Duffrin 1

Tyler Duffrin
Austin Van Kirk
HUM 131.01
15 August 2017

Modern-Day U.S.A.

Most of the ancient cultural significance included in my Cultural Creation is included

within the three blue pillars that are front and center. Firstly, they are made of Kinetic Sand, which is

sand that includes adhesive so it doesnt fall apart easily (this was as close as I could get to using

clay or Play-Doh). Atop each of the pillars is a Greek symbol that I carved into the sand with a pen. I

am not artistic so the symbols are not explicitly clear. Carved into the pillar furthest to the left is the

Greek letter Phi, which, among many other things, represents The Golden Ratio, which is a

complex mathematical algorithm that many well-known mathematicians have applied to their work

in many ways since its creation (Meisner, History of the Golden Ratio). Carved into the pillar in

the center is a triangular symbol with two horizontal slashes in the middle of it, known as URBS,

which contains the prefix urb-, which loosely translates to city. This is representative of the polis

that dominated ancient Greek geography. Carved into the pillar furthest to the right is a lightning

bolt, which is representative of Greek mythology and particularly Zeus, who was/is the king of all

the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

So, the three pillars represent (1) the Greeks invention and application of mathematics,

(2) the city-states that were prevalent given their geography, and (3) their collective spirituality. In

accordance with chapter 1, the pillars are set up in such a way that they are supposed to represent

menhirs, which were tall, upright stones from prehistoric times in western Europe that were arranged

either on their own or in some orderly fashion, the most well-known of all such structures being

Stonehenge. I also attempted to set up the pillars in such a way that they could be representative of

the columns which supported all the Greeks buildings but my sand pillars obviously arent
 Duffrin 2

supporting anything. When it got down to it, I was unable to create a sand structure that would have

accurately represented a Greek building. The paper that the creation lies on is there to keep it in

place, but the Greeks used the earliest forms of paper with papyrus scrolls. Finally, the rocks outline

the entire creation to give it more of a Greek feel, if you will.

Behind the pillars is the Greek word for apart, which I included in attempts to

demonstrate the contrast between the three pillars being separate, but all simultaneously serving the

same purpose, as the symbol on the center pillar indicates (again, displaying the symbol for city).

This early idea of democracy was central to ancient Greek philosophy; that there were independent

city-states that even went so far as to war with one another, yet collectively maintained Greek

identity, was the reason that the Greeks were able to enjoy competition while upholding their own

sense of large-scale comradery. Sounds something like modern-day U.S.A.

 Duffrin 3

Work Cited

Meisner, Gary. "History of the Golden Ratio ." The Golden Number , PhiPoint Solutions.

Accessed 13 May 2012.