[lit-ideas] Re: Saving Western Civilization?
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:28:05 -0800
Athens, the city, was essentially deserted and defeated by the time of
Thermopylae, but they had a navy, a very good one if only a third the size
of the Persians'. The Spartans delayed the Persians at Thermopylae giving
the Athenian-led navy time to position themselves and ultimately defeat the
Persian navy. Xerxes then lost his nerve and fled; hence the Greeks won,
the Athenians went home again and Greece achieved a victory that would not
have happened without the Spartan effort at Thermopylae -- or so the
argument goes. Had Xerxes been successful, all of Greece would have been
overrun and Western Civilization.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Robert Paul
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 8:17 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Saving Western Civilization?
Lawrence wrote, quoting
> "Thus, one not insignificant reason why we today should care who the
> ancient Spartans were, is that they played a key role - some might say
> /the /key role - in defending Greece and so preserving from foreign and
> alien conquest a form of culture or civilization that constitutes one of
> the chief roots of our own Western civilization."
Well, I'm not sure what to make of this. After Thermopylae, the Persians
were still able to march south and burn Athens to the ground. Salamis
and Platea were yet to come. Some think that the naval battle at Salamis
'saved Western civilization.'
More to the point, the Greek contribution to the Western heritage is
almost entirely Athenian. Art, architecture, drama, philosophy, and
'democracy' came from Athens, not Sparta. Sparta, of course, eventually
conquered Athens, and destroyed that 'form of culture that constitutes
one of the chief roots of...Western civilization.'
Robert Paul
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