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The influence of Greek society on western culture
Ancient greek tragedies cultural influences
The influence of Greek society on western culture
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The human need for conflict is a constant factor in everyday life and has been demonstrated throughout our readings of the Romans and the Greeks. As seen in Herodotus’ The History, tales of battles and wars are described in epic proportions and are a constant theme throughout his writings. Herodotus plays into the aspect of fighting, as well as the cultural belief of Greece that war was a necessary part of society and should be valued by the citizens. By heightening the actions of soldiers in battle, war is encouraged as a way of life because it is emphasized as a way of being remembered and praised for committing honorable deeds and protecting Greece. Herodotus incorporates numerous acts of valor like those seen in The Battle of Thermopylae in his writings in order to provide the ultimate connection between Greek behavior and warfare as a representation of what it meant to practice good citizenship. Herodotus incorporates the Role of the Gods, male behavior, and describing the Persians in The History in his attempt to portray the historic event of the 300’s last stand against the Persians in a way that Greeks would look up to and hopefully want to follow.
History is shaped by the historian’s perspective on different events and oftentimes is written to relay various messages to those in which the reading aims at reaching. Herodotus is a prime example of a historian passing on important events in Greece’s history with the purpose of spreading the concept of the good values the people of Greece should be conducting themselves with. Herodotus was referred to by many historians as the “father of history” and often wrote his records based off of the stories that he heard in his travels. Because Herodotus was known to ramble in his wri...
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...ns to demonstrate the superiority of the Greeks. The values shown by the Persians translate to defeat and Herodotus writes the story of the 300 depicting the actions of the barbaric people as what the Greeks should not become. All in all, Herodotus is able to make the connection between Greek behavior and warfare to give the Greeks a moment in their history to look up to and be able to practice good citizenship based on the virtues Leonidas and his men present.
Works Cited
Atchity, Kenneth John., and Rosemary McKenna. The Classical Greek Reader. New York: Henry Holt, 1996. Print.
Damen, Mark. "Herodotus and the Persian Wars." A Guide to Writing in History and Classics. N.p., 2013. Web. 18 Dec. 2013.
Halsall, Paul. "Ancient History Sourcebook: Herodotus: Xerxes Invades Greece, from The Histories." Internet History Sourcebooks. N.p., Aug. 2000. Web. 17 Dec. 2013.
In Histories, Herodotus’ uses a variety of themes to narrate historical events and a common theme revolves around hubris. Extremely common amongst Greek literature and Greek mythology, hubris appears to be the infamous human trait. Greek mythology sees hubris as a great atrocity and results in an unrelenting punishment. The idea of hubris is that an individual with an authoritative position, a strong or influential leader, becomes extremely proud of his exceptional qualities and forms a delusion of his position to be on par with even the Gods. This blinds the hubristic individual into believing he can defy the Gods and elude ones inevitable fate. Herodotus’ Histories is no exception to containing individuals that display hubristic qualities similar to many other significant historical entities. In Histories, the theme of hubris assists the reader in making a connection between the excerpts from the end of book 1 (1-204-206) to other books and excerpts in Herodotus’ Histories.
While the army reached Thermopylae intact, the fleet suffered at the hand of two storms, with Herodotus attributing them to God attempting to equalize the opposing forces . The disparity between the size of the Persian and the size of the Greek forces was huge – thus, the Greeks’ strategy relied on geography . Holding the narrows at Thermopylae and the concurrent straits of Artemisium meant that Xerxes’ numerical superiority was reduced. It was here, on land and sea, that Greece showcased the superiority of it...
However, Heroditus’ Histories briefly detail the major events of the war, and relays them as if they were historical fact. Heroditus’ account of the war differs slightly from Homer’s version, and he is well aware of this. After relating the tale of Alexander (Paris) carrying off Helen, Heroditus writes:... ... middle of paper ... ...
Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great
Herodotus. “Greece Saved from Persiam Conquest.” Reading in Ancient History. Eds. Nels. Bailkey and Richard Lim. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.
“Anabasis” represents the best adventure of the Greeks confronting the “barbarian” world. Through his narration in the expedition, Xenophon offers a unique insight to the ritual of the ancient Greek army. The character of the Greek generals, culture of Greek military and religion are described in “Anabasis”. However, Xenophon conceals his authorship by using third-person forms to refer to his own actions during the retreat. He presents himself as one of the most influential role in the Greek army and which a large proportion of the books are centered on him. After Book Three onwards, it was suspected that Xenophon was writing an apologia about his vital role in the expedition and to oppose his critics. He was trying to defend his criticisms over the last few books. He conveyed his royalty to the Greeks and only acted for their benefit.
Herodotus was an interesting historian. His way of displaying a historical event such as the Persian War is different from how I expect a modern day historian to write it. He does not try to focus only on the Persian war but he goes into detail some times of the lineage of the rulers of the city-states even though that serves little relevance to the actual war. The accounts of history I am used to reading are more focused on the bigger issue and the historians do not deviate on long trains of side thoughts such as Herodotus does. Herodotus style of writing had me confused because he often would start on one topic and in the next couple of sentences move on to another topic before coming back to his main point about a paragraph down. I had to
Although there are times in Herodotus’ The Histories where he makes an assertion, based on his own opinion, and blatantly chooses a side to support, he claims that he will not. This is shown in
The book written by Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War, contains two controversial debates between distinguished speakers of Athens. The two corresponding sides produce convincing arguments which can be taken as if produced as an honest opinion or out of self-interest. The two debates must be analyzed separately in order to conclude which one and which side was speaking out of honest opinion or self-interest, as well as which speakers are similar to each other in their approach to the situation.
Ingri and Edgar Parin D’alaure’s. Book of Greek Myths. New York: Bantam Dowbleday Dell Publishing Group, 1962.
Martin, Thomas R., “An Overview of Classical Greek History from Mycenae to Alexander.” Tufts University. N.d. Web. Feb 16, 2014. Retrieved from < http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0009%3Achapter%3D14>
This epic poem by the ancient Greek poet Homer, recounts some of the significant events of the final weeks of the Trojan War and the Greek siege of the city of Troy. All of the places where Homer’s stories took place were in areas that had been significant in the Bronze Age of Ancient Greece. Excavations at Troy and Mycenae have revealed that affluent kingdoms did indeed exist there. The Iliad provides examples of the culture and traditions that took place in Ancient Greece. The warrior culture that is presented in The Iliad is based on honor and bravery, a good example of this is when Diomedes is trying to rally his fellow warriors in says, “I know only cowards depart from battle. A real warrior stands his ground. Whether he is hit or hits another.” This society was strongly against cowardice; bravery was the only option in these times. The Iliad preserves the Ancient Greek’s views on masculinity and what it meant to be a “real warrior” in their times. The evolution of what people consider honorable and brave is evident, for The Iliad has conserved past views that can be juxtaposed with more modern
Herodotus references Athenian democratic ideology throughout his work, sometimes directly but other times through the words and happenings of his historical figures.When Herodotus talks about the Persian political debate he discusses a man named Ota...
Thucydides' Historical Technique Thucydides has often been described as one of the fathers of history, and possibly the first historian that can be used with any real historical accuracy. His objectivity and lack of digressive storytelling mark him out from previous historians such as Herodotus, and Thucydides began a new era of historical writing. Although named the father of history, Herodotus wrote in a literary style, rather than the accurate telling of the facts and objective analysis that Thucydides offers us in his History of the Peloponnesian War. Herodotus tended to digress with irrelevant storytelling, whereas Thucydides abandoned this technique, and adopted a method that greatly improved the accuracy of his historical chronicling. Therefore natural questions that arise are: How did Thucydides break new grounds in terms of historical writing?
In his account, he discusses the precursors to the war, including the 30 years truce and revolutions, such as the stasis in Corcyra. When looking at wars, the primary focus is normally the fighting itself, such as what we see in World War II. However, it is important to look at the anatomy of war, meaning what effect the war has on the people who are experiencing it first hand, and the consequences that the conflict has on the rest of the world. Therefore, in this essay I shall discuss, drawing directly from Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, how the civilians reacted to the war, their involvement and socio-economic factors. Furthermore, the first section of my essay shall focus on the direct effect of war on the people, regarding the plague, and violence and hopelessness that was experienced.