Source analysis When you look at Greece today, one can say that the country surely has a rich, lavish culture. Their language, their traditions and customs form who Greece it today. Even when you look back in time, ancient Greece had a very powerful existence. In this time, their ideologies, literature and education played a huge factor in the people’s lives. It inspired and molded people’s way of thinking. Although a small portion of ancient Greece literature survived, the texts that are available have great merit and value. A way we can see this, is in the book, The Portable Greek Historians by Finley. The text describes the historical pieces of writing by Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, and Polybius. They explain the history of the of …show more content…
He outlines the life of the Greeks and strategies when a big situation was about to happen. It almost seemed that everything that everything had to go through the king when a decision was made. “Are we not aware that the king would wish above all things to destroy us, in order that a dread of going to war with the great king may fall upon the rest of the Greeks? (pg 402). When I read the Xenophon’s historical reports, the writing was very easy to understand because unlike the other writers, their accounts Xenophon seems to be written in modern English. It almost made me believe that he was still alive.
From my understanding, Polybius was a man that analyzed documents. He described himself as a very fortunate man to be able to study histories. He questioned the accounts that happened. He believed that as a historian, questioning was an essential tool to see in depth what a source is truly all about. His advantage of being to ask some of these witnesses gave him a lot privilege. He was a roman historian a Greek historian and for these reasons he could discuss why the roman empire became so great. His choice of words, examines the analysis of
Procopius of Caesarea was a scholar and contemporary historian from Palaestina, who wrote about the reign of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian during the time of 527-560 AD . One of the most interesting and important writing by Procopius is Anecdota or better known as “Secret History”. The Secret History was written around 550 AD and it includes Procopius’s true thoughts and criticisms of Justinian as a person and as an emperor.
Dillon, Mathew, and Garland, Lynda. Ancient Greece: Social and Historical Documents from Archaic Times to the Death of Socrates. Routledge International Thompson Publishing Company, 1994, pp. 179-215
The Ancient Greek contribution ranged by the 1900-133 BC, however its influence on the Western Literate Society lasts to this day. As the Greeks expanded their empire, they spread their ideas to other countries, while also borrowing from other cultures. During this period of time, the Greeks made many significant and long-lasting contribution to our modern culture in Philosophy, Art, Democracy, Drama, Math, and Science. These givings of important ideas, inventions, and structures have had an extraordinary influence on the surrounding environment, society, and in the future. The essential contribution of Greeks to the Western Civilization are Democracy, Art, and Philosophy.
Before discovering and comparing these two civilizations, we have to enhance our understanding on the authors of these two excerpts that lead people to reveal the unknown yet attractive history of Rome and Han dynasty. Polybius described and portrayed Rome at the End of the Punic Wars in his history sourcebook. “Polybius’ importance rests no small extent on the importance of his theme—the rise of Rome,” said by Frank William Walbank who wrote the book “Polybius”. Polybius lived in the critical period of the three Punic wars between Carthage and Rome and was present at the destruction of Carthage and Corinth. Also he is one of the officers in the Achaean League that works on the independence of Peloponnesus against the Romans. The experience of Polybius made him the most reliable ancient historians during this period.
Themistocles had an insight into the world that was hard to duplicate. He managed to precisely the right thing at precisely the right time, and by doing this, he assured the security of Greece. His cunning and charisma were
Bury, J. B.; Russell Meiggs (2000). A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great
The ancient Greeks and Romans made a variety of contributions to western civilization in the field of literature. Both of these ancient cultures produced a variety of literary works which have persevered the test of time and continue to be studied today. One of the biggest contributions of the ancient Greeks to literature came from an author, who still relatively little is known about, Homer. Homer, believed by many to have been blind, is credited with the authorship of two of ancient Greece’s most famous epic poems, The Iliad and The Odyssey. These two epic poems chronicle the final days of the Trojan War and the epic struggle Odysseus underwent on his sea voyage back to his home after the tragic war. These two epics have had a profound impact on western literature and continue to influence literary scholars and authors to this day. The following excerpt from Bio descries the impact of these ancient poems, “The Iliad and The Odyssey have provided not only seeds but fertilizer for almost all the other arts and sciences in Wester...
“Anabasis” is the Xenophon’s account of the expedition for Cyrus against Persian and the marching home of Greeks. The Greek title of Xenophon’s work, “Anabasis”, referred to a march up country, away from the coast. The title applies only to the first of its seven books. It all ends with the death of Cyrus at the Battle of Cuxana. The Greek mercenary soldiers were left stranded in the “barbarian” world. The rest of the books involves with tales of the Greeks’ discipline, leadership and courage during their journey home. Xenophon’s narrative offers an insight of the character and their political life of a Greek army. Although Xenophon seems to write about the account between the Greek and the barbarian, he presents himself as an important role in the Greek army throughout the rest of the books. He uses a third-person form when describing his own actions as a character. It might suggest that Xenophon is writing an apologia to defend himself and to show his vital role in the expedition.
It is always important to look to the past in order to move towards the future. This was done in the formation of Western Society, and more specifically the formation of American society. The Greek culture served as a frame of reference for many aspects of Western life including government, architecture, math and the arts. Ancient Greek culture served as a very broad base for our society to be built upon.
In conclusion, multiple factors led to the failure of Xerxes’ expedition into Greece. According to Herodotus, Xerxes failed due to his personal hubris, fear, and general ineptitude. He further believed that it was God’s decree. More pragmatic reasons would include strategy; the Persian’s plans were generally sound – the Greeks, with the genius of Themistocles, just did one better. Timing was also a factor – winter came on all too soon. Key to all of this was the war of morale – one which the Greeks decisively won. Luck, too, played its part, but it was relative incompetence of the Persian troops which was the crux of the matter. The failure of the infantry was the cause of the final disintegration of the campaign. Xerxes’ personal failures and errors of judgment were an accelerant towards this end. First and foremost, he was let down by his men.
Sometime around 750-600 B.C.E., the Greek poet Hesiod produced what is generally thought to be the oldest surviving Greek poetic works. During this time, Greece was near the middle of its Archaic period, a period of technological, social, political, and cultural innovations. This was the period in which the first true alphabet system arose, the system which allowed Hesiod and other poets like him to record permanently the oral stories and lyrics so important to Greek culture. This was also the time in which the Greek polis emerged – what is today translated as “city-state” – as a result of increases in population size. Hand in hand with the increase in population and formation of political bodies like the polis comes the colonization of foreign land which marked this period. Colonies arose all around the Aegean Sea and onto the coast of North Africa, spreading the Greek culture well beyond its homeland (Earth 128-131).
The average American is separated from the Greek epic. Although the lowest man is as capable of tragic struggle and feeling as any Greek hero, he is not capable of comprehending the scale and scope of the epic in his own life. We have no way of grasping the gargantuan undertaking of an epic. The epic poem is nonexistent in modern literature, and the number who read epic poems is decreasing rapidly as well. We may read excerpts or quotes about famous works, and from those remarks be able to afford remarks of our own, but this is a form of Cliffs Notes to cultural fluency. The fact that these facile and passing acquaintances serve as the bulk of our culture's understanding reveals the imperfect nature of what we assume we know. We feel qualified to claim a connection with the Greeks, through no proper understanding of our own, but rather through an opinion about an interpretation of a translation.
For years, Greek literature has transitioned from ancient scrolls, to school textbooks, and oftentimes to the big screen. Stories about Oedipus, Hercules, and the Titans have been told throughout the years captivating generation after generation. These classics never go out of style.
The ancient Greece left us a wonderful knowledge in diverse areas like in science and technology, art and architecture, literature and theatre, philosophy, political structure, government, education. The ancient Greeks originated all of these areas of wisdom.
Clarke, Fiona, and Mark Bergin. Greece in the time of Pericles. Hemel Hempstead: Simon & Schuster, 1909.