Social Sciences in China, 2025

Vol. 46, No. 1, 2025

On the Mediterranean Civilizational Attributes of the Ancient Greco-Roman Civilization—An Examination of the Myth of European Civilizational Continuity

(Abstract)

Han Zhen

From ancient Greece and Rome to modern Europe, the narrative of European civilization’s continuity is a myth constructed by European academia since the 19th century. This myth weakens the connections between Greco-Roman civilization and other Mediterranean civilizations in West Asia and North Africa by exaggerating their differences and ruptures, thereby obscuring the influence of West Asian and North African civilizations on Greco- Roman civilization. It amplifies the continuity and commonality between ancient Greco- Roman civilization and modern Western European or Atlantic civilizations. By demeaning the civilizations of Eastern nations, this narrative constructs a distinctive European identity and further portrays modern developed European characteristics as universal features of the West. In reality, prior to the Middle Ages, the cultural commonalities, close affinities, and continuity between ancient Greece and Rome and other Mediterranean civilizations in West Asia and North Africa far exceeded their cultural connections with Western Europe. In the face of global changes unseen in a century, constructing an independent knowledge system that meets the demands of our times necessitates a complete departure from the narrative structure of Western centrism.

Keywords: ancient Greco-Roman civilization, Mediterranean civilization, continuity of civilization, Western centrism