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2.The Persian Wars were the defining moment of Western civilization.  Man originated in either Africa or the Middle East, and all early civilizations originated in the Middle East.  Persia was an Eastern culture, and Greece was among the first cultures to exist outside of the Middle East- the first Western civilization.  Greece, with its reason, democracy, and military of the few but strong, crushed the old way of civilization, where despotic rulers sent out thousands of unskilled men, like herds of animals, as their army.  Conceptually, democracy and individuality destroyed despotic, mindless collectivism.  Each single Greek soldier was crucial to the Phalanx formation.  If his role was lacking, the Phalanx was deficient (it reminds one of the Body of Christ, one single formation enriched by the very diversity and individuality of its single members, or of the United States, a collection of individual sovereign entities who together form a single nation, the full heritage of which would be lacking without all 50 members).  In the Persian model, however, the soldier was little more than an archetype, the members of the army little more than slaves.  The identity, humanity, or even the participation of a single soldier was unimportant.  The human mass marched on unflinchingly, missing and lacking nothing.  Only the mass itself meant a thing.  Greece, in winning a battle and securing its nation, set the political and conceptual stage for human worth, dignity and individuality, for self-government, and, in fact, for Christianity.

2.The Persian Wars were the defining moment of Western civilization.  Man originated in either Africa or the Middle East, and all early civilizations originated in the Middle East.  Persia was an Eastern culture, and Greece was among the first cultures to exist outside of the Middle East- the first Western civilization.  Greece, with its reason, democracy, and military of the few but strong, crushed the old way of civilization, where despotic rulers sent out thousands of unskilled men, like herds of animals, as their army.  Conceptually, democracy and individuality destroyed despotic, mindless collectivism.  Each single Greek soldier was crucial to the Phalanx formation.  If his role was lacking, the Phalanx was deficient (it reminds one of the Body of Christ, one single formation enriched by the very diversity and individuality of its single members, or of the United States, a collection of individual sovereign entities who together form a single nation, the full heritage of which would be lacking without all 50 members).  In the Persian model, however, the soldier was little more than an archetype, the members of the army little more than slaves.  The identity, humanity, or even the participation of a single soldier was unimportant.  The human mass marched on unflinchingly, missing and lacking nothing.  Only the mass itself meant a thing.  Greece, in winning a battle and securing its nation, set the political and conceptual stage for human worth, dignity and individuality, for self-government, and, in fact, for Christianity.

4.On more than one occasion, the Ekklesia (the assembly of citizens in the Athenian democracy) voted compulsively and had to later rescind its vote, or deal with the consequences.  When the passions of the people are mindlessly inflamed with nationalism or worry or stress during war or domestic crisis, a direct democracy almost necessarily ensures that the nation will be lead emphatically in the wrong direction, unprepared or with a rash mentality.  For example, the Ekklesia voted in 406 BC to execute eight generals who failed to collect survivors from ships damaged in a storm.  The trial tried all eight generals together and thus was an illegal proceeding, which happened anyway due to the excitement of the people after years of war.  Later the Ekklesia made up for the unlawful executions by executing those who had accused the generals.  More infamously, Socrates was executed by the Ekklesia- an event which Greek reason might helped avoid.   

4.On more than one occasion, the Ekklesia (the assembly of citizens in the Athenian democracy) voted compulsively and had to later rescind its vote, or deal with the consequences.  When the passions of the people are mindlessly inflamed with nationalism or worry or stress during war or domestic crisis, a direct democracy almost necessarily ensures that the nation will be lead emphatically in the wrong direction, unprepared or with a rash mentality.  For example, the Ekklesia voted in 406 BC to execute eight generals who failed to collect survivors from ships damaged in a storm.  The trial tried all eight generals together and thus was an illegal proceeding, which happened anyway due to the excitement of the people after years of war.  Later the Ekklesia made up for the unlawful executions by executing those who had accused the generals.  More infamously, Socrates was executed by the Ekklesia- an event which Greek reason might helped avoid.   

[[Category:World History lectures]]

[[Category:World History lectures]]