Abstract

The accepted reading of Nietzsche's relation to the Greeks centers on the person of Socrates. This arises because of an emphasis on The Birth of Tragedy as the book by which one can understand Nietzsche's view of the Greeks. In the first period of Nietzsche's career, 1869-1876, he approaches the Greeks as the ideal culture, a study of which can help to create a new and similar culture. Insofar as Nietzsche espouses this position he plants himself squarely within the German tradition of seeing in the Greeks an imitable culture. Nietzsche himself concentrates on the artistic and philosophical aspects of Greek culture: Greek tragedy represents the ideal art form and Socrates is the not so ideal philosopher. ;To concentrate on this first period, however, is to oversimplify Nietzsche's relation to the Greeks. We endeavor to show the limitations of this by analyzing the references that Nietzsche makes to the Greeks in the second period of his career, 1876 through 1886. In this period Nietzsche takes Homer as the representative artist and Plato, along with Epicurus, as the representative philosopher. ;Nietzsche finally arrives at the conclusion that the greatness of the Greeks is too far removed from us to be of true value. He finds three limits to the tradition. The tradition, understood as Graeco-Christian, does not exist. Second, whatever greatness the Greeks hold is ultimately removed from us: any return or turn to the Greeks to elucidate our own lives is bound to fail. Nietzsche even questions our very ability to understand the Greeks at all. Here Nietzsche comes forward as an antidote to the contemporary malaise of traditionism. Instead of turning to the old ways as our source of inspiration or finding our inspiration in undermining them, we need to create new ways. Unfortunately, contemporary philosophy reflects all too well the nihilism that Nietzsche predicted. A philosopher is one who legislates, not interprets