"One of his favourite themes was that Western civilization had reached its finest flowering in the Mediterranean basin, in the civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome. His admiration of the Greeks, in particular, knew no bounds and in many respects his views bore an uncanny resemblance to those of the great Johann Joachim Winckelmann. There is no way of knowing whether Hitler, a notorious pickpocket in the market of ideas, actually took these notion from the pioneer art historian. But Winckelmann's dictum that 'the only way for us to become great. . . lies in the imitation of the Greeks' is one that Hitler repeated virtually word for word on various occasions. What he say in their culture was a peerless aesthetic ideal. 'What makes the Greek concept of beauty a model iw the wonderful combination of the most magnificent physical beauty with a brilliant mind and the noblest soul'. As a result the Greeks had achieved perfection in every field. He considered the Parthenon to be supreme and the architectural style he himself later endorsed was initially a pastiche of neo-Dorian. Greek sculpture had never been surpassed in his view and one of his most prized possessions was the best surviving copy of Myron's Discobolus, Discus Thrower. He had acquired it in 1938 and on placing it on exhibition praised it as an aesthetic model for all time. 'May you all then realize how glorious man already was back then in his physical beauty,' he told his audience. 'We can speak of progress only if we have attained like perfection or if we manage to surpass it.' He also admired the Greeks for 'the excellence of their world thought.' 'Our technology alone is all they lacked,' he maintained. Despite his own nonbelief, he even admired Greek religion and his entourage must have found it hard to trust their ears when they heard him say, 'We would not be in any danger today to pray to Zeus.' The strength and serenity of pagan icongraphy he contrasted to Christian imagery of suffering and pain - 'You need only look at the head of Zeus or Athena and compare it to that of a medieval crucifixion scene or of some saint.' The distinction was visible in architecture as well. 'What a difference,' he said, 'between a dark cathedral and a bright, open temple.' All in all, Greek civilization represented 'a beauty that exceeds anything that is evident today'.
It was an enthusiasm he never lost. In 1941, after the Wehrmacht had devastated Yugoslavia in its march through the Balkans and crossed the Greek border, Hitler commented to Goebbels how much he admired the bravery of the Greek army. 'Perhaps there is still some of the old Hellenic in them.' The Fuhrer, Goebbels further recorded, 'forbids any bombing of Athens. . . Rome and Athens are Meccas for him. He deeply regrets having to fight the Greeks. Had the British not intervened, he would never have hastened to help the Italians.' A few weeks later, he returned to find Hitler 'sad that he considered it at all necessary to fight in Greece. The Greeks certainly did not deserve it. He intends to treat them as humanely as he possibly can. We watch a newsreel of our entry into Athens. The Fuhrer can take absolutely no pleasure in it, so deeply saddened is he by Greece's fate.'
His esteem for the Romans was of a different order. He admired their 'grandeur,' their 'world empire,' their 'imperial might'. The age of Augustus marked the zenith of Western civilization. 'Ancient Rome was a colossally serious state. Great ideas inspired the Romans'. Above all, it was their architecture and its enduring influence on Italy that he venerated. Years after his state visit to Italy he was still in raptures: 'Rome moved me. And in Naples, the courtyard of the royal palace, how splendid are its proportions, one element balanced by another.' In Rome he was left in awe by the magnitude of the great ruins, in particular the Colosseum and the Baths of Caracalla. But the Pantheon and Hadrian's tomb impressed him still more. As time passed it was less to the Greeks and more to the Romans, with their domes, vaults, arches and arcades, that he turned to for architectural inspiration.
Hitler deplored the fall of the Roman Empire and, having often pondered the reasons for it, eventually came to the conclusion that 'Rome was broken by Christianity not by the Teutons and Huns'. He even appeared to justify the crucifixion of Jesus, commenting on the Oberammergau passion play, which he atteneded in 1930 and 1934, 'Rarely has the Jewish threat to the ancient Roman world been so graphically illustrated as in the person of Pontius Pilate in this play; he emerges as a Roman so racially and intellectually superior that he stands out like a rock amid the Jewish dung and rabble.' Had it not been for the Christians, he said on another occasion, Rome would have retained control of all of Europe and its legions would have demolished the Hunic tribes. European history would have taken an entirely different course. 'It would be better,' he said, 'to speak of Constantine the Traitor' and 'Julian the Steadfast' instead of calling the one 'the Great' and the other 'the Apostate.'"
Frederic Spotts, Hitler and the Power of Aesthetics, pp.21-22
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