Tag: essay
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Dialectic in Agamemnon
The central dialectic of the first part of Aeschylus’s famous trilogy occurs between the infamous Clytemnestra, a queen rivaled only by Lady Macbeth, and the Chorus of older men of the city of Mycenea. Both are skeptical of each others’ motivations and ambitions. In considering an historical example, recall the feud between King John of Lackland […]
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Thucydides on Greek Origins
At the outset of Thucydides’s “archaeology” of the Peloponnesian War, the greatest “motion” of the city yet seen by either the Hellenes or barbarians or also possibly of all mankind, including the ancient Trojan War, Thucydides provides many opportunities for wonder. Pointing to later thinkers, like Hobbes, Thucydides gives an account of how the Hellenes […]
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Qohelet’s Somber Reflections
In the Epic of Gilgamesh when his beastly friend Enkidu dies, Gilgamesh is faced with the apparent meaningless of all things. He is reminded of the large numbers of floating corpses in the water outside the city of Uruk’s high walls, and he is faced with the prospect that one day a grizzly fate will […]
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