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Homer, Aristotle, and Alexander the Great

  Apotheosis of Homer by Archelaos of Priene, c. 225 BCE. BM. Public Domain.       Prologue   More than any other Greek, Homer (The Poet), Aristotle (The Philosopher), and Alexander the Great (the military genius and pillar of Hellenism), made Hellas / Greece equivalent to civilization.    The epics of Homer   The epic poems of Homer inspired the Greeks for millennia. [1]  The first epic, the Iliad, tells the story of the Trojan War, according to which, about hundreds of Achaean / Greek ships from all over Hellas carried soldiers to Troy in Asia Minor in order to avenge the abduction of Helen by Paris, a prince of Troy. Helen was the daughter of Zeus and wife of King Menelaos of Sparta. This woman was so beautiful that all important leaders of Greece wanted her for wife. But Menelaos won the lottery. To maintain peace, the unlucky suitors of Helen promised that if anyone tried to take Helen away from Menelaos, they would come to his aid.    The Iliad, however, is much more than a story
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Biden's Last Chance

Anthropogenic dangers of climate change. US Fifth National Climate Assessment, Nov. 14, 2023.  Prologue I watched  President Joe Biden  delivering his March 7, 2024 State of the Union speech. “My lifetime,” he said, “has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”   There’s some truth in this ideal picture of America, and I liked it. I am grateful to America for my education, which opened my eyes to see the world, especially giving me an opportunity to know myself.   January 6, 2021 – starting a civil war?  Biden is also right that the Republicans want to forget January 6, 2021. This was an unsuccessful coup inspired and guided by former President Trump, Yet the Republicans are so unpat

Ελληνικές Παραδόσεις, η Ραχοκοκαλιά του Πολιτισμού

Δρ. Εὐάγγελος Βαλλιανᾶτος Σχολή Αθηνών του Ραφαήλ (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino), 1511. Τοιχογραφία. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Μουσείο Βατικανού. Δημόσιος τομέας. Οι Έλληνες στοχαστές περιλαμβάνουν τους φιλόσοφους Επίκουρο, Πυθαγόρα, Παρμενίδη, Σωκράτη, και Πλάτωνα και  Αριστοτέλη (κέντρο), τον Βασιλέα της Αιγύπτου Πτολεμαίο, τους θεούς Απόλλωνα και Αθηνά, τους φιλόσοφους Ηράκλειτο, Διογένη της Σινώπης, τον Πλωτίνο και την Υπατία (κάτω αριστερά με λευκό πέπλο) και τον Μέγα Αλέξανδρο (άνω αριστερά). Ο μαθηματικός Ευκλείδης σχεδιάζει κάτι γεωμετρικό, κάτω δεξιά με κόκκινο πέπλο.   Πρόλογος   Όλες οι παραδόσεις είναι ανθρώπινες εφευρέσεις που διαρκούν για λίγο ή, μερικές φορές, για πάντα. Μερικές από αυτές τις καινοτομίες είναι εξαιρετικά χρήσιμες και διαρκούν, άλλες εξαφανίζονται, μόνο για να αντικατασταθούν από καλύτερες εναλλακτικές. Δεν γνωρίζουμε πότε ξεκίνησαν οι παραδόσεις, πόσο μάλλον η ιστορία. Υπάρχουν περίοδοι ανθρώπινης δραστηριότητας που χρονολογούνται στην προϊστορική ή Παλαιολιθ

Greek Traditions -- Backbone of Civilization

    S chool of Athens by Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino), 1511. Fresco. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Vatican Museum. Public Domain. Greek thinkers include Epicurus, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle (center), Ptolemaios, gods Apollo and Athena, Herakleitos,  Diogenes of Sinope, Plotinos, Hypatia (with a white robe, lower left), Alexander the Great upper left wearing a military uniform) and Euclid, lower right, in a red robe, drawing a geometrical figure.   Prologue   PLEASE GO TO THE LAST PARAGRAPH, LINE 3, AND CLICK ON THE WORD PRESENTATION IN ORDER TO WATCH A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF MY DISCUSSION IN GREEK OF THE HISTORY AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GREEK TRADITIONS. All traditions are human inventions that last briefly or, sometimes, forever. Some of those innovations are extremely useful and last, other vanish, only to be replaced by better alternatives. We don’t know when traditions, much less history, began. There are periods of human activity dated to prehistoric or Paleol