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
Part II: Wasserman on Plaro's Meno
Thanks to Grand Valley for the Photo! Class 1981/ 1983 GVSC [In progress:] Preface Using Bloom’s Republic and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with brief modern contrasts at the We want to read the Meno in a way Plato shows that w We shouldn’t read the Men[o?] Can’t read it without achieving self knowledge. We were expecting to be told how we could get virtue. What kind of gift of the gods? [I had to laugh at myself because I was hanging onto an opinion; We were hoping to get an an
22 hours ago12 min read
Part I: Notes from Irving Wasserman: On Plato (1980-1982)
Thanks to Grand Valley for the Photo! Class 1981/ 1983 GVSC [In progress:] Preface Using Bloom’s Republic and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, with brief modern contrasts at the [In progress] Preface The nearest semblance we may have to what Plato did regarding Socrates may be to try to collect notes from the classes of our greatest teachers, so that despite the unstateable truth of the living word and the introduction to philosophy in the circumstance, what has occurred might i
22 hours ago39 min read
The History of the Alphabet and the Mystery of Hebrew
The origin of the Alphabet may turn out to have something to do with Abraham and the descendants of Abraham in Egypt, connecting two studies: the reading of Genesis and the linguistic archaeology evident from a patient reading of the history of the alphabet. The origin of the alphabet is known to have something to do with Egypt, Crete, Phoenicia or Byblos, and ancient Greece. From Wikipedia: The history of alphabetic writing goes back to the consonantal system used for Semiti
3 days ago4 min read
Jack White: Seven Nation Army Lyric Reading
Seven Nation Army Many points here are taken from contributors to the website Songmeanings.com . The guitar riff became famous when played at sports events, though no one much gets the meaning. It is a rare example of a marching beat, like martial rathe than religious music, though it is in fact uniquely both at once. I sang parts of this song this morning when I woke up. Some songs one has to live in order to understand. All fibs are told to protect the innocents. It is s
Apr 184 min read
Jack White: Blue Orchid: Rock Commentaries Selection From Chapter IX
Blue Orchid is about the corruption of innocence, probably in love, though the song has been read as being about molestation, and may carry this meaning as an undercurrent. Commentators, as on Songmeanings, note that a Russian child sex ring was named “Blue Orchid.” But that is not the meaning here. The reason that it seems the song must be about love and infidelity is the line “Your lips taste sour / But you think its just me teasing you.” The lyrics are these: You got a re
Apr 183 min read
