Book Reviews and Miscellaneous
Book and Lecture Reviews of Ancient Greek History and Philosophy
Since we seek to draw moral lessons from history, we favor the Lives of Great Greeks and Romans by Plutarch. […]
Herodotus
Greek and Roman History
Draco, Solon, and Cleisthenes, Democracy and Justice in Ancient Greece
Homer’s Odyssey depict the deep Greek past where might makes right, where brave soldiers fight for justice, where grievances and murders are settled by blood feuds. As Greek emerged from its Dark Ages in the seventh century, the Greeks in Athens sought to establish a more systematic system of justice with laws governing the state. Draco was appointed by the ruling aristocracy to be a lawmaker to codify new laws to replace justice by feuds, now the Senate of the Areopagus would hear cases of homicide. […]
Greek and Roman History
Aeschylus and Herodotus, the Battle of Salamis, Greco-Persian Wars
The Greek playwright Aeschylus fought in the Greco-Persian Wars, and in his play, The Persians, he includes an emotional memory of the naval Battle of Salamis, where the outnumbered Greek fleet sinks a large portion of the mighty Persian fleet. […]
Greek and Roman History
Histories of Herodotus, The Greco-Persian Wars
Herodotus tells us in his first paragraph that he wrote his Histories “so that human achievements may not be forgotten in time, and great and marvelous deeds, some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians, may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two peoples fought with each other. […]
Greek and Roman History
Herodotus, Histories of Persia: Egypt and Scythia Before the Greco-Persian Wars
Why did Herodotus write his Histories? Herodotus tells us in his first paragraph, “so that human achievements may not be forgotten in time, and great and marvelous deeds, some displayed by Greeks, some by barbarians, may not be without their glory; and especially to show why the two peoples fought with each other.” Just as in the Iliad, the Greek soldiers and sailors in the Histories of Herodotus fight for cleos, or glory, and warriors in these warrior societies are immortalized by their great and marvelous deeds on the battlefield. Herodotus is interested in recording any mighty deeds of both the Greeks and the Persians, although the glory was earned mostly by the Greeks. […]