One of the main characteristics of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, spanning at least three whole centuries of European history, was the “rediscovery” and elevation of ancient Greek and Roman arts, writings, ideas, and, in general, culture, pulling it back into their contemporary world in an idealized revival of those styles and thoughts. In this process, philosophers dived into texts written over 2000 years prior, turning them into pieces just as contemporary as their own; artists went on painting, sculpting, and narrting stories about those ancient times, picturing them as ideals to revive, often full of historical mistakes that became widespread, much like the image of horns on Vikings’ helmets; even architects went to design their new buildings inpired in the styles of the Acropolis or Roman ruins.

All forms of cultural expression in Europe suddenly were “sent back” to an era that ended at least 1500 years before, or so they thought. The Renaissance and Neoclassical ideas, styles, and works, though inspired in those of classical Greece and Rome, really were more adaptations of those into the technology, taste, and ideas of the time, more inspiration than imitation. It was the product of a romantic idealization of a period long time gone, reading those ancient texts through the lenses of much more modern thought, picturing those scenes and buildings with much more advanced technology and technique, etc. Rationalism, for example, which followed up Platonic ideas of rationalle above physical perception, was a more refined school of thought than the ancient Greek one it continued, and had much more profund questions and problems to analyse. Plato’s cave thought experiment had now become Cartesian skepticism, and cogito, ergo sum.

Nevertheless, those 17th and 18th Century “hipsters”, filled in inspiration from those ancient cultures, gave way to an extraordinary leap forward in terms of cultural and ideological development. The Enlightenment period, in Western Europe, was an explosion of philosophical and scientifical improvement, which grew stronger as the influence of the Church waned over time since the Thirty Years War. Not only that, but monarchs and other leaders were inspired by that wave of rediscovery, as they had been ever since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, claiming themselves as the new Caesar ever more frequently, and attempting to emulate their ancient empires and conquests in modern Europe.

Ironically enough, much of that rediscovery was misheaded from their 2000 year-old counterparts. Ideas like democracy, which was rejected by every major classical Greek philosopher were now portrayed as the way forward ever more prominently, and the concept of Roman rule of law was also idealized, as many others were, opening the gates for the many revolutions, uprisings, and thought developments that eventually gave way to our society models of today.

Although the end of this period of rediscovery and elevation of ancient ideas can be set in the beginning of the 19th Century, after the fall of Napoleon and the start of Romanticism, the concept of a historical ideal era from which we inspire our writings and thoughts of today has persisted. Perhaps we could argue that those idyllic times we think of today, just like the Classics were for 17th and 18th Century Europeans, are those of European Industrialization and Imperialism during the 19th Century. Those were the times during which Western European powers reached their height in world power, extending their colonial rule and influence to almost every corner of the globe pushed by the technology and demands of their new industrial economies. France, Germany, and especially Britain saw no rivals outside of themselves overseas, and they went on splitting the territories of the world under each other’s spheres of influence.

It could be well argued that modern day Europe, as part of its enduring political and economical crisis, is looking back on those “years of glory”, perhaps seeking for a source of inspiration to guide their actions today. The United Kingdom, as a good example, has chosen its breakup from the continental union that is the EU, largely by the idea of ressucitating the long gone British Empire that ruled the world without contestants until World War I. Some even regard Germany’s and France’s positions in EU politics as their way to reenact their lost might over the continent and across the globe, as if it were some form of imperial influence. The crisis that Europe still is in today has brought nationalist movements to their political doorsteps, and has seen their national interests become ever stronger in their political decision-making.

Europe today is very far away from their 19th Century heroes, just like Baroque or Neoclassical Europe was from ancient Rome: Europe is no longer the heart of those huge empires that spanned their influence to every person in the globe, it is no longer the industrial powerhouse of the world and exporting pole it once was, nor it any longer holds the military might it did to twist everyone else’s arm. They have been overtaken, overshadowed, perhaps even crushed, by the superpowers of the Cold War, most notably the United States, China, and even Russia.

In this decay, Europe looks herself in the mirror and breaks down in tears, just as a old failed person would in remembering their younger, fitter, and more successful self of the past. In this analogy, one could say Europe is facing the middle-age crisis that so many 50 year-olds have in coming across those situations. Just like those, Europe pretends to be younger than it is all of a sudden, and goes back on wearing clothes and attitudes that no longer fit her age, making her look ridiculous, just as a 50 year-old, fat man does in leather clothes, aviators, and a motorbike, pretending to be 25. We see the rise of those nationalist and anti-globlization movements as those kind of attitudes, trying to bring back times that no longer exist, in behaviours that no longer suit them, based upon ideas that no longer apply, out of touch of their reality, and the one around them.

In this sense, Europe looks back at those times of “glory” 150 years ago in search for the inspiration to face the world of today, as their new ancient Rome, as an exampe to follow, forgetting that, just like Rome, those times are long gone, and that rejuvenation will not happen. The Enlightenment philosophers that brought back to life classical texts succeeded, not because they tried to do just as their authors did, but instead worked on those experiences and brought them into modern thought, adapted to it, and only the parts that could. None of them ever used them to defend slavery, which ancient Greeks and Romans used very prominently, quite the contrary in fact. In that fashion, if Europe’s new Rome is the Industrial Revolution, perhaps we should adapt those ideas in the same manner. Perhaps those European middle-age countries should start acting their age before they crash those motorbikes into a ditch, or they get another 2 day-long hangover the next time they go out.