Two-and-a-Half Millennia Don’t Change Much

http://wmbriggs.com/blog/?p=1807 ^ | William M. Briggs

[mattstat]

Herodotus begins his history by telling us that some Phoenician traders came to Argos, Greece and, on a whim, abducted the king’s daughter Io and took her to Egypt. Later, to show that two could play at that game, the Greeks slid over to Phoenicia and stole their king’s daughter, Europa.

(Bad pun: and how these ladies ended up with Jupiter, nobody knows.)

“So far,” Herodotus, checking his sums, said, “the scores were even.” But then the Greeks, into the game, decided to do a one-up. The went back to another Phoenician stronghold and kidnapped that king’s daughter, Medea.

The king wanted her back and asked the Greeks, “How much?” The Greeks, in a fit of pique, said, “Not a chance.” They were still miffed that they hadn’t received any royalties for Io.

So things stood for two score years. You can guess what happened next. Alexander, son of Priam, came to Greece and swiped the beautiful Helen. All even again, after two rounds.

From the Waterfield translation:

"Although the Persians regard the abduction of women as a criminal act, they also claim it is stupid to get worked up about it and to seek revenge for the women once they have been abducted; the sensible course, they say, is to pay no attention to it, because it is obvious that the women must have been willing participants in their own abduction, or else it could never have happened."

Therefore, ...

[GOP_Party_Animal]

I don’t get it. Did I miss a recent headline where Greece is locking horns with Iran?

[mattstat]

For “Greek” read “The West.”

[cizinec]

We got sick of fighting our school and decided to homeschool. My son knows more than I did after graduating from college. I had to study ancient history “with” my 2nd grader.

I started reading the post and had to shake my head and laugh. I don’t know what’s more bizarre, reading about Persians fighting with Mesopotamians (Iran vs. Iraq), the Persians vs. the Greeks or the Philistines causing trouble everywhere.

The more things change . . .

[SunkenCiv]

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[ApplegateRanch]

...and all of this boils down to why I don’t buy Apple products:

Never trust geeks bearing grifts!

[wildbill]

So all this violence in human history is because of sex.

There is a picture going around the net under the rubric of “The History of the World in one Photo” which I can’t post because it has nudity, but it is hilarious if you can google and find it.

[chesley]

You can google it, and find it. I just did. But use quote marks, and scroll down the page.

Yep, a lot of truth in that photo.

[chesley]

You can google it, and find it. I just did. But use quote marks, and scroll down the page.

Yep, a lot of truth in that photo.

[RedStateRocker]

“The only thing new is the history you don’t already know”
Harry Truman.

[chesley]

Now that's a good quote.

I like this one from a very long time ago.

Ecclesiastes 1

9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

10 Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.