The Greeks chose, as their founding story, not triumph but rupture. The Iliad opens with epic anger: leaders divided, an army stalled, a coalition nearly undone before it reaches the walls of Troy. The ancient Greeks did not ground their civilization in harmony, but in the conditions that make order fragile; pride, rivalry, misjudgment, theContinue reading “The Illiad”
Tag Archives: Odyssey
Troy
Troy is not the beginning of the heroic age. It is the point where the heroic age destroys itself. The Greeks understood this. Their myths do not describe a long golden era stretching indefinitely backward into legend. The heroic age is startlingly brief. From the first monster-slayers to the sack of Troy spans only aContinue reading “Troy”
Elitism and Aristocracy
Aristo– is a word-forming element meaning “best,” or “of the aristocracy,” from Greek aristos “best of its kind, noblest, bravest, most virtuous”” (of persons, animals, things). In its Greek form, aristos denoted that which was excellent in kind, noble in bearing, virtuous in conduct. It was not yet the title of a class. The aristoi were thoseContinue reading “Elitism and Aristocracy”
Protective Arts 