Through My Eyes, In My Words:

Back to the Roots of Western Civilization: Greece and Italy

Taught by Howard Marblestone, Charles Elliott Professor of Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Robert Cohn, Philip and Muriel Berman Chair of Jewish Studies

Matthew Soper of Glastonbury, Conn., is majoring in government and law. A member of the Faculty Committee on College Programming, he is assistant captain of the club ice hockey team and a former participant in mock trial.

The transition from one’s own country into another is a unique experience. It is a conversion from one state of mind to another. The mind no longer functions with repeated training; it must reestablish long-practiced rituals. Ordinary actions in life become exercises in discovering cultural differences. In this way, travel allows you to expand your perspective on the world, facilitating connections between otherwise isolated synapses and sculpting a more complete person.

Only one day prior to our trip to Greece and Italy, the two countries existed as additional abstract metaphors in the English language; monikers to facilitate conversation. As a government and law major, the nature and history of Greece and Italy were familiar. The two nations exist as the ancient forefathers of Western civilization. Accordingly, my education had already led me through discussions spanning topics such as democracy in Athens and Plato’s utopian ideals to the murder of Julius Caesar and the construction of Roman aqueducts. In short, the ideas and essential nature encompassing Greece and Rome were familiar. Yet, I was still lacking something; my understanding was built upon a foundation of knowledge derived from textbooks. The physical environment responsible for cultivating the ideas driving Greece and Rome certainly remained foreign. A textbook can only lead a student to a certain point; at this line, the words and pictures fail to appropriately articulate the full nature of their subject matter. Full understanding requires the student let go of the textbook and actually walk upon the historical ground.

The trip to Greece and Italy allowed me to finally connect the textbook material with which I was so familiar to the physical places on which the material was based.

In Greece, I stood upon the Athenian Acropolis, allowing my gaze to sweep across the city of Athens to the blue Aegean Sea. I raced the same track as ancient Olympians at Olympia. Similar to ancient Greeks seeking the wisdom of the oracle, I made the arduous trek to Delphi. In Rome, I walked the Forum, the heart of everyday Roman life, where victorious legions would make their way to the Temple of Jupiter. I traveled to Pompeii, once covered in volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius. I stood in the Roman Colosseum, a pure embodiement of the brutality in Ancient Rome, imagining the gory gladiator contests.

One of my favorite expereinces was visiting Vatican City. Entering the Vatican, one walks through hallways covered in murals and gold trim. The hallway murals are only interupted by paintings, mosaics and stautes. Eventually, the hallways lead to the Sistine Chapel. I stared in admiration upon the ceiling of Sistine Chapel, captivated by the religious power emanating from Michelangelo’s unparalleled masterpiece. The work is a true testament to the heights human talent can attain.

Throughout our travels to the different sites, the intervals were filled with captivating landscapes. We passed over mountainous peaks covered in swirling fog and valleys punctuated by orange groves and olive trees and basked in the rays of the warm Mediterranean sun.

The trip was a perfect way to better understand the two countries in a short time span. My perspective on the culture of ancient Greece and Italy was greatly enhanced. If one is not careful, everyday experiences appear as simple permutations of an unvarying life; a consistent refutation against the fake conception of life’s variance. Travel offers an increasingly rare opportunity to break from normal routine and allows for a greater understanding of the world.