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-At the Assembly, they discussed, debated, and, finally, voted on important issues such as changing voting laws or how to fight the Persians who wanted to control Greece. |
-Why deal with the Greeks?
Said someone once causing me huge surprise.
-Their time has passed, now is the turn of others to lead the world.
If anything, the above attitude shows ignorance of both the world and of local history. Skillfully, the education of all countries (with few exceptions) has passed the idea that Greek history is something that concerns the Greeks. But is it so? Clearly not! John Stuart Mill said that:
"The Battle of Marathon, even as an event in English history, is more important than the Battle of Hastings. If the issue of that day had been different, the Britons and the Saxons might still have been wandering in the woods."[1]
Regarding more recent history, the historian Eugen Weber said:
"After all, the civilization of the West is a by-product of the will of Byzantium to survive."
These are two of the thousands of quotes concerning the contribution of the Greeks and the inextricable link between Greek history with the individual histories of the peoples of the world. I will not analyze it further. The proof of what I say is out there for anyone interested.
Since the contribution of my ancestors to global history and civilization is a fact, I will grab only one thing, DEMOCRACY! This, alone, is a serious reason for the expulsion of the Greeks from education. Reasonable, since which power would teach their young how to overturn it? Because, dear reader, at this time on planet Earth, there is not one democratic state!
2500 years ago, a society managed to achieve what all societies seek: the good life! No other has achieved it since. Once, a descendant of Solon sought to make a new Seisachtheia[2] that would lead back to democracy and good living, again on the same soil. However, he was considered very dangerous and his existence was terminated. The killers found asylum in the embassy of a "superpower" of that era. However, Ioannis Kapodistrias managed to organize the closest to a democratic state that exists right now in the world: Switzerland!
Democracy, has historically proven to be the means to achieve well-living.The answers, the. ... know-how is there offered to us selflessly by the most sophisticated, democratic society that has ever existed; the Athens of Solon, Cleisthenes, Ephialtes[3], Pericles but mainly the Athenian Citizens. If education has expelled the Greeks from its school curricula, there is infinite literature out there for the restless spirits. I am sure that whoever grapples with anything Greek would understand much. Like, for example, the shameless campaign against the Greeks especially in recent years when capitalism begins to show its true, anti-democratic face.
So my answer to the question why should one deal with the Greeks:
“As mankind tries to achieve the "good life" Greeks are the ones we should deal with.”
[1]Importance in World History
It was John Stuart Mill who said that the Battle of Marathon was a more important event in British history than the Battle of Hastings. If the Greek army had been defeated at Marathon, then who knows how world history might have panned out? We might not have had any of the great Greek innovations passed down to us today. The great Greek playwright Aeschylus was present at the battle, and his death would have changed the development of Greek tragedy as an art form. Though it is easy to ask 'What if?' of every major event in history, the Athenian victory was clearly very important, both for Ancient Greece and the world in the future. http://news.bbc.co.uk/dna/place-lancashire/plain/A10083395
[2]Seisachtheia (Greek: σεισάχθεια, from σείειν seiein, to shake, and ἄχθος achthos, burden, i.e. the relief of burdens) was a set of laws instituted by the Athenian lawmaker Solon (c. 638 BC–558 BC) in order to rectify the widespread serfdom and slavery that had run rampant in Athens by the 6th century BC, by debt relief.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seisachtheia)
[3] Ephialtes (Greek: Ἐφιάλτης, Ephialtēs) was an ancient Athenian politician and an early leader of the democratic movement there. In the late 460s BC, he oversaw reforms that diminished the power of the Areopagus, a traditional bastion of conservatism, and which are considered by many modern historians to mark the beginning of the "radical democracy" for which Athens would become famous. These powers included the scrutiny and control of office holders, and the judicial functions in state trials. He introduced pay for public officeholders, reduced the property qualifications for holding a public office, and created a new definition of citizenship.[1] Ephialtes, however, would not live to participate in this new form of government for long. In 461 BC, he was assassinated, probably at the instigation of resentful oligarchs, and the political leadership of Athens passed to his deputy, Pericles.
