Greek Lit Week 7
Thursday 8:10–9:30am
Location: Class
Today we discussed whether Herodotus believed that Greeks were superior to the barbians. I argued that Herodotus viewed Greeks as above the rest but after disputes by Dr. Sandrige I realized my argument had no evidence to support the claim. Herodotus makes no explicit claim that the Greeks are superior. Herodotus said, prosperity never abides with one individual or group for very long, a city may be great for a period of time but later it can be extinct.
Herodotus used triggers to take Scythians and turned them into slaves. By bringing in whips to convince them that they are slaves and need to be in this role.
“Always guard against those who try to impose an identity on you”
Sunday 2:40–4:00pm
Location: The Howard University iLab
This week we are reading chapter 5! The Thracian men have many wives and when the husband dies a council will gather together to determine which of the wives was most loved by the husband. Once they choose the woman, they slaughter her so she many be buried with her deceased husband. They also sell their children as an export. The more tattoos the better, this represents status, that a person came from a high birth. And the more idle a person the better because that basically means they don’t come from the working class. I thought of Chinese women who used to bind their feet, this was not only a sign of beauty but a sign of status because these women could not slash would not work the field. The foot binding would affect their ability to walk therefore making them unable to work the field.
The Paeonions were conquered and brought to Asia and Megabazus sent 7 Perian messengers into Macedonia and they came to Amyntas. Amyntas welcomed the Persians and sat them for a feast. The Persians requested that the women eat with them as is Persian custom and Amyntas obliged. The Persians began to kiss and feel the wives of Amyntas, but the was scared of them and sat there in silence. Even with the fear of the Persians I would think that Amyntas would feel rightly so to speak out against men touching his wives, he has that right. But on the other hand, maybe the silence of Amyntas is what makes him a smart man. There will not be brought about battle or violence. Alexander, Amyntas’ son, was enraged by this behavior, so then devised a plan to kill the Persians. He dressed up baby-faced men as women and replaced the wives with the look alikes. Then when the Persians tried to feel upon the “women” they attacked and killed the Persians! HA!! I love it. Very clever and well deserved if you ask me.
Tuesday 9:00pm-10:00pm
Location: My Room
I just read Herodotus for the full hour uninterupted. I will record my thoughts tomorrow morning. I dediced to try this new method.
Wednesday 9:00am-
Megabates and Aristagoras left Miletus they came to Naxos but this island was “not fated to be destroyed by this expitdition”. I found a spelling error, pg. 369 chapter 33 it says “Naxos ws not”, but I am assuming it should be was. But anyhow, a ship was left unguarded which angered Megabates. Megabates ordered his escort to find the captain, Scylax, bind him, and shove him through the oar hole. So his head was sticking out the side of the ship. This just reminds me of typical bullying tactics. Like a bully who shoves a kids head down the toilet, I think it is called a swirly? I don’t know. Fortunately, I do not know of anyone whom this happened to. When Aristagoras found out his friend was bound up in such a manner he went to try and get his friend released, no one would oblige so he went himself to release his friend. Then Megabates was mad that Aristagoras released Scylax, but then Aristagoras exclaimed that Megabates was there to take his orders and to follow under Aristagoras! Megabates was… you guessed it, angry! So he warned the Naxians about the upcoming siege. This is such a goofy power struggle the mimics fights between young children. One is mad because of something which makes the other mad which makes the other even more mad and this cycle continues until one hits another and ends in tears. The tears are when the siege of Naxon FAILS because they basically fortified their town and were so prepared that all attempts to siege were… pointless!
Anaxandrides, a Spartan King, had a wife who could not have any children. The council begged Anaxandrides to have another wife so his throne/blood line would not end. At this request, Anaxandrides did not follow suit becuase his wife had done no wrong and to punish her for nothing would be unfair. Quite noble of him. So the council then had another thought, that Anaxandrides keep the first wife, but he takes up a second wife, one whom can bare children and continue his throne line. This Anaxandrides agreed to and by the second wife he had a son with the name Cleomenes, but this son was a little off in the mental department, although it was not specified in what aspect. Then a MIRACLE! oh joy, the first wife of Anaxandrides had children, three to be exact! and as ironic as it is the second wife, the one meant to birth children, only had that one son. When Anaxandrides passed, Cleomenes became King, which surprised many because of his mental illness. Yet, as he was the first son, he was the nect in line to the throne. Dorieus, another son of Anaxandrides (who thought he would be king), was mad when he did not become king, but, “if he had endured the rule by Cleomenes and lived on in Sparta, he would have been king of Lacedaemon, for Cleomenes did not reign long and died childless, leaving only a daughter, whose name was Gorgo.” (374, 48). All Dorieus had to do was set aside his pride and his ultimate wish for Kingship would have been granted. Alas, the typical theme in this book of too much pride is shown forth again.
I am really happy with my new method! My issue when I read and write my thoughts at the same time is that I end up getting extremely distracted on my computer. But I found that when I read without the computer, I can set aside all distractions and completely focus on the text. Then while I read, I annotate the parts of the book that stuck out the most or that I found most interesting so that I can go back and use those to write about. Another benefit of this method is that when I go back to the parts I annotated I have to reread the section to make sure I know what I want to write about and to make sure I have all the specific details in order. This is beneficial because I am able to absorb more of the text from rereading passages and then better understanding parts of the text that I missed altogether.
Wednesday 9pm-11:30pm
Location: My Room
Tonight again, I went with my new method of reading first and then writing about it later.
Aristagoras was driven out of Sparta (I did not catch why) and went into Athens. He went before an assembly and described the Persian style of warfare as feminine and weak, therefore they would be easy to conquor. He then praised the Athenian power so that they would protect the Milesians. Which they did, “It seems that it is easier to fool many men than one; Cleomenes the Lacedaemonian was only one, but Aristagoras could not fool him, though he managed to do so to thiry thousand Athenians” (400, 97). Thinking back to how Cleomenes is considered mentally impaired yet, he was the only one not fooled by Aristagoras.
The Athenians made a campaign against the Chalcidians and won. They left 4,000 colonizing settlers among the land of rich men and put all the prisoners in chains. The prisoners of war were given ransom and all eventually set free but the chains remain to this day. I wrote about this because the way the chains were spoken about stuck out to me greatly. “The chains with which they bound them they hung up in Acropolis, and these survived till my time, still hanging from the walls, though the walls themselves had been all scorched by the fires of the Persians; they hang right opposite the cella [spelled cella in the text, not sure if this is a typo or not] that faces west” (388, 77). They description of these chains made me think of them as a trophy that represents the victory over the Chalcidians.
Athenian olive trees are the holiest and these trees only grow in Anthens. The Epidaurians wanted to get ahold of some of these trees to replicate them in an alter? That part I was confused about what exactly the Epidaurians wanted the trees for.
This one was my favorite story: No one would marry a lame girl, Labda, of Corinth, until finally a man by the name Eëtion. Eëtion’s could not have any children so he went to the oricle of Delphi about this issue. Which he recieved an oracle saying that great things were to come of his offspring. Somehow word of this oracle came to Bacchiadae and he was fearful. As soon as the woman bore the son… gave birth ten men came to kill the child. When they came to the house of Labda, they asked to see the baby boy, and she, thinking they meant to welcome him brought out the child. They all passed the child around and could not kill it! Because it was so precious. awww. They came back again to kill the child but Labda realized their intention and hid the child in a chest.
This round went a lot better. And I enjoyed that a lot more.
Naxos=An island