Sailing the Wine Dark Sea

Ursus Maximus writes "'Sailing' is a gentle and easily readable re-introduction to Greek civilization and culture, with numerous parallels and lessons drawn to our own times by the astute author. Cahill has a real knack for this sort of thing, as he has amply demonstrated in three previous volumes in his "Hinges of History" series. I was introduced to his work in his first volume in the series, 'How the Irish Saved Civilization,' and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Cahill aims to give us a well rounded glimpse into the way the ancient Greeks lived, saw the world, and in fact into the whole of Greek experience. He does this in an idiosyncratic way that will please neither academics nor purists, but which does allow one to taste and smell the Greeks' cultural milieu, and not just to cogitate about it. But cogitate you will, as Cahill gives enough food for thought as post modern man is likely to be able to bear." Read on for the rest of Ursus Maximus' review. Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Mattered author Thomas Cahill pages 304 publisher Doubleday rating Excellent, 5 stars reviewer Ursus Maximus ISBN 0385495536 summary This book explores the Greek contribution to Western Civilization

According to Cahill, the Greeks' invention of the alphabet (or refinement of the Phoenician alphabet) into a potent intellectual tool was the beginning and the heart of their cultural expansion. Perhaps, in our own time, the arrival of computer technology and the web carries a similar promise, if only we can tease as much innovation from the web as the Greeks did from the alphabet.

But it is hard to consign the Greeks' invention of democracy (a Greek word meaning "rule of the people") to second place, even to so fine a contender as the alphabet itself. For the Greek city-state of Athens truly did refine direct democracy and their achievement can be seen as the bedrock and foundation of Western Europe's later development of democracy, and especially of the American experiment in indirect and representational democracy.

Yet of equally revolutionary significance is the Greek invention of total warfare, with highly organized militaries made up of hoplite soldiers and shrewd, calculating generals. This Greek way of warfare has been the foundation of the Western way of war ever since, right down to and including our current American military dominance of the planet. Cahill cites extensively from the brilliant and influential military historian Victor Davis Hanson and his book "The Autumn of War" to the effect that the western way of total warfare has dominated the planet ever since; and it appears that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Chaney are well versed in Mr. Hanson's theories, not to mention Greek hubris.

The lessons for the USA in its war on terrorism alone are compelling, if not down right chilling. Central to the cultural echoes provided is a speech from Pericles, ruler of Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War, a mighty struggle that lasted for 30 years, beginning with Athens at the height of its imperial, cultural and financial powers, and ending with Athens defeated and subjected to domination by Sparta and her allies, never again to regain the zenith of her glory and might.

At an annual ceremony honoring and burying the bones of her young war dead after the first year of the 30 years war, Pericles orated about the Greek forefathers, and he sounds a lot like a contemporary American politician:

"...generation after generation in unchanging and unbroken succession, they have, by their hard work and courage, handed down to us a free country... "

This comes from what is by far the longest of the many quotes Cahill intersperses in his book, and it sounds ever so much like George W. Bush. I admire the way the author intersperses these quotes without ever boring the reader. The quotes from such luminaries as Homer, Socrates, Plato and others are absolutely integral to the book and greatly enhance its character. If Pericles' speech above reminds us of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, so it must also remind us somewhat of our current President's oratory about the War on Terror.

The book is organized around chapters that bring together material in an organic way, not an academic way; with titles like: "The Warrior: How to Fight", "The Wanderer: How to Feel", "The Poet: How to Party", "The Politician and the Playwright: How to Rule", "The Philosopher: How to Think", "The Artist: How to See", and "The Way They Went: Greco-Roman World meets Judeo-Christian".

All in all, this is a quick read, a delightful and thought provoking exercise, and a worthwhile adventure. I highly recommend it. Be forewarned though, you may find yourself wanting to go on and read the other volumes in the series, including "How the Irish Saved Civilization", "The Gifts of the Jews", "The Desire of the Everlasting Hills" (about early Christianity), and the three forthcoming volumes, the next of which is promised to be about how the Romans became Italians. By the time all three future volumes are published, this promises to be a very accessible investigation into the making of the modern world and the impact of its cultural innovations on the sensibilities of the West.

I suspect that Slashdotters of all persuasions will enjoy reading this book; you can read more on related topics on my weblog and web site at http://www.awaretek.com/weblog/

You can purchase Sailing the Wine Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Mattered from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Comments

Greek life and todays society

[Jailbrekr]

As an aside, the greeks were the first to articulate and intellectualize homosexuality, as they argued that true love was between two men, a love which is not bound by hormonal urges. You can see the societal adoption of this very same philosophy with gay marriages being approved, and the subsequent tightening of church control over the current "democratic" administration.

greeks...

[demonhold]

someone once said that the classic Greeks were all about wars and homos... strangely enough, as with most of this kind of wisdom, is quite accurate... now seriously, donna tartt's quasi-quotations aside, i will have still to find passages of such violence and intensity as those found in the Illiad, the descripcions of the dry sun dried plain in front of the city, the way the deaths are described... IMNSHO, I believe their main contribution to our culture is their literature. Western Literature starts with the Illiad and the Oddyssey, and its influence is still felt by us when reading TS Eliot, Cervantes, Pynchon, Goethe, Chaucer... Okay.. well, I will cut it short, cause if I start talking about Lucian of Samotrace, the Alexandrian poets, etc.. etc...

Spare me

[Anonymous Coward]

Spare me the lunatic-left cheerleading for Saddam Hussein and the terrorists. Next thing, you will be calling a 14-month-old military conflict a "quagmire".

Comparison not valid

[panurge]

The war between Athens and Sparta ( and their client states ) might have had parallels in the Cold War. In which case it's the Soviet Union that had the fate of Athens. But then, history never really repeats itself. We really have no way of knowing what the outcome of the present world political situation will be, whether it results in complete US global supremacy, whether China will take over, or whether the EU will eventually stop bickering, kick out the backwards-dragging UK, and become the next global superpower. The fact that Perikles might sound a bit like Rumsfeld is neither here nor there; there's always a tendency for people in power to become overbearing egotistical windbags who think the sun shines out of their anuses, and it's hardly surprising given the way other people defer to them.

That off my chest, I will make one observation that was made to me by a serious classicist, someone who has written and commented extensively on Aristophanes: It is almost impossible for a modern person to understand the Greek world-view. We would have to turn off so many things that we know, so many received ideas that are part of our culture, that the effort would be impossible. Forget not only cars, planes and televisions, forget the Americas, the Southern Hemisphere, biology,chemistry, the size of the universe, astronomy, physics, most of mathematics, and almost all of history. Forget, in fact, the existence of other cultures. Then try and imagine what it would be like to be a philosopher.

Pericles and GWB?

[CatGrep]

[quote from Pericles]
it sounds ever so much like George W. Bush.

I'm not sure you can include Pericles and GWB in the same thought. Pericles was an orator and, well...
you get the picture.

The last time oil prices fell after being relatively high, GW Bush had just entered the oil business. Perhaps it's time to send him back to the oil fields.

Re:Rumsfeld and Cheney are more like Alcibiades

[FooGoo]

Remember the greeks didn't have nukes.

It is a bestseller series

[AtariAmarok]

You are onto something. Someone can be assured of bestsellerdom with "How the Italians Saved Civilization". I think that the Italian-American community is larger than the Greek community, so you will surely have sales. Next, books about Africans and Germans. Both groups with large numbers of people claiming descent.

The larger the group, the better. "How the Arabs Saved Civilization" would be an easy one to write due to the advances of the middle-ages Islamic empire, but the sales would be low due to the small size of the Arab-American group compared to the groups named above.

Re:WTF?

[thegrommit]

Does this have anything even remotely to do with News for Nerds or technology or computers or programing or software or hardware or anthing electonic whatsoever?

Not all that matters is electronic. Not all nerds are into technology.

Greeks invented nerds

[AtariAmarok]

"Does this have anything even remotely to do with News for Nerds"

When you look at the famous philosophers and mathematicians, you can see that there is a good case to be made that the Greeks invented nerds.. You have a point, though. This is hardly news (being thousands of years old).... except to you.

What make ancient history so fascinating...

[Hortensia Patel]

...are the parallels, even in societies that in many ways can look very alien. (Sparta under the Lycurgan regime abolished the family as a social unit, for example.) Certainly the parallels with today's "War on Terror" hysteria are striking:

They altered the accepted usage of words in relation to deeds as they thought fit. Reckless audacity was termed courageous loyalty to party; prudent hesitation, specious cowardice; moderation, a cover for spinelessness; and an ability to understand all sides, total inertia. Fanatical enthusiasm was rated a man's part; and cautious deliberation, a euphemism for desertion.

(From Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War III 82, written in the 5th century BC. Sound familiar?)

Back just before the first Gulf War - Desert Storm, not Iran/Iraq - the BBC did a special called (IIRC) The War that Never Ends, a set of dramatized talking-heads excepts from the period, drawing these parallels very simply but incredibly effectively. One of the best things I've ever seen on TV, and probably something that only the BBC could ever do.

I wouldn't agree with the viewer in calling Greek warfare "total", however. Yes, they were the first to use shock, but that's another matter. Military participation was generally limited to the wealthier citizens (== voters.... hello, Heinlein), and war aims were generally limited, stopping far short of conquest or delenda-est-Carthago extremes. In many ways, Greek armies were like local sporting teams; war was a test/demonstration of courage and civic-mindedness. When professional combat trainers appeared in Greece, many folk at the time commented that yes, these techniques would make you invulnerable in battle, but what was the point? It wasn't what the activity was about. Rather like Greek theatre, I suppose - the Chorus was the focus of a play, not the individual actors.

</ramble>

Re:Rumsfeld and Cheney are more like Alcibiades

[Anonymous Coward]

Well - from the beginning the whole expedition was quite silly: to send the biggest expeditionary athenian army ever (including lots of coerced "allies") so far as sicily without a clear goal what to there .

This kind of language irks me

[Wylfing]

He does this in an idiosyncratic way that will please neither academics nor purists, but which does allow one to taste and smell the Greeks' cultural milieu, and not just to cogitate about it. But cogitate you will, as Cahill gives enough food for thought as post modern man is likely to be able to bear.

This could have been stated ever-so-much more clearly. Advice: don't use words just because you think they make you sound smart. It turns clear prose rotten. These two sentences could stop a fucking train.

This Book is Not Good

[Tarantolato]

The basic problem is that the author is incapable of imagining a world different from his own.

The leads to some annoying religious/political biases. Greek culture is evaluated based on what it contributed to Catholicism and social-justice (good) or what it contributed to Neoconservatism (bad). Annoyingly, Cahill takes V.D. Hanson and other neocon writers at their word when they say the Greeks anticipated neocon thought, when their findings are open to doubt.

But Cahill's lack of imagination shows up in other annoying ways. For example, some of the most interesting work being done in Classics these days is based on the hypothesis that early Greek poems like the Homeric epics were not written down once and for all by a monumental author at a very early date, but instead underwent continuous recomposition-in-performance until...depends on how radical you want to get; some scholars will say 500 BC, others 200 BC or later.

Cahill's argument against this is that the Iliad and Odyssey are too good to have been a collaborative effort. This is akin to saying that Linux must have been put together by a highly paid corporate team with extensive UML documents and an imprimatur from AT&T.

I'd recommend Greg Nagy's _The Best of the Achaeans_ if you want to see some of the more interesting directions that Greek scholarship has been taking in the past few decades.

Re:Ugh

[Mr. Slippery]

Your shortsightedness doesn't mean it's a bad idea to turn Iraq upside down in order to flush out regional terrorism

Turning Iraq "upside down" is a live-action recruting poster for groups like Al Quida. Pouring gasoline on a fire to put it out is a piss-poor strategy.

Sure, no one has linked Saddam to Al Qaeda (yet), but why is that necessary

Because there are a whole lot of dead and maimed boys who beleived they were being sent to kill and die in Iraq because of 9/11.