The Great Civilization(s) By Joshua Evers
I always held Greek culture as one that maintained a higher sophistication than other cultures. It was not because the mythology was intriguing or convincing to me in any manner. However, I always perceived the Greek culture as being one full of advancements in thinking, contrasting the surrounding cultures. It was not until I read this quote that so many neurons fired off in my mind, and connected the Greeks in a way I have never pictured them.
Pericles states "Our city is an education to Greece..." and "Future ages will wonder at us, as the present age wonders at us now". (p.31)
I immediately ran into this quote, and coupled with past knowledge I recalled similar societal claims: The White Man's Burden that Teddy Roosevelt advocated, America's democratic claims of superiority in the cold war with the Red Menace, and even vague similarities with Germany's Reichstag during World War 2.
Now, understand this, I am not calling the Greeks and past American societies a bunch of crazy Nazis. In fact, these powers likely have far more differences than similarities. However, these powers were very strong at their respective primes and all shared a key similar trait.
Ambition.
Not to discredit the ancient Greeks, but I reconsidered how reverent of a view I had manifested when considering Greece. This similarity reminded me that they, as well as many other civilizations, many considered good and many considered evil, that all suffered great downfalls while failing to acknowledge their ambitions and its consequences. While reading further into Thucydides I quickly began realizing the great influence Pericles carried and the frightening possibly of such a strong bias being implemented, consequently stapling the ancient Greek culture in an unrepresentative manner.
P.S. I commented on the posts of Anna Kate and Breanna.
Exactly! Humans repeat themselves in history, just like a broken record. Frankly, some cultures are more technologically and educationally advanced than others. Does this make them superior? Perhaps in terms of technology and education. Keep in mind that civilizations last only as long their internal structure is strong and unified. Most downfalls of great empires happen because of internal conflict. Thank goodness we are totally unified here in America.
ReplyDeleteAmbition has been the downfall of many people and civilizations. Napoleon attacking Russia for example. Humans have always sought to achieve great things and many have failed to realize where to stop. History is just one broken record that keeps repeating itself.
ReplyDeleteIn western civ, we were learning about this very time period, and I had the same thoughts when we talked about the Peloponnesian war. I kept thinking about the Warsaw Pact and the League of Nations just passively battling for who would have to most influence. But I didn't know about TR and white man's burden, I'll have to read up on that.
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