The Greeks: museum photos and links

I think I probably said all I needed to say in class, though I was in a hurry. But I'll post some of those photos here (just click on them if you want to make them larger), and I'll also suggest that if you're looking for a more in-depth understanding of the historical timelines, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's website is excellent. If you even just click through their highlights of the Greek and Roman collection pages, you can watch the dates associated with the pieces of art approach, arrive at, and then move past the years in which Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were walking the streets of Athens.

One thing to keep in mind might be that although allowing any citizen to speak during political arguments might seem radically "free," most human beings report that public speaking is high up there on the list of things that most frighten them. If you can imagine an "ordinary" citizen of Athens, you can also probably understand how that citizen might decline to stand up in front of everyone and make a speech, when those watching and listening would naturally include people as accomplished, well-known, and critically-sharp as some of the people we've been reading. (And if you were going to speak on the right day, in the right year, the actual Socrates, Plato, Gorgias, Polus, Callicles, or Aristotle might be standing there. Their eyes on you. Waiting. For you. To say something.) So there's definitely a known social context and situation that Socrates is referring to when, in Gorgias, he claims that he completely bungled things when it was his turn to try and run the meeting. And Aristotle's On Rhetoric becomes something we could understand not only as a handbook, but also a source of knowledge and security for someone trying to prepare themselves to seek success by becoming active in public life. ("I know I'm okay. I'm going to do topics 12, 17, and 22. It's right out of Aristotle's playbook. Just do 12, 17, and 22. Remember it, remember it! 12! 17! 22! I'm going to be fine. I can do this. I can speak to these people! It's going to be fine!" [hyperventilation] [loss of consciousness])

And as I said in class, Jacques-Louis David's 1787 painting "The Death of Socrates" is a good example of the ways in which the Greeks have continued to resonate throughout the ensuing course of Western history. I posted a professional/official image of the painting in one of the posts below, so here I'll just add a close-up. It's interesting to read Aristotle's thoughts on paradigms versus enthymemes while keeping in mind that there's no way Aristotle could know this, but his entire culture would become a paradigm referred to in countless arguments in nations and cultures elsewhere in the world. (A strong paradigm, because it was historical fact, but as we know Aristotle would caution us: A good enthymeme would be better support for your argument. Though thank you very much for making paradigmatic reference to us Greeks once again. It's very flattering. You have excellent taste.)

David's painting depicts the last moments of Socrates' life, his followers (we won't call them "students," since Socrates claimed he wasn't a teacher) distraught over his choice of taking deadly poison rather than recanting any of his positions or arguments. If you pop either of these two images open and look at them up close, you can see striations in the paint and/or canvas that have accrued over time, and you can also get a better look at some of the details in the image.

The reading for Tuesday is on your syllabus. Have a good weekend!