Increasingly, Americans seem to have irreconcilable differences over the pandemic, the economy – even the result of the 2020 election.
Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Homer and Aeschylus turned to the divine to write their happy endings. But no gods are conspiring above the US, ready to swoop down and save humankind from itself.
President Donald Trump plays a round of golf on July 15, 2018 in Turnberry, Scotland.
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Though hypocrites seemingly relinquish their moral authority, the trial against Socrates shows us that our favoritism for public figures is stronger than our judgments of their hypocrisy.
In ancient Athens, only the richest people paid taxes on wealth, and they were happy to do it.
Twospoonfuls via Wikimedia Commons
In ancient Athens, the richest people paid taxes to support what the residents considered the salvation of the city. These taxes earned them social and political clout more valuable than money.
To overhaul an election redistricting process tainted by gerrymandering, Michigan has adopted a governance mechanism prominent 2,500 years ago in ancient Athens, the birthplace of democracy.
An Egyptian winged scarab amulet (circa 1070 –945 BC).
Believed to possess magical qualities, amulets were once widely used. They range from amber pendants worn during Denmark’s Mesolithic age to wind chimes found at Pompeii.
Perceptions about coronavirus “only killing old people” highlight the ageist way we sometimes refer to death and dying. Greek myth shows this isn’t new and ancient plays laid out the distinction.
Earth and Moon as seen by the Galileo spacecraft.
NASA
Ancient Greek philosophers including Plato likened civic leaders to doctors, creating a healthy society through balance and moderation. Those ideas feed into what we expect from leaders today.
Pericles Funeral Oration on the Greek 50 Drachmai 1955 Banknote.
Shutterstock
Thucydides’ description of the plague that struck Athens in 430 BC is one of the great passages of Greek literature. It focusses on the social response, both of those who died and those who survived.
A scene from a 1911 staging of the ancient Greek classic ‘Oedipus Rex.’
Imagno/Getty Images
Greek epics remind audiences that leaders need to be able to plan for the future based on what has happened in the past. They need to understand cause and effect.
Understandings of truth may be found in the Muses’ words.
Jacopo Tintoretto's The Muses/Wikpedia
Is making sense of a story more important than getting at its truth? Looking at the treatment of myth in ancient Greece may help us navigate what is true, and whether that matters.
Magic was an every day part of life in the Graeco-Roman empire.
John William Waterhouse