World History, Chapter 6: Transition from the Greeks to Romans

World History, Chapter 6: Edited 12/7/23.

Transition from the Greeks to Romans: 

Genesis 3:19, “For out of the ground were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.”

King’s Nebuchadnezzar’s image of a man was a view of the future: its brightness was excellent; its head was that of gold; its breast and arms of silver; belly and thighs of brass; legs of iron and feet part of iron and clay. From head to toe this image covers a period of some 2600 years; from Babylon to this present day.

Let’s examine the history of the belly and thighs of brass; ancient Greece:

Daniel 2:32, “His belly and thighs were of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and clay.”

The thigh of a man is the area between the pelvis and the knee. The bone of the thigh (femur) is thick and strong, and forming a ball and socket joint at the hip, and a condylar joint at the knee.

This belly and thigh of brass verse 39, “Shall bear rule over all the earth,” making reference to the strength of the thighs as they support the weight of all those who preceded them. The lower legs of iron are connected to the upper thigh at the knees giving us the idea of a transition of power, of culture, language, invention, science and of course the machines of war.  This appears to be the way we are to examine Nebuchadnezzar’s image. Each body part joined to the other in a way we can easily observe the absorption and advancement of one sovereign authority to another.

The Hellenistic period of Greek history beginning with the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C. (the belly of brass) and ended with the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 B.C. After Alexander’s death a struggle for power would break out among his four generals, resulting in the break-up of the empire and the establishment of a number of new kingdoms. The belly of brass has now evolved into the two thighs of brass, a kingdom divided.

The ancient Greeks had a number of inventions and discoveries attributed to them; many would be assimilated into Roman thinking and culture: The Greeks had astronomy, geography, medicine, Zoology, mathematics and it was the men of Greece who pioneered many of the sciences.

Anaximander was one of the pioneer cartographers (map makers) which played an important part in travel and navigation. There was the mechanical odometer used for measuring distance travelled; this dating as far back as the Hellenistic time and used by the Romans. We can thank the Greeks for the Olympic Games; the invention of the alarm clock; also Greek geometry which insisted that geometric facts must be established by deductive reasoning.

Hippocrates was an ancient Greek physician and considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He was referred as the father of western medicine in recognition of his contributions to the field, and as founder of the Hippocratic School of Medicine.

The Greeks also approached philosophy differently; they developing a way of understanding the world around them without giving any considerations to religion, myth, or sorcery. Philosophers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle observed and studied the then known world, including the solar system, planetary motion and the astral phenomena in the heavens.

Democracy can be traced back to ancient Athens to about the year 508 BC. Athens is regarded as the birthplace of democracy and considered an important reference point to it; it developing a transition to a political system where all of society would have an equal share in the political powers. Also the ancient Greeks made outstanding contributions in various branches of science. They made astounding discoveries in the field of astronomy, biology, physics, and among others, they broke contemporary stereotypes on those subjects. Also the intellects of ancient Greece excelled in mathematics, physics and astronomy.

Aristotle gave the idea of earth being a globe and is considered the father of zoology. Theophrastus was the first botanist; Pythagoreans proposed the heliocentric hypothesis that the earth revolved around sun and not the other way around. This idea was so far ahead of its time, it was disregarded as blasphemy. Archimedes discovered that submerging a solid object will displace an amount of liquid that matches the object’s weight. The Greeks had so much influence in the early concepts of science, that most symbols often used in physics and higher math equations are derived from Greek alphabet.

And there we have it; the Greeks brought to the world many contributions, but alas like all those they followed, the Egyptians; Babylonians; Medes and Persians, their quest for power would bring them face to face with the Romans, the legs of iron, and with the prophesies of the ancient Jewish Prophet Daniel. 

Widespread Roman interference in the Greek world was probably inevitable given the general manner of the governing influence of the Romans. The interaction of the two was a consequence of the Greek city-states located along the coast of southern Italy. Rome wanted the Greeks to submit to them and the only way this was possible was to go to war. Eventually the coastal cities were unable to maintain themselves and were eventually absorbed by the Roman republic. War broke out in Sicily against the Carthaginians which resulted in a complete conquest of Sicily by Rome.

Rome won many battles over the following years, resulting in the end of the Macedon’s as a major power in the Mediterranean. Peace treaties were signed, but like most Roman peace treaties they were designed to utterly crush the power of the defeated parties. The Macedon’s were forced back to their ancient boundaries, losing most of their influence over the city-states of southern Greece, Thrace and Asia Minor.

The Seleucid Empire became entangled with the Romans. Antiochus the III, soon became entangled in the conflict with important Roman allies, and a cold war between Rome and Antiochus set in. Antiochus with a pretext to invade Greece and liberate it from Roman influence started the Roman-Syrian war. Roman troops moved into Asia defeating Antiochus at the Battle of Magnesia. This left a crippling effect on the Seleucid possessions, reduced their navy and a massive war indemnity invoked. War between the two continued for a number of years until Rome destroyed their power, and shortly after, the Macedonian kingdom was no more.

Eventually the Roman Legions defeated the Greeks at Corinth, and the city was razed to the ground.  The final Greek resistance came in 88 B.C. when King Mithridates of Pontus rebelled against Rome, captured Anatolia, and massacred some 100,000 Romans and their allies. This led to other revolts that overthrew Roman puppet rulers who then joined King Mithridates. But eventually he was defeated in 65 A.D. In 27 B.C. Augustus annexed Greece to the Roman Empire as the province of Achaea. The wars left Greece depopulated and demoralized, but soon all war had ended and the cities soon recovered their prosperity. Ancient Greece touched most every aspect of the Jewish culture, especially the Greek language, it being the language of the New Testament.

And so the might men of Greece heard the voice of their Creator, “For out of the ground were you taken: for dust you are, and unto dust shall you return.” Now the belly and thighs of brass yielded to the legs of iron; everything was set for the birth of the coming Christ child.

Phil LaSpino   www.seekfirstwisdom.com