Christian Meier, who is one of the greatest German experts of ancient Greek history, made 80. During last week Mr. Meier celebrated his birthday and German newspapers once again started writing about his deeds. This proved that there is big audience in Germany, which is interested in ancient Greece.

“Die Zeit” published a supplement entitled “We Come from Athens.” That is all. The historic consciousness of the central European is that his cultural and spiritual heritage comes from Ancient Greece. This consciousness is a product of reflection and a spiritual fight, which has been happening for centuries and it is not a statement from a natural heir.

What does Christian Meier claim in his new book “Culture for the Sake of Freedom. Greek beginnings – the beginning of Europe?” He means that ever since the 8BC Greeks thought of the term “freedom” as a part of the political system of the city, which meant: Freedom from the foreigners’ power, personal development freedom, which is within the borders of a more widely understood development of the city, connected with the well being of all. One balanced freedom of the self, which is part of the whole. The creation of the Greek culture is a continuation of this freedom and not a fruit of the Greeks imagination in their try to subdue the world. Greeks might not have created an empire but they created the practice and meaning of freedom. This why Europe’s history starts from Greece.

What is Meier’s opinion of today’s democratic system in Europe, which he has defined in an interview for one German newspaper? “The old definition of democracy contained the element that we have something to say. Today, we talk about everything but no one takes us seriously and before the expression of a certain opinions could have thrown a person in jail. Today government officials let people talk whatever they want. All we have left is the ballot-box. And what do we do there? We give our vote as if we are choosing representatives of different insurance companies. In today’s world, the political topics themselves—or in other words those, which affect the State and the public as a whole, are not discussed publicly. We have freedom of thought but we are not thinking anything!”