tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23651730473238940482024-03-20T00:09:42.365+02:00Alexander The GreatDellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.comBlogger601125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-15177023895989374382020-03-02T09:18:00.000+02:002020-03-02T09:18:09.342+02:00Walking tour of the Acropolis in (4k) 60fps. Greece, Athens (February 2020)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/052VE8sWEmQ" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-3539699371190433382019-05-17T09:20:00.003+03:002019-05-17T09:31:28.490+03:00Who do you think were the greatest warriors of the classical world?<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="https://secure.polldaddy.com/p/10321312.js"></script>
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Many strange tales have been told about the ancient Spartans. Soldiers had to stand naked in public every ten days to ensure they were fit and ready for battle. Their staple was a broth made from pork boiled in pig’s blood and consumed with salt and vinegar. They kept their hair long to distinguish warriors from manual laborers (they also believed that it made them look more handsome). They had to live in communal barracks until the age of thirty, even if they were married. The bride shaved her head, dressed as a man, and waited for her future husband to arrive and fulfill his marital duties. Disgraced soldiers shaved half their beard and wore rags. And yet, all these bizarre customs pale in comparison to an institution whose existence strains belief; the krypteia.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>On neighbors</b></u></span></div>
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There is no shortage of famous quotes trying to describe the importance of maintaining good relationships with your neighbors…and what happens when you don’t. Hesiod believed that a bad neighbor was as much of misfortune as a good one is a great blessing. Two millennia later the general opinion was very much the same. G. K. Chesterton claimed that we may be able to choose our friends and our enemies but only God makes our next-door neighbors. Gore Vidal came even closer to the truth of the matter when he argued that it is the nature of things for one’s neighbor to always be the enemy. Especially if the parties involved are the Messenians and the Spartans.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><u><b>The many Helens of Sparta</b></u></span><br />
The Messenians were Achaeans who lived in southwestern Peloponnese; the Spartans were Dorians who settled in the Eurotas valley. When they ran out of farmable land, they began to have ambitions on the Messenians’ fertile plains and were on the lookout for an opportunity to invade their neighbors’ realm. And since the gods never tire of a good story (and why should you try to invent a new one when you already have a fine precedent), the Spartans were presented with a fine excuse to invade Messene; the abduction not of the most beautiful woman in the world (been there, done that) but a whole troupe of Helens.<br />
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The temple of Artemis Limnatis stood on the border between Messene and Laconia. According to the Spartan version of the events, a group of maidens came to the temple to participate in a festival, only to be raped by the Messenians. According to the Messenian version, the maidens were, in fact, beardless Spartan soldiers dressed up as women and armed with daggers. They hoped to assassinate the principal men of Messene, but they were discovered and killed by their would-be victims.</div>
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">One hundred tripods</span></b></u><br />
For whatever reason (a guilty conscience perhaps?) the Spartans did not invade Messene then. A generation of uneasy peace passed and then the Spartans found another excuse. A man called Euaephnus sold a herd of cows entrusted to his care by Polychares, a wealthy Messenian, and then claimed that pirates had carried off the animals. When the truth was revealed, the Spartan promised to return the value of the herd if only Polychares’ young son would accompany him home to collect the money. As soon as the pair reached Laconia, Euaephnus slew the youth. The Spartans refused all Messenian demands for justice and war broke out.<br />
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It took twenty years and an inspired ruse for the Spartans to subdue all resistance. The Messenians controlled the castle at the top of Mount Ithomi, a nearly impregnable position. The war, however, was taking a heavy toll and they decided to seek the advice of the oracle of Delphi. Apollo told them that victory would be with those who first place one hundred tripods around the altar of Zeus. How convenient! The altar was within the walls of their castle. But it took time to make the tripods (of wood since they didn’t have enough bronze). In the meantime, the Spartans heard of the oracle and a Spartan formed one hundred tripods of clay, entered the castle disguised as a Messenian peasant and placed them around the altar. Soon after the Messenians were forced to surrender.</div>
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">Murderers at large</span></b></u></div>
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Magnanimity in victory was as strange a concept to the Spartans as adding a pear to soutzoukakia is to gourmands the world over. They enslaved the survivors and divided their land. The hapless Messenians were now known as helots and were forced to bring “full half the fruit their ploughed land produced”. Their new masters stipulated a degrading dress code that included a cap made of dogskin; they administered a set number of beatings annually regardless of fault to remind helots of their servile status and punished any Spartan who fed his slaves well.</div>
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The krypteia was the most abhorrent method devised by the Spartan magistrates to control the helots. From time to time, the ephors sent the most intelligent young men into the country, equipped with little more than their daggers and their cunning. During the day, the Spartans lay quiet in obscure places; in the nighttime though, they came down into the highways and killed every helot they found outside. The most daring even murdered the Messenians as they worked the fields, preferring to go after the sturdiest of them. To justify these actions, the Spartans ritually declared war on the helots on an annual basis.</div>
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<u><b><span style="font-size: large;">The great helot massacre</span></b></u></div>
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The authorities in Sparta were always apprehensive lest the Messenians rise in revolt. The krypteia was a period of traditional withdrawal from society and an initiation rite into the male institutions of the Spartan society. It was also a method whereby the ephors employed the most intelligent young men to police and terrorize the helot population. Despite their losses and harsh oppression, the Messenians were always too numerous compared to the Spartans and could theoretically prove very dangerous to their masters. The fear and hatred of the Lacedemonians towards their slaves reached its most wretched climax on the eighth year of the Peloponnesian War.</div>
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The Spartans were hard pressed by the Athenians and the ephors were apprehensive of a helot revolt. They decided, therefore, to invite any Messenian who had rendered distinguished services in support of Sparta to make his claim known to the authorities, who would grant liberty to the most deserving. Many helots came forward; 2000 were emancipated and led in solemn procession around the temples with garlands on their heads. That was the last time anyone ever saw them. The Spartans used the garlands to single out the most ambitious and brave helots and murdered them all. The manner of their death remains a mystery to the present day.</div>
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<a href="https://mentoringreece.com/slaves-of-sparta/" target="_blank">Originally posted @ Mentor in Greece </a></div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-41491115623044207482019-05-10T06:30:00.000+03:002019-05-10T06:30:11.287+03:00Diogenes: The Most Eccentric Philosopher<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8EM_cfYcDjY" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-57695131894694437752019-05-09T06:30:00.000+03:002019-05-09T06:30:16.374+03:00Alexander the Great: King of Macedonia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5qtTsfO0VVo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-28395118487417056822019-05-08T06:30:00.000+03:002019-05-08T06:30:05.735+03:00Leonidas of Sparta Biography: Warrior king of the Greek city-state of Sparta<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pDPt2mow5t4" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-62944627646034586322019-05-07T06:30:00.000+03:002019-05-07T06:30:10.582+03:00Socrates: Question Everything<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ENkh8KftC2o" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-30499375006710762252019-05-06T23:27:00.002+03:002019-05-06T23:27:33.057+03:00Aristotle: History's Most Influential Thinker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qD5O3vXj9eU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-27092140971036475352017-12-02T17:44:00.001+02:002017-12-02T17:49:34.584+02:00Where do you live?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />I an interested in finding out if you are Greek, of Greek descent or simply interested in ancient history. Please take a moment to voteDellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-15268276404790738102017-10-25T06:00:00.000+03:002017-10-25T06:00:09.765+03:00Alexander the Great<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/piMBUCO0iB0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-10863320545944821422017-09-04T06:00:00.000+03:002017-09-04T08:54:36.652+03:00The philosophy of Stoicism - Massimo Pigliucci<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R9OCA6UFE-0" width="560"></iframe>Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-36781312826136716922017-09-01T06:00:00.000+03:002017-09-01T06:00:47.363+03:00The ideal Physician<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Hippocrates was born on the Greek island of Cos off the coast of Turkey about four hundred-sixty years before the birth of Christ. It is believed that his father was a physician, as were a number of his ancestors.<br /><br />It is unclear whether he founded a school for physicians on his home island or joined an established institution. What is certain is that he did become associated with a medical school on Cos that charged a fee to its students to learn the secrets of healing. The reputation of the Hippocratic School at Cos soon spread beyond the island and attracted students from all corners of the Greek world.<br /><br />The major distinction of the Hippocratic School was its emphasis on an empirical approach to the study of disease and an attempt to rationally deduce its cause. The patient's signs and symptoms were analyzed in order to determine a prognosis of recovery – an approach quite familiar to us today, but novel in ancient Greece where sickness was often viewed as divine retribution for behavior offensive to the Greek gods. The school produced a compendium of writings that helped spread its philosophy throughout ancient Greece and influenced succeeding generations to the point that Hippocrates is known as the "Father of Modern Medicine."<br /><br /> One modern legacy of the teachings of Hippocrates is the Hippocratic Oath sworn by medical students upon receiving the diploma that distinguishes them as physicians. Although the oath was most probably written after the death of Hippocrates, it represents his teachings and his view of the doctor-patient relationship. Two fundamentals of this relationship are that the physician should always respect his patient and do no harm in his attempt to resolve his patient's malady.<br /><br />Hippocrates also prescribed how the physician should behave within his community in order to earn the respect of his fellow citizens and elevate his status. The following document describing the ideal behavior of a physician is again believed to have been written after the death of Hippocrates, but represents his teachings on the subject. Its dictates are as relevant today as they were two thousand years ago.<br /><br />"His character must be that of a gentleman, and, as such, honorable and kindly towards all."<br /><br />"The position of a doctor must make him careful to keep his complexion and weight at their correct natural standard. For most people think that those who fail to take care of their own physical condition are not really fit to take care of that of others.<br /><br />Secondly, he must have a clean appearance, and wear good clothes, using a sweet-smelling scent, which should be a totally unsuspicious perfume. This is pleasant when visiting the sick.<br /><br />Also he must observe rules about his non-physical effect, not only in being quiet but also in being self-controlled in all aspects of life, for this has the best result on his reputation.<br /><br />His character must be that of a gentleman, and, as such, honorable and kindly towards all. For people dislike forwardness and interference, even if these qualities sometimes prove useful.<br /><br />He must also pay attention to his technical ability, for people like the same medicine in small doses.<br /><br />In facial expression he should be controlled but not grim. For grimness seems to indicate harshness and a hatred of mankind, while a man who bursts into guffaws and is too cheerful is considered vulgar. This must especially be avoided.<br /><br />He must be just in every social intercourse, and a sense of fairness ought to help him in every dealing.<br /><br />The relationship between doctor and patient is a close one. Patients submit themselves to doctors, who are always likely to be meeting women and girls, and entering houses with valuable possessions. Towards all these, therefore, he must keep himself under strict self-control.<br /><br />The above, then, are the physical and psychological requirements for a doctor."<br /><br />References:<br /><br />Hippocrates's requirements for a physician appear in Workman, B.K. They Saw it Happen in Classical Times (1964); Bonnard, Andre, Greek Thought (1962); Brunschwig, Jacques, and Geoffrey E. R. Lloyd (eds.) Greek Thought (2000). </div>
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<a href="http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/idealphysician.htm" target="_blank">Originally Posted: Eye Witness History</a></div>
Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-41908696360751818682017-08-30T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-30T06:00:06.225+03:00Why We Need Ancient Greek Words for Love<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dQS9g9JFI08" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-47108535484010030752017-08-21T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-26T20:49:43.886+03:00Famous Greeks: Xenophon, Plato and Philip <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After Socrates’s death, his pupils Xenophon and Plato came to believe that Athens had a perverted form of government. Xenophon espoused the idea that monarchy was the best form of government, while Plato developed the ideal of a monarchical government ruled by a philosopher-king. With Philip of Macedonia (382–336 B.C.), monarchy emerged as the dominant political form in the Greek world. As his contemporaries understood, Philip was one of the greatest statesmen in history. He was a master of diplomacy and warfare, cunning, and courageous. He transformed Macedonia from a weak, half-civilized land on the frontiers of Greece into the supreme power in the Greek world. His victory at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C. marked the end of the era of the city-state. Of modern political leaders, Philip most calls to mind the German Chancellor Bismarck. Through “blood and iron,” he unified his country. The supreme opportunist, he was nonetheless guided throughout his career by a vision of personal and national power. To the student of leadership, Philip offers one of the most instructive examples in all antiquity.</div>
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2. Why do you think the response of the Athenians after Chaeronea was so different from their response to Xerxes’s offer of peace?</div><br>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-37359789659467572702017-08-20T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-20T06:00:06.883+03:00Famous Greeks: The trial of Socrates <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In his funeral oration, Pericles celebrated the Athenian democracy for its tolerance. The Athenians treasured freedom of speech as essential to true democracy. Yet this same Athenian democracy put to death its greatest thinker and teacher, Socrates. The previous lecture placed the trial of Socrates in the political climate of Athens at the end of the Peloponnesian War and Socrates’s close relationship with avowed enemies of democracy. This lecture examines the trial and last days of Socrates. Four dialogues of Plato provide our basic sources: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. These are less a history and more a gospel, written to convince posterity that the Athenians had wrongly put to death “the best, the wisest, and the most just man” of his day. Through Plato, Socrates would prevail over his enemies and prove that evil men may kill a good man but can never harm him.</div>
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<br />2. By institutionalization, do we mean writing it down and giving a formal structure to the teaching?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-69674395047636404352017-08-19T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-19T06:00:16.760+03:00Famous Greeks: Lysander and Socrates <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The figure of Alcibiades continued to dominate the political scene of Greece in the last days of the Peloponnesian War and even after his death in 403 B.C. Athenian attitudes toward Alcibiades were responsible for the success of Lysander and the trial of Socrates. The exile of Alcibiades by the Athenians gave Lysander his chance to prove himself the most successful general and statesman of the war. His character, patriotism, diplomatic skills, and strategic genius brought victory to Sparta and made him the most famous man in Greece. His subsequent career is a cautionary tale about the blindness of arrogance, the power of envy, and the ability of mediocre men to thwart and ultimately destroy a great leader. The determination of mediocrity to destroy greatness is also the story of the trial of Socrates. His close relationship with Alcibiades was the real reason that his fellow Athenians hated him. The Athenians saw his life and teachings as subversive of their democracy. When some of the favorite pupils of Socrates overthrew the democracy, the lesson seemed clear: The corrupting influence of Socrates must be removed from the Athenian body</div>
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<br />2. What aspects of Socrates’s teaching do you see reflected in Alcibiades?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-32860259294817366222017-08-18T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-18T06:00:08.478+03:00Famous Greeks: Alcibiades and the Peloponnesian War <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Like World Wars I and II, the Peloponnesian War was a total war that stretched both Athens and Sparta to their limits. Although the Spartans ultimately proved more adaptable to the demands of the conflict, the Athenians waged the war with extraordinary tenacity and courage. Even after the devastating defeat in Sicily, the Athenians refused to give up. Convinced that Sparta was determined to destroy them, the Athenians undertook a propaganda campaign to give themselves the moral courage to endure. They resorted to bold military and political strategies to give themselves the resources and leadership for the war. This included the recall of Alcibiades, whose military genius and political skill restored Athens to a commanding position. However, Sparta, too, produced a leader in Lysander, a man with far more integrity and greater ability than Alcibiades.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. Taking Pericles’s funeral oration and Plutarch’s Lycurgus as our sources, which nation, Athens or Sparta, most proved true to its values during the Peloponnesian War?</div>
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<br />2. Do you think that the character and career of Alcibiades justifies a general condemnation of the Athenian democracy?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-44138804634766693642017-08-17T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-17T06:00:22.953+03:00Famous Greeks: Alkibiades<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Alcibiades (450–404 B.C.), nephew of Pericles, was born to wealth and position. Handsome and brilliant, he received the finest education of his day, imbibing the intellectually radical ideas of the sophists and Socrates. Above all, he learned that might makes right and that success is the only criterion for right and wrong. Alcibiades was the antithesis of Pericles. Alcibiades had neither principles nor a moral compass. His vision was political power for himself, but his charisma and ability gave him a dangerous degree of influence over the Athenians. In pursuit of his goal of dictatorial power, he led the Athenians to continue the war with Sparta and to undertake the conquest of Sicily. Thwarted by his enemies, Alcibiades turned traitor and was a primary cause for the ultimate defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Alcibiades was the product of the Athenian democracy, and to his critics, he embodied the failing of that democracy.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. What twentieth-century politician might you compare to Alcibiades?</div>
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<br />2. Athenian foreign policy rested in part on the moral assumption that strong nations should use their powers to aid the weak. Is there anything comparable to this ideal in the history of American foreign policy?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-70883551125801448202017-08-16T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-16T06:00:38.240+03:00Famous Greeks: Thucydides<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Historical research and writing began in the Athenian democracy of the fifth century B.C. It was born out of the conviction that the study of the past offered the best means of making decisions in the present and foreseeing the future. Herodotus was the “father of history,” but⎯in the view of antiquity and the modern age⎯Thucydides (471–400 B.C.) was the greater historian. He was the founder of scientific history, the attribution of history to human, not divine, motivation. He was deeply immersed in the intellectual currents of his day, and strong parallels have been noted between his approach to the body politic and the discoveries of scientific medicine attributed to his contemporary Hippocrates. Thucydides participated actively in the political life of Athens. He was an admirer of Pericles. He was also a failed general, who spent much of the war in exile. His History of the Peloponnesian War has been called “the eternal manual of statesmen.” This lecture focuses on specific passages in that history to explore what is most enduring in Thucydides’s view of politics and human nature.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. How would you compare Herodotus and Thucydides as historians?</div>
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<br />2. The argument has been made that the Melians were guilty of hybris. After all, is it not outrageous arrogance to think that you know what the gods approve? Do you agree?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-15215095101165155352017-08-15T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-13T13:06:25.496+03:00Famous Greeks: Nicias<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The personal and political enemy of Alcibiades, Nicias (465–414 B.C.) led the conservative party at Athens during a significant part of the Peloponnesian War. A wealthy man of great reputation for his piety and virtue, he negotiated a peace with Sparta in 421 B.C. Despite his opposition to the Sicilian expedition in 415 B.C., Nicias was named by the Athenian Assembly as one of its three commanders, along with Alcibiades. Ultimately, supreme command of the expedition devolved on him. He proved himself to be one of the worst generals in history. Lazy, inept, and cowardly, he brought disaster on the Athenian expeditionary force. In fact, like many men of reputed virtue, he was a fraud, deceptive and manipulative. We study Nicias because examples of bad leaders are frequently more instructive than those of good ones.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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1. Was the Sicilian expedition a reasonable strategic undertaking or was it folly from the beginning?</div>
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2. Can you find a parallel in American history to Nicias? What would you say about George McClellan in the Civil War?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-80279514504453860162017-08-14T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-14T06:00:40.421+03:00Famous Greeks: Sophocles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Tragedy was the characteristic cultural statement of the Athenian democracy: that democracy required the total involvement of citizens in its political life. In such a democracy, tragedy must be preeminently political. In the view of Aristotle, Sophocles (495–406 B.C.) was the supreme tragedian. He was active in the political life of Athens and served as a general. He was also a critic of Pericles and his policies. This novel view is presented through the lens of three of his most enduring plays. In Antigone, Sophocles warned the Athenians about the potential for the abuse of power in the overweening personal authority of Pericles. Oedipus the King was an indictment of the failure of Pericles and “his war.” In his intense patriotism, Sophocles continued to use his plays as a forum for the discussion of the moral dimension of Athenian policies. Oedipus at Colonus proclaimed that the salvation of Athens lay in a return to traditional religious and moral values.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. Do we have anything in our American democracy comparable to Athenian tragedy as a public forum for the consideration of moral and political issues?</div>
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<br />2. Can you see Pericles in the character of Oedipus in Oedipus the King?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-73167729924334403782017-08-13T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-13T06:00:46.402+03:00Famous Greeks: Croesus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The “Father of History,” Herodotus chose to begin his great work on the Persian Wars with the tale of Croesus, King of Lydia (546 B.C.). Herodotus wrote his histories to understand what was permanent and true behind the seemingly random events of human affairs. Herodotus found this in the concept of hybris, the idea that the abuse of power leads to the fall of great nations and individuals. The wealth and international power and prestige of King Croesus provided Herodotus with the ideal subject to introduce the central theme of his history. Neither the oracles of the gods nor the wisdom of Solon could save Croesus from destroying himself and his country. This lecture considers the historical kernel of this story and its significance for the rise of the Persian Empire. It also considers the enduring meaning of this story and the question, still central to our own political discussions, of whether a political leader can separate public from private morality.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. Do you believe that we can or should separate private from public morality?</div>
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<br />2. Do you believe that the primary purpose of history is moral instruction?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-60335491053675688812017-08-12T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-12T12:33:09.777+03:00Famous Greeks: Anaxagoras, Phidias & Aspasia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The names of Anaxagoras, Phidias, and Aspasia (fifth century B.C.) represent the leading intellectual, artistic, and cultural currents in an age of unsurpassed creativity. Anaxagoras was as one of the sophists, professors, who made Athens the intellectual center of the Greek world. He taught that reason is the motivating force of the universe. Phidias was an artist who sought to express, in his design for the Acropolis at Athens and in his sculptures, the ideal of divine and human reason. In a society that denied rights to women, Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles, combined a career as a madam of a bordello with intellectual attainments that made her a political adviser to Pericles. All three were friends of Pericles; all became targets of legal attacks by his enemies.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. How does the Parthenon embody the concept of divine reason?</div>
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<br />2. Compare the role of sophists in the Athenian democracy with the role of professors and other academic experts in our democracy. </div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-56874572557436102302017-08-11T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-11T09:04:12.701+03:00Famous Greeks: Pericles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Along with Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, Pericles (490–429 B.C.) ranks as one of the three greatest democratic statesmen in history. He so embodied the leading currents of his day that his name came to stand for an entire era: the Periclean Age. His powerful mind and wide-ranging interests enabled him to guide Athens to a position of preeminence as the intellectual and artistic center of the world and to create a legacy that endures to our own day. This lecture focuses on a critical moment in the life of Pericles and in the history of Athens: his decision to lead his country into the great war with Sparta. Our lecture on Pericles is one of four devoted to leading figures in the culture and society of Athens in the Periclean Age. Together, they present a composite portrait of Pericles that is quite different from that drawn in conventional histories.</div>
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<b>Questions to Consider:</b></div>
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<br />1. What would be your list of the qualities that a great statesman must possess?</div>
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<br />2. Epidamnus, Sarajevo, Kossovo: What similarities and differences do you see in the events of 435–431 B.C., 1914, and 1999?</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2365173047323894048.post-10167988610428249982017-08-10T06:00:00.000+03:002017-08-10T08:56:47.079+03:00Famous Greeks: Pausanias<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Thucydides regarded the Spartan King Pausanias (510–476 B.C.), along with Themistocles, as one of the two preeminent Greek leaders of the age of the Persian Wars. The Battle of Plataea (479 B.C.) ended the threat of a Persian conquest of Greece. In leading the Greeks to victory, Pausanias proved himself to be one of the best generals in history, a master of tactics and strategy and a superb battlefield commander. Pausanias also sponsored the Greek expedition to Mycale to liberate Greeks in Asia Minor. In concluding his history of the Persian Wars, Herodotus gives reasons for the Greek victory over the Persians and issues another warning against the disastrous consequences of hybris.</div>
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Questions to Consider:</div>
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1. How did Persian strategic mistakes contribute to the Persians’ defeat?</div>
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2. Compare Pausanias and Xerxes as battlefield commanders.</div>
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Dellaportahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09003497729798214874noreply@blogger.com0