ancient Greek culture and its profound influence on the development of European and global thought.
Among them were some of the most significant figures in intellectual history, whose work continues to be studied and discussed.
1. Eduard Zeller
The German philosopher and historian of philosophy Eduard Zeller was one of the most important scholars of ancient Greek philosophy. His work made a decisive contribution to the systematic examination of the philosophical schools and ideas of antiquity.
The study of Greek philosophy highlights the fact that the ancient Greeks raised fundamental questions about nature, knowledge, ethics, politics, and human existence. The answers they attempted to give, despite their differences, shaped concepts and methods that deeply influenced later European philosophy and science.
Their contribution was not limited to philosophical thought. From the Homeric epics to Attic tragedy, and from the art of the age of Pericles to mathematics and the natural sciences, the Greek world created works and ideas whose influence has endured through the ages.
2. Johann Gottfried Herder
The German philosopher, Hellenist, and writer Johann Gottfried Herder helped foster European interest in the history, language, and culture of peoples. His thought significantly influenced the intellectual environment in which Goethe also developed.
Herder is credited with the characteristic saying:
“As flowers adorn the earth and stars the heavens, so Athens adorns Greece, and Greece the world.”
The phrase poetically encapsulates the idea that Athens’ influence extended beyond its geographical boundaries and that Greek culture exerted an impact far greater than the size of the place in which it developed might suggest.
3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe, one of the leading figures in German and world literature, recognized the importance of ancient Greek art and literature in shaping European education.
In his intellectual world, antiquity was not merely a historical past to be admired, but a living field of study, aesthetic cultivation, and the search for harmony.
Goethe is credited with the saying:
“What the mind and heart are to the individual, Greece is to humanity.”
The phrase eloquently expresses the view that the Greek heritage is an essential point of reference for Europe’s intellectual tradition.
4. Friedrich Schiller
The great German poet Friedrich Schiller was one of the most important representatives of German Classicism. In his work “The Gods of Greece” (Die Götter Griechenlandes), he evokes the ancient world poetically, portraying nature, beauty, and the divine as being in close harmony.
The poem is dominated by nostalgia for a world in which people perceived nature as a living presence rather than as something detached from their spiritual experience.
Schiller is credited with the phrase: “Divine and immortal is the fire of Pindar.”
The reference to Pindar indicates that the lyric poetry of ancient Greece was one of the most important expressions of ancient poetic creativity.
5. Friedrich Engels
Engels, who together with Karl Marx co-founded the theoretical tradition of Marxism, repeatedly discussed the importance of ancient Greek philosophy and the historical development of human thought.
Greek philosophy was one of the first major arenas for the systematic investigation of nature, society, and knowledge. From the pre-Socratics to Plato and Aristotle, Greek thinkers developed different approaches that continued to influence philosophy for centuries.
The text under consideration attributes two statements concerning Plato and Aristotle to Engels.
Regardless of whether the specific phrases are accurately attributed, the influence of ancient Greek philosophy on the formation of European intellectual life is a historically documented fact.
6. M. Kruse
M. Kruse was a distinguished French Hellenist who described Plato as “one of the eternal teachers of the earth and of thought.”
This reference emphasizes Plato’s enduring place in the history of philosophy. His works, with their dialogues on justice, truth, education, the state, and the Good, continue to influence philosophical debate.
7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau, one of the most important political philosophers of the Enlightenment, wrote extensively about freedom, inequality, education, and the relationship between the individual and society.
In his works Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality Among Men, The Social Contract, and Émile, or On Education, he explores issues that also lay at the heart of ancient Greek political and ethical thought.
Ancient Athens, citizens’ political participation, and examples from ancient history became important points of reference in modern political philosophy. Rousseau, in an emphatic and arguably exaggerated formulation, characterizes Socrates as a “god-man.”
8. Percy Bysshe Shelley
The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley was an ardent admirer of ancient Greece. Greek history, mythology, and cultural heritage are central elements of his work.
In the preface to his verse drama Hellas, written in 1821 in response to the Greek War of Independence, Shelley expressed the famous thought:
“We are all Greeks.”
In the same prefatory text, he emphasizes that the laws, literature, religion, and arts of modern Europe have deep roots in Greece.
This was not merely an expression of admiration for antiquity. It also formed part of the broader philhellenic climate of the period, when the Greeks’ struggle for freedom moved important figures in European intellectual life.
9. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff
The German classical philologist Wilamowitz-Moellendorff was one of the most important figures in modern classical philology. His work profoundly influenced the study of ancient Greek literature, religion, tragedy, and intellectual life.
The original text attributes to him the statements that “the Greek nation holds the cultural hegemony of humanity” and that the Greeks were always “liberty-loving and liberators, and never conquerors.”
10. Friedrich Nietzsche
Nietzsche was deeply familiar with ancient Greek literature and was one of the most important modern thinkers to grapple with the meaning of Greek culture.
In his work The Birth of Tragedy (1872), particularly chapter 15, he discusses the distinctive place of the ancient Greeks in cultural history and the difficulty later ages have had in freeing themselves from their influence.
In this context, Nietzsche observes that many eras tried to distance themselves from the Greek model but found themselves confronted by the power of its achievements. Greek creativity served as a standard of comparison, often making later works appear less original.
This passage is significant because it expresses Nietzsche’s admiration for the intellectual and artistic genius of the ancient Greeks.
The saying “Cursed Greek!” is also widely circulated as a statement by Nietzsche. I have not been able to substantiate it, and I leave it to you to verify through further study.
11. Ludwig Büchner
The German physician and philosopher Ludwig Büchner was an important representative of nineteenth-century materialism. In his work Force and Matter (Kraft und Stoff, 1855), he advocated a materialist interpretation of nature and human existence.
In a conversation with the Greek journalist Sarmakopoulos, he reportedly expressed satisfaction that materialist philosophy, from Thales to Epicurus, would return to Greece after more than two thousand years.
The reference to the pre-Socratic philosophers and Epicurus is nevertheless significant: important materialist and naturalistic approaches developed in ancient Greece, attempting to explain the world in terms of nature and its properties.
12. Jacob von Falke
The original text identifies Jacob von Falke as the author of a work entitled Hellas. In its introduction, he invites the reader to travel to the land of the people who created eternal beauty.
The idea of Greece as a place where models of aesthetic harmony developed is connected with the long European tradition of Classicism, which looked to ancient Greek art for ideals of form, measure, and proportion.
13. Ernest Renan
The French philosopher, historian, and writer Ernest Renan visited Athens and was deeply impressed by the Acropolis and the Parthenon.
This experience was connected with his celebrated text “Prayer on the Acropolis” (Prière sur l’Acropole), in which he expresses his admiration for ancient Greek art and for the ideal of beauty he recognized in Greek culture.
“Prayer on the Acropolis” is not merely a description of a monument. It is a personal meditation on beauty, truth, knowledge, and the relationship between the European spirit and antiquity.
The text remains one of the characteristic expressions of the admiration that Athens’ monuments inspired in important European intellectuals.
14. Henri Bergson
The French philosopher Henri Bergson was one of the major figures in European philosophy in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His work focused, among other things, on duration, consciousness, creativity, and evolution.
The original text associates him with the statement that the Greeks created a model of supersensory truth and aesthetic beauty whose fascination it is impossible to escape.
As a general theme, the reference to the aesthetic ideal of ancient Greece remains pertinent: Greek philosophy and art made a substantial contribution to the European conception of beauty, form, harmony, and human creativity.
The Enduring Influence of Greek Thought
The personalities mentioned above are only a small sample of the foreign intellectuals who studied, admired, drew upon, or criticized the ancient Greek heritage.
Greece’s influence on philosophy, literature, political thought, mathematics, and the natural sciences is undeniable. This heritage, however, is not the exclusive possession of one people; it is both a historical legacy and a shared field of human inquiry.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of well-meaning commentators of every kind and ideologically biased critics of Hellenism—including AI—who rush to reject anything that is not accompanied by readily available evidence, even when it concerns views and historical observations that have repeatedly been confirmed through the enduring study of Greek literature and cultural heritage.
Thus, historical continuity is diminished, the intellectual contribution of the ancient Greeks is overlooked, and the discussion shifts from substance to doubt.
“The truth of the Greek spirit is the light that even today illuminates the darkness and heralds the dawn: the dawn of Freedom, Democracy, Justice, Humanism, and Peace.” (11 October 2026)
Major General (ret.) Konstantinos Konstantinidis
Writer – Member of the Society of Greek Writers
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