Re: Topic 2 -- Early World History, Level I

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Date Posted: 09:17:53 02/15/02 Fri
Author: Tom O'Brien
Subject: Re: Topic 2
In reply to: joshua tartakoff 's message, "Re: Topic 2" on 18:53:27 02/13/02 Wed

I believe that Pericles has some right to be bragging about Athens but he does not have the right to assume that Athens is the best in every aspect. Pericles says that their military is superior to that of their adversaries. This however is not true. Athens, however, does have the best art, architecture and forms of beauty.

The army of Sparta is by far better than the army of Athens. All Spartan men are forced to be part of the army until they are sixty and then the must teach the army. The young soldiers are toughened up, forced to steal to eat, whipped until they dont cry anymore and forced to become talented sneaks. There army was far better than the army of Athens. Pericles was a bit full of himself with this coment about the armies.

The comments about how Athens has the best art, architecture and is the most beautiful city. For example why would the Romans, who are believed to have great architecture, come and steal buildings from the Greeks if the buildings were not magnificiant and beautiful. Athenian art is also known for its beauty and style.

In conclusion, Pericles had the right to brag about Athens when he was talking about art, architecture and beauty since Athens excelled in all of these categories. However, Pericles was not being entirely truthful when he said that the Athenian army was superior to that of others.

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[> Re: Topic 2 -- Skyler Chick, 09:19:29 02/15/02 Fri

I think that the Athenians had the right to feel proud of themselves for some things, but not everything that Pericles gives them credit for. The Athenians certainly deserved to be credited for the beauty of there land and for their architecture. The Athenians also had some very skilled artisans and traders to be proud of and for their advancements in art. Because of the water surrounding Greece, trade by sea was a very available occupation and brought much art to their homeland.

In Pericles "Funeral Oration" he shows pride in the Athenian army and expresses its superiority over other armies of Greece. This however is incorrect. The Spartans had a much stronger army that spent much time conquering others. Pericles also says that the Athenians should be proud of their well-rounded government. In the "Funeral Oration" he says how the government was a democracy and was held in the hands of the public. The government was actually controlled by aristocrats which were nobles who owned land. The majority of the citizens of Athens were not of nobility but mostly consisted of merchants. These merchants later expressed discontentment with the government and requested reform.

Pericles also includes in his "Funeral Oration" that the school in Athens is the School of Greece, implying their superiority. If the school in Athens was truly the School of Greece, then people from all over Greece must go to this school. This also is an exxageration because only people from the city-state of Athens went to that school. Because of the rough terrain in Greece, people did not have the ability to travel by land.

Therefore, several comments that Pericles said were not all that true yet some of them were.

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