Some people are comparing current times with the apocalypse. In ancient texts, apocalyptic messages cultivated endurance and encouragement through dire circumstances.
A scene from a 1911 staging of the ancient Greek classic ‘Oedipus Rex.’
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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.
Heintz Joseph the Elder, The Rape of Persephone, circa 1595.
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Like many Greek myths, the story of Persephone’s descent into the realm of Hades, and her emergence from it, has resonances in contemporary arts, most especially the notion of death and rebirth.
There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that attempts to manipulate the outcome of the competitions are as old as the Games themselves.
Jim Thorpe and Ben Johnson were both banned from the Olympics. But if each had played at different points in history, they would have been allowed to compete.
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