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<p>[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 4554183, member: 112852"]I agree. I think there is a kind of mentality at work in some quarters that wants to enjoy memorials to ancient persons who are considered "founders" of our civilization in some ways without hearing any criticisms of them. At that point, the charge of "revisionist history" sometimes gets made. </p><p><br /></p><p>If I may quote one writer:</p><p><br /></p><p>"I am compelled to write at length on this point because people now are largely ignorant of the ancient writings."</p><p><br /></p><p>That was written by Simplicius of Cilicia in his discussion on Parmenides nearly 1,500 years ago! This is why studying primary sources is so important. When Thucydides shows a powerful and democratic Athens attacking tiny Melos and killing and enslaving the entire city for no other reason than because Melos wanted to remain neutral in the Pelopponesian War, we should not forget that. Ancient Athens was not a utopia by any means.</p><p><br /></p><p>Similarly, the oldest play we have, Aeschylus' <i>Persians</i>, written a mere 18 years after the Battle of Marathon, presents the Persians in a very sympathetic light. (Compare that to the modern movie <i>300</i>, which depicts the Persians as a bunch of naked monsters. Aeschylus, Herodotus, and the rest would be turning in their graves!)</p><p><br /></p><p>The capacity for substantial self-criticism, on the one hand, and admiration for those different than oneself, on the other, exists even in the archaic period. When one reads the <i>Iliad</i>, for example, one is struck by how the ancient Greeks in what we now call Greece proper revered this work, despite how it painted their ancestors as cruel, bloodthirsty, petty, impious, and even stupid. And similarly, the best, kindest, and most gentle people in the epic are all on the Trojan side. To me, that ability to take a look at one's history and political structures with critical eyes while approaching others' cultures with genuine respect and curiosity is perhaps the most important legacy the ancient Greek world has left us.</p><p><br /></p><p>The irony, then, is that those who revere the monuments, whether statues or coins, without acknowledging the faults of the various founding figures are the ones who are practicing "revisionist history" in the popular use of that term.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="Nathan B., post: 4554183, member: 112852"]I agree. I think there is a kind of mentality at work in some quarters that wants to enjoy memorials to ancient persons who are considered "founders" of our civilization in some ways without hearing any criticisms of them. At that point, the charge of "revisionist history" sometimes gets made. If I may quote one writer: "I am compelled to write at length on this point because people now are largely ignorant of the ancient writings." That was written by Simplicius of Cilicia in his discussion on Parmenides nearly 1,500 years ago! This is why studying primary sources is so important. When Thucydides shows a powerful and democratic Athens attacking tiny Melos and killing and enslaving the entire city for no other reason than because Melos wanted to remain neutral in the Pelopponesian War, we should not forget that. Ancient Athens was not a utopia by any means. Similarly, the oldest play we have, Aeschylus' [I]Persians[/I], written a mere 18 years after the Battle of Marathon, presents the Persians in a very sympathetic light. (Compare that to the modern movie [I]300[/I], which depicts the Persians as a bunch of naked monsters. Aeschylus, Herodotus, and the rest would be turning in their graves!) The capacity for substantial self-criticism, on the one hand, and admiration for those different than oneself, on the other, exists even in the archaic period. When one reads the [I]Iliad[/I], for example, one is struck by how the ancient Greeks in what we now call Greece proper revered this work, despite how it painted their ancestors as cruel, bloodthirsty, petty, impious, and even stupid. And similarly, the best, kindest, and most gentle people in the epic are all on the Trojan side. To me, that ability to take a look at one's history and political structures with critical eyes while approaching others' cultures with genuine respect and curiosity is perhaps the most important legacy the ancient Greek world has left us. The irony, then, is that those who revere the monuments, whether statues or coins, without acknowledging the faults of the various founding figures are the ones who are practicing "revisionist history" in the popular use of that term.[/QUOTE]
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