mature. Surprisingly so. And self-reliant. But had you done your homework, Sophie?”
Sophie fidgeted a little.
“Well, you did say it was important to have a personal point of view.”
“Well, yes I did ... but there are limits.”
Sophie looked him straight in the eye. She felt she could permit herself this after
all she had experienced lately.
“I have started studying philosophy,” she said. “It gives one a good background
for personal opinions.”
“But it doesn’t make it easy for me to grade your paper. It will either be a D or
an A.”
“Because I was either quite right or quite wrong? Is that what you’re saying?”
“So let’s say A,” said the teacher. “But next time, do your homework!”
When Sophie got home from school that afternoon, she flung her schoolbag on
the steps and ran down to the den. A brown envelope lay on top of the gnarled roots.
It was quite dry around the edges, so it must have been a long time since Hermes had
dropped it.
She took the envelope with her and let herself in the front door. She fed the
animals and then went upstairs to her room. Lying on her bed, she opened Alberto’s
letter and read:
HELLENISM
Here we are again, Sophie! Having read about the natural philosophers
and Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, you are now familiar with the foundations
of European philosophy. So from now on we will drop the introductory ques-
tions which you earlier received in white envelopes. I imagine you probably
have plenty of other assignments and tests at school.
I shall now tell you about the long period from Aristotle near the end of
the fourth century B.C. right up to the early Middle Ages around A.D. 400.
Notice that we can now write both B.C. and A.D. because Christianity was in
fact one of the most important, and the most mysterious, factors of the period.
Aristotle died in the year 322 B.C., at the time when Athens had lost its
dominant role. This was not least due to the political upheavals resulting from
the conquests of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.).
Alexander the Great was the King of Macedonia. Aristotle was also from
Macedonia, and for a time he was even the young Alexander’s tutor. It was
Alexander who won the final, decisive victory over the Persians. And
moreover, Sophie, with his many conquests he linked both Egypt and the
Orient as far east as India to the Greek civilization.
This marked the beginning of a new epoch in the history of mankind. A
civilization sprang up in which Greek culture and the Greek language played a
leading role. This period, which lasted for about 300 years, is known as
Hellenism. The term Hellenism refers to both the period of time and the
Greek-dominated culture that prevailed in the three Hellenistic kingdoms of
Macedonia, Syria, and
Egypt-
However, from about the year 50 B.C., Rome secured the upper hand in
military and political affairs. The new superpower gradually conquered all the
Hellenistic kingdoms, and from then on Roman culture and the Latin language
were predominant from Spain in the west to far into Asia. This was the
beginning of the Roman period, which we often refer to as Late Antiquity. But