Ancient & Medieval Cultures

In modern times, Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece are most commonly known for their literary works such as The Epic of Gilgamesh, The Iliad, and Sappho, but the impacts of these ancient cultures go much beyond literature and impact the western cultural traditions even today. One of the more prominent ideas that originate from Mesopotamia is the specialization of labor and social classes, which has reached far beyond western cultures. The intensity of competition, seen in Ancient Greece is prevalent in today’s society in verbal, physical, and social forms.

Mesopotamia and Ancient Greece have played an enormous role in western cultural tradition and continue to do so.

In terms of specialization of labor, Mesopotamians divided themselves into priests, soldiers, and farmers. The division of labor automatically led to the creation of social classes, with people that fulfilled the more valued occupations being placed at the top of the social pyramid. In Sumerian city-states, religion played a large role in everyday life, which is why priests were often placed at the top of social classes and considered a separate labor force.

This same division of labor and social classes can be seen in modern western culture, with the ideas of “blue-collar” jobs versus “white-collar” jobs. According the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a blue-collar job is defined as “constituting the class of wage earners whose duties call for the wearing of work clothes or protective clothing,” whereas a white-collar job is defined as “constituting the class of salaried employees whose duties do not call for the wearing of work clothes or protective clothing.

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Similar to ancient cultures, the jobs requiring more physical labor, farmers in Mesopotamia and blue-collar workers in western culture, are associated with being lower or middle class, while priests and white-collar workers are considered to be high in social class. Social classifications and labor specialization have changed a lot since their foundations in Mesopotamia, but still, have a lasting impact today. Verbal and physical competition played a major role in Archaic Greek culture and laid the foundations of organized competitiveness with the Olympics. The Olympics were originally used to channel the angered characteristics of Homer’s Achilles into athletic and philosophical competition in order to express the Greek ideals of virtue, courage, and beauty. In modern times, competitiveness can be seen in almost every aspect of life, beginning as early as school and continuing through college, careers, and even into personal/social lives.

The Olympics and other sports have become outlets that allow people to express their competitiveness by either partaking in the sports themselves or by actively and regularly viewing sports events. While the original Olympics were most likely much more brutal and violent than the modern Olympics, both are forms of systematized displays of physical competition on a scale that encompasses the whole globe and not just the western world. The way social classes are divided, the way labor has been specialized, and the way that people choose to express their completeness through verbal or physical forms all have origins in ancient cultures that are often only seen for their literary/historical influences rather than social influences. Ancient cultures continue to have relevance in western cultural traditions and mold the ways that society advances.

Works Cited

1. Best, Jeff. “Lecture 2.” Mesopotamia, Gilgamesh. 28 Jan. 2019.
2. Best, Jeff. “Lecture 7.” Archaic Greek, Sappho. 13 Feb. 2019.
3. “Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/.
4. Reid, Heather Lynne, and Michael W. Austin. The Olympics and Philosophy. University Press of Kentucky, 2012.