HPS 137 | Classics 137: The Greek Invention of Harmony and Proportion
Spring 1999-00
Students enroll in Classics 137 , 4 units
Professor Reviel Netz
A painting by Leonardo, a Bach fugue, Einstein's theory of relativity. All
represent the same pervasive, striking idea: that the universe embodies
certain simple, mathematical relations, which offer the key to both truth
and beauty. This idea arose in classical Greece, through the twin concepts
of harmony and proportion. Where did such ideas come from, and what was
their original significance? We shall follow the way in which Greek science
and Greek culture mutually reinforced each other, in a wide range of
beliefs about proportions: between geometrical figures or inside cities, in
the human body or on the guitar. Proportion and harmony, for the Greeks,
connected the abstract and the concrete. This special connection led to
several intellectual and aesthetic breakthroughs which are still with us:
perspective painting, Western musical harmony, the very idea of
mathematical physics, and much more. By understanding the historical
background to such developments, we can appreciate how many strands in
contemporary culture, both from "the arts" and from "the sciences",
essentially belong together.
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