One of the fundamental characteristics of Western culture, among many others, would be the writing of history. History, the recording of past events and an attempt to explain them is indeed a discipline born, as we know, with Herodotus. Of all the ancient civilizations that have developped ... More
This modern infatuation with ancient Greece and Rome stems from a particular moment in European history, the so-called Renaissance of the fiteenth century, when a new myth of European cultural ancestry was constructed. [...] The Renaissance was not so much a ‘rebirth’ as an invention, ... More
All over Europe, there seems to be a trend toward the revitalization of ancient, local languages or dialects, most of which were replaced over the centuries by what became national languages. The case is especially striking in France, where, for most of the 20th century, pupils and students could ... More
For many years now, black silhouettes have been seen roaming about European cities. The gothic/metal movement raises many questions. In this article (in French), sociologist Nicolas Walzer analyses this subculture and places it in the perspective of the downfall of traditional religion in Western ... More
Minos was not Greek. Rather, the historical Minoans discovered barely a hundred years ago by Sir John Evans were certainly not Greek, but–linguistically and ethnically–related to the Near East. But for all that we know of Minoan civilization, i.e. not much, they have always been an ... More
