THE MIRACLE OF GREECE

Being a Russian, I am very comfortable with Russia’s appropriation of the treasures of Western civilization. These treasures are by no means limited to the cultural gifts of Europe, but they naturally include the legacy of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, although with certain reservations, which we shall touch upon shortly. It is only the great cultural legacy of the East: China, Japan, India and such, that the Russians step away from, recognizing it as an entirely different matter, completely unknown, and even unknowable, that is alien, to the holder of the Russian soul. By a similar, if not quite the same token, the ancient Indian civilizations of the Americas are deemed no less alien, and they certainly are alien.

There is a somewhat disingenuous element, however, in holding on to the culture of ancient Middle East. In fact, although we are proudly claiming the ownership of it, spiritually it is by no means ours. Only with the Greeks does our true heritage begin. It is therefore astonishing how, out of a sudden, and seemingly without any historical continuity, and virtually ex nihilo, the ancient Greek culture was sprung upon the world.

We will be talking a lot about Homer here and elsewhere, but where does our Homer really come from, and what are his roots? Does he have any connection at all to the prehistoric Minoan civilization of Crete, and if this is true, why does our inquiry into the pre-Homeric past suddenly go dark? Why do we know Homer the Greek, but do not have any concrete name, even purely legendary, of “Homer” the Cretan?

There may be several different explanations of this, some of them even trivial; but none of them is satisfying enough to be accepted with relief. For my part, I am inclined to forgo all such desperate attempts to see clearly into the pre-Homeric mist, and welcome the humbling mystery of our limited knowledge. To me, the mystery of Homer’s appearance on the stage of world history, with everything which it has entailed, can be explained, very succinctly and painlessly, as simply: the miracle of Greece.