Book Reports /
Key to get re-submitted! Anicent World History Paper [31]
I got down 3 pages but I don't know what else to write...
What are main arguments that the author makes?
What ideas, issues and historical figure that we specifically discuss in our class does the author discuss?
How does the author illuminate these issues, ideas and historical figures?
In what way does this book contribute to your knowledge of the development of western civilization?
What I have so far:
There will always be a connection from the past to the future. After reading, Sailing The Wine-Dark Sea: Why The Greeks Matter by Thomas Cahill, Cahill's descriptive writing in my opinion is showing how our past does have a connection with the future. I had no knowledge what so ever with early civilization and why is it important? Does the Greeks fact indeed matter even if they had a connection to modern Americans as of today? Do people today show any significant amount of prosperity? Well, for me even a slight understanding is sufficient even though the Greeks were unknown and no credit is placed on behalf of their early development which led a continuous manifest of our civilization.
A glimpse at book "Why do the Greeks matter?" I knew from that point on, I will eventually know why the Greeks really did matter after reading this book. Now, if you didn't know Greeks have some type of lasting effects in the world we live in today. How? Well it begins and ends with flaws just like everything in this world. It begins to break down that the Greeks are responsible for the way thought is developed, culture has its own way of life , religion its way of believing, also art the way it is understood and looked upon, basically the human history. The book is used of quintessential sections to break down the difficult aspects of ancient Greek life within ease in understandable perspective, then continues to show how each are crucial to us. With all honesty, with my spare time I've begun to engage this type of literature and reading more seriously with the short period of time in my hands and gave me a solid understanding. The book shows the accomplishments of Classical Greece and its vast outcome on Western civilization. Beginning with the Greek history, partially as Homer conferred it in the Iliad and the Odyssey he goes on to centering on the other early figures who have most influenced Greek civilization including Sophocles through Aristotle and look into their contributions to early attitudes toward, example; to war throughout every aspect to religion. He also writes about the opposite way of thinking between the Greeks and he Romans also how it really influenced Christianity on the Greeks, and contrariwise.
Our way of live today is a mock the Greeks repeatedly and developed in certain ways but then again non Greek ways. The Greeks are responsible for the way we write, our way our logic works, basically our entire system from this day or of sequence. In this book it was put in a way for those who have no knowledge of our past's history and that what I really enjoyed.
The book gives us honor of position for Homer, throughout Euripides an elegant introduction to the early ear of ancient Greek. "The way they came" basically describes how they were brought. Drawn in before the Stone Age, afterwards civilizations of the Minoan and Mycenaean kings began to evolve. This was followed by a period of invasions and wars, known as the Dark Ages. Greece was divided into small city states, each of which consisted of a city and its surrounding countryside-- in my knowledge before reading the book. It begins to explain how there is no written evidence of how the Greeks came about, which he says "Their origins lie in mystery "as self explanatory. Then begins to get in a little more specific of how the second millennium B.C developed origins so we can have evidence that even earlier time the Greeks rode the valleys and begin to interpret how the Greeks became about. Meaning how the systematic early life began off the peninsula as our own evidence. Cahill's begins to clarify that, Heinrich Schliemann an archaeologist or said " self made German Business" who discovered the cover-up city sites of Troy; he also delved Mycenae. Furthermore began to analyze actions of Schliemann towards Agamemnon the king who led the Greeks against Troy in the Trojan War. "language mixing with language side-by-side" page 14. In other words, the invasion began to emerge language as one, from the Homer with interpreting it with Odyssey which is a Greek a strong everlasting poem describing the epic journey of Odysseus after the fall of Troy. Cahill's way of making readers like myself understanding the concept of the early era of Greece, he sequences everything in chapter form. But yet the book manages to pose the way of reading in a clean manner without getting clogged with excessive detail and this kept the pages going with ease for me.
Approximately 300 pages awaits me with solid difficulty understanding, with so little time. There are pros and cons for everything of course the book has its flaws like any other book. Its pros were simply, clear, ongoing reading, photographical artworks incorporated every aspect of ancient Greece in a compact structure, which I truly liked. The cons of this book is its literarily elements was unnecessary profanity which is ok with me, but in this case it was not needed but if Cahill's implemented it to have a connection with those with no concept of ancient Greeks, I don't blame him. Ok the way book is used in description was retelling multiple important Greek myths and converts them into a somewhat historical context, which is clever in a way. He also encounters all the contributions that the Greeks made in every aspect throughout the culture. Photographical images of sculpturing and pottery, maps and so forth, was it really necessarily? But you got to look at it another way maybe it was implementing for those who have no significant knowledge of ancient Greeks to make it easy and understandable. But then again readers that, enjoy it. Analyzing and comparing democracy... ancient democracy to be precise as well for leaders with modern political leadership at the time. Let's start off with, democracy is one of the most astonishing and compelling inventions of the ancient Greeks. The Greeks were the first people we know to have conceived and implemented the striking notion that the citizens of a community or perhaps large complex ones, as of the word democracy comes from the Greeks. How do you think leaders today reflect the same "way" and doings as well as acts from the early era? the ancient Greeks of course. A leader is an individual, of citizens who leads a nation or into leadership for a specific plan. Every leader falls or/and every leader succeeds, every Greek succeeded, in my perspective even if they failed the still succeed, how? Well the fact that striving is still succeeding in my books. And some leaders with lack of dedication, to succeed, failed at some point in time. Cahill's also signifies in the book modern and ancient leaders are relevant and consist of flaws and completion. The book also archives writers and philosophers, minor and major ones also, perhaps Homer for example. Homer is the extravagant Greek poet and the classical author of the two legendary poems, the Odyssey and Iliad. He influenced was not only on the Greek literature, but throughout ethics and morality everlasting. With the slang and excess profanity he makes the story seem amusing in a way or another way with mixture of ancient Greeks, which I tend to like frequently. Assuming that, we do in fact, consider ourselves with issues that people tend to be racist and such as the book indicates the ancient Greeks were, of course there must be the same characteristic connected like I said. He also approaches "Allegory of the cave" attributed by Plato. As well as the sex discussion in the symposium, surprisingly a guy like me again with little concept of the ancient Greeks but throughout the course and the book also the way Cahill's interprets in such a way I know that we discussed what a symposium was and implemented the idea of what was being said in the book. Symposium is the Greek verb means "to drink together", from what I learned from my course, a drinking party that tends to include entertainment and conversation on a specific topic with discussion. Without knowledge how can we move forward?
My conclusion:
After reading, comprehending and realizing how aspects of the early civilization do in fact relevant to us today. The civilization of the ancient Greeks reveals how their cultural contributions preserves to sculpt our way of life, which I always had these little random questions about how things started basically and at this point this book was an answer for one of "those" random questions randomly , simply understood.
- This Is By Mohannad Taha.
