Lawrence Sammons II

Not because history is cyclical, not because history repeats itself, but because human beings repeat themselves and make the same kinds of mistakes generation after generation.

Athens was a second-tier state, maybe even a third-tier state in the seventh and sixth centuries BC. And what does that mean? Like, what is a third-tier state at that time? Well, I mean that, A, they weren't as powerful as some other states. Their military strength was not up to some other states.

Athens was a second-tier state, maybe even a third-tier state in the seventh and sixth centuries BC. And what does that mean? Like, what is a third-tier state at that time? Well, I mean that, A, they weren't as powerful as some other states. Their military strength was not up to some other states.

Athens was a second-tier state, maybe even a third-tier state in the seventh and sixth centuries BC. And what does that mean? Like, what is a third-tier state at that time? Well, I mean that, A, they weren't as powerful as some other states. Their military strength was not up to some other states.

But what I really mean is that they didn't have the early history that other states had, like Sparta and Thebes and Argos. Those are names that ring through mythology and what the Greeks thought of their very ancient past. Whereas Athens, for example, if you take Homer, the Iliad, Athens plays almost no role at all in the Iliad.

But what I really mean is that they didn't have the early history that other states had, like Sparta and Thebes and Argos. Those are names that ring through mythology and what the Greeks thought of their very ancient past. Whereas Athens, for example, if you take Homer, the Iliad, Athens plays almost no role at all in the Iliad.

But what I really mean is that they didn't have the early history that other states had, like Sparta and Thebes and Argos. Those are names that ring through mythology and what the Greeks thought of their very ancient past. Whereas Athens, for example, if you take Homer, the Iliad, Athens plays almost no role at all in the Iliad.

Most classicists can't even name the Athenian hero of the Iliad because he's a nobody in the story. He appears four times and twice he's being called a coward. But they do know that Odysseus comes from Ithaca and Ajax comes from Salamis. So you have all these other heroes that come from other places that seem far less important than Athens.

Most classicists can't even name the Athenian hero of the Iliad because he's a nobody in the story. He appears four times and twice he's being called a coward. But they do know that Odysseus comes from Ithaca and Ajax comes from Salamis. So you have all these other heroes that come from other places that seem far less important than Athens.

Most classicists can't even name the Athenian hero of the Iliad because he's a nobody in the story. He appears four times and twice he's being called a coward. But they do know that Odysseus comes from Ithaca and Ajax comes from Salamis. So you have all these other heroes that come from other places that seem far less important than Athens.

But to an Athenian reading Homer, he fails to find himself there. So what does this mean for the Athenian psyche? And I think it's actually a major factor in how the Athenians thought of themselves.

But to an Athenian reading Homer, he fails to find himself there. So what does this mean for the Athenian psyche? And I think it's actually a major factor in how the Athenians thought of themselves.

But to an Athenian reading Homer, he fails to find himself there. So what does this mean for the Athenian psyche? And I think it's actually a major factor in how the Athenians thought of themselves.

Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do think that. That's probably making it too strong. I think that this feeling rarely rises to a kind of conscious level, but it's active. It does rise to a conscious level. For example, Pericles, in one of the speeches that Thucydides records, says, we don't need any Homer to sing our praises. That's a really odd thing to say. We don't need any Homer.

Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do think that. That's probably making it too strong. I think that this feeling rarely rises to a kind of conscious level, but it's active. It does rise to a conscious level. For example, Pericles, in one of the speeches that Thucydides records, says, we don't need any Homer to sing our praises. That's a really odd thing to say. We don't need any Homer.

Yeah. Yeah, I do. I do think that. That's probably making it too strong. I think that this feeling rarely rises to a kind of conscious level, but it's active. It does rise to a conscious level. For example, Pericles, in one of the speeches that Thucydides records, says, we don't need any Homer to sing our praises. That's a really odd thing to say. We don't need any Homer.

We know we're not there and we don't need him. We're going to write our own epic.

We know we're not there and we don't need him. We're going to write our own epic.

We know we're not there and we don't need him. We're going to write our own epic.

And this is one of the things that makes Athenian democracy different. It starts to look different from other Greek city-states because the Athenians lowered the property qualification to the point eventually you don't have to own property to be a citizen and vote in the assembly.