[The Greeks] never pretended that their gods were always benevolent or omnipotent in human affairs... What was important was the maintenance of dignity and self-respect in the face of what the gods or fate decreed.
Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
A commonplace book: an old-fashioned literary diary for recording interesting items from reading you've done. I use mine to record snippets from reading, conversation and life in general. (The early 2003 entries are from a period some years ago -- before the blog age -- when I tried an online commonplace book as a straight web page.)
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
The
early [Greek] philosophers were concerned with understanding the
nature of the cosmos.... They appear to have shared a belief that the
world system, the kosmos, was subject to a divine force which gave it
an underlying and orderly background. Where they got this idea,
which is a far cry from the Homeric world of gods, is unknown –
possibly from eastern mythology. It proved fundamental to the
speculations which followed.
Charles Freeman, Egypt, Greece and Rome.
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