When Invasions Purify
The Geography of the Greek Peninsula offers protection from invaders, because the Balkan Mountain Range sits between Europe and Hellas. Nonetheless, there were at least two occasions in antiquity when the mountains were not high enough to protect the Greeks.
Invaders from the North spilled into Greece at the beginning (1900 B.C) and end (1100B.C) of the Second Millenium. Take a look at the following map. Blue is invasion one; Magenta invasion two.
By the time the Corinthian fleet sailed, the Corcyrian armada had expanded to include Athenian ships as protection. Through an apparent misunderstanding of the situation, the Corcyrians thought the Corinthians were about to attack so they offered battle. The ensuing Battle of Sybota was mostly a draw but the Athenians had been drawn into the battle and were active in fighting the Corinthians. Both sides claimed victory, but the Corinthians viewed the Athenian involvement as an act of war, because they had broken the Peloponnesean Treaty.
So now the stage was set for the destructive Peloponnesean War. A chain of events linked by treaty and broken my pride and emotion would lead to the end of The Golden Age. So many chances at resolution lost; so many links in the chain that could have broken it and kept the peace. But perhaps Thucydides was right. If not this chain perhaps their would have been another one to cause the war. Power is selfish in history because it knows itself and sees an opposing power as a threat. Treaties fail more than they succeed because the dynamics that led to them change -- money, land or the personalities of the players tip the balance one way or the other.
What happened to this balanced human point of view?
Since the time of the Greeks, man has been unable to produce the same balance between mind and spirit. With the fall of antiquity and the rise of the Christian point of view, man retreated into a spiritual world, full of fear, without logic and science as his companions. Antiquity was denounced as pagan and unclean, so the accomplishments of the Greeks were discarded.
With the advent of the Renaissance, the pendulum swung radically in the other direction. Man discovered himself, began to think again, and sought control over his life. Reality replaced the ideal and living overcame morality. The Reformation attempted to reassert morality on mankind, but denied beauty in the process.
The next stage began in the late nineteenth century with the triumph of science and the discarding of art, the power of the spirit, and religion. Man looked to science as the truth would carry mankind forward and create the perfect world. But science can be corrupting and expensive; its morals defined only by the intentions of the worst of man.
Now we reach the final stage, which involves the disintegration of national unity – a loss of oneness to accompany the loss of balance. There are those with the aim of expanding the mind and those who possess the spirit, but few possess both. The mind is used for profit and the spirit to resist it – the anti-capitalist obsession.
For centuries Troy was thought to be a myth created by Homer or whoever composed the Iliad. No one knew where it was, so there was no archeological evidence to prove it was real. Then, in 1868, the wealthy German businessman Heinrich Schliemann discovered the remains of the lost city.
There is not a single Troy, but rather several piled on top of each other. In all we have,
Troy I -- 3000-2600 B.C.
Troy II --2600-2250 B.C. - richest of the first five
Troy III -2250-2100 B.C.
Troy IV --2100-1950 B.C
Troy V ---1900-1700 B.C.
Troy VI --1600- 1400 B.C. - the most advanced fortress (destroyed by earthquake). Only one arrowhead found.
Troy VIIa 1300-1190 B.C. - shrunken recovery of VI in 1300 B.C. destroyed by man in 1200. Mycenaean pottery found here.
The Greeks and Romans
I find it fascinating to compare the Greeks and Romans. Their status as the two great political systems of antiquity would suggest more similarities than differences between them, yet they are polar opposites.
If you make a list of adjectives to describe the Greeks, you'll find their antonyms on a list describing the Romans.
Several geographic factors come into play. First of all Rome was inland and had no port. That meant it did not engage in trade (prior to the First Punic War) and was unexposed to new ideas from abroad. Secondly, the geography was relatively flat offering no protection from invasion. Once the Romans broke their Etruscan link, they fought their neighbors on a regular basis to survive, their citizen army proving superior to all adversaries. When the wars ended, the soldiers went back to their farms. Farming and fighting left no time for philosophy.
I chose the year zero as an arbitrary endpoint in the timeline. A review of the chart shows Mesopotamia leading the way, with Egypt close behind, eventually catching up. China was a couple thousand years behind Mesopotamia when it began, but closed the gap to a thousand years later on. The two civilizations of the Americas were still father behind and did not complete their developmental phases before the year zero.
One can clearly see how the terms the “fertile crescent” and “cradle of civilization” fit Mesopotamia and Egypt as the earliest cultures.
A Civilization without Cities?
We talk a lot about cities in this blog because of their significance in the development of human culture. The first urban areas came into existence in antiquity, creating dense human populations, and setting the stage for the foundation for modern society. The Polis, in particular, has received many words here as the pre-eminent ancient urban model and the bulwark of the Greek civilization. More recently, we have discussed the early urban centers of Mesopotamia – the world’s first.
But there was one ancient civilization without a major city until the end of the second millennium B.C, a span of three thousand years. Do you know which one?
Its Egypt! Land of the Pharaohs – Jewel of the Nile. No cities? How can that be? Aren’t cities the natural result of the development of human society?
In Egypt, like other cultures, geography influenced man. Egypt is located between deserts, on the west, east, and south, making it immune from outside attack. On the north sits the great delta, with no natural harbors available to support an invasion. In its midst sits that great river with its alluvial plain, bringing precious water to any cultivated field near it.
Egypt was influenced by Mesopotamia (e.g. the pottery wheel) but did not derive from it, because there were unique aspects to this African land that made it different from any other.
The Athenian Empire came to an end when they were defeated by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431-404 B.C. Below is a timeline of that war.
1st Stage of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421
Athens (under Pericles and then Nicias) successful until 424. Athens makes attacks the Peloponnese by sea and Sparta destroys areas in the countryside of Attica. Athens makes a disastrous expedition into Boeotia. They try to recover Amphipolis (422), unsuccessfully. Athens fears more of her allies would desert, so she signs a treaty (Peace of Nicias) that allows her to keep face, basically setting things back to how they were before the war except for Plataea and Thracian towns.
431 - Peloponnesian War begins. Siege of Potidaea.
430 - Plague in Athens.
429 - Pericles dies. Siege of Plataea.
428 - Revolt of Mitylene.
427 - Athenian Expedition to Sicily.
421 - Peace of Nicias.
After much debate in the Athenian Assembly, the decision was made to send a force to Sicily under the command of three generals: Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus. Nicias was reluctant to command the mission, while Alcibiades (nephew of Pericles) was young, charismatic, and all for battle. Lamachus was chosen because he could offer an experienced point of view that would, hopefully, keep the expedition on course.
Things started badly. Just after the army’s departure, Alcibiades was accused of plotting to deface statues of the god Hermes in Athens, and asked to return. Instead he fled to Sparta and joined the Peloponnesean side. Nicias, still reluctant, wasted the first campaign season deciding how to attack Syracuse. He contented himself with building a wall around the city. Then, at the beginning of 414 the Syracusans sent their own envoys to Sparta asking for help. Alcibiades urged the Spartans to defend Syracuse, but they used caution and only sent four ships with no infantry.
When Invasions Purify
The Geography of the Greek Peninsula offers protection from invaders, because the Balkan Mountain Range sits between Europe and Hellas. Nonetheless, there were at least two occasions in antiquity when the mountains were not high enough to protect the Greeks.
Invaders from the North spilled into Greece at the beginning (1900 B.C) and end (1100B.C) of the Second Millenium. Take a look at the following map. Blue is invasion one; Magenta invasion two.
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!summarize #physics #entropy #life #origins #physics
!summarize #ghana #karenbass #losangeles #mayor #wildfires
!summarize #fong #Kiley #california #highspeedrail #train #funding
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By the time the Corinthian fleet sailed, the Corcyrian armada had expanded to include Athenian ships as protection. Through an apparent misunderstanding of the situation, the Corcyrians thought the Corinthians were about to attack so they offered battle. The ensuing Battle of Sybota was mostly a draw but the Athenians had been drawn into the battle and were active in fighting the Corinthians. Both sides claimed victory, but the Corinthians viewed the Athenian involvement as an act of war, because they had broken the Peloponnesean Treaty.
!summarize #Universe #physics #light #speed
So now the stage was set for the destructive Peloponnesean War. A chain of events linked by treaty and broken my pride and emotion would lead to the end of The Golden Age. So many chances at resolution lost; so many links in the chain that could have broken it and kept the peace. But perhaps Thucydides was right. If not this chain perhaps their would have been another one to cause the war. Power is selfish in history because it knows itself and sees an opposing power as a threat. Treaties fail more than they succeed because the dynamics that led to them change -- money, land or the personalities of the players tip the balance one way or the other.
!summarize #cbsnews #media
!summarize #chelseaclinton #usaid #clintonfoundation #government
!summarize #bigbang #science #universe #physics
!summarize #europe #megabuild
!summarize #censorship
!summarize #karenbass #lafd #kristincrowley #mayor #losangeles
!summarize #jordanbinnington #canada #unitedstates #nhl
!summarize #trump #Putin #saudiarabia. #georgefriedman
What happened to this balanced human point of view?
Since the time of the Greeks, man has been unable to produce the same balance between mind and spirit. With the fall of antiquity and the rise of the Christian point of view, man retreated into a spiritual world, full of fear, without logic and science as his companions. Antiquity was denounced as pagan and unclean, so the accomplishments of the Greeks were discarded.
With the advent of the Renaissance, the pendulum swung radically in the other direction. Man discovered himself, began to think again, and sought control over his life. Reality replaced the ideal and living overcame morality. The Reformation attempted to reassert morality on mankind, but denied beauty in the process.
The next stage began in the late nineteenth century with the triumph of science and the discarding of art, the power of the spirit, and religion. Man looked to science as the truth would carry mankind forward and create the perfect world. But science can be corrupting and expensive; its morals defined only by the intentions of the worst of man.
Now we reach the final stage, which involves the disintegration of national unity – a loss of oneness to accompany the loss of balance. There are those with the aim of expanding the mind and those who possess the spirit, but few possess both. The mind is used for profit and the spirit to resist it – the anti-capitalist obsession.
!summarize #unrivaled #womens #basketball
For centuries Troy was thought to be a myth created by Homer or whoever composed the Iliad. No one knew where it was, so there was no archeological evidence to prove it was real. Then, in 1868, the wealthy German businessman Heinrich Schliemann discovered the remains of the lost city.
There is not a single Troy, but rather several piled on top of each other. In all we have,
Troy I -- 3000-2600 B.C.
Troy II --2600-2250 B.C. - richest of the first five
Troy III -2250-2100 B.C.
Troy IV --2100-1950 B.C
Troy V ---1900-1700 B.C.
Troy VI --1600- 1400 B.C. - the most advanced fortress (destroyed by earthquake). Only one arrowhead found.
Troy VIIa 1300-1190 B.C. - shrunken recovery of VI in 1300 B.C. destroyed by man in 1200. Mycenaean pottery found here.
Troy VIIb 1190-1100 B.C. - short-lived
!summarize light #physics
!summarize #nygiants #toddmcshay #nfl #mockdraft
!summarize #marcusmariotta #nfl #quarterback
!summarize #china #india #economy
!summarize #ukraine #russia #war
!summarize #warrenbuffett #blackscholes #investing
!summarize #goldenstate #warriors #nba
!summarize #nyknicks #nba #rotation
!summarize #mlb #losangeles #dodgers #deferredpayments
The Greeks and Romans
I find it fascinating to compare the Greeks and Romans. Their status as the two great political systems of antiquity would suggest more similarities than differences between them, yet they are polar opposites.
If you make a list of adjectives to describe the Greeks, you'll find their antonyms on a list describing the Romans.
Greeks – theoretical, artistic, cultured, philosophical, egalitarian
Romans – practical, imitative, hedonistic, class-oriented.
What about the Romans?
Several geographic factors come into play. First of all Rome was inland and had no port. That meant it did not engage in trade (prior to the First Punic War) and was unexposed to new ideas from abroad. Secondly, the geography was relatively flat offering no protection from invasion. Once the Romans broke their Etruscan link, they fought their neighbors on a regular basis to survive, their citizen army proving superior to all adversaries. When the wars ended, the soldiers went back to their farms. Farming and fighting left no time for philosophy.
!summarize #comptuers
!summarize #microbike #motorcycle
!summarize #zacharyhughes #christianaparcell #murder #crime #verdict
!summarize #clairebernal #stalker #murder #crime
!summarize #murderforhire #lindsayshiver #crime
I chose the year zero as an arbitrary endpoint in the timeline. A review of the chart shows Mesopotamia leading the way, with Egypt close behind, eventually catching up. China was a couple thousand years behind Mesopotamia when it began, but closed the gap to a thousand years later on. The two civilizations of the Americas were still father behind and did not complete their developmental phases before the year zero.
One can clearly see how the terms the “fertile crescent” and “cradle of civilization” fit Mesopotamia and Egypt as the earliest cultures.
!summarize #australia #ev #automotive
!summarize #catalinagutierrez #murder #killing
!summarize #entropy #physics #science
A Civilization without Cities?
We talk a lot about cities in this blog because of their significance in the development of human culture. The first urban areas came into existence in antiquity, creating dense human populations, and setting the stage for the foundation for modern society. The Polis, in particular, has received many words here as the pre-eminent ancient urban model and the bulwark of the Greek civilization. More recently, we have discussed the early urban centers of Mesopotamia – the world’s first.
But there was one ancient civilization without a major city until the end of the second millennium B.C, a span of three thousand years. Do you know which one?
Its Egypt! Land of the Pharaohs – Jewel of the Nile. No cities? How can that be? Aren’t cities the natural result of the development of human society?
In Egypt, like other cultures, geography influenced man. Egypt is located between deserts, on the west, east, and south, making it immune from outside attack. On the north sits the great delta, with no natural harbors available to support an invasion. In its midst sits that great river with its alluvial plain, bringing precious water to any cultivated field near it.
Egypt was influenced by Mesopotamia (e.g. the pottery wheel) but did not derive from it, because there were unique aspects to this African land that made it different from any other.
!summarize #GinaChampionCain #ponzi #sandiego #california #crime
The Athenian Empire came to an end when they were defeated by the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, which lasted from 431-404 B.C. Below is a timeline of that war.
1st Stage of the Peloponnesian War from 431-421
Athens (under Pericles and then Nicias) successful until 424. Athens makes attacks the Peloponnese by sea and Sparta destroys areas in the countryside of Attica. Athens makes a disastrous expedition into Boeotia. They try to recover Amphipolis (422), unsuccessfully. Athens fears more of her allies would desert, so she signs a treaty (Peace of Nicias) that allows her to keep face, basically setting things back to how they were before the war except for Plataea and Thracian towns.
431 - Peloponnesian War begins. Siege of Potidaea.
430 - Plague in Athens.
429 - Pericles dies. Siege of Plataea.
428 - Revolt of Mitylene.
427 - Athenian Expedition to Sicily.
421 - Peace of Nicias.
After much debate in the Athenian Assembly, the decision was made to send a force to Sicily under the command of three generals: Nicias, Alcibiades, and Lamachus. Nicias was reluctant to command the mission, while Alcibiades (nephew of Pericles) was young, charismatic, and all for battle. Lamachus was chosen because he could offer an experienced point of view that would, hopefully, keep the expedition on course.
Things started badly. Just after the army’s departure, Alcibiades was accused of plotting to deface statues of the god Hermes in Athens, and asked to return. Instead he fled to Sparta and joined the Peloponnesean side. Nicias, still reluctant, wasted the first campaign season deciding how to attack Syracuse. He contented himself with building a wall around the city. Then, at the beginning of 414 the Syracusans sent their own envoys to Sparta asking for help. Alcibiades urged the Spartans to defend Syracuse, but they used caution and only sent four ships with no infantry.