The problem with reading a historical account such as
The Peloponessian War, or a religious account such as
The Old Testament, is trying not to read it with a modern understanding. Today we see many of the actions that Israelites and the Greeks committed as unreasonable or immoral because we are thinking with a modern philosophical stance that often tends to lead to the fact that all people are entitled to equal rights and that violence of any sort is wrong. However, this was not the view of those peoples at the time. The measure for whether or not violence was wrong was immensely different from what we understand today. The Israelites came from a region in which killing was very common. Many of the small civilizations there and even the larger nations such as Egypt were constantly at war. In addition to this, ritualistic sacrifice of people were still relatively common among some of the polytheistic religions of the area. The larger point is that the common sense of morality of the area was to do what was pleasing to your god, and in this sense, the Israelites are very easily able to justify actions like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Similarly, the area of the Greek city states was an area of almost constant warfare between the independent nations. To these people, there was nothing wrong with killing people in warfare, so long as the war was justifiable according to their code of honor. In fact, not fighting a justifiable war would probably have been viewed as shameful.
The problem lies in the fact that neither groups of people were concerned with being seen as hypocrites for killing people in battle, even though their code of morals stated that they should not kill others. Instead, they felt justified in their actions because it either went along with what they believed was commanded of them by their god or it followed suit with their code of ethics.
Reading these texts are challenging, because they present moral and social values that are pretty foreign to our understanding. Since we are from a different generation, it makes sense that we would be limited in our view.
ReplyDelete...oops...typo...
DeleteReading these texts is* challenging
It is hard to justify their actions considering their code of morals. The Israelites still acknowledged that individuals can be put to death for specific acts. Stoning still occurred, it even carries on into the New Testament. It also comes into place the separation of religion and politics, which were then still integrated. The Israelites were under Egyptian control for a long time and Egyptian government now can be viewed as tyranny. This goes for the Greeks as well. The Gods never gave them an obvious set of rules, but they made sure to live up to their honor. The Athenians were democratic with their Council while the Spartans ruled with a King. Killing is not as much of an issue in Greek life because they had more of an acceptance to death and no distinct moral code against it. As long as they were following the laws of their city-state and they were not messing with the Gods.
ReplyDeleteThe difficulty of understanding what was considered honorable at that time, in comparison to today, is similar to that of their definitions of morals and justice. What was honorable at the time of the PW was bravery and the ability to keep a legacy going, which extends to pride in killing to protect one's family or city. Cultures, values, and morals differ as time passes-- such does the definition of justice. Did the definition of justice in PW fit the definitions of justice in the Old Testament? Are these definitions only time-sensitive or do they vary with cultures too?
ReplyDeleteAmy Shih
I completely agree with the fact that we have difficulties while reading these kind of texts because of the time gap. We tend to read it in a modern way and it is very important for us to distant ourselves from these texts and consider each society's definition of honor.
ReplyDeleteFor the Israelites, following God and acting under "God's name" was the right thing to do. To be just, they had to obey to everything God and their prophecies commanded them to do.
For the Greeks, anything about saving the "names" of their ancestors or living up to the expectations of their ancestors was justifiable.
However I also want to point out that even if the Greeks seem to kill a lot in an unjust way in our modern day, they still had respect for the bodies and the death. They gave “breaks” to collect the bodies from the war sites.
From a modern day view, many historical texts can be read and commonly misinterpreted because of the new meaning constantly being associated amongst readers. I feel that considering the time period in which these accounts were recorded is crucial to understanding and comprehending what the author is attempting to convey. For example, many stories can be taken and viewed as sexist in the Bible, however the intent of what was written was to get across the message that God wanted.
ReplyDelete