Essay Sample on Striving For Excellence Is Important To the Ancient Greeks

Excellence (Arete) of any kind was considered a moral virtue in Ancient Greece as it comprised human knowledge that utilizes human abilities and knowledge to succeed in life. In its earliest emergence in Ancient Greek, this concept of excellence was primarily related to the intent or purpose of fulfillment and happiness, including the willingness to live up to one’s fullest capabilities and potential. Greece believed that it was morally right for a person to become brilliant, prominent, and the best (Jahanbegloo, 182). This competitive mentality has been the leading force of all elements of ancient Greece. Excellence was the most pleasing achievement the Ancient Greek people strived to achieve in whatever they did. The people in Ancient Greece strived from time to time to be excellent because they treasured competition to outsmart each other somewhat in the society they lived in.

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The idea of excellence was essential to Greek culture as it encouraged creativity and hard work. In ancient times, excellent people were fortunate enough to live in a moment and ecosystem that fostered excellence and awarded awards to the living people and postmortem glory to the deceased. People occupying fields such as trade, academics, politics, and sports utilized the available resources to excess in their areas. In Ancient Greek society, striving to excel was vital since it helped the Ancients to understand life in its totality and to live it to the fullest (Coglianese 10). This competition led to civilization’s birth, whereby every human wanted to become more competent than others. Also, every person wanted to be the best among the rest, to carry out activities he or she will be adored for while serving humanity and society at large.

Ancients believed that excellence could motivate the evolution of creative thinking, technological advancements, and science. Several excellent individuals took the big move and provided solutions to problems that troubled the non-excellent persons. In an environment where the less skilled person would get the same bonuses as the brilliant and hardworking ones, people could not be motivated to work hard to improve. The Ancients strived to occupy top positions since they were assured of the rewards that such positions offered individuals who work hard and smart (Jahanbegloo 184). The motivation to stand out, keep improving and make a significant difference was fundamental, whereby the motivation was the main inspiration. If there were no motivating factors, either this desire would stagnate, and a creative mind would become inactive, or it would turn the creativity to the outmoded limits of society seeking freedom to develop and be recognized and honored.

Examples of Ancients Who Excelled In Their Lives

Examples of those people who were inspired to excel in Ancient Greece included Achilles. Achilles was a short-tempered, arrogant ruler who could not tolerate anyone or anything in his search for success. Ulysses was also a bright and intelligent Ithacan ruler who won almost all of the wars using his expressions and concepts, without losing courage. Thales, one of the pioneers of scientific philosophy, excelled in the world of imagination as he chose to use motivations of excellence for his time in a unique way (Coglianese 13). Instead of clinging to the world’s understanding, he progressed beyond theories, reaching through the entire universe to seek explanations. Themistocles was an ambitious leader, who could be trusted with the most narrow-minded people since he had the ability to convince people. His incredible intellect rescued most of Athens’ citizens when the Persians conquered and devastated everything.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the Ancients loved fairness while striving to outsmart each other in their social setting. They believed excellence would encourage people to work hard to find solutions to the problems that affected their ways of life. A very talented person was compelled to build up his or her creativity to become great, which could, in turn, honor his or her family and their home country. They were well mindful of the necessity that human ambition could easily result in hysteria, and they had nothing else to fear than lack of responsibility and moderation. Ancient Greek society encouraged its people to practice fairness and moderation in everything they did.

Works Cited

Coglianese, Cary. "The Challenge of Regulatory Excellence." Achieving Regulatory Excellence 1 (2017).

Jahanbegloo, Ramin. "The Pursuit of Excellence and the Role of Philosophy." Co-herencia 11.20 (2014): 179-186.