From Royal to Republican

The phalanx, the last stand of the 300, and Romulus and Remus are all images that many American students are familiar with. I have always wondered why? Why are the images of classical Greece and Rome so recognizable to Americans and why are they seemingly integral to the teaching of history in our classrooms? Why aren’t the teachings of the Chinese or the Japanese or even the Middle East taught in the classrooms of the late 18th and into the 19th centuries? Upon reading this article it becomes rather apparent why this is so. The influence of the Greeks and Romans on Europeans at the time of their intellectual explosion solidifies their place in the historical and literary teachings of the day. It is only logical that these influences would then travel across the oceans with the explorers, adventurers, and colonists. It is therefore logical to see why these Roman and Greek teachings became the basis of our own educational system, an influence that persists to this very day.

In addition, to the literary and educational influence of the Greeks and Romans the materialistic influence of the two cultures seemed surprising, but it should not have been. The Europeans of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries are not so different in their wants and needs from those of the 18th, 19th, or 20th centuries. The peoples of Europe namely the wealthy went through a kind of Greek and Roman craze buying up all things Greek or Roman. This craze started, not surprisingly, with literature. Libraries of the wealthy were filled with the works of the Greeks and Romans. This literary phase was replaced by an antiquarian almost plunderous phase that I would liken to the current fascination to the popularity of all things antique today. A sort of antiques road-show whereby the participants would go to the actual site and take what they wanted. There are many teachable similarities of these areas and our modern era.

Teachable moments abound in this reading. Showing the students of today that we are not so different from those of the past. One of these moments comes from the figure America Guided by Wisdom by John James Barralett. This amazing painting encompasses the Americanization of the Greek and Roman influence on Europe. Gone is the ideology of gentlemanly imperialized war through the filtered lens of the European. What we are left with is a more peaceful defensive version of this same vision that is uniquely American. Many American themes can be tinged from this painting. From the westward movement to the isolationist all can find comfort in this painting.

Image Citation:
Winterer, Caroline. 2005. From Royal to Republican: The Classical Image in Early America. Journal of American History 91 (March): 1267.