Lessons for America from the Ancient Greeks
What does the fall of an empire tell us about today’s divided politics?
Classical Greece is famous for its Golden Age, but also for how quickly it fell into decline afterward.
At its apogee, Greece boasted military prowess — the Spartan warrior society and the Athenian navy. The Greeks were also famous for their arts (Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey), their governance (Athenian democracy), their sculptures (the Acropolis, temple of Zeus, etc.), their gods (the pantheon of Zeus, Hades, Poseidon), their sports (the marathon and Olympics), their philosophy (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle), and their humanities.
Many precepts we take for granted today are spiritual heirs of classical Greece — reason, maths, governance, to name a few. Philosopher Will Durant even went so far as to write that “there is nothing in Greek civilization that doesn’t illuminate our own.”
But how did it all begin? And what does the rise and fall of this ancient society tell us about what’s happening in our world today?
The power of historical amnesia to align reality with national interests never fails to amaze me.
