An example of this given in the text is the story of "The Trojan Women" by Euripides. If you didn't have a back story or information about it, you might just think someone was trying to follow up the story of the Trojan war, however we are given the story of why Euripides wrote this.It was written in response to the destruction of the neutral island nation of Melos by the Athenian army. The Athenians were at war with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War. It seems to me that it was a culmination of land disputes and several political slights against one another that eventually led from peace--->wary truce----> minor hostility---->open war. As was the usual up until nuclear weapons were developed, peace--->wary truce----> minor hostility---->everyone dies, which is why we generally try and avoid war as a "civilized" world now, probably not because we are better people now, but because the stakes are too high. Melos was a colony of Sparta, in the way America/U.S.A. was a colony of Britain, yes we might have been British at the start, but if someone came around saying that we were British it wouldn't really make any sense or hold any ground. There was probably a fear in Athens that Sparta would use Melos as a staging ground for an offense against Athens, similar to the Cuban missile crisis when Russians were building bases to house nukes within strike range of the U.S.A.. Just as often as they can bring us heroes, they can also spawn villains. Villains, men who know just what to say as they lead us blindly along the road of seemingly good intentions to hell. The Athenians had lost the F.D.R. of their time (Pericles) and gained a hybrid of George Bush and Adolph Hitler. I'm not saying George Bush is evil, I refer to his lack seeing the details and stubbornness once his mind was set, combined with Hitler's public speaking skills and love cruelty. The Athenians offered the people of Melos and ultimatum, serve(pay tribute) or die. The people of Melos tried to use logic and reason as to why Athens should not worry about them attacking Athens or helping the Spartans, or as to why the Athenian's behavior seemed counter intuitive as to their beliefs but the Athens ironically refused to listen to reason. The Melians refused to surrender, all the men were killed and the rest were sold as slaves. They sacrificed the very qualities they claimed made them better than the Spartans, the very qualities they were trying to protect, and so in turn the Athenians lost the battle against Sparta. For if they no longer used logic,reasoning, cunning and wisdom to defeat the Spartans, was there any hope of defeating a nation trained for war? It was like a man trying to defeat a lion with his barehands at that point, instead of using tools and traps in bringing the seemingly more powerful beast to heel.
I couldn't find it on the internet, but I remember seeing a history channel show about the history of Greece and its relationship with Crete. Some Greek guy was making political speech and trying to get people to side against Crete or put it in bad light by speaking about the Minotaur and how it would be there sons and daughters sent to be sacrificed next time. It reminded me of the way we would refer to Arabs in Afghanistan or Iraq with racist terms like towelheads, jawas, sand people or sand-Ni&&3@Z or make up that they weapons or that they all want to kill us in an effort to turn public opinion against them. At this time Minoan civilization(named after the fictional king Minos) was in power in the Mediterranean region, they probably got some form of tribute from the weaker surrounding countries. They may have been referring to the human sacrifice (under the religion section) that Cretans may have practiced via some priest or priestess wearing a bull mask (under interpretations). So the legend of the Minotaur may have been propaganda developed by the Greeks to slowly turn the masses against Crete so they could take their own place as the stars of the Mediterranean world. Thinking back on the story of the Minotaur, I can see some parallels to the Nazi propaganda I saw against Jews in the Holocaust museum in the capitol.
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| Illustration from the antisemitic children's book,The Poisonous Mushroom, in which a Jewish man is depicted as a child molester attempting to lure German children with candy |
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| The poisonous mushroom |
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| description of movie here |
Now just replace the word Jew with Cretan/Minoan/whatever their races name was and replace the following images with a savage blood thirsty man/bull creature and you will see the power of literature.
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| It wants to eat your children!! |
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| Even their women are ugly!! |
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| Rise up Fellow My Fellow Greeks!! Slay the Cretan menace!! |
If you take a minute and think about it, it doesn't seem like much; some scribbles on a paper or etches on a wall but literature has the power to change the hearts and mind of a person, a city, a country and the world. It is said the pen is mightier than the sword whoever made up that saying could not be more right. People live and die by the proclamations,judgements,teachings and stories left down by their ancestors and given by those in charge.The Greeks left us with a powerful legacy, it's up to us[everyone] as to whether we will ultimately use its power for Evil or Good.
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