Olympic Games (interesting, actually)

[Eleatic Guest]

The problem is that we're talking about different levels of fundamentals here. ...Let me paraphrase this with another analogy. The Orient's fundamental contribution was to invent walking as such (let's just say). ... Unfortunately we don't look on walking as anything special today. We don't revere walking and reward expert professionals in it with medals and aplomb. We revere chiseled muscles and perfect human shape, which is precisely the unique Greek contribution.

I think I know exactly what you mean (I understood you that way all along the way). There is an excellent German term for that notion: "Erfindungshöhe", literally translated "height of inventiveness". The Erfindungshöhe of the Greeks was in many ways such that, while they drew from the basic contributions of the older civilizations in the Middle East, they added so much own originality that their contributions can be considered to be genuine inventions or contributions to world civilization in their own right. That is also my view.