The First Meeting of Jerusalem and Ancient Greece: Josephus on Alexander, 333 B. C.
Alexander, the pupil of Aristotle for a while, met with the High Priest at Jerusalem on his way to conquer Asia, as reported by Josephus. From Book xi. 4-5, Jaddua the high priest was in terror when he heard that Alexander was coming. Alexander had sent a letter to Jerusalem during his siege of Tyre, asking for provisions, auxiliaries, and suggesting that Jerusalem send tribute now instead to him rather than Darius. The high priest had answered Alexander that…”he had given hi
Mar 294 min read
Plato's Phaedo on Ghosts: 80d-82c
Ghosts are souls that are somehow stuck in their involvement in worldly things, and so are not in the best condition. From both the Dixboro Ghost and the ghost in Hamlet , we conclude that these are stuck regarding revenge, or the injustice of their murders and revenge toward their murderers. In the Dixboro story, one mark of authenticity- aside from the question of what ghosts are- is that Martha undergoes a Purgatory, as well as revealing one and preventing another a murder
Oct 28, 20252 min read
Selection from the Rock Commentaries: Socrates on the Inspiration of Poetry
From Plato’s Apology, Phaedrus and Ion The best, or most beautiful and meaningful music comes to us, as we have been saying, not directly by knowledge, but by a kind of inspiration. Musical inspiration is different from religious inspiration, but is a kind of inspiration nonetheless.[5] While it comes from “within,” the source of the greatest songs is from “above” or “outside” the composers themselves, in some sense. Inspiration presupposes “art,” in the sense of technical a
Jun 79 min read
On Plato's Trojan Horse by Spencer R. Milton
[In progress...] I am looking forward to an opportunity to think out evolutionary thought, justice and the soul. The author has a reading of the Platonic cosmos of dialogues- excepting the Laws- which is going to be very helpful. I have been trying to link the development of human communities to the modern anthropology discoveries, understanding these as developing together. The family is older than man. There were many kinds of humans, but our species was demarcated by do
May 3117 min read
Odyssey Notes
[In Progress] The tomb of Odysseus has been discovered on Ithaka, identified by the broach which Odysseus himself describes, as described by Homer (XIX, 227-230. This was discovered much as Schliemann discovered Troy- by simply taking seriously the account we had dismissed as myth and legend. Including results for PBS Metaxas PBS Odysseus videoSearch only for PBS Metaxis PBS Odysseus Returns PBS https://www.pbs.org › show › odysseus-returns Odysseus Returns. Now Streaming. An
May 168 min read
Seasons In the Sun: Jacques Brel: La Moribond
Seasons in the Sun is a poem by Jacques Brel, translated and popularized by Rod McKeuen, then reshaped for a popular song by Terry Jacks. It is one of only four great songs of transcendent sorrow or incredible despair of a sort that could not enter popular lyric poetry until the Sixties. In the popular version, the last section of the Brel poem La Moribond is changed to delete reference to his adulterous wife Francois, and include the Jacks section “Goodbye Michelle, my li
May 133 min read
The Logic of Analogy: Notes
One is tempted to say that all genuine psychology proceeds by analogy- so we had better consider this logic of analogy- all they say is that it is a kind of induction. Questions for the logic of analogy: There are vertical and horizontal analogies: same form in 2 like instances, and a visible form like an invisible truth. The corn field in august does not by nature participate in that of which it is an image vertically, but horizontally... So passing by a cemetery one day, I
May 112 min read
